at 17:31

Coffee Snaps: a coffee time favorite for both S and R

Ingredients: (This will make around 70)

125g spread or butter ( I used spread)

200g brown sugar

3- Teaspoon ground coffee

1-teaspoon vanilla extract

1-egg

220g- flour ( or you can use 110g plain and 110g selfraising flour. then you will not need baking powder)

1/2-teaspoon baking powder

 

 Method:

1.     Preheat the oven 160c for fan oven

2.    Beat the spread/butter, coffee, vanilla and sugar until light and fluffy. I use electric beater for about 7 minutes

3.    Add egg and combine

4.    Shift the flour with baking powder

5.    Combine  the flour

6.    Roll rounded teaspoons into balls and place 1 inch apart on a greased baking tray

7.    Bake for 10 mins. do not wait till they are hard and they will become crisp once cooled

8.    Cool down before serving

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at 19:29

Cashew Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have baked for almost for 7 hours between last night and this morning. So far, I have baked cashew chocolate chip cookies, kalo jeera biscuits, coffee snaps, cinnamon pinwheels, pineapple strudel using bread dough, and savory muffins –all for home. For my brother, father, mother and parent in law. I do a lot of cooking when I go to my PIL’s house but I have never really cooked for my parents. So I am happy and excited to send them something from my kitchen. I will share the recipes one by one.

For now, it is cashew chocolate chip cookies that I baked for my brother who loves chocolate and for my father in law who has such sweet tooth. There are hundreds of recipes on-line for choco chip cookies. What I did not like in most of them is the use of high amount of butter and sugar. I tried one of them and it was excessively sweet for my taste or anyone in my family. I found a lovely recipe that uses low fat spread. I will try to make something like that next time. I made this lot of cookies with my own measurement of butter and sugar. The cookies are creamy and sweet enough to have three four at one go- just the way I like them. No too heavy after eating and not too sweet.

Hope you enjoy baking them just as much as I did.

Makes: 16-18

Preparation Time: 20 mins
Freezing time: 30mins (to avoid spreading of the cookies while baking)
Baking time: 15-20mins (depending on oven, it might lesser if you have good oven. Mine is a trash)
 

Ingredients:

50-gm unsalted butter at room temperature

70-gm granulated brown sugar (I have put them in a blender and turned them into powder)
1-egg at room temperature
1-teaspoon vanilla essence, oil, or extract
200gm flour (all-purpose)
½-teaspoon salt
½-teaspoon baking powder /soda
½-cup dark chocolate chips
½-cup milk chocolate chips
½-cup cashew nuts

Method:

1.    In a bowl beat the butter until soft.
2.    Add sugar (or like me sugar powder for easy mixing) and mix with butter using an egg bitter/mixer. You can use hand to mix well. Just make sure that mixture is smooth and soft and all ingredients have been incorporated well
3.    Add vanilla oil or essence
4.    Add egg and beat. Do not over beat the mixture like cake as too much air in the mixture might change the cookies texture
5.    In a separate bowl combine flour, salt and baking powder/soda
6.    Add the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients and mix until smooth, soft and properly incorporated

7.    Add nuts and choco chips and mix well. Do not mix too vigorously
8.    Place the mixture in the fridge for about 30mins  and let it become firm
9.    Preheat the oven on 190c
10. Line two/three baking tray with parchment paper
11. To make medium sized cookies ( like mine), take around 1  tablespoon of frozen  dough and put them in kind of round shapes like drops on the tray
12. Bake for 15 mins ( or more) or until lightly brown
13.  Take them out and let it cool for 5 mins. Then transfer them on a wire tray to totally cool them down
14.  Keep in an airtight container. They should stay for one week. But in India due to humid weather they might become soggy so you can also keep them in fridge and warm them a little in oven or micro oven before serving or eating yourself.

Tip: When hot, cookie tops are little soft to touch but they become hard once cold. So do not over bake the cookies, as they might turn very hard

at 14:02

Kalo Jeera Biscuit (Savory Biscuit with Nigella Seed)

Kalo Jeera Biscuit (Savory Biscuit with Nigella Seed)

I baked these for my father who is sugar intolerant and has a very high blood pressure. So I made them with love instead of sugar or butter.

Try it. They turned out very nice actually

Makes: 24

Baking Time: 25/30mins (for the crispy ones)

Ingredients:

100- Margarine or low fat spread or vegetable oil or butter (I used equal mix of oil and spread)
200- Plain flour
1- Egg
2-teaspoon sugar or 2-tablespoon sweetener
½- teaspoon salt or according to your taste
½- teaspoon Kalo jeera (Nigella seed)
½-teaspoon Baking powder

 Method:

1.    Beat oil/spread/butter or like me equal mix of spread and oil with sugar and egg   for 5/6 mins or until properly mixed
2.    Add Nigella seed or kalo jeera in the mix
3.    Use a strainer to sieve the flour, salt and baking powder
4.    Combine   flour, salt and baking powder mix with the egg mixture
5.    Mix them well to form dough
6.    Keep the dough for a while
7.    Preheat the oven in 150c
8.    Using the rolling pin roll the dough about 1/8^th inch thick
9.    Use a cookie cutter cut cookies (I do not have cookie cutters so I used a bottle cap to cut the cookies. Hence the weird shape)
10. Place the cookies in a greased baking tray
11. Bake the cookies for  20-25 mins or until lightly golden brown ( timing will vary depending on oven used)