Finger millet cookies(Ragi biscuits)

We had some problem with our computer for last few days. Finally it was fixed yesterday. Here, due to electricity fluctuations and other problems, all the electronic appliances go bad every so often. It takes too long to get them fixed as we have to take help from someone from nearby Taluka place Kumta. Also, since ours is the only home with a broadband connection here, whenever something goes wrong in the telephone exchange, it takes a very long time to get it fixed.

It was some 8 years back, my son had moved to Bangalore for his job. Whenever he visited us, he would bring some baked goodies from the famous bakeries there. One such thing he always got for us was ragi biscuits. (By the way, do not confuse these with American biscuits, in Indian English, biscuit means cookies). Then I saw a recipe for these biscuits in one Kannada magazine, we followed it and the result was a disaster. So this time, we made them like nankatayi .

The most important thing to remember here is, roast the flour before making the dough. If this step is skipped, they get a muddy taste. We love these, do give them a try.

Ingredients:
2 cups ragi flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 tea spn cardamom powder
1 tea spn baking powder

Method:
Roast ragi flour in a big pan, on a medium heat, for about 5-10mins (do not burn it). Take off the heat.
Now add sugar, melted butter, baking powder, cardamom powder to it and mix well.
Preheat the oven at 300F for 10mins.
Make small balls of the dough and keep it on a greased or (lined with parchment paper) baking tray. Leave enough space between two biscuits as they double in size after baking.


Bake in oven at 300F for about 20mins. Take off the oven. Cool to room temperature and store in air tight container.

Makes about 2 dozen biscuits
Preparation time : 20mins + baking time

61 thoughts on “Finger millet cookies(Ragi biscuits)”

  1. Varadpachi, have lots of ragi flour to finish off, before it catches any Barodu. This one is a very nutritional and healthy biscuit.

  2. Amma, ragi biscuits reminded me of Nanjundeshwara bakery of Tumkur..I always loved their ragi biscuits, they were the best sweet treats for us. Thanks for the ragi biscuit recipe. Will Try it soon 🙂

    1. Wow! I was just googling for these biscuits to recommend to a friend in Bangalore and to my surprise these look closet to what I enjoyed at Nanjundeshwara bakery inTumkur during my fours years at SIT. Tumkur had great Dilpansands, Set dosas, and one great andhra restaurant that opened around late 80s.

  3. The biscuits look positively lovely Mrs. Varada! I had no idea that ragi could be used for sweets, and, since I have some of this flour on hand, will be trying these soon. Thanks so much for sharing.

  4. Hi Varadpachi…Raagi biscuits sound so healthy and going by the looks of it,I am sure delicious as well.Got some raagi flour and the next thing am gonna try is this one.Thanks for the amazing recipe!!

  5. Hi , I am new to baking and I started off yesterday with this cookie as my first ever baking venture 🙂 Thanks for your easy recipe ! They tasted Yumm 🙂 But the cookies did not turn as crunchy as I had expected. I used aluminium foil instead of parchment paper. Could it be due to this, or was it due to the less butter that I added ?

    Shilpa: I think it was due to butter. They are not very crunchy but if you have tasted nankatayi before, they taste/feel almost same.

  6. Varada pacchi,

    thanks for sharing another mouth watering recipe.

    I made these Raagi Cookies yestrday and came out very well. My young son couldn’t wait to try it this morning.

    Regards
    gk

  7. I tried this recipe with Healthy mix atta Nirappa brand (mixture of all flours such as ragi, wheat, jowar, rice etc etc normally used to mix with milk and drink ) which was available at the local store.Also used Amul Butter. The result was amazing buiscuits which were finished within no time.
    Million thanks to aayi for posting such a wonderful recipe.
    My husband and kiddo loved these.
    Do keep up the good work.
    Shubha – Kuwait

  8. Hi,

    I tried this today ….but it didn’t double the size n become a biscuit . It is still in the same form as i kept with a little crispiness in it.

    It tastes superb but how to cook it . I kept in the oven for 30mts. does it require additional baking?

  9. Can we prepared ragi biscuits in micro wave or any other option apart frm oven???????

    shilpa: Yes, you can prepare them in microwave oven.

  10. Agree with viji. Wonderful to think of biscuits with ragi. I recently got introduced to ragi based preparations and would luv to try these. Thanks!

  11. Kiranmayi Kamath

    Dear Varada mayi,

    Recipe looks good.Can the same be made with spices instead of sugar, suitable for diabetics and calory conscious people:) Your suggestions please.

  12. Hi Shilpa/Aayi,

    Nice website. I just came across it. Good to see lot of konkani recipes. You have great descriptions of the village also. 🙂

    I am trying this recipe measurement for measurement from your site here. Unfortunately, I have no clue why, but so far the “cookie-dough” is very crumbly-powdery. I don’t know what it is that I did wrong.

