Total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Servings: Makes about 3 dozen cookies


Ingredients
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, divided
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. freshly ground cardamom
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. rose water
2 Tbsps. ground pistachios

1. Sift the flour, 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar, baking powder and cardamom into a mixing bowl. Warm the oil in a pan, then slowly add it to the flour, mixing well. Add the rose water and use your hands to thoroughly combine. The mixture will be crumbly and will barely hold together when pressed between your fingertips. Cover and let the mixture sit for half an hour.

2. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Form the dough into balls the size of a walnut. Make an indentation in the middle with your thumb.

3. Place the cookies on a greased baking sheet on a rack in the top third of the oven and bake until they crack and become crumbly but are still pale in color, 10 to 12 minutes.

4. Remove the cookies from the oven. Sprinkle with the ground pistachios and the remaining one-fourth cup of confectioners' sugar. Cool and serve.

Note: From "Afghan Food & Cookery: Noshe Djan" by Helen Saberi. The name of this cookie ("water of the teeth") implies that they melt as soon as you bite into them. The dough will appear very crumbly.