Indian Nankhatai meets Modern Pastry Eggless Pistachio Cream Bars

By Apurvi Bansal

Nankhatai Pistachio Eggless Cream Bars are a delicious fusion recipe that combines the rich flavours of Nankhatai and creamy pistachio. These bars are made with a buttery Nankhatai base and topped with a smooth pistachio cream layer. It's the perfect blend of traditional and modern flavours! 🌰🍦✨

**Tips- For making Nankhatai I have used whole wheat flour instead of traditional All purpose flour also, it is important to use ghee for the Recipe that is clarified Butter, use the ghee which is a bit grainy that is it is not completely melted nor is frozen solid this will give your Nankhatai a good texture.

 - I am taking the traditional Nankhatai which is an Indian Shortbread Cookies and made shortbread Bars with Pistachio Eggless Cream. You can use Almond Cream also.

- For the Pistachio cream you have to grind pistachios to make a powder out of them here, I am keeping them chunky to get a bite you can also grind them fine.

Ingredients:

Nankhatai Base-

184gm Ghee (Clarified Butter)

160gm Caster Sugar

145gm Whole Wheat Flour 

65gm Chick pea Flour (Besan)

34gm Semolina

A pinch of Salt

1/4tsp Cardamom Powder (Elaichi Powder)

Method:

• For making Nankhatai in a bowl add ghee which is clarified butter use ghee which is grainy in texture in it add caster sugar or boora mix them both together till the mixture is pale yellow in colour and is light and fluffy,
• Now add whole wheat flour, chickpea flour that is besan, semolina, a pinch of salt and Cardamom powder (Elaichi powder) and mix everything with a spatula to form a dough.
• Scoop out 1/3rd of the Nankhatai dough and keep it aside to use later.
• Transfer the rest of the dough to the pre-lined tin here, I am using a five inch square tin, 
• Spread the dough to all four corner of the tin and smooth it out 
• Bake it in a pre-heated oven at 160C for 5 minutes 
• Then take it out of the oven and let it cool till we prepare Pistachio Eggless Cream.

Pistachio Eggless Cream-

50gm Pistachio

50gm Butter, Unsalted

50gm Caster Sugar

50gm Yogurt

20gm All purpose Flour

Pinch of Salt

Pistachio Flakes/chopped

Method:

• In a mixer grinder add 50gm Pistachio and grind them to a powder.
• Next in a bowl add Unsalted butter, Caster Sugar
• Cream them together with a whisk till the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture is light and fluffy,
• Add yogurt and mix it in completely, 
• Now add the pistachio powder which we have grind earlier, All purpose Flour, a pinch of Salt and mix everything together with a spatula till no dry ingredients are visible, do not over mix the batter.
• Transfer it to a piping bag I am going to pipe the cream over Nankhatai but you can always transfer the cream directly in the tin,
• Now pipe the pistachio Eggless cream over the cooled Nankhatai layer evenly and smooth it out.
• Next add the reserved Nankhatai dough which we had kept aside earlier by crumbling it over the cream thus creating the beautiful layer of Nankhatai pistachio Cream and Nankhatai crumble 
• Finally finishing it off by sprinkling sliced pistachio flakes on top and bake this at 170C for 12-14 minutes till the top is nice golden brown in colour or when you insert the skewer on top cream layer it comes out clean and dry.
• Cool it completely before slicing into it.