Pierre Herme’s Sable Viennois – Danish Butter cookies

I saw these beautiful cookies in Nisha’s blog and then navigated to Shirley’s from there. Loved these beautiful looking easily made cookies and gave a shot. Believe me it was a super hit here.

These beautiful cookies reminded me of the blue colour cookie box from Dubai. The taste was not that perfect as that, but yeah they were yummy.

Here comes that wonderful recipe.

Ingredients(Yields around 40 cookies):

All purpose flour           --  1 cup
Unsalted Butter              --  7 tbsp
Salt                                       --  a pinch -  Original recipe calls for Fleur de Sel
Vanilla essence              --  1 tsp
Powdered Sugar            --  1/3 cup
Egg White                         -- 1

Preparation of cookies:

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350F.

Whisk the butter and salt until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and beat sugar mix well and the mixture is creamy.

Add egg white followed by vanilla essence; as Shirley said,the mixture may curdle a little but it will smoothen out after flour is added. Now add the flour and mix until well blended.

Scoop batter into a piping bag with a star tip. Pipe circles on to the prepared tray.

                   

Bake for 10 -12 mins or until golden brown.

Cool down and store in air tight container.

Sharkkara upperi (Banana chips coated with jaggery n spices)

Back home, my father gets this only for onam and vishu and I would be first one to finish it… Always served with sadhya. And whenever we go for a marriage lunch, I loot these from my mom’s plate (ela – banana leaf in which the sadhya is served.)

Ingredients:

Raw Banana                 --   2 big
Jaggery syrup             --   ¾ cup(Might need around 7 -8 blocks)
Dry ginger powder    --   ½ tsp
Cumin powder             --   ½ tsp
Sugar                               --   3 tsp
Rice                                  --   5 tbsp
Cardamom powder  --   made from 3
Oil                                     --   To deep fry

Preparation of chips:

Peel the banana and cut it into half – length wise. Now cut them into ¼ inch thick pieces.  Transfer them into a bowl of  water to soak them as and when you cut it.  Apply oil on your hands / wear a gloves while cutting the banana to avoid stains. Once you are ready to fry, drain the water completely.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. The oil should be really hot before you fry. Test by dropping in a piece of banana. It should sizzle and come up. Reduce the flame to medium and add the first batch. Make sure that it is not overcrowded.Fry until golden brown.

Drain it into a colander kept on plate to collect the excess oil. Transfer this onto a paper towel and let it cool.

Dry roast the rice until it pops. Let it cool and then grind it into a fine powder along with sugar.

Meanwhile prepare the jaggery syrup by adding quarter cup of water to the jaggery. When the jaggery is completely melted, strain into another vessel to remove any impurities. Now boil the syrup by adding the ginger powder, cumin powder and powdered cardamom. Let it reach a sticky consistency. Switch of the flame and add the fried banana into it. Stir well so that the jaggery is coated on all the pieces.

Now add the rice & sugar powder and mix well until the chips are coated. This helps to the chips not to stick on each other.

Let it cool. Store in an air tight container. This stays good for almost a month.

Varutha Upperi / Banana Chips

The Kerala special banana chips; anyone would be ready to munch it anytime. I have never seen anyone at my home making this chips. We always get it from the store – Kumaran chips – shop located below the over bridge.

Last time when we prepared the sadhya, I felt that varutha upperi and sharkara upperi (fried banana chips dipped in jaggery syrup and garnished with spice powders – recipe coming soon) was missing and wanted  to give a try. Yeah – that was a success.

Ingredients:

Raw Banana             --   2 big
Turmeric powder   --   ¼ tsp
Oil                                  --   To deep fry
Salt                                --   To taste
Water                           --   1 cup

Preparation of chips:

Peel the banana and cut it into four – length wise. Now cut them into small not so thin and not so thick pieces.  Transfer them into a bowl of  water mixed with the turmeric powder, to soak them as and when you cut it.  Apply oil on your hands / wear a gloves while cutting the banana to avoid stains.

Once you are ready to fry, drain the water completely. Make salt water by adding required amount of salt in a cup of water and keep aside.

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. The oil should be really hot before you fry. Test by dropping in a piece of banana. It should sizzle and come up. Reduce the flame to medium and add the first batch. Make sure that it is not overcrowded.

When the chips are almost done, ie the oil stops bubbling; reduce the flame to low and  sprinkle the salt water carefully. Make sure that you do not burn yourself with the splashing oil. You can keep the pan covered until the oil is calm.

Stir once and drain it into a colander kept on plate to collect the excess oil. Transfer this onto a paper towel and let it cool.

Store in an air tight container. This stays good for almost a month.

NB:

1. The oil should be really hot before you add the bananas and then simmer to medium once you add them. So you need to switch between high and medium through all the batches.
2. Reduce the amount of salt water sprinkled for the next batches as the oil should already be having salt in it.

Chocolate Macarons

I was always perplexed seeing these beautiful macarons everywhere. And now I am able to make some not-so-bad (look wise) macarons. Long way to improve – Need to learn the basics in piping and drawing circles of same size.

Ingredients:

Macaron Batter :

Powdered Sugar             --   1 cup
Powdered almonds       --   ½ cup
Unsweetened powder  --   3 tbsp
Large egg whites            --  2
Granulated sugar           --   5 tbsp

Chocolate Filling:

Heavy cream                  --  ½ cup
Light corn syrup           -- 2 tsp
Bittersweet or semisweet chocolate -- 4 ounces
Butter                                 --   1 tbsp

Preparation of macarons:

Line two baking sheets with parchment/foil paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip ready.

