Chewy Chocolate Chunk and Oat Cookies

Delhi and Gurgaon have been freezing this year and with friends and relatives being around on and off I have been too lazy and tied up to enter the kitchen. Nothing like snuggling into the blanket anytime the baby decides to nap :)! But one morning I got up and could literally smell the cookies I have been meaning to bake for over a month.

I have been trying to find an easy and healthy recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookies (chewy so my 14 month old son can eat some too...) and have tested a few recipes that I found online courtesy Rachel Ray, All recipes and a couple of other sites and came up with mine which is a little variant from the others but delivers the goods!

This recipe uses the quick cooking Quaker Oats which are heart healthy and give many benefits. I have given up trying to give my husband Oats or porridge for breakfast. Breakfast in our house can range from eggs & sausages to paranthas or dosas - I try to keep it simple and healthy but we do end up indulging on the weekends.

Though this is not the healthiest way to incorporate oats into our diet - I thought we had to make a start somewhere and incorporate the goodness of oats into our lifestyle - http://www.quaker.co.uk/Benefits.aspx

This cookie is a winner with my family and there usually isn't much left when the aroma of oats, cinnamon, chocolate baking waft from the kitchen and I have to hide a box for these to survive over 3 days....

Here goes and do leave comments and updates on how these came out:

1 cup butter softened (about 225grms)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
2 eggs
1tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon powder (you can add more for flavour)
3 cups quick cooking quaker oats
1.5 cups all-purpose flour (wanted to use whole wheat but haven't tried it with this variation)
1.5 cups chocolate chunks made from cadbury chocolates (made about 1/4 inch big chunks but you can use any chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, raisins etc)
a couple of spoons of milk

I creamed the butter and sugar in the food processor but it didn't beat too well - so I added about 2 tsps of milk - do add more if required but very little at a time. I then added the eggs. I mixed all the dry ingredients and added the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients (excluding the chocolate chunks).

I then made balls (slightly sticky dough) of the size of a table-tennis ball. I then add the chocolate chunks individually into the cookies and put them on a greased parchment. Flattened them slightly with the end of a wooden spoon and left them a little rounded towards the top . These cookies don't spread too much - so you can make the balls the size of the cookies you want.

I baked them for 13-15 mins at 165 degrees centigrade and then left them on the wire rack to cool. They were yummy and full of taste and I ate the ones that had extra chocolate chunks hidden in them.

I definitely got less than 2 dozen cookies with this recipe but didn't count how many I got....

Pictures too follow soon. And please do leave me some tips on getting the darned pictures right!

Simplest Scrumptious Apple Crumble

I have been wanting to eat a fruity dessert for a while but due to the heat and rains there seem to be no great fruits around except for apples, pears and bananas.

Not so fond of apples and pears in dessert... I decided to experiment nevertheless and was pleasantly surprised! This recipe took me only 15 minutes to put together and was simply scrumptious and melted in the mouth. I read a lot of crumble recipes but decided to make my own concoction eventually.... coz some recipes called for old fashioned oats, others wanted to use nuts and some didn't use oats or nuts and used regular sugar - but I think the combination of oats and demerara sugar gave a nice crunchy and caramelised taste to the whole dessert.

Use a dish that you can bake and serve in - glass works best so you can see everything...

Recipe:

6 apples - cut into 1 to 3/4 inch cubes - i don't like apples cut very small but this is entirely upto you.
1 cup - all purpose flour
1 cup - demerara sugar
1 cup - quick cooking oats
2-3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 cup - water
150gm cold butter cut into cubes (I used margarine)
a pinch of salt

Add the cut apples and put in the bottom of baking dish, add a bit of water to cover just the base of the apples - sprinkle with cinnamon powder and mix the water and apples. Then put into the microwave for a couple of minutes.

Meanwhile for the cumble mixture - add all the dry ingredients together (salt, demerara sugar, oats and flour) and mix by hand. Then add the cubed butter and mix again with hand till you get a coarse mixture with about pea sized bites.

Sprinkle the sugar on the apples and then spread the crumble mixture over the apples and bake at 250 degrees for 40-45 mins or till top is slightly browned and the filling is bubbling and the apples are nicely stewed but not mashed.

I baked mine covered with foil so that the top didn't burn since my oven is really small and the top burns easily. Also, you can bake this at 350 for 20-30 minutes also...

Your beautiful dessert is ready - perfect for a party - coz you can serve it hot from the oven just as dinner gets done. Serve in beautiful margarita or balloon wine glasses with a dollop of vanilla ice-cream.

Apples can be substitued or used with pears, berries (any single kind or a mixed variety). It's especially nice to eat on cold gloomy rainy days or in the winter since the apple cinnamon combination with the caramelised sugar totally warms your inside.

As usual pictures to follow since I can already hear my 10 month old calling out to me!