Whole wheat butter cookies (Eggless)

A perfect buttery cookie that will go well with your hot cup of tea, coffee or plain milk! I made these with whole wheat flour (Atta). you can also replace whole wheat flour with All purpose flour. These are made from just 3 ingredients.

Ingredients

1. 2 cups Whole wheat flour (Atta) 
2. ¾ cup powdered sugar (add more to adjust the sweetness)
3. 1 cup unsalted butter(softened not melted)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150ºC for 10-15 minutes (300º F, Gas No-2, Oven Terms- Slow) 
2. In a large bowl, cream the sugar & butter with hands or hand mixer. it should change its color to white. 
3. Sift the flour and add it to the sugar & butter mixture, until it forms a soft dough. Rest the dough for 15-20 minutes or more.
4. Make small balls with palm, press with fingers to make a desired shape, you may also use a cookie cutter. I used a tiny round shaped steel box as a cookie cutter. you can use a fork to prick the cookie on the top.Roughly It should be of .50cm thickness
5. bake for 20 minutes or until the cookie turns brown in color. 
6. The above ingredients will yield 28-30 cookies depending upon the size you give.

Notes: 

1. Add more sugar if you think the cookie dough is less sweet.
2. Remember every brand flour acts differently (I used ashirwad atta), after resting the dough for more than 20 minutes it shouldn't be sticky to your hands, it should be relatively dry, i.e. when you touch the dough it should be dry but not very crumbly. if it is too crumbly add 1 tsp butter or more as needed.
3. I added a tbsp of butter after resting the dough as I thought the dough was dry. 
4. If you make the cookies with All purpose flour (Maida), you may be able to roll out the dough with the help of rolling pin, but rolling the dough with wheat flour was not possible.
5. When you remove the cookies out from the oven, they might be soft but once they cool down they will harden.
6. Baking time depends upon the side of the oven. Mine took 18mins
7. You may also use 1 cup APF & 1 cup wheat flour. 

Almond Cookies

If you wish to gift something different to your dear one's this Diwali, try these Almond cookies, which are home baked with love. You may pack these in gift boxes or a decorative plates or gift bags. Hope you all have a safe and a wonderful Diwali!

Ingredients

1. 1 cup almond powder
2. ¾ cup whole wheat flour (atta) 
3. ¾ cup powdered sugar
4. ¾ cup clarified butter (ghee) or melted butter (I used melted ghee)
5. pinch of salt

Method

1. In a deep bowl, mix the dry ingredients (wheat flour, almond powder, sugar & salt). Mix well.
2. Add the ghee keeping aside some so that the dough doesn't become too wet. knead the dough to make a firm ball and let it rest for 15 mins, cover with a damp cloth or cling film. If needed add the remaining ghee.
3. Make small balls of the dough and press them with the help of your palms to form the shape of cookie. Place them on a cookie sheet (or baking sheet) 
4. Bake the cookies at 150ºC about 10-15 minutes or until they turn golden brown.  After they become lightly golden brown remove the cookie sheet from the oven.
   Keep aside the cookie tray until the cookies come to room temperature.
5. Note: the above measurement will yeild 12 Almond cookies- size of store bought biscuits or 30-35 cookies of coin shape

Dough- Let it rest for 30-45 mins

 

Arrange the flatten balls on the cookie sheet

Chocochip Oats cookies

Chocochip & oats cookies!

Oats - 1/4 cup
Wheat flour - 3/4 cup
Baking soda - a pinch
Chocolate chips - 3 tbsp
Yogurt(Thick Curd) - 3 tblsp
Castor Sugar - 4 tblsp
Butter (melted)- 3 tblsp
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Honey- 1 tsp

Method
In a bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking soda, & chocolate chips) In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients (yogurt, butter, vanilla essence & honey)
Making a well in the centre of the dry ingredients,add in the wet ingredients & fold in to form a batter. the batter will be sticky (picture 1)

Now pre-heat the oven at 170 degrees C &line a baking cookie tray, make equal sized balls of the mixture &place them in rows, slightly apart from each other. Flatten the balls with the fingers as shown in the picture -2

Place the tray in the centre of the pre-heated oven & bake for about 20 mins oruntil done.

Remove from the oven & let them cool before storing in air tight containers.

