Khara Biscuit

Khara Biscuit (Spicy wheat cookies) have always been one of my favorite cookies since childhood. This cookie is available in almost all bakeries in India. The iyenger bakeries in India are very famous for their spicy cookies. In the past I have baked these biscuits using all purpose flour * they have turned out very good. However this time I wanted to make them a little healthier, so that I would eat more:). These whole wheat cookies are very very tasty. This is a keeper & will definitely make them often. This is how I made them.

Makes: 20 medium size cookie
Making time: 20 mins
Baking time: 15 mins
Freeze time : 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour (Pastry flour & not the atta flour)
• 1 tspn Baking powder
• 1/2 tspn baking soda
• 1/2 tspn salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 stick Butter (113 gms)
• Handful of chopped curry leaves
• 2 tspn Chili powder
• 1 Tspn cumin seeds
• 1 green chili finely chopped
• 1/2 cup ice cold water
• some flour for dusting

Method:

1. Sieve the flour, baking powder, soda & set aside. Cut the cold Butter into small cubes
2. In a bowl add in sifted flour along with salt, sugar, chili powder, curry leaves & green chilis.
3. Now ad din the cold butter cubes to this flour mixture & massage it with your fingers. The butter has to get well mixed with the flour & should looks like bread crumbs.
4. Now add in cold water little by little to form a dough. Once the dough is formed, wrap it with a cling wrap & freeze it in the freezer for an hour.
5. After an hour, remove the dough out & roll it to 2 inch thickness. Now cut it with a cookie cutter to any shape you want. You might need to dust the surface with some flour before rolling the dough.
6. Now line the cookies on a parchment paper & bake it in a preheated oven at 350 F for about 10 - 15 mins. Some ovens might take 20 mins.
7. Once they are baked remove them & allow them to cool down.
8. Once cooled, store it in a air tight container or bottle.

Note:

1. The wheat flour used here is a pastry flour & not the chapathi atta. I brought a whole wheat flour from HEB. This flour is not as smooth as the plain flour. This coarseness in the flour makes the cookie crispy & gives a great texture.
2. Local Bakeries generally add a lot of green chilies but I have used very few & compensated it with chili powder. If you want you can add more green chili's.
3. My cookies were not very spicy but just the way I wanted.
4. Don't over bake your cookies. 15 mins is more than enough. The cookie will be still soft to the touch but will harden up once its cooled. Just incase you feel you have under baked your cookies, don't panic! Just put them again in the oven for another 5 mins & they are done.
5. These cookies are not gooey chewy like chocolate chip cookies. The texture is more or less like a sugar cookie

Donuts

My little one loves Donuts & every time we are outside, I make it a point to buy donuts for him for snacks. Since he likes it, I decided to make donuts at home & this one I made exactly a year ago I guess! I cant tell you how good these turned out:) They were so soft & tasty, in fact better than the store brought ones. Since then I kept making donuts at home, as everyone at home loved them. A friend of mine kept asking for donuts recipe & I kept telling her look up my blog & its there. Upon doing some research in my blog, I realized that I haven't uploaded donuts recipe:( How on earth I could forget to upload them! My bad:(. Since I again made some donuts yesterday, I am uploading the recipe now. These donuts are very easy to make & can be had any time of the day.

Makes 15 donuts

Preparation time: 15 mins

Total making time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 2 tspn Yeast
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 4 Tbspn sugar
• 1/4 tspn salt
• 3 Tbspn melted Butter
• 1/4 cup warm water

For the sugar glaze

• 1/2 cup of icing sugar
• 6 Tbspn hot water
• 1/4 tspn Vanilla essence
• 1 Tbspn melted Butter

Direction:

1. Place the yeast, water and 4 tablespoon of the sugar in a bowl and set aside for 10 minutes. The mixture will start to foam (bubble), indicating that the yeast is active.
2. In a bowl add milk, melted butter, salt, eggs & mix well.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add flour make a well in the centre. Add the Milk mixture & yeast mixture in the centre & mix the dough well until a sticky dough forms.
4. Bring the dough together by kneading on a lightly floured surface.
5. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
6. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes or until it feels smooth and elastic when pressed.
7. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until 1 cm (1 1/2 inches) thick. Use a round cutter & cut rounds. With a help of essence lid Cut a small hole in the centre of the cut rounds.  
8. Place on try lined with baking paper, cover with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes or until risen.
9. Heat the oil in a heavy bottom saucepan over medium-low heat.  Cook the doughnuts few at a time for 1 minute each side or until golden. Drain briefly on paper towels.

For the sugar glaze

1. Mix warm water, Vanilla essence, melted butter to the icing sugar until its melted & sticky. If you feel the glaze is runny, add some more icing sugar until you get the right consistency.
2. Pour the glaze into a shallow bowl. Dunk the doughnuts, let any excess glaze drip off, and then transfer them to a wire rack placed on a baking sheet or over a sheet of parchment paper to rest until glaze sets
3. The donuts are ready & it tastes best when eaten fresh & warm.
4. If you have left over donuts, you can store them in a airtight container. Just microwave it for 10 seconds before you eat.
5. If you want you can add any color to the sugar glaze.

