Sesame Poppy Seed Crackers

Crackers are flat, crisp and known to be a nutritious snack which is baked. They are always salted and can be made in different flavours. They are made in different shapes, commonly in round or square. Crackers can be enjoyed on its own or can be topped with Cheese, Dips, Soft Spreads, Jam, Butter or Peanut Butter or any thing you like :)

My husband and my kids love crackers and we usually buy from the stores. I thought to give it a try at home and it turned out to be really good.

Give it a try and you will love them for sure.

Recipe Source: Click here


Ingredients

250 gms All purpose flour/Maida
2 tbsp Poppy seeds
2 tbsp Sesame seeds
1 tsp Black pepper powder1 tsp Baking powder
½ tsp Salt60 gms Butter (Unsalted, cold and chopped)


Method

• Sieve maida, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add poppy seeds, sesame seeds and black pepper powder. Mix well.
• Add butter and using your fingertips rub it until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Make a well in the center and add 100ml cool water. Mix well until a firm dough forms. If needed add more iced water. Don’t over mix.
• Cut the dough into half and wrap one half in a cling film. Chill it in the fridge.
• Roll the other half out between 2 sheets of baking paper until 1-2mm thick. Using a round cutter, cut out rounds. Place on a baking sheet and prick all over with a fork. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Chill for 20 minutes.
• Preheat oven at 180 degree Celsius.
• Place the baking tray in the preheated oven for 20 - 35 minutes till the crackers turns light golden colour.
• Once done, take out from oven and place them on a wire rack to cool.
• Serve them with hot coffee or tea.

Thanks for visiting

Happy Cooking!!

Fruit And Nut Biscotti

This is yet another beautiful challenge from the Baking Partners. There were different varieties of cookies from which we could choose any one of them for the challenge. 

I thought to try out the Biscotti with a slight change. I had already baked cake rusk which is somewhat similar to biscotti. We all liked it so much that i wanted to make a similar type of biscotti, with a different taste. When i saw the recipe for biscotti, i did not think twice......Gave my twist and yea!!! came up with this awesome tasting fruit and nut biscotti. Really, it tastes heavenly with the fruity taste of the dry fruits, the nutty flavour of the nuts and above all the crunchiness of the biscotti...mmm....yumm :)

 

Biscotti is originated in Italy and it means twice-baked biscuits. They are twice baked, so that they are very dry and can be stored for a longer period of time. "Biscotti" is the plural form of biscotto. (wiki)

Ingredients

3 cups Maida/All purpose flour
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Nuts (chopped)
3/4 cup Dry fruits (chopped)
2 tbsp Orange Zest (or Lemon Zest)
1 tbsp Baking Powder
3/4 cup Canola Oil (or Vegetable oil)
3 Eggs
1 tbsp Mixed fruit essence (or Vanilla essence)


Method

• In a bowl, add maida, sugar, nuts, dry fruits, orange zest and baking powder. Mix well till all these dry ingredients are mixed properly.
• Add oil, mixed fruit essence and eggs into the dry ingredients and mix well using a wooden spoon. Later use your hands to incorporate everything nicely.
• Mix thoroughly so as to form a soft and not too sticky dough.
• Make two portions out of it and roll into balls. Keep it in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour.
• Later, take out the dough from the fridge and place them on a butter paper lined baking tray.
• Pre-heat the oven in convection mode at 175 degree Celsius.
• Press these two dough balls gently, to make a log shape. Keep them slightly apart from each other. (picture shown).
• Place the baking tray in the pre heated oven for 25 - 30  minutes till the top of the logs slightly changes its colour.
• Take off from the oven and let it cool down completely.
• Cut each logs diagonally into 1 inch thick slices and place them on the butter paper lined baking tray.
• Place it in the oven at 175 degree Celsius for 10 minutes on each sides.
• When done, take off from the oven and set them aside to cool down completely.
• Enjoy with tea, coffee or a glass of milk. Store the rest 'if anything is left' ;)

 Notes:

1. I used cashewnuts and dates for this recipe. You can use any nuts and dry fruits of your choice or a mix of nuts and dry fruits.
2. Instead of orange zest, i used lemon zest.

Dough pressed gently to form logs

After the first bake - straight from the oven

Thanks for visiting

Happy Cooking!!

Spicy Biscuits

Lot of nostalgic memories (about yummy dishes) coming up recently!! All the flavours and dishes which i used to enjoy in my childhood is bubbling up in my mind and i can still feel the taste of them...

