Jam and White chocolate Roly-Poly and Awards

Jam Roly-Poly, Dead Man's Arm or Dead Man's Leg is a traditional British dessert probably invented in the early 19th century. It is a flat-rolled pudding, which is then spread with jam and rolled up, similar to a Swiss roll. In days past, Jam Roly-Poly was also known as shirt-sleeve pudding, because it was often steamed and served in an old shirt-sleeve. Because of this, another nickname for the pudding was dead-man's arm, or dead man's leg - Wikipedia.

 This pudding is one of a range of puddings that are now considered part of the classic desserts of the mid 20th century British school dinners. Much loved, as part of the nostalgia of growing up for some older British adults, Jam Roly-Poly is considered alongside sticky toffee pudding and spotted dick pudding as an essential part of their childhood diet.

Puddings are traditionally steamed. However, this recipe is much easier as it is baked. The end result is a very appealing brown coloured roll with a crack on top, gently oozing the jam....yum.

I have been asked again and again for an eggless version of Swiss Roll ( there is none, as swiss roll is essentially a sponge containing whisked eggs, sugar and flour. There are some eggless versions on Tarla Dalal and some other sites, but when I tried them, it didnt work) . It has been nagging or rather haunting me ever since. It bugged me that I m not able to provide an eggless version for my vegetarian ( which in India also means "no-eggs") friends. So when I came across this classic British dessert, Roly-Poly, I knew I've found "the One".

Traditionally a Roly-Poly is made with suet (beef or mutton fat) but here it is made using butter and milk. It came out beautiful with crisp on top and fluffy and soft texture in the middle. The intense flavour of the raspberry jam with white chocolate blobs in between, perfectly complimented the pastry.  I didn't make any custard to accompany this (believe me you don't need any additional garnishes), but if you are so inclined feel free to make one.

Jam and White Chocolate Roly-Poly
Adapted from GoodFood India, July 2012
Ingredients:
300 grams self raising flour
85 grams caster sugar
140 grams butter, plus more for greasing
pinch of salt
150 ml milk (you won't need that much probably, depends upon the type of flour you are using)
8 tablespoon raspberry jam (or any other jam of your liking)
50 grams white chocolate, chopped
icing sugar for dusting

Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius.
Butter a sheet of baking parchment. Mix the flour with the sugar, butter and a good pinch of salt, then bind with the milk to make a soft, but not sticky, dough.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a 20cm x 30 cm oblong. Spread with the jam and scatter with the chocolate, leaving a border all the way around.
Roll up the dough from one short end so you have a sausage shape, then gently pinch the ends to seal in the jam. Carefully lift onto the prepared parchment.
Fold the paper up over the ends of the roly-poly, then wrap up quite tightly.
Bake for 50 minutes until the roll feels firm and looks golden through the paper. Allow to stand for 5 minutes before cutting, as this will stop the jam flowing out. Dust with some icing sugar. Serve a thick single slice.
Enjoy!!

And now the awards...
I m really grateful and touched by the love and appreciation showered upon an amateur home baker like me, by my fellow bloggers. I value these awards more because writing is not something which comes to me naturally or easily. I have to struggle (a lot) to put my thoughts into words and sometimes it takes me hours to complete a post. Thank you so much for sharing these awards and for the appreciation.

Thanx heaps to Jasline of Food is my life for giving me the Reader Appreciation Award. Jasline is a sweet "forever 21" girl, who loves to bake, cook and enjoy good quality food at all times. Please visit her blog for some seriously spectacular recipes and step by step photographs of the dish-in-making.

                                              

I would like to thank R.Punitha of South Indian Food Recipes for passing on to me the Sunshine Blogger Award. Do visit her blog for delicious and detailed recipes.




Next I would like to thank Ellen of Ellen B Cookery for thinking of me for the Versatile Blogger award. Ellen loves to make recipes from scratch from the personal recipe books which she has inherited from her Mom and Mother-in-law. In her words - This blog is my way to have their expertise live in the homes of others.  Beautiful words.

                                                           

 I m taking a tip from my blogger friend Alida @ My little Italian Kitchen, a very talented and creative food blogger, and R.Punitha @ South Indian Food Recipes and sharing these awards with all my blogger friends. Congratulate yourself and pat your backs, you all deserve these and many more!!

