Cookie of the day · Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Gluten-Free Vegan Besan Pistachio Cardamom Nankhatai
Tender, crackle-topped Indian shortbread made with nutty chickpea flour and rice flour, scented with saffron and cardamom and finished with chopped pistachios. They're gluten-free and vegan, and they melt in your mouth, so they're an easy bake for Diwali on November 8.
- Total time
- 1 hr 25 mins
- Makes
- 18 cookies
- Oven
- 325°F
- Ingredients
- 10
Includes 20 min chill and 25 min cooling.
About these cookies
Nankhatai are crumbly, dome-shaped Indian shortbread cookies that dissolve on your tongue. Traditional versions use wheat flour (maida) and often semolina, but this one swaps in chickpea flour and rice flour, so it's fully gluten-free while staying just as tender. Saffron-steeped milk tints the dough gold, cardamom brings its warm floral perfume, and chopped pistachios add a green crunch on top. The dough comes together quickly, and because the cookies barely spread, all 18 bake at once on one standard half-sheet pan. That makes them an easy afternoon bake for Diwali on November 8.
Steps
- Tap a step to check it off.
Tips for success
- Check that your chickpea flour is labeled certified gluten-free. Besan sold in bulk or at grocery stores often shares equipment with wheat.
- For a deeper, nuttier flavor, toast the chickpea flour in a dry skillet over medium-low heat for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly, until fragrant. Cool it completely before using. This adds about 10 minutes but removes any raw, beany taste.
- Use finely ground white rice flour, like the kind sold at Asian grocery stores, for the smoothest melt-in-your-mouth texture. Coarser rice flour can taste slightly gritty.
- Weigh the portions at about 21 g each so all 18 cookies bake evenly in the same 16 to 18 minutes.
- Don't wait for the tops to brown. Pull the cookies at 325°F (165°C) once the tops are crackled and the bottoms are pale golden. Overbaked chickpea flour turns dry and slightly bitter.
Swaps
- Vegan ghee or solid refined coconut oil can replace the vegan butter. Use 1/2 cup vegan ghee, or 7 tbsp coconut oil plus an extra pinch of salt. Coconut oil makes the cookies crisper and more crumbly, with a less buttery flavor, and the 20-minute chill becomes essential.
- Blanched almonds or cashews can replace the pistachios in the same 40 g amount. The flavor is milder and you lose the green color, but the texture stays the same.
- If you don't have saffron, steep 1/4 tsp vegan rose water in the plant milk instead, or simply skip the saffron. The cookies will be pale rather than golden, and you lose the saffron's honeyed note.
- Any unsweetened plant milk works in place of almond or soy milk with no noticeable change. If you use oat milk, choose one labeled certified gluten-free.
Storing
Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 10 days. You can freeze the baked cookies for up to 2 months; thaw them at room temperature, then refresh them for 3 to 4 minutes at 300°F (150°C) and let them cool before serving. You can also freeze the shaped, pistachio-topped dough discs and bake them straight from frozen at 325°F (165°C), adding about 2 minutes to the bake time.
This recipe was developed with AI and checked for vegan ingredients and sensible baking times, but it hasn’t been test-baked in our kitchen yet. How our recipes are made.
