An Easy Crowd Pleaser

Sometimes even failed experiments can turn into something wonderful! That's certainly the case with this crowd pleasing Almond Cookies I made for Shankar's birthday party. I was going to make a meringue, but over-beat the egg whites. So, I added ground almond and powdered sugar with the egg whites and baked it as cookies. They were a huge hit at the party, as they were gluten free too. We used the frosting (coconut + pecan + sugar + cream cheese) to sandwich the cookies and it was yum!

 

Maple, Dates & Pecan Scones

One of the first thing I do when I go to work is to throw scones in the oven for 13 minutes and ice them. Yesterday was my day off and what do I do first thing in the morning? Bake a batch of delish scones and glaze them! I love my work :)

I have a standard scone dough recipe - the most simplest - I think it was adapted from the Joy of Baking. I then add whatever flavors I think of to this basic recipe. I use my food processor in making the dough, and add the buttermilk or cream as I keep mixing and hence no standard measure for this ingredient. 

Ingredients (for 8 scones): Flour - 2 cups (I use a mixture of all-purpose, whole wheat and whatever else I find appealing); Sugar - 1/2 cup (brown, white, fine); Butter - 5 or 6 tbsp; Baking powder - 1 tsp; Baking soda - 1 tsp; Salt - 1/4 tsp; Dates & Pecans - 1 cup (chopped); Maple syrup - 2 tbsp; Buttermilk or Cream - as needed.

• Pre-heat the oven to 375F
• In the food processor add all the dry ingredients (except the dates and pecans) and pulse a few times 
• Add the butter, sliced into small pieces and pulse till the dough is crumbly
• Add maple syrup, run the processor and slowly add the buttermilk till the dough is soft, but not wet
• Add the dates / pecans, pulse once of twice and transfer the dough to cutting board
• Shape into a large round and slice into 8 pieces or use a mold. Sprinkle some sugar on top
• Bake till golden (15 - 20 minutes)!
• For the maple glaze, I mixed powdered sugar with maple syrup and a little water - heated for 30 seconds in the microwave and brushed on top of the scones.

Now there is healthy breakfast to go for the rest of the week!

Iced Chai - Concentrate

I brought back this wonderful growler (for a locally made Kombucha) from work today and taking a leaf out of my work kitchen, decided to make a chai concentrate. This is a concentrate that can be mixed with 1:1 milk for a delicious iced chai. I basically used my Cuisinart Coffeemaker to brew my tea and added sugar and spices. In the coffeepot, I added cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and dried ginger. I added the tea leaves in the filter, and in my coffee maker you can steep by removing the pot (the pause and pour stuff). So, I would let the leaves soak in hot water, insert the pot, and remove for the next round. After about 5 rounds, here is a half gallon of chai concentrate.   

Curried Chickpeas with Butternut Squash Soup

I made this soup for a vegan special yesterday, for about 15+ servings over a hot plate. Comfort food :)

Ingredients: Onion - 1, chopped into small pieces; Diced Tomatoes - 2 cans; Butternut squash puree (from imagine) - 3 packs;  Carrot -  2 diced; Chickpeas - 1 large can; Salt & pepper - to taste; Curry Powder - 3 tbsp; Paprika - 1 tbsp; Coriander + Cumin Powder - 2 tbsp. 

• In a pot, add olive oil and once hot, add the onions and saute till translucent. Season with salt & pepper
• Add the carrots, cook for a few more minutes. Add the chickpeas, tomatoes.
• Saute for a couple of minutes, add the spices. Cook about 10 minutes or so till the veggies are tender.
• Add the squash puree. Simmer for about 10 minutes and adjust the seasoning.
• I used a hand blender to puree part of the soup and left about 1/2 of it chunky. Serve with warm bread!

Cookie Time

I will be visiting my brother and a few friends this weekend and made a bunch of cookies today to take with me. My brother wanted chocolate chips in the cookies and so here are delicious White chocolate almond raisin coconut cookies with oats! Quite a mouthful :) 

 

• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Mix the wet ingredients: 1.5 cups of sugar, 1 stick butter, 1/2 cup ghee (I ran out of butter hence substituted ghee) -- cream together. Add 2 eggs, flavor (I used Kentucky bourbon sorghum vanilla syrup!).
• Add the dry ingredients while mixing: 2 tsp baking soda, 2.5 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp salt.
• Stir in the add-ons: 1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds, 1/4 cup raisins, 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, 1/4 cup coconut flakes, 1/4 cup rolled oats.
• Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
• Use a ice-cream scoop, space them well apart and bake for 12-15 minutes till golden
• Cool and enjoy!

With these amounts and a standard scoop, I got about 52 cookies. 

My Baby is 3

Kalki turned three today! Its so hard to believe that he is already 3 and he has been enriching our lives for the last 2 and 1/2 years. We celebrated yesterday with a big non-fat frozen vanilla yogurt. He also got  hardy balls that he can't really chew on to play with now. And a new rope toy. He is a very happy baby and he makes us happy :)

 

 

 

Another Sweet Treat

Breakfast from a couple of days ago: Challah bread with raisins from Whole Foods made into a French Toast with leftover 2 tsps of sweetened condensed milk, one egg, a tsbp of coconut and a tbsp of chopped walnuts :) A hearty one for sure!

Plantains with Peas

Inspired by a recipe on Global Table Adventures, I made this as a side for last night's dinner. I didn't have corn and hence substituted peas. I made this spicy by adding berbere spice mix. I also sprinkled a tsp of coconut on this before turing off the heat. Checking Cameroon off my list!

Ingredients: Plantain - 1; chopped into small pieces; 1/2 Red Bell pepper - diced; Peas - 1/2 cup (I used frozen);  Salt & Pepper to taste; Berbere - 1 tsp (use any spice mix). 

• In a pot, add olive oil and once hot, add the peas and cook for a couple of minutes
• Add the plantain & red bell pepper. Season with salt & pepper & spice mix.
• Saute for a couple of minutes, add about 1/4 cup of water.
• Cover & simmer for about 5 minutes till the plantain is tender
• Uncover and cook for a couple more minutes to slightly roast the veggies.