Chicken Makhani Pie

This is probably the ultimate comfort food for me and my family as we love Chicken Makhani or Butter Chicken and we love pies. What better than having these mini pies for dinner after spending a very exhaustive Sunday....watching TV ;).

Last couple of weeks have been very tiring and super busy, so we've decided to spend our Sunday doing nothing and we ended up doing exactly that...nothing, except for Sagar as he had to go on a work related visit..bugger :(. But he joined us for a relaxed, cozy dinner....watching shitty movies and gulping down beer, well he and my FIL did as I had to go to bed early..Well m not an early to bed type but I had to because of the girls.
Butter chicken is one of Sagar and Saee's favourite dish and coincidentally one of the first chicken dishes which I had learned. So you can say its a family favourite and it blends really well with short crust pastry ( I love this crumbly pastry).

The chicken filling is not an authentic makhani chicken but rather a rough version of the original.I like this recipe as it is not overly spicy nor sweet ( some butter chicken recipes are REALLY sweet..ughh) and easy to put together. You can make the butter chicken and the pastry dough in advance and freeze it until you need it. Just make sure to defrost and bring it to room temperature before assembling and going in to the oven.

Chicken Makhani Pie (8 mini pies)

Chicken Makhani (you will need only half of this filling)
Ingredients:
For the marinade
500 grams boneless chicken, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
salt to taste

For the gravy
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 teaspoon  ginger garlic paste
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon garam masala powder
1 tablespoon cashew paste
25 ml amul low fat cream
30 grams butter
1 teaspoon kasuri methi ( dried fenugreek leaves )
1 tablespoon oil

Method:
 mix all the ingredients of the marinade and into the rub the chicken pieces. Keep aside.
Heat the oil in a pan, add onion & sauté for a few seconds. Put in chopped tomatoes,  salt & simmer, stirring occasionally, until the oil leaves the sides. Add all the spices, followed by the chicken. Stir well & let the chicken cook. Add the butter & stir in till it melts. Finally stir in the cream & take off heat.

Short Crust Pastry
Ingredients:
200 grams all purpose flour
100 grams cold butter
1 tablespoon icing sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
approximately 20-25 ml ice cold water

Method:
Add salt and sugar to the flour and mix well. Cut the frozen butter into the flour and mix only with your finger tips till the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the egg yolk and make a firm dough.  Use enough water to bring the dough together. Divide the dough into two (one slightly bigger than the other) and refrigerate for half an hour before using.

Assembling the Mini Chicken Pies
Preheat the oven to 160 degree Celsius.
Roll out bigger part of the dough onto a floured surface to approximately 1/8th inch thickness. Cut the rolled pastry into 8 discs and use it to line the base and sides of your pie tin. For the top, roll out the the smaller dough portion (it should be thinner than the pastry used for the base). Keep aside.
Spoon the chicken makhani into the pie tin lined with the pastry discs and cover with the lids. Make incisions into the top lid to allow steam to escape while baking. Brush the top with egg wash and gently press the edge with a fork to seal it. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown . Remove from tin and allow to cool before serving.
Enjoy!!

Linking this to the BakeAlong #29, hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids.

Go Crackling Crazy for Chilli-Cheddar Crackers

Our July 2012 Daring Bakers’ Host was Dana McFarland and she challenged us to make homemade crackers! Dana showed us some techniques for making crackers and encouraged to use our creativity to make each cracker our own by using ingredients we love.

I was so relieved to see this month's challenge on Daring Bakers' forum... Crackers...Yay!! I was crackling happy. This was something which I could fit in to make anytime in my schedule. Hello, I thought, I could even make them at night after the kids are asleep, or when I come back from college in the evening, or when I have time in the middle of afternoon on my free day, or after dropping off Saee to school in the morning. In my mind the plan was clear, I'll make the dough and keep it in fridge and whenever I could manage I'll bake a batch.. Simple..I was so wrong.

Yes I did made the dough beforehand and then.....I got super busy. I wont go into details but as a result the dough was resting in the fridge for over a week. So it was with dread I approached the dough this morning. I was not sure how the crackers will turn out and had a sinking feeling that I won't be able to submit my post this month. Nevertheless, I rolled out the dough and cut it into shapes and put it into oven and voila it turned out beautiful.

