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Naankhatai

Naankhatai is to India as Shortbread is to Scotland,  Naankhatai is an Indian shortbread (originally brought by the Iranians to India) quite similar to a Scottish shortbread but only more soft, more crumbly and more delicious. I like to call them the "Indian white Bakery biscuits" because I have always seen them stored in those big cookie jars in front of the bakery till counters. For me, these white dome shaped cookies always stood out from the other cookies. 
This 3 ingredients cookie is super easy to bake plus there are no eggs involved so Hello Vegetarians!!

 One can always experiment with a combination of flours (gram flour, corn flour, semolina, etc) but being me I went for the most tastiest and a slightly unhealthy version of using only refined flour. Do try any version you like but do not forget to dunk these melt in the mouth cookies in your masala chai and go mmmmm....:) Happy Baking!!


  Ingredients:
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
  • 1/2 cup castor sugar (powdered)
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • 2-3 cardamoms (peeled and crushed)
  • a pinch of ground nutmeg
  • Almonds or Pistachios for decoration
Method:

(i)   In a large mixing bowl, slowly cream the softened butter with a wooden spoon. After the butter            has been creamed, add the powdered sugar, cardamom powder, nutmeg powder to the butter and        blend well.
(ii)   In a separate bowl, sift the all purpose flour, baking powder and salt together. Now slowly add             the flour to the butter mixture and combine well with a wooden spoon. 
(iii)  Use your hands and make a smooth round dough out of it. Cover the dough with a tea towel and         let the dough rest for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius.
(iv)  Make lime sized round balls of the dough with your hand and place them on a greased baking             tray giving space between them to rise. (Please make sure there are no cracks in the balls)
(v)   Place an almond or three pistachios on top of each ball and slightly press them so that the nuts             stick to these balls. (Do not press too much as we want these cookies to form a dome)
(vi)  Bake these balls of dough for 25-30 minutes or until they are firm to touch. We don't want them           to go brown.
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