Baking has increased multifold with the pandemic. However, we should not depend on chocolate and eggs for making yummy cookies and biscuits. We can also bake them gluten-free or vegan. Yes, it still tastes yummy. When you look around, most commercial biscuits contain all purpose flour and too much white sugar They taste great once a while but are no good on a daily basis. Hence, we wanted to make something which was eggless and gluten-free for a change. Ragi or Nachni is a good flour for baking cookies. Finger millet flour cookies look like chocolate but has an earthen taste to it. It is also a great way to have millets. I had seen many such ragi biscuits in India ,but lacked awareness back then. Ragi is great for diabetics too. Also refer to our guide on millets to learn about different kinds of millets.
As I researched more, I found that most millet cookies which were produced commercially contained wheat. I have also seen chocolate ragi biscuits in the market. However, great chocolate may taste, we did not want to get too attached to it.
After all, having a young kid at home changes your food choices. The more chocolate you have, the more trips to the dentist and hyperactivity in the children. Hence, we wanted to make something which was free of chocolate and also purely gluten-free. If you want to try out some other millet recipes, these include buckwheat cutlets , buckwheat muffins , falhari pizza, Juar(sorghum) flatbread , Sama pudding and falhari dahi papdi.
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Note: This is also an eggless recipe and we have used flax seeds in it. If you like eggs, you may replace it accordingly with one egg.( I am an eggless baker so I have not tested this but you can always give us a feedback on how it tasted!) We have used minimal ghee in this recipe but you can also use vegan butter to make a similar recipe. You can also make it nut-free if you have allergies as we have used it only for the garnish.
healthy food journey
Recently, we moved to increased use of millets. That brings us to this basic question what millets can you eat and when?
Jowar(sorghum) should be eaten in summer. Bajra(pearl millet), makai (corn)in winter and ragi(finger millet) can be eaten anytime. You can make many interesting flatbreads like lauki thepla by combining bajra/makai or jowar and lauki or bottle gourd. You can also have juar jo dodho. Makki ki roti is another flatbread which goes great with sarson ka saag in winters.
Most of us have heard of Ragi mudde or ragi balls. People swear by Ragi malt and for energy down South. You can also make a ragi dosa or crepes instead of normal rice and urad dal dosa. Other great recipes are ragi dhokla and ragi idli.
Note: Please consult with doctor before incorporating Ragi in your daily diet. You cannot eat jowar,ragi, quinoa, bajra, makai during navratri/ saawan fasting
Key Ingredients
- ragi flour - also called finger millet flour
- baking soda - Used to make the cookies rise
- raw sugar - you can replace it with jaggery powder
- powdered chia seed meal or flax seed meal - This helps binding of the gluten free flour
- ghee - Essential fat, can use coconut oil if you like.
- pinch of salt
refer to recipe card for details.
How to make ragi biscuits?
- Preheat the oven for 10 mins. Meanwhile, sift the ragi flour with baking soda.
2. Add the flax seed mixture/chia seed mixture to ragi flour. (the below step shows flax seed mixture)
3. Mix in jaggery/raw sugar & ghee and pinch of salt.
4. Knead a medium soft dough. (there is not much kneading that can be done with this flour), the chia seed mix and ghee is good enough to get this mixed up well. If the dough is not coming together, you can add 1 tablespoon of water or little more(do not add too much).
5. Line a baking sheet on a baking tray.Make a small balls of cookie dough and press flat.
6. Garnish with chopped nuts optionally. Bake at 160 deg C for 20 mins.
7. Store in an air tight jar
Ragi cookies in airfryer.
- Pre heat the air fryer at 150C for 5 minutes
- Cook the cookies for 12-14 minutes at 150C/300F
- Allow them to cool on a cookie tray or wire rack until it comes to room temperature. Store your nachni biscuits in an airtight container.
Ragi biscuit recipe | Finger millet cookies recipe
Equipment
- oven
- stand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 cup ragi flour
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ¼ cup raw sugar can be replaced with jaggery powder
- 1 tbsp. powdered chia seeds 1 tablespoon in ¼ cup water,or use flax seeds
- 2 tbsp. ghee / coconut oil if vegan
Instructions
- Soak powdered chia seed in water. Let it aside for 5 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk ragi flour & baking soda
- Add ghee,raw sugar and pinch of salt. Also add chia seed mix.
- Mix all ingredients to form a soft dough.Add more ragi flour if its too wet.
- Make small balls of dough,press them into flat biscuits/cookies
- Place these in a baking tray,Garnish with nuts optionally.
