Eggless orange almond cookies

My little niece, who is nearly 6 years old, has been allergic to eggs since she was a baby. If she eats anything with even a trace of eggs, within about 15 minutes of ingesting it, she gets very uneasy and then invariably throws up. Once she's evacuated the contents of her little tummy, she's right back to normal, bouncy and happy while people around her deal with the aftermath. 

Obviously an allergy to eggs, while not as terrible as various other food-related allergies that children can have, does mean that she has to be very careful when she eats away from home - especially when it's a kiddie birthday party and there are tempting cakes and cookies on offer. Also because no party-organising parent really wants to have to deal with a kid who's having an allergic reaction that could escalate to life-endangering! However, touch wood, my niece is not fatally allergic to eggs, so her allergy is probably one of the easier types of problems to deal with. After all, it's easy enough to make egg-free food, especially cakes, cookies and ice creams. This holds true especially for home bakers. 

I made these orange almond cookies last week as a trial, to see how they would turn out prior to making them for my sister to take back for my niece when she returns to Seattle next week. The cookies turned out incredibly crisp and orangey and really tasty, and they disappeared really rather quickly. So I'm making a double batch today, because there would be a one-man mutiny if I didn't keep a few cookies back for home consumption. And here's the recipe so YOU can make it too. 

Oh by the way, I've taken to weighing out my ingredients for baking - I have the most basic of Salter kitchen scales that can weigh up to 500gms or 1/2 kilo. What's more, it can be tucked away neatly in its weighing bowl with its own plastic lid. Don't ask what's the big deal here, if you're the kind that weighs things automatically - until now I've not been the sort of person who bothered with all that "fussiness" (as I considered it). I'm not yet 100% on the side of weighing every single time...but I'm far more likely to do it than not. I consider myself to be the new improved version of me. 

Recipe for: Eggless orange almond cookies

Ingredients:

115 gms unsalted butter, softened

100 gms caster or granulated) sugar (I've tried it with both and it doesn't seem to have made any difference to the end result)

155 gms plain flour

1 tbsp orange juice

1/2 tsp pure orange oil (optional)

3-4 drops of orange food colouring (optional)

Zest of one orange

1 tsp vanilla extract (or 1/2 tsp cardamom seed powder if you prefer)

1/4 cup slivered or sliced almonds

Method:

1. Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. By hand will do - I used a wooden spoon.

2. Add the rest of the ingredients apart from the sliced/slivered almonds and mix together until fully incorporated. Place the almonds on a plate. 

3. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for an hour for it to firm up. Line a flat baking sheet with a Silpat mat or with nonstick baking paper. 

4. Break off pieces of dough (about the size of a large marble), roll them into a ball and press them into the almonds. 

5. Place the cookie dough balls on the lined tray (almond side up) and flatten each one slightly. (You may need to wash and dry your hands every so often to stop the dough sticking as it starts to warm up). Leave 2 inches space between cookies as they will spread. Put the remaining dough back in the fridge if you can't use it all in one batch. 

6. Bake the cookies in a 180C oven for 9-12 minutes (or until the edges turn golden brown). Leave the cookies on the sheet for a minute, then transfer carefully with a spatula on to wire cooling racks. They will crisp up as they cool. 

Fresh fruit rava kesari

I don't make sweets often, but once in a while something like Cilantro's fruit kesari catches my fancy, and then it's like a craving - so here's my craving, which I made yesterday. It's just a coincidence that it's Deepavali and the kesari is appropriate as an offering. It's even more convenient that I could use up some over-soft soft fruit that I might have thrown away if not for the craving.

Now if only someone would make me thenkuzhal and thattai...

Ah well. Happy Deepavali to everybody, and may light and happiness be ever in your lives.

Recipe for: Fresh fruit rava kesari




Ingredients:

1/2 cup rava/sooji/semolina
1-1/2 cups water
1/8 tsp saffron threads (a pinch) left to soak in 1/4 cup warm milk for 15 minutes
10-12 seedless red grapes, halved or quartered
1 small orange, peeled and segments chopped
1 small ripe banana, chopped
1 small ripe plum, stoned and chopped
1 tbsp raisins or sultanas (optional)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
5 tsp ghee
2 tbsp nuts (I used walnuts and pecans)

Method:

1. Heat 2 tsp ghee in a heavy-based medium size pan and fry the rava/sooji/semolina on medium heat, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes till the rava turns a slightly darker shade and smells roasted. Be careful that it doesn't burn. Remove to a bowl till required.

