How to make Healthy 3 Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

The calendar on the bottom of my screen reminds me each day how fast we are getting close to the end of December. That means, we are just 2 weeks away from waving goodbye to this year (stop twitching your eyes, will you!) and, we are only 7 nights away from Christmas! 7 nights, that's just about a week. Yes, yes, just about a week I said! Sooner we bat our eyelids, that will be snapped away too. Now hope you are not smirking at me or raising your eyebrows in an oddly muddled way! If you did, then I assume you have sprung up on your toes and are heading right to your desk to grab that paper and pen to sort your Christmas shindig. So by this time around next week, I imagine the table will be laid out, and cutleries matched up, stockings set up high on the window sill where the fairy lights are twinkling in a chord, rushing through last minute gift wrapping and cookie plating, and in the reclusive spot of your home there may be a party planned with folks boisterously chiming in Merry Christmas while sipping away some eggnog.

I don't mean to scare you by any means. While we are nearly there in the last lap of the year with another 15 days to go, we are still left with the best few days of 2016 to live with. I wanted to knock your door and remind you on that. By that I mean, I wouldn't want you to burn out and hyperventilate planning the whole carte du jour for the D-day celebrations, rather take it slow and easy, plan with a breather, living the last few days of this year insanely happy, making it a memorable one.

We got the taste of our real winter snowfall yesterday that lasted a couple of hours. By end of the day, all the white snow flaked icing was one into a slushy mess. Predictions are it will continue to snow over the week, slipping into weekend. This morning we woke up to see our world swallowed by mesmerizing white everywhere. I dumped myself in layers and layers of warmers, mufflers and whatnot, yet, chill air was strong enough to render my eyes watery, feet numbed and nose tips frosted. By the time I was home, my coconut massaged hair had frozen to thick dreadlocks and my toes had lost their sense of belonging. Today was the coldest winter I've ever witnessed in my life, and this is just the beginning, an experience worth a memory, a teaser to what lies in the months ahead. Now I'm seriously thinking of a balaclava, no matter how comical I may seem.

In the run to year end celebration, I've turned on my oven to warm up our home and bake some delectable goodies. Between churning out my favorite fruit cakes that will go out to friends and colleagues, I have some healthy cookies baking on the side, that serve as an instant solace to curb the cravings of my little girl and me. While the air is heated and scents of fruits and spices waft through the kitchen, these cookies are made instantly with left over bananas, some oatmeal and chocolate chips, just 3 ingredients put together into a loose dough and baked to form soft cake like cookies. They are an instant ramification of salvaging some near dying overripe bananas that are honey sweet and boost of potassium in abundance. They are healthy, have no fat, can be customized to your will by replacing chocolate chips with nuts and raisins of choice, are gluten free, dairy-free, can be easily passed on for breakfast or on-the-go snack at odd hour with no guilt. Now that's what you need on your hand while you are raking your brain sketching out the Christmas menu. Go ahead and bake these along too.

Healthy 3 Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Prep Time: 5 mins | Bake Time: 12 mins | Yields: 9 medium sized cookies

INGREDIENTS

1 large overripe banana
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats*
1/4 cup chocolate chips*
1 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mash the bananas in a medium bowl. Add the oats, vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Stir in well to form a loose dough.

Using an oiled spoon, drop a tablespoonful of the cookie dough to a baking tray. Flatten them down gently into a disc shape if desired.

Bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack. Serve with tea or coffee or take as an on-the-go snack.

Notes:

* Use gluten-free oats for gluten-free option
* Use vegan chocolate chips for vegan option
* Replace the chocolate chips with raisins or nuts like almonds or walnuts for a nut based option
* Vanilla extract is optional but highly recommended for more flavor. You can do without it however.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies | Easy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

In our direct sight, right outside our balcony are two young, strong maple trees that stand next to each other in a row. They are probably the last of few trees in our region to hold on to their deepest summer greens, while across the street, the one that we take to drop our daughter to the school bus stop, the towering maples have turned into fiery red, fancy yellows, even burnt browns, scattering themselves on sidewalks and spilling over streets in favor of the autumn's climax that we saw a week ago. The leaves trodden path smell of gentle rot, casting that sweet autumn perfume in air, as many wear their bare-dare look and poke their woody nibs high into the murky skies.

