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May 14, 2012

Ragi Biscuits - Eggless, Butterless Finger Millet Cookies

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RAGI BISCUITS
Ragi biscuits with wheat flour & oats / eggless, butter less Ragi cookies (foxtail millet cookies) is my first post on baking recipes. Thanks a ton to my neighbor for teaching me this wonderful biscuit recipe. I had tried this so many times. It never flopped. Its a keeper recipe. Usually nankhatai is made with maida & vanaspathi/dalda in most of the Indian bakery. 

First time I too tried only with maida & ghee. It tasted great, just melted in my mouth. But we all know maida and dalda  are not advisable to eat.So I thought of using a combination of wheat flour, ragi flour , powdered oats and I replaced vanaspathi with cooking oil . It was excellent in taste. I couldn’t find any difference in the taste & texture. 

Do try this ragi, wheat flour nankhatai , I am sure you’ll love this. Its a fool proof recipe. I’ve tried to give the exact measurements. Please adjust the amount of oil if necessary. Also you can see the picture of the biscuit I made just with wheat flour and little maida.Try whichever u like :)

wheat flour nankhatai

Ragi biscuits / Ragi cookies with wheat flour


Ragi biscuits / Ragi cookies with wheat flour
Ragi, wheat flour, oats biscuits - I call it as multigrain cookies/ nankhatai

Cuisine: Indian
Category: Cookies Recipes
Serves: 15 to 20 nos
Prep time: 10 Minutes
Cook time: 20 Minutes
Total time: 30 Minutes


INGREDIENTS

1 cup - 200ml
  • Ragi flour – 1/2 cup
  • Wheat flour – 1/2 cup
  • Oats – 1/4 cup
  • Maida – 1/8 cup (just for binding) (half of 1/4 cup)
  • Plain Corn fakes – fistful (crush it and add ) (optional)
  • Sugar – 1/2 cup + 2 - 3 tbsp ( usually flour & sugar ratio is 2:1)
  • Elachi / cardamom seeds – 2 nos
  • Cloves – 3 nos
  • Cooking oil – 1/4 cup + 1/8 cup
  • Baking powder – 1/2 tsp

RAGI BISCUITS/NANKHATAI - STEP BY STEP PICTURES

  • Powder the sugar in the mixer along with elachi seeds & cloves. Sieve and set aside.
    Ragi biscuits
  • Powder the oats and mix all the flours together. Heat it in the oven for 1-2 minutes. This is the most important step . If you forget to roast the flours , you get a raw smell in the biscuit.
    Ragi biscuits Ragi biscuits

  • Now take the cooking oil in a wide bowl and add the baking powder. Whisk well with your hands for 10 mins.
    Ragi biscuits

  • Then add the sugar mixture and flour. Crush the cornflakes with ur hands into small pieces and add it to the flours before kneading. ( This gives a crunchy taste here and there while eating. But this is optional. Mix it well and knead a soft , pliable, dough like chapathi dough. Dough should not be hard. It may crumble a little but no problem but if you knead well, it will be soft & it’ll be tight.
    Ragi biscuits

  • Now take little dough and make small , flat balls out of it. If you have cookie cutters,shape it as you desire.
  • Preheat the oven in convection mode at 180c.Arrange all the nankhatai in the baking tray and bake it for 20-25 mins in 180c convection mode..

    Ragi biscuits Ragi biscuits

  • The biscuits will raise slightly and the color turns.
  • Give a standing time of 10 minutes inside the oven and take the biscuits out. Allow it to cool completely. Store in an air-tight box.
    Ragi biscuits

    Enjoy!

Note

  1. Roast the flours together in oven for 1- 2 minutes in microwave mode. U’ll get a nice aroma. Mix well, break lumps if any and then add it to sugar.
  2. Adjust the baking time as per your oven. Mine took exactly 25 minutes. Keep an eye after 15 minutes of baking. Over baking may lead to hard , burnt biscuits. Also under baking  gives a raw , uncooked smell.It wont come out of the tray easily. It will break. In this condition, keep it for 5-10 more minutes. U’ll get it right.Little cracks may come, no problem.
  3. If you want to add ghee or vanaspathi , just replace the cooking oil with it. The  quantity would be the same ( may be little less).
  4. Usually in bakeries, they add vanaspathi/ Dalda.
  5. While kneading the dough , it shouldn’t be too crumble in nature. Add more oil if necessary. U should be able to make the flat balls without cracks. Roll it tight and make balls. (The procedure is the same as we make for gulab jamun.)
  6. Don’t forget to add cloves.This gives the bakery flavour.
  7. Adding cornflakes is purely optional .
  8. I have added oats .So you may feel the biscuits are too soft. If you want , skip the oats and use wheat & ragi flour with little maida.
  9. Store the biscuit in an air tight container.Its shelf life is 15 days.


