These Indian Christmas cookies are eggless pinwheel nankhatai, spiced with cardamom and nutmeg and finished with gold sugar.
Nankhatai are traditional Indian shortbread cookies made with flour, sugar and butter and are completely eggless. They are spiced with cardamom and nutmeg and are a popular tea time treat.
They are more often made during Diwali, but they work just as well on a Christmas cookie platter. That crossover is what makes them an easy Indian Christmas cookie.
For this version I turn mine into a pinwheel. I roll red, green, and plain dough together, chill and slice the log, and sprinkle the edges with gold sugar before they bake.
What is nankhatai?
Nankhatai is a classic Indian shortbread. The cookies are a staple of Indian bakeries and tea shops. They are eggless, lightly spiced, and made to melt in your mouth.
Mine use a mix of all purpose flour, atta, and sooji, with both butter and ghee. For a different flavor from the same base, you might also like my chocolate nankhatai.
Tips for making pinwheel cookies
Roll cookie dough colors separately between two sheets of parchment. This keeps the dough from sticking to your rolling pin! Then, remove the top parchment off of one color and flip it on top of the other one.
Repeat with third dough. Peel away the top parchment and trim one of the long edges to create a straight edge.
Start rolling the dough as tight as you can from the straight edge. Go slowly and use your parchment paper to help you push it nice and tight! Trim it again to create a straight seam.
Wrap it tightly and chill it for at least an hour. This is important to getting nice round cookies when you slice it.
Slice your log with a large sharp chef's knife. If it's not holding shape, you need to chill it longer. If it's just a little misshapen, you can adjust it on your baking sheet with your hands.
Make these Christmas nankhatai cookies extra festive by adding sugar sprinkles before you bake. All you have to do is brush the area you want the sprinkles to stick to with some corn syrup and dip your sugar cookie in the sprinkles.
Bake them off as instructed below and enjoy your beautiful Christmas nankhatai cookies! For another twist on traditional nankhatai cookies, you may also want to check out my chocolate nankhatai cookies.
Make ahead and storage
These are easy to make ahead. Wrap the dough log tightly and freeze it for up to a month.Once baked, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
More Indian sweets for your holiday table
Putting together an Indian sweets spread for the holidays? These rangoli cookies are another festive, decorated cookie, ghughra (Gujarati gujiya) are a classic fried Diwali sweet, and cardamom chocolate truffles make an easy edible gift.
Not ready to make these Christmas nankhatai cookies just yet? PIN it now and SAVE it for later!
More winter holiday cookies
- Cardamom Cookies
- Gingersnap Cookies
- White Chocolate Peppermint Mocha Cookies
- Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
This recipe was originally published for The Hindustan Times 12/22/2011 Delhi city supplement. You can read more about it in my post here.
Christmas Nankhatai Cookies
A unique and pretty twist on traditional Indian shortbread cookies, these Indian Christmas cookies are colorful, festive, and fun to make.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour, (atta)
- ¼ cup semolina flour, (fine sooji)
- 3 teaspoon cardamom
- 2 teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tsp baking powder, (double acting)
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup ghee
- 1 ⅜ cup sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- Red and green food gel dye
- Decorative sugar
- corn syrup (for sticking decorative sugar)
Instructions
- 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 just combined. Divide the dough evenly by weight into three parts and stir in two-three drops of red dye to one batch and 2-3 drops of green to another.
- Roll out each dough separately between two sheets of parchment or wax paper to about ⅛-1/4 inch thickness. Transfer the plain dough on top of the green dough by flipping it on top. Roll over it again and carefully peel away the parchment. Repeat the process by placing the red dough over the plain dough.
- Trim one of the long edges into a straight line. Slowly roll the layers together on the long edge into a tight log.
- Roll it with the parchment paper tightening the log as you go but do not roll the paper into the log. Trim when you get to the end. Rewrap with the paper to seal the edge and tighten the log. Chill the entire paper wrapped log for at least an hour.
- Slice the log into ¼ inch pieces. Reshape as needed and lay them on a baking sheet with at least two inches between cookies. All cookies should be chilled after shaping and prior to baking for at least an hour. Set the oven to 275°F.
- Brush the part you wish to decorate with sugar lightly with some corn syrup, dip into sugar, and shake off excess. Bake the cookies for 30 minutes or until barely golden. Cool completely.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 40 Serving Size: 1 cookieAmount Per Serving: Calories: 123Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 19mgSodium: 28mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 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.
Sandy says
I make a lot of cookies and like them although this cookie really excited me! Wonderful flavors. This is going into my Christmas gift bags!
Urvashee says
Wonderful! Thanks Sandy. Happy baking!