Nankhatais Indian Cardamom and Whole Wheat Cookies -Guest Post for Food Wanderings

I love Shulie's blog Food Wanderings ( such an apt blog name right?) and enjoy discovering many new things to try from her Jewish heritage. Several times I have been happily surprised to learn about Jewish dishes that may have influenced those that I grew up eating all the way in Kerala in the south of India, among my Syrian Christian community there. I am very excited that I am getting to do a guest post for her inspirational blog as part of her Indian Food Series, which has featured some of my most favorite Indian food bloggers. 

When we were brainstorming about what the post should be about, I mentioned Nankhatais since I had just taken a batch along with some macarons to a cookie swap and I was so happy to learn that Shulie loved them and that her mom used to make them for her too, after taking grains to a store in their community where it was ground for her.

 I am glad these cookies brought back childhood memories for Shulie and hope you all enjoy them too! 

Do go over to Shulie's blog, fall in love with her writing and breath taking photographs if you haven't already and also read my post on these buttery, cardamom infused snappy cookies from India (which are also a snap to make), and read about one particular Christmas time tradition in Kerala I am more than happy to escape! 

I hope these cookies held their own among the other deliciousness like Chocolate drizzle caramel bars from Patty, these Salted caramel and coconut thumbprints that just have no mercy from Lisa, Chocolate Caramel Filled Cherry Thumbprints from the Cookie Queen herself :) -the lovely Gina, melt in the mouth Mexican wedding cookies from Jean and tender Coconutty cookies (with cute cookie swap printables) from Liren and pretty, swirly Cinnamon bun biscotti from Azmina

They really go well with tea or coffee and would even be great nibbles to serve alongside some red wine. Make them, gift them, but most importantly enjoy them, and have a wonderful holiday, and a very Blessed, Merry Christmas! 

Recipe is over at Shulies blog Food Wanderings here

Tweet

Whole Wheat Brown Sugar Chocolate Cookies

Are you as excited as I am about the upcoming long week end? Are you planning on flying out? Do carry these cuties for your fellow passengers or the flight crew, especially if you are taking a noisy and probably troublesome little monkey along! I can guarantee that your flight will be much smoother, and your neighbor might even let you use the armrest :)

If you don't have an airplane shaped cookie cutter, you can even draw or print the shape and make a cut out of thick paper or the thin plastic lids of containers like for yogurt, and then use it as a template to cut out the dough with a knife, or simply make whatever shape-hearts, stars (and stripes in honour of the upcoming holiday maybe?) or even roll the dough into a log and slice off rounds and bake them. Leave them plain, or decorate with glaze or royal icing. Whatever you do, and whether you are baking them for others or your self, these hearty whole wheat, brownsugar chocolate cookies from Joy the Baker will make the weekend nicer. I found that they have a heftier and rather coarser texture than melt away butter cookies I must warn, but  you will love them especially if you like the nutty whole wheat flavour in general as I do. If so, you must also try favourite cookie ever- these wholewheat cardamom nankhatais 

Tweet

Dorie's Sugar Cookies got Cardomized!

Cardomized sounds a little scary. But you know what I mean right? It's when I take a perfectly good recipe and have the audacity of sprinkling cardamom all over it. I can't help it. I have a cardamom addiction! 

When I was looking to test out basic sugar cookie recipes, I decided to start with Dorie's and I was not disappointed. These are not too sweet, so they are the perfect blank canvas to paint all your colourful icing (awesome fail-proof  recipe coming soon!) dreams, being sandwiched between chocolate ganache, ducle de leche or nutella, you can add chopped nuts, zest, extracts, chocolate chips, shredded coconut, dried fruits....or cardomized and sprinkled with a little cardamom sugar. 

