Hazelnut Biscuits / Hazelnut Nankhatai

During the course of the day, sometimes I feel like having or making something (forgive the cliche)… different. This is largely the outcome of one’s moods or just to stock up on some munchies at home. On one weekend, I wanted biscuits for my cardamom flavoured tea – and the standard biscuits would not do. Then an idea went off in my head – why not make Nankhatais! These are eggless biscuits which are soft with just the right amount of bite and perfect for tea time. They are typically made using cardamom and cashew. Since I was already making cardamom tea, I decided to use another version to complement the tea. Rooting around my pantry revealed some hazelnuts. Perfect! This would go extremely well with the cardamom in the tea and add great taste to the biscuits. I baked two batches – one using all purpose flour (APF) and the other was with whole wheat flour. The APF version is tastier but the wheat version is healthier. So you can choose the route that you wish to take but either way you will enjoy these biscuits.

Recipe Details :
Makes: 10 biscuits
Time: 30 mins
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients :

• 1 cup APF / whole wheat flour
• 5 tbsp ground hazelnuts
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup melted ghee
• 1/2 cup finely ground sugar
• A pinch of salt (optional)

• In a mixer, pulse the hazelnuts to a fine mixture and keep it aside.
• If you are using table sugar, use the mixer to make it a fine powder. Alternately, use powdered sugar.
• Take the ghee in a small bowl and melt it on a low flame. Add the finely ground sugar to the ghee at this stage. Take it off the flame when the ghee is fully melted. Whisk the ghee and sugar together till it forms a smooth and creamy mixture.
• Sift the flour and baking soda in a separate bowl. Add the ground hazelnut mixture and a pinch of salt to this bowl and mix well.
• Add the ghee and sugar mixture to the flour mixture and knead it into a smooth dough. If required, use some ghee while kneading to bind the flour. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and allow it to rest for 30 mins.
• Preheat the oven to 160 C (APF) or 130 C (whole wheat).
• Make rounds from the dough and flatten slightly. Place them on the baking pan giving adequate distance between two biscuits. Press a piece of hazelnut at the center of each biscuit for visual appeal.
• Bake for 10 – 12 mins but keep checking in 5 min intervals so that the biscuits do not brown or get too hard. Once done, allow them to cool for 15 mins and then serve.

Tips :

• The sugar will take some time to dissolve in ghee. The finer the sugar, the faster it dissolves.
• If you are looking to make biscuits from a dessert perspective, then addition of salt is not required. As a tea time snack, adding a little pinch of salt would help the taste.