Nankhatai Biscuits

Nankhatai biscuits always remind me of two happy childhood memories. One memory, is that of the man with the huge metal trunk, who used to carry the huge burden, up and down the stairs of our building, ringing doorbells to see if anyone wanted to buy his goodies. He would come mostly on Sunday afternoons, his trunk filled with assorted goodies like these nankhatais, tea rusks, biscuits, cakes and much much more. We almost always urged our parents, and convinced them to buy something, anything really from the assortment of goodies.

Another memory is about the nankhatais (or Narayankatars as we call them). Amma would make at home, and my task was to take them to the nearby bakery and bring them back baked. I also had to return with freshly baked Pav bread, that would be transformed into the bread usli (upma) or for Vada Pav, the Batata (Potato) wada (almost like cutlets) that would be sandwiched into the bread with the chutney for our evening snack. How we relished every morsel, aah, my precious, fond, and delicious memories!!

Here is a nankhatai recipe that my family loves, and they think it tastes really good. It is an improvised recipe with almond flour added in, instead of only maida (all purpose flour), as it gives a nice flavor to the nankhatai biscuits.

Ingredients:

Ingredients:

1 cup maida

1 cup almond flour

3/4 cup ghee

1 cup powdered sugar (I grind my own as the store bought powdered sugar tends to have added cornstarch)

1/2 heaping tsp baking pd

1/8 tsp baking soda

1 tsp Cardamom pd

A pinch salt (optional, but I add as salt enhances the sweet flavor)

Steps:

1. Sieve the maida, sugar and baking pd, soda and keep separate.

2. Mix in the almond powder and the powdered sugar, pinch of salt and cardamom too.

3. Pour in the melted ghee gradually and mix it into a dough lightly.

4. Knead with a light hand. You can dampen your hands with room temperature water or milk to help in kneading into a ball. (Do not add water into the mix)

5. Cover and wrap the dough in a cling wrap and refrigerate for half hour.

6. Then take and knead and roll into small balls and make a light thumbprint on the cookie.

7. Place it in a greased tray or on parchment paper, and bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees F for 15 - 20 mts. Oven temperatures vary so keep an eye on the cookies.

8. When they are lightly brown, take them out of the oven.

9. Once done, cool before you touch and put in mouth lest you burn your mouth.😀

Notes:

• I improvised the original recipe which had 2 cups of maida. (All purpose flour). You can make it with only maida if you wish. Don’t knead with a hard hand.

• Make sure the ghee is melted, and at room temperature when you are mixing it into the dough.