They tasted great and the texture was really nice and crumbly. My only regret is that I should've rolled it really thin (and I mean REALLY thin) as the crackers puffed up while baking, but hey when they tasted this good the thickness doesn't matter. In fact I was happy to get more from each bite. They were really crisp and the cheese flavour was just perfect.

I made Cheddar cheese and oregano crackers and topped it with a sprinkle of chili-sugar mix. Great accompaniment to afternoon tea/coffee or even when you feel like snacking.

Cheddar Cheese and Oregano Crackers
Ingredients:
1⅔ cups (400 ml) (235 gm) (8¼ oz) all-purpose (plain) flour
2¼ cups (540 ml) (225 gm/8 oz) grated cheddar cheese, firmly packed
2 teaspoons (10 ml) (1 gm) dried oregano
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) salt
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (½ gm) black pepper
½ cup (120 ml) (4 fl oz) vegetable oil
½ cup (120 ml) (4 fl oz) water

Spice Topping:
¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1/8 gm) chilli flakes
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (3 gm) kosher salt
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) sugar

 Method:
 Combine the spice topping and set aside.
Grate the cheese and put in the bowl of a food processor with flour, oregano, salt and pepper and pulse to combine. This can also be done by hand. Add the oil and pulse until the consistency of wet sand is reached. Add enough water for the dough to come together. Form the dough into two disks, wrap with cling film and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
Heat the oven to moderate 325°F/160°C/gas mark 3.
Working with a quarter of the dough at a time, either use a rolling pin or roll out in your pasta rollers to 1/8 of an inch (3 mm) thick. If you use pasta rollers, ensure the dough is well floured so as not to stick. Cut the strips into cracker shapes or cut out using a cookie cutter. Transfer to a parchment lined cookies sheet and sprinkle with the spice mixture. Bake for 20-25 minutes until medium golden brown. Store in an airtight container and eat within three days.

Cheesy Garlic Bread (bring out your stretchy pants!!)

One thing that I've learned from my baking course, so far, is the confidence in bread making. I m much more sure handed and confident in my bread making and I m really enjoying playing around with the bread dough. So far my family's been treated to simple dinner rolls, all wheat loaf, stuffed buns (total crowd pleaser..will post soon) and this amazingly cheesy and dripping and coated with loads and loads of heavenly garlic butter...ummmm!!

You would probably have to run for a week to get rid of all the carbs and cheesy-buttery calories packed in this highly can't-stop-myself-from-eating loaf.

It is super simple to make. Don't get intimidated by the term "garlic butter" as it is nothing but minced garlic added to melted butter. See, super easy! Now go one step ahead and also add one finely chopped green chilli and one tablespoon of chopped corriander to your butter and you will have a  heady mix of garlic-chilli-corriander-butter which surely will make you weak in your knees.

So let's make some bread....

Cheesy Garlic Bread
Ingredients:

For the loaf
225 grams all purpose flour
10 grams fresh yeast
2 teaspoons honey
125-150 ml water
10 grams butter
1/2 teapoon salt

For Garlic Butter
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 green chilli
1 tablespoon chopped corriander
75 grams melted butter (salted)

4-5 cheese slices,sliced again into small pieces

Method:
Disperse yeast and honey in 1 tablespoon warm water and leave it aside for some time. Sieve flour, make a well in the center.Pour in the yeast liquid and mix in the flour. Add water if necessary to make a smooth and soft dough.
Cream the butter and salt together and knead it into the dough to make the dough smooth and pliable or workable. Keep the dough under a wet muslin cloth till almost double in size (about 20-30 minutes, depending upon the weather).
Knock down the dough and divide into 2 equal portions. Roll those dough balls into two baguette shapes, the length of your baking sheet. Cover with wet muslin cloth and let rise for another 30 or so minutes.
Preheat your oven to 225 degree Celsius and place the baking sheet (containing the loaves) nearby to get all that extra warmth.
Brush the loaves with milk bake for 10-15 minutes, until the top is golden brown in colour.
Take your loves out of the oven and brush liberally with the herbed garlic butter. Wait for 15 minutes, to let the loaves cool down a little. Now comes the fun part...
Slice your bread into one inch slices, 3/4 way down. Remember to use a serrated bread knife.
Once your bread is sliced, take the garlic butter and slather it on top and in between all those cracks. Then put the slices of cheese into those cracks and bake it for another 5 minutes or until all that cheese is melted.
Serve immediately.

