If you are on the lookout for a recipe to make some healthy yet delicious snacks this Christmas, my Eggless Finger Millet / Ragi Gingerbread Cookies would be perfect for you!
I used to be one of those people put off by the mere mention of Ragi in any food item because I detested the only form of Ragi I had tried when I was small – porridge. After reading about the recent comeback of Ragi in the culinary field as a ‘super grain’, I decided to set my differences aside and give it another go. Ever since, there has been no turning back! Ragi is a staple in my pantry now.
For more Christmas recipes, check out my mince pie and mulled wine recipes – classic Christmas treats that I fell in love with during my days in UK. They have become part of our yearly family traditions now!
What is Ragi?
Ragi or Finger Millet is a nutritious cereal crop grown various parts of India and Africa. As the name suggests, it is a type of millet but has a distinctive red color. In India, finger millet has many regional names – Ragi (Kannada, Telugu), Mandua (Hindi), Panjapullu (Malayalam), Kezhvaragu (Tamil), Mandiya (Oriya), Taidalu (Telangana) and Kodra (Himachal Pradesh). Ragi is high in calcium, iron and vitamins. It is said to be good for people with diabetes as it has a low glycemic index. Because of its innumerable nutritional benefits, it is also very popular as a baby and toddler food in India.
Where to buy Ragi / Finger Millet flour from
If you are in India or Africa, it will be easy to find this in your regular grocery store. Outside of India and Africa, it may not be that easy to find Finger Millet. In some places like in the Middle East or Singapore, it is almost always available in Indian stores. I always buy finger millet flour from Indian and Srilankan grocery stores here in BC. Check out such stores in your area, you’ll be surprised it may be easily available there too. Finger millet flour can also be bought on Amazon, if stock is available.
In North America, the millet flour more often seen in regular stores in Pearl Millet. I am yet to try substituting finger millet with pearl millet in this recipe, but I have heard it can be substituted successfully for bread recipes. Will update here when I do try!
The creation of our family’s favourite cookie
I had always associated Ragi with baby food, and so I started buying it after becoming a mom. There was a time when my kiddo really liked the different variations of Ragi porridges I came up with. But then came the day she realised she was no more a baby – she had turned ONE!! :p Although she does eat Ragi porridge occassionally, she doesn’t enjoy it as much, sometimes even refuses anything in similar consistency.
I had two packets of Ragi flour in my pantry and I had to use it up. That is how I started making Ragi cookies. To my surprise, these became an instant hit – all three of us liked it! It was November and this bright idea came to my mind – why not try making Ragi Gingerbread Cookies this Christmas! A quick google search did not get me recipes using Ragi flour for gingerbread cookies. Thus started my mission to come up with the perfect recipe for Ragi Gingerbread Cookies – one that can be enjoyed by the whole family, toddlers included.
Typically, gingerbread is a combination of flour, ginger and spices, sweetened with sugar, molasses or honey. The flour that is most commonly used is All Purpose Flour which is refined wheat flour. I decided to use a 50-50 combination of Ragi and All Purpose Flour for my cookies. I generally try to minimise the use of refined sugar, especially for baby and toddler food. So, palm sugar is mostly my go-to natural sweetener. It is said to have a low glycemic index. This means that the pace at which it is digested and absorbed is slower than refined sugar, and does not bring on sugar rush! As for ginger and spices, I didn’t have to think much – I decided to keep adding them till I was happy with the taste! 🙂
It didn’t turn out to be as easy as I’d imagined. The dough kept crumbling. After a few trials and tweaks, finally, the dough was smooth! I could roll it out perfectly – not too thick. I could cut out perfect shapes and transfer them to the baking sheets without worrying if they would crumble while doing so! In my excitement, I cut out so many different shapes – big and small! 🙂 The smell when the cookies were in the oven was amazing!
I did the icing in batches whenever I got time over the next few days. When we finally tasted the Ragi Gingerbread cookies, it was puuuure LOVE! We knew instantly that this recipe had entered our family favourites list. A few happy and fun family moments followed when my husband and I watched our lil girl identifying the Christmas characters and shapes. Her versions of the names were soo cute! Of these, my favourite was her word for Gingerbread man – “G-man” – sounds cool, doesn’t it?! 🙂
You can find my recipe for Ragi Gingerbread Cookies in the recipe card below. I have also included step-by-step pictures and shared some tips and tricks I figured out during the process. The number of cookies you get depends on the size of the cookie cutters you use. I used mini cookie cutters like these.
Decorating the cookies with icing
If you want to decorate the cookies with icing, you can use homemade royal icing or store-bought cookie icing. To fill the cookies with icing, start with the border slightly away from the edges (Step-by-step pictures are included in the recipe card below). Then, fill the centre of the cookie with icing. Finally, fill the gaps, perfect the borders and poke air bubbles (if any) using the tip of a toothpick. Allow the icing on the cookies to set completely.
For white icing, I generally use Wilton cookie icing or Cakemate Cookie Icing. According to the instructions for Wilton cookie icing, we are supposed to warm it a bit before use. But when I did this in Singapore, it led to some icing disasters. It could be because of the weather in Singapore, the icing was too runny this way. I found out that cooling it was better instead – I popped it into the fridge for around 10 minutes before use and it was just the right consistency to work with! So, observe the consistency of your icing and try different methods to make it work.
For colored icing, you can buy ready-made colored icing or add gel colors of your choice to white icing. Alternately, you can use edible markers to paint patterns onto the cookies after the white icing has set completely.
