Ready for some healthy bites....The Ragi, Almond and Oats Cookies...

Hello friends...

Yesterday, the aroma in every corner of my home shouted and said .. Something really good is in baking…  Oh yes, it was cookie time....  Nothing smells so good... :-)

And the cookies are special ones.. They have been made taking care of my health conscious friends… It’s made up of Ragi (Finger millet) flour, almonds and oats.. Moreover it uses olive oil instead of butter and contains light brown sugar and spices like cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. They look beautiful and taste amazing.  You can have it any time of the day and only feel good about it. :-) 

My family loved it. No one could guess it’s made up of Ragi flour.  I am sure, you will be happy with the results too.

Here’s the recipe. 

Ingredients:

1 cup Ragi flour (Finger millet flour)

1/2 cup oats.

2/3 cup ground almond flour (You can use ready made almond flour. I blanched almonds and removed the skin. Then blended the same in mixer to form a coarse flour ). (I also added about 4-5 pieces of roasted walnuts and ground it in mixer along with the almonds).

1/2 cup light brown sugar (You can use any kind of sugar and can change the proportions based on the sweetness level preferred. I added an extra 2 tsp of granulated white sugar. But it’s purely your choice.)

2 tsp grated jaggery (optional)

2 tsp (white) sesame seeds

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2-1 cup water for kneading the dough

(2-3 sliced almonds and 1-2 tsp coarse sugar for garnishing the cookies before baking).

little flour (either all purpose or wheat for dusting the surface while rolling out cookies).

Spices:

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

1/2 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp salt 

Procedure:

-Add all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well.

-Add oil and mix well with hands to form a crumbly mixture. Just showing few of the ingredients in the below pictures. 

Ragi (Finger Millet) flour 

Light brown sugar 

Ginger powder

Grated jaggery

Sesame seeds

Cinnamon powder

Almonds and walnuts before being ground

 -Add water little by little and knead with hand to form a smooth dough. The consistency should be such that you can roll it out with a rolling pin. Cover it with little oil on surface after the kneading is done.

-Bring the dough on clean platform surface. Sprinkle some flour on the surface and start rolling out the dough. Let it be of medium thickness. 

A portion of rolled out dough

-Now using a cookie cutter, cut out cookie shapes of your choices. 

-Line your baking tray with parchment paper and sprinkle some flour on it. Now gently lift up the cookies from surface and arrange them on cookie sheet. 

Small and medium sized round cookies before baking

-Put a slice of almond on each cookie and sprinkle some sugar on the surface.

-Pre-heat your oven to 375 degree F. Bake for around 11-12 minutes. Maximum could be 15 minutes. -Be careful and keep an eye as these will get baked in no time. If  it stays in oven for more time, it will get burnt at the bottom. So remove it from oven immediately and let it cool down. 
-It might feel little soft when you remove it from oven, but gradually it will gain crispiness when it cools.-Once the cookies have cooled down,  store them in an air tight container and enjoy it anytime. 

Cookies out of the oven

Enjoy the wonderful cookies along with a cup of tea or coffee :-). No guilt please, because you know what it is made up of... :-) 

Have fun.  

Love,

Shweta