Nan Khatai – Indian Shortbread Cookies
Nan Khatai very traditional Indian cookie made with ghee/clarified butter. That is the reason for the very aromatic flavor of the ghee.
For day 2 of the Blogging Marathon under Kid's Delight - Holiday special recipes, I have this very traditional Indian cookie, Nan Khatai. Nan Khatai had been in my mind for the past few months, but never really got to make it.
Last month, we visited our cousins and that is when I made it for the first time. My boys simply loved it for the reason that it was very aromatic from the ghee.
They had never tasted any cookie made with ghee/clarified butter before and hence they really thought that this cookie was cool.
I have made this recipe mostly with whole wheat flour and then a bit of all-purpose and sooji/semolina for texture. The key ingredient is the clarified butter/ghee and hence do not substitute it with butter.
Preparation time - 10 minutes
Cooking time - about 15 minutes per batch
Difficulty level - easy
Recipe adapted from - Raks Kitchen
Ingredients to make Nan Khatai - Makes about 18 cookies
- Whole wheat flour - ¾ cup
- All-purpose flour - ¼ cup
- Rava / Sooji - 2 tbsp
- Baking powder - ¼ tsp
- Sugar - ½ cup
- Ghee / Clarified butter - ½ cup
- Cardamom - 3
- Pistachio/almonds - for garnish
Procedure -
- In a mixer, grind the sugar to make powdered sugar. If you have powder/confectionary sugar in hand, you could skip this step and use that.
- Chop the nuts (if using) into small pieces and keep aside for garnish.
- Also, remove the seeds from the cardamom and pound it to form powder. Mix it with the sugar.
- To this add the flours and sooji and mix well. Also, add the baking powder to this mixture and mix well.
- Melt the ghee and add it slowly to the flour/sugar mixture and mix well. Do not pour the whole ghee, add it little by little and mix to form soft dough. We might not need the whole ghee. Wrap the dough and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F and grease/line baking sheets with parchment.
- Make about 18 balls from the dough and flatten them slightly. Place them an inch apart in the baking tray.
- Make a criss-cross pattern on top of the cookies and add some chopped nuts.
- Bake them for 13 - 15 minutes or until the cookies are pale brown in color.
- Remove them from the sheets and cool on racks entirely before storing them in airtight containers.
Similar Recipes
If you made this recipe and liked it, give a star rating on the recipe card or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #MyCookingJourney and tagging me @sandhya.ramakrishnan. You could follow me and my recipes on Facebook |Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter/X
Recipe
Nan Khatai
Ingredients
- ¾ cup Whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup All-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoon Rava / Sooji
- ¼ teaspoon Baking powder
- ½ cup Sugar
- ½ cup Ghee / Clarified butter
- 3 Cardamom
- for garnis Pistachio/almonds
Instructions
- In a mixer, grind the sugar to make powdered sugar. If you have powder/confectionary sugar in hand, you could skip this step and use that.
- Chop the nuts (if using) into small pieces and keep aside for garnish.
- Also, remove the seeds from the cardamom and pound it to form a powder. Mix it with the sugar.
- To this add the flours and sooji and mix well. Also, add the baking powder to this mixture and mix well.
- Melt the ghee and add it slowly to the flour/sugar mixture and mix well. Do not pour the whole ghee, add it little by little and mix to form a soft dough. We might not need the whole ghee. Wrap the dough and let it rest for about 10 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F and grease/line baking sheets with parchment.
- Make about 18 balls from the dough and flatten them slightly. Place them an inch apart in the baking tray.
- Make a criss-cross pattern on top of the cookies and add some chopped nuts.
- Bake them for 13 - 15 minutes or until the cookies are pale brown in color.
- Remove them from the sheets and cool on racks entirely before storing them in airtight containers.
What is the whole wheat flour that you use? Is it Atta from the Indian grocery store or is it just regular whole wheat flour?
Thank,
Alice
I usually use the atta from the Indian stores, but have also made with whole wheat flour from the whole foods. They both work well.
Love the idea of using whole wheat flour! Perfect!
Thanks Lisa!
I have a whole container of ghee in my pantry - definitely want to try these!
Lisa, this would be a good recipe to use that ghee.
I love Nan-khatai... reminds me of my childhood Christmas vacations. Have not made it in years. Yours looks so pretty. Thanks
I am so glad it bought back memories 🙂 Happy Holidays!
What a fabulous cookie to add to my cookie tray this year!
Definitely, the flavors are just so different.