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rice flour cookies
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5 from 47 votes

Naan Berenji | Nan-e-Berenji | Persian Rice flour cookies

Naan Berenji or the Persian Rice flour cookies is a delicate and beautiful cookie made with rice flour. This is a gluten free cookie recipe and is flavored with rose water and cardamom.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time16 minutes
chilling time6 hours
Total Time6 hours 31 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Persian
Diet: Gluten Free, Vegetarian
Servings: 30
Calories: 106kcal

Equipment

  • Oven
  • Stand Mixer

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Rice flour
  • ½ tsp Cardamom powder
  • 2 tablespoon Sugar
  • ½ cup Unsalted Butter softened
  • ¼ cup Oil I used vegetable oil
  • ¼ cup milk
  • Few Pistachios finely chopped
  • FOR THE SUGAR SYRUP
  • ¾ cup Sugar
  • ½ cup Water
  • 1 tsp Rose water

Instructions

  • In a sauce pan, add the sugar and water and mix well to dissolve.
  • Let the water come to a boil and then simmer until it reduces to about ¾ cup. It took me about 7 to 8 minutes.
  • Let the sugar syrup cool down and come to room temperature.
  • TO MAKE THE COOKIE DOUGH –
  • Sift the rice flour and cardamom in a bowl.
  • I made the cookie dough in my stand mixer. Whisk the butter, sugar and oil until it is light and creamy.
  • Add the milk and mix well.
  • Now add the sifted flour mixture and mix.
  • Slowly add the sugar syrup to the mixer and keep mixing until all the sugar syrup is used. The dough will be very thin at thin point.
  • Cover the dough and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours. We can even refrigerate it overnight.
  • TO BAKE THE COOKIES –
  • Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
  • Scoop a tablespoon full of dough and roll it into a smooth ball. Flatten the balls slightly and place it on the prepared baking sheet.
  • With a spoon, make lines on the cookies as shown in the pictures.
  • Sprinkle with pistachios and bake for about 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them from about 12 minutes. Make sure that the cookies don’t change color. Remove the cookies from the oven when the bottom of the cookies would just start turning light brown.
  • Let it cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then carefully transfer it to a cooling rack. Store in airtight container when completely cooled.

Notes

How to store the Rice flour cookies?
Naan Berenji cookies need to be stored in air-tight containers as they get soft much sooner than regular cookies. When I read a little more about it, I learned that rice flour absorbs moisture much sooner than wheat-based cookies and hence it is important to store them airtight.
Allow the cookies to cool entirely and then place them in an airtight container. Even then the cookies will start to become a little softer by day 3. They will still taste great but the texture will be slightly different.
The rice flour cookies freeze great. Place them in a freezer-safe container and freeze them for a month.
Expert Tips
  • This is a gluten-free cookie made just with rice flour. The flavors are based on the quality of the rice flour. Use fresh white rice flour and do not use glutinous rice flour.
  • Chilling the dough is very important so that the rice flour absorbs the flavor and also thickens. This will help in shaping the cookies as well as not letting them spread when baking.
  • If you have a cookie stamp, use it to make a pretty pattern on the Nan Berenji.
  • Nan-e-Berenji is a very delicate cookie. Do not overbake it. Bake it just until the bottom of the cookies starts to change color. This will allow the rice flour cookies to have a stunning white color.
  • Use poppy seeds, crushed rose petals, or any other nuts to garnish the cookies instead of pistachios.

Nutrition

Calories: 106kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 2mg | Potassium: 11mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 98IU | Calcium: 4mg | Iron: 1mg