Choco cashew cookies

Hi friends, this is yet another cookie, found in any corner shop Bakery.  I instantly liked the combo of flavour this cookie had to offer. The bitter taste of Cocoa powder combines well with  the sweet crunch of cashews.  We had a big pack of cashews lying on the refrigerator from our Goa visit.  So, fully recharged I tried this yummy cookie, they came out perfectly well.

Yet another special feature is that these cookies are made from whole wheat flour. I have used Aashirvaad aata.  So, this can be guilt-free cookies for both kids and adults.  Do try and let us know.

Spinach Roulade

Spinach Roulade
Roulade refers to an roll of sponge cake with an filling.  In this post, we have an spinach flavoured sponge cake with an creamy and nutty ricotta filling. They are best served at room temperature.

When sliced, they were super moist.  We enjoyed it with our tea-time.  Apart from enjoying its creamines, we can  trick  kids into eating spinach :D

Recipe adapted from Good Food Magazine.  Let us proceed to Ingredients required.

Pistachio Butter Cookies

Hi, we are back with yummy tea-time Butter cookies.  I made an batch of these during vacation for my folks at Chennai.  They loved the cookies, especially the strong butter aroma it had.

These cookies are very soft and they melt easily with every bite.  So, these can be suggested to elders as well.  With the basic recipe of the cookies given below, you can play around with your own flavours like cinnamon, lemon etc, if you want to omit pistachios.  The following batch yielded about 45 cookies, do try and let us know.  

Ingredients required

• 100 grams unsalted butter
• 62 grams castor sugar
• 1 tbspn vanilla extract
• 125 grams All purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sliced salted pistachios, that are double-roasted
• Green gel colour

Method

In an bowl, add butter, sugar and extract and whisk well.  Add in gel colour and whisk again.  

Finally fold in flour and pistachios and keep folding till an soft dough is formed.  

Cover this soft dough in an cling wrap and roll them into log, I made mine an rectangular rod and refrigerated for an minimum of two hours.  

Pre-heat the oven to 165 degree celsius.  Take out your log and slice them.  Place them in parchment paper lined baking tray.  Refrigerate this set-up for few minutes.  

Bake these for about 10 to 15 minutes, till the edges brown.  Time depends on the thickness of each slice, I recommend to uniformly slice the log, per batch,  otherwise the cookies might get overbaked.  Cool them completely over wire rack.  Store in air-tight container.  

Enjoy these with your tea-time.  Happy Baking :)  

Chocolate chip cupcakes

    Hi friends, yes missed blogging for so long time.  All this time, has been spent well with improvising my cooking skills, and specially BAKING <3  My hubby has promised me another bigger model of OTG, next month, so YAY excited.  You can definitely stay tuned for more cakey recipes then.  So, chalo let's move to our post. There are two types of Baking, we can see in any forum - one will be completely catchy and fancy with fondant and icing, and keeps the promise to inspire any layman into baking, other type is nothing fancy, but simple baked treats which is an whole hearted meal by itself and serves as an comfort food.  Yes, our post falls on later, Heavenly Chocolate chip cupcakes, which is an perfect accompaniment to our Tea-time.

These simple treats are yum, and best served warm.  And the best part of this recipe is that, these are made of maida and an part of wheat flour, giving them an additional healthy quotient as an uplift.  They  make an great option for your kids snack break as well.  You can refrigerate and consume them within five days, but please do microwave/reheat for an warm super yum treat.

Vanocka - Christmas special Bread

  Vanocka is a sweetened braided bread, with full of flavors from Czech Republic and Slovakia.  Apart from sugar, this bread also has loads of almonds and raisin to give a  sweet hint and has aroma  from nutmeg and lemon zest. 

This bread involves braiding in three batches, and stacking them all up.  They have to be pinned through toothpicks or grill sticks so that the layer don't collapse.  The real trick is to equally divide the dough into nine counterparts for braiding, which can be efficiently done through weighing machine. 

After baking this yeast-raised bread, there was an strong hint of aroma around my home, resembling the plum cake. Each slice was a bit dense yet sweetened with a lemony flavor.   We ended up devouring this beautiful braided bread.  Merry Christmas to all, and thanks to Swathi Iyer for suggesting such a exotic bake. 

Shrikand cookies

Cookies are always an essential bites at home.  They lift up every occasion and cheers us all.  Following Zebra cookies, here comes Shrikand cookies, made by hung curd.  This fusion cookie starts with rich flavour and ends on an sour note. 

Their speciality is their cake-like crumbly texture, appealing to crowd of all age.   I had them garnished with cardamon, almonds and saffron to coincide with traditional shrikand.  Here, everybody enjoyed the bite and are  having an good time :)  Hope you guys try and let us know.  

Zebra cookies

   I was completely fascinated, when I found these cookies from the book, "100 BEST DELECIOUS CHOCOLATE".  The entire concept was fun, and reminded me of an long gap from my last baked cookie.  These striped cookies were very easy and required an total whisk with each and every ingredient.  You need chocolate buttons though, I did pipe few, a day before and that came in handy with the presentation and saved an lot of time.

