Maple Oatmeal cookies (Eggless)

These cookies are easy to make, taste delicious & healthy too as no sugar is added to it. My husband’s colleague, who is a good baker, sent these cookies for me. When I took the 1st bite Mmmmm it was sooo yummy just melting in my mouth.  Then I asked for the recipe & he shared it with me. His recipe was having egg but mine was eggless & adding the nuts, will give the extra flavour to these cookies. Believe me the taste was super delicious. A must try recipe. So here u go….

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all purpose flour 
 1 teaspoons cinnamon powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ cup maple syrup
2 tblsp cup honey (optional)
2 tblsp butter (should be in room tempr.)
1/4 cup yogurt or you can use buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup raisins, 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans & walnuts
choco chips (optional)

Preparation:

In a small bowl, beat curd. Keep aside.

Tale a medium size bowl. Add all the dry ingredients to it except nuts. Mix well.
Now in a large bowl, take butter. Beat it properly. Add honey & maple syrup & again beat it.
Now add the dry ingredients to bowl and mix together. Add the curd to it. & mix properly with your hands. It will be kind of sticky. Add the raisins, chcoco chips ,pecans and walnuts and mix.
 If the mixture seems too wet, add a bit of flour/ oats. 
Cool the mix for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop by rounded teaspoonful onto the baking sheet. 
Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden on the bottom of the cookie. U can Broil the cookies for 2-3 mins for the nice dark color
 Place cookies on rack to cool for 10-15 minutes and now Enjoy with hot hot tea.

My 2nd TRY ...

Chocolate burfi with ricotta cheese

A simple easy to make, quick and delicious sweet.. My husband is a huge lover of sweets. So for his birthday , I decided  to make something in sweets , so I  prepared pineapple cake, mango custard and this chocolate burfi. 

Then one thing came to my mind that,  why not to try the burfi with ricotta cheese as I had a packet of ricotta cheese sitting in my fridge. After finishing cakes & custard, I started to make this burfi.

Initially I didn't think about to make chocolate burfi , I decided to make normal burfi only but  Immediately I thought to add some choco chips  while making the burfi , then thought why not add some nuts in here for a crunchy bite to the burfi.

It tastes absolutely awesome and the husband loved it too...If you are a chocolate lover – you should try this recipe.  so lets start the recipe...

Ingredients:

1 small tin of sweetened condensed milk
Milk powder- 2 tblsp (optional)
Ricotta cheese-450gm
Butter/ ghee - 2tblsp
1/3 cup Cocoa powder / Chocolate chips 8 oz
¼ tsp  cardamom powder
Chopped Nuts for garnishing

Method

Take a non-stick pan/ kadhai. Melt butter, add the ricotta cheese, stir well  on medium-high flame  until mixture leaves the pan. Now add condensed milk, milk powder, cocoa powder and cardamom powder. As we are using condensed milk so stir it continuously not to let it stick to bottom and burn. 

Cook over medium heat until mixture becomes thick and leaves the sides of the pan.
Pour mixture in prepared greased tin and refrigerate for 30 mts.
Cut in desired shape. Serve at room temperature.

Rajastani Dal Baati

So many cultures, so many variety foods and each culture has a dish that stands out and authentic. I just love India. Today it’s a dish from Land of Kings aka Rajasthan. You would have guessed by now, yes! Its “dal baati”. Kudos to my friend Pooja Patodi (our ex-neighbor) for feasting us till we sleep there and now you being not here but still huge source of inspiration. Now it’s one of my new baby in cooking arsenel and next time we meet, Im going to treat you! Till we meet, I will try and make it perfect. It’s in the menu for dinner tonight with gatte ki sabzi! But 1 thing I must admit, I am not able to be as generous regarding amounts of ghees the dish typically uses but I am more than satisfied wid the taste... Happy happy..

Ingredients

For the dal
All daals (mixed) chana dal (split Bengal gram),toovar (arhar) dal,  moong dal (split green gram) , massor daal – 1cup
1 tbsp urad dal (split black lentils)
1 tbsp whole moong (whole green gram)
3 tsp chilli powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
1 tsp cumin- coriander  powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
2 bayleaves (tejpatta)
1 tsp cumin seeds- mustard seeds
Ginger garlic  paste- 1 tsp
Green chilli paste- ½ tsp
1 large onion- roughly chopped
2 tomatoes- chopped
a pinch of asafoetida (hing)
1 tblsp lemon juice
2-3 tbsp oil
salt to taste
chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

For the baatis
1 cup whole wheat flour (gehun ka atta)
1/4 cup semolina (rava) optional
1/4tsp each- cumin seeds, carom seeds & fennel seeds
Baking powder ¼ tsp
1tblsp yogurt 
1/4th cup melted ghee
salt to taste

For serving
melted ghee
1 recipe churma

Method

For the dal 

Clean and wash the dals and keep aside. Heat oil in the cooker. Add bay leaves, hing, splutter cumin-mustard seeds. Add chopped onion. Sauté till translucent.  Add the ginger garlic & chilli paste. Sauté till raw smell of ginger and garlic goes away. Add the chopped tomatoes, turmeric powder, red chilli powder & cumin-coriander powder. Adjust salt. Sauté till the tomatoes are cooked. Add garam masala & mix well. Now add all the soaked daal & give double amount of water as per the daal. Mix well. 
Pressure cook for 2 to 3 whistles or till the dals are cooked. Switch off the flame. Now remove the lid. Adjust the consistency of the dal if required, add some water. Add the lemon juice & coriander leaves. Adjust  salt and simmer for 2-3 minutes. 

For the baatis 

Take a large bowl. Add flour & ghee. Mix well with your hands now add all the ingredients and knead into stiff dough. don't knead it for long time. Keep it covered for at least 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180 degree C. 
Take a portion of the dough & make lemon size balls. Press them slightly.
Grease the baking tray. Place the battis on it. 
Bake  them in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes till the baatis are cooked on the insides also. don't worry if you will see cracks in the batti that means it is baking properly.


Now the important part. How to serve them. Arrange the baatis on a serving plate break each baati into two pieces and pour melted ghee on the baatis.
Now take the ghee dipped battis in a bowl. Pour hot dal over the baatis. 
Serve hot  with churma . We had it with gate ki sabzi…yummm…