Indian Cookies

Indian cookies, also known as naan khatai, are vegetarian and egg-free cookies often made during the festive season of Diwali. Here is my version of these sweet, little Indian cookies.

Just like any other cookies, Indian cookies use a mixture of flour, butter, and sugar. Light ground cardamom and saffron lift up the flavor profile of these Indian cookies or biscuits. Naan khatai is almost always tiny and is baked in many flavors. There are cardamom and ghee, pistachio (what am making), coffee, rose, and even mango flavors. Each variety has its own flavor profile and a lot of sweet ingredients in it. 

My version is a pistachio version, which uses a generous amount of pistachio powder. If you want, you can use a pinch of green food coloring to make these cookies look green. I chose to use a tablespoon of matcha instead to give my cookies a vibrant greenish hue.

Because these cookies are always made during Diwali, I always make sure to make a big batch every year. If you want to learn more about our Diwali traditions, here is an article.

What makes these Indian cookies so unique is the usage of Indian ghee. When mixed with powdered sugar, the mixture becomes creamy and ready for the flour and spices.

How to make Indian cookies?

It’s a simple process. You need to follow the basic baking science here. Mix all the ingredients and bake till the cookies are done. Here is my step-by-step guide.

Ingredients of Naan Khatai:

1 cup powdered sugar or confectionery sugar, 1 cup ghee at room temperature (not liquid), 1 and ½ cups of all-purpose flour (sifted), 4 tablespoon gram flour, 2 tablespoon of fine sooji, 2 tablespoon pistachio powder or coarsely ground, 2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cardamom powder, 1 tablespoon Matcha powder or few drops of green food color(optional), 1-2 tablespoon of milk to bind the dough 

Method of Making Indian Naan Khatai:

• In a large bowl, sift all the flours and mix all the dry ingredients.
• In a separate bowl, mix sugar and ghee together till the mixture looks soft. Don’t over-beat the mixture if using an electric mixer.
• Now mix the flour mixture with the ghee and sugar mixture, and combine well. If required, add few drops of milk to have the dough easily come together. 
• Once the dough is ready, soft and smooth, wrap it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30-minutes.
• Preheat the oven at 350f and like a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Take out the dough from the refrigerator and use a tablespoon to scoop out equal size dough balls from the cookie dough. Roll between your palm to make circular shapes cookie balls. Use a knife to lightly indent the top of the cookies with an X Mark. This helps the cookies to rise beautifully while baking. 
• Optional - you can roll the cookies in powdered sugar before baking. If you want, you can add cardamom and pistachio on to each cookie at this point.
• Now bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes till the cookies start to brown around the edges.
• Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack and leave them for about 10-15 minutes till they are cooled down.
• Your Indian cookies with pistachio flavor are ready. Enjoy these as a tea-time snack or as it is.
• Don’t cook cookies till they become fully brown. The cookies also cook while they are cooling down. For a vegan version, use vegan ghee or coconut oil for this recipe. Vegan butter also works well for this recipe. Do not over-beat ghee-sugar or over-knead the dough. This may result in flaky and flat cookies.

📖 Recipe

Here are some more cookie recipes that you will love.

• Vegan Keto Pumpkin Cookies
• Vegan Keto Sesame Cookies