Mocha-Cappuccino Marbled Coffee cake

When we were in college (back in 90s), there weren't any cafe shops or popular chain of cafes in India. All we used to get was only two types of coffees, "instant" and "filter" in restaurants (and of course there were "Chai" wala tapri). If we wanted a good quality (read strong)  coffee (which will give an instant kick to our lethargic minds) we used to head to the South Indian Coffee House which, I think, every city in India boasts of  (in addition to the "Great Punjab" or "Golden Punjab"). The coffee you get there is always "filter" and always "strong". Interestingly some of our know-all friends had told us that the rule of thumb while drinking coffee at a South Indian Coffee House is, you need to add enough sugar which will make the spoon stand in an upright position in a cup. Now thats what I call a strong coffee! One shot and you are up all night (studying or doing whatever you fancy :D).

In addition to these coffee houses, there were the regular restaurants serving regular coffee, but I do remember some of them serving it with a sprinkle of cocoa on top. I guess that was my first introduction to mocha coffee, albeit a rough Indian version of the famed fancy one.

In the late 90s, Indian coffee scene was flooded with the advent of big cafe chains of the likes of "Baristas", "Cafe Coffee Day" and "Costa Cafe" to name a few (although we haven't yet got any Starbucks here), which changed the face of Indian coffee culture. Suddenly names like "cappuccino" "espresso" "mocha" became common amongst coffee drinkers.We were introduced to a whole range of flavours and add-ons in coffee and even the most committed "Chai" persons were tempted to try it. My own favourites are the Hazelnut Cappuccino and, of course, Mocha.

So, when Lena at The Home Bakers' Club chose this recipe for our group, I was very excited coz I wanted to try this cake ever since I got my copy of Coffee Cakes by Lou Siebert Pappas.
The Home Bakers' Club was started by Joyce@ Kitchen Flavours with an intention to bring together home bakers who share the same passion in baking and who love collecting cookbooks! We are going to bake from one chosen cookbook until every recipe has been baked. Currently we are baking from "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas and this is our sixth bake from the book. If you are interested in joining in, please visit The Home Bakers' Club site for more information.

I have not included the recipe in my post as only the member who chose the bake is allowed to post the recipe. This month's cake was selected by  Lena@Frozen Wings. Lena has a very inspiring blog and an amazing collection of recipes and bakes in her repertoire . Please visit her blog to view the full recipe.

The brief accompanying this cake in the book describes it perfectly,
A swirl of chocolate threads this coffee-flavoured butter cake for a sumptuous treat with cappuccinos or lattes.

Enjoy!!

Crustless Pizza and My first Week of Baking Course

I m sure there are times when everyone (or mostly everyone) of us find it difficult to think of what to cook. Especially when there are hungry mouths to feed and cranky kids running around. Even if no kids are involved in a given scenario, it's difficult to come up with a delicious, satisfying, comforting dish after spending your day slogging at work.

Now I m not saying that the proposed crustless pizza is the answer to all your worries, hello it's not even "healthy eating", given the amount of cheese gone into it and plus there's full fat milk, of course you can pair it really well with a salad with cherry tomatoes thrown in...yum. But this is the kind of food which comes under "real food" or "comforting food", which m sure everybody longs for after having a particularly hard day. And isn't someone wise, read Nigella Lawson, has famously said that, eating is something to take pleasure in and not feel guilty about.

And now lets talk about my "baking course". Well the first week went so fast, it all seems like a blur. You see, m still struggling to fit everything around my baking course schedule and surely everything will smooth out by the end of second week (fingers crossed). We are really blessed to have a fabulous teacher/instructor (Shashi M'am you are the best!) who is not only proficient in her chosen craft but also is passionate about baking. She is painstakingly guiding us amateurs through the basics or foundations of baking. So far, we've made a simple bread roll, Madeira cake and Jam tarts. As you can see, the above mentioned bakes are nothing fancy or complicated, but what we learned was something which will stay with us for the rest of our lives. We learned how to properly handle, punch and shape our dough for bread, we made our madeira cake the old fashioned way, i.e., without using any electronic whisks, instead a lot of elbow grease was used :D and Shashi M'am showed us how to make a  perfect shortcrust pastry. That sums up my first week.

Lets get back to our comfort dish, crustless pizza. As I said earlier, it makes for a fast and easy supper on days when you are too tired to think about what to cook. I have added some chicken sausages to adorn the top, you could easily sprinkle some sweetcorn or mushroom, or even ham, or anything you fancy.