When i was young, my father used to buy a type of spicy biscuit which he bought from bakeries. I always wanted to try out a similar type of biscuit, but always failed to find a good recipe.

Recently, when i came across this recipe, thought to give it a try. It did not taste like the one which i used to enjoy, but of course these biscuits tasted really good. Spicy and crunchy.. and egg less too...

I made them using whole wheat flour and added little maida. Moreover, made them in small sizes, so that kids could enjoy them.

This recipe is super easy... Try it out friends, you will like them....


Ingredients

1 cup Whole wheat flour
1/2 cup Maida/All purpose flour
1/2 cup Butter
1/4 tsp Red chilli powder
1/4 tsp Black pepper powder
1/4 tsp Cumin powder (roasted and powdered)
1/4 tsp Ajwain/Carom seeds
3 Green chilli (finely chopped)
1 tbsp Curry leaves (finely chopped)
1 tbsp Coriander leaves (finely chopped)
1 tsp Rava/Semolina
1 tsp Baking powder
2 tsp Curd3/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar


Method

• In a bowl, mix whole wheat flour, maida, red chilli powder, black pepper powder, cumin powder, ajwain, green chilli, curry leaves, coriander leaves, rava, baking powder, salt and sugar.
• Now add butter and mix well. It will form a crumble dough.
• Add curd and kneed well to form a stiff dough.
• Preheat oven in convection mode at 175 degree Celsius.
• Take small portion of the dough and roll it just like a roti of about 5mm thickness.
• Cut it using a cookie cutter (any shape) or with a bottle cap.
• Place them on a baking tray lined with a butter paper.
• Place the baking tray in the preheated oven for 20 minutes at 175 degree Celsius and again for 10 minutes at 110 degree Celsius.
• Take off from oven and let it cool down completely.
• Serve it with tea or coffee.

Thanks for visiting

Happy Cooking!!

Cake Rusk

A simple and tasty snack with coffee, tea or a glass of milk. It is very crispy and yummy. My kids just love them at any time. 

Pinwheel Cookies

These amazing pinwheel cookies were June month's challenge from the Home Baker's Challenge group. There were 4 recipes of different varieties of cookies and i took this one as my challenge, as i had long been waiting to make these sweet little pinwheels. I was always attracted to the design of these cookies whenever i saw them in pictures. When this challenge came up, i was so excited to make them.

Thanks to Viji for including this recipe for the challenge. I thoroughly enjoyed making them and it tasted amazing. If anyone is interested to know more about this home bakers challenge group, click here.

My kids enjoyed them a lot. It has become one of their favourite cookies that i make. I think even i am addicted to these cookies, that i finished off 2 or 3 just after it was baked and cooled....i was tasting... 'what did you think'? Then later on enjoyed more of them with my kids ;) My elder daughter has told me not to touch the jar until she reaches home from school.... She thinks that i will finish them off. :) :) You know.......at times, i too become a kid ;)

I had tried both pinwheel cookies and checker board cookies. My Checker board cookies came out in a different pattern... But i liked the new pattern on the cookies.....

I know, i know....don't be angry with me...I am going to give you the recipe... Tada.....Here it goes, friends....Bake and Enjoy!!!


Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cup Maida/All purpose flour                                            
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Butter (at room temperature, unsalted)
3/4 cup Sugar (granules)
1 Egg (beaten)
1 tsp Vanilla essence
2 tbsp Cocoa powder
1/4 cup Semi sweet Chocolate (melted and cooled to room temp.)


Method

There are two doughs to be prepared. One is vanilla flavoured and the other one is chocolate flavoured.

For the vanilla flavour:    

• Sift maida, baking powder and salt. Keep this aside.
• In a bowl, add butter and sugar. Beat well using and electric beater till light ad fluffy.
• Add in the egg and vanilla essence. beat again until blended properly.
• Add in the flour (little by little) and mix well till everything is combined properly.
• Remove half of the dough and keep in another bowl for adding chocolate flavour.
• Cover the vanilla flavoured dough in a plastic cling film and keep in the fridge for about 1 hour. 

For the chocolate flavour:

• Take the dough which we had kept aside in a bowl. We will be using this to add the chocolate flavour.
• Melt the semi sweet chocolate and cool it to room temperature.
• Add the cocoa powder into it and mix well.
• Add this chocolate+cocoa mixture into the dough and mix well so that everything is mixed properly.
• Cover this chocolate flavoured dough in a plastic cling film and keep in the fridge for about 1 hour.  

