Nan Khatai/Indian Eggless cookies...lets celebrate!!!

Nan Khatai..the famous Indian Eggless Cookies...the ones we used to use to buy from the street vendor while growing up…home versions cannot replicate that exact taste even if you go ahead and try every single version that is available on the net...using only or a mix of all purpose flour, semolina, whole wheat flour, chickpea flour…this one’s my sister’s recipe and the one we all love the most…

Update: ** pushed the publish button and realised…this needs to be a celebratory post…I celebrated my 50^th post (here) the only celebratory post on the blog so far, with sissy’s recipe and now this one to ‘celebrate’ more than 2,00,000 views again with her recipe…and she says I never ever thank her!! I mean what else am I supposed to do?? bow to the queen?? Well, that won’t ever happen!!! A hug, maybe and she better be happy with that!!!

So here we are...more than a year later with 160 plus posts, 2,00,000 plus views, 600 plus facebook likes…Thank you to each and everyone who has come visiting here and on facebook…thank you leaving comments, for pressing that ‘like’ button…and a special thank you to those who have tried the recipes…I had my doubts and never thought I would last this long with this blog thingy…so thank you and please do stick around and see if we can last another year TOGETHER J

Nan Khatai/ Indian Eggless Cookies

Ingredients:

• Atta/Whole wheat flour, 1 cup
• Maida/Regular AP flour, 1 cup
• Besan/Chickpea flour, 1 cup
• Ghee, softened and squishy but not melted,1 cup (can substitute with unsalted butter if you must)
• Castor  sugar, 1 cup
• Baking Soda, level ½  tsp
• Baking powder, level 1 tsp
• Salt, a pinch
• Cardamom seeds, from 3-4 pods, crushed (optional, refer to Notes section below)
• Topping (optional, refer to Notes section below)

Instructions:

Sieve all the three flours with salt, baking soda and powder together. Keep aside.

In a large bowl, using a spatula gently cream ghee and sugar till light and creamy.

Add in the flavoring of your choice.

Add the flour mix, in parts to the ghee mix. Gently knead into a soft smooth dough. Don't overwork it, we just want it to come together into a ball. 

If the dough is too dry to come together, you can add 2-3 tsp more of ghee or milk. A spoonful at a time, till it comes together.
If the dough seems too oily if the ghee/butter has melted too much, just refrigerate the dough for about 15 minutes.. 

Take spoonfuls of the dough and roll them between your palms into even sized smooth balls with no cracks.  (I use a teaspoon measure and scrape way the excess – this ensures that all Khatais are the same size and bake evenly )

Press them between your palms lightly to make them a little flat and even.

Place them, well spaced, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil. Add/sprinkle your choice of topping. Bake on the middle rack in a  preheated oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes.

Watch closely – they should just turn a a shade or two darker.

The Khatais will be soft to touch and crumbly but they will harden a bit when cooled. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool completely.

(Makes about 40 Khatais using teaspoon measures of dough)

Notes: 

• We love the smell of roasted chickpea flour that these Khatais have and don’t add any flavorings. But, here are a few flavoring options you can use:

Crushed cardamom seeds/ powder
Crushed fennel seeds/powder
Cinnamon powder
Nutmeg powder
Cloves powder
Saffron strands
Vanilla essence

• Again, no topping for us but a couple of topping options are:

Pistachios/Almonds/Cashews – whole/halved/lightly crushed

Fennel seeds plus crushed fennel powder