Eggless Vanilla Pudding Cookies

Hello everyone. Wish you all a very happy and healthy 2012. We are back in Seattle after a wonderful vaction in Mumbai and Singapore.

We have had snow for the past 6 days and except for a brief respite last Tuesday, have been pretty much home-tied since last Saturday. My daughter has been after me to bake some cookies, so today we made these lovely and easy Eggless Vanilla Pudding Cookies from Madhuram's Eggless Cooking.

Here's how I made these:

6 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
2 tbsp Jello Vanilla flavor instant pudding mix
2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp All Purpose Flour
few drops of vanilla essence
Handful of chopped and toasted walnuts

Cream the butter, pudding mix and sugar together. I used an electric hand blender for this. Add flour in 2 - 3 installments and keeping folding it in gently until well incorporated. Add the vanilla essence and walnuts. Knead gently. The dough will be like chapati/roti dough.

Divide the dough into 12 - 14 portions of abt 1 tbsp each. Roll each gently into a ball and flatten a little. Place on a baking sheet covered with wax paper. Bake these cookies in an oven preheated to 375F, for abt 11 mins. Remove and cool 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

My daughter and her friends loved these and they were gone in no time. My dad also liked them, he said they tasted like the Indian cookie - Nankhatai.

I loved them for the delicious taste and ease of preparation. I will surely make them over & over again.