Making Pinwheel cookies:

• Take the vanilla flavoured dough and roll it into a 12 inch square. You can do this by placing the dough in-between two butter paper.
• Keep this in the fridge to set.
• In the mean time, take the chocolate flavoured dough and roll it into a 12 inch square.
• Take the vanilla flavoured rolled sheet from the fridge and peel off the top butter paper.
• Flip the chocolate flavoured rolled sheet on top of the other. 
• Place a butter paper on top (if needed) and roll again gently, so that both the sheets stick together to form one sheet. (Don't roll too hard, because both the sheets will blend into each other and you won't get the pinwheel effect)
• Roll the sticked sheet from one end to form a big log.
• Place the log in the fridge for about 10 minutes so that it will be easy to cut.
• Pre-heat oven in convection mode at 180 degree Celsius.
• Later, cut the log into 1/4 inch thick slices.
• Place them on a butter paper lined baking tray by giving enough space in between as the cookies will spread a bit.
• Put the baking tray in the preheated oven for about 10 - 12 minutes.
• The cookies will be soft to touch, but must have changed its colour.
• Take off from the oven and cool it in a wire rack.
• Enjoy them once cooled.

You can make Checker Board Cookies also with the same dough. Only the assembling part is different. 

Checker Board Cookies

• Make the vanilla flavoured and chocolate flavoured dough as mentioned above.
• Roll both the dough separately into a log and press lightly to make a 1/2 inch thick square log. You can do this by placing them on a butter paper.
• Place them in the fridge for about 10 - 15 minutes.
• Later, cut both the flavoured dough lengthwise into half.
• Place both the flavoured dough in a checker board pattern ie. one strip of vanilla dough, beside one strip of chocolate dough. Top of the vanilla strip, place another strip of chocolate dough and on top of the chocolate dough, place another strip of vanilla dough. (pattern shown below)

 

• Squeeze together gently so that all the pieces stick together.
• Wrap the prepared dough tightly and keep in the fridge for 1 hour.
• Pre-heat oven in convection mode at 180 degree Celsius. 
  
• Later, slice the log into 1/4 inch thick slices.
• Place them on a butter paper lined baking tray by giving enough space in between as the cookies will spread a bit.
• Put the baking tray in the preheated oven for about 10 - 12 minutes.
• The cookies will be soft to touch, but must have changed its colour.
• Take off from the oven and cool it in a wire rack.
• Enjoy them once cooled.

 

Note:

1. When i made the dough, the vanilla flavoured one was bit sticky. If it happens for you, mix some almond powder or any nut powder.
2. Don't forget to keep the dough in the fridge in between, so that it will be easy for you to handle.

Thanks for visiting

Happy Cooking!!

 Sending this to "Guru's Give away - Kids Special"

Brown Fantasy

This cookie is inspired from the kids all time favourite 'Dark Fantasy'. I renamed it to Brown Fantasy as my cookies were brown in colour and i had filled it with milk chocolate. 

My cookies were brown, as i used normal white sugar for the recipe. If you use brown sugar, the cookies will turn dark in colour. 

I got this recipe from Mareenas Recipe Collections. She has a collection of different varieties of dishes. I loved this recipe and thought to try it out. The cookies really turned out to be great. The inside of the cookies were moist and chocolaty and the outside was crunchy, just the same as the Dark Fantasy.

Once the cookies were cooled completely, it became crunchy all through ie. both inside and outside. Taste was excellent, but the inside was not the way it had to be. I would suggest you to fill the inside with a thick chocolate ganache, so that the inside will remain soft, moist and chocolaty even when it is cooled.

I had filled the cookies with milk chocolate, so in the picture you can see that the cookies inner portion is light brown in colour (its of the milk chocolate). If you put dark chocolate inside the cookies, the inside will be deep dark colour. You can do your own modifications... Up to you....



























I think i have tempted you a lot with these snaps. So guys, what are you waiting for, put on your apron and get started.....try these yummy chocolaty Brown Fantasy today itself and tell me how it is.

