What is Nankhatai?
Nankhatais are beautiful eggless Indian buttery cookies. These cookies are sweetened using powdered sugar and perfumed with cardamom. They are melt-in-mouth delicious and pair beautifully with Masala Chai. These cookies were first originated in the city of Surat, Gujarat. The word nankhatai hails from Persian origin, naan meaning bread and khatai meaning biscuit. The Persian bakery owner would sell the dried Dutch bread to the locals, and hence these cookies were born. This Indian cookie is eggless, with the most buttery crumble. The cookie dough is made with all-purpose flour, besan (chickpea flour), semolina, powdered sugar, cardamom powder and ghee.
What is Tahini Nankhatai?
Tahini adds a beautiful depth of flavor to the sweet shortbread variety of cookies. It adds a nutty, earthy, and buttery flavor to these nankhatai biscuits. The cardamom compliments the tahini in the nankhatais perfectly, adding a beautiful scent to the cookies. The tahini cookies are a hit!!!
Can we make them Vegan?
You can substitute ghee with vegan butter or coconut oil to make these cookies vegan!!!
Tips to Make Them
You have to use the measuring cups and spoons to make this recipe. As long as you follow the recipe properly, the cookies will taste utterly buttery delicious. Use vegan butter or coconut oil to make these cookies vegan. Although in my opinion, the vegan butter will taste the best.
If you are not vegan, try using ghee as it is used traditionally to make this recipe. But if you don’t have ghee, use unsalted butter, they will come out delicious. I like to powder the sugar at home for this recipe because the confectioner’s sugar can have cornstarch added to it. I add ghee/ butter at room temperature, so the consistency is usually semi-solid.
Ingredients to Make the Eggless Cookies
Castor Sugar - I use castor sugar and grind it in a spice blender to make it powdered sugar. I do this because sometimes store-bought sugar may have cornstarch present in it. If you want to add jaggery powder, you can add it. Although, it can make the cookies have a darker color. Ghee - I am using ghee at room temperature in the recipe because you want the ghee to make it crumbly. If you use melted ghee, you will have to keep your cookie dough in the refrigerator. And you don’t want to use solidified ghee, because it won’t mix well with the wet ingredients.
Baking Soda - It is the rising agent in this recipe. Tahini - Tahini is the star ingredient of this recipe. Tahini is a sesame seeds paste, which adds a beautiful earthy, nutty, and buttery flavor. All-Purpose Flour - The traditional nankhatai recipe uses all-purpose flour (maida), but you can substitute it with whole wheat flour. Besan - Chickpea flour aka besan is also used in this recipe. It not only adds a beautiful texture to the cookies but also, adds a beautiful nutty aroma to it. Sesame Seeds- Since we are making Tahini Nankhatai, I wanted to garnish the cookie with its star ingredient. Jeweled with beautiful sesame seeds, these cookies look stunning!!!
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