3-Flour Nankhatai Shortbread Cookie
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3-Flour Nankhatai Shortbread Cookie | Indian Shortbread Cookie Recipe | Eggless Nankhatai | How to make Nankhatai at home with step by step instructions and video
3-Flour Nankhatai Shortbread Cookie | Indian Shortbread Cookie Recipe | How to make Nankhatai at home with step by step instructions
Eggless Nankhatai | 3-Flour Nankhatai Shortbread Cookie | Indian Shortbread Cookie Recipe is a traditional Indian cookie that stands unparalleled against the modern-day cookies. It is crumbly crispy and bursts with natural flavors of ghee and cardamom.
Festive fervor picks up in the Shrawan monsoon month and one can feel the culinary vigor blooming in households . Everyone appears to be busy making something sweet or savory according to the festivals they celebrate.
Don’t miss to watch the video in Wholesome Multi grain Nankhatai post to ascertain the traditional legacy behind gifting these festive Nankhatai, Atte Ke Churma Laddu, Savory Satpura and Mitho Lolo. That’s not all! Even Rakshabandhan, Diwali and other festive occasions require making such festive cookies.
What is a Perfect Nankhatai
Nankhatai are light, crumbly textured Indian shortbread cookies with a tender bite, made from flour, sugar, ghee and flavored with cardamom. Finally they are garnished with some nuts like cashew nuts, almonds or pistachios. A perfect Nankhatai gives the feel of melting in mouth.
The word Nankhatai comes from the Persian word ‘naan‘ meaning bread and ‘khatai‘ is an Afghan (more precisely Dari Persian word – the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan) meaning biscuit
(Source:Wikipedia )
Interested in the gist of Nankhatai and its origin? Read on….
The history of the Nankhatai in India is quite interesting. Towards the end of the 16th century, a Dutch couple set up a bakery in Surat to cater to the needs of the local Dutch residents. When leaving India, the Dutch owners handed over the bakery to a Parsi gentleman – Faramji Pestonji Dotivala. Since the bread was made with palm toddy for fermentation and egg, it didn’t appeal to the local Indians. In order to save his bakery, Mr. Dotivala at first started selling the old dried bread at cheap price. Later he got rid of the eggs and toddy, and modified the Dutch biscuit to what is now called Nankhatai.
(Source: NDTV Food ; First India )
What is 3-Flour Nankhatai Shortbread Cookie Made of
For Measurements refer to the RECIPE CARD further below
- Flour- Use all purpose flour or a blend of all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour. Adding some chickpea flour – besan– will give an enhanced taste and texture. Some add semolina , but here I have used just three flours.
- Sugar – Use powdered sugar
- Fat – Traditionally, ghee is used for making Nankhatai. A few people may even use Dalda – an Indian vegetable ghee. Some use a blend of oil and ghee. Nowadays people use butter for making Nankhatai. Here I have used the conventional Indian ghee for Nankhatai. You may use homemade ghee or store bought. on.
- Cardamom – Its powdered form is mixed with the Nankhatai dough for maximum flavors. Customarily this is the only flavoring agent for Nankhatai.
- Baking powder – Add a pinch to give a raise to the cookies. In fact, in olden days no raising agent was used. It was just flour, ghee and sugar.
- Salt – A pinch to offset the sweetness of the Nankhatai flour. It also gives a pleasing taste to the palate.
Nankhatai Indian Shortbread Cookie Video
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How to make 3-Flour Nankhatai Shortbread Cookie at home
with step by step instructions
Preparation:
All required ingredients must be at room temperature.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Dry Ingredients for Nan khatai
In a separate bowl sift whole wheat flour, all purpose flour and chickpea flour, salt and baking powder . Add cardamom powder.
Making the dough for Nan khatai
Firstly, beat ghee till light and creamy. The ghee should be semi solid, not melted.
Then to this add powdered sugar and beat again.
Add the sifted flour mixture to the sugar-ghee mixture.
Now, lightly fold in everything till the mixture comes together to form a dough.
Alternatively, you could just mix ghee into the bowl of all the dry ingredients and mix to form a crumbly dough.
Finally, cover and refrigerate the Nankhatai for 10 minutes
Shaping the Nankhatai
First preheat the oven to 170°C for 10 minutes
In the meanwhile, take small portions of Nankhatai dough and roll it between your palms to form smooth ball.
Place these balls on the lined baking tray leaving gaps.
Now using a knife make a cross mark impression on each Nankhatai.
Lastly, place an almond piece on the cross mark and lightly push it to embed it in the dough. The cookie ball will consequently get slightly flatter. This is what we want, exactly.
Baking the Nankhatai Cookies
Bake in the preheated oven at 170°C for 12 minutes on the middle shelf. (Temperature may vary oven to oven.) . Thereafter, eye ball on the cookie and bake for a few more minutes till you get a slightly brownish color Nankhatai . Very important step!
Once baked, take the cookies out from oven and cool on wire rack.
Store in air tight container only when the Nankhatai are cooled down.
