Healthy Sconies..

This post is going to be a quickie.. No tales whatsover... Just pics and recipe of another tryst with the oven ... 


I made these sconies to accompany our breakfast menu, when I had a ltr of curdled milk the day after I returned from Pondicherry!! Having seen many recipes on the internet which used buttermilk to make soda bread / scones, I knew I didn't want to waste the whey (of course, the curd was used to make paneer).  In fact, I wanted to try making this, Irish Soda bread scones, but then settled for something more cookie like, which I found on Deeba's blog. Seriously, her blog has become a one stop reference point for me! She rocks!!


I agree with her when she says "What I like about them is the ease with which the recipe embraces different ingredients." Though I made it first time with ingredients I had on hand, I think these would come out great with variations too.. Walnuts, Choco chips, coffee, crushed wheat /corn flakes, dried apricots/cherries ... Am sure I will try these out soon!

Raisin and Pistachio Sconies (Scones+Cookies=Sconies)
Adapted from PAB, adaption of 101 Cookbooks adaptation from My Nepenthe by Romney Steele

Ingredients:

1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/6 cup caster sugar
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cups quick oats
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup pistachios
a pinch of salt

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C degrees. Grease a baking sheet/mould.
Sieve the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda into a bowl.

Add the butter and rub in the mixture till it looks like sandy pearls. Alternatively, you may pulse the ingredients in a food processor. I don't own a food processor and so I just used my multi purpose hands to do the job for me :)

Add the oats, raisins and chopped pistachio and mix gently.
Add the buttermilk until just moistened. Bring the dough together with your hands. If the dough is still too crumbly or dry, add more buttermilk a tiny splash at a time, but try to avoid over mixing.
After bringing the dough together, roll out about 1/2 inch thick and cut out shapes as you would for cookies. I found the dough to be a little sticky and just patted it down directly into a round baking tray. Cut into triangle shapes if you are patting the dough into a circle. Bake until the bottoms are deeply golden. (The original recipe said "bake for 15 mins" but these took around 20 mins at 180 degrees. After that time, as it was still too soft for my comfort, I reduced the temperature of the oven to 150 and allowed the sconies to stay in for another 5 mins.)

Cool completely on racks.

Serve warm topped with maple syrup / honey / butter / chocolate sauce / be as creative as you want to be!!

Coffee-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes when you are feeling low, its amazing how a single passing thought or statement of something you like can cheer you up. A song, a place, a memory, a friend, a book, a conversation, a shopping spree, anything really!! It was one of those days on Tuesday when nothing was right, right from the time I woke up. All morning was spent in mundane chores and just after noon, with dark clouds hovering above in the sky and a gloomy weather to add to my crappy mood, I was about to resign to a dull boring day ahead when a phone call changed all that!! As my friend and I chatted over nothing and everything, the conversation drifted to the latest Archer book in stores and what we thought of the stories in the book!

And then outta the blue, she asked me, "So what will you bake today?" The very thought of the book in hand with warm cookies and coffee completely changed my mood and the next minute my mind was thinking what to bake. And voila, just as if the heavens above knew my changed mood, it started pouring!!

I made these quick cookies that I had bookmarked a few weeks back from Deeba's blog. The cookies didn't look as perfect as the ones she had posted, nevertheless, the taste was a big hit with all at home (I think the coffee worked its magic!), so much so that I am planning to bake a second round this weekend when my relatives are around.

COFFEE CHOCOLATE-CHIP COOKIES (As taken from PAB)
Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
 

Ingredients:
100gms unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup vanilla sugar (or granulated)
1 egg
1 tbsp instant coffee powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Method:

Sift the flours, baking soda and salt. Keep aside in a bowl.

Place butter, sugar, egg, coffee powder and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl, and whisk with a hand blender until well mixed. {You can even do this by hand if you don't have a blender. In this cake, just beat the egg lightly with a fork first.}

Add the sifted flour mix and chocolate chips to the bowl, and mix well.

Drop tablespoons on an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving about an inch between each to allow for spreading.

Bake at 180C for 12-15 minutes till golden brown.

Allow to cool on cookie sheet for a minute, and then transfer to rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight box in a cool place for 4-5 days.

Try it...I bet these warm soft and chewy cookies will cheer you up too !!

