Micro cookies—more accurately transliterated as maker cookies—are small soft cakes cooked in the triangular wells of a sandwich maker. This saffron-and-cocoa version takes only a few minutes per batch and gives two colours from one simple batter.
Micro cookie ingredients
- 2 cups plain flour
- 1½ cups sugar
- ¾ cup neutral oil
- ¾ cup milk
- 3 large eggs
- 1 level dessert spoon baking powder, about 2 teaspoons
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon brewed saffron
- 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
- Ground pistachios, almonds or sesame, optional, for decoration
The inherited English list displayed three cups each of sugar, oil and milk. That ratio cannot produce the described batter. Multiple Persian versions of the same sandwich-maker formula show the lost fractions: 1½ cups sugar and ¾ cup each oil and milk. Those values are restored here rather than asking readers to waste ingredients on a transcription error.
Mix the batter
Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla until smooth and slightly lighter. Add the oil, then the milk, mixing after each addition.
Sift the flour and baking powder together. Fold them into the liquid mixture in two or three additions, stopping as soon as the batter is uniform. It should be thick enough to sit briefly on a spoon but still flow into the sandwich-maker wells.
Make saffron and cocoa portions
Divide the batter evenly between two bowls. Stir brewed saffron into one portion and sift the cocoa into the other. If the saffron mixture becomes noticeably thinner, add only a teaspoon of flour; if the cocoa batter becomes too thick, loosen it with a teaspoon of milk.
Food colouring is unnecessary. Saffron and cocoa already create distinct natural colours and flavours without turning the batch into several artificial variations.
Cook in the sandwich maker
- Preheat the sandwich maker for about five minutes and lightly grease the cooking plates.
- Add roughly one tablespoon of batter to each well. For a two-colour piece, put half a spoonful of each batter side by side.
- Close the lid without forcing it. Cook for 3–5 minutes, depending on the machine.
- Open carefully and check that the centres are set and spring back lightly. Lift the cookies with a heatproof silicone tool that will not scratch the plates.
- Cool on a rack and repeat, greasing again only if pieces begin to stick.
Do not overfill the wells; expanding batter can leak onto the heating element. Follow the appliance manufacturer’s instructions, keep the cord and hot plates dry, and unplug the machine before cleaning.
Serving and storage
Decorate with pistachio, almond or sesame only if the appliance can close without pressing the garnish into its upper plate. It is often easier to scatter a little on the warm cakes after cooking.
The full recipe takes about 15 minutes to prepare plus repeated 3–5 minute cooking cycles. It makes a generous batch—roughly 15 servings, depending on the size of the wells—and is suited to a snack or dessert with tea or Nescafe.
Let the micro cookies cool completely before storing them in an airtight container. They are closer to small cakes than crisp biscuits, so they are best eaten within a couple of days while their crumb remains soft.
