Nankhatai / Indian Butter Cookies

I have not grown up eating cookies but biscuits or as we Indians call it BISCOOT, had always been an integral part of our life, mostly because biscuits are crucial while drinking tea for adults and milk for children, and when in hurry a small packet of biscuit will save you from being late from eating a proper meal or breakfast. As both of my parents worked, sometimes I found myself carrying small packets of cream biscuits and bananas in my tiffin box. Not a very tempting lunchbox for a school kid but it did the job of keeping me full until I came home to a proper cooked meal. 

My father was not very keen on taking us to the tea stall and so we had very little exposure to the tea stall or bakery style cookies, but we were friendly with parle-g, Britannia digestives and other cream biscuits. But sometimes we found this small packs of nankhatais in the kitchen and after distributing them to all the family members, that packet usually did not survive for another serving for anyone. So while we had to be content with one or two of these intensely delicious buttery cookies,  I always craved for more. 

But eventually as life went on I forgot about them and stayed happy with the American cookies. But there is only so much you can forget and childhood memories are not one of them. So here I am, after trying and testing a lot many nankhatai recipes, sharing the one that has actually worked for me. Don’t be scared about the quantity of ghee, it is the ghee that gives the cookies the taste and aroma and flavour. 

Well….happy baking!!

 Nankhatai

18 cookies

Ingredients:

230gm of all purpose flour

80gm powder white sugar

60gm semolina

30gm besan / chickpeas flour

225gm ghee (room temperature)

A pinch of salt

A pinch of green cardamom powder

Dry fruits for decoration

Method:

In a bowl put together the ghee and the powder sugar and whip with a wired whisk or hand mixer until it becomes white and puffy.

Then mix in the dry ingredients in small quantities and mix gently until all combines.

If the mix is very crumbly and falling apart quickly, add a dash of milk to keep them together and then make it into a lag.

Wrap it with a cling film or baking paper and leave inside the fridge for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, open the wrap and cut the dough into thin slices and decorate with dry fruits.

Place the cookies in a sheet pan lined with baking paper and bake in a preheated oven at 180F for 20-22 minutes, or until they turn golden brown.

Once they are baked take them out of the oven and leave them to cool down completely.