Baked Coconut Bites - Modak Makeover (Egg-less)

To say Lord Ganeshji is the most adaptable would be an understatement. He's been disguised into so many avatars by us humans every year when Ganesh Chaturti comes along. Ambedkar Ganapati, Cycle Ganapati, Computer Ganapati... I mean seriously?! God really has patience with us humans for all the antics we show him.

With all that said, every year, we all serve him with the one thing that's considered his favourite food - Modak. I personally love modaks, too. I made them for Ganesh Chaturti (and forgot to click pics to post it here, but will make it for you all again soon!) and they were over in the blink of an eye even with a minor glitch in them.

But here's what happened. I ended up having extra Modak filling. Plus, like I mentioned earlier about the slight mistake I'd done - I had used shredded dry coconut instead of grated dry coconut and my filling turned out to be very dry. Still, I'd say the modaks tasted good because the jaggery/gud melted when the modaks were steamed.

So, what do you do when you have left-over Modak filling? Of course, eating it up as is can be one idea. But, how about transforming it into something else? Like these crunchy baked coconut bites?

Now, we're talking. And, you agree don't ya? These coconut-y bites are so easy to make you could even use your gooey modak filling for the same as well. Just add more flour to aid in binding. I know Ganesh Chaturti was over two weeks ago. But hey, won't you just make that filling again to eat these crunchy munchies??

Nan Kathai

If you have been wondering why there is so much silence on SSTT, its simply because I've been too busy. Too busy - enjoying myself this summer! We're planning trips and heading outdoors almost every weekend and making sure we stock up on loads of snacks to-go. That being said, one fine day I decided I had to dish up something all by myself. Something that we could throw into a zip-top bag and take it with us to munch as we rolled down the highway. And, right then I remembered this crunchy little, long forgotten (in my case) Indian cookie - Nan Kathai. Of course I did not know how to put it together...but why do we have the internet?! I remember having come across this one on Manjula's Kitchen - A site that I refer a lot of times when I want to 'see' how to make stuff rather than just read. You should look it up. She has some great videos wherein she explains recipes with utmost patience and makes it all seem like a breeze!

Ingredients

1/3 cup all purpose flour (maida)

1/3 cup fine semolina/rava/sooji
1/2 cup gram flour (besan)
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

A pinch of baking soda
1/4 tsp green cardamom seed coarsely powder (Elaichi powder)
2 tbsp Mixture of finely sliced almonds and pistachios

Method
- Pre heat the oven to 375 degree.

- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until completely blended. I cannot resist myself from eating a glob of this! Horrible, I am, eh?!
- In another bowl, mix the all-purpose flour, semolina, gram flour, baking soda and cardamom powder and set aside
- Add this to the butter and sugar mixture and knead together to make soft, smooth dough
- Make small, equal sized balls of the dough (about 1 inch in diameter)
- Press each ball between your palms to form the shape of a thick cookie and place on a greased cookie/baking sheet
- Dab each nan kathai cookie with a pinch of the almonds and pistachios
- Place nan kathais in the pre-heated oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until nan khatais are lightly gold brown
- Allow nan kathais to cool down completely before taking off cookie/baking sheet

Makes about 20 light, crunchy nan kathai - Perfect for tea-time, travel-time or just about any time!!

Soft Sour Cream Cookies

If you have been following my posts lately, you'd have noticed the Sour Cream And Veggie Dip. Needless to say, I had sour cream left after I prepared this. I wanted to make something different and I could sense the baking ghost haunt me. And much to my interest, one of Food Network's popular chefs made these unique Southern American style of cookies. Not South American, but the southern reagion of the USA is where she hails from. From the past few years of my watching her shows, I've learnt that they have a lot of country style recipes that she shares. I thought I will try my hand at these...and share them with you. They turned out great...and if there was one thing that really intrigued me it was how the cookie would taste once baked. Would it be sour? Would it be sweet? Who knew! I simply baked! Much to my surprise, my little one who normally does not like sweet goodies, enjoyed this one. So, I can assure you it will be a hit with your kids. Go ahead and try it out...

