Spritz cookies

 

"Spritz cookies" a type of German and Alsatian Christmas biscuit or Christmas cookie made of flour, butter, sugar & eggs. These are very delicate, melt-in-mouth cookies  with crisp edges & having a rich, buttery flavor that'll make you craving for more.  These cookies are made by using a cookie press with different nozzles of your choice which squeezes out the shapes of the cookie. The most interesting part of these cookies is that you can decorate them in many ways, different shapes, sprinkles, cherries, coloured sugar etc.  

I was watching some videos of joy of baking site few days back when I came through this simple recipe. You can check the recipe there itself. I have adjusted the measurements according to my requirement.

They are just so perfect tea time cookie. So yummy & soft inside. Take one bite and you will not want to leave it. We all just loved it. Could not resist with one . PB & my girl gulped 3-4 at a time.

Try this at your home and see if I am wrong :)

If you have a cookie press then its perfect. You can make your desired shape with the different nozzles. I don't have one so I have applied my own technique. I have mentioned that below in the method section. You can do so  much to these cookies in terms of decorating them and so simple to prepare. They are perfect to gift your friends & family during festive seasons.

One thing I have noticed that it is always better to use unsalted butter when you are baking cookies. I have baked 3 batches of these cookies as of now and the batch I made with salted butter I did not like it much as the salty taste was so prominent. If unsalted butter is just not available at your pantry , then skip adding the salt  in the recipe. Butter should not be melted, only softened at room temperature. Whisk the butter first with the beater properly, this will help dissolving sugar into it and makes it fluffy.  You can use powdered sugar as well, but in the original recipe granulated sugar was only used. So did I.

Secondly you can use other essence as well, like butter scotch or vanilla only. But these cookies smells and tastes best with almond essence. I have used red & green cherries cut into half horizontally and pressed it in the middle of  the cookies. Sprinklers you can use of your choice but these silver ones looks great. I used coloured sugar also. You can buy them from stores or you can make them at home itself. I have made my own at home only.

Describing the method in a nutshell here:

Take the granulated sugar in a plastic bag/ or a container. Add few drops (try first with 1 or 2 drops)
of gel colour of your choice. Close the plastic bag or the lid in case of a container and mix them with your fingers (in case of plastic bag) till the time the colour mixes well with the sugar. If using in a container , then shake it until the colour mixes well with the sugar particles. Taa ..daaa ..ready to use.

Lets see how it has been made.

Spritz cookies

Preparation Time: 7-9 minutes
Baking Time: 17 minutes 30 seconds


Ingredients:

Plain flour: 1 & 1/2 cup
Egg: 2 egg yolks
Sugar: 1 cup (granulated)
Butter: 1/ 2 cup (softened at room temp)
Vanilla essence: 1/2 tsp
Almond essence: 1/2 tsp
Pinch of salt
Red & green cherries ,sprinkles , coloured sugar for decorating


Method:

Preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius.

Keep your baking tray ready by greasing it with oil/butter.

In a large bowl, take the butter and with the help of an electric beater whisk the butter until fluffy

Add the sugar, mix everything well till sugar dissolves.

Now add the egg yolks , then both the essence, beat well until everything combines well & fluffy.

In another bowl, sieve the flour , add the salt and mix.

Now add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients little by little & whisk with the beater until everything mixes well and you get a dough like consistency. Don't worry in case your dough comes out dry. You can always add little milk to it to get that perfect consistency.

with cookie press :
Insert portions of dough into the cookie press with your choice of nozzle and press out the cookies on the baking tray.

without cookie press:

If you don't have a cookie press, not to worry, you can do it my way. You can use your cookie cutter as well.

Take small portions of the dough, place on the greased tray. Flatten with your hand. Now with the help of fork make patterns, or use a toothpick or anything with a sharp front try to make patterns, like making a hole in the middle, cut the sides of the cookie etc.

Press half cut cherry in the middle. Add sprinkles, or coloured sugar.