Apple Pancakes

Was back late last week from a week long holiday to attend a big fat Indian wedding of two buddies and since then I've hardly spent any time in the kitchen (read that as experimenting), barring the necessity cooking. Thanks to a bad stomach, I did enough and more justice to plain khichdi, south indian rasam and curd rice for four days!! When I awoke on Tue morning, it was with a sense of loss and deprivation. Four days of my life had passed by with bland food! Even before I was out of my bed, my mind had conjured up images of exotic food that I wanted for breakfast.

As I rummaged through the contents of the kitchen cabinet, I winced. Everything in there seemed to cry out "Take me and make a South indian breakfast." I shut the door without wanting to hear another voice and went to the refrigerator. I found fruits (plenty of it too) and 2 eggs. Omlettes.. Egg muffins.. Scrambled eggs.. Smoothie.. As I was thinking this, my eyes fell on the maple syrup lying unused and its when I decided breakfast would be hot fruity pancakes with maple syrup!!! Hmm .. Hot apply pancakes actually..

I love pancakes and yes, in all its variations! American, Banana (my favorite), Lemon, Apple, Orange, the list could go on. The first time I tasted the Westerner's version of  pancakes was when Mug and I were in Andaman. The breakfast menu at the resort had banana pancakes and I clearly remember, there was not a day in the entire week that we stayed there, that we didn't have these goodies for breakfast. To date, its been the best we've had!! Since we can't go to the Andaman every time he/I want to eat a good pancake, I decided to learn to make these goodies and have experimented different varieties pancakes at home (once with oats too which I shall not talk about in public :D)

So without further blah blah's, here are the details of another experiment. The recipe wasn't taken off any published source. Based on how I had made pancakes a few months ago, I just eyeballed measurements to get the batter ready. 

Ingredients

1 apple peeled, cored and sliced into small 1/2 inch pieces

1 tbsp sugar (check the sweetness of the apple before you add )

1 tbsp water

1/2 tsp all spice powder

3/4 cup all purpose flour (maida)

2 pinches baking powder

1 pinch salt

1 cup milk

2 eggs

Method
In a heavy saucepan, cook the apple, sugar and water till the apple pieces are translucent. This should take about 4-5 minutes. Keep stirring to ensure you don't land up with burnt apples! Add the all spice powder just before removing from fire. Let it cool for a few minutes.
At this juncture, you may choose to puree the apples for the pancake batter which will give it a more uniform taste OR just mash the apples slightly so you can get crunchy bits as you eat. 
In a bowl, beat the eggs lightly. Add milk and whisk. Keep aside.
In a separate large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Make a well in the center and pour in the milk & egg mixture. 
Add the apple puree / pieces.  Mix it all together.
Heat a lightly buttered griddle/ pan. Pour the batter onto the griddle in the center, using approximately 1 ladle for each pancake. Spread around. Cook on both sides. 
Serve hot topped with pancake / maple syrup.

Apple Pops

Have you ever thought of someone / missed someone and then were reminded of some kind of food ? It happens to me. Its funny how food and people are interwoven in my life. When I think of my mom, its invariably pudina pulao on my mind and vice versa ! When I think of caramel custard, I am always reminded of a buddy, who very sweetly had made it and brought it over for Mug & I one evening. Even the people I don't ever want to be reminded of come to my mind, like for instance, when I think of moong dal sabji, I think of the cook I once had (yes, the one who stole my jewellery & ran away!!). 

So, sometime last week when I spoke to my apple pie, my little 4 year old niece, I wanted to make an apple pie!! On second thoughts, making an 8 / 9 inch pie would mean eating it too and then feeling guilty about all the calories. Its when I hit upon the idea of baking a few apple cookies. Small light cookies I could munch on when my sweet tooth asks for something. Just a bite or two..  Surely, if apple pies exist, there could be apple cookies too!! So as I started the hunt for a few recipes, I hit upon Bakerella's lovely blog with bite size bakes. So cute, so tempting, and oh so guiltless and satisfying!! I didn't really find a recipe for apple cookies, but I was inspired to try baking some apple pops.

I had the basic know how of making a pastry shell, cookie dough and the apple pie topping. It was just a matter of tweaking & combining all together to get bite size pops :D So here goes the experiment... 