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36 comments :

Jeyashris Kitchen said...

Lovely nankhattis and quite an interesting recipe withoutbutter too. Thanks for sharing. Will try soon

Lifewithspices said...

wonderful one w/o butter.. love it..

Aruna Manikandan said...

healthy and delicious recipe chitra:)
thx. for sharing.

Gayathri NG said...

Delicious n crispy nankhatis...

Tina said...

healthy and delicious ..

chef and her kitchen said...

very healthy n delicious nankathai...looks perfect n yumm

Priya Suresh said...

Definitely a guilt free nankhattais,quite addictive.

Shama Nagarajan said...

superb biscuits

Hema said...

Nice health biscuits, looks superb..

Spice up the Curry said...

so wonderful. looks awesome. bookmarked

Suja Manoj said...

Healthy and yum,they look wonderful.

Menaga Sathia said...

wonderful n healthy biscuits!!

Shobha said...

Healthy recipe..never tried making nankathais with wheat flour.

Unknown said...

Healthy biscuits..love the idea

Cathleen said...

These are incredibly cute! I've been trying to find recipes that use whole wheat flour and this looks perfect! Yum!

Prathima Rao said...

Healthy & tempting cookies!!
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner

Amina Creations said...

delicious and healthy biscuits... butterless as well... will surely give this a try...
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Amina Creations

Home Cooked Oriya Food said...

delicious cookies...

Raks said...

having tasted the one u brought I am sure this version also tastes great like that. wonderful bake!

Ambreen (Simply Sweet n Savory) said...

That's very interesting & healthy recipe. Looks really good!

Julie said...

The mulitigrain nankhatai with no eggs,sounds interesting n delicious dear!!
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Laavanya said...

These were the first cookies I tried making too... looks great.

PrathibhaSreejith said...

healthy n yummy nankhatai, awesome prep :-)

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Ramjee said...

Hi,

I would love to make this. Please tell me " Is it possible to use yogurt or applesauce in lieu of the oil " to make it more healthier ?

Thanks,
Anusha

Ramjee said...

I did go ahead and make it... AMAZING !!!! Do let me know whether I can use yogurt / greek yogurt for half of the quantity of ghee mentioned.

Thanks,
Anusha

Chitra said...

Hi anusha ,
I have not tried with yoghurt or applesauce. I think u can use applesauce instead of oil.Try replacing half of the quantity of oil..Do try and let me know the results :)

Vishal Raina said...

Thank you for the recipe I was look for it for very long time.

s said...

These seem very interesting, as I am trying baking from unrefined ingredients these days. Could you please clarify a few things? Is ragi the same as baajra ? Also, when you say wheat flour, do you mean says, or wholewheat like they have in the US etc? I'm hoping you mean good old aata:) one more thing. Provided you are using aata, could I use that instead of ragi? As in, aata with a little maida, n may be oats?

Chitra said...

Ragi is finger millet. This is different from bajra.. The atta i mentioned here is the one we use for making roti.. U can try this biscuit with either ragi or wheat flour alone with little maida for binding.. Hope i cleared ur doubts. Do try n let me know ur feedback :)

Anonymous said...

thanks for publishing a healthy food item

Unknown said...

It sounds delicious recipe...I have couple of doubts.. Giving standing time in oven means what?
Should we keep them on butter paper in the oven to avoid sticking on the tray?
I am very excited to try your recipe and let you know the results.

divya said...

Can I replace sugar with jaggery?

Chitra said...

Hi, I think you can use it.

gaya3 said...

I tried this recipe today, I did one mistake of not powdering the sugar and it resulted in disaster. Didn't like the taste, it was like burnt coffee :(

Chitra said...

Hello Gaya3,
Next time please try it right. You will like it.