Sesame Cookies - modernized til ladoos

The start of a new year brings along new celebrations, for every south Indian home its Pongal...
Like any south Indian family we had grand celebrations at home, with all my building friends coming home for Pongal, Sambhar, Avial, siru kilangu kuttu, beetroot stir fry, carrot pickle & never ending supply of fried papad! This was followed by lots of munching of sugar cane & kelangu which was steamed to perfection with turmeric & salt by mum...We kids would swing in the giant swing in the garden and enjoy our goodies while the elders from the building & my parents enjoyed beetle leaves & gap- shap....
The day prior to Pongal was often frantic & buzzing with activity with all the chopping of vegetables, esp the siru kilangu which was tricky....Mountains of coconut would be grated by my mum' ever helping hands..... I would be hopping around all excited & sniffing all the goodies.....the jaggery would be pound to a coarse powder to be added to the sweet pongal next day morning....My mum would make gigantic amounts of each dish for every neighbour would have lunch at home & many tiffins were send to dad' friends.....

The morning of Pongal dad would get almost truck loads of flowers from Dadar market....the entrance of the house was adorned with beautiful rice flour rangoli by mum & floral torans & floral rangoli by my sister. My brother also saved some Diwali crackers for Pongal morning. Every chatti available was filled with water & fragrant flowers were tucked in & kept in every available space at home. The pooja room looked ever so grand with sugar cane, long banana clusters attached to stem, steamed kelangu, fresh turmeric plant, flowers in every possible color & fragrance. The offerings to Sun god were made early morning & mum actually would finish making the sakkarai pongal & ven pongal in the early hours at sunrise. Mum would dress me up in the best Kanjeevaram pavadai chatai :)
Oh the bliss....when did we all grow up!

Come today & am married into a mixed cultural family & my MIL is a Maharashtrian & my FIL south Indian....the first year after my wedding we celebrated Pongal at my in-laws place too. God bless my in-law's cook & driver & domestic help who are all south Indians and were more than happy to celebrate Pongal! What a festive celebration it was....

Finger licking food & sakkarai pongal was relished by all & til ladoos by MIL to celebrate Sankranti.

This brings me to my post
Sesame seed cookies/ Modernized til ladoos for Sankranti.....
Recipe adapted from here
There is a ritual at my in laws place where family members on Sankranti day after touching the elders feet & hugs exchanged, ladoos are also offered to each other saying "til gul ghya... god god bola" which simply means take a til ladoo & speak sweet just like "it" is :)
Last year dad gave us special made-to-order til ladoos to be exchanged at in-laws place. This year we have our own modern version of til ladoos my sesame cookies!

1 1/2 cup wheat flour + 1/4 cup ground breakfast oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup roasted white sesame seeds
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter non salted
1 egg
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup brown sugar (I used Demerara)

1/2 cup white butter (unsalted)

1 cup roasted white sesame seeds

Whisk the butter & sugar, do soften the butter first, whisk it & add sugar in batches for a even mixture.

Add a beaten egg & mix further, Add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixed with baking powder & sesame seeds & make a dough.

Make small balls & keep on baking trays/ plates which are greased.

Alternatively keep on baking sheet, bake at 170 degrees for 10 - 15 mins until the bottom is browned.

These are soft & harden on cooling.

I dint have the patience to wait for each batch so plopped the cookie mixture onto trays, ceramic bakeware & even a steel plate, they turned out fine even without greasing!