    I am only able to bind it into laddoos if I heat it in the microwave. I did this for 2 laddoos – I heated the “dough” in the microwave for a minute and then made 2 laddoos and put them on a cookie-sheet and baked them for 20 mins. But they didn’t melt and spread or anything. They are still exactly the same ladoo shape as before, neither harder not softer.

    I don’t know what to do with the rest of the dough. I don’t know whether these “laddoos” will have decent shelf-life if I bake them? or shud I not bake them? If I add more butter will that make the dough a little more sticky? I cud try that!

    Hoping to fix this somehow. 🙁

    Thanks in any case! 🙂 Best regards!

  13. Hey Shilpa and/or Aayi,

    I just tried adding a little more butter to a small portion of the dough. While the consistency of the dough does improve and I do get biscuit-like output when it is baked, the end result seems really greasy. 🙁 Even to touch! 🙁

    I am wondering if I should go the laddoo way. Even then though, am not sure whether to bake it or not. (There is baking powder in it!! So its weird to not bake.)

    Anyway, just an update! I was hoping to make these in advance for Thanksgiving. But it doesn’t look like today is my day! 😀 Cheers anyway!

    1. I ended up with 1 3/4 cups millet.. roasted .. dash of salt.. 1/4 teaspoon baking powder .. 1/2 stick butter.. 1 3/4 eggs.. 1/2 teaspoon vanilla .. 1/2 cup sugar.. 1/4 teaspoon cardamom.. 1/4 teaspoon ginger powder.. and 1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks. 300 for 20 min. .. it came out perfect consistency.

  14. Great recipe for my daughter who is allergic to wheat. She can finally eat some cookies
    Can I replace the butter with ghee ? If yes what would the proportion be like ?

  15. Okay, saw the recipe and immediately tried it. I had ragi flour sitting around and this recipe was perfect. Folllowed it to a T,but the cookies retained shaped but were soft and crumbled. What happened you think???? But were super delicious..

  16. hi

    i tried this recipe, it came out great except for one reason the biscuits have cracks on top of it, what do i do to make it come out smooth on top

  17. dear vardha mai,
    I am from kundapur. Often wondered what appliance is exactly used for baking cookies and cakes. since u r from kunta, i feel u r the right person to suggest what we can get which can be repaired locally too. i have a microwave with grill.i dont want to go for a microwave convection again. How much watts is it? Do these appliances consume lots of electricity. pl let me know.
    bindu

    1. I think you can bake it in microwave too. Many of my readers did with success. Bake it just for 5-6mins. Aayi had a very old round glass top oven, it no more works. She does not bake anything now. She made these when she was here with me in US.

  18. I was lookign for this recipe..and yours looks good since it has no maida in it. I am going to try it tonight….MW and convection way both. Will let u know the result tomorrow 🙂

    1. Hey, tried the recipe yesterday…. The cookies looked exactly like yours but it remained get kinda crumbly when I break it. When I made the flour it was still a little powdery so I added 2-3 tablespoon of milk to bind it.

      The taste is a little muddy maybe I should have added a little maida but all in all its not bad. Looking forward to more recipes. Thanks

  19. Hi..
    i tried it and the taste was good.. but it was stuck to the cookie try and while taking in out it was breaking ..
    cud u help me out with some tips for better result next time..

  20. hey, nice n healthy Cookies..Can i make these using ghee…instead of butter..? Also can the same recipie be followed to make jowar/bajra flours biscuits..? Pls advice.
    Thanks,
    Meenal.

  21. hi shilpa,
    i tried with ur nankatai receipe y’day it had come out extremely wel. so today gave a try to ragi cookies exactly the same method dat of nankatai..but unfortunetly these have remained the same way as it was kept though baked it for extra time without being cruchy nor getting into bigger size.. could u please tell where i might ve gone wrong.. would it cos i used vanaspati instead of butter as u mentioned..

    thanx shilpa..

  22. Hi Shilpa,
    Website super anthaheli nim aayi gey. Ivathu experiment nandu shuru aithu, biscuite madona antha yochane banthu…

    I tried these today and followed the same method and measurements. However I used the grill at 275 deg F and in about 10 minutes they had turned black, so I took them out and they were tasty then, but slightly burnt outside. After they completely cooled, they were quite hard though ( still tasty, but soft would have been nicer!)

    What could I have done differently?

  23. I agree with SS to quite an extent. The dough didnt come together with the prescribed amount of butter. i didnt want to add any more so i made the dough with some water instead. Its sitting in my oven since last 30 minutes without an iota of change. can’t imagine whats gone wrong.
    Very disappointing.

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