Ragi Chocolate Cookies - No Maida, No Refined Sugar

These are proper chocolate biscuits - snappy, dark, with that slight bitterness that makes a good chocolate cookie different from a sweet one. The ragi flour gives them a colour so close to cocoa that people do not believe there is no maida in them until they see the recipe. The calcium content per cookie is genuinely remarkable for something that tastes this much like a treat. Ragi atta in biscuit and cookie formats is one of the strongest arguments for keeping millets in the modern Indian pantry - the nutritional upgrade over maida is significant and the flavour is actually better. For a pourable chocolate sauce that uses the same ragi base in a completely different application, the Ragi Chocolate Fudge Sauce is the condiment version.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Earthen Story Ragi Flour Shop ↗
• 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (organic if available)
• 4 tbsp Earthen Story Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (solid, at room temperature) Shop ↗
• 4 tbsp jaggery powder
• 1 egg (or 1 flax egg: 1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water, rested 5 min)
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• Pinch Himalayan pink salt

Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 170°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together ragi flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, beat coconut oil and jaggery powder together until combined. Add egg (or flax egg) and vanilla, and mix again.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix into a firm dough. If the dough feels crumbly, add water half a teaspoon at a time until it holds together when pressed.
5. Roll dough between two sheets of parchment to approximately 5mm thickness. Cut with a round cookie cutter or the mouth of a small glass.
6. Place on the lined baking sheet and bake for 12 - 14 minutes until the edges are set. They will feel slightly soft in the centre when hot - they firm up completely as they cool.
7. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before eating. Store in an airtight container for up to 10 days.

Key Benefits

• Ragi flour for calcium and iron Finger millet (ragi atta) has one of the highest calcium contents of any grain - significantly higher than wheat or rice. Each cookie contributes to daily calcium needs in a way that no refined flour biscuit can claim - a meaningful difference for anyone eating biscuits with their morning tea every day.
• Cocoa powder for natural flavour without sugar Unsweetened cocoa powder contains flavanols, natural antioxidants that have well-documented cardiovascular benefits. Using it instead of compound chocolate keeps the sugar minimal while keeping the flavour maximal. Compound chocolate contains palm oil, refined sugar, and vegetable fat - cocoa powder contains none of these.
• Coconut oil for structure without butter Solid extra virgin coconut oil behaves very similarly to butter in baking, creating the same snappy texture without dairy. Cold-pressed coconut oil in baking retains its medium-chain fatty acids even at 170°C - a low enough temperature to preserve the oil's beneficial properties.

Explore more recipes like this on our Recipes page, or read our ingredient guides and food knowledge articles in the Discover section.