Sweet N Salty Cumin Cookies

by Trisha Vaz
There other day when I was browsing the web for some inspiration, I came across a recipe for cookies that were savory and sweet all at the same time. I remember these cookies from when I was much younger, I don’t know why these aren’t available any more. I used to love these, but somehow, strangely, even back in the day when they were available, it wasn’t easy to find them. So imagine my joy when I found a recipe for these cookies. It had my name written all over it. I made these cookies that very day and was really happy with the way they turned out. Now I have access to these cookies any time I’d like. I’m so excited with this find. The salty and sweet combination is fantastic, it’s not overpowering in any way. In the end, it still is a delicate cookie. I hope you try this. Its different compared to all the other stuff out there. If you do, let me know if you like them or not, I’d love to hear from you.

Sweet N Salty Cumin Cookies
Adapted from: Group Recipes
Yields about 36 cookies
120g butter (salted)
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp. table salt
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 egg, beaten
200g all purpose flower
1/2 tsp baking powder
Sieve the flour and baking powder and keep aside.
Cream the butter, salt and sugar till fluffy.
Add the cumin seeds and half the beaten egg and beat well. 
Add the flour and baking powder and gently mix everything together to get a smooth dough.
Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line a baking tray with some baking / parchment paper.
The original recipes suggests that you roll out the dough out till its 1/4″ thick, prick it randomly with a fork and cut into desired shapes. I simply rolled the dough into a log and cut slices and then pricked it a couple of times with a fork.
Place on the parchment lined baking tray. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. 
I noticed that if you take the cookies out of the oven too early they are less crunchy but if they are lightly browned, the crunch is so much better.
Cool completely and store in an airtight container. 
(Something I forgot to do was to use the remaining beaten egg to brush the tops of the cookies with and sprinkle a few cumin seeds over, just before baking. The cookies still turned out great.)
This recipe is linked to –
Savory Sunday

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Cookies, Recipes

Monster Cookies

by Trisha Vaz
I think these bad guys need no introduction. Their reputation definitely precedes them. This was the first time I tasted one, let alone made one. I was very pleased with the way they turned out. They were nice and chewy. There are so many flavors and textures in there. In every bite you can taste the peanut butter, the chocolate and the candy. I think this is also a lot healthier than the average cookie since this recipe uses no flour. It just uses old fashioned oats, which are packed with fiber, which is really good for your health. This cookie is now one of my favorite ways to eat oats 🙂


When you sit down to eat these cookies, please make sure that you have a tall glass of milk to go with it. The experience will be totally blissful.



Monster Cookies


1/2 cup salted butter, softened

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
3/4 tsp light corn syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups peanut butter
4 1/2 cups old fashion oats
1 cup M&M’s candies (or Smarties or Gems)
Preheat oven to 175º C.
Lightly grease cookie sheets and set aside.
Cream together the butter and the sugars.
Add the eggs, peanut butter, corn syrup, and vanilla extract and beat well.
Add the oats, baking soda, and salt and stir well.


Stir in remaining ingredients.
Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out batter onto the cookie sheets, leaving some space between them. Flatten them out a little.
Bake for 12-15 minutes. The center of the cookies will be slightly soft. 


Enjoy.

Note: I halved the recipe and got about 20 cookies.
 
This recipe is linked to –
Sweet Tooth Friday
Fun with Food Friday
Sweets for a Saturday
The Homespun Bake Shop
Mangia Mondays

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Cookies, Recipes

Date Rolls

by Trisha Vaz
Typically, I make date rolls around Christmas time. They make a lovely addition to the Christmas platter. But these little rolls are really good any other time of the year as well. This recipe is also ideal for those watching their sugar intake – simply leave out the sugar from the dough recipe and the sweetness of the dates is sufficient to make these into a delightfully healthy treat.



Date Rolls
(Make 35-40 depending on the size)


200g all purpose flour
100g butter
60g fine sugar
200g dates, cut into strips
200g walnuts, sliced (optional)
1 egg
Yolk of an egg for glazing

Beat the butter till fluffy.

Add the sugar and beat till fluffy again.

Add 1 well beaten egg and beat till incorporated with the sugar and butter.

Fold in the flour and mix till well blended. Knead lightly till it forms a dough. If the dough is too soft, refrigerate for around 10-15 minutes before rolling it out.

Roll it out to a rectangular piece to a 1/4″ thickness. Cut into 1 1/2 – 2″ squares.

Put 2 strips of date and walnut (if you’re using walnuts) on each roll and roll it up. Apply a little water to seal the edges.

Place on a well greased baking tray leaving about an inch of space between any 2 pieces.

Using a pastry brush, brush the top of each roll with egg yolk for a glazed look.

Bake for 10-15 minutes  at 160ºC.

Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

This recipe has been linked to Sweets for a Saturday @ Sweets as Sugar Cookies, hosted by the lovely Lisa. 

You should spend some time browsing her blog. She makes some lovely treats.

Also, don’t forget to check the others have submitted this week.

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Christmas Recipes, Cookies, Recipes

Week 11 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies: Nankatais

by Trisha Vaz
It’s hard to believe that we are almost at the end of this lovely 12-week long adventure. Before we reach the end, I’d like to say “Thank You” once again, to April of Abby Sweets for this wonderful idea. Its been a fun 12 weeks, challenging sometimes, but a lovely opportunity to meet some lovely people make some wonderful friends along the way.

