Chocolate orange cake

Orange and chocolate when put together, open a portal of another dimension, which leads you into a parallel universe where there is endless happiness, where eating more makes you lose weight and where lemons give you life.

Orange and chocolate form something so deep, so intense and flavourful and so unbelievably delicious that you’d think the person who discovered this was given a nobel prize or at least he should be given one asap.

This cake is so rich, so damp, dense, dark and irresistible that you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from devouring this completely. It’s almost impossible to put in words but it tastes like a mouthful of happy malevolence. Crazy right? but this cake has to be made to believe and this is one of the best desserts you could serve at a dinner party. It’s gorgeous and it has an air of elegant simplicity with the most aromatic and not so subtle flavours of orange and chocolate.

The other best part about this cake is that it’s easy and it can be made into just one bowl.

Just flour, salt, baking soda, butter, best quality dark chocolate, sugar, orange marmalade, vanilla, orange liqueur (optional), eggs.

I started by melting the butter and the chocolate into a microwavable bowl. You could by all means use a double boiler but this was easier and faster.

Stir together and exercise enough restrain to not dive into this dark pool of melted chocolate and butter. It’s so easy that I’m using a tiny wooden spoon and a bowl two sizes too small to make this cake.

Into this add in the orange marmalade

the sugar

the orange liqueur

the vanilla extract

and stir. You can see lumps of the marmalade I put in and this is what helps the texture of this cake making it moist with small pieces of marmalade studded in the chocolate.

In with the beaten eggs

and gradually adding a bit of flour and stirring to incorporate. Instead of adding in the whole heap, add in a tablespoon at a time and gently mix in without over beating.

like this

to finally get this.

Into a cake mould. You can also make cupcakes out of this and more often when I have a lot of people, I actually make these into small cupcakes and these need absolutely no frosting/icing of any kind… none!!

Now because this cake is damp, it takes a bit longer than usual cakes but this is so glorious and intensely aromatic. It’s fabulous.

You really have to make this cake and see for yourself how easy it is to create something so rich and elegant yet so simple. This cake is a hit and you’d be asked for seconds and thirds. You really have to make this..

Ingredients

butter 125 g (unsalted)
dark chocolate 100g (at least 60%cocoa)
Orange marmalade 150 g
Orange liqueur (optional) 30 mls/1 tablespoon
sugar 120 g
salt 1/4 teaspoon
baking soda 1/2 teaspoon
eggs 2 large beaten
flour 150g
vanilla extract 1 teaspoon

Recipe: Melt the butter and the chocolate. Add in the marmalade, sugar, liqueur and vanilla. Stir to combine

add in the eggs and mix thoroughly.

Add the flour slowly or one tablespoon at a time and mix completely without over beating.

The batter will be very moist. Bake at 180℃ for 45-50 minutes. Let cool completely.

This cake needs no icing or frosting at all.

Alternatively you can use this recipe and make cupcakes as well.

Enjoy!!!

Homemade Pita bread

I ta, you ta, we all scream for pita! ok, this makes no sense but these pillowy pita breads do! No, I haven’t gone completely insane and while you can buy perfectly fine pita breads in the supermarket, they wouldn’t be nearly as good as the ones you make at home. For starters these involve your blood, sweat and tears, or just some sweat or none.

Once you’ve made your own pitas you’d not bother buying one.

After many a failed attempts at baking pitas in the oven, I decided to give it another approach and now I’d want to kick myself for never trying this out.

Let’s talk a bit about pitas made in oven. Mine just never came out that good. They would puff up and beautifully brown, but they never had that softness and that cushiony thickness to it. They’d be hard, brittle and crack, unlike these, which can be stuffed with your furniture without as much as a tear.

These were just magnificent, soft, forming beautiful pockets and absolutely delightful. these are so incredibly easy to make that you’d rather make these than drive all the way to buy one.

such simplicity.. I cry. handful of ingredients:Warm water, yeast, high gluten flour, olive oil, sugar and some salt

Sugar + water = yeast love. Make sugar the water isn’t hot, or cold. It should be just warm, like warm to the touch. You don’t need any thermometers for this, just a finger.

Into the sugary water we add in the yeast. I’ve used the instant dry yeast, but please feel free to use whatever yeast you have handy.

Mix and let it be for at least 5 minutes. In which time we can prepare our flour.

add salt in the flour and mix it to disperse salt evenly.