I made these for that poor little teddy. He deserves it after being gnawed at, drooled over, tossed around and in other ways completely manhandled by my little monkey. I was going through the little one's stuff to put away things he's outgrown or no longer uses- onsies, tiny t-shirts, that pretty pastel blanket from his God Mom and that blue one I started knitting as soon as I knew I was expecting a winter baby, looking up basic knitting stitches on youtube video tutorials! That's when this little guy looked up at me sadly and I though he is probably the most loved yet most ill treated teddy ever, and deserved some cookies, though the greedy fellow ate them all himself! Really!

Tweet

Dairy Free Fruit & Nut Bars- Quick and Easy one bowl recipe that's Healthy and Yummy too!

We're nuts for these healthy and delicious Fruit and Nut bars. They contain only 1/4 cup of flour just enough to keep the dried fruits and nuts together and just 1/4 cup or less of sugar so they are tasty without being too sweet, and are like quite like granola bars. The nuts make them crunchy and the dried fruits are both sweet and tart. It would be interesting to make these with rum soaked fruits during Christmas time, instead of the fruit cake which I'm not such a fan of. These though, you must try, even if you are not a fruitcake lover, but love dried fruits and nuts as I do. They leave you feeling pretty full too. Perfect as an after-school snack or breakfast-on-the-go.It would be interesting to try a spicy and salty version of this too, which I might just do soon, but first a version with some chocolate chips!

Important Note: The taste of this really depends on the quality of the fruits and nuts you use. Nuts go rancid very easily and so don't use nuts that taste stale.For longer life, I store nuts in the freezer. If your dried fruits have become hard and dry, you can rejuvenate them, by soaking them in a little warm water- hey add some brandy or rum instead if you like! And they will become juicy and plump again. Drain and pat them dry with a towel and then proceed with the recipe.

Last week, I participated in a Bakesale for Japan and these Fruit and Nut cookies were one of  the goodies I had taken, along with World Peace chocolate chunk cookies, Vegan Banana Bread made with coconut oil and these buttery Nutella stuffed cookies I was thrilled to see all my goodies disappear!

Tweet

Nutella stuffed butter cookies and Nutella swirl cookies, to celebrate a sweet victory!

Nutella can make me weak in the knees. Mostly I end up eating huge gobs of it straight from the jar ( Sssh! don't tell!) but then sometimes I save it ( well some of it atleast) to bake stuff with, like these oh-my-goodness-so-awesome Nutella Brownies  or these buttery crunchy Nutella swirl cookies as well as cookies stuffed with gooey Nutella. These golden brown swirly beauties are my second entry to my week long sweet celebration, Yes, I will be posting one sweet dish everyday of the week till Saturday! Joining me today is

Sarah of Spoonful of Delight with Marble Cupcakes and Sneha of Inspirational art of cooking with chocolate muffins! if you want to join in the sweetness, just leave a comment with a sweet dish you posted this week and I'll include it in my post the next day :)Would be nice if you could add a link back to this mini-event in your post too.

I was thrilled to bits that these chocolate chunk cookies a.k.a World Peace cookies and Nutella swirl cookies were sold out almost as soon as they were placed on the table at the bake sale for Japan  this Saturday- in about 10 mins flat!

Tweet

World Peace Cookies- Chocolate Choco-chip brownie cookies after the war!

"What use are cartridges in battle? I always carry chocolate instead." - George Bernard Shaw in Arms and the Man

Cricket is like a religion in India. There is nothing that can incite more passion or patriotic zeal. When there is a major match happening, offices are empty, children mysteriously fall "sick" and can't attend school. In my family my father and brother are the fanatics, and sometimes my mom joins in the fun too, making 'patriotic' food- green mint, cheese and tomato pasta, sandwiches or tri-coloured pulao to reflect our national flag! This one time my normally stately grandmother who was visiting during a world cup final got so involved she was actually praying that our team would win!
Yesterday, I guess because I am so homesick, I got all excited and stayed up with T ( another sports fanatic) to watch THE match between India and Pakistan. Our rivalry runs deep, because our two countries are often like squabbling siblings. When the 6th wicket went down and the sun was out already, I couldn't take the tension or the sleep deprivation any longer and missed out on all the excitement that ensued. But what wonderful news to wake up to! We had won! Time to celebrate, and what could be more apt on the day after a raging war than World Peace cookies :)

