Nankhatai are a popular and traditional Indian shortbread cookies that are made with all-purpose flour, sugar and ghee (clarified butter) or butter and spiced with green cardamom. It is a popular snack found in most Indian bakeries. This delicious treat pairs perfectly with your evening cup of chai or tea.
Powder the sugar finely in a grinder or spice-grinder.
Then cream the ghee and powdered sugar with a electric mixer or blender. You can also cream in a food processor.
The mixture should become smooth, light and creamy.
Sift the following dry ingredients - all-purpose flour, besan (gram flour), baking powder and baking soda. Keep the sifted dry ingredients aside.
Add curd (yogurt) to the creamed ghee and sugar mixture. Mix very well.
Now add the sifted dry ingredients. Also add the sooji (rava or cream of wheat), cardamom powder and nutmeg powder.
Gently mix everything. Do not knead.
Just mix and gather to a smooth dough. If the mixture is too crumbly and you cannot bring together to a dough, then add 1 to 3 tablespoons of milk at a time. Mix lightly and bring the mixture to a dough.
Shaping Nankhatai
Pinch medium sized balls from the dough.
Roll them evenly in your palms. Slightly flatten them. Press chironji or almonds on the top lightly.
You can also make some criss cross designs on the nankhatai with a fork or toothpick.
Baking Nankhatai Biscuit
Place the nankhatai in a baking tray.
Keep some space between them as they expand while baking.
Bake the nankhatai in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 to 25 mins till light golden.
Remove and place them on wire racks, so that they cool at room temperature.
When cooled, store the nankhatai in an airtight container.
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Notes
Tips:
Keep in mind not to knead the dough. Simply, combine, gather the ingredients and form a dough.
Try to add the gram flour and rava as mentioned in the recipe. If you skip either, you will need to change the proportion of ghee and sugar.
If you prefer, you can skip adding baking soda or add in lesser amounts.
Ensure that the ghee is in a semi-solid state and not melted or solidified.
As the temperatures vary in different oven models, keep an eye while baking. If the nankhatai are not baked enough then bake them for some more minutes.
The recipe is scaleable to make a small batch or a big batch for festivals.
To make nankhatai in microwave oven
You cannot make nankhatai in the microwave mode of the microwave oven. However if your microwave oven has convection option, then you can use the convection mode (option) to make them in the microwave oven.
Pre heat the microwave oven in the convection mode at 170 degree celsius for 10 minutes. Then bake the nankhatai in the preheated microwave oven in the convection mode at 170 degrees celsius for 15 to 20 minutes or till light golden.