Make a ridiculous well in the centre of the bowl and pour in the yeasty water. NOTE: the water should be foamy and frothy by now. If the water hasn’t foamed it probably means that the yeast hasn’t activated, in which case throw out the water and start again. make sure the yeast is fresh and the water isn’t very hot.

pour in the water

and the oil, and start kneading the dough.

Of course I didn’t take pictures while kneading the dough, I have but only two hands. I kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes and formed into a somewhat smooth dough ball. It should be slightly springy to the touch and not very dry. I also had to add a bit more water as I kneaded.

I also lightly oiled the bowl so that dough does not stick as it sits to rise. Cover the bowl and let it be in a warm place for an hour until it has doubled in size.

Magic!!!! the dough has become puffy and fat and I sort of want to rest my head and sleep on it. Ok, now punch the dough to release out all the air. you heard me, punch it like you’d want to punch your ex, ripping out its entrails and dancing on them… forget that last part. Just punch it ok.

Tip out onto a floured surface and make sure you knock out all the air from the dough.

form into some sort of geometrical shape, mine looks a rectangle. Make sure it’s evenly thick from all sides and edges.

now cut it in equal portions.

I ended up having about 8 equal portions, but you could have less, you could have more depending how big or small you want your pita, but I think this was fine.

form these into equal sized balls and let them rest on a floured surface. I floured the tops slightly and covered with plastic wrap. let these rise for another 30-45 minutes.

Oooooh, these have become fat yet again. No matter how many times I make bread, I can’t keep myself from getting amazed at what yeast does. It’s magic I tell you. Here’s your letter to Hogwarts!

Okay, now taking individual rounds, flatten them a bit and using your rolling-pin roll these out to form….

These!!!! ok, I admit they could have been rounder but once these have puffed up you wouldn’t care, also as you progress your rounds will keep getting better, in theory and in life. Let them rest for a couple of minutes.

While they are resting, bring out your skillet or in my case a non stick frying pan, and put it on a medium high flame. Let it get reasonably hot and put on the rolled out dough. Flip it after about 20 seconds and after giving the other side 30 seconds flip again and…

This!!!! It will rise, it will puff up, you will scream and shriek and you would want to embrace everyone. It actually puffs up. It forms a pocket. this really happens, in your own kitchen!!!!

Flip again to let the other side cook and brown a little and look at this little thing. It’s risen majestically. Bow down and pat yourself on the back, for you are now a proud owner of homemade pitas.

These are different pitas in different stages of puffing.

OK, now the first one would probably not puff up as much as you’d want because you’d still be getting a hang of it, the skillet/pan would be adjusting heat and perhaps your flipping would be either too fast or too late, but believe me, after the first two you’d know exactly what to do and there wouldn’t be a pita that wouldn’t rise. I promise!

Very soon your pita pile will get bigger,

and bigger, and now you’re a pro..

Ingredients

Lukewarm water: 250 mls (I cup)

Flour( High gluten): 400 gms

Yeast: 1 teaspoon

sugar: 1 tablespoon

salt: 1 teaspoon

Olive oil: I tablespoon

Recipe: Dissolve the sugar and yeast into the water and let rest until the yeast starts foaming. In the meanwhile into a large bowl, add the flour and mix in the salt.

Making a well in the centre of the flour mixture add in the yeast water and the oil and knead to form a soft dough. Depending on the humidity and the flour you might want to add in more water if the dough is dry or add in more flour is it’s sticky.

Once you’ve made a smooth ball it should be slightly springy to the touch, let it rest in a lightly oiled bowl. Make sure to cover it and keep in a warm place for at least 1-2 hours depending on the rising and how warm your place is.

After it has risen it should have doubled in size. Punch it to knock the air out and tip it on a floured surface. Even it out and cut into 8 equal sized portions.

Form them into balls and let them rest again for 45 minutes until they have puffed up and increased in size.

Using a rolling pin, roll them out to form about 1/4 inch thick rounds and let them rest for another 2-3 minutes.

Heat a skillet or a frying pan on medium high heat and place the rolled out dough and after every 20-30 seconds flip it over to evenly brown and puff. After about 2-3 minutes it would have cooked through and formed pockets.

Stuff these pockets falafels (recipe here), hummus (recipe here) and roasted red peppers (here)

Enjoy!!!!

