I wanted to try Baking for a long long time and finally ventured into it, when my new Sharp Convection oven finally came into my life (read house). The first thing that i tried baking were the traditional nankhatai's, the one's as seen in my chilhood, my mom and my elder sis baking, and eventually its aroma filling the whole house. And voila, my first attempt at baking was succesful. The recipe is indeed very simple and easy. My mom used to make a Small Cross in between and then press a cubed red cherry nut, which i didn't had,so i just pressed some choco chip instead, giving it a more cookie like look...
For others who do not know about Nankhatai, can say its a eggless indian biscuit.
Ingredients:
Unsalted Butter –1/2 cup,at room temperature
Powdered Sugar 1/2 cup
All Purpose Flour (Maida) 1 cup
Nutmeg Powder 1/4 tsp
Cardamom Powder 1/4 tsp
Baking Powder 1/4 tsp
Salt 1/8 tsp
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degress F.
Combine softened butter and sugar slowly until mixture is light and creamy.
Then add Nutmeg Powder and Cardamom Powder and mix well.
In a separate bowl, sift all purpose flour with baking powder and salt and then slowly
combine flour mixture (little at a time) with butter mixture to form a soft dough.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and leave for 15-20 minutes.
Knead dough once again and divide into 12 portions of the size of tennis ball and roll without any cracks.
Press lightly between the palms, can put a small cross in the centre and then press choco chips, or cherry or chopped almonds and pistachios
Put Nan khatai on a lightly greased cookie sheet leaving enough space between dough balls and
bake on the middle rack for 20-25 minutes.
Remove from oven and let it cool completely before storing in an air tight container at room temperature.
Tips:
Nankhatai is meant to be white, so do not let it get brown and adjust the time of baking.
If you don't have unsalted butter,you can used any salted one like amul butter, and omit addition of salt.
You can also omit the addition of salt altogether.
