Whole wheat almond eggless cookies

In my previous post, I had mentioned that one of the few things I enjoy in India is the friends I have made here. Neelamma is one among them. She is originally from Coorg aka Kodagu and stays in Mangalore in the central jail- or at least that is what she and her “cell-mates” call it, people managing the place call it a hostel.

Since we have got holidays now, her parents had come the day before yesterday to Mangalore to take her to Coorg. Before leaving Neelamma came to my home and thrust a large packet in my hand saying they were honey and chickoos that her dad had brought. I was delighted. Chickoos are one of my favourite fruits.

After bidding her good-bye, I opened the packet in my kitchen. There was a large bottle of locally cultured honey, large home grown chickoos and buried beneath the chickoos was a small packet of aromatic cardamom grown in her estate. Thanks Neelamma!

I have this thing for good smell. I simply have got to smell my food before I eat it. When I’m done with my cup of coffee, I bury my nose deep into the coffee mug to take in the strong aroma of my coffee. So when I discovered this small packet of goodness, I couldn’t help holding it close to my nose for half an hour. It was during this time that I remembered that our February punch was cardamom cookies. Wow! What a coincidence, I thought. I decided to prepare the cookies the next day, which was yesterday. But I didn’t have any butter- bad planning. So I ended up preparing it today, the day of posting the challenge.

Nags had mentioned that the amount of sugar needs to be reduced as the cookies turn out to be a tad too sweet. But I completely forgot about this piece of advice while preparing the cookies. I’ll surely remember it the next time I prepare them. Besides the sweetness, the cookies were perfect. They were crisp on the outside and chewy in the inside. And the aroma of cardamom, ah, irresistible...The recipe promised 24 cookies, but I got 15 large-sized cookies.

Whole wheat almond eggless cookies:
Source: manjulaskitchen.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 teaspoon green cardamom seed, coarsely powdered (ilaichi)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (8 tablespoons or 4oz)
• About 2 tablespoons of milk or as needed

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 360 degree F.
2. In a bowl, mix the flour, sugar, salt, sliced almonds and cardamom powder well.
3. Next add soft butter and milk to the flour mixture to make dough. Dough should be very soft.
4. Divide the dough into about 24 equal parts and make them into balls.
5. Press each ball between your palms lightly; every piece should be about 1/2” in thickness.
6. Place the dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet about inch a part.
7. Bake the cookies for about 18 minutes or until cookies are lightly gold brown.
8. After they become lightly golden brown remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Let the cookies cool down for two to three minutes before taking them off the cookie sheet.

Nutella cream cheese brownies

Yesterday I completed my 1st year in pre-university college. I completed a whole academic year in India.
When I came to know that we will be shifting to India, I was really excited. New campus, new friends, new environment, it all seemed so inviting. It wasn’t until the day I was to leave Qatar that I realised the cons of leaving the country I had grown up in and all the people in it. My first few months in India were really bad. I missed Nada very badly. I hated life in India. No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t and still can’t love my college. The lecturers are good. The friends are wonderful. But that’s it. The institution as a whole is pathetic and it pains me to think that I have to spend another year in the same college. Though I have adjusted a little now, the college still sucks.

 So now that I have got three months of freedom from my college, I decided to celebrate with a nutella cream cheese brownie. But the brownie turned out just like my life- sweet and yet a little salty(from the cream cheese) but as a whole, very enjoyable. I had thought of sending some to my friends, but once I was done with the photography session, almost the whole cake had disappeared. Well, I ain’t complainin’!

 The nutella and cream cheese was supposed to form a swirl over the brownies. But, following some law of physics that I can’t figure out, the swirl “topping” decided to sink and form a bottom layer. So I had a thin bottom layer of salty nutella topped with a wonderful brownie. Yummilicious!

Nutella Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies
Source: http://www.lovintheoven.blogspot.com/

 Cream Cheese Topping:

•  5 oz Cream Cheese
•  2 tbs softened butter
•  1/4 cup granulated sugar
•  1 egg
•  1 tbs flour
•  1/4 cup Nutella

Brownie Batter:

•  3/4 cups all purpose flour
•  1/3 cup Herseys Special Dark Cocoa
•  1/2 tsp baking powder
•  1/2 tsp salt
•  1/2 stick of softened butter
•  1 cup granulated sugar
•  1 tsp vanilla
•  2 large eggs

1. Pre-heat oven to 350'
2. Grease and line a 8 x 8 baking pan with cooking spray.

 Cream cheese frosting:

1. Cream together butter, sugar and flour. Add cream cheese and mix/blend until smooth. Scrape bowl and add the egg and beat until the topping is nice and creamy. Scrap bowl and add Nutella, beat about one minute or until the nutella is mixed into the cream cheese mixture completely.
2. Set topping aside and mix brownie batter.