Bake in the preheated oven for 15-17 minutes. Mine took exactly 17 minutes 30 seconds. Don't over bake. Take them out of the oven as and when you see their edges are turning slightly brown in colour.
Let them cool down for about 2-3 minutes in the try itself and after that transfer them to the wire rack to cool down completely. Store in air tight container. You can store them for a week .

Enjoy with your hot cup of tea/coffee with your loved ones.

 

Coconut panna cotta served with chocolate sauce

 

Panna Cotta , an Italian custard means cooked cream which is prepared with cooked cream thickened with gelation & moulded. This smooth yummy mouth watering dessert is quite simple & easy to prepare at home.


There are a variety of ways to prepare this as in case of flavour that you want to infuse in it. Vanilla , coconut, raspberry, cranberry, honey or coffee infused panna cotta are few examples. I made these cute little batch on last Saturday for my guests over dinner. They all have liked it very much . So happy to receive their appreciation about this dish & my presentation. I did not get time to take pictures of the dish as I was tied up with other preparation that day. But thanks to my guests who have insisted me to click pictures while serving. And that made me able to share this wonderful recipe with you all lovely people.

I have made coconut panna cotta for which I have used desiccated coconut which is store bought. You can use shredded fresh coconut also. Coconut flavoured panna cotta came out so perfectly. If you donot like coconut you can always go for a simple vanilla flavour also. But try this version and I am sure you will not say no to it. I have used my cupcake moulds to set this. You can use ramekin bowls to set the dessert. one more important thing to keep in mind is always use a non-flavoured gelatin, else the taste of gelation may overpower the taste of the main dish. Also its very important to dissolve the gelatin completely in water or milk before using ,  there should not be any lumps. I have served my panna cotta with chocolate sauce. You can serve as it is also. But I wanted to break the white monotony of the dish. You can go for strawberry sauce etc .

Lets see how this was made in my kitchen.

Coconut Panna Cotta served with chocolate sauce:

 

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Set time: 5 hours minimum or overnight

 

 

Ingredients:

 

Milk: 1 cup

Sugar: 1/2 cup

Whipped cream: 1 1/2 cup ( I used Amul whipping cream)

Desiccated coconut: About 5-6 tbsp.

Gelatin: 1 tbsp

Vanilla essence: 1 tsp

 

 

For the chocolate sauce:

 

Choco chip: 1/2 cup

Milk: 1/3 cup of milk

Sugar: 2 tsp

 

Instruction:

 

Take luke warm milk in  a bowl and add the gelatin. Let it stand for a minute or two , mix the gelatin with a spoon till it dissolves completely.

 

In a saucepan add the cream. Warm it till boiling point.

 

add the sugar, stir it till dissolves. Add the coconut, vanilla essence, mix well everything in low to medium flame. Finally add the milk & gelatin mixture. Cook everything by stirring till it starts thickening.

 

Remove from flame.

 

Now pour them into the moulds. Cover them with aluminium foil and keep in refrigerator for atleast 5-6 hours to set. I have kept it overnight.

 

 

For the chocolate sauce:

 

In a saucepan warm the milk. Add the sugar ,  stir it till dissolves. Add the choco chips into it and mix it continuously till it melts completely. Its ready to be served.

 

 

Unmould the panna cotta before serving. Spread the chocolate sauce on top of each portion , decorate with your choice of sprinklers and serve chilled.

Do share your feedback or comment if you like the recipe :)

 

Simple vanilla fruit cake

 

Baking cake is something that gives me complete pleasure and its kind of stress buster for me. I have been baking cakes for  many years now and I still remember when I fed my family with rock hard cakes once upon a time. I had an OTG that time  which I had to sell for some technical difficulties and bought my microwave. Since then I have been doing all my baking stuff in my microwave convection mode. Though I miss my OTG now a lot as people say it is the best for baking purpose. This holiday I have baked cookies, plum cake, some simple vanilla cake, chocolate cakes.


