Christmas Cookies ~ A Sweet Makeover

Peace on earth will come to stay, When we live Christmas every day. ~ Helen Steiner Rice

Asan Khana is hosting the month's event on 'Its time to jingle'. These cookies are being sent over......

Ingredients:
Wholewheat flour - 360gms
Raisins or Sultanas - 50gms
Ground Ginger - 1 1/2tsp
Ground Cinnamon - 1/2tsp
Dark Brown Sugar - 125gms
Bicarbonate of Soda - 1tsp

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the baking tray with parchment paper. Mix in oil with the sugar, tip in the raisins or sultanas and mix. Sieve the flour, bicarbonate soda, ground ginger and cinnamon into a large bowl. Add the oil, sugar and raisin mixture and mix together. Knead the mixture for a few seconds till it comes together, adding a teaspoon or so of water if necessary. Take care to keep the dough soft but not sticky. Flatten the dough into a a round surface about 2cm thick, cling wrap and leave to chill for 30minutes. Dust a work surface with flour and roll out the dough to .5cm thickness. Stamp out shapes using the Christmas cutter or regular rounds of 6-7cm diameter. With a spatula put each shape onto the baking tray. Bake in the oven for 10-12minutes until golden brown . Remove from oven, leave to cool. Store in airtight container.

My Cuppy cake~Chocolate Cupcakes

A sweet makeover for Valentines day. This was a treat strictly reserved for my family.

Am sending these muddles of love to Divya for her event the 'Best Chocolate Cake'

Ingredients:
All Purpose Flour - 1 1/4cup
Granulated Sugar - 3/4cup
Unsweetened Cocoa powder - 1/4cup
Baking soda - 1tsp
Salt - 1/8tsp
Water - 1/2cup
Plain Yogurt - 1/2cup
Vegetable Oil - 1/4cup
Apple Sauce - 1/4cup
Egg white - 1
Instant Coffee - 1/2tsp dissolved in 2tbs hot water
Vanilla Extract - 1 1/2tsp

Preheat oven to 175 C.Line 8 cups of standard muffin mould and spray with oil. Mix the flour, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl with a fork. Combine water, apple sauce, oil, egg white, coffee and the vanilla extract in a large bowl and beat till well combined and smooth. Slowly add the flour mixture and beat until smooth. Fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake till wooden pick inserted comes clean, which should take about 25-30minutes. Cool completely and serve.

Date and Prune Roll ~ Sugarfree Delight

I was at the cash counter getting all my provisions billed when my eyes darted to this magazine, Cooking and more by Tarla Dalal [Issue 1 Volume 8 May June 2009], got it quickly billed as it was sealed. Couldn't wait to get home to unravel what the magazine had to offer me. That's when this recipe of 'Date and Prune roll' simply mystified me. I had Prunes in the freezer thanks to my mum's obsession to dry fruits, I had a cup remaining. Just perfect for the recipe. I had the dates too....fresh ones from a friend who had come down from Bahrain.
The rolls weren't as close to perfection as per the photograph in the magazine but then my husband and myself treat ourselves to 'One roll a day'. I have also made some changes from the original recipe to suit my preferences.

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Ingredients:
Clarified Butter - 1tbs
Dates - 1cup de-seeded and finely chopped
Prunes - 1cup de-seeded and finely chopped
Almonds - 1tbs blanched and chopped
Pistachios - 1tbs chopped
Walnuts - 1tbs chopped
Sesame Seeds - for coating

Heat the clarified butter into a non stick saucepan, add in the dates and prunes and cook gently on low flame till it forms a soft lump. Remove, and add in the chopped nuts and mix well. Shape the mixture into a roll. Coat each roll with the sesame seeds and refrigerate to set.

Tip: I did find it difficult to shape the mixture into a roll, so I used sesame seeds to bind the rolls and give it a shape. I also placed the rolls onto butter paper before refrigerating.

A Sweet Makeover ~ Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

These muffins are tender, lower in fat and cholesterol unlike your regular muffins. And the low fat butter stands in for some of the oil. Elijah and myself had these little loves inside his little play tent. Let me also add that the bananas are fresh produce from my mother in laws garden.

Ingredients:
Plain flour - 2cups
Baking powder - 1tsp
cinnamon Powder - 1tsp
Nutmeg grated - 1/2tsp
Salt - 1/2tsp
Brown Sugar - 1/2cup
Vegetable Oil - 1/4cup
Buttermilk or Sour milk - 1/3cup
Egg white - 1
Egg - 1
Vanilla Extract - 1tsp
Ripe Banana Mashed - 1cup
Chocolate Chips -1/3cup
Cashew nuts/ Walnuts chopped and toasted - 1/4cup
Grated Coconut - 1tbs for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 170 C. Fill each muffin hole with a paper muffin cup on a 9-cup or 12-cup muffin tray. Combine well the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg,  baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix in the brown sugar, oil, sour milk, egg white, egg and vanilla. Using the electric beater beat on medium speed for 3-4minutes. Gradually add in the flours and beat on low speed. Fold in the chocolate chips, mashed banana and nuts. Fill in the paper muffin cups about two thirds full. Sprinkle coconut. Bake for 15 to 20minutes until an inserted toothpick comes clean.

Tip: To make milk sour, add about a 1tsp of lemon juice to the milk and warm it through till it curdles. Let it cool a bit before adding it to the batter.

A Sweet Makeover ~ Coconut Laddoo and Wheat Pedha

I was wanting to send some mithai for the folks at my husband's office, that's when my batch mate from college put up her recipes for 'Mithai DiwalI Special' on her blog which look absolutely divine and tempting. I didn't think twice, went to the store procured the ingredients and started at it right away. When you have a toddler at home you wouldn't want to go through methods that need surgical precision but something that would get you through the dish with absolute ease. And these mithai recipes are just that!

Coconut Laddoo

Ingredients:
(Makes 30-32 ladoos) 
Condensed milk (Milkmaid) - 300ml/ 1 tin
Grated coconut - 4 cups

Set aside about 50 gms of coconut. Then in a kadai, add the rest of the coconut and the milkmaid and mix well. Cook on low flame for about 5 minutes. When the mixture starts to leave the sides of the kadai, take it off the flame and transfer the mix to another bowl and let it cool. Grease your palms with butter and make small laddoos. Roll them in coconut and arrange them on a butter paper.

Wheat Pedhas

Ingredients: 
(Makes approximately 30 pedhas)
1  1/2 cups Wheat Flour/ Atta
1 cup Sugar
½ cup Milk
3-4 tbs Clarified butter/ Ghee
½ tsp Cardamom powder

In a kadai add ghee and roast the flour for about 3-4 minutes on low flame. You'd know the flour is roasted from the wonderful aroma that would start to emanate. Add the sugar and give it a good mix. Now add the milk and continue stirring till it becomes a single mass and starts to leave the sides of the kadai. Sprinkle the cardamom powder and switch off the flame.  Grease a plate with ghee and set this mixture onto it and let it cool. When it is cool enough, make small balls and flatten it a bit. Roll them in powdered sugar and store in airtight containers.