Rose flavoured rose cookies

These are rose cookies! They smell of rose and they somewhat look like one. Okay they might not completely look like one, but the fact is that they smell so subtly rose perfumed that you might as well be reading Arabian Nights.

The scent of rose always evokes something so mysterious and heady yet lightly perfumed that I just had to make one of these babies for me.

Lately I’ve been so enamored by rose related food that I absolutely had to create something sweet. I was a bit skeptical at first, since I just wanted a subtle hint of the rose and not the full on heady perfumed punch, but once these were made, I knew this was a triumphant test recipe. It’s here to stay and I won’t make any changes to this. I stick to this rose cookie recipe, I do!!

Before I begin, let me just tell you how wonderful they tasted. They were sweet with a subtle rose flavour and absolutely perfect. These didn’t make through an entire day and were greedily devoured even before they could cool completely.

So here goes..

The ingredients were simple enough. Butter, flour, sugar, rose jam, egg, vanilla extract and rose-water. In case there is no rose jam available you can up the quantity of rose-water, however it wouldn’t be all that difficult to get rose jam around your area, I ordered mine online.

You don’t need any heavy machinery for this. A bowl and a wooden would just about do it. Begin by beating the butter until light and creamy.

Add in a tablespoon of the rose jam.

beat to incorporate the rose jam. Can you see the flecks of rose petals? well they are there somewhere.. did you see them? yes? good!

add the sugar and beat again.

This does not look pretty but it doesn’t have to.ahem!

In with the egg.

beat vigorously. This is a very good work out and you’d thank me later for all the muscles you’ve built.

I added in about a 1/4 tsp of vanilla and I didn’t take a picture. I’m pretty rebellious that way

In with a tablespoon of rose-water and I cannot tell you how beautiful it smelled. I have a good mind to actually dab this around my neck instead of perfume. I’m serious.

Finally the flour, and believe it or not but this right here is the cookie batter or dough. easy peasy.

You see this? this is everything mixed well. I’d show you all the muscles I’ve built in this process, but I’m too modest.

Now the fun part! Putting the second rose in the rose flavoured Rose cookies part.. just so you know, the cookie dough is made and of course you can scoop out the cookie dough or batter and bake it just as it is, but I’m fiddly by nature and I had too much time on my hands, so I pulled out my piping bag with a star tip and decided to make swirls.

Put your piping bag in a long glass and scoop in the batter. You have no idea, how difficult this was to photograph! Don’t fill it up to the top because you need enough space to gather the edges of the piping bag and with a twisting motion push the batter to the tip. Squeeze out a bit so that there is no gap or air bubbles and star piping your roses.

I lined my baking sheet with a parchment paper and went on to work. It’s completely up to you how you want the cookies to be. You can make them large or small, I went with the medium size. This is not a necessary step. As I mentioned you can just scoop out the cookie dough and make round cookies and completely avoid this piping madness.

Pretty cookies!!!!!!!! bake them at 180℃ for 12 minutes. If you want them a bit more tinted and browned you could probably do it for about 14 minutes. If you want them underdone then 10 minutes should be about alright.

Seeeeeee!!! pretty pretty rosy cookies. Remember to let them cool on a wire rack before you store them.

Here’s another picture..

Ingredients:

Butter 80g

Sugar 100g

Flour 125g

Egg 1

Vanilla extract 1/4 tsp

Rose jam 1 tablespoon

Rose water 1 tablespoon

Recipe: In a bowl beat the room temperature butter until light and fluffy. Add in the rose jam and beat to incorporate. Beat in the sugar followed by the egg until well combined. add in the vanilla extract and the rose-water and mix well. Finally add in the flour and mix.

The cookie batter is done. You can either scoop these onto the parchment paper and bake or you can put this into a piping bag and using a star tip or in fact any tip you wish, pipe out swirls to make it vaguely resemble a flower. Bake at 180℃ for 12 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Falafel

Falafel!!!!! I love how it sounds, I love how it tastes, I love how easy it is to make. This is a very Middle Eastern fare, and I do admit that these might not be the most authentic falafel’s, but who cares as long as they taste good. In terms of taste, these babies were up there, no higher up, still higher up.. yeah right there in the taste chart. These are something of an art. They look good, they taste better and they give you such a feeling of accomplishment.. like ‘Oh my god, I made these, all on my own’. I could sing praises, write songs, devote a shrine to this food. My man loves it stuffed in a pita, although I ended up eating half this batch in the kitchen all on its own. My excuse? ‘I have to taste each falafel to know if it needs more seasoning.’

