Best Khasta Nankhatai Recipe - 7 Secret Tips!!

I soundly believe that a good Nankhatai biscuit should be deliciously flaky, nicely crisp, lightly sweet and delectably tender; this Nankhatai recipe is exactly that.

Surprisingly easy to make with basic pantry ingredients that you already have in your kitchen, this recipe of nankhatai is definitely a keeper!!

What is Nankhatai?

Basically having all the characteristics of a shortbread biscuits, it would only be fair to call a Nan Khatai as an Indian Shortbread Cookie. The word Nankhatai is derived from Persian word Naan meaning bread and "Khatai" meaning Biscuit.

(Source: Wiki)

What makes a good Nankhatai?

So what you are looking for in this Indian biscuit is that:

1. It should be crisp from outside just like a Naan Bread and should be melt in your mouth tender and crumbly like a Biscuit (Cookie).
2. Perfect Khasta texture
3. Have an earthy, nutty and gritty flavour
4. Should melt in your mouth
5. Rich and Aromatic flavours.

With its classic delicate crumbly texture and alluring melt in mouth flavour, it is one of those Indian biscuits that is both nostalgic and tasteful. 

What is Khasta?

Khasta is a Hindi word often associated with NanKhatai which literally means light, flaky and crisp in English. The texture of this Indian Shortbread Cookie is crisp (not like a papad) but is identified to the ease with which you snap the biscuit and the flakiness is not like layers in a filo pastry or samosa but to the tender crumbs.

How to achieve the Khasta texture?

To make a good Khasta Nankhatai all you need is to make use of REAL GHEE. What I mean by real ghee is that you do not substitute it with Butter or any other shortening like Dalda.

And that is the reason why Homemade Nankhatais are WAY more tender and delicate than store bought – with a far better real flavour.

Two things:

1. Quantity: A good amount of fat in the recipe is what makes it flaky and delectable. So do not alter the measurements mentioned in the recipe. Neither do substitute it with Dalda like Bakeries.
2. Consistency: Using Room-Temperature Ghee is the key here. Note the consistency in the ingredient picture below; neither runny nor melted; perfectly granular in a semi-solid state. (If during summers you find that the room temperature ghee is liquid just put it in the fridge for a couple of minutes and it will solidify a bit)

With these two things, nothing can stop you from making the Best Khasta Nankhatai.

Ingredients Needed:

Ingredient Notes:

1. Flour: Every Indian Household uses a different measurement to make these biscuits. A combination of Maida (APF), Besan (Chickpea Flour) and Rava (Semolina) is ideal as besan is what gives the earthy and nutty flavour and semolina is responsible for the grittiness.
2. Ghee: Do not substitute ghee; the fat source with anything else. This is the key ingredient
3. Sugar: Always powder your sugar and then use in this recipe.

This Indian cookies recipe is made without any fancy ingredients, fancy equipments or tools making it the perfect recipe for any beginner to try.

Step by Step Instructions:

Step 1: Prepare the Cookie Dough

Sieve together APF, besan, rava, sugar, cardamom powder and salt in a bowl (image 1).

Add the ghee and combine everything into a dough (image 2-3).

At first it would be very crumbly, do not be tempted to add any kind of liquid here but keep forming the dough.

The warmth from your hands would melt the ghee and help bind it into a dough.

Pro tip: The dough is ready if you could pinch out a small portion, roll it in between your palms to form a crack-free smooth ball.

Step 2 - Shaping

Pinch out a small portion of dough and roll it in between your palms to form a ball shape. It should be a smooth crack free ball. (image 4)

To do so you can eye- ball or use a tbsp as a measurement to form the balls out of the dough.

Or you can use a weighing scale to be precise and make 20 balls of 24 gms each.

Using your fore-finger gently press the top of the ball to form an indentation (image 5) and place it on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

This indentation would make way for those beautiful cracks to start and your cracks won't be all over the place.

Add some chopped nuts in the cavity (image 6).

Then chill them for 20 mins.

Why chill a cookie dough?

