Receta Recipes | Three Healthy Wholegrain Cookies – Baking is Pure Magic
My kitchen is warm from the heat of oven and the smell of baked cookies is driving me crazy. Baking is pure magic. I know, I have repeated the statement over and again in many of my posts…can’t help.
Flour, butter and a few add-on and you have one of the crunchiest of goodies to munch upon. Baking cookies is such a cinch and I often involve my children in the process of rolling and cutting out cookies.
But why do you always blog multiple recipes in a single post, you may ask?
To tell the truth, my draft is already bursting out with recipes I cooked & clicked right from the year 2011. And if I start posting all what I cook, I might have to settle for posting a recipe each day.
#scratchinghead…but wait….there is always a huge pile of laundry to be done, a three course meal to be cooked, long pending grocery list to shop, quality time to be spent with children and so on……
And if I don’t post the recipes locked in my draft, they probably will be lost in oblivion one day.
But I don’t wish to keep posting recipes alone which will dilute the purpose of my blogging. I blog to share memories and the nostalgia associated with the food alongside the recipes I cook in all my blog posts.
That hand-written small piece of paper struck with a magnet on my fridge ‘There is a life beyond your blog, Sanjeeta, go easy‘ keeps me grounded.
And so, I blog at my leisure, try to club recipes I am not able to post and also enjoy my online journey.
So here is a series of Cookie treat for you in two different posts.
1. Whole wheat and Banana Cookies
Ingredients;
(20-22 cookies)
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup mashed banana
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp. peanut butter
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp. oil
- 2 tbsp. copped almonds
- 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- Chocolate chips
Method; I always keep overripe bananas in freezer and use it whenever needed. Take out the frozen banana, peel and grate it.
In a bowl add, wheat flour, all purpose flour, chopped almonds, baking powder and combine well.
Add peanut butter, oil, powdered sugar and grated banana in a blender and blend to get a smooth paste.
Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and knead lightly to make a soft dough. Add chocolate chips in the dough and mix well.
Roll out the dough to make a log shape and cover it in a cling foil. Refrigerate the log for an hour.
Preheat oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with parchment or butter paper.
Take out the log and cut into thin slices. Bake for 12-15 minutes or till the cookies turn golden in colour around the edges.
2. Finger Millet Coffee Cookies
This is the first time I paired coffee with finger millet and I like the result.
Ingredients;
(make about 20 small cookies)
1 cup Finger Millet
1/2 cup Oats
1/2 cup All purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 tbsp chopped almonds
1 tbsp. yogurt/curd
11/2 tsp instant coffee powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla essence
Method; Dry roast finger millet or Ragi for 4-5 minutes on medium heat and let it cool.
Grind Oats (I used quick cooking Oats), and sugar into powder.
In a large bowl add Ragi, all purpose flour (Maida), ground Oats, coffee powder, chopped almonds, baking powder and mix well.
Take another bowl and add oil, yogurt, vanilla essence and whisk it for a few minutes.
Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and fold lightly to combine.
Take out the mixture on a flat surface and knead it with hands to make a soft dough.
Make a log shape and cover with a cling film. Refrigerate the log for an hour or more.
Preheat oven at 180C and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Take out the log and cut into thin slices.
Place all the cookie slices on the parchment paper leaving a gap of 2 inches between each cookie.
Bake for 12-15 minutes till the cookies turn golden brown from the edges. The cookies will harden once they cool down.
3. Chewy Date Cookies
Ingredients;
1 cup Dates
1 cup Oats
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/2 cup oil
3 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 tbsp. water
1/4 tsp. baking soda
Method; De-seed and chop Dates. Boil water and add chopped dates in it. Remove from heat and add baking soda in it and let it stand for a few minutes.
Blend the date mixture to a smooth puree.
Add rest of the ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate the dough for an hour.
Roll out small balls of the dough, flatten slightly and place on the baking tray leaving a gap of about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake at 180C for 12-15 minutes. Cool and store the cookies in an air tight container.
Notes;
Dry roast the finger millet of Ragi flour before adding it to the recipe for best results.
Check your best baking temperature, as every oven behaves differently and you might get uneven baking.
Avoid coffee powder if you are baking these cookies for children. Replace the same with cocoa or drinking chocolate powder.
You can decorate these cookies with Royal icing, the recipe for which is posted in the next post.
You can use date syrup in the Date cookies, but make sure to cut on the liquid ingredients accordingly.
These cookies stay fresh for a week when packed in an air tight container.
Whenever you feel the cookies become soggy or too soft, just put them in the hot oven for a minute or two.