Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies: SRC

It's that time of the month again - SECRET RECIPE CLUB time - an initiative taken by Amanda from www.amandascookin.com! Sally's blog www.bewitchingkitchen.com has so many wonderful recipes - especially Bread & Brazilian ones - that it was a very tough choice for me to make. She seems to be a domestic goddess at bread making and I just can't do it. So I tried a no knead Foccacia (great, easy recipe) but I made it with regular flour and it turned out hard as rock. I decided bread making was just not for me.

Then at my son's insistence I ended up making her brown butter chocolate chip cookies that were simply delicious and a perfect snack to make my toddler smile when sneaked into his snack-box.

The week has been rather crazy with my boy and me trying to juggle the 40 minute commute to school one way  , I have been under the weather, the weekend was packed with errands so it was a great achievement for me to have the pictures, food and post ready yesterday!

But there had to be a catch! As my husband once told me I am the queen of last minute and can never get things done before time. Once I had to deliver an order and baked the cakes in advance leaving them on my dining table for cooling. My help moved them to the kitchen to cool and there were ants crawling over them when I got back home from running my errands and thinking all I had to do was frost them.

So, my toddler and I usually leave the house at 730am for school and I stay at my MIL's till noonish (who's house is 10 mins away from his school), which is when I head back to his school to pick him up. We come back eat lunch, play for bit and head back on our 40 minute commute. So today morning I was all packed and ready to leave - with all his things and my new SONY (http://www.sony.co.in/product/dsc-hx100v) to add the pics to my blog post and when I reached my MIL's I realized I hadn't got the cord to transfer the pictures to the laptop! You should definitely see the pictures when the post goes up but if you don't you'd know what happened!

Phew, so check out the recipe, tweaked a bit with ingredients I had on hand, and please check back for the pictures :)!

Ingredients

100 grams butter (heated to give it a tan color and cooled)
1 cup brown sugar (could have reduced to 3/4 cup)
1 cup chocolate chip cookies
11/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2  cup oats
1 egg

Recipe


Cream the cooled butter and sugar together. Add a egg and whip well. Add flour and baking soda and mix with a spatula till dough like. Add chocolate chips and mix well. I made about ten cookies with this (yes I have a tiny oven) and found them a bit sweet. So to the remaining mixture I added 1/2 cup of quick cooking oats or even 1/2 cup roughly chopped toasted almonds would have worked and baked the rest of the cookies with this dough.

Both turned out yum according to the husband and the baby - that had fun dunking them in milk and eating them.

An hour and half to go and I got my pics ready...

Honey Nut Scones - SRC

Has November also been passing you by? What???? Halloween is over already and you haven't even planned your Thanksgiving feast yet?? Well there are only going to be 8 more people over + plus the 4 of us... I totally hear ya! Diwali was like that for me...

But...

This is what I love about the last two months of the year... I so look forward to the holidays and festivity and everyone's cheerie mood! In India this starts in October with Diwali - the festival of lights. The house is going to smell of a varieties of cookies, sauce, chicken / turkey. biscuits and Christmas cakes! There is going to be  a lovely NIP in the air... and some LOVE and lots of gifts - maybe some SMALL.

Well, this month I was just almost not going to make it in time for my Secret Recipe Club assignment. I was given the blog Tea and Scones and it was full of exciting recipes to read. It was full of yummy recipes from Dorie Greenspans books (always a pleasure) and lots of 30 minute pasta recipes that looked yummm too! I had a huge choice but I chose Scones as I thought they are versatile - can be made savory or sweet and can go well with any Christmas or Thanksgiving Brunch... not being a show stopper but definitely an essential to have around turkey and gravy.

Honey Nut Scones are featured in the book Baking from My Home to Yours and they are really simple to put together! I adapted them minimally to the ingredients I had on hand and shaped them like biscuits... since they didn't turn out too sweet I thought they could easily be served at a brunch.

I baked half the quantity as scones are usually not my specialty but they just melted in my mouth and I didn't add the egg...

Ingredients:

1 egg (optional)

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 cup whole milk

3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup ragi flour (original - whole wheat flour)

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

4 tablesppons cold butter

1/4 cup ground almonds (original - walnuts)

Makes about 4 medium sized biscuits

Steps:

Stir the honey and milk together.

Whisk the dry ingredients together. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingers till all of it is mixed and looks as small as peas and is all pebbly and mixed up.

Pour the liquid ingredients in and mix with a fork until just combined. Add the ground almonds and mix it together. Pat together into any shape you want - I made discs but you can make the typical triangles.

Bake in a pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes at 180C until nice and browned.

Serve with butter, jam, honey or dip into gravies and enjoy savory with your meal!It has a really subtle sweet and nutty flavor to it!

