Tricolour cookies

I was intending to make these tricolour cookies on Independence Day, but was too ill that day to cook and click. So when I decided to make a batch of cookies today, I finally made them- a few days late is okay, as long as the sentiments are sound.

200 gms all purpose flour/ maida
100 gms white butter
100 gms sugar, powdered
3 tbsp milk
Vanillla essensce
Orange essence
Orange food colouring
1 tbsp green tutti fruity

Method:
Mix the sugar and flour well. Add butter, and mix well. Gradually add milk till you get a firm dough. Add tutti fruity and mix well.
Divide into two parts- in one add vanilla essence and mix, in the other add orange essence and colouring and mix.
Roll both doughs into cylindrical ropes, and twine them with each other. Collapse into a ball, and roll it out again. Divide into 32 parts, and roll into spheres.
Grease a baking tray, and place the spheres on them. Bake at 175 degrees in a preheated oven for 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Chai cookies

I love chai, and when I saw a recipe for chai flavoured cookies, I just had to try it out. The first attempt was a bit of a disaster, but I tried again soon after. Unfortunately, the flavour of cardamon was the dominant one, and the older one even dubbed it kheer cookies. It tasted good, but not the way I wanted it to taste- which means, I get to experiment a bit more!

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon tea leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom, optional
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 tbsp milk

Method:
Dry grind the sugar and tea leaves in a blender till well powdered.
Combine the flour, sugar, powdered sugar, tea mix, and salt, till well mixed (add cardamom powder if using).

Add the vanilla and butter and knead together to get a rough dough. Add the milk gradually till you get a batter.
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.Drop spoonfulls of the batter onto the greased cookie tray, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes till the edges start to brown. Cook for 5 minutes in the oven, then transfer to a wire rack for cooking. Store after cooling down completely.

Coconut cookies

I baked a batch of coconut cookies today because I was in a mood to do so. They were browned slightly more than they should have, but tasted really good.

200 (1 cup) gms maida
1 cup grated coconut
100 gms (1 cup) butter
100 gms (1 cup) granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp milk

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
Mix the butter and sugar well, till it appears homogeneous.
Sieve the baking powder and flour together, and add to the butter-sugar mixture. Mix well so there are no lumps.
Add the coconut and knead to make a dough. If the dough does not come together, add upto 2 tbsp milk.
Grease baking tray with oil.
Divide the dough into 16 equal parts. Roll each into a ball, and press lightly.
Arrange on the baking tray and bake for 15 minutes*.
Cool well before storing in an airtight container.

* check every minute after 12 minutes, because the temperatures may vary.

Butter cookies- and back to school!!!

For the last seven days, I have been inquiring every day for icing sugar, because I have this lovely recipe for thumbprint cookies that I want to try out. But it is out of stock, and continues to remain out of stock. Finally, my craving for cookies got the better of me, and I decided to whip up a batch of butter cookies, using my mother's tried and tested recipe.
Unfortunately, however, I got over ambitious and tried to make thumbprint cookies out of them. The cookies that looked so professional when they went into the oven, lost their shape completely during the process of baking, and I ended up with cookies that were more than just slightly oddly shaped. But they tasted great, and that's all I really care about.

100 gms sugar
100 gms butter
50 gms rice flour

100 gms maida
a pinch of salt
red colouring and rasberry essence (optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven at 175 degrees for about 10 minutes
Cream together sugar and butter
Add rice flour and beat well
Add maida, salt, essence and colouring and knead to a soft dough (without adding any water)
Roll it into balls, place on a baking tray taking care to leave space for them to spread, and bake for 12-15 minutes till golden brown on top.
Remove from oven, and cool before digging in!

Coconut cookies

The kids love cookies, and because they are so easy to whip up, I love making them. Win-win, don't you think? This recipe is one that I got from my mother's friend long before I started baking- a bit rich, but tastes great.

Flour - 60 gms

Sugar- 30 gms

Butter- 60 gms

Coconut- 30 gms (I used dessicated, but you can use fresh too)

Method:

Sieve flour.

Put all  the ingredients in a bowl, and knead well till it blends.

Bake at 275F for 15- 20 minutes.

Butter cookies

My mother's butter cookies, fresh out of the over, and waiting for the kids to come back home from school and gobble them up. Cooking does give so much happiness, doesn't it?

100 gms sugar
100 gms butter
50 gms rice flour
100 gms maida

a pinch of salt

 

Method:

Preheat the oven at 175 degrees for about 10 minutes
Cream together sugar and butter
Add rice flour and beat well
Add maida and salt and knead to a soft dough (without adding any water)
Spread on  a greased baking tray, and make notches with a knife. Bake for 12-15 minutes till golden brown on top.
Remove from oven, and cool before digging in!