Brownie batter:
1. Sift flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder into a medium sized bowl.
2. In a small bowl cream sugar and 1/2 stick of butter, add eggs one at a time, beat well then add vanilla.
3. Fold egg, sugar, butter and vanilla mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients.
4. Spread 3/4 of the brownie batter into the bottom of an 8 x 8 baking dish.
5. Randomly dollop the cream cheese topping over the brownie batter.
6. Bake for 40-60 minutes or a skewer come out with a few ccrumbs when inserted.
7. Let it cool before serving.

I am sending this in to Divya's Easy Cooking to celebrate it's 3rd anniversery.

Carrot cake

Who can control the temptation of a beautifully coloured moist carrot cake with a tinge of cinnamon, topped with a contrastingly sweet layer of cream cheese? So I wasn’t to be blamed on the day before we left Qatar for good, when nearly half of the carrot cake that our family friend, Zareenammai, had brought for dessert disappeared even before the ladies had finished their dinner.

After coming to India, the taste of that perfect carrot cake still lingered in my mouth. When I could no more control the urge, I emailed Zareenammai for the recipe, and she sent it to me. And when I read it, I was shocked to read that 1 ½ cups of oil in it. It dampened my spirits...but for just a couple of months. After that, I was like, chalo, it is not like I eat it every day. And so I prepared it, and no, I was not disappointed at all. It was simply perfect. Extremely moist, very spicy(I added more cinnamon than what was called for in the recipe) and the cream cheese couldn’t have been better. Mmmm....I don’t need to type any more words!

Carrot cake
Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil
3 cups carrot shredded
2 tsp vanilla extract
Method:
Combine all the dry ingredients and mix properly with a whisk. Keep aside.
In a blender beat eggs. Add oil and beat again ,then add vanilla and carrot and mix well.
Then slowly fold in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
Bake in a preheated oven in 170 degree for around 40 minutes or till a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Topping:

Ingredients:
6 cube or triangle cheese
4 tsp sugar
4 tsp butter
4 tsp milk
2 dream whip sachet
1/2 cup water

Method:
Beat thoroughly the above ingredients and spread it over the cooled cake.
Sprinkle mixed chopped nuts on top.
Let it set for 2 or 3 hrs.

I'd planned to sprinkle the nuts just before serving, but when I returned from college, the cake had already been attacked.

Chocolate pistachio fudge

I love Nigella Lawson's recipes. They can be described in two words: "easy to prepare" and "sinfully delicious". Okay that was more than two words, but well....you got the idea.

This is just the second recipe of her's that I have tried, next to her chocolate mousse, but I'm already crazy about her and have nearly all her recipes bookmarked.

As I've already hinted, this fudge is super-easy. Nada stumbled upon this recipe about half a year back, when she had come down to India for her vacations. She kept asking me to prepare it, and I would always be like "What's the rush? I'll prepare it someday". Then, about two day before her departure, I woke up about half an hur early, tiptoed into the kitchen, put all the ingredients into a saucepan, heated it and then poured it into dispsable container and refrigerated it and went to get ready for college.

When I returned from college, as usual, Nada began to ask me for the fudge and I was like "Go and get it from the fridge". My friend had come home that evening and we finished the fudge then and there.

After a few weeks, after Nada had left, this friend of mine began to ask me for this fudge. The lazy girl that I am, I kept telling her that I'd prepare it later. Then when Nada came down during her christmas vacations, my friend informed Nada of how she used to keep asking me for the fudge but I never prepared it. Immediately, Nada asked me to prepare the fudge for her. Now Nada's wish is my command. So I quickly went into the kitchen and my friend left my home in 15 minutes happily with a box of warm fudge in her hands.

This fudge is perfect for midnight snacking too. Somehow, unlocking the various doors that leads to kitchen and getting the fudge out of the refrigerator at midnight, trying to make as little noise as possible, seems like an adventure. And the pleasure you get when you return to your bedroom with the box in your arms..Lol! I am drooling over the keyboard.

I am sending this as an entry for Delicious Desserts. on What's cooking today!



Ingredients:

• 350g dark chocolate(chopped)
• 1 x 395g condensed milk
• 30g butter
• a pinch of salt
• 75g pistachios

Method

1. Put the chopped chocolate, condensed milk, butter and salt in a heavy-based pan on a low heat, and stir to melt.
2. Put the nuts into a freezer bag and bash them with a rolling pin, until broken up into both big and little pieces.
3. Add the nuts to the melted chocolate and condensed milk and stir well to mix.
4. Pour and spatch this mixture into a foil tray 23cm square, smoothing the top.
5. Let the fudge cool, and refrigerate until set. You can then cut it into small pieces approx. 3 x 2.25cm. Cutting 8 x 10 lines in the tin to give 64 pieces best achieves this.
6. Once cut, it can be kept in the freezer - no need to thaw just eat straight away.

Serves: Makes 64 pieces of rich fudge