Banana Oats Cookies

 

You already know that my Son, Zion doesn't like to eat fruits & I try my best to add fruits in dishes that I cook for Zion. How much ever my son eats he never puts on weight & he is just vertically growing faster. He is very tall for his age & people ask me if he is 3 whereas he is just 2.1:) Banana's are high in calories & are an ideal fruit for weight gain. I am trying and making a lot of banana snacks for him. He loves Banana cakes & I have been making these more often. This time I made Eggless Banana oats cookies & it turned out super yummy. Zion loved it & everyday the snack box came back home empty. This is a very happy moment for me & I know many Mom's out there can understand me better.

I have made cookies dough & refrigerated them. I will be baking as & when needed. The first batch I made were around 9 cookies & all got over in 2 days. Since I am on my own diet, I had only 1 although was very tempted to eat more. When my hubby got back from work, I offered him a cookie after dinner. He took a bite & just closed his eyes went on hmmmmm.... this taste reminds me of something that I had in my childhood days in Nigeria. I was so happy that he loved the cookie & also was able to bring back some good old memories. Now I don't know who had the maximum share? the lill one or big one :) Next time I am going to add eggs in my cookie dough, simply because it will make the cookies even more rich & its good for my little one. Since I have a lot of vegetarian fans & they requests for egg less ones, I thought will make these egg less. This is a must try & can be done under half hour.

Making time: 30 mins
Makes around 20 - 22 cookies.

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 Tspn baking soda
• 150 gms Butter
• 1 large Banana mashed with a fork
• 1/4 Tspn salt
• 1 Tbspn Vanilla essence
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 2 -4 Tbspn milk if required

Directions:

1. Cream the butter & sugar in a mixing bowl with a hand whisk or spatula.
2. Add the mashed Bananas, Vanilla essence into the mixture & saute well until the sugar is well incorporated.
3. Add in all the dry ingredients into the wet & mix well to form a soft dough.
4. Freeze this dough for 10 - 20 mins.
5. Use a ice cream scoop or 1 Tbspn cookies dough, place them on Parchment paper & bake them in a pre -heated oven at 180 for about 18 to 10 mins.
6. The cookie after 20 mins will still be soft, remove them & let them sit outside until they are cooled. Once they are cooled they become crispier.

Note:

1. If you want you can add nuts or chocolate chips into the cookie dough.
2. You can also skip oats if you dont like them in there.
3. The sweetsness was just perfect for us, but if you like it very sweet then add in more sugar.

Now check out my lill one during the photoshoot. He was pulling the table setting & was all over.

Zion says Hi to all my readers:)

This is my food photo studio at home:)

 

Some how was able to click his pic without him shaking

It is very difficult to take his pic as he doesnt pose nor sit in one place:)

Chocolate chips cookies

Cakes cookies are my weakness. I can eat them any time & can go on. Last week I did a lot of baking while my friend was around. She was so happy to have freshly baked cakes at home & loved them. She also said that this is one of the best cakes I have ever had for every cake I made. The praises motivated me to bake more. I made rich chocolate cake, Banana chocolate chips muffins, No bake chocolate caramel cheese cake. After eating all that last week & also Mcd burgers most of the time while shopping outside, I had decided that from now on I will stop baking for sometime, coz all that eating has really shown up on my waist line:( Now getting that rid off is a big task. I can put on weight by just eating heavy food for 2 days, but losing takes months together. For the last few days Zion has been taking Digestives, marie & oreo biscuits for snack to school. I thought will bake some cookies for him & I will not have them. Unfortunately I have eaten almost 4 so far:) They were so yummy & irresistible. Since this was made specifically for zion, I added extra butter which I don't when I make for all of us. These cookies were really rich, buttery. crunchy & melt in your mouth. If you dont like chocolate chips just skip adding them & you will have some nice butter cookies.

Making time: 1 hour
Makes around 25 cookies

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tspn baking soda
• 200 gms butter
• 1/4 tspn salt
• 1 tbsp vanilla essence
• 1 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Powder the sugar a little in the mixie or blender.
2. Cream the butter & sugar until creamy with a hand whisk or spoon
3. add in one egg & mix until its well combined
4. Now mix in the flour, baking soda, vanilla essence & mix well until everything is well combined.
5. Finally add in the chocolate chips into the batter & give it a good mix.
6. Cover this soft dough with a cling wrap & freeze it for 20- 30 minutes.
7. With a 1 Tbspn measure spoon scoop out heapful of 1 Tbsp cookie dough & line it on the baking paper.
8. Now bake this in a preheated oven at 180 degree for 25 mins. Remove them out after 25 mins & allow them to rest until its cooled. The cookie at this stage will still be cakey or soft. Once they cool down they become crispy.