This particular recipe of this vanilla cake is something I am very very excited to share with you all. This has to be one of my no fail recipe of super moist soft spongy cake. I cant explain how happy I was when PB said that "ohh I thought it was store bought cake!!" PB & my daughter both of them have approved it as the best recipe of cake I have ever baked. Hence no waiting and I baked one chocolate cake, vanilla cake and even the plum cake with this particular recipe.

I wanted to make it a fruit cake but knowing my daughter , she would not eat it with dry fruits inside , I thought of only top the cake with few cherries. This time I have worked with the temperature level also while baking. I always get the top of my cakes not so brown which I don't like but never got any solution to do it without burning my cake. This time I tried to change the temperature levels. First I baked the cake for about 25minutes in 180 degree Celsius and then next 5 minutes  and then 3 more minutes in 250 degree Celsius. And it was like magic for me, I got a brown top and no burning inside. 

I have changed the measurements of this case from my regular ones. I normally used to bake cakes with 1 1/2cup of flour with 3 eggs with 2-3 tbsp. of butter/veg oil. In this recipe I have used 1 cup flour with 2 eggs and 1/2 cup butter & 1/2 cup sugar. I have added few spoons of milk and luke warm water as well. For the chocolate cake version , add 1/2 cup of cocoa powder and replace the sugar with brown sugar (use a little more that 1/2 cup as it is less sweeter than regular granulated sugar). Sift the cocoa powder together with the flour, baking powder & salt. If you wish , add dry fruits in this cake like almonds, walnut, dates, tuti frutti, cranberry etc. for example. Always roll them in dry flour before adding in cake batter to avoid them sinking in the bottom of the cake.

Here is how I made it.

SIMPLE VANILLA FRUIT CAKE

• Preparation Time : 12 minutes
• Baking Time: 35 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

Plain flour: 1 cup
Sugar: 1/2 cup (powdered)
Egg: 2
Butter: 1/2  cup softened at room temperature
Baking powder: 1 tbsp.
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
Pinch of salt
Milk: 4 tbsp. (at room temperature)
Luke warm water: About 2 tbsp. (you can adjust depending on the consistency of the batter)
Red & Green cherries: 6 each of red & green


METHOD:
                          
Preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius.

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt in a large bowl.

Take another large bowl, add the sugar & butter. Whisk till everything combines and become creamy. Add the eggs one by one , whisk till the consistency is fluffy and creamy. I used the electric blender and it took me 6 minutes altogether.

Add vanilla essence and mix.

Now fold in the dry ingredients to this mixture with the help of a spoon or flat spatula. Once you combine everything well , add the milk & then water spoon by spoon keeping the batter consistency in mind. 


Grease the cake mould/tin with oil/butter and sprinkle some dry flour. Remove excess. I used an aluminium cook ware this time (as you can see in the picture) so I skipped this step.

Pour the batter in it and arrange the cherries on top of it . Before placing them, I have rolled them on dry plain flour.

Bake it in the preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for 25 minutes. After that reset the temperature to 250 degree Celsius and baked first for 5 minutes and then for another 3 minutes to get that brown top. 

This step might vary from oven to oven. I bake in my microwave in convection mode. If you use oven/OTG, then bake it for 20-25 minutes or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Happy baking!

If you like the recipe do spread among your friends :)

 

Chocolate dipped Coconut Macaroons

 

My second bake of this holiday season is Coconut Macaroon. This is one such yummy treat that you cannot say no to it. Crunchy from outside and moist and chewy from inside. Three simple steps and you are done - Beaten Egg white mixed with shredded coconut condensed milk , bake and you are done. I just love the brown colour on the top of it after it is baked. I made one small batch this time as I was not sure how it would turn out. So you need to adjust the measurements according to your servings. But trust me its quite difficult to keep track on this as to how many of them you have baked and how many are actually left at the end provided if you do not munch these beauties in between :)

Okay so we all loved these macaroons specially my daughter. I am planning to make them again very soon. Specially the chocolate enhanced the taste and look. You can make them without dipping in the chocolate as well. Also there are different ways out there to make them. In some recipes you will find the use of condensed milk , in few without it and even in few you will find use of flour also. Honestly I tried both - without condensed milk first and then with condensed milk because I ended up making the mixture non-sticky and it was not binding up at all. Few things that we need to keep in mind while preparing them.