Falafel requires a bit of prep, but not some mind bending crazy preparation, it’s just a matter of soaking the chickpeas over night in some water. Sorry you can’t use canned chickpeas, absolutely not!! for they will disintegrate as you fry.. In the morning the chickpeas will be all sorts of fat and swollen, and you have to put them in a food processor and chop then finely to very nubbly bits.

while you have someone going at the chickpeas in the processor, chop some onions, coriander and chillies to really fine pieces.

see this is what the chickpeas need to look like. Season with some salt

Cumin powder

add the chopped onions, coriander, chillies to the mixture and mix well. You have to get in with your hands and mix. I couldn’t take pictures for the rest of the steps, because my hands were all sorts of covered in ummm.. stuff. Anyway, you mix well and form into flattish patties. In case you feel the mixture is too dry and not holding well together, add in about a tablespoon of flour and it will hold. You have to make sure that the patties form or else these will break while frying.

Once you’ve formed these into patties, go ahead and fry. I’m too scared of frying which is why I always have the man take the heat. There’s just something about frying that scares the rationality out of me.

See! aren’t these pretty? I couldn’t believe my eyes when the first one came out. How gorgeous is this? all this while I ate falafel’s outside which hardly tasted good, I made one on my own.. and boom!! it’s so much better and fresher than the ones you get at food chains and eateries..

How you eat these, is up to you. These taste best stuffed in a pita, slathered with hummus, topped with some potatoes and I also scrunch in some roasted red peppers (you can see how you can make them at home here), and cold beer.

So easy and the rewards are so high. You can plan the most stress free dinners with these falafel’s . Just lay out salads, hummus, pita breads, stuffings of your choice and these falafel’s and let the guests go berserk. They can stuff their pita’s and their faces as they want how they want, and you won’t be stressing about, running all over. Try.

Ingredients

Chickpeas 200g soaked over night

Onion (medium-sized)

Coriander (10 stalks)

green chillies (to your taste) . I used 1 green chilly

Salt 1 tsp

cumin powder 1/2 tsp

flour to bind 20-30 g (1 or 2 tbsp)

Oil to fry.

Recipe: Soak your chickpeas in cold water overnight. They should be swollen in the morning. Drain the water and wash them briefly. Chop them finely into very tiny nubbly bits in a food processor or chopper. DO NOT make in to a paste.

Chop the coriander, onion and chillies finely and add into the chickpeas along with salt and cumin. Mix them well and using your hands form them into patties. If you feel that the chickpeas aren’t coming together, add in a bit of flour and shape them. You might feel that it won’t come together but it will. You can increase the seasoning to your taste.

In a utensil of choice, heat the oil enough to fry these patties. Make sure the oil isn’t smoking. Fry the falafel patties and it will take about 2-3 minutes for them to turn into a golden brown colour. Remove them to paper towel or if you want them to stay crunchy for long then remove them on a wire rack to cool.

It’s easy, not fussy, and you’d love the taste, the texture and the above all, you’d be so please with yourself.

Enjoy!!

Roasted Red Peppers : How to

What can I say about roasted peppers, except that they are divine. They’re the equivalent of a food poetry. They bring to life anything they are added in. Their subtlety of flavour livens up even something as meagre as a stale slice of bread. It’s like the rhyming word which makes a verse all the more interesting.

The slightly smoky, charred flavour is harmonious with almost everything.You can add this to a sandwich, throw it in a bowl of pasta, puree into a soup or just drizzle it with olive oil and serve as a side dish. This is guaranteed to brighten your table, your mood and your food. Also it’s really easy, and you could do this in a matter of minutes.

You don’t need a whole list of ingredients, except perhaps some peppers. You can roast any pepper of your choice, I’m doing red peppers, but you can go ahead with whatever suits your preference and your colour of the day. yellow, orange, green.. whatever coloured pepper is available.

I’m a stove top girl, when it comes to roasting peppers. You could just as easily pop this in a hot oven, but for me, this technique is better suited since it’s charred and burnt evenly on all sides.

Place the pepper on stove top like so. The flame should be high enough to not only roast it but blacken it.

Time for tong action!! You really do need a tong for this. keep rotating on all sides until it’s seriously blackened. Leave no side even a bit coloured, including the tip. You really need to blacken up these babies.