By the time the first streak of sun rays hit our home, we are wide awake, our hair strewn, usually done with brushing and sipping a cup of hot ginger tea for the two. We are at a point when we begin nudging our daughter out of her sleep. That takes us a two-man effort to canoodle, our attempts to wake her up over several minutes - the husband and I, at times her dear grandma adds in too, to pull her off the bed and tow her to the bathroom to start her day with. By this moment there's enough light curtailing the darkness of dawn, and the two maple trees outside our home are well in our sight. We watch it every morning in exhilaration for its transformation, awaiting patiently as it takes its turn to move from greens to yellows, and then to browns. For all the autumn we have seen this season, these two are holding on to their cavernous greens. Did I not say they were strong?

Yesterday, this Saturday morning, voila! The magic unfolded. Leaves changed hues, turning themselves to beautiful golds and bronzes, some earthy greens and blazing reds splashed in random - autumn's treat to us. The curtains stayed open all day long, the doors left ajar despite the chill air, providing us with a better sight and coverage to the trees overall, as we stepped out excitedly to snap a few moments to be treasured. For the next couple of days, the magic shall prevail till they turn matte coppers, sway feebly into air, and pile up in heaps of burgundies and russets on the ground below, before the snow flakes engulf them in uniform of black and white.

With fall around, there's an awesomeness in air that makes home baking more gratifying. With the year end coming closer, and the holiday spirit in air, desserts will make their prominence on family lunches and dinner gatherings. Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Cookies are just the perfect things you could bake this season. They'll add more charm to your coffee trays that will roll in as guests visit you. If not, consider them gifting to your loved ones and bring joy to their celebrations.

The recipe is adapted from All Recipes. In my quest to find a good recipe for eggless version of Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, I researched a bit and tried a couple of recipes with varying results. I highly suggest this recipe, albeit minor modifications. I advice you do not cut down on the fat content in this recipe, and balance the brown and white sugars to the below said, that is, if you care for crisp cookies. The cookies do spread a bit, so place them well. We are a family that loves crisp cookies, very Indian in that aspect, so I like to flatten these cookies with a fork before baking. The recipe here will make you a batch of about 16-18 medium sized cookies depending on how much you fill your tablespoon with. If you wish to bring fall to your cookies, add a nice helping of sweet cinnamon and heady nutmeg powder to this recipe. So pull your pans out, warm up your oven and let's bake a batch of these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep: 10 mins | Cook: 12 min | Makes: 16-18 cookies

INGREDIENTS

1 cup salted butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup boiling water
2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used mini chocolate chips)

DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line the cookie tray with baking / parchment paper and set aside.

Bring the butter to room temperature, and beat it with brown sugar and white sugar till its light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla extract and all-purpose flour to this and mix.

Next in a separate bowl, dissolve a teaspoon of baking soda in boiling water. Add this to the above mixture and stir gently.

Stir in the rolled oats and raisins and mix them in. Drop by tablespoonful into a tray lined by baking / parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 10-12 minutes. Don't over bake.

Remove from baking tray and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack. Store them in a air-tight container.

How to make Black Forest Ice Cream | Easy Chocolate Black Forest Ice Cream Recipe

I am clueless how months have flown by since my last post here. Let me put excuses aside and so that you know, let's get started with first things first. While many guessed, for the ones who remained uninformed, I made a big move from India to the US about 6 months ago. That was way back in the mid of March when the snow caps here in Connecticut were on the verge of melting and the spring sat on its edges awaiting to set in. From the summer heat of Bangalore to the ceasing winters of New England, I moved in with 2 huge suitcases packing all that meant the world to me.

