A small difference & Gluten-free Millet Chocolate Chip Cookies

What do you say to a little child who you meet for the first time? With eyes full of conflicting emotions – a flicker of a smile, a speck of mischief, a cautious sense of hope, a glimpse of the darkness.

You look at the child and you see your own little one standing there. Small and brave. Full of courage. But holding back.

And you pray hard that the child in front breaks all that is holding him or her back and reaches for the stars. And knows that the journey from the darkness of their circumstances to the light of their future is the most challenging. But it is worth it. And he or she can make it. Always.

And I always pray that no matter how many times we share or try and make a small difference, that no matter how much despair I see – I should never ever come back untouched. That I should always come back unsettled and disturbed.

Picture from the Greenland Public School in the Ejipura slum settlement. August 2019

After I got back I was in a contemplative mood for a long time. And to try and work myself out of that frame of mine, as always I chose to bake. This time I tried to bake cookies which are made of a mix of jowar and popped ragi flour. And used white butter instead. The texture was amazing and very similar to the one with ghee.Do try it out!

Recipe –

3/4 cups jowar flour

1/2 cup popped ragi flour

1/2 cup unrefined cane sugar

100 gms white butter ( I used unsalted Amul)

Chocolate chips

2 tbsp unsweetened Cocoa powder

Method –

Cream the cane sugar and butter together well. Mix the flours and cocoa powder well. Add the cocoa-flour mix slowly to the sugar-butter mix. Mix well and wrap it to store in the fridge for 1 hour. Pre-heat oven at 165 degrees C. Take out the dough and shape it into rounds. Top with chocolate chips. Bake at the same temperature for 12-15 minutes or until firm around the edges.

Let them cool off entirely before storing in an air right container.

Advertisement