Once it’s coal-black, lose no time and put the peppers in a ziplock bag and seal it. This step makes it easier to take the skins off, and makes these peppers juicy. Let them be in the ziplock for at least 15 minutes, and you can get on with your life till then.

See!! I wasn’t kidding about roasting them to a nice shade of Hellish black. These peppers have had their 15 minutes in the ziplock, and it’s time to reveal the divinely delicious peppers that have metamorphosed into food poetry.

You need to get your hands dirty, and you won’t even complain. Just peel the skins and they will come off real easy. I do not like to be too fastidious with the skinning process, since a bit of charred remain is desirable, as it’s the bits of charred skin that gives these peppers their characteristic smoky flavour.

This is what I as talking about. Lipstick red but tastier, aromatic, jewel bright and oh so delicious. Just de-seed them before serving, also a few seeds don’t hurt nobody..

There are millions of serving suggestions:

-tear into shreds, drizzle some olive oil, crumble some feta and eat.

-tear them and throw into a bowl spaghetti lightly drizzled with olive oil and parmesan

– add it to your sandwich and watch the flavour go up a hundred notch

– puree along with some sour cream, salt and garlic and make a delightful pasta sauce.

– add it to your hummus, and make an electric red coloured bowl of greed.

Once you’ve made these at home, you wouldn’t want to buy an expensive jar of roasted peppers. It’s an easy process and it’s so much better when you do it yourself.

—–

Recipe: On a medium high flame of your stove top place the peppers and keep turning them every 30-40 seconds until they are all evenly charred. Make sure to roast the tip as well.

Once you’re satisfied with the colour, place in a ziplock bag and seal it. Let these peppers sit for 10-15 minutes.

Finally just peel off the charred skin, making sure some skin remains to ensure a smoky flavour.

De-seed before serving.

Enjoy!!!!

Bread Pudding

Feast yer eyes, for this is the easiest, most heavenly addictive dessert you’d make. Bread Pudding evokes everything that is homely, classic & decadent.

Put together in a matter moments, nothing gets easier than this dessert.

I haven’t got any step by step pictures for this recipe since there really weren’t too many steps and because I was making it to satisfy my man’s cravings for something outrageously weekend.

Did I eat this? Not a lot, since I’m 50 shades of Lactose Intolerant, but really I did sneak in a few bites here and there, and they were so gorgeous I could have kicked my system for hating on milk.

Also the bread pieces are slathered and sandwiched with orange marmalade and this is what gives it a different flavour with every bite, but of course you could as easily change that to any jelly or jam of your choice. From blueberry to ginger jam to pineapple to mixed fruit.. Suit yourself. It’s a very forgiving recipe

Ingredients

Milk 500 mls (2 cups)

Eggs 2 and 1 egg yolk

Sugar 50 g (3 tablespoons and 1 teaspoon) + extra for topping

vanilla extract 1 teaspoon

Bread preferably stale (baguette would work great) or 6-8 slices of bread

Orange marmalade or jam/marmalade of your choice

Butter 20 g (1 tablespoon)

Recipe: Make sandwiches out of your bread pieces with jam of your choice. The bread amount can be varied. It could be 6 or 8 slices of regular bread or half a baguette as I used here. If your bread is too big you can make triangles out of them, if it’s the same size as the baguette here, then just cut about 1/2 inch thick pieces and slather them generously with the marmalade.

Fit them snugly in the oven dish of your choice, making sure it’s buttered well.

In a separate bowl, mix in the milk, eggs, egg yolk, sugar and vanilla. Mix well making sure the egg is incorporated.

This batter now resembling the summer outside needs to be poured over the bread pieces in the dish. Pour it evenly so that no bread remains dry. Gently coax them into the eggy custard, do not mush them. Sprinkle some more sugar on top so that it caramelizes in the heat of the oven, bronzing the top and adding crunch.

Awesome, now let the dish stand this way for about 10-15 minutes and finally dot the top with some butter to make it golden and sunny and crunchy, after which bake it in a 190℃ oven for 15-20 minutes.

The results are fabulous, every bite is a song and you’ll fall in love with how easy this recipe is.

Enjoy!!

Citrus butter cookies

These citrusy buttery delights were something I’d been longing to make ever since I stumbled upon Pioneer Woman’s recipe (here)

For whatever reason’s I kept postponing because procrastination is one of my super powers. Somehow after my man nagged me for a batch of fresh cookies which weren’t chocolate, I figured this is the time I make these citrus drops.

