Nankhatai (eggless Indian sugar cookies)

Diwali brings back memories of childhood, celebrations in India, family so on and so forth. During this hectic day to day life, I forgot that Diwali is approaching, and was too lazy to do anything about it until the very last day! Then all the special moments and memories of Diwali, of making sweets and snacks, drawing rangoli, bursting crackers flooded my mind, I felt like I could let the day pass by without acknowledging it in the way I knew. I wanted to make at least one thing, draw a small rangoli, do something to celebrate, to relive all those years, bring back a knowing smile of things I so miss about India. And so I decided to make nankhatai. I followed the recipe exactly as listed in Ruchi’s recipe and got AWESOME result J

Recipe:
  1. 1.5 cup all purpose flour
  2. ¾ cup semolina (rava)
  3. ¾ cup halved besan (chick pea flour)
  4. 1 cup sugar
  5. ¾ cup ghee (clarified butter)
  6. Cardamom for garnishing
  7. Pistachio powder for garnishing



Method:
  • Take all dry ingredients together in a bowl
  • Pour semi solid ghee in the bowl and mix it evenly so that you get a nice crumbly mixture
  • Press together the dough to form 2-3 balls
  • Refrigerate the dough for 15- 20 minutes
  • Now take small portion of the dough to make small cookie balls, flatten a bit (do press a lot else it will crack)
  • Keep them in a plate not too close,
  • once you finish using all the dough, make cuts in the center using a knife, sprinkle cardamom powder and/or pistachio powder in the  cuts.
  • Preheat the oven at 375 F
  • Refrigerate the cookie balls it for 15 minutes.
  • Place the cookie balls in a cookie tray and bake for 15-18 min, till they are light brown/ golden brown.
Printable Version: Nankhatai
visit Ruchi's site for better pics, I posted my pics, so as to let you know that even if your cookie balls are not as perfect as Ruchi's, you'll get great results!


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