Cookies

Cookies sit at the richer end of the biscuit aisle. They are made with more butter or ghee and less water than a plain biscuit, so they crumble and melt in the mouth instead of snapping. The Indian bakery tradition includes nankhatai, a shortbread made with ghee, gram flour and cardamom, and cashew or butter cookies sold in tins at Diwali and Eid. Alongside them are chocolate chip cookies, oat cookies and coconut cookies in the Western style.

To choose, think about texture first. Butter and cashew cookies are short and delicate, so they suit a plate for guests. Chocolate chip and oat cookies are chewier and more filling, which makes them better in a lunchbox or as an afternoon snack. Tins of assorted cookies are a common gift when visiting family or for festivals, and they keep longer than paper packets once opened. If you need an eggless cookie, check the pack, as many Indian bakery cookies are made without egg.

Because cookies are high in fat, they go stale and pick up smells quickly. Keep them in an airtight tin, away from spices and the stove, and finish an open packet within a week or two. A cookie crumbled over vanilla ice cream or a bowl of custard makes a quick pudding. For chai to go with them, see masala chai, and for cashews to bake your own, cashew nuts. More styles are in biscuits and cookies and sweet biscuits.