Chocolate nankhatai is a twist on the traditional shortbread biscuits originating in India. This recipe lets you tryout making your own homemade traditional nankhatai, chocolate nankhatai or a fun mixed dough pinwheel nankhatai.
Last weekend, my mom offered me some freshly baked nankhatai. She had made two versions, one that tasted fairly plain and the other with rose essence, cardamom and nutmeg spices.
Then she took out a tin of cocoa powder (most likely left there by me or sibling) and asked me what she can do with it. I'm not sure if she was really asking me or if it was just her way of saying- "hey take this thing out of my kitchen, I'll never use it".
I had been racking my brain on what to make for Raksha Bandhan this year and then it hit me- chocolate nankhatai! Nankhatai is an Indian cookie that is eggless, light, airy and very buttery. For those of you that are not aware, Raksha Bandhan is a holiday celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters.
I wanted to make naan khatai pinwheel cookies with chocolate swirls. The only problem was that I kept thinking the dough was too crumbly while I was making it. So I made regular naan khatai spiced with nutmeg, cardamom, and vanilla. Then I made a chocolate dough of the same type.
I ended up making 4 different variations of cookies. For the third one, I combined the regular dough into the center of the chocolate dough. On the last one, I gave the swirl a try and it actually worked!
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Chocolate Nankhatai
Chocolate nankhatai is a twist on the traditional shortbread biscuits originating in India. This recipe lets you tryout making your own homemade traditional nankhatai, chocolate nankhatai or a fun mixed dough pinwheel nankhatai.
Ingredients
For the regular dough
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups wholewheat flour
- ¼ cup fine sooji or semolina flour
- 3 teaspoon cardamom
- 2 teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tsp double acting baking powder
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup ghee or clarified butter
- 1 ⅜ cup sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
For the chocolate dough
- 1 ¼ cups of all purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups whole l wheat flour
- ¼ cup fine sooji or semolina flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- 3 teaspoon cardamom
- 2 teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tsp double acting baking powder
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup ghee or clarified butter
- 1 ⅜ cup sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
For the regular dough
- In a large bowl, sift together the three flours, cardamom, nutmeg, salt, and baking powder. In an electric mixer, beat the butter, ghee, and sugar until white and fluffy. Stir in the vanilla. On low speed, add the dry mixture and mix until combined.
For the chocolate dough
- In a large bowl, sift together the three flours, cocoa powder, cardamom, nutmeg, salt, and baking powder. In an electric mixer, beat the butter, ghee, and sugar until white and fluffy. Stir in the vanilla. On low speed, add the dry mixture and mix until combined.
To make the cookies
- Divide the doughs according to the type of cookie you want to make. For regular cookies and chocolate cookies, measure out 20g balls of dough and round out using your hands and flatten slightly. Press in a pistachio or almond for garnish.
- For the mixed cookies, make slightly smaller balls of chocolate dough. Take a small amount of regular dough and press into the center of the chocolate dough, flattening slightly. (I garnished mine with cocoa nibs.)
- For the pinwheel cookies, roll out the regular dough onto parchment paper to about ¼ inch thickness. Similarly roll out the chocolate dough onto parchment. (If it is really sticky, chill the dough for 30 minutes)
- Transfer the chocolate dough on top of the regular dough by flipping it on top and carefully peeling away the parchment. Slowly roll the doughs together into a tight log. Do this by pushing on the parchment not the dough. Chill the entire log for at least an hour. Slice the log into ¼ inch pieces. reshape as needed.
- All cookies should be chilled after shaping and prior to baking for at least an hour. Set the oven to 275°F. Bake the cookies for 30 minutes or until barely golden. Turn off the oven and let them cool for a bit in the warm oven.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 80 Serving Size: 1 cookieAmount Per Serving: Calories: 138Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 20mgSodium: 28mgCarbohydrates: 16gFiber: 1gSugar: 7gProtein: 1g
This nutrition information is only an approximate provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. Information comes from Nutritionix, an automated nutrition calculator.
Paula says
Beautiful cookies, all of them! I love that you have a special day celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters. Wonderful!
Sarah@buttered-up says
I've never seen these or had them before and they look amazing. I can smell the spices melding with the cocoa already. Beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
anita menon says
Each one of them looks so good. Beautiful hai Urvasheeji.
BOokmarked
calcuttachow says
Urvashee, I love your recipes and pictures! I'm hoping to try lots of them out. Would love to meet up sometime.
Tadka Pasta says
Those are real works of art. How nice that you decided to go with a chocolate theme, lovely story!
Vasanti says
Your naan khatais are gorgeous and so is your blog! Gonna try making them soon :)
Rita says
Wow these are so amazing. Nan Khatai are my favorites! Thanks for sharing.
javeria says
Wow ! Thanks for sharing .... I used to make plain naan khatai for sale and when I made them your choc. flavor .. i got appreciation from every one ...... these are really nice and a
different one.... Thanks for sharing .......