I altered the original recipe a bit because in my remote Chinese town, where even blogging can become a problem, I didn’t have all the ingredients necessary, but somehow I tweaked a bit and these came out ,oh so fabulous, oh so mouth-watering and oh so citrusy, that I imagine the original recipe must have been absolutely off the charts.

This wasn’t difficult, in fact it was one of the easier cookie recipes and so much fun to make.. so here goes.

The ingredients really easy and quick to assemble. Butter, sugar, orange juice, orange zest, egg yolk, lemon zest, lemon juice and flour.

As with most cookies out there, it begins fairly easy by creaming the butter which becomes a lot harder if it isn’t at room temperature. Also you don’t have to cream it’s soul. Just a minute would do, or even less.

In with the sugar

followed by the egg yolk

I’d really hoped the yolk maintained it’s integrity but NO!

Beat the butter, sugar and egg yolk and add the zest of both lemon and orange, but also reserve a bit for later, which we will come to in a bit.

now the flour

beat that all together and you’d probably end up with a bit crumbly mixture. It’s really not a problem, because now you add some orange juice

and some lemon juice

Mix well and it shall all clump into this sunny yellow glorious dough. Just a faint whiff and you’d faint.

Roll into balls. It’s almost as if I’m moulding a sun.

this is just to let you know how big these were. I scooped out using my melon scooper. These were the prettiest things I saw all week.

Lay them out on a parchment paper, so as to avoid any stick up that might happen.

Behold the mighty yellow kisses of sun.. I baked mine for some 15 minutes at 190℃ . I also flattened their tops a bit using the back of a glass before pushing them in the oven. Can you see the orange specks of the zest? Let these cool, while we get on with the icing.

The icing is simple enough. Lemon and orange zest, meringue powder, lemon and orange juice. It’s actually royal icing, but I’m not too sure about the eggs here, so instead of making them with egg whites, I used meringue powder instead. But if you have your own royal icing recipe using egg whites, please feel free.

This is just Meringue powder, lemon and orange juice, the zests and powdered sugar, all beaten into a frenzy to create…..

THIS!!! isn’t this beautiful? the consistency is really up to you, but i like thick fat icing ribbons so I didn’t let it get too thin a drizzle.

Using a spoon,or a piping bag if you want more elegance, lay on the icing as you wish, however you want.

Absolutely unsure fat patterns. Also before the icing dries don’t forget to put some more strands of zest on these babies.

See??

These are sugary, buttery bites of citrus in your mouth. Your cheeks will feel it, you will love it and your man, well mine kept lurking until the last pictures were taken, and then these were devoured rather mercilessly.

These have to be made to be believed, and you’d feel oh so competent about yourself..

Thanks a lot Pioneer Woman for these full flavoured bites of citrus love.

Ingredients

200 gms Butter

150 gms sugar

1 large egg separated

200 gms all-purpose flour

30 gms of lemon zest and orange zest (roughly 2 tablespoons)

40 mls each of lemon and orange juice

ICING

Meringue powder (as mentioned on the box)

30 gms of orange & lemon zest + extra for decoration.

30 mls tbsp orange and lemon juice

For the consistency I had, I used about 30 gms (around 2 tbsps) of meringue powder, 50 gms powdered sugar, scant amount of water and 30 mls (about 2 tbsps) each of orange and lemon juice. But really it’s up to you. You might want to go thicker or thinner with the icing.

Instructions

Cream the butter (make sure the butter is at room temperature), add in the sugar and egg yolk. Beat again to mix and add in the zest and the flour. Beat until it’s more or less mixed and finally add in the juice and beat to combine.

Scoop out equal sized balls using a melon scooper, or however your MO is and roll them into balls. Line on a parchment paper and slightly flatten their tops using the back of a glass. Bake at 190℃ for 15 minutes and let cool completely before icing.

Meringue icing as per instructions or as I mentioned above for the consistency I got. Decorate your now cooled cookies as you desire, or just go for a not so subtle pattern and drizzle the remaining zest before the icing dries off. Remember to let the icing set before unleashing yourself.

