Chocolate Butter Cookies and Eggless Cumin Cookies

I made these cookies for one of my friends daughters birthday. As their name suggests these have lots of butter and just melt in your mouth. The cinnamon, nuts and chocolate give these a wonderful flavor and texture.

The recipe is from the book, Chocolate by Williams-Sonoma. It yields about 4 dozen cookies, perfect for parties.

Chocolate Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

1 tbs cocoa powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups/ 180 gms plain flour

1 cup/ 250 gms unsalted butter, at room temperature

5 tbs/ 90 gms granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract

3/4 cup/ 90 gms chopped nuts

2/3 cup/ 100 gms semi-sweet or bitter-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F/180C. Line ungreased cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Sieve together the cocoa, cinnamon and flour. Set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

Stir in the vanilla, nuts and chocolate chips. Gradually stir in the flour mixture, combining thoroughly.

Drop rounded teaspoons of the dough in the shape of large marbles about 1 1/2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake for about 12 mins till done. Let cool in the pan for 2 mins. Dust with some confectioners sugar and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Eggless Cumin Cookies for Tried and Tasted

I made these cumin cookies from Madhurams blog, Eggless Cooking. They were ready so quick and took no effort at all. They were crisp, had a wonderful savory taste from the cumin and is a perfect tea-time snack. I'm going to be making this so often. Check out the recipe here.

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The chocolate cookies are going to 'CFK : Chocolate', hosted by Hema of Salt to Taste, event bySharmi of Neivedyam.

Cumin cookies are my entry to 'T and T : Madhurams Eggless Cooking' hosted right here by me.

Homemade Gulab Jamuns for Taste n Create

For this months Taste n Create I was paired with Parita of Parita's World. Parita has a beautiful blog and there were so many delectable dishes to choose from. In the end I decided to try these awesome Gulab Jamuns. It's my favorite sweet and I could have any number of them at a time. I make these often, but they are always from packaged mixes, so it was great making them from scratch. This is a wonderful recipe and the Jamuns were just perfect.
I made these in the afternoon, so they would be ready by the time Manoj got home but we also had some friends come over that same evening, so I had to literally hide some Jamuns so I could take a picture of them. The jamuns were gone in minutes and everyone was so surprised that I actually made them at home. Thanks Parita for this wonderful recipe.

Eggless Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins

This was the first time I tried eggless baking and I'm really impressed. The muffins were really easy to prepare. The bananas, walnuts and the chocolate chips go so well together and the muffins were delicious. The recipe is from Madhuram's blog and my entry to Zlamushka's Tried and Tasted being hosted by me.

Check the recipe out here....

Unniappam

For as long as I can remember, mom has always made Unniappams for Janmashtami every year. I wanted to this year, but I was not keeping well. Both of us were really craving for some, so I decided to surprise Manoj last evening. Mom usually makes it with rava, but since I did not have any when we were discussing the recipe in the morning, she gave me one of my aunts recipes. Made the unniappams with rice and they were yumm....

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups rice

1 big ripe banana (120gms)

1 cup grated jaggery

6 cardamoms, seeds crushed

Method:

Soak the rice for about 8 hours.

Grind together bananas, jaggery, rice with just enough water to form a thick smooth batter (I used a little less than 1/4 cup water).

Stir in the crushed cardamom seeds and let the batter sit for 3-4 hours.

Heat oil in the unniappam pan and spoon the batter into each cavity. Fry on medium heat for about 2 mins till brown, then turn them over and cook the other side till done.

Drain well on paper towels.

The unniappams may absorb some oil, especially if the batter is too thin. Add oil as required to the pan and wait till it gets hot before adding the batter.

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My entry to 'WYF:Festive Treat' event hosted by EC of Simple Indian Food.

Chicken Stew

I know its Tuesday and a little late to be talking about the weekend, but I had such a great time. We went to San Francisco for the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival and had some fabulous chocolate treats. I especially loved the tarts, pies, gelato and the brownie samples were to die for. We had a chocolate overload and yet I'm craving for more:)...

I made this curry this weekend and had it with dosas. Its best with appams but any dosa will do. I even like to have it with chapatis.

