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Probably nan khatai are the first cookies I ever baked in my kitchen and so, they are special to me. Over the years I have tried various versions, liking them all even without realizing they had Parsi connection. This time around I tried this semolina-almond version which yield crispy, crumbly delicious nan khatai that are quite addictive. For the uninitiated, nan khatai are shortbread biscuits that have been popular in the Indian sub continent for centuries. They are believed to be originated in Surat, a city in western India during 16th century. The word nan khatai is said to have derived from a Persian word 'naan' meaning bread and an Afghani word 'khatai' meaning biscuit.
According to the ebook Eat, Pray and Live, some of the Parsi cooks who worked for the Dutch in Surat had learnt to bake soft bread by fermenting the dough with toddy, which is supposedly the beginning of the legacy of Parsi bakeries in Surat. Parsis were inspired by the eggless Scottish shortbread, to create nan khatai, one of Surat's famous confections.The Surat bakers realized that the recipe was suitable for Gujarati vegetarians who did not eat eggs and adapted to suit the local populace by adding nuts and cardamom. Here is another interesting read about how nan khatai came to existence.
Ingredients: (Yield 18 - 20 cookies)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup semolina (I replaced half of it with ground almonds.)
2 tbsp. ground almonds (Optional)
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
A pinch of baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp. slivered almonds for garnish
Method:
* Sift together flour, semolina, cardamom and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add ground almonds to the same bowl if using and mix to combine,
* Cream butter and sugar in another bowl until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture in small increments and blend until a dough is formed. If for any reason, the dough turns out hard / dry, moisten it with little milk. (I didn't need any milk.)
* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F / 180 deg C. Grease or line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
* Divide the cookie dough into 18 - 20 portions and roll each portion into a smooth ball. Flatten them slightly with the palm of your hand and decorate with almond slivers. Gently press the almond pieces so that they stick to the cookie.
* Arrange them on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them an inch apart since they expand while baking.
* Place them in the preheated oven and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until they turn light golden in color. (I baked them for about 20 minutes, turned off the oven and left them in the oven for another 6 minutes or so.)
* Let them cool on a wire rack and store them in an airtight container.
Comments
I had come across these Moroccan cookies at New York Times online edition which in turn were adapted from"Dorie's Cookies" by Dorie Greenspan. These cookies are made with a combination of semolina flour and almond flour and I made them eggless. In case if you don't have almond flour, it can be made at home by grinding the almonds with the skin on if you wish or after drying the blanched and skinned almonds. Semolina flour adds a sandy texture to cookies while the almond flour adds richness. These are a version of crinkle cookies if not for the thumb impression. These cookies though look plain are delicious with a hint of citrus flavor and a lingering aroma of orange blossom water.
I halved the original recipe and gave the measurements below. However I quartered the ingredients from the original recipe for my cookies. (I guess it is not confusing. That means I further halved the ingredients from the below recipe.) I baked them on a lined, large cookie sheet for 16 minutes and got around 16 cookies.
Ingredients: (Yield around 30 cookies)
1 tbsp. flax meal + 3 tbsp. water
3/4 cup + 3 tbsp. semolina flour
1 cup almond flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. granulated sugar
Zest from a lemon
2 tbsp. any flavorless oil (I used canola oil.)
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. orange blossom water (optional)
Confectioner's sugar for dredging
Method:
* Combine the flax-meal and water in a small bowl and keep aside for five minutes.
* Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds. Preheat the oven to 350 deg F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
* Whisk together semolina, almond flour, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.
* Add sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment or to a bowl in which one use a hand mixer. Grate the lemon zest over sugar and rub them together until sugar is moist. Add flax egg and beat on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Next add oil and continue beating for another 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla and orange blossom water if using. Turn off the mixer. Add half of the dry ingredients and mix them in on low speed. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix only until dry ingredients disappear into the dough, which will be thick.
* Grease your palms and roll out about a tbsp. sized dough between your palms to a ball and coat in confectioners' sugar. Repeat the process with the remaining dough. If your hands get sticky in between rolling the dough balls, wash and grease your palms again and start rolling.
* Place balls 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Push down the center of each cookie with thumb, pressing firmly enough to make an indentation and causing the edges to crack.
* Bake until cookies are lightly colored, about 14 to 16 minutes, rotating pans top to bottom and front to back after 8 minutes. They will be golden at the bottom, puffed and cracked and just firm to the touch. Carefully lift the cookies off sheets and onto racks.
* Store them in a covered container.
This goes to Blogging Marathon under 'Recipes from Southern Hemisphere' Theme.
Comments
Wishing all my readers a happy, healthy and prosperous new year. May all your wishes come true this year and hope you get to create a collage of wonderful memories with your near and dear ones.
