Tri Color Swirl Nankhatai (Cookies)

These are perfectly dunkable nankhatai’s! Milk, chai, coffee…whatever you want.

The swirl takes practice. It is the number one thing that people ask me about. I’ll try to get a video up but practice is my recommendation. So many methods would work to get the swirl, find one that works for you! Read some of my tips in the recipe below.

I will say that these are delicious, and even without a swirl, you will love them. I always say things don’t need to be perfect. They need to taste good, and these definitely do!

Recipe for Swirl Nankhatai:

Ingredients Needed:

1 cup butter softened (room temperature)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 eggs

3/4 cup fine ground semolina (If you don’t have this or don’t want to use it, just use a total of 3 cups of flour for the entire recipe instead of 2 ¼ cups as listed below)

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour

1-2 teaspoons vanilla

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

4-6 drops red food color (depending on how vibrant you want the color to be)

*You can also use gel food color

Servings Made: 30-36 cookies depending on size you roll the dough

Time to Prep: 20 minutes

Time to Cook: 20 minutes

How to Make:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a few baking trays with parchment paper. Cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer (about 3 minutes) until mixture looks lighter in color and fluffy.

Add flour, semolina and baking powder. Mix well and add vanilla and eggs. Mix until a soft dough forms.

Using your hands, split dough into 3 parts. One part leave as is, one part add red food color and mix, the final part add cocoa powder and mix.

Pro tip - if your dough is sticking to your hands, add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time until it is soft but not sticky.

Form small balls of dough of each color. Place one ball of each color into the palm of your hands and gently press together. Using your other palm on top, gently apply pressure and rotate your hand quickly over the balls to create the swirls.

Pro tip - as you handle the dough the butter inside will continue to soften so try to work efficiently. You can place the dough in the fridge for a few mins if you find it very soft.

Place on baking tray about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 17-20 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on wire racks.

These freeze well after baking. You can store them in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to a month.

Enjoy!