  

For the pastry shells:

35 gms Plain flour

35 gms whole wheat flour (atta)

35 gms butter
15 gms icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp beaten egg yolk

2 tbsp cold milk

a pinch of salt

For the filling :

1/2 apple, peeled and cut into small pieces

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp water

3 biscuits crumbed (I used Marie)

a pinch all spice powder

Method for the pastry shells :

Cream butter in a bowl. 

In a separate small bowl, sift the flours, sugar and salt. 

Add the sieved mixture to the butter and rub the butter into the flour so it resembles bread crumbs

Add in the other ingredients and gently knead so it all comes together into a pliable dough.
Leave to rest for 30 mins.


Method for the filling :
In a heavy saucepan, cook the peeled apple, sugar and water till the apple pieces are translucent, this should take about 7-8 minutes. Keep stirring to ensure that you don't have burnt apples!
Add the all spice powder just before removing from fire.
Let it cool for a few minutes and add the biscuit crumbs.
Mix gently till it combines.


To make the pops:
Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees and grease the baking tray.
Roll out the pastry dough, like you would for cookies, however a little thinner than cookies would be. Cut the dough with cookie cutters.
Top 1/2 the pop/cookies pieces with about a tsp of filling (vary it as per the size of the pops) and use the remaining dough pieces to cover.
Using a straw, gently press down the ends so that the circumference is sealed.
Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes till golden brown.
Set to cool on a rack.


These apple pops taste great hot or cold, served as is or topped with maple syrup. Try them and let me know how it goes!

Chocolate Walnut Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Three cute little tots running around the house, another one scheduled to arrive the next day and my mind craving for some chocolate.....

I read once somewhere that "There's nothing better than a good friend, except a good friend with chocolate" and I still had some dark and white chocolates (Ghiradelli too !!) left in the fridge that "kid" had brought when she visited m.

Surely, I didn't require more reason than these to bake some goodies !! Didn't look further than Mallika's blog for the recipe and she didn't disappoint !! I added some walnuts to the chocolate batter to make it crunchy. 

With the below quantity I made 6 muffins and a small cake on Sunday. The muffins were over before I could get a few pictures!! I let the cake set in the fridge for a day and made the chocolate ganache on Monday just before assembling the sinful cake.

Here's what the recipe called for:

For the cake

1/2 cup butter, room temp (50 gm)
1/4 cup sugar (25 gm)
1 egg, room temp
1 cup sweetened condensed milk (100 gms)
3/4 cup flour (75 gms)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (50 gms)
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

For the ganache

200 ml fresh cream (I used Amul, 25% fat)

4 blocks Chocolate

Method :

For the cake

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat an egg lightly with vanilla extract and add to batter. Pour in the condensed milk and milk. Beat well. 

In a second bowl, sieve together twice the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.

Add the wet to dry ingredients. Scoop batter into cupcake cups / cake tin. 

Bake until the fork comes out clean. It took me approximately 20 mins to make the cupcakes and around 35 mins to make the cake.

Let it cool on a wire rack.

For the ganache

Pour the cream into a thick saucepan and simmer till it bubbles. Cut chocolate bars into small chunks and add to the cream. Stir continuously for a few seconds. Take it off heat and continue to stir until all the chocolate has melted. Cool. Let it set in the fridge for around 15 mins before topping it on the cake.

To assemble

Cut the cake into two horizontally. A little tip - Use a thread to cut the cake to minimise the crumbs.

Spread (generously) some chocolate ganache on the bottom piece of cake and put the other piece on top of it. 

Crumb coat the entire cake with the ganache and let it set for half hour in the fridge.

Remove from fridge, add a second layer of ganache on the cake and top it with grated white chocolate.

Cut into desired pieces and INDULGE or better still, try to wait for 5-6 hours while it sets/matures in the fridge and then INDULGE .. The wait will be worth it .. I promise you..

Paneer & Peas Paratha

This paratha is a quick fix dinner. There's not much of chopping or cooking (for paratha stuffing) involved and takes around 45 mins from start to finish. I like parathas but avoid making them for dinner as the amount of fat that makes a paratha taste good is a turn off. Last night was an exception. I wasn't in the mood to make phulkas & a sabji. Moreoever, with the cyclone hovering around the coast, we had light showers in the evening and the mind craved for some hot parathas. To feel less guilty about the whole fat content issue, I avoided adding oil to the dough and used a pastry brush to brush oil over the paratha. Oh, I skipped the butter too whilst indulging in the hot parathas :D. 

