Nankhatai
Nankhatai is a traditional Indian shortbread cookie made using a variety of combinations of whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, besan (gram flour) and semolina. Everyone has their own way! The flavour comes from ghee (clarified butter) and cardamom but I personally don’t like cardamom neither does my husband so I avoid it. You can add flavor of your choice (rose, chocolate, etc)
My earliest memories of Nankhatai are from my childhood. We didn’t have an oven at home and all the neighborhood ladies including my mom would shape the nankhatais at home and then take them to a local bakery to be baked. We would be eagerly waiting for mom to return to have a bite of those crispy, melt-in-the-mouth nankhatais.
These cookies are very easy to make. Just gather all the ingredients, mix, shape, bake. That’s it! So do give it a try and post your comments :-). These taste much much better than store bought butter cookies.
This recipe is adapted from here.
Nankhatai
Equipment
- Oven
Ingredients
- 1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
- ½ cup Besan Gram Flour
- ¼ cup Semolina
- ¾ cup Powdered Sugar
- ½ tsp Cooking Soda
- ¾ cup Ghee
- Slivered Almonds / Pistachios for garnishing
Instructions
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl. Slowly add ghee and form a dough. Do not knead. Just bring the whole dough together.
- Refrigerate the dough for 1/2 hour.
- Preheat oven @150 degrees Celsius.
- Divide the dough into balls of desired size. Press gently and arrange on parchment lined baking tray.
- Garnish with some almonds or pistachios on top.
- Bake for approximately 12-13 minutes till done. Keep an eye on the oven. Else your cookies may burn.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool on tray for 10 minutes
- Place gently on wire rack and allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
Notes
- Do not use frozen or melted ghee. Use ghee at room temperature which is in a semi-solid state.
- Don’t skip freezing the dough. Freezing solidifies the fat content, in this case ghee, so that your cookies don’t turn flat by spreading out too much while baking.
- Use only powdered sugar.
- I have tried this recipe with maida (all purpose flour) as well.
- You can line the tray with double layer of parchment paper if the bottom of the cookies browns quickly.
- Most recipes suggest baking the nankhatais for 15-20 minutes but mine browned real quick .. say in 10-12 minutes. And I like the light colored nankhatais. Each oven behaves differently so keep an eye on the cookies when they bake.
If you try out this recipe do post your comments on my blog. You can also post on Instagram and tag me @my.loaf.story
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