Chocolate, chocolate & more chocolate chip cookies

These are obscenely chocolate, and fit only for those who have some serious chocolate addiction. If you love the cookie part more than the chocolate part in chocolate chip cookies, then sorry !!!! THIS IS NOT FOR YOU!!! but if you love chocolate chip cookies not for the faint cookie base, but for its rich chocolate taste, then THIS IS FOR YOU and WELCOME TO THE CLUB! are you reading these caps while shouting out the words? sorry I didn’t mean to be weird and mean, but I’ve had 2 of these babies and Im feeling strangely buzzed. Perhaps it’s all the chocolate or perhaps its all the chocolate. I don’t know..

These are the delicious, fattening, pant tightening, addictive, chocolate oh yeah they’re chocolatey and you might want to go to the chocholics anonymous.. But if you make them, you will make them again and again and eat them and thank me. I’m serious.

One of the biggest reasons I made them is also because I happen to have a lot of chocolate on me now.. seriously good chocolate. The kind of chocolate you’d want to eat in heaven..but getting back to these cookies..

You need flour(mixed with salt and baking soda), butter, sugar both white and light brown, egg, vanilla and obscene amounts of chocolate. Do you see that fat bar of chocolate.. yeah that amount..

Cream the butter for a minute. make sure it’s room temperature. You don’t have to use mixers for this. A wooden spoon would suffice, but for these majestic cookies I brought out the big guns.

In goes the granulated white sugar

followed by brown sugar

This is for effects.. see how nicely packed my brown sugar was. Beat again for a minute until all the sugars are evenly distributed. We don’t ant any lumps

Add the egg also at room temperature. You don’t want to put in anything remotely cold from the fridge okay?

Vanilla…

Beat some more to mix in the egg and vanilla and let it look like this.

In with the flour. I have already mixed salt and baking soda right into the flour.. I’m a visionary.. yes I am.. ok I’m not.

Mix it again for a minute or until the flour is barely incorporated. You don’t have to mix it within an inch of its life. This is a step where you can easily use a spatula or a spoon.

My favourite part. Dumping in the chocolate. See I wasn’t kidding about it at all.. It’s a lot of chocolate.

This is eventually what it’s all going to come down to. Mix the chocolate into the cookie dough until it’s completely flecked with chocolate pieces, chunks, shavings & smithereens

This is the dough that will eventually make cookies. It’s more chocolate less dough, just the way we like it aha aha. Now refrigerate for half an hour.

Once out of the fridge, use an ice cream scooper to scoop out even sized cookies.

Onto a sheet lined with parchment paper,line the cookies. These spread quite a bit so space them out more than an inch apart.

Look at these.. just look at them. Every bite is sinfully good, seriously chocolatey and oh my god. It is not for the faint of heart but if you like your chocolate a lot then this is one of the best things you could make with them.

Go on.. Make it already.. seriously you have to.. Enjoy!!

Recipe

125 gms flour

80 gms white sugar

60 gms light brown sugar lightly packed

130 gms good quality dark chocolate. Either chocolate chips or chocolate bars cut into pieces.

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

110 gms butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Recipe – In a bowl sift the flour, salt and baking soda, mix well and keep aside.

Begin with beating your butter which should be at room temperature for about a minute. Either with a mixer or a spoon or spatula until a bit light.

Add in the sugars and beat again.

crack in the egg, add the vanilla and beat for a minute or so again.

Add in the flour and beat until just incorporated. You don’t want to overmix at this point.

Now taking your spoon or spatula, scrape the sides of your mixing bowl and stir to mix in any stray bits of flour or sugar.

Now tip in the chocolate pieces and mix until the dough is flecked with chocolatey rubble.

Refrigerate this dough for half an hour. For better results let it go in for 3 hours.

using an ice cream scoop, scoop the cookie mixture on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper. Make sure there is enough space between ech cookie since they spread out.

Bake at 180℃ for about 12-15 minute or until they brown a bit at the edges.

NOTE You have to let these cookies rest on the baking sheet for at least 15 minutes or they will break when you transfer them on a wire rack to cool. These are very soft and gooey when just out of the oven. Wait for them to firm up slightly.

Enjoy with a tall glass of milk or senseless television..

Spicy masala cookies

For some reason these harsh winters have put me in a cookie mode. I’ve been buying, eating and baking cookies. But aha.. these are not sweet cookies but salty spicy ones.. well not spiky salty like chips or crisps but very mildly saltish to the taste with a twang of spice. The spices being rather mellow, subtly biting and very addictive.