I have read enough novels set in the Victorian period to know a thing or two about the popular tea tradition and tea rooms of Britain. However I always associated it with the afternoon tea sessions. A ritual which doubled as a light meal and was meant to ward off the hunger pangs between the lunch and dinner periods. A Duchess named Anna Maria, a lifelong friend of queen Victoria is credited with the creation of the afternoon tea ritual, during mid 1840s.
There were only two meals served prior to 18th century - a breakfast and a dinner, the main meal of the day that happened around two or three in the afternoon. Somewhere during the 18th century, dinner was slowly moved to somewhere between six to eight in the evening. During this period, a very light midday meal called 'luncheon' started to get served in wealthy homes, to fill the gap between breakfast and these new fashionably late dinners. However these luncheons were lighter and the long afternoons with no refreshments kept everyone feeling hungry. Anna found that a light meal of tea (usually Darjeeling) and cakes or sandwiches was perfect to beat the hunger pangs before dinner and soon started inviting her friends to join her during the teatime. This post-lunch tea ritual became such a hit that the practice spread in aristocratic circles.
Now, there is another little teatime tradition called 'elevenses' which also happens to be my theme of blogging marathon this week. Elevenses is a short break taken for light refreshments at eleven in the morning, a couple of hours before the midday meal. This is like a second breakfast that comes between a proper breakfast and before lunch. It was not as formal or fancy as the afternoon tea but light snacks which are usually sweet were served with a tea.
I read somewhere that not the fancy kind but simple ones like these ginger biscuits were a norm for the elevenses. I found the perfect recipe here to suit my purpose and tried it. I was baking a small portion and so, rather than running to grocery store, I substituted with the things I had in my kitchen. Golden syrup was replaced by honey and maple syrup combo, margarine by butter and self rising flour by a combo of all purpose flour, salt and baking powder. Also I baked them a couple of minutes more and left them in the oven for a few minutes. The extra time in the oven makes them perfect 'dunkers' for tea or coffee.
I was taking care of hundred other things while baking this and kind of messed up with my liquid measurement and so, I might have added more flour than needed. I am guessing that's why my cookies were thicker and did not spread as thinner as the original one. However they taste really good in spite of all the substitutions. As I mentioned above, I made them a little on the harder side to use them to dunk in tea / coffee.
Ingredients: (Yield about 30 - 32)
110 g / 4 oz margarine
110 g / 4 oz caster sugar
110 g / 4 oz golden syrup
225 g / 8 oz self rising flour
2 tsp. ground ginger
Directions:
* Preheat the oven to 180 c / 350 deg F. Grease a baking sheet.
* Melt the margarine, sugar and golden syrup in a pan over medium heat. Remove the pan from heat as soon as the contents are melted and allow it cool slightly. Add the flour and ginger and mix to form a dough.
* Once the dough is cool enough to handle, roll the dough into about 30 small balls with floured hands. Place the balls onto the prepared baking sheet with space in between to allow them to expand while baking. Mark the top of each ball with a fork.
* Bake them until the biscuits are golden brown, about 10 minutes. (Mine were not done at 10 minutes. However remember that they harden a little, while cooling.)
* Remove from the oven, let them cool down a bit and transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an air tight container.
Comments
I had planned to bake another version of coconut cookies before this recipe or rather the color of the cookies caught my attention. These coconuts are on a bit healthier side considering that wheat flour and jaggery are used to bake these. I haven't baked with jaggery so far and thought probably this was a good recipe to start with and besides as I mentioned above, I loved how the cookies looked. However my cookies turned out light colored because of the pale colored jaggery I used. They taste a lit bit different compared to the sugar based ones but one get used to the flavor after having a cookie or two. The original recipe also uses ginger powder which I omitted but still the cookies are redolent with Indian style flavors. After trying out the cookies, I think the texture of the cookies would ave been better if the cookies are baked thinner than the chunky style.
Ingredients:
1 cup wheat flour / atta
1 tbsp. fine semolina
1/4 tsp. baking soda / baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
3 to 4 tbsp. coconut oil *
1/4 cup shredded coconut **
1/2 cup powdered jaggery
1/4 cup coconut milk ***
12 cashews to garnish (optional)
* Any neutral oil like canola oil or butter can be substituted.
** Fresh / frozen coconut can be used. Thaw if using frozen coconut before using.
*** Dairy / non dairy milk or water can be used in place of coconut milk. I had to add 5 tbsp. though the original recipe mentions to use 2 to 3 tbsp. milk.
Method:
* Preheat the oven to 325 degree F. Line a cookie sheet with foil, grease it and keep aside.
* Combine flour, semolina, baking soda and cardamom in a mixing bowl.
* Next add the oil and rub into the mixture until it looks crumbly.
* Add coconut and jaggery to the bowl and mix again thoroughly to combine.
