Eggless Oreo Cookies

My blog views crossed 10000. yayayyyyy!!!!!! Celebrating with a sweet!!! Oreo Cookies, ah so many kids favorite.. I bet there are many adults also in that list.. This is one such cookie which has lot of products from it, like I have seen an Oreo Cookie Ice-cream, Oreo Cookie Cheesecake, Oreo Cookie stuffed chocolate etc.. Oreo Cookies is so famous and to do them at home is not easy as the first thing that people relate to is the fabulous taste. This recipe however made that challenge much easier and yes the taste was awesome and it was so heavenly to eat and the fresh chocolate smell all over the house.. It was yummmm!!! I am so happy to be part of Baking Partners group and is very interesting to try these varieties!!. I added a few drops of color to the filling as my daughter loves pink cream in her cream biscuit!!. Original recipe had eggs and I have used flax seed powder to make a substitute.

Ingredients
Butter - 6 table spoons (softened)
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar - 1/3 cup
Salt - 1/2 tea spoon
Baking Powder - 1/4 tea spoon + 1/8 tea spoon
Baking Soda - 1/4 tea spoon
Vanilla - 1 1/2 tea spoons
Flax Seed Powder - 2 table spoons
Warm Water - 6 table spoons
Cocoa Powder - 1 cup
All Purpose Flour - 3/4 cup
For Filling
Butter - 4 table spoons (softened)
Powdered Sugar - 1 cup
Vanilla - 1 tea spoon
Salt - A pinch
Milk - If needed

Method
Mix together flax seed powder and warm water and set aside for 5 minutes. Now whisk vigorously until it becomes gooey. Set aside.
In a mixer, cream butter and both sugars together
Once creamy, add salt, baking powder, baking soda and vanilla until combined
Add the flax seed mixture and mix until combined
Sieve together flour and cocoa and add it to the wet ingredients all in once and mix until most of the dry is hydrated
Now turn on the mixer and mix until uniform
Knead to form a smooth ball. At this stage you could either proceed or refrigerate up to a week
If refrigerating, bring it back to room temperature before rolling
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
Line the cookie sheet with Parchment paper and set aside
Sift cocoa powder on counter and roll the dough with hand initially and then finish it off with a rolling pin to 1/8th inch thickness. Do not start with the rolling pin as it might stick a lot. Do some with hand and finish it with rolling pin
Using a 2" round cookie cutter, cut the cookies and transfer to the cookie sheet with the help of a metal spatula
Knead the remaining dough and work it all the way until most of the dough is used up.
You need not leave much gap between the cookies as they will not spread
Take a small 1 inch size dough and add 1/2 tea spoon warm water to it and mix vigorously until it becomes like a frosting
Take a toothpick and dip inside the frosting and design on top of the cookies. I wrote letters to form the name of my blog and also my daughter's name. My daughter was so excited to arrange the letters to get her name!!!. It was fun

Bake the cookie in the preheated oven for 15 - 18 minutes until they are firm to touch. Mine took about 17 minutes. It is a good practice to rotate the pan half way through (say about at 8 minutes) to ensure even cooking
Remove from oven and move the cookies with the parchment to a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely
For the filling - add all the ingredients to a mixer and beat until combined and comes to a frosting consistency. You may add milk to bring to the desired consistency.
Once the cookies are cooled completely, flip half the cookies upside down and add about a tea spoon of the frosting and close it with the remaining half of the cookies
Apply even pressure to ensure that the frosting is evenly spread and take care not to squeeze them out
Refrigerate for at least a few hours to give time for the frosting to set and serve



Sending this to Vaishali's Kid's Delight - Chocolate, Srivalli Page, Pari's Show me your Dessert, Vardhini's Bake Fest hosted by Archana this month, Fair Foods Event, Jagruti's I'm well stuffed, International celebration, Jagruti's page,  Dish it out hosted by Foodomania, Srivalli's giveaway, Spice n Sugar Tales - Cooking made easy with Chocolates

 

Tomato Chutney

Chutneys are a boon to have on hand. If you do not have on hand, then they can be done in a jiffy.. They are the best accompaniments to Idli, dosa and completes a meal. There are lot of things you do with this tomato chutney – some I can think of are – accompany with idli, dosa, paniyarams, spread it on bread, roll it with chapathi.. So many more..  I made this to serve along with dhokla and the combination was awesome.

Ingredients
Tomato – 4 (chopped)
Onion – 1 (chopped)
Green Chili - 2
Red Chili Powder - 1 tea spoon
Salt - 1 tea spoon
Tamarind - small lemon size
Warm water - 3 table spoons
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tea spoon
Asafetida - 1/4 tea spoon
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tea spoon
Red Chili - 2
Oil - 2 tea spoons
Method
Soak the tamarind in warm water for 10 minutes and extract pulp and set aside
Heat a tea spoon and half of oil in a pan and sauté onions, green chili and tamarind paste for around 3 minutes.
Add tomatoes, turmeric powder, chili powder, asafetida and sauté for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat and allow it to cool
Grind the above mixture to a smooth paste and set aside
Heat 1/2 tea spoon oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and once it crackles, add the red chili and pour it over the chutney and serve


Sending this to Pickles and Chutney Event, Dish name starts with T

Oats Dosai

For blogging marathon, under low cal breakfast, I chose Oats Dosa which is a quick and easy breakfast or tiffin item. It tastes best when served hot and best accompanied by Sambar, coconut chutney or tomato urugai. We loved it with sambar. I got this recipe from here. I love the rava dosai my mom makes and this resembles and also tastes like rava dosai but much more healthier.