It took me a while to settle down to the demands of not-so-new-anymore place, work and routine. And believe me, while it wasn't hard at all, I did not have it all easy either. It was life at work that was most consuming. Caught up in a new place, with new folks, new skills to learn and new team to work with, I was jostling myself with an identity crisis. I worked on many weekends and put aside blogging for a while for the sheer busyness and lack of motivation. And when we had time off, we hit the road and traveled places to make most of the summer.

We also have my parents over here right now. That's a big joy and great support knowing that our little girl has just started school and will be back home in the noon to house full of folks she loves and is pampered by the most. They will be around till the mid of November to witness the glorious fall season. That tells you our kitchen has been the busiest place at home where most of the action is seen. You can hear whistles of pressure cooker go by at regular intervals. You can smell pots of steaming rice and sambhar bubbling away. We just got done with guLiappams and chutney for breakfast this morning. Right now, potatoes are being boiled for Aloo Parathas tonight, the husband's all time favorite. And there's this Chocolate Black Forest Ice Cream sitting in the freezer to be devoured for dessert at will.

I made a repeat of these brownies last weekend. I also had a can of condensed milk, a box of fresh cherries and some leftover cocoa powder awaiting to be consumed. So it turned out that this Chocolate Black Forest Ice Cream was a well timed recipe to make use all that I had been wanting to consume. The cherries I used here were fresh sweet ones. You can make do with frozen ones too. Roasted walnuts are quite optional, but give a lovely crunch to this ice cream and pair really well with the brownies. If you aren't a fan of chocolate ice cream, but love brownies, try skipping the cocoa powder while making ice cream and leave it plain old vanilla. Don't forget to stir in the cherries and brownies, because that's what makes them Black Forest :). For a more decadent, richer, adult version, I highly recommend using rum soaked cherries in place of fresh cherries. Drizzle some hot chocolate sauce before you serve this to your chocolate loving guests and I would probably call that death by chocolate!

Chocolate Black Forest Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS

400 ml heavy cream, cold
200 grams condensed milk, preferably cold
2 tbsp. good cocoa powder
1 tbsp. vanilla essence
1/4 cup chopped roasted walnuts
1/2 cup chopped fresh cherries
1/2 cup crumbled / bite sized chocolate brownie chunks

DIRECTIONS

To prepare the chocolate ice cream, whip the heavy cream till it doubles and holds soft peaks. Then add the condensed milk, vanilla extract and cocoa powder. Continue to whip until the mixture is smooth and fluffy and holds soft peaks, about 1 minute.

Transfer half the prepared ice cream to a loaf tin or your ice cream container of your choice. Top it with half of the brownie chunks, cherries and walnut. Using a fork, gently swirl so that the nuts, brownies and cherries mix into the ice cream.

Top this with another layer of prepared ice cream, followed by topping of the remaining half of the brownie chunks, cherries and walnut. Swirl again gently.

Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and allow the ice cream to set in the freezer for at least 4-6 hours. To serve, remove from freezer and place the ice cream in fridge for 10 minutes to soften. Using a warm ice cream scooper, spoon out the ice cream and serve.

How to make Avocado Brownies | Recipe for Healthy Brownies | No Butter Brownies

My weakness for brownies is not quite known to many. I love this sense of being discreet, like an affair that's quite so sincere. It first began years ago, when I joined the corporate industry to begin my career and I lived by myself for those couple of years. During those days, many weekends were spent hanging out at Corner House ice cream parlors in the heart of South Bangalore. Among the wide variety of ice creams in all permutations and combinations they had on menu or the life sized colorful posters of sugar-cherry topped neat ice cream scoops that adorned their walls, Brownie Fudge Sundaes it mostly was. It won my heart like none other could. I would go there nearly every weekend till I had had enough of it to overcome my cravings. At times I got them packed in disposable containers and took them back home. On most occasions, I would sit by the glass window and let the world pass by unnoticed as I indulged slowly scooping out the layers of nuts, chocolate fudge and vanilla ice cream that sat over the fudge soaked warm brownies. As the cold ice cream melted over the warm brownies and hot chocolate sauce, it created a pool of molten sweet puddle, soaking the brownie in it and making every bite of it gratifying and soothing to the fourth sense. It's what I call chocolate nirvana, bringing joy that makes life worth every bit.