* Finally add milk in increments and mix until the mixture comes
together.
* Divide the mixture into 12 portions. Roll each one into a smooth ball and slightly flatten them. Garnish with a cashew nut if using.
* Arrange them on the prepared cookie sheet and bake them for about 20 to 25 minutes and the tops are not soft to touch. (I baked them for 25 minutes in the convection oven, turned off the oven and left the cookie sheet in the oven for few minutes to crisp up.)
This is going to be a part of Blogging marathon #62 under the theme 'coconut' and check here to find out what other marathoners are cooking today.
Comments
KAF is my to go website for baking recipes since most of their recipes are foolproof and the user reviews gives me an idea how a recipe is going to turn out and in case if it needs any tweaks or twists. These chocolate chip - oatmeal cookies come from there and are supposedly their recipe of the year for 2015. An apt choice I would say. This recipe yields addictive cookies with the right amount of chewiness and crispiness. My daughter loves chocolate chip cookies and I had bookmarked them earlier for her. I tried a small batch yesterday making it an eggless version and got a big happy thumbs up from her. The only regret I had was that I should have made more cookies as mine were gone in a day. They are just subtly soft at the center and have a crispy exterior if baked for the mentioned time. If one prefers crispy cookies, they must be left in the oven few minutes more after turning off the oven. Cookies can be made bigger or smaller than the size mentioned in the recipe below and the serving size would differ. I used a tbsp. sized scoop and got sixteen, 2.5" sized cookies.
Ingredients: (Yield 16 cookies)
1.5 tsp. flax meal or a substitute for half an egg
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Method:
* Combine flax meal and 1.5 tbsp. water in a small bowl and set it aside for about 4 -5 minutes.
* Whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
* Preheat the oven to 325 deg F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or grease it.
* Beat butter and sugars together until smooth. Next add the flax egg and vanilla and beat well once again. Add the flour mixture into the butter bowl and mix until thoroughly incorporated, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl. Stir in the chocolate chips.
* Scoop out tbsp. sized portions of dough onto the cooking sheet, leaving about 1.5 to 2 inches between cookies.
* Bake for about 12 - 15 minutes, until they are light golden brown, with slightly darker edges. They continue to bake as they cool on the pan and so it's ok if they look slightly shiny in the middle. Remove the cookies from the oven, and as soon as they're set enough to handle, transfer them to racks to cool.
( If baked for the mentioned time, they wouldn't be crispy when they come out of the oven. When they cool down, they crisp around the edges while remaining softer at the center. I baked them for 15 minutes and turned off the oven. I left half of the cookies in the oven itself for few minutes more and those cookies had turned out perfectly crispy.)
These cookies are going to be a part of
1. Blogging Marathon #52.
2. Srivalli's 'Kids' Delight' event hosted by Sandhya this month with the theme "Snacking all the Way".
Comments
If one has enough patience, these cookies can be tagged as the ones with no sugar, no butter, no all purpose flour or gluten free cookies. These vegan cookies are redolent with Indian flavors and are healthy enough to serve even diabetics. I wanted to bake something interesting to go with our evening tea that tasted like a cross between a crispy cookie and a savory Indian snack and the result was these cookies which my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed. These are probably the best savory version cookies I have baked so far ever since my camaraderie with the oven though I cannot say the same thing about the images. Again these pictures were taken when the sun was fading away in the evening, a setting I am not well versed with. These cookies have a very desirable crispy, crunchy texture if perfectly timed and greatly satisfies the Indian palates.
Ingredients: (Yield 15 cookies)
1 cup chickpea flour / garbanzo flour / besan
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp. crushed kasuri methi (Dried fenugreek leaves)
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
2 - 3 pinches of asafoetida powder
2 tbsp. oil + extra for brushing (I used canola oil.)
2 to 3 tbsp. warm water (I used about 2 tbsp.)
2 tbsp. toasted white sesame seeds
Method:
* Sieve chickpea flour and baking powder together.
* Add flour - baking powder mixture, chili powder, salt, turmeric, kasuri methi, asafoetida to the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine them. Next add the oil and again pulse a couple of times. Then add water gradually and run the food processor until the mixture comes together into a ball. Transfer the mixture to working surface and knead into a smooth dough.
Or combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and prepare the dough by hand. (Grease your hands if the dough appears sticky.)
* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.
* Place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper (since the chickpea flour is going to be sticky to work with while rolling.) Roll the dough with a rolling pin into about 2 to 3 mm thickness. Remove the top parchment paper and sprinkle sesame seeds and again cover with top parchment paper. Gently roll once so that sesame seeds stick to the dough.
* Cut the dough into desired cookie shapes and place them on the prepare baking sheet.
