Whole Wheat Peanut Cookies

When we bought our Glen cooking range 11 years ago, one of the first things that I tried to bake were cookies. Neha was a small baby then and she hated biscuits. She was reluctant to even taste my firstly baked cookies. She even used to say that she likes everything that her mom makes…. except “bhisskat”. These whole wheat cookies were one of my earliest experiments. All the recipe books had cookies made with apf/maida. I was neither net savvy nor had many recipe books with me. After trying out some apf cookies mentioned in the Glen instruction manual, I attempted to make a whole wheat-jaggery-peanut cookies. I found that these cookies had a more Indian flavour maybe because of jaggery and cardamom. My mom loved it when she tasted these for the first time. It reminded me of “gud papdi” which she used to make when we were small kids. But now I add oats to these at times to increase the nutritional value. Try it and see… they are yummy and healthy.

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour 100 gm
• Oats 50 gm
• Thick jaggery syrup 2-3 tbsp
• Baking powder 1/8 tsp or a pinch
• Baking soda  1/4 tsp
• Salt a pinch
• Butter 75 gm
• Cardamom powder 1/4 tsp
• Crushed roasted peanuts 100 gm

Method:

• Roast the peanuts and grind them coarsely. It should not be a fine powder.
• Cream the butter and jaggery syrup using an electric beater or a hand whisk.
• Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Form a dough without kneading too much.
• Refrigerate the dough for 10-15 minutes. Shape as desired.
• Keep these cookies on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake in a preheated oven at 160 degree Celsius for 15-18 minutes.
• Cool on a wire rack and store them  in airtight containers.

Notes:

• The amount of butter can be reduced upto 50 gms, the texture still remains crunchy and crispy. I have tried it with 50 gms butter.
• Cinnamon powder/nutmeg powder/ginger powder can be added for an additional flavour.
• You can even add roasted sesame seeds on the top before baking. The list is endless.