- Preheat the oven for 10 mins @160 C
- Bake at 160 deg C(fan forced) for 20 mins
- Let it cool on the rack and store in an airtight container.
Air fryer
- Pre heat the air fryer at 150C for 5 minutes
- Cook the cookies for 12-14 minutes at 150C/300F
- Allow them to cool and store in an air tight container
Notes
Nutrition
Substitutions
You can use 3 tbsp. raw sugar instead of jaggery in this recipe. Powder and add instead of jaggery. You can also substitute flax seeds with chia seeds.
You can make it vegan by adding olive oil instead of ghee.
Variations
If you find ragi taste peculiar you may add some cocoa powder, green cardamom powder (elaichi powder) or vanilla extract. You may decorate it with chocolate chips if you want to make nut free healthy cookies. Ragi almond cookies , ragi chocolate cookies are other variations to this ragi biscuits recipe. Use cookie cutter to make various shapes. You can also use finger millet to make a ragi cake.
Related links
FAQ
It is great for calcium & also helps lower cholesterol.It is high in protein
Prevents ageing of skin.
It is good for digestion and helps prevent diabetes.
Also, good for lactating mothers as it improves milk production.
The GI index value for ragi flour is approx 98.
Ragi in English is called Finger millet.
You can use ragi to make ragi porridge, ragi roti, upma, ragi dosa. You can even make a chocolate cake, ragi mudde and ragi malt.
Ragi biscuit recipe | Finger millet cookies recipe
Equipment
- oven
- stand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 cup ragi flour
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ¼ cup raw sugar can be replaced with jaggery powder
- 1 tbsp. powdered chia seeds 1 tablespoon in ¼ cup water,or use flax seeds
- 2 tbsp. ghee / coconut oil if vegan
Instructions
- Soak powdered chia seed in water. Let it aside for 5 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk ragi flour & baking soda
- Add ghee,raw sugar and pinch of salt. Also add chia seed mix.
- Mix all ingredients to form a soft dough.Add more ragi flour if its too wet.
- Make small balls of dough,press them into flat biscuits/cookies
- Place these in a baking tray,Garnish with nuts optionally.
- Preheat the oven for 10 mins @160 C
- Bake at 160 deg C(fan forced) for 20 mins
- Let it cool on the rack and store in an airtight container.
Air fryer
- Pre heat the air fryer at 150C for 5 minutes
- Cook the cookies for 12-14 minutes at 150C/300F
- Allow them to cool and store in an air tight container
Notes
Nutrition
Conclusion: finger millet biscuits is a great recipe for making tea time healthy.
Trev says
Do these biscuits get crisp or are they soft and chewy please
bhavana bhatia says
hi there,
We found that if you store them in an air tight container, they are crisp,but if you leave them outside, they start to turn a bit chewy.
Cho says
Hi
Can I exclude flaxseed from this recipe? Due to health reason I have to avoid them.
bhavana bhatia says
Yes, You can use chia seeds if that suits you.
Cho says
Perfect, thanks! Will try out.
Do I need to grind the chia seeds and then soak in water or just soak whole seeds?
bhavana bhatia says
Hi Cho
It is always better to grind them and then soak in water. I find even cakes come out softer and lighter with chia meal.
Warm Regards
Bhavana
Cho says
Hi Bhavana,
I made this with chia seeds and added a 1 tbsp of cocoa powder.. the cookies were fabulous! We eat it guilt-free 🙂
The only issue was shaping them as they kept disintegrating a bit since the final dough was a but dry.. I added a bit of water as well but it didn't seem to help much. Also, couldn't get the almonds to stick unless I applied a 1-2 drops of water to the centre of the cookie before pressing down the almond slivers in it.
I was wondering if it might help to add 1-2 Tbsp of tapioca starch or almond flour (and reduce the same amount from the total ragi flour)? I've seen these flours being used a lot in gluten-free baking. Will adding any of these help to shape the cookies more easily?
bhavana bhatia says
hi Cho,
Thanks for your feedback.
I have seen some issues if the flour for gluten free grains is little old. On the packet they do mention the best before date, but the shelf life is not that good.
I think tapioca flour is a good idea and I will try that as well.
Thanks
Roselle says
It's an excellent recipe. I used an egg instead of chia seeds, the biscuits were much appreciated. Thank you.
bhavana bhatia says
Thank you so much, yes we had added chia seeds for binding and an egg can replace that . thanks again for your feedback.