Must I add, this dinner was a perfect end to a day of making homemade granola and date walnut muffins. :)

For the dough:
2 cups wheat flour
Salt to taste
1 1/2 cup water approximately

Mix the flour and salt. Add water and knead to a soft pliable dough. Cover and keep aside for sometime.

For the stuffing : 

1/2 cup grated paneer

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/4 cup coriander leaves

1 tsp masala powder (recipe below)

1/2 tsp coriander powder

Pinch of Asafoetida

Pinch of Salt

Boil the frozen peas for about 6-7 mins till soft and mash well. Mix all the above ingredients for the stuffing.

For the masala powder:

Dry roast 2 tbsps of jeera with 1-2 red chillies and grind to coarse powder. I usually keep this powder handy to use for raitas, parathas or gravies/sabjis.

To make the parathas:

Roll some dough (diameter of a palm) into small disks using a roller pin. Place 2 tsp of stuffing at the centre, pull the edges up and cover it from all the sides. Flatten it a little and then roll again into a thick, flat paratha.

Heat a tava and transfer the rolled dough it it. Cook partially on one side and turn it over. Cook partially on the other side and flip over the paratha. Drizzle some oil over the paratha  (or you can use a pastry brush) and fry till it's cooked on both sides. 

Serve hot with raita and pickle.

Date & Walnut Muffins

To truly savor something, there is a strategy. One must eat slow, enjoying each and every little bite. Savoring involves the smell, the look, the feel, and the atmosphere. One must focus on only the piece of art that they are eating when they are eating" Jillian E. Pierce

As I opened the fridge yesterday morning, my eyes fell on the 2 packets of dates that Mug had bought on his travel to the ME. I had to use them !! The idea of adding it to cereal not appealing, I chose to bake something with it. The mind went "Cookies.. Bread.. Bars.. Cake.. Oh wait.. I can use my new silicon muffin pan and make some muffins". As I logged in to check out some recipes, my blogger dashboard screamed to me "Date Walnut Muffins posted by M D at Veg Bowl! - 3 days ago" Oo la... Mallika's pics and recipe tempted me so much I couldn't wait more than 2 hours to get started on these babies. 

Boy.. it couldn't have gotten easier than this. Just one whizz in a blender to make the dates milk and then all ingredients mixed in a bowl..And oh..the result was oh so satisfying.. The babies were perfect.. the colour, the texture, the aroma and the taste.. Despite not using eggs and butter in this recipe, the muffins were so awesome!!

As the second batch of muffins came out of the oven, I sat down for a cuppa coffee with these warm muffins, on a perfect evening where the rain God looked down on the city, I savoured every little bite and truly madly deeply fell in love with these babies. And yes, hublord too had a sinful smile as he revelled in them later in the evening.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup pitted dates, chopped

2 tbsp heap of walnuts
1 cup + 3 tbsps hot milk
1/4 cup oil
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

2 pinches all spice powder (I had some homemade powder of cardamom, cinnamon, & nutmeg)

Pinch of salt

Makes 12 small muffins

Place dates and hot milk in a bowl and allow it to stand. Pulse this in a mixer till the dates combine with milk. Though the initial recipe had called for the dates to stand for 10 mins with the milk (so you can have some fruity pieces as you bite into the muffins), I landed up having mine soak for more than 2 hours. So when I put it in the mixer, it took just a whizz for 3-4 seconds for it to blend into a smooth paste.  Add the oil. Blend again for 2 seconds.

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Grease / Line the cups of a muffin pan.
 

Sieve the flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and all spice powder in a bowl. Mix them well.
 

Make a well in the dry ingredients. Pour in the dates & milk mixture and mix gently till they just combine. Add the chopped walnuts. Spoon mixture into muffin pan, bake for 25 minutes until done.

Remove from oven. Let it stay for 5 mins in the pan and then set to cool on a wire rack/grill tray.

Masala biscuits

I know I disappeared from the blogspace for a while now, but its because I've been spending time experimenting and learning and of course, having fun in the process.. I will compensate my disappearance by flooding you with recipes over the next few days :) For starters, here's the recipe for Masala biscuits... These biscuits are super easy to make.. It will take approx 15 mins preparation time and around 12 mins baking time.. When I first made & tasted these biscuits, I was reminded of the khara biscuits we used to buy in the neighbourhood bakery during my childhood days.. Try it...You will love them...

