Nankhatai Recipe- Whole Wheat Indian Cookies

Nan Khatai is Eggless Indian shortbread cookies made with a combination of flours, semolina, ghee and infused with a delicate cardamom flavor. My nankhatai recipe is made with whole wheat flour as well. 

These delicious Indian cookies are soft, crumbly, light, almost melt in your mouth and super delicious.  Here’s how to make Nankhatai with my easy and foolproof recipe.

 

Nankhatai due to its melt in mouth texture and Indian flavors pairs beautifully with a cup of masala chai or coffee. At our home, we simply love the combination so most of the time we have a small or big batch to enjoy. 

Why It is Most Easiest to Bake Cookie at home

Why I always make them at home is simply these are better than store-bought or from the bakery.

• Super easy recipe, minimal effort 
• Even Beginners can bake it easily
• Super customizable 
• I can use the best quality of the ingredients.
• I can use healthier flour to make Nankhatai. 
• Easy to store. You can store them easily for 3-4 weeks in an airtight container.  

You don’t even need any special equipment, you can make nankhatais in an oven, cooker, Kadai, microwave and these eggless cookies come out perfect any which way. 

Nankhatai Ingredients

You need 5 ingredients for making Nankhatai: Flour, semolina, Sugar, Ghee, and A flavor. I am going to talk about variation in flavors in the recipe notes section in the last section of the post.

In my recipe of Nankhatai, I use a combination of flour and that’s what gives this Indian cookie a unique flavor and it is slightly a healthier option.

I make many variations of Nankhatais, each has a unique taste due to flours used and flavors added. In this recipe, I have used a combination of all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, chickpea flour/Besan, and semolina or sooji. 

When I say this recipe that means, I have some more and they are about to be shared soon 🙂 

Nankhatai recipes consist of both wet and dry ingredients.

Flours: Whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, semolina, chickpea flour

More Dry Ingredients: Castor Sugar baking powder, baking soda cardamom powder. 

Wet Ingredient: Ghee.

This recipe of nankhatai makes --- large-sized nankhatais. You can make more numbers if you make them small or medium-sized cookies. You can also double or triple the ingredients while making cooking dough to make more.

How to Make Nankhatai

It’s easy to make and takes very little time. Just like any shortbread cookies, you don’t knead the dough. Just combine the ingredients to bring them together and bake as per instructions I have added here.  

Step by Step Recipe

In a mixing bowl add maida, whole wheat flour, chickpea flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix well and keep aside. (pic 1,2)

In another bowl add castor sugar and ghee. Beat till the mixture is light and fluffy and the color changes to pale. (pic 3,4)

Add the flour mix in the castor sugar mix in the batches. Keep mixing until the flour is fully incorporated with the castor mix. (pic 5, 6)

Add cardamom powder and mix well. Rest the dough for 15-20 minutes. (pic 1,2)

Preheat the oven at 180C for 10 minutes. Place parchment paper on a baking tray or cooking sheet.  With a tablespoon scoop the uniformed sized dough and shape them in small balls. (pic 3,4)

Place them on the cooking sheet. Cut pistachio into tiny slivers and press them gently onto nankhatai dough balls. Bake them for 15-18 minutes. Once baked, allow them to cool and enjoy. (pic 5,6)

Step by Step Video

 

Recipe Notes

• To make soft and crumbly Nankhatai, beat the ghee and sugar till the color is pale. 
• You can use castor sugar or simply powder granulated sugar using a coffee grinder or dry grinder jar of your mixer grinder. 
• Use ghee at room temperature when it is semi-solid. It makes mixing the ingredients easy.
• Once baked let the Nankhatai cool down cookies by transferring on a wire rack. 
• Always cool down any cookie as just out of the oven cookies are soft and fragile so always cool them for the perfect texture.

Nankhatai Variations

Flour: Originally these are made with all-purpose flour (maida) and Semolina (sooji). Semolina adds a mild crunch which gives a unique texture to these traditional Indian cookies. 

But, since I like robust texture I add besan or gram flour which lends a nutty flavor and whole wheat because I simply love to replace all-purpose flour without compromising the taste.

Fats: I always use ghee (clarified butter), but unsalted butter, vegetable shortening ( I never use) also works fine to make them.

Flavor: Cardamom is always a favorite at my home. Saffron alone or a combination of saffron and cardamom is also a good combination of Indian flavors. In recent times I have seen people using chocolate, nuts, etc. But I prefer to stick to either cardamom or a combination of cardamom and saffron (Kesar Elaichi)

Nuts: It tastes great on its own but a few slivers of nuts like pistachio or almonds is always a good idea. 

Nankhatai in Cooker on StoveTop

Traditional Indian kitchens in old times did not have ovens. So Nankhatais were baked on tawa, cookers, or Kadai or another heavy-bottomed pan. 

To make Nankhatai without the oven in the cooker, first, layer it with crystal salt and make a one-inch thick layer. Place a ring, trivet, or simply a small metal bowl. Cover with a lid and preheat on medium heat for 10-15 minutes.  If you are using a pressure cooker, take off the weight and remove the gasket and then close the lid.

On a steel plate place a few cookies and after preheating open the lid and place this plate on trivet carefully, as the cooker will be very hot. Cover the lid again and bake these on low heat check first after 10 minutes and then in 5 minutes.   

Nankhatai in Microwave

You can also bake the Nankhatai microwave. If your microwave has a convection mode, You can bake cookies in convection mode. Some of them come with a preset menu which makes it quite easy. So please read your microwave manual for how to preheat it and make Nankhatai cookies in the microwave.

How To Make Vegan Nankhatai

Nankhatai is one of the most versatile Indian cookies. Vegan nankhatai recipes are similar to this recipe. To make vegan Nankhatai simply replace ghee with vegan butter or vegetable shortening. You can also replace sugar with coconut sugar.

Fun Fact: What is NanKhatai ? 

{ Source: Wikipedia}

Word Nankhatai is a combination of two words "Naan" meaning bread and "Khatai" means biscuit.  In Afghanistan and Northeast Iran, these biscuits are called Kulcha-e-Khataye

The Origin of Nan Khatai is said to be in Surat Bakery run by an Iranian. 

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