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    Home » Vegan Recipes

    Wheat Nankhatai | Nankhatai Recipe With Wheat Flour

    Published: Oct 9, 2016 · Modified: Jul 12, 2022 by Kushi with 34 Comments . Article has 1669 words. About 9 minutes to read this article.

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Wheat Nankhatai or Atta Nankhatai is a delicious, melt-in-mouth eggless cookie or shortbread biscuit with a delicate nutty flavor prepared using just 5 basic ingredients in less than 30 minutes.

    These cookies are perfect accompaniments for any tea party, and can also be given as a personalized gift to your family and friends during Diwali as mithai box or Christmas holidays or any time of the year 🙂

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    Wish you all happy and prosperous Diwali, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Happy Holidays.
    What Diwali means? How is Diwali celebrated?

    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 a new dress and eat lot of snacks and sweets at home, and participate in all festive celebrations.

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    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, burning 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 not to pollute our environment), and eating lots of sweets and snacks.

    How to make best nankhatai from scratch, Indian festival recipes, Mithai for holidays, Eggless baking, nankhatai without besan

    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, maybe sweets (mithai) or savory snacks (namkeen) 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 traditional nankhatai, many readers requested me to post a cookie recipe using wheat flour (atta). My family, especially 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 a 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.

    Wheat nankhatai, indian cookies, easy nankhatai recipe, eggless baking, butter cookies, pecan sandies, vegan cookies, diwali, navratri, christmas recipes

    Preparation time: 1 hour
    Serves: 15 Nankhatai

    Ingredients for Wheat Nankhatai

    Whole wheat flour / Atta – 1 ½ cup
    Vegetable shortening / Vanaspati dalda or Ghee - ⅔ cup
    Baking soda – ¾ tsp
    Sugar – ¾ cup
    Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
    Salt – a pinch (optional)
    Almonds - for topping (optional)

    How to make wheat nankhatai or Atta Nakhatai

    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 the refrigerator for atleast 30 minutes.

    Step II

    • Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F / 148 degrees 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 a baking tray lined with parchment paper or on a silicone mat.
    • Bake these cookies for about 18 to 22 minutes or until the 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 a cup of coffee/tea and enjoy.
    Tips to make perfect nankhatai:
    • In the USA, fine granulated sugar is readily available in the market. In India, the sugar which we use at home is coarse, so grind it in the mixer to get it to powdered form before adding it to form the nankhatai dough. This powdered sugar is different from confectioner's sugar. 
    • Preheat the microwave oven to convection mode 180 degrees C. Then bake nankhatais for 15-20 mins or until it’s done.
    • You can also check out my variations to nankhatai like traditional Nankhatai, Ragi Nankhatai.
    • The baking time of the cookie may vary depending on the size of the cookie and the oven. You might feel the cookies are still soft. But remove it 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 are going to break apart.
    • See that your dough is not too dry. Add a teaspoon of milk (or more) to increase the moisture.
    • For those who want to use ghee, make sure you use them in semi-solid state or even use butter at room temperature (semi-solid state). The texture of cookies and the time for baking may vary accordingly. I have tried making it with ghee and dalda, and both taste great!
    • To make these cookies vegan, use dalda or vegetable shortening and non-vegan use ghee or brown butter

    I have shared all my tips and tricks, how to get the perfect nankhatai and other important tips in this traditional nankhatai post. So make sure to check it out!

    Don’t Miss To Check Out My Collection Of Sweet And Dessert Recipes For This Festival Season.
    • Diwali snacks recipes
    • Diwali sweets recipe
    • Fasting or Vrat recipes

    Follow me on Instagram and tag me with #cookwithkushi so that I get a chance to see all the recipes you make and give it a  ♥.