I revive those days, much in reverence of being ignorant about what it meant to count calories or care for the waistline. More so because I cooked and ate mostly at home, so this was a sweet deal I sought comfort in for the week long slog at work and to beat the boredom of cooking and eating at home.

The harsher side is that brownies have never known to be healthy. You and I know that a good brownie needs a great deal of butter, ton of delicious sweet dark chocolate and a couple of eggs in varying degrees, depending upon how fudgy or cake-like you love your brownie to be. In sum, its pretty calorie laden that makes it so sinfully decadent.

It may sound like I am deceiving you a bit here, trying to sell you my brownies by calling them waistline-conscious, healthy and diet-friendly; yet with all the same decadence as what the classic brownies are. Believe me they are incredibly good!

If you have excess avocados lying around like I had in plenty, you've got to make these. Let loose your fears and whip together all good ingredients to make these brownies. What makes them different is that there is absolutely no butter used in them. They are nearly fat free with the avocados lending all buttery sheen and fat. And I promise, you don't entirely taste the avocados, unless you have a strong nose and taste buds that poke through it sensitively.

Although I chose to go with all purpose flour in this recipe, quite so in fear of not turning this into an inedible disastrous recipe, I feel certain that wheat flour or a combination of wheat and all purpose flour should easily substitute with no compromise to taste.

This recipe comes as a blessing for not just being healthy, but they make a great base in recipes that call for chocolate cakes and brownies. I made some brownie ice cream with these and that brushed off some guilt of being calorie conscious. They are great crumbled in trifles too, pairing beautifully in a good amount of fruity elixir. And ofcourse, if you've made these, then do not certainly forget to make some delicious Brownie Fudge Sundaes to share with your friends over a dinner party.

"Healthy" Avocado Brownies

Inspired from here

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup mashed avocado (about 1 medium avocado)
4 oz chocolate, chopped & melted (I used 1 bar of Hershey's dark chocolate)
3/4 cup organic raw cane sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp. pure maple syrup
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
2 tbsp. cacao powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and line an 8x8 baking dish (either square or round) with parchment paper. Chop and melt the dark chocolate in a microwave for 30 seconds or on a double boiler till its just melted. In a food processor, whip up all the ingredients except the flour, baking soda and walnuts till they are homogeneous. Sift the flour and baking soda into a food processor bowl and pulse until well combined. The resulting batter will be very thick. Pour this batter into the prepared baking dish and level it with the back of a knife. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or till a skewer inserted in the center comes out nearly clean. Let it rest in baking dish for 5 minutes and cool further on a cooling rack.

Life beats a charming rhythm when you uncork it from its mundanes. It sings a different chime when you whisk away from the regular. Our weekend went by, but it was nothing like the usual. Before it flipped over to Saturday, we headed out of city for three solid days of fun and adventure to a place we had little known or expected it to be. Well, two and half, if I have to be precise. North Conway it is known, a lovely little destination for home-lost adventurers like us. There's so much around there for every season that a couple of excuses to go back there again may not seem enough. Tucked in sheer wilderness under the bellies of New Hampshire, here's where every vacation can be an inspiration to another one.

As the roads wind up to the city of North Conway, the scenes change. Its urban at the face of it, yet cleverly rural. There are malls, restaurants and ad banners everywhere. Yet, as you drive up the northern hemisphere, the mountain peaks play a peek a boo at every tide of the road. There's a cast of green spell in all shades, a submission to nature, with breath taking views that make you wanderlust. It makes you twisted in tongue and in loss of words.

We went camping in a group of ten, living life in tents and sleeping bags, holding lanterns to cook food on the grill, sitting by the fire and toasting up s'mores, curling up the feet to bare the chilly nights and seeing starry constellations in inky-black skies. And that makes you forget the clock and the cameras too! For the first time ever, we took our SLR out on a trip and came home without shooting any on it. Its hard for me to swallow that.