Yeild: 15 cookies

Wrap up the cookies in gift wrapping paper before gifting it to your friends or family

Its Christmas time !!

Special thanks to my dear friend Supraja for contributing these Christmas Special recipes for my blog ! I had the "Death by Chocolate " & "Sugar Cookies" made by supraja and I asked her to share these for my blog..The cake and the cookies were out of this world.


Gingerbread men recipe:

Christmas baking at our home wouldn’t be complete without a batch of these cute little gingerbread men. When we were kids we would each take turns decorating our gingerbread men with a happy smile, grumpy look etc. A lovely aroma of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves fills the whole house while baking these cookies. It’s truly an experience. The original recipe calls for molasses but since I couldn’t find it here in the stores (in muscat) I substituted it with brown sugar.

INGREDIANTS:

3 cups all purpose flour

¼ tsp salt

¾ tsp baking soda

2 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp cinnamon powder

¼ tsp nutmeg powder

¼ tsp clove powder

½ cup butter

½ cup sugar

1 large egg

2/3 cup [160ml] molasses

[Substitute for molasses:

1 cup molasses =1 cup honey OR

=¾ cup brown sugar plus ¼ cup water. Boil water and add the brown sugar. Stir till sugar dissolves]

METHOD:

Sift flour, baking powder, salt and all spices in a separate bowl

In another separate bowl beat butter and sugar till fluffy

Add egg and molasses [brown sugar + water or honey] and beat till well combined.

Add flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix till well incorporated and it forms a dough.

Divide the dough into small parts and cling wrap them and refrigerate for about 2 hours or so.

Preheat oven to 180 deg cel.

Place rack in the centre of oven

Roll out the dough on a well floured flat surface to ¼ inch thickness and use a well floured cookie cutter to cut the desired shape.

Place them on the baking tray about an inch apart.

 Bake for 8-10 minutes till the edges start to brown.

Remove from oven to and transfer the baked cookies to a cooling rack

Basic Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookies are one of the easiest and simplest cookies to make, especially since all the ingredients are right there in your kitchen. You can have them either frosted or plain. Although they were once made during the holiday/Christmas season only they are now a year round favorite. Decorating them can be fun as well :-). You can have them at birthday parties as well where you can ask the kids to decorate their own cookie [just something to keep them all entertained and occupied :-)]

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups (390 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Method

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have smooth dough.

Divide the dough in half and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about one hour or until firm enough to roll.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven

Remove one half of the chilled dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch (1 cm). (Keep turning the dough as you roll, making sure the dough does not stick to the counter.) Cut out desired shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter and transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheet.

Bake cookies for about 8-10 minutes (depending on size) or until the edges are just starting to brown.

Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

You can either frost the cookie using a simple sugar glaze or have it plain.

Makes about 36 - 4 inch cookies

Sugar glaze:

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

2-3 tbsb milk

1 tbsp light corn syrup [the corn syrup adds an extra glossiness to the frosted cookie. You can do without it as well]

1 tsp vanilla essence

Food colouring of your choice

METHOD:

• In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and vanilla extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup/milk and if it is too thin add sum confectioner’s sugar.

• Don’t let the icing get too runny. The proper consistency is when you lift the spoon, the ribbon of icing that falls back into the bowl remains on the surface of the icing for a few seconds before disappearing.

Divide into separate bowls, and add food colourings to each to desired intensity. Dip cookies, or flood them with a spoon/knife.

DEATH BY CHOCOLATE

The first time I had this was at “The Corner House” ice cream parlour in Bangalore. The moment I tasted it, I knew I was in love - in love with the combination of rich chocolaty cake and the yummy chocolate sauce. It goes really well with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. I always wanted to recreate this at home and I finally found a recipe of a cake which did taste like the one they have in corner house.

This recipe is a sure guarantee to make your heart sing and your stomach happy. The actual work involved in this is very less. After u finish making the chocolate ganache, you will realise that you should have made double the quantity as it is so yummy, you couldn't stop tasting it :) (You can also make double the quantity and keep half of it to be used as a sauce along with the cake and ice cream).verdict: my little family loves it…..SO there’s no better way to enjoy this holiday season than to treat yourself with a nice rich piece of chocolate cake and chocolate over again……and oh don’t forget the ice cream.

