Til Gud Cookies / Sesame Jaggery Biscuit Recipe

Give our humble til gud a makeover this Makar Sankranti with these utterly delicious Til Gud Cookies. These til gud cookies made with a blend of whole wheat and ragi flour are soft and crumbly from within and crunchy at the edges. These butter cookies use jaggery powder as the sweetener, have nutty taste from the sesame seeds and are flavored with green cardamom and nutmeg. With a very simple and easy to follow recipe, these til gud cookies are a treat to the taste buds. These cookies have a good shelf life of about 10-15 days at room temperature in an air tight container. Make these cookies as festive treats or serve them at tea time or just to satisfy those sweet cravings all year round.

                      

Makar Sankranti is one of the most auspicious days for Hindus and as the first festival in the year's calendar it is eagerly awaited by one and all. It marks the end of the long winter, as the sun begins its northward journey and so this festival is called Uttarayan also. After Sankranti the days start becoming longer and warmer and the chill of winter declines. farmers pray on the occasion to be blessed with bountiful harvest.

This harvest festival is celebrated in different parts of India by different names. In North India, large bonfires are lit on the eve of Sankranti , known as Lohri. In  many states of South India, it s celebrated for 4 day long festival called Pongal. In Gujarat it is known as Uttarayan, in Maharashtra , Makar Sankranti, in Uttar Pradesh as Khichri. Lord Sun is worshiped on this day and people take dip in holy rivers.

                                

Importance of Til and Gud during Makar Sankrati Festival ?

Til or Sesame seeds are of special importance during Makar Sankranti. Sweets made from Til are offered to deity and distributed among family, friends and needy.Sesame seeds have oil in them which generates heat in the body which is much needed during winters. Jaggery on the other hand has healthy sugar that keeps the body energised. Sesame seeds are also excellent sources of calcium, iron, copper, manganese , magnesium , phosphorous, dietary fibers, protein and carbohydrates. 

In Maharashtra, on Makara Sankrati, married women are invited for a get together called Haldi Kumkum and given new utensils or gifts and sweets made from Til and Jaggery. Hailing from a typical Maharashtrian family, i usually make Tilgul Ladoo, Til Gud Burfi and Tilgul Poli for the occasion. This time i made these delicious Til gud cookies too . Peanuts Sesame Seeds and Coconut ladoo and Dates, nuts and sesame seeds candy are also very addictive and perfect winter treats. 

                           

Sankrati Special @FoodieMondayBloghop 

As the name suggests we bloggers at FoodieMondayblogHop are celebrating the harvest festival by showcasing our Makar Sankranti special dishes today. This apt theme was suggested by Renu who blogs at cookwithrenu.com. Renu is a computer engineer by profession and a working mom who has this wonderful blog with many healthy and nutritious dishes. I have tried out this oats and dalia idly from her blog which was a great hit at my place. Now i wish to try out her healthy Bajre Ki Tikki. As i had many traditional Makar Sankranti dishes already on the blog, i baked some cookies with til and gud as my contribution towards the theme.

                                   

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Serves: around 10 cookies

Ingredients: Measurements used 1 cup = 250 ml

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup ragi flour
• 1/2 cup jaggery powder
• 1/2 cup salted butter /50 grams
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet masala / cardamom nutmeg powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1-2 tablespoon milk       

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes. Next, sieve the whole wheat flour, ragi flour, cardamom nutmeg powder, and baking powder twice in a bowl.

2.  Add cold butter to it and rub the butter and the flour with your finger tips so that the mix resemble bread crumbs.

3. Add jaggery powder to it and blend the mix very well. You may run the miture in a food processor so that jaggery powder mixes with the flour mix very well.

4. Add little milk at a  time and try to gather the mix together using your hand. Do not knead the cookie dough as it will generate gluten and the cookies will turn chewy instead of light and crumbly. Add half of the sesame seeds to the cookie dough. Now take small portion of the dough and shape it like a cookie. Roll it over the remaining sesame seeds on a plate so that the seeds coat the cookies very well from both sides.

5. Transfer the cookies on a greased baking tray keeping enough space between each cookie as they spread on baking. Keep the tray in a preheated oven and bake the cookies at 180 degrees Celsius for 13-15 minutes. Do not over bake the cookies as they turn hard on doing so. On baking the cookies are soft to touch and harden on cooling. Allow the til gud cookies to cool down completely on a wire rack before transferring them to an air tight container.

6. Enjoy the delicious til gud cookies at tea time or as a festive snack with your loved ones.

Recipe Notes:

• You can make these cookies using just whole wheat flour and skip the ragi flour entirely if you wish so.
• To make ragi flour at home just grind the ragi seeds in a blender and sieve it before use.
• Do not over bake the cookies as they turn hard on doing so.
• Do not knead the cookie dough too much as it will generate gluten and make the cookies chewy and hard instead of crumbly.
• Add milk little at a time. Still, if your dough appears sticky keep the dough covered in a cling film in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes, until it is easy to handle and then shape them as cookies.
• The cookies spread considerably while baking so keep them spaced apart while arranging them on the baking tray.

I hope a few of you would love to try out this recipe. If you do so, feel free to share your feedback with us in the form of likes and comments in the comment section below this post. All your suggestions are also more than welcome. If you like my work and feel it is worth following, do hit the follow button at the top right corner of this blog. Your appreciation means a lot to me. For more recipes and new updates follow us on social media.

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For more cookie recipes, do check out the following from this blog.

• Whole Wheat Cumin Biscuits

                                          

• Eggless Thandai Cookies

                                                       

• Healthy Gingerbread Cookies

                                        

• Thekua

                                        

                                                     

• Beetroot Oats Cookies