WHEAT NANKHATAI

Wheat Nankhatai is a delicious, melt in mouth cookie or shortbread biscuit with a delicate nutty flavor. These cookies are perfect accompaniments for any tea party, and can also be given as a personalized gift to your family and friends during holidays or anytime of the year 🙂 The recipe is vegan.

After 9 days for Navratri, the next festival I am super excited about is Diwali 🙂 I love the last 3 months of the year as different festivals and occasions are celebrated everywhere and the weather starts getting pleasant, and the Fall color mesmerizes me every single year. My parents and in laws keep telling me how Diwali was super exciting for them when they were young. It was during Diwali that they got a chance to buy new dress and eat lot of snacks and sweets at home, and participate in all festive celebrations. It was so difficult during their times that they were allowed to buy a pair of dress only twice a year and eat special snacks and sweets only during festivals and occasions. Our generation on the other hand has been fortunate to have access to the best the world has to offer, and personally I have no one but my parents to thank for – it was because of their sacrifices I was able to have a comfortable and enriching childhood.

Diwali for me means attending different poojas, to burn crackers/fireworks (which I completely stopped when I was in 6th grade – since then I have been making sure to the best of my ability no to pollute our environment)  and to eat lots of sweets and snacks.

It is quite customary to offer an assortment of sweets and snacks to all guests who visit home or business during this festival. While these days many buy and stock store-bought snacks and sweets for Diwali for convenience, I am sure most of you will agree that they do not taste as good as their homemade counterparts. Homemade goodies are prepared with love and care, and in my opinion these two ingredients make homemade delicacies extra special.

After trying out spicy butter biscuits, dry fruit cookies and nankhatai, many readers requested me to post a cookie recipe using wheat flour (atta). My family, specially my husband loves nankhatai and this is also a popular sweet prepared during festivals. so I decided to make a new version of it using whole wheat flour so that you guys can also try a batch in advance and then again during the festival 🙂 The flavor of the cookies was really much better than traditional nankhatai. It was crumblier and healthy too. These Nankhatai cookies are super easy to make at home. It requires few simple ingredients and takes very little time to prepare. The final outcome is so good, that I bet you cannot stop after eating one.

This is also called narayan katar in konkani and is similar to pecan sandies available here in the United States.

Preparation time : 1 hour
Serves : 15 Nankhatai

Steps to prepare Wheat Nankhatai

Step I

• In a bowl combine flour, shortening, soda, sugar, cardamom powder and salt to form a dough.
• Note that I have not added any water while forming the dough. Vegetable shortening binds everything together.
• Cover it and keep it in refrigerator for atleast 30 minutes.

Step II

• Preheat the oven for 300 degree F / 148 degree C.
• Form golf size balls from the dough and press to flatten it slightly. Place an almond at the center of each nankhatai.
• Keep it in baking tray lined with parchment paper or on a silicone mat.
• Bake these cookies for about 18 to 22 minutes or until bottom turns golden brown in color. (Check the tip section)
• Allow it to cool down for about 10 – 15 minutes – cookies will crisp up upon cooling.
• Wheat Nankhatai is now ready. Serve with cup of coffee / tea and enjoy.

Tip:

• You can also bake this in microwave on a convection mode.
• Baking time of the cookie may vary depending on the size and the oven. You might feel the cookies are still soft. But remove when you see golden brown color at the bottom.
• Do not remove the cookies from the baking pan till it cools down completely else these cookies going to break apart.
• See that your dough is not too dry. Add a tsp of milk (or more) to increase the moisture.

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