"A Cookie with Arusuvai Surprise Ingredient"

Arusuvai friendship chain has been started in India by Latha N of "The YUM blog" and Latha N says "Arusuvai is about sending along a surprise ingredient as a gift to your friends, for them to prepare something tasty with it, share the recipe, and pass on other surprise ingredients to more people. Arusuvai means six tastes (aru=six, suvai=taste) in Tamizh and is used to refer for Tasty preparation with six tastes - inippu/ thithippu (sweet), orappu/ karam (hot), kassappu (bitter) , pulippu (sour), uppu(salt), tuvarpu (tastes that one gets in raw leaves)".

Now Latha from "Masala Magic" has started Arusuvai friendship chain in USA. I got the opportunity to be a part of this friendship chain, when Richa of "As dear as Salt" passed on this friendship chain to me. Thanks Richa for thinking about me and sending me the surprise ingredient.
With a Sweet note Richa send me, dark chocolates , Soan cakes and the surprise ingredient. When i read the label "Laddu flour" i was confused and asked Richa about it. Richa explained that it is coarsely ground whole wheat flour and it is called laddu flour to differentiate between thousands(!) of kinds of flour that we get..... :)

I was not sure what to make with this surprise ingredient and one day when snacking on a Whole wheat cookie from Haldirams, which i liked a lot, thought why not bake a cookie with similar taste.

So i experimented with this flour and was able to come up with this simple cookie. The flour is not a fine powder, so the texture of the cookie is not smooth.

Ingredients

3/4 cup - Laddu flour
1/4 cup - Cashew nut, powdered
3/4 cup - Sugar
1/2 cup - Melted ghee ( at room temperature)
1/4 tsp - Cardamom powder
Few Almond slivers for decorating

Method

1 ) Add flour, sugar, cashew powder, cardamom powder and melted ghee into a mixing bowl. Combine ingredients to make a tight dough.

2 ) Take a small amount of the cookie dough, shape it to a small ball and then flatten it. Cookie will spread a bit when baking, so space between each dough. Place some almond slivers on top of the cookie and press in lightly.

3 ) Transfer cookie dough to a baking tray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and bake the cookies for 10 to 15 minutes till the bottom of the cookies turn lightly golden in colour.

4 ) Cookie will be soft to touch when still hot. Let the cookie cool in the tray before transferring it to store.

Enjoy the cookie.

Passing on this Arusuvai friendship chain to Kribha of En Samayal Pakkam. Thanks for playing along Kribha.

Almond Macaroons - Amaretti Cookies

Soft in the center, crunchy on the outside, these Italian almond macaroons, better known as amaretti, are sweet cookies that can be served as a pleasant accompaniment to coffee, espresso or as a light dessert or a cookie treat.

Ingredients

1 cup - Blanched almonds
4 drops - Pure almond extract
2/3 to 3/4 cup - Sugar
1 - Egg white, from a large egg
Little confectioners sugar for dusting

Method

1 ) Using a blender or food processor, finely grind blanched almonds in batches.

2 ) Combine almonds with almond extract, sugar and lightly beaten egg white. Combine mixture well into a dough with hands.

3 ) With moist hands, form very small dough balls.

4 ) Place balls at least 1'' apart on baking sheet, which is lined with parchment paper.

5 ) Preheat oven at 300 F. Place baking sheet in middle rack and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Take care to see the macaroon do not brown. Should be white in color. By 20 minutes the macaroons will be done. Still soft to touch.

6 ) Take out of the oven to cool. Using fine sieve, dust cookie with confectioners sugar while still warm. Cool completely before removing from baking sheet. Store in airtight container.

Serve with coffee or as a light dessert.

Eggless Banana Cake with Raisins, Dates & Nuts

Experimenting a bit with the ingredients, i was able to come up with this egg less banana cake, filled with raisins, dates, walnuts and cashew nuts.

