Recipe Name – Nankhatai ~ Eggless Indian cookies
Introduction – Nankhatai are shortbread eggless cookies mainly originated from India. Nankhatai is derived from two words, In Persian language Naan means bread and in Afghani Khatai means biscuit. These soft & crumbly biscuits are easy to make and can be enjoyed with tea or Coffee.
What all do we need?
- 130 gm refined flour (maida)
- 60 gm gram flour (besan)
- 30 gm semolina (sooji)
- 80 gm icing or caster sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon green cardamom powder
- 130 gm Ghee or butter (melted)
- Chopped almond or pistachios for garnishing
Method –
- Sieve refined flour, gram flour, semolina, sugar, salt and cardamom powder to remove lumps and mix everything well.
- Now add melted ghee or butter and knead to the soft dough.
- Preheat your oven on 160 degree Celsius (if using conventional oven) or 150 degree Celsius (if using convection oven).
- Grease your baking tray using ghee or butter (you can also use parchment paper). And place small balls of the dough leaving some place in between.
- Using finger make an indentation on the top of the dough ball and fill the same with chopped almond or pistachios.
- Bake in the preheated (conventional oven) on 160 degree Celsius for 18-20 min and on 150 degree Celsius if using convection mode of the oven for 15-18 min. Do check your nankhatai’s after 15 minutes to check if they are done. They will have small cracks on top but color of the nankhatai should not change to too dark.
- Once baked, take them out of the oven and let them cool down on the cooling rack before storing them in the air tight container.
- Enjoy lovely nankhatai’s with tea or coffee.
Tip & Tricks:
- Every oven is different so it is very important to check nankhatai’s after 15 minutes. They should not look too dark and will have small cracks on top. Too dark nankhatai’s will not be soft and crumbly in texture.
- Instead of icing sugar you can also use caster sugar called boora in hindi.
- Sieving all dry ingredients is very important to remove all lumps.
- While kneading a dough, if required you can use little more of ghee or butter to get soft dough. Do not add water.