New Hampshire does that to you. You get to live what you don't see everyday. Many choose to stretch their lazy bones on the sand, either batting their eyelids and soaking up some sun or, flipping a book. But, we went tubing along the river shores where the loons nest. We let the sun shine on our backs. We wallowed and waded through knee deep waters, where the sand and stones make you wiggle your toes and the sun seeps skin deep to stimulate melanin. We ventured into woods and echoed tweets of finches too.

Its the kind of place that makes you want to wake up early to chirping birds and stay up late to the sounds of cicadas. It doesn't matter what hour of the day you are stepping into. There always seems a pause. Where the only other sounds are either the ripples of the meandering Saco river, the sway of tall ferns and chirping of finches. That was our home for those two odd days, all well lived.

When the sun went down to take its customary daily dip, we warmed ourselves by the fire, lit up the grill and ate Quesadillas, Corn on the Cob and drank Sparkling Fruit Mocktails. Brownies followed for the dessert. I baked these Brownies in the morning we left out and took them along for those camping dinner treats. They are wonderful to share in a group where splurging on good food can never seem enough, more so when you are in a gang of ten odd folks who enjoy good food and hearty laughs!

These Brownies are one bowl and simple to make. They are a cross between fudgy and cake-like. While they don't slop, they are intensely chocolaty and rich, much fudge like. They have crackling tops which make them look beautiful. And, no Brownie is good without generous scatter of walnuts. I promise you will love them, as much we all did.

Chewy Fudge Brownies

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup of unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 1/4 cup of bittersweet chocolate
1 cups of granulated sugar
1/4 tsp of salt
2 eggs
1 cup of plain flour
1 tbsp of cacao powder
1/2 tsp of instant espresso coffee powder
1/2 cup of broken walnuts

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9x9” square baking pan by lining it with parchment paper. I like to let the edges of the paper hang up a bit on the sides to make it easy for the removal.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Add the chocolate chips and melt them over medium low heat. Once melted remove from heat. Alternatively, you can microwave the butter and chocolate chip on high heat for 1 min. Allow it to rest for 2 mins, then add the sugar, eggs, flour, cacao powder, espresso powder, salt and broken walnuts into the melted chocolate butter mixture. Whisk well together. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan, leveling the tops. Bake them for 35-40 minutes. Test by inserting a skewer at the center. The skewer will have flecks, however there should be no wet batter coming out of the baked brownies. Allow them to cool completely and then slice into squares before serving.

Notes:

I've used cacao powder here. However, you may use cocoa powder and up the quantity to 2 tbsp. Cacao is stronger than cocoa powder, hence you will require more cocoa powder, if being used.

I was ruminating over a conversation with an old associate I have known for over three years now and the fact he knew I blogged. That happened a few months ago. It was one of those familiar moments I have encountered when someone says, 'Aah, so you blog and you make food look good? Okay. Let's see, cook us something and let us say'. I get awfully nervous to a point of quivering knees and nervous breakdown. Neither it puts me into shoes of comfort, nor do I blush. I hate being judged. Its the kind of casual statement made to assume that you are a professional at the best. All bars are raised and expectations set too high. It's hard to satisfy such tastes, where preconceived bias swamps the confidence in me. It could turn anyone into cold feet. It's like a stab on your back testing your skills to restraint the blow, bridling any creativity you want to execute. Not really. I have bad days in my kitchen and I am no perfect for sure.

But little moments of joy come from those folks, unknowing to my penchant for cooking or being irrespective of the fact I blog or not, appreciate my food. For someone who does not know I blog, I post recipes, and yet appreciates that I have cooked good food, that's when you'll see me smile ear to ear. That moment of truth is really a winning moment for me. Honestly, I wish to create memories of food that can be remembered and revived by virtue.