This week, I’d like to showcase something that is quite popular in India during Christmas. Its a little cookie called the ‘Nankatai’. It has a lovely taste and is a favorite with kids and adults alike. Today, I will share with you one of the recipes that I use for this cookie. Please forgive the image quality, a mobile phone camera was used to capture this.

Nankatais

Ingredients –
300g all purpose flour
200g powdered or superfine sugar
200g Dalda (This is a brand of vegetable shortening, also called vanaspati. If this is not available, you can use clarified butter)
¼ tsp. Baking powder
½ tsp. Rose essence
Method –
Heat the Dalda to dissolve the grainy portions the previous night. Don’t let it smoke. Leave it to cool overnight. Cream the Dalda with the palm of your hand in a steel plate. Add sugar creaming well. Then add flour, baking powder and rose essence. Knead into a dough. Keep for a few hours. Then shape as desired and bake in a moderate hot oven, approx 150°C for 15 – 20 minutes. To check if done, check the bottom of a cookie for slight brownness. Immediately take out of oven. Don’t let the nankatais change colour. 
NOTE: Add the sugar and the flour gradually, creaming continuously. Place the nankatais on a tray that has been greased with clarified butter and lightly dusted with flour. 
If you choose to decorate the cookie, here’s a recipe for royal icing that I use. Please ensure that the cookie has cooled completely before icing.
Royal Icing
1 egg white
A few drops of lemon juice or citric acid
A few drops of essence
Icing sugar
Method –
Beat the egg white. Add lemon juice and essence. Gradually add icing sugar a little at a time till stiff peaks form. Cover and keep till ready to use. Add food coloring as desired. Use this to decorate the cookie. 

Don’t forget to spend some time to check out what the others have come up with this week!

Week 11 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Christmas Recipes, Cookies, Recipes

Week 10 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies: Holiday Meringues

by Trisha Vaz

Its December, can you believe that? I’m so happy. This is my favorite month of the year, and we get to celebrate my favorite holiday – Christmas. And speaking of favorites, today I stumbled on something that flew right onto my list of favorites – Meringues. I can’t believe I hadn’t made this before. Actually, I did try it out before, but they turned out flat and stuck to the baking paper and so it ended up in the trash, but don’t tell anyone that. **wink wink** Anyway, this was a few years ago and I never considered making meringues again. However, in the last few weeks, I’ve been toying with the idea of making a Pavlova. According to me, it falls in the same category as the meringues, so I was a little apprehensive and it has been on hold since. For some reason, I felt brave this morning and decided that it was time to give meringues another shot. I knew that if I couldn’t make meringues, making a pavlova would be quite questionable.

This attempt was better than the previous, but I still have some kinks to work out. Maybe some of you can help me understand what I can do differently the next time. Oh yes, I’m going to make these again, because even though they weren’t visually very appealing, I loved the taste and texture. It was light and airy, crisp on the outside and a little chewy on the inside. They just melt  in you mouth. I know for a fact that the next time, I will need to add more color and flavor, because what I used this time wasn’t nearly enough. Some of the meringues cracked a little. Can anyone tell me how this can be avoided? I’d love to hear from you. I tried the kisses and wreaths and I wanted to create something that looked like Christmas trees, those didn’t turn out too well, some cracked and some tilted. I used inspiration from here, here and here.  I couldn’t settle on any one so here’s what I did.

Holiday Meringues

Holiday Meringues

2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
A pinch of cream of tartar
Green food coloring
Peppermint extract
Sprinkles, or sanding sugar to decorate

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar together till it gets light and foamy. Gradually add the sugar and keep whisking till it reaches a stiff peak consistency.

Add food coloring and flavor extracts of your choice. I used green food color and peppermint extract and mix well. Prepare a piping bag and use a star shaped icing tip and pipe out the meringues onto some lightly greased baking paper. Bake at 160°C for about 20 minutes and then at 140°C for another 20 minutes.

Cool and decorate as desired. I used a mix of red sanding sugar and some crumbled cinnamon jelly beans.

I can’t wait to try this again and hopefully get visually better results.

Go ahead and take a peek at what the other wonderfully talented folks have made this week.

Week 10 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

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Week 10 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies: Holiday Meringues

Recipe by Trisha VazCourse: Cakes, Cookies u0026amp; Desserts, Christmas Recipes, Cookies, RecipesCuisine: American
Servings

4

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

40

minutes

Holiday Meringues

Ingredients

  • 2 egg whites

  • 1/2 cup sugar

  • A pinch of cream of tartar

  • Food colouring

  • Peppermint extract

  • Sprinkles

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 160°C
  • Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar together till it gets light and foamy.
    Gradually add the sugar and keep whisking till it reaches a stiff peak consistency.
  • Add food coloring and flavor extracts of your choice.
  • Prepare a piping bag and use a star shaped icing tip and pipe out the meringues onto some lightly greased baking paper. 
  • Bake at 160°C for about 20 minutes and then at 140°C for another 20 minutes.

Notes

  • Cool and decorate as desired. I used a mix of red sanding sugar and some crumbled cinnamon jelly beans.

Trisha Vaz

This post was posted in Cakes, Cookies & Desserts, Christmas Recipes, Cookies, Recipes