INGREDIANTS:

225 grams dark semi-sweet chocolate

140 grams butter

210 grams [1cup] sugar

4 eggs

4 heaped tablespoons of all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons of cocoa powder

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

4 tbsp sour cream [I couldn’t find sour cream here in the super markets so I substituted it with 4 tbsp yoghurt and 1 tsp baking powder]

METHOD:

Pre-heat oven to 180 deg.cel

Prepare baking tin [8X2 inches]

Break chocolate pieces and melt along with butter in a pan over hot water.

Beat eggs with sugar till they turn pale yellow

Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and vanilla essence.

Add the sour cream [or yoghurt with 1 tsp baking powder]to the above mixture and mix well

Finally add the melted chocolate-butter mixture.

Pour it in the prepared cake pan.

Bake for at least 40-50 minutes or till the toothpick inserted in come out clean

Cool cake to room temperature.

GANACHE:

2/3 cups heavy cream or whipping cream.

260 grams semi sweet chocolate

METHOD:

Heat 2/3 cup of heavy cream or whipping cream in a sauce pan.

Remove it from the heat and add the semi-sweet chocolate pieces. Keep stirring it until it becomes smooth and let it cool till it thickens.

Pour it evenly over the cake, and keep some aside for the topping to go with ice cream as well.

I used an ice cream cone to make the christmas tree on top the cake….it just adds an extra touch to the cake….piped it with a regular buttercream frosting using the STAR tip.happy baking and wishing you all a merry christmas and a happy new year :-)

Choco Chips cookies

Special thanks to my dear friend Meenal for sharing her recipe of Choco Chips cookies.these cookies are made from wheat flour. Choco chip cookies are a much loved treat by kids and adults too. I loved the texture of these cookies crunchy, soft, chocolaty, nutty. these cookies can be a perfect tea time snack, I think it's perfect gift for kids for children's day, birthdays or may be a surprise in their lunch boxes !

Ingredients

3/4th cup chocolate chips

60 grams low fat butter

1 egg white

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

½ cup wholewheat flour

1/4 cup refined flour

½ teaspoon soda bicarbonate

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 teaspoons sugar

½ cup coarsely crushed walnut kernels

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degree C/350 degree fahrenheit.Grease a baking tray

Place the butter in a bowl and cream it.Add the egg white and vanilla essence and continue to cream for some time.Set aside

In a seperate bowl,sift together both the flour,salt and soda bicarbonate.Fold the butter mixture and mix well.

Add the sugar,walnuts and chocolate chips reserving a few.Mix well.

Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and shape into a round cookie

Place the cookies in the greased tray,keeping enough distance between them.Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top and bake for 25 mins.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool before serving.

Yields: 12 cookies

Wheat Nankatai

Am really into baking mood these days and yesterday tried baking Wheat Nankatai (indian cookies) and as I write this post I am biting into the last nankatai that I baked yesterday. Nankatai are usually made with all purpose flour but I tried  baking them with wheat flour which gives them a crumbly and melt in mouth texture. The combination with wheat flour and semolina is a healthier option too. These should be baked only until the edges begin to brown. This will keep the outside crisp with a soft interior. These are delicious when eaten warm or at room temperature. 

Wheat Nankatai

Ingredients

1. 1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour
2. ½ cup Semolina
3. ¾ cup ghee (melted ghee & add more if the dough beomes dry)
4. ¾ cup powdered sugar( add more if needed)
5. a pinchof baking soda

Method

1. Preheat oven to 150°C.
2. Add all the dry ingredients & add the ghee little by little until a soft dough is formed. 
3. Keep this dough to rest in a cool place for 1hr. After an hr the dough might become dry when you'll need to add 1-2 spoon of ghee.  
4. Make small balls( similar to pedha) of the dough and flatten them.
5. Arrange on a greased baking cookie tray and bake for 15-20 minutes or till the nankhatai turns golden. 

 

Note:

1. The unit of measurement used for this recipe is the katori(Steel one) which yeilds 12 nankatai's
2. If you use the standard baking cup as a unit of measurement it yeilds 40-50nankatai's according to the size of the balls.
3. I baked these nankatai's in a gas oven (Cooking range),it can be baked in microwave also in convection mode, but batch of 2-3, please grease the tray or use a baking sheet while baking in microwave.