Nankhati – Indian Shortbread Cookies

I must admit that I do not know the exact history and origin of Nankhati (Nan-cut-tie) Biscuits in Goa but I sure do know they were sold at most Goan Bakeries and stores. Nankhati is a melt in you mouth biscuit made with flour, ghee, sugar and cardamom. Unlike stated online that they were made for Christmas they were actually an everyday biscuits for evening tea.

Ghee is clarified unsalted butter which has a lovely browned butter smell. It has the milk proteins removed and has a high smoke point, making it perfect for cooking. I have made it twice before. It just takes a little of patience. Since ghee is not easily available at local grocery store I decided to use melted butter.

This recipe is vegetarian, has no eggs and just 5  ingredients that are in most kitchen pantries and is really quick and easy. A great snack for all the outdoor activities we are heading towards with the warm weather.

I used to love these cookies but as I grew older and saw them around all the time I just did not like them anymore. But time does has a great sense of humor if you know what I mean :-). Lately I suddenly started to crave for them with my evening tea.

A few variation you can try is replacing white flour with whole wheat and butter with oil. The popular toppings for these biscuits( Biscuits is a word used more often than cookies in India) were cashew, cherry, corn flakes or just plain.

Serving Size: 12 – 3″ cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsalted melted butter / ghee(clarified butter) I know I used salted butter as that is what I had

1/2 cup powder sugar

8 cardamom seeds powder

1/4 tbsp of baking soda

pinch of salt

Directions:

Heat oven to 325F

Mix well flour, sugar,cardamom powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the melted butter and mix to form a nice smooth dough ball.

Divide the dough in 12 equal portions and shape into a ball an then lightly flatten it.

Place the on a cookie sheet and bake approx 15 to 20 minutes till you smell the cookies and they slightly change color.

Do not over bake as they will be burnt underneath.

Let cool to harden the biscuits. Enjoy with a nice cup of hot tea.