From this dough I got 18 nankhatai each weighing 20gm
Tips to make Perfect Nankhatai
All ingredients must be at room temperature. Make sure to preheat the oven.
Leave enough space for Nankhatai to expand without sticking to each other.
If dough is too crumbly add a bit of more ghee.
How to serve Nankhatai Cookies
Serve with a cup of Caffe Latte, Masala Chai or milk shakes such as Rosemilk
Do leave a feedback below in the COMMENTS SECTION or my FACEBOOK PAGE.
Recipe Card for 3-Flour Nankhatai Shortbread Cookies
3 Flour Nankhatai Shortbread Cookie
Ingredients
- ½ cup whole wheat flour atta (65gm)
- ½ cup all purpose flour maida ( 55 gm)
- ¼ cup chickpea flour besan (30gm)
- ½ cup powdered sugar (100gm0
- ½ cup ghee (80gm)
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- A pinch of salt
- ½ tsp cardamom powder
- Almonds pistachio for garnish
Instructions
Preparation
- All required ingredients must be at room temperature.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Dry Ingredients
- In a separate bowl sift whole wheat flour, all purpose flour and chickpea flour, salt and baking powder . Add cardamom powder.
Making the Dough
- Firstly, beat ghee till light and creamy. The ghee should be semi solid, not melted.
- Then to this add powdered sugar and beat again.
- Add the sifted flour mixture to the sugar-ghee mixture.
- Now, lightly fold in everything till the mixture comes together to form a dough.
- Alternatively, you could just mix ghee into the bowl of all the dry ingredients and mix to form a crumbly dough.
- Finally, cover and refrigerate the Nankhatai for 10 minutes
Shaping the Nankhatai
- Firstly preheat oven at 170 degrees Celsius.
- Then, take small portions of Nankhatai dough and roll it between your palms to form smooth ball.
- Place these balls on lined baking tray leaving gaps.
- Now using a knife make a cross mark impression on each Nankhatai.
- Lastly, place an almond piece on the cross mark and lightly push it to embed it in the dough. The cookie ball will consequently get slightly flatter. This is what we want, exactly.
Baking the Nankhatai Cookie
- Bake in the preheated oven at 170°C for 12 minutes on the middle shelf. (Temperature may vary oven to oven.) . Thereafter, eye ball on the cookie and bake for a few more minutes till you get a slightly brownish color Nankhatai . Very important step!
- Once baked, take the cookies out from oven and cool on wire rack.
- Store in air tight container only when the Nankhatai are cooled down.
- This dough will fetch around 15 -18 bitesize cookies.
How to serve Nankhatai Cookie
- Serve with a cup of hot tea. or milk.
Notes
- All ingredients must be at room temperature.
- Make sure to preheat the oven.
- Leave enough space for Nankhatai to expand without sticking to each other.
- If dough is too crumbly add a bit of more ghee.
FAQ
Why Nankhatai sometimes turn hard
Bake Nankhatai or any other cookies not more than 10 minutes or till a brownish color appears at the bottom of the cookie. With a gently nudge, the cookie should slide from its place. If the Nankhatai has not achieved the desired light brownish color, position the tray on a higher shelf and watch every few seconds. I mean every second! The Nankhatai cookie will be soft to touch but will be fine on cooling.
Healthier options for making Nankhatai
One cannot avoid the ghee, butter or blend of oil and ghee that goes into the making of any cookie. But by making small bite size portions you can avoid overeating. You can use only whole wheat flour, or a mix of ragi flour and whole wheat flour. Add almond meal or oats flour for more nutrition just as the wholesome multi grain Nankhatai.
Variations in making Nankhatai
Nowadays Nankhatai with various flavors are made such as rose, mawa, chocolate, thandai, cinnamon, orange. The flours that go into the making of nankhatai produce differet texture and taste.
Can Nankhatai be made without Baking Powder
Yes you can. Expect a miniscule change in the texture.
What is difference between Nankhatai and Cookies
Nankhatai are Eggless Indian Shortbread Cookies. made primarily with flour, ghee, sugar and cardamom for flavoring. Cookies generally require butter, flavoring agent and a small amount of milk as well or eggs.
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I tried these, recipe as easy as described and the results too as transparent as shown here, thank uou very much- love from Africa.
Oh thanks a lot. I am delighted that you made and liked this nankhatai.
I never had much success with nan khatai till date. Your recipe was spot on, each nankhatai came so beautiful too.
I am glad that you tried this recipe and are happy. Now is the festive season, do make more of these nankhatai for give aways.
Interesting historical fact about Nankhatai. I usually add chickpea flour to make them more crispy. Like how you’ve mixed both all purpose and wheat flours.
Glad that you read this post with interest. Nankhatai cookies have numerous recipes. This is one of my favorite recipes which I shared.
I have made nankhatai with atta and a bit of rava + Besan. but this 3 ingredient recipe is wow, Neha
There are varied recipes for nankhatai each with a different result. DO try it out this version too.
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