Nan Khatai Recipe
Nan Khatai
Indian Shortbread Cookies
Submitted By: Taz
Ingredients:
1 Cup Indian All Purpose Flour (Maida)
¼ Cup Chickpea Flour (Besan)
⅔ Cup Powdered Sugar (Chini)
½ Cup Ghee or room temperature unsalted butter
2 Tbs Semolina Flour (Sooji)
½ Tbs Plain Yogurt (Dahi)
1 tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Cardamom Powder (Elaichi)
¼ tsp Ground Dry Ginger (Adrak)
¼ tsp Kosher Salt (Namak)
⅛ tsp Fresh Ground Nutmeg (Jaiphal)
-OPTIONAL TOPPINGS-
Whole Roasted Unsalted Almonds (Badam)
Chopped Pistachios (Pista)
Golden Raisins (Kishmish)
Preparation:
- Place ghee (unsalted butter) and powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl and 'cream' with a hand blender until light and fluffy - Add yogurt and mix thoroughly - Set aside
- In a separate large mixing bowl, sift together the all purpose flour, chickpea flour, semolina flour, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, ginger, and nutmeg
- Fold the dry ingredients (including salt) into the butter/sugar mixture - Mix lightly (DO NOT knead) until mixture comes together into a smooth dough (if mixture is to dry to come together, add just enough milk for dough to come together)
- Preheat oven to 325ºF
- Divide dough into 10-12 equal portions and roll into balls and place on lightly greased baking sheet with apx 1 inch of space around each - You can leave the cookies in balls or you can slightly flatten each cookie and cut a cross in the center - Gently press a whole almond, a couple of raisins, or a large pinch of chopped pistachios into the top of each cookie
- Bake on center rack for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden in color (nan khatai are traditionally white in color)
- Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack and allowing to cool to room temperature before eating
Nan Khatai can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week