Crustless Pizza
Adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson
Ingredients:
1 egg
2/3 cup (100 grams) all-purpose flour
Salt
1 cup (250 ml) whole milk or full fat milk
Butter, for greasing the pie dish
1 cup (100 grams) grated Cheddar
50 grams small chorizo or pepperoni slices or sausages, about 3/4-inch diameter, optional
1 round ovenproof pie dish, 8 or 9 inches in diameter (I used a square dish)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius. In a small bowl, beat the egg with the flour, salt, to taste, and milk to make a smooth batter.

Butter an ovenproof pie dish, then stir half the grated cheese into the batter, before pouring it into the dish.
Bake for 30 minutes. Take the dish out of the oven, sprinkle with the remaining cheese, and add the chorizo or pepperoni or sausages, if using, - or anything else - now, too. Return the dish to the oven and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes to make sure it's heated through.
Once the cheese on top is melted and looks burnished fold on the crustless pizza, take it out of the oven and serve, cut into slices.
Enjoy!!

Lemon Almond Sheet Cookie

I had this post planned for mid-week posting but thanks to crappy net connections and power outages, the post got delayed. Anyhoo, m so relieved that the connections are restored and the UPS, at our place, is working (again...but dont know for how long).

You see I m now officially declared a BA, i.e., Blog Addict. Are you guys familiar with this term? Apparently this is some new medical phenomenon which has taken our bloggotopia by storm. No antidote or cure is available and the only line of treatment commonly prescribed and actually works is total undisturbed power and internet connection aided by the use and total control of personal computer or laptop.

So you guys want to know what I managed to get baked in the middle of power outages, my college and home commitments?? I know that you are also curious to know about my first week in the baking course, and I will surely share my experiences with you in the coming weeks and months. It seems that you can manage plenty if you are pressed for time and facing deadlines or hungry mouths. But lets leave everything else and talk about something sweet.

July is the month when Indian markets are flooded with discount and sales offers. And guess what I managed to lay hands on at the Landmark (sort of a giant bookstore) sale?? Old issues of Martha Stewart's Living, Southern Living and plenty more and that too for a mere Rs. 60 per magazine (originally priced at Rs. 500). I reckon that's quite a deal I got there and I grabbed as many copies as I possibly can.

This lemon cookie was featured in the October 2011 issue of the Martha Stewart Living. Martha says, think of these sweets as deconstructed biscotti. The cookies have a similar flavour, but here the dough is pressed into a single flat sheet for faster baking and then broken into jagged pieces.

Lemon Almond Sheet Cookie
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living, October 2011
Ingredients:
3/4 cup (85 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (100 grams) fine ground yellow cornmeal (you can use daliya, make sure to really ground it fine)
1 teaspoon anise seeds (saunf)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch  of Coarse salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (115 grams) plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 large egg, plus 1 large egg white, lightly beaten for egg wash
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons sliced almonds

Method:
Preheat oven to 177 degree Celsius. Whisk together flour, cornmeal, anise seeds, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
Beat butter and 1/2 cup sugar with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in whole egg and zest. Reduce speed to low, and beat in flour mixture.
Press dough into an even 1/4-inch thickness on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with egg wash; sprinkle with almonds and remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake until golden, 22 to 25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Break into pieces.

Linking this post to the event Magazine Mondays, hosted by Ivonne@Cream Puffs in Venice.

                                                            

Homestyle Jerk Chicken

As I said in my previous post, I m currently on Nigella roll!
I find myself drawn to her simple, comforting, feel-good recipes. Blame it on weather or mood swings, but I can't seem to shake Nigella off my mind.

I tend to cook chicken more often than red meat. I try to incorporate chicken and fish dishes at least twice in our weekly menu. Lunch, everyday consists of the staple diet coming out of every Indian kitchen, i.e., chapatis, veggies, salad, dal and rice. Dinner is the time when I try out most of my baked recipes and also I find it easier to make a chicken or seafood dish, accompanied by a simple fresh salad or rice, more achievable at the end of the day.

Like most chicken dishes, the chicken in its marinade can be made one day ahead and stored in refrigerator,  or it can also be stored in freezer for up to 1 month and can be used after defrosting in the fridge overnight.
Nigella has suggested using breast meat for this particular recipe, however, I only had drumsticks in my refrigerator so I made an executive decision ;D.

