This recipe is a twist to the traditional NANKHATAI recipe popular on my blog. We have crazy nankhatai fans at home. If you have a similar family, you can also try other nankhatai variations like:
Wheat Nankhatai -prepared using whole wheat flour Ragi Nankhatai – Mixture of flour and ragi
THANDAI GUJIYA THANDAI BURFI DAHI BHALLA FALOODA DAHI BREAD DAHI ALOO CHAAT
This year I made some extra thandai powder to create exciting recipes like the one given here. If you have thandai powder ready, you can prepare these cookies in a jiffy. Else in less than 5 mins, you can prepare a fresh batch of thandai powder at home.
My NANKHATAI recipe is my grandmom’s recipe, and I have never changed it a bit since I have started baking. This cookie is also called Narayan Katar in coastal regions of Karnataka and is traditionally prepared using flour and ghee or dalda. No besan or any other flour is used. This thandai nankhatai would be the best sweet to serve during Holi alongside THANDAI drink. 1 ½ cups All-purpose flour or Maida ¾ teaspoon Baking soda ⅛ teaspoon Salt ½ cup Thandai powder (link in steps) ¾ cup Powdered sugar ⅔ cup Ghee or Vegetable shortening (Dalda)
Note: No liquid is added to make nankhatai dough. In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, thandai powder, powdered sugar, and mix. Now add shortening (or ghee) and mix well till the dough is formed. Cover and keep it aside for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F or 150 degrees C. Pinch golf size balls from the dough, lightly press, and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper one inch apart. Check out the video here. You can also press gently with a fork to give it a nice look.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until cracks are formed on the top, and it becomes light in color. Do not overbake the cookies as it will become hard. Every oven behaves differently, and its actual internal temperature varies. Therefore, depending on your oven and the size of your nankhatai, the cooking time may vary. Keep an eye after the 12 to 15-minute mark. These cookies won’t brown like other cookies, but cracks develop on their surface, a sign of perfectly baked nankhatais. They may look soft when they come out of the oven but will crisp up as it cools down completely. In the USA, fine granulated sugar is readily available in the market. In India, sugar we use at home for regular cooking is coarse, so while baking goodies or making sweets like laddu, grind the sugar in a mixer/blender to get it to powdered form. Confectioners’ sugar, on the other hand, has some corn starch. Therefore, powdered sugar acts differently from confectioners’ sugar. Preheat the microwave oven to convection mode 180 degrees C. Then bake nankhatais for 15-20 mins or until cracks develop on their surface and become light in color.
These are so tasty that they won’t last long. But if you are making it ahead of time, you can store these nankhatais in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 10 days.
Recipe card
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