Ragi Almond Cookies | Finger Millet Cookies | Gluten free cookies

I love experimenting in the kitchen and when it comes to a healthy or guilt-free baking I am game. Of course if I say baking is healthy hmm no, I wish I could. But at times we can substitute it with healthy ingredients that make is less sinful. If you had seen my earlier post on Ragi Malt (Finger Millet Porridge) I told you I was experimenting with Ragi (Finger Millet) and since I did try a porridge out of it I wanted to explore possibilities and hence this recipe was born. To my amazement this is my first ever cookie recipe where I tried it on my own and it turned out so good, I mean on the first go. Although I really loved it I had a bit of a doubt if my husband would even try it... to my amazement he actually loved it. So before I could even blog about this recipe I made another set of cookies and as I happily enjoy them will share the recipe with all of you ;-)

These Ragi cookies are very light and have a soft crunchy texture, the almond meal in the cookies give a lovely texture. I tried to combine 2 great and healthy ingredients in this cookie without any wheat or plain flour. They are so simple and easy to put together that you will have a fantastic cookie in less than 20 mins time, isn't that great??? try and let me know what you think

Recipe Source ~ Own
Prep & bake time ~ 20 mins
Makes ~ 12 medium cookies

Ingredients

Ragi Flour (Finger Millet) - 1/2 cup
Almond meal - 1/2 cup (store bought * check notes)
Dark brown sugar - 1/2 cup (you can use any kind of sugar)
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Butter melted - 1/2 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Few nuts - to top (optional)

Method

• In a non stick pan over medium heat dry roast the ragi flour, this is an essential process and takes away the raw smell of ragi so make sure you do it. Dry roast for 2 minutes and set aside
• In a bowl add the brown sugar, almond meal, baking powder, vanilla extract and ragi flour mix all together such that the baking powder is even.
• Add melted butter to the dry ingredients and combine until you are able to shape them into balls
• Pre-heat the oven to 190 C for 10 mins, line a baking tray with parchment and start rolling the cookies into 1 tbsp size balls giving space between, place them on the prepared tray until you finish rolling out all.
• Now decorate on top with cashew and flatten them little.
• Bake in center of pre-heated oven for 12-15 mins. Once done cool them on a wire rack and enjoy

Enjoy with a cup of coffee and save the rest air-tight for a week in room temperature.

Cooks Wisdom

- You can replace dark brown sugar to white/ light brown sugar, these are perfect in sweetness

- Make sure that the ragi flour is dry roasted before doing the cookies

- You can melt butter in a microwave for 20 secs and go ahead with the preparation if you are in a hurry

- You can also add almond extract instead of vanilla or use cinnamon powder 1/2 tsp to spice it up

- If you find the mixture to wet to roll just add 1/2 tsp of wheat flour/ plain flour