Jerk is a style of cooking native to Jamaica in which meat is dry-rubbed or wet marinated with a very hot spice mixture called Jamaican jerk spice. Jerk seasoning is traditionally applied to pork and chicken. Modern recipes also apply jerk spice mixes to fish, shrimp, shellfish, beef, sausage, lamb, and tofu. Jerk seasoning principally relies upon two items: allspice (called "pimento" in Jamaica) and Scotch bonnet peppers (among the hottest peppers on the Scoville scale). Other ingredients include cloves, cinnamon, scallions, nutmeg, thyme, garlic, and salt.

The following recipe isn't as scorching as the real Jamaican Jerk, but it is still plenty spicy, and great the next day in a chicken salad. Serve with rice (to spread out the heat) and a very large glass of cold beer.

Jerk Chicken
Adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson
Ingredients:
6 chicken drumsticks
2 teaspoons ground allspice
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 x 4 cm piece ginger, peeled and cut into chunks
2 x 15 ml tablespoons dark muscovado sugar
60 ml dark rum
60 ml lime juice
60 ml soy sauce
125 ml cider vinegar
2 fresh red chillies whole
1 onion, peeled and quartered

Method:
Slash the chicken breasts and put in an oblong dish, slashed side down.
Put all the other ingredients in a processor and blitz to a dark paste, then pour and spread over the chicken pieces and leave to marinate for 2-4 hours or overnight in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius. Double-line a shallow roasting tin with foil. Tip into it the chicken with its marinade, slashed side up and roast for 30 minutes.
Take the tin out of the oven, to pour off excess watery juices. Use a pastry brush and spoon to place any paste back on the chicken, then return it to the oven and cook for a further 30 minutes, by which time it will cook through.

Cumin Cookies

Today I want to share a news with you guys! I m really excited about it and hope that you all will support and encourage me in this endeavor.

I have enrolled myself for one year certificate course in baking at Sophia College, Mumbai. The college will start from 11th of July and I m really looking forward to learn from pros and to (hopefully) finally understand the chemistry behind the art of baking.

This decision has been long time coming as I originally intended to join the course two years back. But my pregnancy and delivery resulted in postponing, and there was one point when I felt that I won't be able to do it because of Saee's (my eight year old) demanding school and extra curricular schedule and Ira ...well Ira being what a normal 20 month old toddler be, with teething problems and all. But after lot of deliberation, discussions, poking and finally pushing from my pillar of strength, my husband Sagar, and my super support group, my in laws and my SIL and bro, I have found the confidence to join the college and pursue my passion.

I hope you all are happy for me and equally excited, as I am, while starting this new phase in my life. And even though my days from now on will run on tight schedules, I am not not going to stop blogging. The frequency of posts might get affected, but I will try to post at least once a week.

These cookies taste incredible with an unusual flavour. It's a marriage made in heaven of buttery and sugary taste with lemon-cumin flavours. They are chewy while warm and crisp when cool. The original recipe had only cumin sprinkled on top, I went ahead and added my personal touch to these cookies by sprinkling some chilli flakes on top of half of my batch. The sweet buttery texture intermingled with the cumin and slight hint of chilli is a riot of flavours packed in small circles.

And these are regular cumin topped ones ready to go in the hot oven

And here's fresh out of the oven

Cumin Cookies
Adapted from Poires au Chocolat who, in turn, adapted from Guardian
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
125 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
25 grams caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
175 grams all purpose flour
pinch of salt
approximately 1 tablespoon milk


Method:
Put the cumin in a dry frying pan on medium heat and toast, tossing, for two minutes, until fragrant – don't let them burn – then leave to cool.
Put half the seeds in a bowl with the butter, sugar and lemon zest, and cream together until light and fluffy. Work the flour and salt into the butter mix with a fork, then add just enough milk – a tablespoon or so – to bring it together into a dough. With your hands, form into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
Heat the oven to 170C/335F/gas mark 3 and grease two oven trays, or line them with parchment. Break the dough into walnut-sized pieces, roll each into a ball, then squash into little cakes about 1.5cm deep. Place on the trays, leaving some room for spreading, and top with the reserved cumin seeds. Bake for 15-20 minutes until just golden. Leave to cool on a rack (they'll firm up as they cool) .