By chilling the dough you are basically solidifying the fat which is ghee in this case. So when the cold fat enters the hot oven it takes a little longer to melt as compared to a room temperature one. This would ensure that your cookies do not go flat by spreading way too much while baking thereby retaining its shape.

This concept is applicable to all the cookie dough that calls for chilling.

If you are a baking nerd I urge you to read my detailed blog post on Science behind Chocolate Chip Cookies for more in-depth understanding.

Here is a comparison of nankhatai's that were made in 2 ways - chilling the dough and not chilling the dough.

Both are baked equally well with similar taste and texture, the only difference being their shape.

The room temperature biscuits are flatter than the chilled ones because it spread a lot while baking comparatively.

My recommendation: I chill the dough when I am making it in small batches and if I have to make for a party or on order I skip the chilling step.

Step 3 - Baking

While the dough is refrigerating, pre-heat your oven to 190°C.

Once pre-heated place an empty baking tray first and then place the baking tray with the shaped cookie dough above it.

This method is known as Double Pan Baking.

By simply placing one cookie sheet on top of other, you are actually avoiding the direct contact of heat to hit the base of the cookies and that way it would slow down the browning of the cookies especially from the bottom.

So bake in a preheated oven of 190°C for 10 to 12 mins until you get nice beautiful cracks with a pale colour on top and nice golden brown colour at the base.

Once out of the oven and while still warm, I like to top it with more slivered pistachio and rose petals for a good colour contrast but this is optional.

Cookies will definitely be soft to touch, so do not be tempted to bake it longer.

Take it out and allow it to cool in the baking pan itself for 5 to 10 mins. The cookies firm up upon cooling.

Later, transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.

This recipe is adapted from here.

Storage Instructions:

When stored the right way, these cookies would last for weeks.

And guess that is the reason why these were a typical "Diwali cookies" because we often start preparing the eateries so much in advance during festivities, right and nankhatai has always been a staple!!

Store it in an air-tight container only when it is completely cooled.

This would last for 15 to 20 days, even more but honestly this won't last that long as it is that good!!

Baker's TIPS:

1. Ingredients: Use only GHEE, combination of flours as mentioned and also powdered sugar for the perfect texture.
2. Consistency: Melted ghee might make your dough runny and with too solid ghee you would end up kneading the dough a lot more than needed. To avoid that use room-temperature semi-solid ghee that is neither melted not solid.
3. Adjustments: If you find that your dough is runny then put the mixing bowl in the fridge for few mins, the ghee would solidify a bit and you would then be able to combine it into a dough.
4. Indentation: Giving an impression on top of the shaped dough of nankhatai would ensure that the cookies have a space to expand and develop cracks while baking right at the centre rather than being all over.
5. Flavouring: Use some kind of flavouring agents like cardamom, rose or saffron as usually these are considered to be a flavourful, rich and aromatic Indian biscuits.
6. Chilling: Chilling the dough is advisable so that the cookies do not flatten out while baking but it is not compulsory.
7. Cooling: It is important to leave the cookies to cool on the baking tray itself for a while, as they generally cook and firm up as they cool. You might accidentally break them while transferring.
8. Base Recipe: This makes an excellent base recipe. You can use this to make so many unique flavours. Here is a detailed post on Flavoured Nankhatai to help you get started.

Recipe FAQ's

Certain Variations:

This Nankhatai recipe isn't just for the holidays! Being a really simple and straight forward recipe, you can play around with it to create so many variations at any time of the year.

1. Essence: Just use rose, saffron, mawa or malai essence in place of cardamom powder for a different flavour.
2. Chocolate: Add some cocoa powder to make Chocolate Nankhatai.
3. Thandai: With Holi around the corner, this is the best way to use the Thandai Masala powder. Add around 1/4 cup to your base recipe to make Thandai cookies.

I have now uploaded a new blog post where I discuss all the variations with step by step detailed recipe. It includes 9+ flavour variations. Check out the flavoured nankhatai post for the same.

Related Recipes:

1. Flavoured Nankhatai
2. Classic Shortbread Cookies
3. Jeera Biscuits
4. Tutti Fruti Biscuits

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