Besan Nankhatai with Cardamom

Name: Besan Nankhatai with Cardamom
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 33 min
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: ½ cup flour; 1½ cups besan (gram flour), aka chickpea flour or garbanzo bean flour; ¼ tsp baking soda; 1 Tbsp. of semolina (optional); ½ tsp cardamom powder; Pinch nutmeg powder; 1 cup caster sugar; 1 cup ghee (you may not need all of it; add just enough to bind), aka clarified butter; Whole almonds or pistachios for topping

Description

These golden Besan Nankhatai cookies are one of those simple cookies that fill the whole kitchen with the smell of toasted gram flour and warm spices. They’re crumbly, rich from ghee, and honestly a little hard to stop eating once they cool down.

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350⁰F (180⁰C) and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, cream 1 cup ghee with 1 cup castor sugar and 1 Tbsp. of semolina (optional) using a spoon or hand mixer until it looks pale and slightly fluffy.
Stir in ½ tsp cardamom powder and a pinch of nutmeg powder so the spices are evenly mixed through the ghee mixture.
In a separate bowl, whisk together ½ cup flour, 1½ cups besan (gram flour), and ¼ tsp baking soda.
Gradually add the dry mixture into the creamed ghee and sugar mixture, mixing gently with a spoon or your hands.
Let the dough rest for about 5 minutes.
Scoop small portions of dough, about 1 tbsp each, and roll into smooth balls.
Place them on the prepared tray, leaving about 2 inches between them.
Gently flatten each ball slightly with your fingers. Press one almond or pistachio into the centre of each cookie.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes, until the bottoms are lightly golden and the tops look set but still pale.
Let the cookies cool on the tray for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
They firm up as they cool.