I had no recipe to start these cookies with so I was just trying and testing in the kitchen but accidentally or rather Fortunately these cookies turned out excellent. They tasted exactly how I wanted them to and I penned down the recipe and I’m sticking to it. I am !!!

Since these were just testing I didn’t bother with making a huge batch. You can easily double or triple the amount. These cookies are not thick and big, but dainty and petite which makes them all too easy to eat.

see !! not fat at all..

Ingredients

70 gms butter (you can also use salted butter for these cookies)

1 egg

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp salt

125 gms flour

SPICES

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

4-5 curry leaves

1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/4 tsp chilly flakes

RECIPE

In a dry pan fry the spices (except pepper and chili flakes) for a couple of minutes until browned. The mustard seeds will starts spluttering and you will get the most heavenly spiced aroma. Make sure the pan is dry. You don’t need to add any oil.

Once the spices are browned and giving off their aromatics take the pan off the heat and crush the spices. You can do these win a mortar & pestle. I used my rolling-pin. Keep these aside.

In a large bowl beat the butter with the sugar and salt for a minute or so. add in the egg and beat again.

Now add the crushed spices along with the pepper and chili flakes and beat until the spices have turned your beautiful yellow butter to tarnished brackish spiced goodness. Add in the flour, and at this moment its best to use your spatula or wooden spoon to incorporate everything together.

Once it has formed a sort of dough and you can see the flecks of spices dotting your mixture, believe me it only gets better now.

Roll this cookie dough on a lightly floured surface. You can make these cookies fat or thin, depends how you like them. I roll them out quite thin perhaps 1 cm or less (you can see in the picture above)

Once they’re rolled out you can use any shaped cookie cutter and stamp out shapes. You can make them round or just basic square.

Place them on a sheet. These cookies don’t spread, so you can space them close.

bake in a pre heated oven at 180℃ for about 12-15 minutes, or until the edges have browned slightly. It also helps me to rotate the cookie sheet after 8 minutes or so.

Let them cool slightly and they are ready to eat.

You can either eat them on their on as they are or even use some dip or salsa or even this hummus

Another picture to inspire you to make these immediately..

Enjoy !!!

Hummus

Yes!!! I love ze hummus. I love hummus on bread, on crackers, on everything that can be dipped. I love absolutely love hummus. Thank you Middle East for giving us the gift of hummus.

What I don’t love is the hummus you find in jars. Ewww.. its everything thats hummus shouldn’t be. Making your own hummus will give you an air of smugness and a feeling most satisfying.. You’re creating hummus.. at home.!!!!

After many try outs, recipes, and taste tests, I finally figured a hummus recipe which is loved in my house. Easily devoured and makes a decent quantity. It’s just a bread away from being a supper in it’s entirety. Works fabulously as a crowd pleaser and a party piece. Just put this on a table with torn pieces of breads, and you’ve got yourself a fantastic appetizer..

Chickpeas, garlic cloves. tahini paste,Extra virgin olive oil, salt and coriander powder.

I don’t use canned chickpeas, though if you wish you can use those. I soak the chickpeas for 6-10 hours. Overnight works best and boil them till they are tender.

Dump everything together in a food processer, you can use a blender of you wish. for me this ferocious little chopper works best.

Add in the extra virgin olive oil and whizz to a paste. If you feel it’s too dry you can add a bit of water, though this won’t happen if you dont go too easy on the oil.

Garnish with some more lovely green olive oil and paprika..

such miraculous, gratifying results.. This is the kind of hummus you just can’t go wrong with. Of course there isn’t a set recipe for anything. It’s always to your taste, so play with it. Adjust quantities and seasonings to your liking and the results are highly rewarding…….. Enjoy !!

Ingredients

150 gms chickpeas (cooked and drained)

4 garlic cloves

25 gms tahini paste

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp salt (adjust to taste)

75 mls extra virgin olive oil + more for drizzling before serving

1/2 tsp paprika (optional) for sprinkling before serving.

additionally you can also use some lemon juice about 1 tsp if you wish

Recipe:- In a food processer or a blender process together the chickpeas, garlic, tahini, salt and coriander powder with the olive oil. If it’s too dry or thick add in 1 tsp water or olive oil until you get the consistency you want. Keep tasting for salt. It should be according to your taste.

To serve drizzle some olive oil and some paprika for a burst of colours. Serve with pita, baguette or even crackers..

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