Masala biscuits (Recipe by Lisa & Jaya at Artisans)

Ingredients

A lil more than 1/2 cup / 50 gms all purpose flour (maida)

2 tbsp butter / margarine

1/4 tsp sugar

2 pinches salt

8 - 10 gms finely cut green chilly, coriander & ginger

1 tsp curd

1/4 tsp baking powder

Yield : 16-18 biscuits

Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside

In another bowl, cream/soften the butter lightly. Add sugar, mix, add curd and mix gently

Add the sieved flour and mix into the butter batter till it is like bread crumbs. 

Now add the masala (chillies, coriander & ginger).

Bring it to a soft dough like consistency.

Roll dough onto floured surface to 1/2 inch thickness and cut with cookie cutters.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C for about 12 mins.

What I've been upto ..

Apple PieOats and Raisins cookiesMasala biscuitsSpicy Veg tart

Assorted Platter : Apple Pie, Lemon curd Tarts, Jam Tarts Spring Onion Tarts and Spicy Veg Tart

Summer delights : "Fruit of Gods" Juice

Think summer and the mind conjures up images of fruits and colours, mangoes in orange hues, watermelons and strawberries in deep reds, jackfruits in their greens and of course not far behind, palmyra (kati nongu) and jamuns in deep violets..

On a visit to Star Bazaar one lazy Sunday afternoon, I was strolling through the fruit section and was tempted into buying a packet of fresh Jamuns. Jamun (Java plums/Jambul/Jambun) fruits are a good source of iron. Story goes that Rama lived on the Jamun fruit for 14 years during his exile from Ayodhya and hence the fruit is called "Fruit of Gods" in Gujarat.

At first glance, I didn't pick up the fruit as I knew it would lie in the fridge for many days before we forced ourselves to finish it (past experience has taught me these things :D) but

Mug promptly dropped a packet into the trolley. As expected, the jamuns stayed in the refrigerator for 3-4 days, without the man even remembering we bought it. A gentle reminder given to eat the fruit received a creative negative response and I was left with two options : Give it away / Make something out of it. Now I wasn't too pleased with the first option, so decided to use the jamuns in a jam/sauce/juice.

I am not the always enthusiastic / energetic girl. I can be very very lazy. I had to find the easiest way of utilising the fruit. A search on the internet led me to an article in Starbroek news by Cynthia from tasteslikehome where she had posted the recipe for the Jamun juice. I zeroed in on this recipe as it was not only super simple but also a tad different as she had used spices to complement the Jamun flavour.

I had to wait another day before I could make the juice but the wait was worth it!

As I went Squish squish squish the next day to extract the pulp, I absolutely loved the violet hues of the fruit and couldn't resist taking a few pictures.

I was more than satisfied with the result, however, Mug decided that it was too "cinammony" . When you do try this recipe out, if you do not like a strong cinammon flavour, you can opt to reduce the size of the cinnamon stick or remove it immediately after the water is boiled.

Ingredients

2 cups jamun 

3- 3 1/2 cups Water

1 small piece (2-3 inch) cinnamon stick

2 cloves

1 elaichi

1/2 cup sugar

Method

Add water and spices in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let boil for 2 minutes

Wash jamun, drain and add to a large bowl.

With clean hands or gloved hands, squish the jamun. Do not remove the seeds at this stage.

Pour boiled water and spices into the bowl with mashed jamun, stir, and cover and let steep overnight. Trust the water and spices to do their job :)

Strain juice after overnight steeping; using clean hands, squeeze more juice from pulp. If required add a little more water to squeeze out all the pulp.

Add sugar to this juice and mix. 

Pour juice into glass and enjoy or bottle and refrigerate.

Virgin Victoria Sponge cake with Buttercream frosting and Marzipan decoration

"Cake.. VIRGIN cake.. Plain / Choc.. With/without icing.. Do not courier.. We'll figure out an alternate way :-(" was the text msg I received. The last time I baked a sponge cake for the kiddo who sent this text, way back in Jul 2009, I had to face her fury as Aru and Mug left one small piece for her (the reasons were creative, no doubt). The msg reminded me to practice baking the softest, springiest sponge cake ever.. 

I tried Alex Barker's recipe of the Victoria Sponge Cake and wasn't disappointed with the results. The only alterations I made was using Almond extract instead of Vanilla and adding a tsp of baking powder to enhance the softness of the cake.