Ingredients

1.5 Cups All purpose flour/Maida

1/3 Cup Sour Cream
1/2 Cup Confectioners Sugar
1/3 Cup Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
1 Egg, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt

Method
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Cream together sugar, butter and the egg until fluffy
- Add sour cream, flour, baking powder and salt
- Mix thoroughly to make soft, pliable cookie dough
- Pull out small portions of the dough and make balls of about 1/2 inch in diameter
- Press slightly with the palm of your hands to flatten
- Place on greased cookie sheet and sprinkle sugar on top of cookies before baking
- Bake for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Do not overbake as these are supposed to be soft and not browned. Apparently, the cookies will turn out to be hard if overbaked - So keep an eye!

Makes 2 dozen soft cookies

Raisin n Nut Cookies

Yes, you guessed it right. I'm on a cookie baking spree. And the good thing is most cookies bake using the same basic recipe, unless you want to flavour the batter itself with something, like say....chocolate, in which case you would add cocoa to your batter. So this time I thought I'd get a little unhealthy and use all purpose flour and make cookies using almonds, cashews and raisins. I loved these a lot better than my Candy Cookies, thanks to the crunchy and chewy texture lent by the dry fruit and nuts. But I urge you to try both, since each have their own unique flavour.

Ingredients1.5 Cup All purpose flour (Maida)
1.5 Cup of Confectioners Sugar
10 tbsp Unsalted butter (softened/at room temperature)
1 Egg (Whole, Beaten)
1 Egg White (Beaten along with the above whole egg. I think two eggs would be too much for 1.5 cups of flour, so I did this 1.5 egg thingie!)
1.25 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 tbsp Slivered Almonds
3 tbsp Split Cashews
3 tbsp Raisins
(You can add any other variety of nuts that you want too!)

Method
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Slightly toast cashews, slivered almonds and raisins for about 1 minute and set aside
- Sift the flour into a bowl
- Add butter and mix to form a crumb like mixture
- Add sugar, salt and baking powder and stir
- Toss in the vanilla extract and eggs and beat on low-medium speed until it forms a batter like consistency
- Roughly chop the toasted nuts and raisins mixture and add to the cookie dough and stir
- Make tiny balls out (about 3/4 inch diameter) and place on a greased baking sheet with at least 2 inches space between each cookie
- Place in preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are golden and the rims are light brown.
- Once baked allow to cool on a rack for a few minutes
- Serve warm with a fresh glass of milk or at tea time

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Candy Cookies

Most people would agree that baking sweet treats is more of a science, unlike cooking which I'd think is an art. Why? Well, add one extra egg and you'll end up baking a disaster. Measurements are critical; Temperature's got to be right - And only then will you end up having a proper dish. So, just thinking about all this drove me far far away from trying to make cookies. I still remember my Dad's experiment to make 'em and the cookies could easily be mistaken for rocks!! Dad, don't yell at me for spilling your cookies...er, beans. Hehe. Anyway, one fine day I mustered up the courage and decided I will do my bit of research online and try my hand at baking up a couple myself..and the result was not that bad really. In fact, I served 'em up at a party!! Go ahead, set your oven to preheat mode and get the ingredients. Now!

Ingredients
1 Cup Flour (I have used 1/2 Cup All purpose flour and 1/2 Cup Whole Wheat flour. You can choose to use 1 full cup of either one of the flours)
1 Cup of Confectioners Sugar
6 tbsp Unsalted butter (softened/at room temperature)
1 Egg (Beaten)
3/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
A pack of Candy (I've used M&Ms)

Method
- Preheat oven to 350F
- Sift the flour into a bowl
- Add butter and mix to form a crumb like mixture
- Add sugar, salt and baking powder and stir
- Toss in the vanilla extract and egg and beat on low-medium speed until it forms a batter like consistency
- Make tiny balls out (about 3/4 inch diameter) and place on a greased baking sheet with at least 2 inches space between each cookie
- Top every cookie with a candy (You can choose to crush the candy and put it along with the batter. I will try doing that the next time!)
- Place in preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are golden and the rims are light brown.
- Once baked allow to cool on a rack for a few minutes
- Serve warm with a fresh glass of milk or at tea time

Makes about 2 Dozen cookies.