Nankhatai - The famous Indian Cookie

Nankhatai evokes lots of nostalgic memories in me mainly because,that is probably the closest I came to baking while I was a child.I don’t remember if I enjoyed eating it as much as I enjoyed seeing it baking.I used to shout in happiness when I saw them puff up and break oh-so-gently on top making it the best and perfect nankhatais ever.Sadly,amma doesn’t remember the recipe now.It took me a while to master the art of baking these ‘Indian Cookies’ as I wanted to perfect the looks.

Another funny incident comes to my mind.Many people call this ‘Narankhatar’ in Konkani.Me and ma-in-law once made Butter cookies while she was here and she reminisced about her mother-in-law and how they enjoyed cooking together.Bapama[grandmother-in-law] always called this ‘katar’ as opposed to narankhatar because her bro-in-law’s[who is elder to her] name was Narayan and it was impolite to call his name,even if it was the name of an edible item..sounds strange,eh?

I got this recipe from here,sadly she doen’t blog anymore.I loved her blog and the recipes and hopped on there during my non-blogging days.

Nankhatai
Recipe source – Vaishali of Happy Burp

Ingredients - makes 14-16 cookies

Maida/Flour – 1 cup
Powdered sugar – ½ cup
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Baking powder or baking soda– ½ tsp[heaped]
Salt – a small pinch
Ghee - 6-7 tbsp [preferably homemade]

Method

Sieve the flour and baking powder/soda together into a mixing bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients apart from the ghee.

Add ghee, a little at a time, while mixing and kneading the dough until you have it the consistency of chapathi dough.
It should be pliable enough to be shaped into a ball.
Cover the dough well or put it into a container with a tight lid.

Keep it in a cool place for a few hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.Grease/Line a baking sheet.

Divide the dough into 16 portions. Shape those portions into round balls and flatten them a little between your palms.

Arrange them on the baking sheet well away from each other.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 15 minutes or until the biscuits develop a few 'scars' on top and are slightly browned at the bottom.

Take them out of the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet itself.Once cool, store them in an air-tight container.