You'll see this often that I don't spill out the fact to many that I blog. A lot of my close friends don't know I have a space out here. And with the ones who happen to know I do, more accidentally or through word of mouth and query about my passion in cooking or blogging in amusement, I wish to bury my face down in my hands and run away miles in embarrassment. Its such a strange awkwardness and I wonder if this has happened to any of you. Most readers whom I know are the ones whom I have never met personally, whom I have never known and strangely I feel the most comfortable posting here for them. Be it musings, my photographs or recipes, there is no prejudice what so ever. That for me is the most comforting factor. I wonder if I would ever be able to write and share so much here if my own folks were so regular at reading my blog. Thankfully I know they are not. That, for me is a consolation in many ways.

That brings me to this Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies here. A recipe that's strangely simple and unprejudiced. You throw in the said measures of all goodness and you have chocolate-y orange aromas wafting within minutes, it's zest leaving you in an all high. So true to the fact, the matrimony of orange and chocolate cannot go wrong. Sometimes you get the most out of the unexpected and that's what these Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies promise to do. Not just you, to your biased friends too!

Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup non-dairy margarine (can be replaced with vegetable oil)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 cup orange juice
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (dairy-free for vegan)
Zest from 2 oranges

DIRECTIONS

Beat the margarine along with both the sugars (brown and white) till it's light and fluffy. Next, add in the vanilla extract. Add the flour and salt, mix well. Dissolve baking soda in orange juice and add to mixture immediately. Stir with a wooden spoon and bring the entire mixture to form a lightly wet dough. Next add in the chocolate chips and stir them in. Drop by tablespoonful on to an un-greased cookie tray. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Don't over bake!

How to make Chocolate Sandwiched Coconut Macaroons | Easy Coconut Macaroons Recipe

Outside my window its a beautiful sight I marvel. Tender fresh leaves on trees are full grown and creepy green patches have embraced the ground covering every little stretch of open land available. As the skies cried over the past few days, the shrubs and weeds colonized themselves, densely populating our backyard as far as my sight can go. I wake up these days to sounds of birds tweeting in unison, winds swaying slowly, the leaves fluttering gently - it's music to my ears against the silence I have long borne. That makes me ridiculously peppy and dreamy. From dreary drizzle to swarm of bright pillow-y clouds interspersed with streaks of some sunshine, that's how the weather Gods have been lurching around for a while.

The past weekend, we saw an awesome weather. The kind that summers are like. The one that lets you feel less burdened with weight of clothes you put on. People fluttering around in sunglasses, hats, bright cottons, loose pants and floral prints. Sipping their ice tea and licking ice creams. Driving cars with their window panes down to let the mild breeze blow in. Parks flocked with family picnics and beaches busting in magnetic colors, rapt in sun-bathing. With traffic on the roads more than I ever saw. With people busy pruning their gardens and nurturing flowering shrubs as butterflies flapped by. It gave signs that the summer was here. Just a hint.

The met department forecast 9ºC yesterday. It rained and stayed dreary cold all day long. Today its 12ºC, warning us more cloud and showers for the day. This has been the case since the past three days. Though spring is in its full bloom it seems like summer will take longer than usual to make its way here. And mind you, I still have major challenges at conversions from ºC to ºF, grams to ounces, kilometers to miles, and all metrics American. Google at my rescue here, it's 54ºF today.

Back in India, I've hardly cared to read weather updates through any day of the year. Here it seems more evident to follow the weather forecasts. Honestly, I never thought I would speak so much weather here, but alas I am.

That clearly means we remain confined indoors. It wrapped up all my plans to take my daughter out on a walk to Walmart or the nearby mall and sign-off shopping gifts for my folks back home. Instead we stayed home and baked to feel cozy indulging.

So what if the summer isn't here yet, we baked some summer at home with these Coconut Macaroons today. I whisked the whites and sugar, while she threw in the coconut. We watched together as it baked, half in excitement and rest in ambush as these came out warm and golden from the oven. We just made up a good team together. These macaroons are crisp on the outside and sweet chewy inside. We felt mighty good adding a dose of Chocolate Ganache, made from the dark 70% bittersweet chocolate, that was gifted from a dear friend who visited us from Boston a while ago. Its optional and can easily do without, but icing on these darn little beauties is certainly a treat.