Ingredients:
4 chicken leg quarters, cut into small pieces

1 tbs oil

5 cloves

2 cardamoms

1 cinnamon

10 peppercorns

1 big onion, sliced

8 green chillies, slit

2 tbs ginger, finely chopped

10 curry leaves

2 tsp coriander powder

3/4 tsp garam masala

salt to taste

2 cups thin coconut milk

1/2 cup thick coconut milk

Method:

Heat 2 tbs oil on medium heat and fry the cloves, cardamoms, cinnamon and peppercorns till fragrant.

Add the onions and green chillies and fry till onions are soft and transparent. Add the ginger and fry for a min.

Next add the curry leaves, coriander powder and garam masala and fry for 30secs.

Add the chicken and fry on high heat for 2 -3 mins to brown a bit. Reduce the heat and add the thin coconut milk and salt. Mix well and cook covered on low heat till the chicken is done. Check the seasonings.

Remove from heat and stir in the thick coconut milk. Place the pan back on low heat for about 2-3 minutes. Just take care not to boil the gravy or the milk may split.

Enjoy with dosas, appam or any other bread.

Parippu Pradhaman

Onam was not very grand this year. I just made a simple lunch of parippu, sambhar and aviyal and papadums. Here's a picture, will post recipes later...

We had another sadya, an Onam potluck last Friday with friends and that was more fun. I madePulisseri and Parippu Pradhaman. I was making it for the first time. After elaborate instructions from mom, it turned out really well. So here's the recipe...

Ingredients:

250 gms chana dal

450 gms jaggery

2 cups thin milk

1 cup thick milk

6 cardamoms, remove the shell and crush the seeds

2 tbs ghee

raisins n cashew nut pieces

Method:

Wash the dal and pressure cook till well done.

Drain the excess water and mash the dal. Do not mash it into a smooth paste, but into a coarse mixture with bits of dal.

Take the mashed dal in a heavy bottom pan and add the jaggery. Heat over medium high flame for about 10-15 mins till it forms into a thick paste.

Add the thin coconut milk and cook over medium flame for 5 mins.

Remove from heat and add the thick coconut milk and crushed cardamom. Place the pan back on very low heat and cook for a few mins. Do not let the mixture boil. Turn of the heat,

Fry the raisins and cashews in the ghee till golden and add to the payasam. Mix well and serve warm.

The payasam will thicken as it cools. You can thin it by adding some warm milk.

Announcing Tried and Tasted : Madhuram's Eggless Cooking

Zlamushka's Tried and Tasted is a wonderful event that features a different blog each month giving us foodies a great opportunity to explore the blog and try out the various dishes. I'm really excited to be hosting the event this month and on the spotlight this month is Madhuram's Eggless Cooking.

It feels great to come across a blog that showcases something that one is not very familiar with. Eggless cooking is something totally new to me. I've never baked anything eggless as I've always doubted the texture and taste, but Madhuram's posts and all the mouthwatering pictures have changed my mind and I'm all set to give it a try. She has an amazing and diverse collection of recipes and I have enjoyed reading her blog and found it to be so informative.

So join me in further exploring her blog and and trying and tasting all those spectacular dishes out there. Here are the rules for the event....

[This beautiful logo has been created for us by Ksenia of Tales of a Spoon and it features Madhuram's Savory Onion Crackers. Isn't it lovely? Thanks Ksenia!]

1. Cook any recipe(s) from Madhuram's Eggless Cooking and post about it. Stay as true to the original recipe(s) as possible. Therefore, there is no need for re-posting it, simply link to the original post.
2. Link your post to this post (feel free to use the logo), to Zlamushka's page and to the original post.

Please always link to both sites, so both blogs are given credit and you are avoiding copyright issues.
3. Deadline is the 30th of September 2009 and the round up will be posted during the following week.
4. Mail me the following details at poornimastastytreats@gmail.com

Your Name

Blog Name

Dish Name

Url of your dish

Original Url

Picture of the dish

Non-bloggers are more than welcome to participate . Just mail me all the details.

Looking forward to your support in making this event a success.