Over the past few months, as I read more about cake decorations in frosting, marzipan & fondant, I've been eager to bake a cake AND make it look good. I first read about marzipan when I was in school. I remember seeing marzipan in one of the Childcraft books I had. Though the creations in marzipan excited me back then, I had never tried my hands at it. I was super thrilled when I landed on Deeba's recipe for marzipan.

The marzipan turned out to be yummm. I had to resist myself from eating the marzipan as it was. It was a little brittle to handle in the beginning. I fixed it by dabbing some powdered sugar on my hands, kneading it a little more and then making the flowers.

This one is for you kid.. with a promise to bake it again when you come here :) .. Missed you this time around..

Sponge cake (Recipe adapted from Alex Barker’s book “Essential Guide to Cake decorating”)

¾ cup soft unsalted butter

¾ cup fine sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp Almond extract

1 ½ cup all purpose flour

 1 tsp baking powder (This wasn't included in the original recipe, I added it to enhance softness)

Pre-heat the oven to 180^oC / 350^oF. Line the base of the baking dish with butter/parchment paper

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and almond extract.

Gently pour the egg mixture into the butter & sugar mix. Beat for a minute.

Gradually add the flour. With a spatula, gently fold the flour in the mix in an 8 formation.

When ingredients are smoothly combined, place the mixture in the baking pan. Flatten the tops and bake for 25 minutes.

Test with a skewer/knife. The cake should be golden, well risen and springy to the touch

Turn into a cooling rack and leave until cold

Buttercream frosting (Recipe adapted from Alex Barker’s book “Essential Guide to Cake decorating”)

¼ cup dairy butter

1 ¼ cup superfine sugar

1 tsp almond extract

Place the butter in a mixing bowl and beat until pale and fluffy.

Gradually beat in sugar and flavouring.

Beat in 1 tbsp hot (boiled but not boiling water), beating all the time till it reaches a soft peak consistency

Use immediately or cover and chill until required. Bring the frosting back to room temperature before use

Home made Marzipan (From Deeba's kitchen.. Love this recipe.. Thanks Deeba)

Almonds - 100gms
Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup
Almond essence - 1 tsp
Water - 1/4 cup approximately
Golden Syrup - 1 tbsp ( I used Maple syrup and got good results)

Method:

• Bring a pan of water to a boil. Drop the almonds in; boil for 1-2 minutes. Drain.
• Peel the skins off the almonds. They should easily slip off.
• Spread the skinned almonds onto a baking tray and allow to dry under a medium-hot grill (180 degrees C) for 8-10 minutes.
• Cool, and then grind in a coffee grinder into almond meal. Do the grinding in short spells, & stir each time to avoid it becoming pasty.
• Turn the meal into a bowl; stir in the sugar, followed with the almond extract.
• Add the syrup, mix in well. Now add cold water, 1 tbsp at a time, to get a play dough like consistency. Knead till smooth.
• Keep covered in cling wrap until you use it. Break off bit by bit, kneading colours into the dough to colour it, and shape as required.

Chocolate and Muesli Blondies

There is something about the aroma of  a dish baking in the oven that I simply cannot resist. It is seductive. It overpowers my senses. It is addictive. And yes, despite many a disasters that I have encountered, I will not give up baking :) :) God save the guinea pigs who will have to eat my babies .. !!! :D :D

Ok .. Deepti's tryst with the Blondies got me all curious and eager. With a little bit of search on the internet, I landed on Smitten Kitchen's and Deeba's version of Blondies, also having learnt the Blondie tale in the meantime.


Story goes that Blondies or the lesser popular "albino cousin" of Brownies probably originated in the mid 19th century when butterscotch was popular. Cookbooks then had recipes with butterscotch (made by combining brown sugar / molasses with butter) , flour and a leavening agent ( baking powder / soda). The modern version of Blondies typically comprise these basic ingredients (brown sugar/butter/baking powder) and the fillings / variations with chocolate / nuts / dried fruits / fruits.


