The recipe is important to me, as my great grandmother would make both a semolina and flour halva with similar ingredients. She would use jaggery instead of granulated sugar and ghee as a substitute for butter. I made these cookies with her as she had all the ingredients in her very traditional Persian-desi home. When we baked these cookies for certain fast days, she would reminisce of her Jewish upbringing in modern day northern Pakistan. All the people the languages her father could speak and how beautiful high holidays were far into the mountains. Sadly those times of reminiscing passed for her but it allowed me to find my way home to Judaism and that nearly lost part of my heritage.

Method:

• In a small bowl stir the saffron into the rose water and leave to the side.
• Whisk the brown and white sugar and cardamom together in a large bowl.
• Mix the softened butter (or cold margarine) in to the sugar mix, till incorporates and fluffy.
• Add salt to the saffron water and stir till fully dissolved.
• Into the large bowl stir in 180g of flour until combined and a loose dough has formed.
• Combine the saffron water into the dough.
• Pour the dough on to a sterilised surface and lightly knead in the remaining 70g of flour.
• Once the dough has fully formed, wrap in clingfilm and place in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 180C fan
• Prepare an oven or cookie tray with baking parchment (a trick to stick the corners of the parchment down is to use a tiny amount of dough as an edible blu tack).
• Remove the dough from the freezer and roll it into a 1/2 inch sheet.

• Cut into basic shapes with a cutter (my favourite shapes are