Nankhatai Recipe
Nankhatai are crumbly, buttery Indian shortbread cookies with a tender melt-in-the-mouth texture. Made with just 7 ingredients, these eggless cookies are delicately flavored with cardamom and are wonderfully easy to make.
Servings: 18 Cookies
Calories: 111kcal
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Ghee, at room temperature and in a semi-solid state
- 1/2 cup Fine sugar
- 1 1/4 cup All purpose flour
- 1/3 cup Semolina/ sooji
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Cardamom powder Plus extra for sprinkling on top
- 2 tsp Pistachio, finely chopped For sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Cream ghee and sugar in a large bowl till light and fluffy.1/2 cup Ghee, 1/2 cup Fine sugar
- Stir in the all-purpose flour, semolina, cardamom powder, and salt. Combine well using a spatula and then use your hands to bring the dough together. 1 1/4 cup All purpose flour, 1/3 cup Semolina/ sooji, 1/4 tsp Salt, 1 tsp Cardamom powder
- Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes. This is very important. If the dough is not chilled, the cookies will turn out flat and greasy.
- Preheat your oven to 180 C / 350 F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Shape the chilled dough into small balls and flatten them slightly.
- Place them on the cookie sheet. Make criss-cross cuts on each dough ball using a knife. Sprinkle some cardamom powder and chopped pistachios on top. Bake for 15-16 minutes at 180 C / 350 F. The cookies will be soft but will firm up as they cool.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the tray for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Use room-temperature soft, semi-solid ghee, not melted ghee.
- You can also use butter to make nankhatai. Though unsalted butter is recommended, I do use salted one sometimes.
- Use fine granulated sugar or powdered sugar. Regular granulated sugar will not dissolve as easily.
- The dough should be soft and smooth. If it's too dry and crumbly, add more ghee, a teaspoon at a time.
- Don't skip chilling the dough! This is very important. We need the ghee to solidify so the cookies stay flaky, buttery, and don't spread out too much while baking.
- The criss-cross cut on the cookies helps them expand nicely in the oven, giving them their characteristic cracks.
- Don't overbake these Indian butter cookies. They will be pale and soft when out of the oven, but they firm up as they cool.
- Allow the nankhatai to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Serving: 1Cookie | Calories: 111kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 13mg | Sodium: 33mg | Potassium: 19mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 0.04mg | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 1mg