These may not be as pretty as these cherry blossom lemon cookies, or colorful macarons, and Ria's Whole wheat cardamom Nankhatais still remain my favourite cookie ever, but these intensely chocolate cookies come close, really close. They are the world famous Korova sables better known as World Peace cookies from Dorie Greenspan's book Paris Sweets. So named by her neighbor who said that if everyone in the world ate these, they would be so happy, there would be no more fighting.
They are more like fudgy chocolatey brownie tops than cookies, with puddles of melty bittersweet chocolate chunks- sooo goood. My Pakistani friends, I offer you these cookies, to soothe your troubled hearts :)

Tweet

Cherry Blossom Lemon Spritz cookies, Baking for Japan

"Small acts when multiplied by millions of people can transform the world"- Howard Zinn via bakesaleforjapan.com

I love these lemon spritz cookies which are buttery, crunchy and delicious and so pretty! I first baked these for my good friend and awesome baker Ria when she visited me a while ago. Since then I have baked these quite often especially when I have a lot of egg yolks left over from baking macarons. They remind me of the cookies we used to get from the small bakeries in my hometown, where they would be piled high in glass jars and were so buttery they left imprints on the paper bags we brought them home in. 

They are really quite simple to make, but you need a spritz cookie gun ( which thanks to my baking equipment obsession  and a clearance sale at Marshall's I happen to own)  to make them into these cute flower shapes, or you can also use a piping bag (or hey, snip the end of a zip lock bag) to pipe the dough into little rosettes or circles. 

I think they would be perfect to bake again for a bake sale I'm hoping to attend this Saturday, where the proceeds will go towards the Japanese earthquake relief. I will be going to the one in San Jose, though it is happening in many other cities too. Do click on the button below to go to their site for details, to volunteer or donate.

Tweet

Chocolate filled Orange Whole Wheat cookies

I discovered my favourite thing to bake ever a few days ago- a deliciously nutty, crunchy, cardom scented, buttery, Indian style whole wheat cookie called Nankhatai. They are so easy to make- just mixed in a bowl and so incredibly tasty that its hard to resist baking  and eating them every day.

Tweet

Whole Wheat Cardamom Nankhatais- The Indian Cookie

When my blogging buddy Ria visited me a few months ago, she brought me these wonderful cardamom scented, buttery, crunchy cookies. T and I fought each other for the last ones and I have been longing for them ever since.
Ria finally posted these on her site yesterday and I had to bake them immediately! 
I ate a little of the yummy cookie dough while I was mixing it in a bowl with a fork. I breathed in the cardamom aromas that filled my kitchen while they were baking. I popped one still hot into my mouth straight out of the oven- It burned my mouth but it was sooo good! Finally when they had cooled T and I began competing for them all over again.

Tweet

Baileys Macaron Cocktails- Mactails!

Winter is the time for boozy desserts and while I am not a huge fan of the rum soaked fruit cake, I do like a little liqueur in my desserts. Remember my recent cocktail cupcake fascination? Lately I have been playing around with the idea of  Macarons flavored with sweet dessert wine, Tequila, Grand Mariner, Chocolate Liqueurs .. to create macaron margaritas, macaron mojitos and other mactails! Many, many possibilities!

