Hey there, I hope all is going well in your lives. Slowly and gradually we are learning to live with the covid. One thing which I noticed in this period is that people’s love for cooking has increased a lot. Especially for baking. This change I can see in my daughter also, she is a teenager but as schools were closed she tried so many recipes in baking.
So today we are trying a nankhatai recipe. Yes kesar elaichi nankhatai. These are like an Indian version of butter shortbread cookies. These will melt in your mouth are awesome. These nankhatai cookies are mild in sweetness, with a very balanced flavor of saffron and elaichi. You may like to add them to your Diwali or Christmas baking list.
Nankhatai is very popular in India. Word nankhatai breaks into two words nan means bread and khatai means biscuits. Full of cardamom and saffron flavors, these buttery cookies will melt in your mouth once you pop them in your mouth.
In this recipe, we are using plain flour semolina and chickpeas. We are using ghee as it is a must ingredient in this recipe. So please use it as much as indicated in the list.
Ghee should be in semi-solid form if it is in the melted form then put it in the refrigerator for like 30 minutes.
How you will come to know that your nan khatai are baked, it’s very easy when you see three to four cracks over the surface, the texture gives you the impression that anytime it will crumble it means your nankhatai are ready. But once you take out the nankhatai from the oven don’t touch them let them cool down completely.
You can store them for two weeks.
If you want to make a vegan version replace ghee with coconut oil through the taste will differ a little.
Kesar Elaichi Nankhatai
- 250 Gm Plain flour
- 50 Gm chickpeas flour
- 35 Gm Semolina
- 110 Gm caster Sugar
- ¼ Tsp Baking powder
- 175 Gm Ghee (Indian butter)
- Few threads of saffron
- 1/3 Tsp cardamom powder
Preheat the oven at 175 degrees Celcius. In the bowl, beat the ghee and sugar until this mix gets fluffy.
In a medium-size bowl mix all the flours, cardamom, semolina, and saffron strands. Now add baking powder to this mixture and again mix it nicely.
Bind this mixture in dough and make small balls. Just press the balls with your thumb very gently.
Place these balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Just make sure there should be an appropriate gap in each ball.
Place this tray in a preheated oven for 15 minutes.
Remove the nankhatai from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack till they completely cool down.