Banana Chocolate Cupcakes - Secret Recipe Club

What's it about playschool and toddlers? A cold or cough or "a new bug" every 3 weeks, early mornings chases around the house with my son in his PJs and I following him with his brush, school bags being left behind in the elevator... I barely got time to recover from the sleepless nights in April when playschool started and by the time I had a chance to put my head up, we were already in October!

The year has not ended yet, but has been very difficult for my family with a lot of close members not being around anymore and two going in a very sudden way leaving us surprised at how short life can be.

There has been a sudden awakening around me to appreciate life more and become a better person. Yes, I am still snappy at that time of the month; No, I haven't suddenly become Ms Goody-Two-Shoes; I still lose my cool at small things when I having a bad day - BUT I have started to sit up and look at the simple pleasures life has to offer so it doesn't race you by.

Walking hand in hand with your little one picking up flowers, picking up your toddler from school with a treat (chocolate cupcake), getting up early in the morning to enjoy your morning cuppa in a quiet house before everyone is up or just enjoying some quiet sit-down time with your spouse away from the maddening social commitments.. this list can just go on and on.

And, life I realized is as simple as you make it to be...So go on and do something you really want to but haven't been able to do for a while 'coz of your super crazy schedule!

When I chose this recipe from http://eggscreamandhoney.com/, I wanted something kid friendly that my son could bake with me 'coz he thinks he is my lil helper and likes to whisk away in the bowl while I add the ingredients. I was not going to be a MANIAC and look for perfection but these came out pretty perfect if I may say so!

The Secret Recipe Club is the brainchild of  Amanda Formaro where you get assigned to a secret blog and get to cook from it! Excited... you can learn more about it from the links provided! A great initiative to get to know more bloggers and try out new recipes!

The original recipe is here - http://eggscreamandhoney.com/2011/06/21/banana-cupcakes-and-peanut-butter-icing/ - I tweaked it a bit here and there depending on what I had on hand!

Ingredients
100 grams salted butter
1 cup flour ( About 3/4 all purpose and 1/4 millet flour and 2 tablespoon cocoa powder)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
2 very ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla

Makes 6 cupcakes and takes about 30 minutes from start to finish. A great way to get your child involved.

Method:
I sat my kid down in the middle of the kitchen on a splat mat with a big bowl and whisk - in went the bananas - mash, mash, mash. Then went in the melted butter and a lot of vigorous whisking. Then went in the sugar - I had to help here a bit so that the mixture was a bit creamy and the sugar was dissolved. The eggs and vanilla were broken and whisked by me in a separate bowl and then whisked into the bowl by the toddler. The flour all in one heap, into the bowl and all mixed together.

WHAT A FORGIVING RECIPE! The toddler opted for whisking after all the effort and I went back to lining the muffin tin and put the cupcakes in for 25 minutes in a 170C preheated oven.

We just used a icing sugar and warm water to make a paste, put it in a baggy and most of what you see is what my son did with me holding his hand... life is all about having fun! Enjoy with your loved ones with a tall glass of milk or hide it in the snack box for a warm hug when they get back from school!

Secret Recipe Club: Supposed Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry = Cottage Cheese & Veggie Stir Fry !

http://thruthebugsonmywindshield.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/chicken-broccoli-stir-fry/Amanda's idea of the secret recipe club is really working and with a 100 odd participants it is a really fun event to take part in. We are assigned a blog in secret and have to cook from it and all the particpants post on the same day... the fun part is looking through all the blogs and seeing who has cooked what!

This time around I was assigned Thru the Bugs on my Windshield a great blog written by Suz and all her experiences of travelling and eating along the way... she has some great recipes and pics and it was a tough choice to make but I will explain you why in a minute.

Last week I got back from a visit to my mum's and was ill with my sinuses playing up, a fever, a bad back and the works...

But let me hit on the highlights... going to your mum's is always great - don't you like how you get to kickback and relax while she says she has got everything in control.

You get to eat your favorite  foods without having to lift a finger and they taste so much better.

You child gets taken care of and he is actually having tons of fun and getting pampered silly...

When you get back, the hub has been missing you, so YOU get pampered silly :)

And then after my l'il illness I am off to another vacay with the hub and the bub... and will share all once I am back!

I am going to eat to my hearts content, not care about my weight (and neither should you on vacation), do as much site-seeing as the tot permits and drink in as much of the culture and atmosphere as I can...

Now, with the falling sick and packing and ensuring we are absolutely organised for the trip within 10 days of having come back from my mom's  (read: dumping clothes in washing machine, sending them to be ironed, ensuring baby has enough under garments, food to eat on flight, what's with the sudden weight restrictions on luggage, remebering to cart the potty seat - we don't like ugly pots and want to make them our own etc I had my hands quite full)

This recipe just stuck out the perfect thing to do with my leftovers... as I am in the process of winding up my kitchen. While you read this I am already off on my vacation... You can read this recipe here but basically I just made it my own... asi t easily adaptable!

