Whole wheat almond cookies

Cookies are one of my favourite bakes ever for various reasons..easy to bake, can use simple and healthy ingredients and above all kids love to eat it anytime 







I have  experimented and baked a lot of cookies in the past with various ingredients and almond cookies has been a favourite cookies forever. I added the chocolate flavour for the extra oomph for the product ;)

Ingredients 
Whole wheat flour - one cup
Butter - half cup
Sugar - half cup
Almond powder - half cup
Cocoa powder - 3tspn
Milk - 1/4 cup
Slivered almonds - 1/3 cu p

Method
Throw in all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl and mix it tenderly into a soft dough.
Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven at 150 degrees Celsius.
Make small balls from the dough , flatten it and roll it in the almond flakes.
Place it on a greased baking tray and bake for 15-17 mins until the almind flakes turn golden colour.
Remove the cookies from the rack and let it cool on a wire rack
One cooled store in an airtight jar or just munch on :)
Happy baking !


I dint use and baking powder or baking soda in the recipe, the cookies came out good.

Whole wheat cheese straws

The following is an incredibly easy recipe of cheese straws which can be made easily, I used whole wheat flour and some grated carrots to make it more healthier. I am in love with recipes which doesn't seek help of any baking agent and this is one among it, so all the more happy :)

Recently bought Vikas Khanna's cook book and loved this recipe .. made few alterations using whole wheat flour and making it veg. The original recipe called for shredded chicken .. so you can actually use that!

Ok so following is the recipe.

200 gms whole wheat flour

125 gms butter

50 gms cheddar cheese

50 gms parmesan cheese

one whole egg and one egg yolk

one med sized carrot finely grated

chopped coriander - 2 tbspn

salt and pepper and any other seasoning you wish ( like paprika or herbs)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Sift the flour into a bowl with a pinch of salt.

Add the butter and rub in until it looks fine like bread crumbs.

Stir in the cheese, beat the egg and egg yolk and stir in the seasoning too.

Mix to a dough.

Take small balls from the dough and roll into thin straws and lay on a greased baking tray ( I don't use any parchment or foil to line the tray)

Bake for 15- 20 mins. Cool for 5 mins and then transfer to a cooling rack.

And is done .. just munch on! :)

Whole wheat Dulce de leche cake

I am a big fan of caramel and since when I saw the method of making dulce de luche by pressure cooking condensed milk tin I have been making it occasionally though since it is very addictive. Also have been reading lots of recipes which uses DDL. This time I thought of trying a cake of Rachel Allen, one of my favourite baker :) 

So this cake is all about including DDL in the batter, I used whole wheat flour instead of white flour and the cake had a very distinct flavour of the DDL. Cake is equally loved by both kids and adults :)

Its as easy as any other cake recipe 

 

Ingredients

Butter - 175 gms

Light brown sugar  ( powdered) - 100 gms 

Vanilla extract - 1 tspn

Dulce de luche - 200 gms

Eggs - 2 no.s

Whole wheat flour - 1 1/3 cup

Baking powder - 1.5 tspn

Ground almonds - 100 gms

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Cream the butter until soft in a large bowl

Add the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and dulce de luche and beat the mixture for a good few minutes until the mixture is smooth and light.

Whisk the eggs in a small bowl for a few seconds and add to the creamed butter mixture beating all the time. Tip in the ground almonds, then sift the flour, and baking powder gently and fold until combined.

Pour the batter in a baking tin and bake for about 30 - 40 mins or until the skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the tins for about 10 minutes , loosen the edges and carefully remove the cake on a wire rack to cool down completely.

Making dulce de luche ( dulce de luche is boiled condensed milk) 

Boil unopened tins of condensed milk for 2 hours  and let the tins cool completely.

Alternatively you can pressure cook the tin in low flame for about 20 - 25 mins with pressure. Open the tin only when its cooled completely.

Bake and enjoy!!