Tweet

Ginger Spice Macarons

Take a look at my swirly pumpkin cheesecake from the previous post. Isn't she lovely? For the batter I had to beat cream cheese with nutmeg and crystallized ginger and as I was polishing away ahem taste testing this I thought - this would make an incredibly awesome macaron filling. And I was right! So here is my discovery- that I just couldn't wait to share with you all- delicious cream cheese ginger spice filled macarons! 
Unfortunately I ran out of cream cheese and time to fill the rest of my macarons, which are as you can see shamefully lacking feet. But feet or no feet I still think macs taste awesome. This time I used Helene's recipe on the recommendation of the very talented foodieblogger Ria who I had the good fortune to meet for a short bit last week during her visit to California. ( More on that and her awesome almond cookies later when she posts the recipe- they were really good and are definitely worth waiting for!)
First check these out!

While my first batch had no feet at all, for the second batch, I lowered the oven temperature to 275 and also placed two large cake tins directly underneath my cookie sheet ( tripling the cookie tray would be what I was trying to achieve but unfortunately I only own one non-heavy duty professional baker type cookie sheet) This seemed to help and looking in the oven window I saw this:

Could they be? Yes they are! Glorious little  ruffles on the underside of my macs! Those longed for, tiny little feet! However in my excitement I opened the oven door too soon so these had cracked, undercooked shells that gave me a broken heart :(  Never mind I have 6 egg whites aging on my counter waiting for my next macattempt! I will definitely be trying Helene's recipe again.


Ginger Spice Macarons

For my awesome Ginger Spice cream cheese filling:

Ingredients:

• Cream cheese- 8 ounces softened ( I used one block of the Philadelphia brand) 
• Sugar: 1/4 cup or more depending on sweet tooth
• Nutmeg powder: 1/4 tsp
• Crystallized ginger: 1/4 cup ( shredded in your food processor) 

Method:

In your food processor or using a stick blender ( Like I did) shred the ginger along with the sugar. Now add the cream cheese and nutmed and blend until smooth and combined.

Let it harden in the fridge for about 30 mins and then spoon or pipe onto your macaron and sandwich with another macaron shell.

For the shells:
Recipe Source: Adapted from Helene from her blog Tartlettle here as well as notes from her classes kindly shared by bellalimento from here

Ingredients:
90 gr egg whites (roughly 3 egg whites)
25 gr to 50gr (2 Tb to 1/4 cup) granulated sugar
200 gr ( 1.5 cups + 2Tb) powdered sugar
110 gr almonds ( 3/4 cup) (slivered, blanched, sliced, whatever you like)

Method:

Separate the whites from the yolks and place the whites in a lean bowl 48 hrs or atleast 24 hours before you make the macarons. Leave the whites at room temp, uncovered or loosely covered with a towel at least 24 hrs. Refrigerate after that if desired. You can use eggs that have been “aging” for up to 5 days. This helps the water to evaporate and is important for the right texture and for achieving those feet. Am sure you can skip this step if you arent aiming for perfection. They taste about the same. Also don't worry about old egg whites killing you. The germies get killed at the temperatures were going to bake them at. 
If you are still queasy or just in a hurry you can skip the aging and microwave the egg whites for two short 10 second periods, stirring in between each period. Careful! don't overdo this and cook the eggs! if you do please start over with fresh eggs and reducing the time. 

Prepare the macarons:
Place the powdered sugar and almonds in a food processor and give them a good pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Sift a couple of time to remove bits and pieces. Regrind if necessary. You can also use a coffee grinder for the nuts or you could use store bought almond meal like I did from Trader Joes. But don't forget to sift, sift and sift again.
Once your nuts and powdered sugar are mixed together, rub them in between your fingertips to break the bigger pieces.

In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites to a foam, (think bubble bath foam) gradually add the granulated sugar until you obtain a glossy meringue (think shaving cream). Do not overbeat your meringue or it will be too dry.

Add the nuts and powdered sugar to the meringue, give it a quick fold to break some of the air and then fold the mass carefully until you obtain a batter that falls back on itself after counting to 10. Give quick strokes at first to break the mass and slow down. The whole process should not take more than 50 strokes. Test a small amount on a plate: if the tops flattens on its own you are good to go. If there is a small beak, give the batter a couple of turns. If you overfold the batter will become too runny so be very careful.

Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (Ateco #807 or #809) with the batter and pipe small rounds (1.5 inches in diameter) onto parchment paper or silicone mats lined baking sheets.I used my spritz cookie gun instead with the icing tips which I personally find easier to use rather than the frustrating double-ended pastry bag. I also found this macaron template/stencil very useful- just print it out, slide it under your baking sheet, pipe out the macarons and then remember to slide it out and remove before putting them in the oven, else you'll have a nice flame.
Now lift the tray up and gently let fall, so that the underside of the tray hits your kitchen counter, to let air bubbles escape. No, I don't want you to throw macaron batter all over your kitchen :P

Let the macarons sit out for 30 minutes to an hour to harden their shells a bit. 

If using convection: preheat the oven to 280F. If using regular electric or gas, preheat the oven to 300F ( I reduced to 275F) . When ready, bake for 18 to 20 minutes, depending on their size. Let cool.

Am sending my delicious fall inspired macarons to this months Macattack at the mactweets blog hosted by the awesome Deeba and Jamie.


For more macaron tips see my post with tips from my macaron classes
Obsessed much? want more? Here is a very useful document from Helene of Tartlette's feature on macarons in Dessert Magazine which she's linked on her awesome blog

Tweet

Alice Medrich's Best One Bowl Cocoa Brownie

I had about 20 mins until a cousin dropped in for dinner and I had a sudden urge to bake brownies.
So while I waited for T to navigate the end of day traffic I grabbed a bowl and some simple pantry staples and whipped up a batch of these delicious, decadent brownies. We had some warm from the oven after dinner with ice cream and I ( hesitantly)  wrapped up the rest for him to take back.
Did I say one bowl is all I used? One bowl in which to melt butter in the microwave and mix up the other ingredients with a spoon. No need  to break out my fancypants stand mixer. I see myself baking these many, many more times.

Best Cocoa Brownies
Recipe source: Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet from smittenkitchen here

Makes 16 larger or 25 smaller brownies
Ingredients:
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks, 5 ounces or 141 grams) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (9 7/8 ounces, 280 grams) sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (2 7/8 ounces, 82 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt (or a heaping 1/4 teaspoon flaky salt, as Deb suggests)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, cold
1/2 cup (66 grams, 2 3/8 ounces) all-purpose flour
2/3 cup walnut or pecan pieces (optional)

Method:
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.
( I used my silicone cupcake molds instead)

Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot. It looks fairly gritty at this point, but don’t fret — it smooths out once the eggs and flour are added. (I just put it all in a medium size Pyrex bowl and microwaved it 10 seconds at a time until the butter was melted, as Deb also suggests is ok.)

Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the lined pan.

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes is Medrich’s suggestion but it took me and Deb at least 10 minutes longer to get them set and for the bottom to get a little crisp -just the way I like it :) . Let cool completely on a rack. (Deb goes further and puts her's in the fridge or freezer for a while; to get them to cut with clean lines.)
Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares.

As you may have noticed I used my mini cupcake molds filled about one fourth instead since I didn't feel like messing around with lining. I placed the molds on my digital scale to make sure I was spooking equal amounts of batter- about 50 gms into each so they all were the same size and bake evenly. I got exactly 16 two bite size brownies. The easiest way to spoon the batter is to use two spoons one with the batter and the other to scoop it into the mold. Sometimes I use an ice-cream scoop.

Verdict: Rich, decadent without being overly so, crispy outsides and chewy on the inside as all good brownies must be. Alice and Deb certainly don't disappoint! The reason they are real winners are that they take so little time, effort and ingredients to make ( not to mention fewer dishes to clean!). A definite keeper recipe that will be made often- everytime I'm craving my chocolate fix :) And oooh the possibilities- nuts, choco chips, orange extract, cheese, caramel, peanut butter cups....some body stop me!

Am sending these brownies over to Divya for her brownie event! 

Tweet