I know you do not see Broccoli in my pics - I had to leave the day before I cooked and pictured this and my hubby and baby both are not fans of Broccoli so I just left it out. Also, I was using up the leftovers in my fridge...

Basically, take a huge wok, heat it with a little oil and then I added the veggies in a different order from Suz....with due respect to the original recipe it was supposed to be something to do with leftovers and I am blogging a couple of hours before I have to catch my flight with a very supportive hubby finishing all my last minute packing...

Ingredients:
Veggies sliced - whatever you have on hand depending on the portion of rice
I used one onion sliced
1/2  a small carrot
1 tomato cubed
4-5 mushrooms thinly sliced
6-7 cashews fried
1 egg
shredded chicken - my toddler decided to munch on while I cooked so I had to add some cottage cheese
1 cup cooked rice

Method
I added some onions / scallions and carrots, mushrooms (let the water dry off), tomatoes and then broke an egg into this and just scrambled it. I seasoned this with salt, pepper and a bit of paprika & soy sauce.

Yeah, the egg's my addition - my dad does this great egg fried rice and when I started doing this I had this sudden urge to get the same flavor in and I had one lone egg staring at me =  yeah, why not.

Then I added the rice into this and gave it a good stir so it absorbs the flavors... and ta da... we are done.

I topped this off with cooked cottage cheese  since the chicken I had planned to add was munched off in front of me by my toddler, some fried cashews for extra crunch (the only nut my toddler wilfully eats) and my leftover rice was ready!

The flavors are nice... the tomato adds a nice tang which we Indians are used to in our dishes... so I hope you go and try this out!

I really apologize for the pic as the camera has been packed and this is my very old cellphone trying to do it's work!

The Secret Recipe Club - Perfect MANGO Pound Cake

I found a really great blog and a great pound cake recipe thanks to Amanda's Cookin who is a hosting a fabulous event called The Secret Recipe Club. You are allotted a blog once a month and you can choose to make anything from it in "Secret". Then on a given day and time all the bloggers from The Secret Recipe Club put up a blog post that reveals the recipe and blogger they have blogged about. Since, it is not revealed till the particular day - it is all a big secret till the big D-day and everyone is looking forward to seeing who blogged about whom and which of their recipes were featured!

The blog I was given is Once A Month Mom - a great concept blog that talks about cooking once a month in bulk and freezing food so that you can provide your family, especially your kids, fresh food to eat - it helps you to save money and eat more healthily. They have a a whole lot of ideas going on there so you must go on and have a peep.

Now, they were a lot of wonderful recipes out there but the one that caught my eye was of a Perfect Pound Cake... and how could I make it perfect by adding my own inputs to it - was a very last minute Mango-ey twist in the tale.

When I read the recipe one night I thought I had hit jackpot and I had all the ingredients to put it together but realized I was missing condensed milk - one of it's important ingredient and then a few nail biting moments followed to a very gorgeous, moist and flavorful Mango Pound Cake.

Kelly @ OAMM got this recipe from Jun-Blog and the beautiful pound cake was served with luscious strawberries...

So lets look at the ingredients...everything that you'd usually be stocked in on - my changes are added in italics
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter - reduced the quantity to 1/2 salted butter & 1/4 canola oil
11/3 cup all purpose flour
3/4tsp baking powder - I think I only added 1/2 tsp
1/4 tsp cinnamon - omitted
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt - omitted
3/4 cup organic condensed milk - substituted with 3/4 cup fresh mango puree sweetened with a couple of tablespoons of sugar since my mangoes weren't too sweet
3 large eggs

Method:
If you want the original recipe you can follow it here

My recipe is a bit different
I whisked the butter and then added the sugar and vanilla and beat it with an electric beater. I added the eggs to this and whisked till everything was creamy.
I added the all purpose flour and mixed it together with a whisk till it just came together. I then added the mango puree with a very light hand. I wanted to create swirls and do a two toned cake but my cake batter and mango were almost a similar golden-orange hue.
I baked it in a pre-heated oven an 179C for 50 minutes and I didn't turn it out of the pan immediately after it came out of the oven so the whole cake seemed to sink a bit.

I had a couple of tablespoons of mango puree remaining so I added some icing sugar in it and created a glaze for the cake. It was lapped up before I could chop up some fresh mangoes to serve it with.

Few observations:

It tasted better after it cooled down and have been refrigerated. It was as moist and didn't dry out. It was not too sweet and if you want to make it really really sweet - I would increase the sugar from 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup. I would also leave out 1 egg and bake this with 2 eggs 'coz I found the taste slightly egg-y but no-one else seemed to complain!