Firstly , the coconut should be shredded and not the powdered coconut .

Secondly, when you beat the egg white , beat till its fluffy & you need to beat till the mixture gets soft peaks.

Thirdly you need to be very careful while adding the coconut mixture. Because the consistency required to make ball like shape should not be runny  yet should not be dry and should be sticky enough to hold its shape.

In my first one batch i did that mistake as the mixture was almost dry and i was not able to give any shape to it.  And then i decided to make my fresh batch using condensed milk so that i don't have to struggle with the binding issue again. So the recipe with condensed milk worked for me and i am sharing here this recipe for you all to try at home.


RECIPE:

This measurement gave me about 15 macaroons.

Ingredients:

Shredded coconut: 1 cup (and some extra in case you need to adjust the consistency)
Egg white: 2
Condensed milk: 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence: 1/2 tsp
pinch of salt

For chocolate dip:

Chocolate chip/any dark chocolate


Method:

Preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius.

Take the egg whites in a bowl , add salt and beat till it gets fluffy and takes soft peaks (I used the electric beater).

In another bowl mix the coconut, condensed milk & vanilla essence. Combine everything with a spoon or spatula. Now fold this mixture into  the egg white mixture. Once everything combines well , check for the consistency and try to make small sized ball with the help of two spoons. Add more coconut to adjust the consistency.


Grease the baking tray or you can use parchment paper. Arrange the balls on the tray . Bake for about 15-17 minutes or until you see the top getting brown.


Take out the tray and let the macaroons cool. Transfer them to the cooling rack.


For the chocolate dip:

With the help of double boiler method melt the chocolate. I used choco chips. Melt it stir it till you get running consistency.

Now dip the base of each macaroon in the chocolate and arrange them in a plate. Once you are done with all, take some chocolate in a spoon and drizzle some on each macaroon just to give it a nice look and to look more appealing.

Let them rest in refrigerator or at room temperature to set. Store in air tight container and enjoy whenever you crave for it :)

 

Holiday baking - Tutti frutti & Chocolate chip cookies

Starting of holidays and we are enjoying the winter here in Mumbai. Christmas is round the corner and I see people keep them busy in baking a lot of stuff. Love to see my friends living out of the country lighting up their house and baking cookies breads cakes for Christmas. And that inspires me a lot.

Few days  back my daughter came back from school and said she has to carry dry snacks to school on the sports day coming up on this Saturday. And she asked me what am I going to pack in her tiffin. Then I said 'let me bake some cookies for you' and my bakes for the season starts from here - cookies with tutti frutti and chocolate chips. I had to bake two different batches coz my daughter does not like tutti frutti or any dry fruits in her cookies. They are super yummy and she loved it. Mission successful !

These cookies are not eggless version. Thing is I love that egg flavour in cookies and cakes. Though I love both the tuffti frutti & chocolate chip ones, but the tutti frutti has definitely enhanced the taste & the look of the cookies more. In this recipe I have used granulated sugar only that's why you will see the granules of sugar on the top of the cookies. You can always use powdered sugar to avoid that. You can use any dry fruit instead of chocolate chip or tutti frutti.

If you ask me for a healthy version of this recipe then I would say you can use whole wheat flour but I have not tried whole wheat version so wont be able to say how it would turn out to be. If you try do let me know , I would definitely like to follow that.

Few important points that I have been learning while baking and still improving.
It is very important when you mix the butter and sugar to whisk it properly till the sugar dissolves and after adding the egg whisk till you get the creamy fluffy consistency. Have patience ! Do not ever add the dry ingredients all at once, always add batch by batch.  Also the baking time is very important when you bake cookies , do not bake till it gets hard to get that brown top. Because once you take it out from oven and keep on wire rack to cool these will anyways get harden. So it is always advisable in my case to take out  the cookies when they are still a bit soft.


