Winters are my favorite time of the year even though Chicago winters can be a bit harsh. They are the perfect time to curl up at home, indulge in your favorite meals and spend some quality time with your loved ones.

Usually in India, evening time meaning time for Chai with some crispy snacks and cookies. You will find this routine in almost every Indian household. Snacks are made especially for chai time (as it is fondly called in India) and today’s recipe is something you will love to snack on during your chai-time or anytime during the day.

This is the recipe for  Shankarpali or Shankarpalle or shakkarpara which is a sweet Indian snack, rich in carbs. It is usually sweet, but many people make them both sweet and spicy. It is basically a sweet/savory dough which is flattened and cut into tiny squares which are then deep fried in oil or ghee till golden and crispy. 

In my version of the recipe, I made two changes – I swapped the all purpose flour or maida for whole wheat flour and I baked them instead of deep frying. The baking part took some time compared to the time it usually takes to deep fry them. Also I’ve made the savory version here instead of the sweet one.

The spices I used for the savory version were whole cumin and sesame seeds, Serrano peppers and garlic. I ground these spices before adding them to the flour mix and kneaded the dough to  a soft pasta dough like consistency. 

I let the dough rest for a while after which I flattened it out till it was a quarter inch thick, cut it into small squares and lined the squares on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking oil. 

I baked these in an oven pre-heated to 180 degrees celsius for 12 minutes on one side before turning them over and baking again for 10 minutes. 

Once out of the oven, I let it rest till it was completely cooled down (you can transfer them on a wire rack too at this stage) and packed them up in an airtight container. 

Heres a free printable recipe for this for your collection!!