Almond Cookies (Eggless Nankhatai)
Cookies are a top-rated snack food, and every household, especially with kids, is bound to have a jar filled with cookies. One such type of cookie famous in India is called "Nankhatai". It can be made salty and spicy, or sweet and soft. It is best enjoyed with tea, but beleive me, these tiny tots are so tasty and mouth-watering your hand would reach out for them any time of the day! Here's a recipe for Almond Cookies or Eggless Nankhatai which I adapted from my sister-in-law's version. It does not use eggs, yet is soft and chewy. Her kids love these cookies, so I'm sure it'll be a hit with your kids too!!Ingredients
2 cups All-purpose flour (Maida)
1 cup powdered sugar (or adjust to taste)
1/2 cup butter or ghee (at room temp, or melted)
2 tbsp baking powder
3 tbsp milk powder
12-15 pieces of almonds - slit in halves, skin removed (you can even use peanuts)
4 tsp almond essence (you can use vanilla if almond is not available)
Cookie cutter (optional)
Method
Heat the oven to 350° F. Lightly coat a large baking tray with butter and dust with all-purpose flour and set aside.
Sift the flour, baking powder, and milk powder in a mixing bowl. Beat the butter and sugar in a separate bowl till it is light and fluffy. Fold in the flour mixture into this and whisk again, in the same direction until it is smooth. Finally add the almond or vanilla essence. Remember, this will not be as liquid as your cake dough. Cookie dough is supposed to be firmer so that it can easily form shapes.
Now take some oil and grease your plams. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, then flatten the dough and form a circular shape with your palms. Keep pressing the edges to form a smooth cookie. Alternately, you can use a cookie cutter or mould if you are more comfortable with it. Pinch a small almond in the center of the cookie, and add the almond or peanut into it. Make all the nankhatais in this way and arrange on the baking tray, at least 1-2 inches apart. Bake them for 10-15 mins, or until done. Do not overbake as that would make them hard and burnt!
Remove from the oven, let them cool down to room temperature, then store them in an air-tight container. You can even refrigerate them for a longer period. Just warm them in the microwave for 10 secs before serving. Savour these simple and delicious almond cookies or nankhatai as it melts in your mouth!!
More Cookie Recipes:
Peppermint and Vanilla Butter Cookies
Fat and Chewy Chocolate-Chip Cookies
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26 comments :
I tasted a similar recipe at my friend's house. They are rich and tasty, but not very sweet. Just the way I like it :)
With the almond on top, they look quite pretty.
waah, India ki yaad aa gayi...brilliantly simple and sweet:)
I've had these and they are nice :)
Lovely, the almond seems to add a crunchy touch.
I am planning to make this from a long long time but lil scared about adding the butter and ghee part. lot of cals. but going to try this when my parents are around.
Sharmi, I know wht you mean!! we are ahving a huge calorie intake thse days (our parents are here:)) and I really have to start a strict diet once they leave!!:)
ooh! mansi..i love nankhatais they are soo light..it is dangerous for me to be around them!!
Calories, smalories!! Eat a few and be happy!:))
Looks great!
Was looking for such recipe on Nan khatai...got bored eating the one we get from Indian groceries
They look so soft n melty!
Nice recipe. Almond must have added the crunchyness to cookies.
Lovely Mansi almonds are a favourite of mine. Yummy. :)
hey mansi, I tried your recipe and the cookies came out great!! thanks so much for sharing this!! the almond flavour added so much to the taste:)
-Anjali
how many gms is a cup measure?... is it a standard cup(ie 240 ml cup)?
Anonymous - it doesn't matter what your cup size is, as long as you use the same cup for measuring all ingredients. but yes, a 240ml cup should work just fine, and that will make approx. 20 medium sized cookies I think...
Hope this helps!:)
Hi Mansi..
I tried this recipe yesterday..they came out pretty well..! I wanted to ask you how the dough should look like..coz mine was too dry..so I added some milk to make it a little wet..and then made the cookies..
Please let me know..or still better just post a pic of the dough when you make these next time..:-)
Ketki
Ketki, I'm happy you tried it and were not disappointed:)
for cookies, the dough is little hard and crumbly, all softness comes from the whipping of butter and sugar..its like "bhakhri no lot", if you know what I mean:)but adding milk was a nice trick! I'll try to post the dough pick next time:D..meanwhile, here's a nice link with pics for each stage
http://www.maxlent.com/Food/choccookie.htm
Hi Mansi Pls confirm if it is 2 tea spoons or table spoons of baking powder? It says 2 tbsp which means table i'm guessing if it were tea spoon u would write 2 tsp is'nt it? Awating ur reply.. thanks!
hey welcome - yes, it is 2 tablespoons...I used more baking powder because this recipe doesn't have eggs. so needs it to make it fluff a bit...
Alternately, you can increase butter from 1/2 cup to 1 cup, and use 1 tbsp baking powder to get a more softer cookie...
Hope this helps! let me know how it goes!
Hi Mansi!I tried your recipe.The mixture was too dry,so I added 1/4 cup more ghee to make it soft.Most of the cookies were cracked.But the taste was great...Just want to know that the ghee should be melted or at room temperature?
hi there, yes, if you use butter, then don't melt it, but if you use ghee, you should warm it just a little, not too liquid, but soft enough so it can mix with the flour and create the fluff. I'd still urge you to use butter as that gives a better texture and softness to cookies than ghee...
try using 1/2 cup milk instead of milk powder and see..someitmes the powder can be a little old which makes the cookies dry! hope this helps:)
These look mouthwatering! I guess they're a little like English shortbread cookies. I love the idea of the almond flavouring in them, and the nuts on top would be a great texture contrast. Thanks for a great recipe.
Hi!
I just wanted to ask if we could use whole wheat flour instead of maida?
r - yes, i think you can surely use wheat flour, but the cookies will be a little harder as maida has more richness, and hence gives a softer texture to the cookies. also, as wheat is darker, the cookies will look a little browner in color...unless you have a health reason for using wheat flour only, I'd say take at least half wheat and half maida so you get a little of both the worlds:) do come back to tell us how they come out!
The dough was dry, so I added water to make it bind and be more of a cookie dough. I believe this recipe is missing liquid content, as there is no way the dough is going to turn out like a cookie dough without water/milk.
hi there, just like any other cookie dough, this one does not need water or milk as it uses butter, either melted or at room temperature. using liquid will give a pastry dough, while here we need something harder. however, if you think its too hard to mold, disslove the milk powder in 3 tbsp milk...that should make the dough a little softer.
hope this helps! thanks for trying out my recipe:)
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