I made these with milk chocolate, dark chocolate is also preferable.   This zebra cookies are very kid friendly and can be tagged as an party food too.  Dough can be kneaded in advance, because more the refrigeration, more the flavours enhance within these.  Fresh out of the oven, they had an crisp edges with an chewy middle.  With an ongoing monsoon, these cookies did an good pair with hot tea. Do try and let us know.   

Chocolate banana muffins

   Chocolate is our all-time-favourite  food.  Whether, that's an cake, or candy or ice-cream they are relished with glee.  So, this time when I found some unattended bananas lying on the table, I decided to make chocolate banana muffins.  Though, I am going to add banana, I drizzled them with syrup and chocolate vermicelli for an extra chocolate crunch :)

These muffins were soo delecious and surpassed my expectations.  Chocolate and bananas complemented each other very well.  That said, these muffins are going to be an regular menu at our home.  The muffins were very moist and every bite had its own history of melting moments :)  

They required lesser time to prepare, but I suggest you to use fully ripe bananas in this recipe, otherwise you will not be getting this moist texture.  I took them for my neighbourhood potluck party and everybody enjoyed them.  Especially I got an greater credit from kids :)  

Empanada vegetariana - Galician stuffed bread

    Empanada gallega/ Galician empanada belongs to cuisine of Galicia, and is mainly had as an appetizer.  This, in general refers to an variety of stuffed bread - filling being fish or seafood or vegetables or an ultimate combo  of all three.  They are known to have sweet fillings as well.  They are prepared as an large savoury pie, and is sliced for serving purpose.

So, when Swathi and Marisa suggested us this bread, I was very delighted to bake them.  I choosed vegetarian version of Empanada with an touch of scrambled eggs, you can avoid eggs if you want. Empanadas vegetarian mixture are called as, 'zaragallada' and they have an strong hint of onions along with garlic, capsicum and tomatos. 

Empanada can be circle or rectangular, depending on baker's choice. Once out of the oven, they were mild, delecious and filling as well.   Since, they are mild, they would go great with tomato-chilly dip or chilly sauce.  We cherished them as an week-end tea-time snack and all thanks to  Swathi and Marisa  for suggesting such an delecious bread

New year Pretzels - NeujahrsPretzel

    As the name implies, this Pretzel is one of the special dishes in New years menu and is consumed across Europe, with Germany as special mention.  This Pretzel is unique, as it is not eaten as plain, but with an sugary glaze followed by nuts and cherries.  They are also believed to lead luck and prosperity throughout the year.

I made an eggless version of the suggested recipe, and glammed up with icing sugar glaze, followed by sprinklers.  They were very delecious, when had warm and kids friendly too.  All thanks to Swathi and Swetha for suggesting this wonderful recipe.  

You can also dust them with icing sugar instead of glaze and decorate with nuts/cherries.  So, let us now follow the recipe of this eggless new year pretzels.  

Jam thumbprint cookies

    Cookies are quite an demand at home.  Though they serve mainly with evening tea or milk, they are also helpful when it comes to noon-time sweet carvings.  This jam cookies is one such type, be it with milk, or an small serving of dessert, it never fails to make an refreshing impact. This recipe is adapted from book, ' The Big Book of Treats' by Pooja Dhingra.

Tastewise, they were similar to butter cookies.  We feasted on them :)  You can also freeze the dough and make them whenever needed.  

Chunky chocolate cookies

    Chocolate cookies - who doesn't go gaga over them?  We end up buying some brand or the other once in an week, because we all devour them :)  So, such one week, both mother and daughter took up this project and made them with available ingredients.  Though they were mildly sweet, the aroma was excellant and filled up our home.

 Adding brown sugar instead of regular sugar charmed up the flavour and final touch of milk chocolate chunks/ finely chopped milk chocolate ended  up in rich, delecious cookie that became favourite of all :D

Chocolate rocks , an sweet come-back :)

Hi guys :)  Happy children's day :)  So, this sweet/dessert is for those tiny-tots.  You don't require any fancy tools for making these.  They are very simple and can be made by juniors themselves as well :)  So, why not make this interesting project for them?  Well, the best part of candy-making is that you can always monitor what goes in.  Here these chocolate rocks, are an combination of dark chocolate and almonds, making them healthier option not only for kids, but  for adults,as well.

These crispies can be served with tea.  I have made them using Morde branded dark compound, (I bought them  at Q-mart, Hyderabad) which is used in making  home-made chocolates. If not dark compound, you can use your favourite dark or milk chocolates as well.  And almonds can be replaced by an mixture of dry nuts or any of your favourite.  You can store them in air-tight container, and keep them refrigerated. 