2. In the same pan, heat another tsp ghee and fry the nuts on medium heat, stirring till they are fragrant and turn a darker shade. Remove the nuts from the pan and reserve.

3. Heat the fourth tsp of ghee in the same pan, and add all the fruits, letting them cook on medium-low heat till they are soft and squishy, about 5 minutes.

4. Now add the water and sugar. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat a little and let it simmer for 5 minutes, stirring until the sugar dissolves completely.

5. Add the roasted rava/sooji/semolina now, stirring all the while to mix evenly. Let this cook until the kesari begins to thicken, then add the saffron milk and stir it in. Keep stirring frequently to ensure that it does not burn or become lumpy.

6. When the kesari is no longer watery and has "come together" in a soft mass, stir in the fried nuts along with the remaining tsp ghee. Serve the kesari warm in small bowls. 

Tip: You can also spread the kesari on a greased plate and let it cool, then cut it into squares or diamonds for a more elegant (and convenient) presentation.

Pineapple rava (semolina) kesari

The most common South Indian item made with rava or semolina is upma. Upma is not my first choice of breakfast or tiffin items, as I might have mentioned before. I don’t hate it, it’s just not my first choice. If I do have it at home, I like it plain, without anything added to jazz it up - like onions or tomatoes or ginger or any other vegetables – but with sugar sprinkled on top, or on the side – I’m not fussy (oh, the irony).

But when it comes to rava kesari, I have no objections at all. A friend who knows of my tepid feelings towards upma once commented that rava kesari is just sweet upma. I’m not certain now, but I think she might have been trying to put me off my serving of kesari – too bad for her it didn’t work. There was no sharing involved from my side, I can tell you.

When I first read about pineapple kesari, a great big light bulb seemed to go off in my head, illuminating every last cobweb in there – now WHY hadn’t the idea of pineapple kesari occurred to me? Adding one of my favourite fruits to a sweet that I liked even “plain” – how perfectly delicious!

And so it was – perfectly delicious.

Note: I have to add that my kesari was a bit on the dry side (ok by me) because I skimped on the ghee – well, slightly skimped. If you, on the other hand, weigh in on the skimpy side of the scales, by all means add another generous tablespoon of the good stuff. Your pineapple kesari will not suffer for it, I assure you.

Recipe for: Pineapple rava  (cream of wheat) kesari

Ingredients:


1/2 cup rava (semolina)

1/4 tsp saffron strands
4 tbsp warm milk
1/2 cup hot milk
1/4 cup crushed/chopped pineapple (fresh or canned)

1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar (or to taste)
1/8 tsp cardamom powder
4-5 cashews, broken in pieces
1 tbsp ghee
2 tbsp raisins or mixed dried berries



Method:


1. Add saffron to 4 tbsp warm milk and set aside to soak.

2. Mix the sugar, pineapple and water together and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and leave it for 3-4 minutes while you get the rava ready.

3. Melt the ghee in a small pan and add the cashews and raisins/berries.

Fry on medium heat till the cashews turn golden brown and the raisins/berries puff up. Remove from pan and reserve.

4. Toast the rava (semolina) on low heat in the same pan till it turns a darker shade and becomes aromatic.

5. Now carefully pour the boiling pineapple mixture over the toasted rava, stirring briskly to avoid lumps forming.

6. Stir in the hot milk as well. Cook the rava for 2-3 minutes longer, then add the ghee-fried cashews and raisins/berries. Serve hot.



RECIPE: PINEAPPLE RAVA (SEMOLINA) KESARI

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rava (semolina)
1/4 tsp saffron strands
4 tbsp warm milk
1/2 cup hot milk
1/4 cup crushed/chopped pineapple (fresh or canned)
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar (or to taste)
1/8 tsp cardamom powder
4-5 cashews, broken in pieces
1 tbsp ghee
2 tbsp raisins or mixed dried berries


Method:
1. Add saffron to 4 tbsp warm milk and set aside to soak.
2. Mix the sugar, pineapple and water together and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and leave it for 3-4 minutes while you get the rava ready.
3. Melt the ghee in a small pan and add the cashews and raisins/berries. Fry on medium heat till the cashews turn golden brown and the raisins/berries puff up. Remove from pan and reserve.
4. Toast the rava (semolina) on low heat in the same pan till it turns a darker shade and becomes aromatic.
5. Now carefully pour the boiling pineapple mixture over the toasted rava, stirring briskly to avoid lumps forming.
6. Stir in the hot milk as well. Cook the rava for 2-3 minutes longer, then add the ghee-fried cashews and raisins/berries. Serve hot.