Chocolate Sandwiched Coconut Macaroons

INGREDIENTS

For the Coconut Macaroons:

1 1/2 cups sweetened, shredded coconut
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt

For the Chocolate Ganache:

1/2 cup dark chocolate
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. sugar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites along with sugar, vanilla, and salt. Whisk them until the whites and sugar are completely combined and the mixture is frothy. Next add in the shredded coconut to the egg white mixture and stir until the coconut is evenly moistened. Shape the coconut macaroon mixture into small balls as shown above. Place them on a baking tray spacing them an inch. Bake the macaroons for 15 minutes. Check if they have turned golden brown, else bake another 2-3 minutes further till light brown. Remove the macaroons from oven and cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes. Then gently transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the Chocolate Ganache:

Heat the cream in a small saucepan. It just needs to get hot, not boiling. Add the sugar and the chopped chocolate and stir well till it's homogeneous. Cool the ganache and use it to sandwich the macaroons.

As a home baker, I tend to have many reservations that I am not so proud of. I have a hard hand at icing cakes or making layered gateaux that look fancy and presentable. I would love to make some, but then, that's a kind of patience I applaud. I have never dared to whip egg whites till date, so I am not close there yet! And oh my cookies, I bake them not so often as I should do!

I have a major problem when I am baking cookies. The one that threats me never to bake them again. Atleast for a long time till I crave some. Sometimes I wonder if I have a sort of leniency towards over-baking. But unlike cakes, where a nice crust is admirable, you cannot mess around with the baking time when it comes to cookies. It has to be perfect, where every hot blow of air from oven matters, every minute counts, probably seconds too. This I learnt the hard way over few failed, overbaked cookies.

Overbaked cookies taste terrible. They can taste like cardboard, tough and crisp to an extent of being inedible. Moreover it's a shame to offer them. They don't make themselves good for tart crusts sadly. The only thing you can probably do is to brittle and mask them with good dose of roasted nuts to embellish ice creams. For some of those failed attempts that I stay put, here are a batch of some super delicious batch of cookies I baked last week. What matters most is a good cookie recipe, which I assume may not be too hard to find one, along with the perfect baking time and the right temperature, which I assume undoubtedly gets me testing.

Here's a recipe I have tried and tested multiple times. So you can be rest assured these won't fail. They were perfectly baked with a golden bottom, or just baked as I call. Any further may have ruined them. You can bring variations to this recipe. Add in coffee and make them Coffee Chocolate Chip cookies. Or add in some orange extract along with fresh striped orange zests that beautifully pairs with bites of dark chocolate, you'll have some sinful Orange Chocolate Chip cookies. They are addictive, I caution you.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Eggless and Vegan

INGREDIENTS

1 cup non-dairy margarine (can be replaced with vegetable oil)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (dairy-free for vegan)

DIRECTIONS

Beat the margarine along with both the sugars (brown and white) till it's light and fluffy. Next, add in the vanilla extract. Add the flour and salt, mix well. Dissolve baking soda in warm water and add to mixture immediately. Stir with a wooden spoon and bring the entire mixture to form a lightly wet dough. Next add in the chocolate chips and stir them in. Drop by tablespoonful on to an un-greased cookie tray. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Don't over bake!

Notes:

* The baking time for these cookies depends on the size and temperature of your oven. Hence test batch the cookies, if possible for the exact time. Large number of cookies of bigger sizes may take a minute longer. For this recipe, I used a tablespoonful of measure per cookie.

* I have replaced the quarter cup of warm water with orange juice and it works absolutely fine with the same results. You'll get similar results by replacing with any vegan milk or buttermilk too.

* 1 1/2 cups of sugar (3/4th cup of each sugar) is on the lower side and just about right for this recipe. The rest of the sugar is rendered by semisweet chocolate chips. However if you like your cookies sweeter, you may have to increase the amount of sugar by 1/4 cup.

* This yields a large batch of cookies, approximately 3 dozens. So reduce appropriately.