Here is how they are made.

RECIPE

This measurement gave me total 17 cookies.
Ingredients:

Plain flour: 1 cup
Sugar : 1/2 cup
Butter: 1/2 cup softened
Egg: 1
Baking powder: 1 tsp
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
Tutti frutti & chocolate chips & white chocolate chips: 2-3 tbsp. of each (You can increase or decrease as per your liking)
Oil to brush on the baking tray


Method:

Sift the flour and baking powder in a bowl. Keep aside.

In a bowl add the butter & sugar. Whisk till the sugar combines well with the butter . I used the electric blender for this. It took me a little longer as I was using granulated sugar.
Now add the egg and whisk again till you  get the creamy fluffy texture. Do not hurry in doing this. Take your time.


Once done add the flour mixture little by little and keep on mixing with a spoon or spatula . Here I use a spatula to mix everything. You will get a dough like consistency once everything combines well. Now knead the dough once with your hand. Divide the dough into two equal portions and add the tutti frutti & chocolate chips . Knead once again to mix them with the dough.

Make logs of the dough & wrap them in cling sheets separately and keep in refrigerator for about an hour or so.

 

Preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius.

 

Brush the baking tray with some oil. You can use parchment paper on the baking tray and arrange your cookies on that and bake. I never use it .

.

Take the dough out and roll them. Give shapes with the help of cookie cutter and arrange them on the tray keeping some gap between each of them. Bake them at 180 degree Celsius for about 15-17 minutes. Mine took exactly 17 minutes. Please do keep a close eye while its baking because the temperature varies from oven to oven and mine is a microwave oven. Also the temperature and timing would vary depending on the thickness of the cookie. What I usually do is I always set the time for 10 minutes first and then accordingly adjust it how much more time it would need to be baked. Once baked take them out . Keep them on the cooling rack till completely cool. Now store them in air tight containers and enjoy with your cuppa.

 

Eggless caramel bread pudding

Bread pudding - that one dessert I loved to eat when mom used to make.  It was like no one else can make this pudding as she does. Honestly I learnt many times from her but never so interested in making it on my own. Only wanted to enjoy this dessert made by her.

How about you people. I am sure most of you like this delicious yummy dessert and also am sure many of you have made it several times in your kitchen. But for me it was the first time and that too caramel one. I had guests last weekend and I wanted to make the dessert at home instead of buying ice-cream or something from outside. And in anyways ever since I have started my blog I never had to go buy sweet dishes for my guests. I wanted to try something that I have never tried before. But at the same time was a little scared thinking  how it would turn out. Somehow settled my mind on caramel bread pudding. As this recipe doesn't require any special ingredient I quickly started preparing for the same the previous night. I usually prefer to make desserts the previous night only to set in refrigerator properly and chilled properly. I have omitted the egg intentionally whereas we all eat egg including the guests.  I have steamed the pudding in a large kadhai with water covering with the lid. You can bake it in oven as well (I have not tried though). I have made this pudding in my round cake tin , you can use glass /casserole dish/ramaken of any shape.

Here is how my dish came out. Pretty good looking right ? You can garnish the caramel pudding on top with some chocolate sauce /caramel sauce or whipped cream or you can add some dry fruits also . I did not coz I was out of stock and also I wanted to keep it simple.

Now how does this eggless version tastes like. Well it tastes as good as the one with eggs, only difference being that softness fluffiness and gooeyness  that comes with the addition of egg. You can spread butter on the bread slices which will  definitely enhance the taste I am sure or why not to spread some mix fruit jam too. Hmmm that sounds yummy to me. Gonna try that too soon in my kitchen.