Raisins Oatmeal – A perfect breakfast

Oats is always on my list when I think breakfast and happy to share this recipe as part of BM for Low Cal Breakfast. Raisin Oatmeal is a quick and healthy breakfast that can be prepared in less than 10 minutes with only a few Ingredients. If a chewy texture is desired, add the oats and salt when the water is cold and then bring all to a boil. Some of topping that can added to this oatmeal are dried fruits, nuts like almonds, brown sugar, cinnamon, cream etc. This recipe is the basic version and will serve 2 with ¼ cup of oats per person. Adjust the amount of milk needed as per preference.

Aval Upuma

For this week BM, I am doing low cal breakfast and I instantly thought of Aval upuma. Upuma is such a homey and comfort food and always reminds me home.. Aval (Poha) upuma is a quick and easy dish that can be made in less than 15 minutes. It tastes best when served hot. Cut the potatoes very small to make it cute and also blend with the aval. You can also garnish with some freshly grated coconut if desired.

Healthy Food for Healthy Kids-Combo Meal

Participating in events are fun, because you get to see so many different varieties of food with the same theme and that means more recipes to try in one place!!! I participate in many events and look forward for their round ups so that I get to see what all my friend bloggers have done with the theme.. When Nithu asked me to Guest host the “Healthy foods for Healthy Kids” event, I was so happy to grab this chance that I did not want to miss it.. Thanks to Nithu for giving me the chance to Guest host her Event. I am a strong believer that Home cooked meals are more healthier than the restaurant served meals. Not that I am against eating outside, (I do love to go to restaurants) but that should be kept to minimum for a healthier next generation.. Easier said than done is try out many new recipes, but with these events and their roundups, it makes easier to get many different recipes. Even picky eaters may try to eat new varieties of food and that is what the event and its roundup will help us all. Now this event is about Combo meals, any dish is complete with its accompaniments and side dishes, so how about we get to dishes with a complete plate in there, like a dosai and chutney, breadsticks and marinara, chapathi and paneer masala, chole and batura, fried rice and manchurian… Ah I can think of so many options!!! So here comes the rules for this event.

Rules :
1. Post any vegetarian (no eggs allowed) healthy Combo recipe suitable for kids between 4 to 15 years of age between 10th Sep and 10th Oct, 2012. (We need combo meal recipe and picture. For eg, if you plan to post Fried rice and Gobi manchurian, post the recipe for both and a picture of both the dishes together)
2. Give link to this announcement and Nithu's event announcement. Logo is mandatory  as it helps spread word.
3. Don't worry if you have your recipes in your archives. Just update the post with logo and  link to this announcement and Nithu's event announcement
4. Send your entries to nivedhanams@gmail.com with the subject line as ‘Healthy Food for Healthy Kids-Combo Meal' with the below details.
Name :
Blog Name :
Recipe Name :
Recipe URL :
Picture of your recipe :
4. Non-bloggers are welcome to send recipes. Send recipe in full with the picture and the same subject line as above.
5. Person who sends highest number of entries will be declared as the Winner of the Month. A winner badge will be awarded by Nithu which you can proudly post in your blog:-)
6. I'll acknowledge your entries within 3 days else leave a comment in this announcement.

 Linky tool will open at 12am on Sep 10th.

Dil Pasand / Dil kush

Dil Pasand (liked by heart) is a delicious bakery bun. The outer layer is beautiful flaky and soft and the stuffing is a sweet made with coconut and tutti frutti. It is heaven in the form of this pastry. This is very popular in bakeries and is also called as Coconut Bun. I got this recipe from here and this is a sure crowd pleaser. I have used single color tutti frutti, but if you use multi colored ones, it will be even more pretty!!!

Ingredients
Grated Coconut - 2 cups
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tea spoon
Tutti Frutti - 1/2 cup
Nuts - 1/4 cup
Layered Paratha (Frozen) - 6 parathas
Melted Butter - 1 table spoon
Water - 1 tea spoon

Method
Thaw the parathas on counter as per package guidance
Heat coconut in a pan for 3 to 4 minutes on medium heat. The coconut should become dry but no color change should happen
Add the nuts and sauté for 30 seconds.
Add the sugar and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes until the sugar is well dissolved. Do not cook for too long as the sugar will harden
Remove from heat and add the cardamom powder and tutti frutti and allow it to cool
out of 6 parathas, take 3 parathas and cut them 1 inch smaller than the other 3.
Take one of the bigger parathas and spread the coconut tutti frutti mixture leaving about 1 inch from all sides
Now keep the smaller parathas on top of the coconut mixture and seal from all sides. Take help of water to seal it
Arrange the coconut buns on the baking try lined with parchment paper which is greased
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
Brush the butter on top of the buns and bake them for 30 minutes
Switch off the oven and allow the buns to be inside the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes
Remove from the oven to a cooling rack to cool
Serve slightly warm or on room temperature
Yummy delicious Dil Pasand is ready!!!

Sending this to my own event – Anniversary event, Taste of the Tropics – Coconut, Chef Mireille’s page, Vardhini's Bake Fest hosted by Archana this month, Fair Foods Event, Pari's Show me your Dessert., Jagruti's I'm well stuffed,  Celebrate - Indian Sweets