Wholewheat Jaggery and Ginger Biscuits

I am dedicating this post to my dear Aunt, Ira Chakraborty or Ira Jethai as we lovingly call her. Jethai refers to Mom's elder sister in Assamese. She is no longer with us today but her recipes continue to remind us of her beautiful and loving ways of showing her love for us through her awesome yet simple dishes she used to cook for us whenever we used to visit her. 

A very soft spoken lady, she was the eldest of the family and I used to hear it from Mom how she used to be the strict guardian when it came to protecting and disciplining her siblings. It has been almost 2 years now and while we are busy with our routine lives, her memories and thoughts continue to linger in our minds. The recipe for these biscuits were recently found by one of her daughters, who made them and then shared the recipe with me. The only change I made was with the flour and the kind of sugar used in the recipe. The cookies are deliciously crunchy and healthy and leaves me with fond memories of her everytime I take a bite with my cuppa!

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup (150 gms) wholewheat flour

1/4 cup (50 gms) wheat germ (optional; can be replaced with equal quantity wholewheat flour)

1/2 cup (100 gms) butter

1/2 cup (100 gms) brown sugar (you can reduce the quantity if you want as per your taste)

1/2 cup jaggery grated

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ginger powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp lemon juice

Note: If you are using all cup measurements, please use it throughout and do not mix the metric. If you use cup measurements for some and grams for other ingredients, you might end up with a imperfect batter/dough. 

Direction

Take the butter, sugar, jaggery, lime juice, and ginger powder in a bowl and melt it, either in the microwave or on stove top. If using the microwave, ensure that the jaggery is completely melted and no solids remain. Keep aside and let it cool. 

Now sift the flour with soda, baking powder, and salt. Take this in a bowl and add the wheat germ, if using. Now add the melted butter and jaggery mixture and start mixing the dough to a smooth lump. Ensure that the dough is not too dry nor too wet and the mixture just holds together. 

Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree celsius and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Take small portion of the dough in your hands and gently roll it between your palms and flatten it to about 1/4 inch thickness. Arrange the flattened dough balls on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat for the rest of the dough. Keep at least 1" space between the cookies as they expand while baking. 

Sprinkle some sugar on top and bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes till the cookies are browned (not burnt) but still a little soft to touch. Do not bake the cookies till hard. You will end up with rock hard cookies. 

Remove from oven and let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let it cool completely before storing in air tight jars.