Oops.

I had forgotten about the legendary Sikh hospitality, so when I took these homemade rose and coconut biscuits over to welcome our new neighbours, as they seem fully moved in now, I came back with an enormous chunk of birthday cake and a box of chocolates! That was not my aim at all, but I was very grateful.

Their daughter opened the door, and oh my…full on gorgeous celebration regalia. It was her 18th birthday, so the whole family was round.

Come in! Come in! came the call, but I didn’t feel dressed up enough or ready enough to meet EVERYONE.

I shall, however, inveigle my way in at some point and get all the recipes. If you have never had home cooked Indian food, you are missing a serious treat.

3/4 cup white caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1 egg OR 3 tbs aquafaba if you need this to be vegan
1 tsp rose extract
1 tsp rose syrup (most Indian grocer shops will have a version of this)
1.5 cups self raising flour

Whisk the sugar, salt, oil, extracts, syrup and egg together well.
Mix in the flour until you get a dough you can roll into balls.
Pop it in the fridge to make it firm up if it’s a bit tacky.
Place the dough balls on a lined baking tray, about 2 inches apart.
Sprinkle the top of each ball with desiccated coconut, and press down slightly.
Bake at 160C fan for 15-18 minutes, until the edges turn golden.
Cool on a wire rack.

Optional drizzle:
1 heaped tbs icing sugar
1 tsp rose syrup
Mix to a paste, then add water drop by drop until it’s of a dripping consistency.
Drizzle cooled biscuits with it!