Coffee Walnut Cookies

I think these are one of the first cookies i had made, back when i was a teenager and had started venturing into the world of baking, which at that time mostly consisted of pilsburry cake mixes.
what i like about the recipe is that, unlike most coffee recipes, the coffee flavor doesn't jump at you on the first bite, rather it has a very subtle coffee flavor.
this recipe is from my mom's huge box file which has like more than a hundred recipes, sometimes just to leaf through that file gives more ideas than surfing the net for recipes.

Ingredients:

150 g flour (or 50/50 with whole wheat flour)

80 g butter, softened

75 g powdered sugar

1 tsp coffee

50 g walnuts, crushed

1 – 2 tsp milk

Method:

Cream butter and sugar, until light and fluffy. Add the flour, coffee. Stir in the walnuts Mix till it forms into firm dough. Add a little milk if too dry.

Roll on a dusted surface, and cut into desired shapes.

Bake at 160°C for 10 – 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Oreo cupcakes

who doesn't love oreos. and to imagine your favorite cookie incorporated into cupcakes.....need i say more.
if you make a batch of these you will be an instant hit with all the kids, teenagers, maybe even a few adults...i'm surely a fan.

the recipe is pretty simple, its a vanilla cupcake recipe with crushed oreos mixed in it and half an oreo cookie at the base, and topped with oreo flavored buttercream...Too much of Oreos can't go wrong.. trust me
I found this recipe on sugarcrafter, the only changes i made was to add half an oreo at the base

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 and 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4 large egg whites or 2 whole eggs

1 and 1/2 cups sour milk (or buttermilk)

1 and 1/2 cups finely chopped Oreo pieces

20 oreo halves with cream filling

Frosting:-

6 tbsp butter, softened

3 cups powdered or icing sugar

2-3 drops vanilla essence

2 – 4 tbsp milk

Oreo crumbs.

Method

For the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 180ºC.  Mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.

In a large bowl, mix together the butter with the sugar and vanilla. Then, add the egg whites, half at a time. The mixture will go from crumbly to soupy.

Then, add the egg whites, half at a time.  The mixture will go from crumbly to soupy. Stir in the Oreo pieces

Place one oreo halve – cream side up, in each muffin mould. Now, pour the batter over these cookie halves.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting - First, mix together the butter, and vanilla.  Add in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Then, add in the milk, and mix until well-blended. Finally, mix in the Oreo pieces.

My frosting became a little runny, so i drizzled it on top. you can also use whipped cream mixed with crushed oreos, i think i would have liked it better, i'm not a very big fan of buttercream as I find it a little too sweet. but even without any frosting these cupcakes are really good.

Date Squares

Sugar Free can be sweet....

When people hear sugar free related to any desert they automatically think " it contains artificial sweeteners", i don't believe in replacing sugar with artificial sweeteners..just for the sake of making a desert sugar free...i would rather eat a little less to control my sugar intake. Also don't listen to the advertisements for artificial sweeteners - they don't taste the same as sugar and using them as much as sugar is not healthy.

naturally sweet ingredients on the other hand, can replace sugar in some desserts and nobody will even find out that it doesn't contain sugar.(unless u want to tell them)

I found this recipe on joyofbaking and when i tried it out and served it at home everyone liked it but felt that it was a bit too sweet. so the next time i tried it i just cut out the sugar. i also substituted the all purpose flour for whole wheat. (healthier and it gives it a more rustic flavor and color)

so this is one of those recipes that u can kind of eat guilt free or serve to someone who is trying to cut their sugar intake.

its also pretty simple and requires very little time.

Ingredients

Date Filling:

3 cups (400 grams) pitted dried dates

1 cup (240 ml) water

Oatmeal Crust:

2 cups (200 grams) old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup (130 grams) wheat flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ cup (175 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Method

Date Filling:Place the dates and water in a medium saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the dates are soft and have absorbed most of the water (about 5 - 10 minutes). Remove from heat, Let it cool to room temperature and then puree in your food processor until smooth. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Grease an 8 x 11 inch (20 x 28 cm) or  a 9 x 9 inch (23 x 23 cm) pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

Oatmeal Crust: In the bowl of your food processor, place the  oats, flour, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon. Pulse to combine. Then add the butter and pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Press 2/3 of the mixture into the base of the prepared pan.

Spread the dates evenly over the oatmeal crust. Sprinkle the remaining dough evenly over the top of the dates. Bake for about 30 -40 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a wire rack to cool. Once the squares have cooled, cover the pan with plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator at least one hour or until firm enough to cut easily into squares.

These will keep, covered, in the refrigerator up to a week.

Makes about 20 - 2 inch squares.

you can also try this recipe with other fillings, such as any fruit jam or chocolate ganache....off course them it won't be sugar free....

Chocolate muffins.....

My first post....

as i have finally decided to start blogging, i thought of wt my first post should be. And felt it would only be right to start blogging with the recipe that started my food photography craze. i had only photographed this with the intention of showing it off to my brothers and making them jealous, but the pic came out so good that after thins i ended up wanting to photograph all my desserts.

this is a very basic muffin recipe that i found on joyofbaking, and my motto is to always find the simplest of recipes. if a simple recipe gives you delicious muffins why even try a more complicated one.
The chocolate sauce that i drizzled on top..was absolutely delicious, rich, creamy and oh so chocolatey...my secret -  it was actually a devils food cake frosting recipe that i found on the net, but when i made it, it turned out really liquidy, and i didn't know how to thicken it enough to use as frosting....so instead i just used it as chocolate sauce and didn't tell anyone that it was meant to be frosting...haha ..

Chocolate sauce

Ingredients:-
125 ml water
30 g brown sugar
175 g butter, cubed
300 g dark chocolate, chopped

Put water, brown sugar, and butter in a pan over low heat to melt. when the mixture begins to bubble, take the pan off the heat and add the chopped chocolate, swirling the pan so that all the chocolate is hit with the heat. leave it for a minute to melt before whisking till smooth and glossy.
Note- to make frosting reduce the water to around 80 ml. leave the mixture for about an hour whisking now and again and refrigerate before using.