* Bake for about 14 - 17 minutes or until it starts to turn golden brown around the edges. (They firm up further while cooling.)
* Cool them and store it in an airtight container.
I was planning to bake different shaped breads as part of the 'Fun Friday' and scheduled to bake them once I was done with the other posts. As planned, I baked 5 instead of 4 breads including this rose bread. Two turned good in terms of taste and looks and I goofed up with the shape of another excellent tasting bread. I couldn't arrive at the exact shape I was planning to achieve in the case of fourth bread which was supposed to be today's post. I thought of redoing the recipes again but had to let go as I had run out of yeast and was in no mood to go out to buy.
The supposed bread I was about to post today had three colors and I am subbing it with these three colored cookies instead. It was fun making these tie-dye kind cookies and surprising my daughter. She was as curious as I was (when I saw them first time) to know how to arrive at that shape. When I came across several versions of cookies online, I noticed that they all pointed to one particular Malaysian recipe and since the blogger called them biscuit suji, I am also doing so. This recipe doesn't contain any suji / semolina as the title suggests but I have seen another version of suji cookies which are entirely different than this. These cookies are slightly crumbly and taste excellent. They are along the lines of the wedding cookies, moon cookies or the kifli and if you have tasted any of those before and liked it, you are going to love these too.
Ingredients: (Make 18 - 20 cookies)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup ghee / clarified butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 food colors
Extra Icing sugar to decorate
Method:
* Sift four, baking soda, baking powder and salt together into a mixing bowl. Then add icing sugar, almond powder, ghee and vanilla to the bowl. Combine them to form a dough.
* Divide the dough into three equal portions.
* Add about 6 drops of red food color to one ball of dough and knead well until combined uniformly. Repeat the steps by adding blue and yellow food colors to the remaining dough balls. (I chose to go with red, blue and yellow
colors. Use contrasting colors of your choice. The original recipe had
green instead of blue.)
* Pinch about olive sized dough pieces of three colors and place them on the palm of your non dominant hand. And fuse them using your fingers of the other hand. (I did not realize until editing that the picture was out of focus but had only one picture to show this step.)
* Roll the dough pieces gently between your palms and shape it into a disc. Repeat the steps with the remaining dough and place the shaped discs on a greased or parchment / foil lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. The discs are going to expand while baking and so take care to place them apart.
* Bake them in a preheated oven at 325 deg F / 160 deg C for 15 - 20 minutes. (I baked them for about 20 minutes.)
* Cool them and roll in icing sugar to coat them lightly.
Comments
These saffron cookies were the first ones that got baked by me for this marathon. I came across these lovely cookies when looking for some simple ones with Indian flavors. These are made with the basic ingredients found in any Indian pantry and gets done in a short time. I made a small batch of these as I had baked other cookies too.
Ingredients: (Yield 6 to 7 cookies)
1 tbsp. warm milk
A pinch of saffron strands
3 tbsp. powdered sugar
3 tbsp. softened butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. cardamom powder
Slivered almonds to garnish
Method:
* Crush the saffron strands and soak them in milk for a couple of minutes.
* Grease or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F / 180 deg C.
* Beat sugar and butter in a bowl.
Add the saffron milk and mix.
* Next add flour and cardamom to the bowl and combine to form a soft dough.
* Divide the mixture into 6 - 7 balls and gently flatten them between your palms.
* Arrange them on the prepared baking sheet. Garnish with slivered almonds.
* Bake them for about 15 - 20 minutes.
(I baked for about 17 minutes. They firm up once they cool down and so bake accordingly. No need to bake until they turn crispy in the oven.)
* Remove them from oven when done and let cool. Store them in airtight container.
I baked around half a dozen variety of cookies for this marathon without any prior planning as such and since the other adult at home is used to having cookies along with his evening tea, a couple of them were chosen to be on the 'not sweet' side. These cumin flavored cookies adapted from here is one of those. I cut down the butter and sugar by half from the original recipe and the resulting cookies were crispy and flaky like the khara biscuits and we enjoyed them as a evening snack.
Ingredients I used: (Yield 15 cookies)
4 tbsp. butter + 1 tbsp. oil
2 tbsp. sugar
1 cup flour
1 tbsp. toasted cumin seeds
1/4 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. milk
Method:
* Cream together butter and sugar. (One can use the hand mixer since the quantities are less to use a stand mixer.) Add flour, salt and cumin seeds to the butter - sugar mixture and mix until the dough is formed. Use the oil and milk if the dough is not coming together. (I added oil and milk for binding in place of butter, the original recipe had.)
* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F.
* Shape the mixture to a disc and roll it into 1/4 inch thickness. Cut them into desired cookie shapes.
* Place them on a baking sheet and bake for 30 - 35 minutes.
* Cool them on a wire rack and store them in airtight container.