Ingredients

1 cup - Wheat flour
3/4 tsp - Baking powder ( double acting )
1/2 tsp - Cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp - Dry ginger powder
1/2 tsp - Shajeera, powdered
1/4 tsp - Salt
1/3 cup - Ghee at room temperature
1 tsp - Vanilla extract
2 - Ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup - Raisins
1/2 cup - Dates, chopped
1/2 cup - walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup - Cashew nut, chopped
1/2 cup - Dark or light brown sugar

To make caramel

1/4 cup - Granulated white sugar
1/4 cup - water

Method

1 ) First make the caramel with 1/4 cup granulated white sugar. Heat 3 tbsp water in a pan, add sugar and stirring continuously. Brown the sugar to a dark brown color. Once the sugar starts changing color, lower the heat. Once dark brown in color, add 1/4 cup water to the caramelised sugar. Take off the stove. When adding water keep a distance to avoid splashing on to the body.

2 ) Add chopped dates, raisins, walnuts, cashew nuts and vanilla extract to the caramel solution. keep aside.

3 ) Shift wheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon powder, ginger powder, shajeera powder and salt to a mixing bowl. Make like a well in the center of the shifted powders and then add wet ingredients to the center, like mashed banana, ghee, soaked ingredients in the caramel solution, brown sugar and mix to combine with a spatula. Don't have to mix and stir too much.

4 ) Preheat oven at 350 F. Grease a 8'' baking pan. Pour in the cake batter, cover with aluminum foil. Place pan the in the middle rack and bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Insert a tooth pick or a knife in center to check if the cake is fully cooked. It should come out clean. By 45 minutes, the cake will be fully baked. Baking time might vary with different ovens.

5 ) Take out of the oven to cool. Take off the aluminium foil cover before placing to cool.

6 ) Place a plate on top of the cake pan and invert the cake pan onto the plate, to remove the cake from baking pan.


Serve a big slice of cake to your dear ones :D

Note - This recipe was created by me. Please do not copy, reproduce or blog this recipe.

Coconut Almond Cookie

Cookies anyone ?? A mix of coconut and almond enriches the taste of this cookie.

Ingredients

1 cup - All purpose flour

3/4 cup - Almond powder ( not very fine powder, a bit coarsely powdered without the skin )

1/2 cup - Fresh coconut, finely grated

1/2 cup - Unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup - Sugar

Few Almond slivers for decorating

Method

1 ) In a mixing bowl, mix and the ingredients together to form a dough. Preheat oven at 350 F.

2 ) Make small balls of the dough, flatten and place them on baking tray. Leave some space between them. Place a almond sliver in the middle of the dough and gently press in.

3 ) Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, till the bottom of the cookie turns light golden in color. Cookie will be soft to touch, but will harden as it cools.

4 ) Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Serve as a snack.

Check out this simple cookie too.

Note - I have put together ingredients & created this recipe. Please do not copy, reproduce or blog this recipe.

Tea Cake - To Rejoice a Year of Blogging !

Blogging has been so addictive for the past year and can't believe, it's been a year of blogging. Always there has been a passion in me to try new / traditional recipes and serve it to my dear and near ones, eagerly wait for their reactions. Now sharing what i cook through blogging, i eagerly wait for the same reactions. So I thank each and every visitor, who come by every time i post a recipe and encourage me with positive words. Also to those very readers who try my recipes and give me a feed back, i can't thank them enough.
Rejoicing a year of blogging with a tea cake, which is moist, soft and yummy. This cake brings back memories of childhood, when mom baked cake at home in a bundt Cake pan. I have used a 8'' spring form cake pan to bake this cake.

Ingredients

1 cup - All purpose flour
3/4 cup - Sugar
3/4 cup (1.5 stick ) - Unsalted butter, softened at room temp
2 - Eggs, at room temperature
3/4 tsp - Baking powder
1 tsp - Vanilla extract
4 tsp - Warm milk

Method

1 ) Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Generously butter pan and dust with flour, shake off excess flour.

2) In a bowl, sift together flour and baking powder, two times.

3 ) In a blender, cream butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue to beat for 5 minutes. Add egg one at a time and beat well after each addition. Add vanilla extract and beat well.