I was a little hesitant about using vegetable oil on my first try of Blondies (prior experiments with cakes / cookies having failed), so decided to go with butter as in Smitten kitchen's / Deepa's version. I ran into a little trouble when mixing the sugar and butter as I used fine crystals of sugar rather than powdered brown sugar (God knows why!! ). I had to warm the mix a little and then cool it down before adding the egg and the remaining ingredients. Thought all will be well soon, however ran into problems again when removing the blondies from the dish (I became a little impatient and tried to remove it from the dish sooner than the suggested time.. Lesson learnt .. It pays to be patient :)). Left it for a few more minutes and all was well indeed.


Though I wasn't infinitely pleased with how I had made the Blondies or the end result (I felt the sugar had masked other flavours, am sure it would be tastier had I cut the quantity of sugar / increased the dark chocolate/muesli quantity), this recipe is a definite keeps' / try again in my recipe archives. 

Ingredients
1 cup Flour
3/4 - 1 cup Light Brown sugar (I used 1 cup and thought the sugar masked other flavours)
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tsp Baking powder
1 Egg, lightly beaten
10 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence
3/4 tsp Baking powder
3/4 - 1 Cup Muesli (a little toasted / roasted)
1/4 - 2/3 cup chocolate chips
A pinch of salt


Method
- Toast the muesli for about a minute on a low flame and set aside
- Preheat oven to 180C and prepare an oven-safe baking dish / grease and line with butter paper leaving around one and half inch extra at the rim of the dish.
- Melt the butter in a non-stick sauce pan and pour into a large mixing bowl. Add brown sugar to this and stir till it is smooth.
- Add the lightly beaten egg and vanilla extract and whisk
- In a separate bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add these dry ingredients to the above wet mixture and mix.
- Add chocolate chips and muesli
- The batter will be thick, though not as thick as dough!
- Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish
- Bake for about 35 minutes. A skewer test may show the mix still sticking to the sides of the knife/pick but that's ok if you like it a little gooeey !!
- Allow to cool completely and then lift it with the help of the extra butter paper and cut into 1 inch squares
- Top it with more chocolate / sugar frosting if desired. Else just enjoy as is !!

Corn Salad

Inspired by Madhuri on Cook-curry nook, and considering the latest eat healthy / diet frenzy my family has been in, I tried this Corn salad as a light dinner option 2-3 weeks back. I added cucumber to the recipe, voluntarily omitted the potatoes & bhujia sev (to minimise the carbs intake:)) and was forced to omit Amchur powder, chat powder and Kala namak as I didn't have these ingredients at home. Mug loved the end result. So here goes the pic and the recipe.

Ingredients:

* American Sweet corn (shelled) – 2 cups (cooked till soft)

* Onions – 2 nos (small sized, finely chopped)

* Tomatoes – 3 nos (medium sized, finely chopped)

* Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp

* Jeera powder – 1 tsp

* Lime juice – 1 tsp

* Salt – to taste

Garnish with some coriander/cilantro and its ready to serve. The corn salad can be eaten as is or topped on a Khakra (Plain / Jeera)

Multi-grain cookies

A new day has come  

Am super excited! Mug finally bought me an OTG. I couldn’t wait to bake my first set of cookies. I began browsing through the several cookie / cake recipes I have collected over the months. A recipe called “Whole meal cookies” caught my eye as the recipe did not require butter or sugar or maida!!! Strange, for a cookie, but super healthy I thought! So post lunch today, I tried baking these cookies. I substituted whole-meal flour with multi–grain flour. Frankly, the first batch turned out to be a complete disaster. Without the sugar, the cookies had a light bitter taste lingering in my upper palate. So, in my second batch of cookies, I added caster sugar to the dough and the taste seemed ok. I bet it would have been a lot nicer if the sugar had been beaten with the egg and blended in with the dough. So here goes the modified recipe. Try it and do let me know how it goes!!

Multigrain cookies

Multi–grain flour – 250 gms (I used Pilsbury)

Egg - 1

Extra virgin olive oil – 7 tbsp

Honey – 3 tbsp

Sugar – 1 cup

Vanilla essence – 1tsp

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Makes 20 cookies

Bring the egg to room temperature, if kept in the fridge. In a bowl, beat the egg, honey and olive oil till creamy. Add sugar and vanilla essence and beat again till smooth.

Sieve the flour and baking powder once

Add the flour to the egg mixture and slowly mix till it becomes a dough. Knead the dough till smooth and consistent.

Roll out the dough to approx ½ inch thickness and cut out shapes using a cutter.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 1600 for 15 mins.

Remove from oven and let it cool on a wire / grill tray for about 5 mins