Wait a minute.......................One more snap to get you going ;)

Ingredients

1 and 1/4 cups All purpose flour/Maida
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 cup Cocoa powder
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 cup Sugar (preferably powdered)
1/4 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla essence
Chocolate pieces as required


Method

• Sieve maida, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder for about 3 times. This is done to remove any lumps and to mix all the ingredients properly.
• In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add milk and vanilla essence to it.
• Beat well. Now add the sieved dry ingredients into this.
• Mix well using a wooden spoon.
• If you think that the mixture is little sticky to your hands, keep it in the fridge for some time.
• Pre heat the oven in convection mode at 190 degree Celsius.
• Take small portion of the mixture and roll it into a ball. Make a small depression in the middle and place a chocolate chunk. 
• Cover it and roll it into a ball again, flatten a bit and place it on the baking tray lined with baking paper.
• Do the same procedure with the rest of the mixture. 
• Place the baking tray in the pre heated oven and bake it for 15 - 20 minutes.
• When you touch the cookies, it will be soft, not to worry. Take off from the oven and let it cool.
• Once cooled a bit, transfer them on to a wire rack and let them cool down completely.
• Serve it and store the rest for later use if anything is left :)

Thanks for visiting

Happy Cooking!!

 



Sending this to "Guru's Give away - Kids Special"

Eggless Masala Biscuit

This is a simple biscuit recipe which is slightly spicy and has a masala flavour. The main highlight of this recipe is that it is Eggless - so all the veggies out there...u can try them. It is really tasty.

I used olive oil instead of butter and didn't add any sugar to this recipe. The black pepper in it gives a good flavour to these biscuits. You can make any shape out of these dough using a cookie cutter. I just cut them using a knife and made impressions on the sides using a fork.

My next trial would be by using whole wheat flour instead of maida...so that it would become a complete healthy biscuit. Will update you once i try it.

Recipe Source: Sharmispassions (slightly altered)

Ingredients

1 cup Maida/All purpose flour
4 tbsp Olive oil (any vegetable oil or butter is fine)
1 tbsp Sesame seeds
1 tbsp Curry leaves (cut into small pieces)
1 tbsp Mint leaves (cut into small pieces)
1 tbsp Coriander leaves (cut into small pieces)
2 Green chilli (cut into small pieces)
1/2 tbsp Black pepper powder
1 tsp Salt
4 tbsp Milk (add little by little)


Method

• In a bowl, mix maida and olive oil. Mix well so as to form a bread crumb consistency.
• Now add sesame seeds, curry leaves, mint leaves, coriander leaves, green chilli, black pepper powder and salt. Mix well.
• Add milk little by little and knead into a soft dough.
• Take small potions and roll like a roti about 1/4 inch thickness.
• Cut into shapes and prick it with fork, so that it wont puff while baking.
• Do the same process with the remaining dough till everything is used up.
• Pre-heat oven at 180 degree Celsius.
• Grease a baking tray with little oil or butter. Spread the prepared biscuits one by one on it.
• Place the tray in the pre-heated oven and bake for about 10 - 15 minutes.
• Check in between. Take off from oven and let it cool.
• Once cooled, it will turn out to be crisp.
• Serve it with tea or coffee.

* I usually take the quantity of the ingredients as per my taste. So you can always adjust the spices as per your taste*


Thanks for visiting

Happy Cooking!!

Coconut Cookies

An easy and simple cookies with the rich taste of coconut. As the coconut in the cookies tends to get brown very fast, keep the oven at less temperature ie. 150 degree Celsius and keep checking in between. 

Instead of dessicated coconut i used freshly grated dry coconut (copra). It definitely enhanced the taste of the cookies. 

Ingredients

150 Grams Butter
150 Grams Sugar (powdered)
1 Egg
1 Cup Dessicated Coconut
1 Cup Maida/All purpose flour


Method

• In a bowl, put butter and sugar. Mix it well using an electric beater. When it becomes creamy add in the egg. Mix it again using the electric beater.
• Now add the dessicated coconut and maida. Beat well and use your hands to make a dough.
• Keep it in the fridge for about half an hour. Make small balls out of it and then press gently. Pre heat oven at 150 degree Celsius.
• Spread a butter paper on the baking tray and place the cookies on it, leaving some space in between.
• Place the tray in the pre heated oven and bake in convection mode at 150 degree Celsius for about 20 minutes. Check the cookies in between.
• Once the cookies are golden brown colour, take off from the oven and set aside to cool. After 5 minutes, take it from the baking tray and place them on a wire rack to cool completely.
• Serve it or store in an airtight container for later use.

Thanks for visiting

Happy Cooking!!