Ragi-wheat biscuit or call them cookies if you will

9 months and above

My habit of scrutinising the list of ingredients before purchasing new food and related products has taken on obsessive compulsive overtones after Abhi's birth. When she was old enough for finger food, I checked out a whole lot of teething biscuits, rusks and other commercial baby biscuit varieties. I was alarmed to find that the majority of these sold here had copious amounts of palm oil, hydrogenated shortenings, and sugar. A particular, popular brand said it had a calorific value in the range of 200 per biscuit ( remember, I am not counting calories but talking about empty calories) and going through its nutritional information, found the lion share of this calorie count is just from the sugar and corn syrup in there!

This recipe yields soft , crumbly cookies that are ideal for baby snacking if dipped in some warm formula, milk, or even expressed breast milk.

Ragi (finger millet/kezhvaragu/panjapullu) flour - 1 cup ( use a good commercial brand if you cant grind your own)
Wheat flour - 1 cup
Almonds - 5 nos (optional, use for babies who are not allergic to nuts)
Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
Cooking soda - 1/4 teaspoon
Jaggery syrup - 1/2 cup
Olive oil - 2 teaspoons
Cardamom - 2 nos (powdered fine)

Dry roast the flours together in a skillet on low flame for a few minutes. Sift the flours, baking powder, and soda together. Grind the almonds to a coarse meal. Add all ingredients together and knead to a slightly sticky dough (this should not be a hard dough). If required add a little milk to moisten it. Form small balls with the dough and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Slightly press with fingers to flatten the balls out.

Preheat oven . Place the tray in and bake for about 15 minutes at 150°. Remember, baking time is largely dependent on the oven. Cool and store in an airtight container in the refridgerator.

Place one biscuit in a bowl, pour some warm milk over, slightly press with finger to crumble and allow baby to dig in

Nutrition information

Wheat - Whole wheat flour is rich in Vitamin B6, iron, folate, zinc, manganese, phospherous etc. Whole wheat is also said to maintain good heamoglobin levels and to prevent childhood asthma.

Ragi (finger millet) - An exceptional non-diary source of calcium and also contains good amounts of the essential amino acid, methionine essential for vitality.

Jaggery - iron rich

Almond - Is a prebiotic (increases the good bacteria naturally present in the intestine) source of protein, fiber, vitamin E, magnesium, etc.