Ingredients:

Bread slices: 6 (I used brown bread. you can use white bread as well)
Milk: 2 cups
Sugar: 6-7 tbspoons
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
Cornstarch: 1 tsp
 
For the caramel

Sugar: 3 tbsp.
Water: 2 tbsp

Method:

Take the bread slices and cut them into small square/cube sizes. Keep aside. As I mentioned above that you can apply butter on the bread slices , so this is the step where you have to spread the butter on the slices and then cut into cubes.


In a saucepan add the milk and bring it to boil and then keep it in simmer for some time. Say about 3-4 minutes. Now add the bread , sugar and corn starch. Mix everything well. Remove it from the flame and mash the bread with the help of a masher or any big flat spatula or spoon till you get a paste like consistency. Add vanilla essence, mix everything well and keep aside to cool down.

Now prepare the caramel in another saucepan by adding the water and sugar in low flame. Bring it to boil and stir continuously so that the sugar completely dissolves in water. Slowly you will see the bubbles forming and the colour of the mixture changes into light brown. Remove it from flame then and pour it in the cake tin and  spread it evenly by moving the tin in circular motion. You need to be very fast at this point of time as the caramel hardens as it cools and you wont be able to get it spread evenly otherwise. Now let it rest for sometime till it cools & sets.


In the meanwhile boil water in a large broad pot/saucepan/pan. I used my large broad kadhai where my tin fits easily. and added about 3-4 cups of water.

Now pour the bread mixture onto the  tin with caramel. Spread evenly with the help of a spoon or spatula. Cover it with an aluminium sheet and poke holes on it with a toothpick. Place it on the boiling water. Just keep it in mind that the water level should touch at least an inch or two of the tin. Cover it with a lid and put the flame to low. Keep it in simmer for about 20-25mins till the pudding sets. Mine took 25 minutes. Now put the flame off and let it cool down a bit so that you can handle to take it out from the water.

Once it cools down completely remove the foil and keep it in refrigerator overnight. Unmould the pudding the next morning. You will see the pudding coming out neatly. Now slice according to your choice and serve chill.

If you don't want to keep it in refrigerator and have it immediately after its done then you will find the pudding bit gooey but softer and equally delicious which is my mom's version and I just love it.


I hope you will try  this in your kitchen and enjoy as much as I did. Do give your feedback if you try this version.














 

Achari Paneer Shashlik

Ingredients:

Cottage Cheese or Paneer: 200gms cut into cubes
Onion: 1 medium sized cut into cubes
Vegetables of your choice: 1 cup (Capsicum/different colours of bell pepper/Zuccini)


For marination:
Curd: 1/2 cup
Ginger garlic paste: 1 tbsp
Red chilli powder: 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala: 1 tsp
Cumin powder: 1 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder: 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Fresh cream: 2 tbsp.
Masala and oil of any pickle: about 2 tsp
Olive oil: 1 tbsp


For the smoky barbeque flavour :

1 piece of charcoal/coal


In a large bowl, add all the ingredients mentioned under "for marination" and mix well. Now mix the paneer cubes, and all the vegetables, combine all well. Cover the bowl and marinate for about 10-15 minutes.

While it is being marinated, put the piece of charcoal/coal over gas stove in low flame for about 2-3 minutes till it releases smoke.

Once the marination is done, skew the paneer pieces and vegetables alternatively in the skewers and keep aside. Do it for the rest of the skewers.


Bake it for 5-6 minutes in 300 degree Celsius in micro+grill mode. Turn the skewers  and again grill for another 5 minutes. Once done take them out and heat a pan with some oil, place the skewers and also the piece of coal. Dash of oil over the coal and cover with a lid. Remove from flame after few seconds and serve .

Or you can do the same in pan as well on gas stove.

Heat the grill pan or any regular pan/tava , add oil and place the skewers and cook on all the sides by turning the skewers. Now put that piece of coal on the pan in between the skewers, sprinkle some oil over it and cover with a lid under low flame for few seconds to get that smoky barbeque flavour on the paneer. Remove from flame.

Serve this hot as starters and enjoy.