Grind the powdered sugar with the almond powder and cocoa so there are no lumps. If you have whole almonds, grind it along with granulated sugar, so that you get fine powder. If you try to grind almonds separately, it releases oil and becomes a paste. So take care.

Beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold peaks. Add the granulated sugar and beat until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.

Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white,scrape the batter into the pastry bag/zip loc.

  

Pipe the batter on the lined baking sheets in 1-inch (3 cm) circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch (3 cm) apart. I was not able to make all in the same size and hence had to adjust it while sandwiching. Tap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top and let it rest for 15 - 20 minutes. This helps to flatten the macarons and develop the foot.

Meanwhile preheat oven to 350º F .Bake the macaroons for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.

To make the chocolate filling:

Heat the cream in a small saucepan. When the cream just begins to boil at the edges, remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth. Stir in the pieces of butter. Let cool completely before using. I did not have enough chocolate in hand and hence the consistency of the filling was a lightly thin. You can see in the clicks that the sandwiched macaroons are sliding down. :)

Assembly:

Spread a bit of batter on the inside of the macarons then sandwich them together.

Let them stand at least one day before serving, to meld the flavors.

Store in an airtight container.

Recipe Courtesy: http://www.davidlebovitz.com

Beetroot Thoran / Stir Fry

My space here is filled in non-vegetarian recipes. Being from Kerala, where  a meal is not complete without a thoran / stir fry, I thought I need to have some of those here too.

The main reason why I do not have any such varieties is that I always cook for just two of us and never prepare as much as to fill in a bowl and click a picture – You know AJ was not a big fan of veggies; yeah I meant - “WAS” .

But nowadays I cook for 1 – 2 days at once and hence my veggie dishes also gets a chance to pose J

Ingredients(Serves 2 - 3):

Beetroot                      --   1 large
Green chillies            --   3 - 4
Shallots                       --   1 - 2
Turmeric powder   --   ¼ tsp
Shredded Coconut  --   ¼ cup
Mustard seeds          --   1 tsp
Red chillies                --   1 - 2
Curry leaves              --   8 - 10 leaves
Oil                                   --   1 tbsp
Salt                                --   To taste

Preparation of thoran:

Cut the beetroot into small pieces. You can also use a grater but I feel grating makes it sweeter and so I do cut them usually. Cut the shallots into thin slices and slit the green chillies.

Mix the beetroot,shallots,green chillies,shredded coconut,turmeric powder,salt and curry leaves. Rub them thoroughly with your hands.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add the red chillies and fry for few seconds. Now add the beet mixture and close the pan with the lid.

Let it cook on a very low flame. Stir in between to make sure that it does not burn.

Serve hot with rice.

Chocolate cake in a mug

This is another recipe that I ve always bookmarked. And the day I saw @ Collaborative Curry; I decided not to bookmark it again but try it out at that moment. Yeah I made this long back and it now that my cake got a chance to take a place here. Thanks for the wonder recipe Nami..

Ingredients:

All purpose flour         --   5 tbsp
Granulated sugar       --   5 tbsp
Cocoa                               --   2 tbsp
Salt                                    --   a pinch
Baking powder            --   1/2 tsp
Egg                                    --   1 large
Milk                                   --   4 tbsp
Vegetable oil                 --   4 tbsp
Pure vanilla extract   --   1 tsp

Preparation of the cake:

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Beat the eggs in a another bowl. Add other wet ingredients and mix it well until they are blended together. Now add the dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour the batter into 2 tall microwave safe coffee mugs,half - filled. If you have short mugs you can use 3. I had one tall mug in which it came out perfect and the other was a bit short and the cake overflowed :), as you can see.

Microwave the mugs,one at a time for a minute. If it does not get done in a minute, keep for another 20-30 seconds. Make sure you do not overcook. Mine came out in 1 min and 10 sec. Let it cool and then enjoy.

Chocolate fudge

I always used to drool over the chocolate fudge in all my friends’ blog. I was a bit conscious on the calories and the extra pounds I would gain J. But that could not stop me from preparing this. My sweet chocolaty tooth and my calorie consciousness came to a compromise. So I halved the below quantity.  Also I kind of did a mix and match from a couple of recipes as I did not have all the ingredients from one recipe. But after all its all chocolate and this was yummy too…

Ingredients(Yields 16 decent size pieces):

Semisweet chocolate chips  --   1 cup
White chocolate chips            --   1 cup
Bittersweet chocolate            --   4 oz (a baking bar)
Condensed milk                         --   14 oz (1 tin)
Any nuts of your choice        --   1 cup - I used a mix of walnuts, brazil nuts,almonds and cashews.
Unsalted butter                         --   2 tbsp
Vanilla Extract                          --   1 tsp

Preparation of chocolate fudge:

  

First line the bottom and sides of a pan with parchment/al foil. If you are preparing with the above quantity use an 8 x 8 x 2 inch pan. I used a 4 x 8 x 2 pan (My lunch box).  

Melt all the chocolates in a pan on a low flame, stirring constantly. Make sure you do not burn the chocolate. You can also opt to use a double boiler to be on a safer side.  I was lazy to do so and did it directly on the stove.   

Once the chocolate melts and is smooth, switch off the flame, and add the condensed milk, butter and vanilla essence. Let the pan still be on the hot stove. Mix well until smooth.

  

Stir in the chopped nuts.

Spread the fudge into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. 

Let it cool and then refrigerate. Cut into pieces and enjoy...... yummmm......