How to store Ragi Gingerbread Cookies
Ragi Gingerbread Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature for at least a month. If stored properly, they can last longer than 1 month. If the cookies are decorated, it is a good idea to place a parchment paper between layers while stacking in the container, so that the icing remains intact.
A fun cookie-licious Christmas!
If you have kids at home, turn this into a fun Christmas activity for the whole family. Kids will love adding colours – just hand them edible markers after the icing has set, and let them have fun! It will be a memory for you to cherish 🙂
I hope you enjoy the cookies as much as we did! 🙂 Don’t forget to leave a comment and rate the recipe if you try it! Merry cookie-licious Christmas!!!
More Christmas Recipes:
Finger millet / Ragi Gingerbread Cookies – Eggless recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Ragi (Finger Millet) Flour
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 3 tsp Ground Ginger
- 3/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp Ground Cloves
- 1/4 tsp Ground Black Pepper
- 1 cup Cold Salted Butter 125g
- 1/2 cup Granulated Palm Sugar (Refer to notes for substitution ideas)
- 1/4 cup Honey
For Decorating
- Royal Icing Optional
- Store-bought Cookie Icing Optional
- Icing colors Optional
Instructions
- Combine the flours, baking powder, ground spices and palm sugar in a mixing bowl.
- Cut the cold butter into cubes. You can warm it in microwave oven for 10 seconds to make it easier for you to work with.
- Add the cubes of butter to the flour mixture. Mix with your hand till the ingredients are mixed but the dough is still a bit crumbly. Kneading is not necessary at this stage.
- Follow with honey and now, knead the flour mixture into dough.
- Divide the dough roughly into 2 or 3 balls. Flatten each ball between your palms to make it disc-shaped. Then, cover each separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for half an hour. If you refrigerate longer (I tried 24 hours), the dough hardens quite a bit. But you can still work with it after leaving the wrapped discs at room temperature till they soften, but are still cool.
- Take one dough disc at a time. Knead the dough again to make it workable.
- Place the dough on a lightly floured surface or on a parchment sheet. Roll the dough after dusting it with some flour. Flip the dough and sprinkle more flour to prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin. Continue rolling till the dough is around ⅛ inch thick.
- Dip cookie cutters in flour and then press into the dough to cut out the shapes.
- Remove the extra dough from the edges of the cut cookies. Shape this extra dough into another ball, roll and repeat cutting out cookies.
- Use a spatula to flip the dough while rolling, and to transfer the cut cookies onto the baking tray lined with parchment sheet.
- Preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius for 10 minutes.
- Then, bake the cookies till they just start browning at the edges. The baking time depends on the oven and the size of the cookies. My larger cookies took around 8 minutes to get done while the smaller ones were ready in less than 5 minutes.
- Remove the baking tray from the oven. Leave the cookies to cool in the baking tray till they harden. You can then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Decorate the cookies with icing and/or edible markers, if you would like.
- Store the gingerbread cookies in an airtight container. If stored properly, they can last for a month or more.
Decorating the cookies with icing
- If you want to decorate the cookies with icing, you can use homemade royal icing or store-bought cookie icing. To fill the cookies with icing, start with the border slightly away from the edges.
- Then, fill the centre of the cookie with icing.
- Finally, fill the gaps, perfect the borders and poke air bubbles (if any) using the tip of a toothpick.
- Allow the icing on the cookies to set completely.
Notes
- Stick a parchment sheet to the kitchen countertop and roll dough on it. Either stick the sides with a cellotape or dab some water underneath the parchment sheet so that it sticks to the countertop and doesn’t move around when you roll the dough.
- Don’t use much pressure while rolling. Roll outwards from the centre.
- Dust the dough with flour if it sticks to the rolling pin. Or, you can roll the dough after placing a parchment paper over it.
- Dipping cookie cutters in flour is not absolutely necessary, but I found it was easier for me to separate the cut cookies from the dough easier this way – the edges were more defined.
- You can substitute palm sugar with powdered jaggery, coconut sugar or brown sugar.
- For colors, you can buy ready-made colored icing or add gel colors of your choice to white icing. Alternately, you can use edible markers to paint the cookies after the white icing has set completely.
This post was originally published on 17 Dec 2017 and updated on 12 Dec 2020.
Very good…
Thaaank you!! 🙂
I’d never heard of, let alone tried, Ragi before you introduced me to this wonderful recipe! Delicious, adorable, and a great option for anyone with an egg allergy!
Ragi is still an unknown superfood in many parts of the world 🙂 Maybe some day, it will also be popular like Garcinia cambogia became recently. In India, ragi is given in porridge form to babies and toddlers because of its nutritional value, and substituted for rice especially for people with diabetes. Absolutely! These cookies are fantastic for people with egg allergy!
Very nice looking cookies! It seems like all the trials have paid off. I don’t know what finger millet is though. Is it different than regular millet?
Thanks Bernice! 🙂 Oh yes! The trials did pay off! It’s funny I developed this recipe the first time to finish off the leftover ragi flour I had. But now I buy ragi flour mainly to make these cookies! 🙂 Mmm..from my understanding, the millet that is more commonly available in N.America is pearl millet. Finger millet is just another type of millet – more popular in South India. It is red in colour unlike the yellowish millet we see here. In BC, I usually buy finger millet from Indian grocery stores. Sometimes, Amazon has it as well.
Well aren’t these just the cutest little cookies! Can’;t wait to give them a try.
Aww..thanks a bunch, Kristen! 🙂 Do try them, they are amazing!
These look simple & delish! I’d love to try to make them with our gang 🙂
That would be fantastic! 🙂 They are super yummy!