    Detailed recipe for Whole Wheat Nankhatai or Atta Nankhatai
    WHOLE WHEAT NANKHATAI | ATTA NANKHATAI | BUTTER COOKIES | INDIAN MITHAI SWEETS AND DESSERTS FOR FESTIVALS LIKE DIEALI, NAVRATRI AND HOLIDAYS

    Whole Wheat Nankhatai | Atta Nankhatai

    Kushi
    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, mithai for festivals like Diwali, Navratri, Eid, Ramzan, and can also be given as a personalized gift to your family and friends during Christmas holidays or any time of the year  
    5 from 12 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 10 mins
    Cook Time 20 mins
    Total Time 30 mins
    Course Desserts, snacks, sweets
    Cuisine Indian, north indian, South Indian
    Servings 15
    Calories 155 kcal

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 ½ cups Whole wheat flour or Atta
    • ⅔ cup Ghee or Vegetable shortening or Vanaspati Dalda for vegan version
    • ¾ teaspoon Baking soda
    • ¾ cup Sugar , fine granulated or powdered. Check tips.
    • ½ teaspoon Cardamom powder
    • ⅛ teaspoon Salt optional
    • 15 Almond or Badam for garnish, optional

    Instructions
     

    Step I

    • In a bowl, combine flour, ghee or shortening, baking soda, sugar, cardamom powder, and salt to form a dough. Note that I have not added any water while forming the dough.
      1 ½ cups Whole wheat flour, ⅔ cup Ghee, ¾ teaspoon Baking soda, ¾ cup Sugar, ½ teaspoon Cardamom powder, ⅛ teaspoon Salt
    • Vegetable shortening or ghee binds everything together.
    • Cover it and keep it aside for atleast 30 minutes. This cookie dough is so tasty, make sure not to finish it off before putting it to bake 🙂

    Step II

    • Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F / 148 degrees C.
    • Form golf size balls from the dough and press to flatten it slightly. Place an almond at the center of each nankhatai.
      15 Almond
    • Keep it in greased pan or baking tray lined with parchment paper or on a silicone mat.
    • Bake these cookies for about 18 to 22 minutes or until the 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.

    Notes

    • In USA, fine granulated sugar is readily available in market. In India, sugar which we use at home is coarse, so grind it in mixer to get it to powdered form before adding it to form the nankhatai dough. This powdered sugar is different from confectioners sugar. 
    • Preheat the microwave oven to convection mode 180 degree c. Then bake nankhatais for 15-20 mins or until it’s done.
    • You can also check out my variations to nankhatai like traditional Nankhatai, Ragi Nankhatai 
    • Baking time of the cookie may vary depending on the size of the cookie 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 teaspoon of milk (or more) to increase the moisture.
    • For those who want to use ghee, make sure you use them in semi solid state or even use butter at room temperature (semi solid state). The texture of cookies and time for baking may vary accordingly. I have tried making it with ghee and dalda and both tastes great!
    • To make these cookies vegan use dalda and non vegans use ghee or brown butter

    Nutrition

    Calories: 155kcalCarbohydrates: 19gProtein: 2gFat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 74mgPotassium: 21mgFiber: 1gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 0.01IUVitamin C: 0.01mgCalcium: 11mgIron: 0.3mg
    Keyword atta, atta nankhatai, diwali food, Diwali Recipes, eid, holi, holiday cookies, Mithai, nankhatai in microwave, narayan katar, ram navami, ramzan, vegan cookies, virtual christmas, virtual diwali, whole wheat flour
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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    ***Click below to save it on Pinterest***

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Kavita

      August 03, 2018 at 11:00 pm

      5 stars
      It tastes yummm when you use home made ghee instead of vegetable shortening/vanaspati.. Must try once.

      Reply
      • Kushi

        August 03, 2018 at 11:15 pm

        Sure. Thank you so much for letting me know. Do share your Nankhatai pics on Instagram and tag us!

        Reply
      • Kushi

        November 08, 2020 at 5:53 am

        Agree. I make it both the ways these days. My family just loves it.

        Reply
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