Butter biscuit

      My routine life, with incoming guests had cornered my blogging to an standstill factor.  But, now, am slowly picking up my pace :)   Yes,  so, for an refreshing start, let me introduce you this butter biscuit.  :)  With an incoming monsoon, we all are forced for an lot of  masala chai accompaniments, aren't we?  And this treat, which is also my childhood- driven inspiration, impressed all.

Special mention goes to the nutty texture, yes, I had sprinkled some coarsely chopped nuts along with cardamon powder.  Tricky part lies in baking them, this biscuit barely needed ten minutes and were super-crispy when cooled to room temperature.  

So, guys, do try them and let me know....

Koffiebroodges or Coffee rolls

Koffiebroodges or coffee rolls are from Dutch.  They are glazed, with custard filled rolls which find great company with Coffee.  They also make an great party-time snack.  Great to taste and easy to make, this is sure to please everybody at home.  Thanks to Swathi Iyer and Kaveri for introducing this sweet rolls to us.

Back at home,  I made them at two batches, we all relished.  My daughter, who just woke from her noon-nap, landed straight near oven and demanded them.  I, handed her some and she finished them in seconds, burping out loudly.  :P  These buns were too appealing since they had an shiny, pale red glaze.  This was  due to brushing of jam over the top of baked roll.  According to source,  powdered sugar is also added as glaze.   

Vuppu biscuits / Salted biscuits, Tea-time affair

    Be it latenight-weekends or sipping bed-tea, everyone is this world is habitual, isn't it??  One such is going to be our topic of the day :D  Yes, I am talking about all those, who love to crunch biscuits in between your hot n steaming tea.....  Everyone in my family does that.  Though Marie biscuits/ Digestive biscuits are available in every home, nothing can replace this vuppu biscuits available in bakeries.  At Chennai, my mother used to stock them very well. 

 

These super-soft, crunchy biscuits is known to occupy its presence at mind & heart.  I can still recollect those melting moments when they get paired up with tea.  All thanks to Sandhya from MyCookingJournal!!  When I first saw her post, it was sooo tempting that I can barely resist myself from baking them.   She has an fascinating site full of authentic South-Indian dishes, not to mention her bakes are my all-time-favourite.  :D 

 

 

The uniqueness of this biscuit is the presence of rice flour in it, which itself provides an authentic twist to regular cookie/biscuit dough.  I made an huge batch and they are disappearing....  :)  My parent-in-laws were delighted to taste this one.  Overall, baking them was one proud moment in my life :)  Try them too, will you ?  :)

 

Chocolate scones

   Scones are regarded as quick tea-bread that are made with baking powder as its leavening agent, unlike using yeast.  Slightly sweet, they are occasionally glazed.  This 'CHOCOLATE SCONES' is adapted from the book '100 Best Delecious Chocolate'  I must say that these scones were easy and quickly made.

Chocolate scones were crisp and nicely browned over the top, these were soft and layered inside.   I enjoyed them with tea.  Slightly sweet with bits of chocolate chunks in each bite, these scones were an treat indeed!  

SANTA CLAUS BREAD - CHRISTMAS SPL

I had always wished to do creative baking.  Yes, my recent crush, being on fondant type designer cakes.  Though the difficult part in such bakes is to find right ingredients within your reach or within your budget :(  Nevertheless the creative part in breads sparked me, when I visited this santa claus bread in Vicky's post.  Thanks to her and here I am posting an similar version :) Atlast, this one makes me pat my own back, and yes ' I AM HAPPYYY' :) :)

 

Ingredients are quite simpler, the trick lies in shaping the dough.  Here, I have explained with step-by-step pics.  So, don't worry!!!  Just surprise your loved ones, for upcoming Christmas.

Chocolate modak - Potluck party, cyber style September 28

   As the name goes by, this can also form one of your kid's favourite snack.  The special filling (Made by adding cocoa powder & choco chips to coconut-jaggery combo) is what makes the chocolate modak even more droolicious and with each bite, we can feel the chocolate flavour oscillating around our head!! :) :)  This modak is tooo tempting for a single try!!!!

I had to make this modak because of this month's pairing in potluck party, guest-hosted by nivedham's food blog and owned by Jagruti mam.  This chocolate modak is from Poornima's blog.  She has an excellant blog with delecious dishes, do go through her blog for the original version of chocolate modak.

Sweet n sour cookies

    Recently, I had started to grow fond of strawberry cream which I prepared for kronut.  I am experimenting them with lots of bakeries, one such is this cookies.  I named them 'Sweet n sour' because of their blessful fusion of strawberry and chocolate chips.  You can also try replacing strawberry with ingredients like Anardhana (pomegranate seeds) in order to find an more Indian version.

One first bite of this cookie reveals its crispy texture that easily melts and the sour taste of strawberry comes at the end.  When this sour taste combines with choco chips, entire sour-sweet combo tickles our tongue, lightens mind and brings out original 'khatta meetha' version of hajmola candy.  Any kid who enjoys sourness would consider these cookies an everytime-delight!!  And yes, yes, yes varsha luved them a lot!!