Buckwheat or Kuutu ka Atta Cookies for the Navrat Fasting Community

Cookies are indeed an indulgence. Something which needs to be abstained during the fasting days . Isn't that what fasts are all about ? but then there are folks like me , secretly (and unashamedly ) salivating for a bite to to dip into their morning cuppa. For those who are wondering why am I talking about all the feasting permutations and combinations during the fast days  - well its the Indian way of rewarding the gods and goddesses (and oneself if I may add ) with all the purest ingredients in all its grandeur. 

So how come Cookies were never mentioned in our fasting Navratra platter? Well you see our grandmas were too busy creating the most delicate and intricate dishes with the most holistic ingredients to bother about dipping their cookies in chai (tea). The westernization of the Indian fasting platter was frowned upon, but the times are changing, with the Five Star restaurants like Sheraton introducing a Chinese fasting platter replete with Buckwheat noodles and Fried wontons made of Chestnut flour, why should I be ashamed of salivating for a humble cookie.   So here's how this humble cookie came into being .. not great pics as I repeat , I'm not a photographer. I manage to click whatever the iphone allows. But hey! don't be bothered with all that. Just mix and bake, its gluten free cookie nirvana on a plate. 

Buckwheat Cookies (Fasting,Vegan, Gluten free)

These Buckwheat Cookies are grain-free, egg-free, naturally sweet and vegan-friendly!

Ingredients

1 cup buckwheat or Kuttu Ka Atta

1cup Almond flour

1 cup butter or coconut oil for vegans

3 tablespoons honey

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 250 C

In a baking bowl cream the honey and butter. Now add all the other ingredients and mix well.

Once the batter is ready , you can drop batter by rounded tablespoons onto a baking sheet.  l

Bake at 170C for around 9 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.The allow to cool on the pan. Bite when you can wait no longer!!

Straight-from-my-heart Chewy Oats Cookies

Valentine is just round the corner. And here I’m sitting and pondering about love.

Not the sweet mushy sort of love though (and if that's what you came looking for here - this is NOT for you. Rest- Read on)

B--ut the morbid fear of this artificially manufactured day of Love called Valentines, I once had. Not that I need to worry about singledom anymore and thankfully (even when I was a single person pushing mid-twenties) I never really felt the pressure to be accompanied at any other time of the year. You know - being single is the least of the single person’s worry – it’s  the parents woe in the country I live in. Ha! Still in my 20s the anxiety of an onrushing V day was just too much.

I never had the grief of celebrating this holiday in my teens as this concept of dedicating a day to love was still taking roots in India. A decade later was when it hit me hard.  Cookies, cakes, coffee shops with love sorbets and shakes. All I wanted was to sit in one of those celebrating love cafes and gaze deep into the eyes of my so-called valentine, being serenaded by chocolates or roses. None of it would actually happen. I hated the day with all my might. I hated the fact that it would make a repeated appearance year after year, taking the couples to dizzying levels of love, but me. I had been patient with it. Fast forward a few years and I thought all my problems were solved with our marriage.

Looks like the Richard Gere of pretty Woman (who visibly turned my life upside down)had no telltale effect on my husband. In his dictionary Valentine’s is just another day.

My dreams went kaput. 

Year on year I tried to coach him with heavy doses of the chicklits. No avail.

Enough is enough. This year on – I decide to serenade myself. I have promised to bake love potions and foods which captures my heart and makes it flutter.

Add to it a gift that my credit card can bear without cringing.

And I’m set.


Somewhere along the line I think this s quote from the movie ‘Love Actually’ too did its bit to help me survive "Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinions starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there -- fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends."

Yes, I’m a romantic at heart, and waiting for the day when these movies cause a change of heart for my husband. Till then- there are these Chewy oats cookies.

My preparations start now. A huge classic oat cookie is the first to arrive. Hearts sure are missing as I baked and took pictures last Christmas, but who says I cannot do it again for the love of me.

C’mon wear your aprons and bake some love for yourself.

Chewy Oats Cookie (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar, packed
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup (120 grams) raisins
1/2 cup walnuts (65 grams), chopped (optional)

In a large bowl, whisk together the butter the sugar, the egg and vanilla.  Now mix the flour salt and soda in another bowl. Now add the oats and walnuts. Mix all of it together.

Chill the dough for an hour and then scoop the cookies onto a sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking them. If you are impatient like me, you can sure bake them right away. Whatever you choose to do, you need to first heat oven to 175°C or 350 F then put them in for 20-25 minutes.

I like mine super thick so I doubled the dough for each one and covered each with a parchment paper.
Once they are out they’ll look like indulgence.

Just my way to celebrate the season of love !!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies

Its Tuesday ---- after  a hectic Monday,  with work going upto 1:30 AM in the night , working lunch and a sweaty gym session in the morning. It's time to do it all over again on a Tuesday. Heck-this schedule continues for the next remaining four day and I'm tired thinking about it all already. Let Peanut butter be my Nirvana point.Its more of getting something you like -- adding more of what you love. Bake them all till they are all in a mushy togetherness - find that perfect pairing - hot choclate- horlicks- tea - oh! whatever. This is a combination that one can never go wrong with ...find a cozy corner. Sit back and enjoy....

Can we have more love (we are talking the edible variety - you Dirty Dirty mind ;) for the rest of the remaining days of the week too !! 

Here is the recipe thats been adapted from the The-girl-who-ate-everything

Ingredients:

1 cup + 2 TBS peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened (I used Amul)

1/4 cup white sugar (you can substitute with splenda for the calorie conscious )

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

2 TBS milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

My adaptation was to skip the Peanut butter chips and the chocolate chips. I could not find these easily in India.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the peanut butter, butter. Once combined beat in the white sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla. In a large bowl mix  all the dry ingredients. Gently add to creamed mixture and mix until almost combined. Chill cookie dough for at least half an hour.

Roll tablespoonful’s of dough into balls. Place dough balls on parchment lined baking sheets. Carefully press each ball with fork tines to create a criss-cross pattern. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned. Please be careful as they burn easily. Keep checking. Turn off oven when they are browned.