Atta nankhatai recipe | Easiest cookies.

Nankhatai is an Indian shortbread cookie flavoured with cardamom. These eggless cookies melt in the mouth!

This atta nankhatai recipe tastes SO close to it’s more popular cousin prepared using maida(all purpose flour). It is also super easy and quick to make with no special technique involved. Hard to go wrong with these!

Growing up, Indian shortbread cookies similar to nankhatai were the only kind of cookies we knew. The chewy cookies from the west were unheard of. To this day, these shortbread cookies remain the most popular cookies in India. They come in various flavours, each one a little different than the other but the texture of all these cookies is very similar. They are crumbly, melt in your mouth deliciousness!

While nankhatai at your local bakery may not necessarily be made with the best of ingredients, by making them at home, you can be in complete control!

What is a shortbread cookie?

Shortbread cookies are prepared using flour, fat and sugar. No leavening agents! So NO baking soda or baking powder. No eggs. They are crumbly rather than chewy. This is because they have a higher amount of fat coating the flour which prevents the formation of gluten. Not using other liquids like milk also reduces the formation of gluten resulting in soft, crumbly, melt in your mouth cookies.

Tips for perfect Atta nankhatai

Weigh the ingredients

Weighing the ingredients will ensure the same results every time. Measuring by cups can be inconsistent. You can test this out yourself. If flour is sieved and airy, you will see that you need less flour to fill your cup.

If you are measuring in cups, I would recommend sieving the ingredients first and then measuring it. Going by feel will help you see if the dough has come together just right. More about adjusting by feel in Troubleshooting below.

Room temp ghee VS melted ghee

I have tested this recipe using both room temperature ghee(grainy) and melted ghee and they both work great! I don’t see any major difference in texture. Dough needs to be chilled after shaping regardless of the ghee used.

• If using room temp ghee, ghee and sugar can be creamed until fluffy.
• If using melted ghee, just mix all the ingredients together and form a dough. Easy-peasy!
• You could also make them using melted butter instead of ghee.

Mixing technique

Do not knead the dough, we do not want any major gluten formation. Combine everything together until it forms a dough.

Chill the dough

Chilling the dough in the refrigerator, solidifies the ghee. As the cookies bake, the ghee slowly melts which prevents the cookies from spreading too much. I chill the dough after shaping individual cookies. This makes the job super easy.

Baking

• Remove cookies from the oven when the bottom turns golden.
• The cookies will still be very soft to touch and that is completely normal, doesn’t mean they are under baked! They will continue to cook and firm up as they cool.
• Do not try to remove them from the pan right out of the oven, as they will crumble.
• Allow them to cool on the baking sheet and they will firm up.

Troubleshooting

This recipe is very forgiving, so this section is going to be short. I don’t think you will encounter these problems if measuring by weight, but if not, here you go! 🙂

If mixture feels dry.

Add melted ghee one teaspoon at a time and check if the mixture comes together. Milk can be added too, I recommend using ghee for best results.

If mixture feels too wet.

If the dough is too wet, you can add atta one teaspoon at a time and mix it into the dough. You should be able to form individual cookie balls and flatten them slightly.

Substitutions and changes

All you really need to make nankhatai is flour, ghee and powdered sugar. Chickpea flour(besan) adds a unique flavour, semolina adds crunch and texture, almond flour helps in reducing the strong taste of atta.

Regular whole wheat flour instead of Atta

Atta is stone ground Indian whole wheat flour. Being finely ground, it is similar to whole wheat pastry flour. Instead of Atta, use whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour.

All purpose flour/maida instead of Atta

If using maida(all purpose flour), it is less likely that you will need the extra two tablespoons of ghee.

Using atta instead of almond flour.

If not using almond flour, you may need more liquid to make the dough just right. To do that add more melted ghee. Add one teaspoon at a time and check if it is coming together.

Almond flour

Almond meal can be used instead too. If almond flour is not available, make your own almond meal by pulsing raw almonds in a blender or a powerful food processor. Blend in pulses so that the almonds do not release their oils. If you notice almonds releasing their oils, stop blending and run the powder through a sieve. If bigger chunks of almonds are still left, run it through the processor again.

Ghee

Melted butter can be used instead of Ghee. The flavour would ever so slightly change.

Making cookie dough ahead.

The dough can be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen. Shape individual cookie balls, slightly flatten them and refrigerate or freeze the dough in an airtight container. The cookies can be baked right out of the freezer, there is no need to thaw. I haven’t had the need to change the baking time for the frozen dough. They are ready for me in 15 minutes.

Also check out

• This supremely creamy Kesar badam rice kheer recipe. So good!
• Learn how to make the softest modaka and kadubu using rice instead of rice flour.