Alphonso mango milkshake

Ok, I’m just boasting because I had Alphonso mangoes to spare (because they were too squishily ripe to eat, really, by the time I got to the last two or three.) If you don’t have Alphonsos, don’t fret, you can still make this recipe. Just use any really ripe mangoes, although preferably the kind that aren’t stringy. Meanwhile, I’m going to continue calling this recipe “Alphonso mango milkshake”, because yeah, I’m still boasting. Those Alphonso mangoes are just SO gorgeous!

Anyway, I like my home-made mango milkshakes (or smoothies – what’s the difference, if any?), Alphonso or otherwise, to be on the liquidy side rather than thick; or if not, I like them to be whizzed with plenty of ice, like frappes.

Sometimes I combine the two styles. I don’t have a name for this hybrid, mainly because I haven’t found a way to combine “frappe” and “shake” to make anything meaningful or catchy, no matter which way around I try it. Could “shakeapp” mean anything to you, apart from sounding vaguely like something that might be downloaded onto your iPhone or Android?

Okay - remember, if you come across the term on either appliance, the copyright belongs to ME and if I’m not acknowledged as the creator, I shall sue for millions! Yes, MILLIONS (of £££s)! You heard it here first, Steve Jobs.

Yeah, that threat should really “shake” ol’ Steve “app”.

HAHAHAHAHA.

*koff koff*

Recipe for: Alphonso mango milkshake

Ingredients:

2 ripe alphonso mangoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup vanilla icecream
1-2 cups cold milk (as required)
A couple of drops of vanilla extract OR rosewater OR 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
Sugar if required
Ice cubes or crushed ice as required

Method:

1. Put the mangoes, vanilla icecream, 1 cup milk, sugar to taste and ice-cubes/crushed ice in a blender.

Blitz them till they are liquidised.
2. Blend in more milk or crushed ice as required to make the milkshake the consistency you like.

Blend in the vanilla extract, rosewater or cardamom powder, if using.
3. Serve the milkshake immediately in tall glasses.


RECIPE: ALPHONSO MANGO MILKSHAKE

Ingredients:
2 ripe alphonso mangoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup vanilla icecream
1-2 cups cold milk (as required)
A couple of drops of vanilla extract OR rosewater OR 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
Sugar if required
Ice cubes or crushed ice as required

Method:
1. Put the mangoes, vanilla icecream, 1 cup milk, sugar to taste and ice-cubes/crushed ice in a blender. Blitz them till they are liquidised.
2. Blend in more milk or crushed ice as required to make the milkshake the consistency you like. Blend in the vanilla extract, rosewater or cardamom powder, if using.
3. Serve the milkshake immediately in tall glasses.

Apple pecan snack cake

Hello to my readers, bloggers and non-bloggers both, on the first day of the new year, and the new decade! Here's hoping that the year brings everybody only the best of everything, and lots of love and laughter too.

I thought I'd start the first post of 2010 with a recipe for something sweet - a simple snack cake, chunky with tart apples and crunchy with toasted pecans. You can't go wrong with it (fingers crossed as I say this, though, because I'm a prime example of someone who can make a disaster of success!) and it's good just by itself, or for a more decadent dessert, serve warmed, with a dollop of thick organic Jersey cream, sprinkled with glittering demerara sugar, if you like.

Recipe for: Apple pecan snack cake



Ingredients:

3 tart apples, cored and chopped
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup pecans, toasted lightly and chopped + 10 or so whole toasted pecans for decorating cake (optional)
1/4 cup oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, beaten
2 cups AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp cardamom powder (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Spray a 7" round cake pan (I used a bundt pan) with Pam or other spray.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the apples, sugar, raisins and chopped pecans.



Mix well and let stand for 30 minutes.



4. In a small bowl, add the oil. vanilla and egg.



Whisk till well combined.



5. Pour this mixture into the apple mixture and stir in.



6. Sift together the flour, baking soda and powder, cinnamon and cardamom powder (if using).



7. Stir the flour mixture into the apple mixture about a third at a time. Stir just enough to moisten the wet ingredients - dont over mix.



8. Pour the batter into the pan.



Arrange the remaining whole pecans decoratively on the top. Push them in only very slightly.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or till a tester comes out clean and the cake has pulled away from the sides of the pan.



Let the cake remain in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.



Serve warm by itself, or with some cream if desired.