4 ) Pour the creamed ingredients to the shifted flour in the bowl. Mix and whisk the flour and creamed ingredients. Add warm milk, mix and whisk in a clock wise direction, very well till you see air bubbles in the batter.

5 ) Pour the batter into the cake pan and level the batter. Bake for 25 minutes or until done. You can insert a wooden pick in the center of the cake to test if the cake is fully baked. Cool in pan for 30 minutes. Then invert cake onto cooling rack to cool completely.

A delicious tea time companion.

Walnut Bread - Steam Cooked

Walnut Bread that was steam cooked in a pressure cooker is my first attempt at making a bread. This is a bread all the way, just mildly sweet in taste. It's an easy way of making bread without a bread maker or an oven.

Ingredients

2.5 cup - All purpose Flour
1 cup - walnuts, chopped to small pieces
2 - Eggs
1 cup - Milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp - Baking powder
1 tbsp - Honey
Pinch of salt

Method

1 ) Sieve flour with baking powder, two to three times. Beat eggs , honey and sugar very well. I used a blender to whip. Add milk into the blender and blend very well.

2 ) In a mixing bowl, add walnuts, sieved flour, pinch of salt and mix. Pour in the mixture from the blender and mix everything together in the mixing bowl with a spatula. Fold and mix in a clockwise direction.

3 ) Grease a flat bottom bowl, like one you see in the picture below and also one that fit into the pressure cooker. Pour the bread mixture into the bowl and cover with a aluminum foil. Seal very well, so that no water gets in when steaming.

4 ) Into a pressure cooker, pour 3 cups of water. Place a separator that you get with the pressure cooker. Place the bowl on the separator, close the pressure cooker and bring cooker to a full pressure. Reduce the heat to medium and steam cook for 30 minutes.

5 ) Open the cooker and pour 1 to 2 cups of water into the pressure cooker for further cooking. Close the pressure cooker, bring to a full pressure, place the vent weight and after the 1st whistle, reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes. Switch off the heat and allow the pressure cooker to cool completely. Open the cooker and take out the bowl.

6 ) Fresh from the cooker.

7 ) Place a plate on top of the bowl and invert the bread onto the plate.

8 ) Let the bread cool completely. Then with a bread knife, cut the bread.

The bread was slightly soft on the day it was made. By next day morning it became firm, like how a bread should be. I dipped the bread in 100 % pure Maple syrup and had it for breakfast.

A post that hit a century with a homemade cookie !

It's simply delightful to look back on the recipes i blogged and feel nostalgic. I was awe struck seeing very impressive food blogs before i started on my own. Over this period of eight to nine months, i have been able to make and meet some wonderful friends through the blog world. I appreciate all those who visit my blog, try out my recipes and sometimes give me a feed back that keeps me motivated to continue. I was so thrilled when two of my recipes were tried by Pecos Blue of East of the Pecos River fame and posted a post titled "Simply Spicy." Thank you Pecos Blue.
Now in Seattle, I got together with my good friend Lakshmi, who is by her own rights, a great cook. She told me about this simple homemade biscuits / cookies that is quite popular in her hometown. With minimal ingredients and less baking time, this cookie tastes simply awesome. It's something that you can do in a jiffy. This could be something you could bake with kids.

Ingredients

1 cup - Maida / all purpose flour
1/2 cup - Sugar
1/2 cup - Melted ghee ( at room temperature)

Method

1 ) Add maida, sugar and melted ghee into a mixing bowl.



2 ) Combine the ingredients to make a dough.

3 ) Take a small amount of the cookie dough, shape it to a small ball and then flatten it. Then shape with a cookie cutter or you can shape the cookie even with a glass as shown in the pictures below.

4 ) Transfer the shaped cookie dough to a baking tray. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and bake the cookies for 15 minutes. The bottom of the cookies will be lightly golden in colour.

Transfer the cookies from baking tray to a wire rack and cool.

Treat yourself and your kids with this delicious cookie.

Note : Use only melted desi ghee for this recipe. Do not melt butter and use.