NanKhatai(Indian Biscuits)

This is usually served with tea in India.

This is an eggless butter cookie liked equally

by young and old.

When I was small this used to be one

of my favorite summer project with my mom.

Those days we used to have the aluminum electric round oven that has a glass lid on the top.

I would check the oven every 2 minutes and see how it expands and lightly brown on the bottom. I was telling my kids this story and they wanted to do the same thing with me. Kids had so much fun making them and they were very proud of the final product.

I have made some variations in this recipe to suit kid's likings.

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 3 cups

Butter - 1 cup(room temperature)

Sugar - 1 cup

baking pdr - 2 tsp

baking soda - 1 tsp

cardamom pdr - 1tsp

cocoa pdr - 2 tbsp

pistachio (ground) - 1 cup

cashew , almond - few for decorating

Strawberry/peach jam for decorating

Method

1. In a bowl mash the butter with a spatula. Add the sugar and make it into a paste by stirring for 8-10 minutes.
2. Then add the flour,baking powder and baking soda and mix well. The dough should not be too soft.
3. Divide the dough into 3 different portions.
4. Add vanilla essence to one portion.
5. Add cocoa powder to the next portion.
6. Add cardamom and 1/2 of the ground pistachio to the 3rd portion.
7. Roll the dough into small balls. Flatten them in your palm.
8. Decorate them with dipping them in ground pistachio or cashew or jam in the center.
9. Make a small ball of white and cocoa dough. Combine them to make desired pattern.
10. Take a cookie sheet. Spread parchment paper and put the cookies 2 inches apart.
11. Preheat the oven to 310 degree fahrenheit. Bake the cookies for 25-30 minutes in the oven. Keep an eye since oven can vary. The cookie is done when you can see light brown color on the bottom of the cookie.
12. Take it out and keep it for cooling before tasting and storing.