Nankhatai with Ghee: Dough Texture and Baking Cues
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For nankhatai, use soft ghee rather than hot liquid ghee, bring the dough together gently and bake until the bases are lightly golden. The biscuits firm as they cool, so moving them too early can make them crumble.
This small batch is a useful starting point for learning your oven. Weigh the ingredients, keep the biscuit size consistent and note any changes before scaling up for a gift box.
Ingredients for about 12 small biscuits
- 100 g plain flour (maida)
- 25 g besan
- 15 g fine semolina
- 65 g soft ghee
- 55 g powdered sugar, sifted
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- A small pinch of salt
- A little chopped pistachio for garnish, optional
Allow 15 minutes to prepare, optional chilling, 15–20 minutes to bake and at least 15 minutes to cool. Contains wheat and milk-derived ghee; optional pistachios add a tree-nut allergen.
Bring the dough together
- Preheat a conventional oven to 160°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Stir the soft ghee and powdered sugar until smooth. The ghee should be pliable, not hot or oily.
- Mix the flour, besan, semolina, cardamom, baking powder and salt separately. Add to the ghee mixture.
- Fold and press gently until the mixture holds together. Avoid kneading it like bread dough. If it is too crumbly to hold after pressing, add ghee a teaspoon at a time; stop as soon as it binds.
- Divide into about 12 equal pieces. Roll gently, flatten slightly and add optional pistachio. Leave space between them on the tray.
Bake and cool
Bake on the middle rack for approximately 15–20 minutes. Begin checking early: the tops can remain pale while the bases turn light golden. A small crack on top is common. Do not wait for the entire biscuit to turn dark brown.
Leave the biscuits on the tray for around 10 minutes before moving them carefully to a rack. Judge the final texture after cooling. Oven calibration, tray colour and biscuit thickness can change the timing.
Adjust one thing at a time
Dough feels greasy: if the room is warm, chill the shaped biscuits for 15–20 minutes before baking. Biscuits spread widely: check that the ghee was not melted and the flour was weighed correctly. Biscuits break: cool longer before lifting; also check whether the dough was too dry.
Use a small trial batch when changing flour or fat. Substituting all the flour or using a different sugar changes more than flavour, so the same timing and texture are not guaranteed.
Quick questions
Can I use melted ghee?
Let it return to a soft, non-liquid consistency first for this method.
Do I need to brown the tops?
No. Use the lightly golden base and cooling behaviour as the main cues.
Can I pack them while warm?
Let them cool fully before packing to avoid trapped moisture and breakage.
Related Faimly Farm guides
- How to Measure Ghee for Recipes: Grams, Spoons and Scaling
- Festive Cooking with A2 Ghee: Sweets That Melt in Your Mouth
For a ready-made ingredient, see Faimly Farm Organica A2 Cow Ghee Bilona Churned and check current pack information.
Prepared by Faimly Farm with AI assistance, 15 October 2026. Recipe guidance has not been independently kitchen-tested; use the texture and doneness cues provided. Banner: AI-generated illustration.
For other sweet-making questions, explore Ghee in Cake Batter: Planning a Small Substitution Trial; Soft Til Ladoo with Ghee: A Ground-Sesame Binding Method.
For a soft breakfast batter rather than a biscuit dough, see Plain Pancakes with Ghee: Mix Lightly and Cook a Test Pancake.