 

Butter cookies

This is my 6th post under BM#27. Cookies are a fav among both kids & adults. These days no Birthday parties are complete without cookies. In my childhood days I grew up eating Marie Biscuits, Pushti, Parle-g, Nice, Crack jack & coconut. Later during high school days came in all other good day, chocolate chips & many other varieties of biscuits. These days there are so many varieties & options of cookies, biscuits. After baking home made cookies, I rarely buy cookies from supermarkets. This Butter chocolate cookies are the easiest to make.

This one is a very easy version. However most cookies have similar recipes but the making process will be different which in turn will change the texture of the cookies. Since my lill Babalulu has started going to school, I made some of these last week as snacks for him. Unfortunately he hasn't been eating any snacks in the school. I have been eating them & also putting on extra inches. These are very tasty cookies & can be done in less than 30 mins. A great cookies to have during Birthday parties.

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 120 gms Salted butter
• 1 tspn Baking soda
• 3 Tbsp coco powder
• 1 tspn salt
• 1.5 cups powdered sugar
• 3- 5 tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla essence

Method:

1. Cream the butter & sugar with a spoon or hand whisk
2. Add in salt, baking soda, flour & vanilla essence into the butter mixture. Combine this well with a spoon
3. Add in some water if required. Make a dough out of this mixture & set aside.
4. To make chocolate cookies dough: Take a handful of dough & mix 3 tbsp coco powder to this. Knead this well & set aside.
5. Cover this & keep it in the freezer for 10 mins. At the same time preheat the oven.
6. After 10 mins, roll the dough to any shape you want. Line the baking tray with parchment paper & bake them in the preheated oven at 180 degree for 15 to 20 mins.
7. Once they are done remove the baking try from oven & immediately transfer the parchment paper from the try to a flat surface. (This will stop the cookies from getting cooked further)

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#27

 

Peanut Butter Cookies

After my Son Zion's Rainbow party the very next day I had to go to meet one of my good friends. Although we have been living in the same area for the last 2 years, never was able to go to her place. Finally met her last Saturday morning & what a pretty house she has! I am so in love with the way she has decorated the house. The princess style bedroom was my fav:)

Well in the morning I decided to bake some fresh chocolate chips cookies  for her. Unfortunately all the chocolate chips I had was melted. So quickly I changed my mind & used the peanut butter chips to make these yummy crisp Peanut Butter cookies. I haven't used eggs, coz it was out of stock in my pantry. This is a very easy recipe & just takes not more than 5 mins to mix the ingredients. The dough can be refrigerated & used in future too. Well these set of heart shaped cookies are from the refrigerated dough that I made couple of days ago.  As Valentine's day is nearing I wanted to make heart shaped decorated cookies. I have used royal icing for the decoration & I love the way it turned out. Lets get making these...

Ingredients:

• 150 gms salted Butter
• 2 cups flour
• 1.5 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tbpn Vanilla essence
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup Peanut butter chips (I used Hershey's)
• 1/4 Tspn Baking soda
• 1/2 tspn Baking powder

Directions

1. Cream together butter, sugar & Vanilla essence
2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter & make a dough. Add in some water/ or milk if required to get the required consistency. Finally mix in the peanut butter chips. Put batter in refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. Roll the cookie dough on a flat surface to 1 inch thick & use any shape cutter to cut them. Use some flour to dust on the dough if the dough is sticky.  Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.

Note:

• You can also add in 1 egg to this batter
• I put the dough in the freezer for 10 mins & then rolled them in shapes. (If you want to make them real fast follow this method)
• I used Royal icing to decorate the cookies.

Royal Icing Recipe:
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp of meringue powder 0r 4 egg whites

4 cupssifted confectioners' sugar

1 Tspn Lemon extract

 

Method:
Beat egg whites in clean, large bowl with mixer at high speed until foamy (use only grade A clean, uncracked eggs). Gradually add sugar and lemon extract. Beat at high speed until thickened. NOTE: When dry, Royal Icing is very hard and resistant to damage that can occur during shipping/handling.

 

Almond Butter Cookies

 I made these I think 2 months ago. Today I have decided to updated most of my pending recipes. So I will not be doing any prewriting to recipes. My next posts will only have recipes & no story:) 

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup Almond Powder

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour , almond powder and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. I used the big star tip & filled the batter into the piping bag & droped in these shapes on a butterpaper. If you want you can make a dough, roll & cut them into any shapes you want.               
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly golden at the edges. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. 
3. These tasted really good. Like store bought Buttercookies.

Note:

• Since I wanted these shapes I make my dough a little loose by adding 2 - 4 tbsp of milk. If you sont want to put them in piping bag than you neednot add any milk.     
• You can store them in a airtight container & store them for a week. At my place they got over in 2 days:)