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 Clementine Scented Almond Biscotti | Easy Orange Almond Biscotti Recipe

The mornings since a week have turned wonderfully chill. Its been cooler than any other month I have known in Bangalore the past year. It’s been a while since we’ve been going to bed tucking the quilt snugly till our necks, windows partly open to let the cold air in, and without the usual sounds of whirling fans putting us to sleep. I scuffle in hunt for my home slippers which I don’t else care for. I love walking barefoot at home. The sounds of bare feet slapping against the floor, thap thap thap. It has a thing to it. Like adding music to the silent mornings. A melodious slap. Have you ever thought so?

The nip in the air has taken over the water too. They seem to be flowing from the refrigerators above and I can barely rinse after brushing, the mint flavor in the toothpaste adding to the effect of its chillness making my mouth go nearly numb. I stepped out this morning to put my sandals on; within minutes though, I rushed back in and led myself into the closet that stores many long forgotten things. Under the hiding of my ill-fitting jeans and handful of old salwar kameez, I pulled off my good ol’ maroon winter scarf (which had its ornate prints faded out in its seclusion, I yet love it), wrapped it around my neck, crossed my hands to chest and walked my way to work. The homeless dogs had gone into hiding, probably looking for warmer shelters under the extended roofing of kirana stores. There they sat warming up against the heap of ugly gunny rugs, rolling over lazily, snugging deeper into them. Above, the leaves wavered, their sway hushed, like the pendulum of a wall clock in a slow motion. The strollers on sidewalks had many like me who tucked their arms firmly across their chest, others burrowing their fingers deep into the slots of their jeans, their shoulders stooped; while women held to their scarfs covering the faces with their eyes stealing glimpse to the world passing by, as they rode pillion on the bikes.

Behind the pads of clouds I see sun poking out. By 8 am or so, the sun is out in its full glory. It’s the kind of weather I love. Cool, bright and sunny; the gentle warmth from sun seeping tenderly into my skin. It promises me that the day will turn good. There are no resolutions this year. Only optimism. An eagerness to see what future holds for us. No matter what, hope is mightier than all. Hope for positivity and accomplishment of many unspoken promises. That brings me to craving a good cup of masala chai and these Clementine Scented Almond Biscottis I baked in the mid of last year while in US when the weather turned this way. When the skies brightened and the cold air made us snug, we dunked biscottis and drank tea. Decembers and January of Bangalore ought to be like this. The season of winters. The season when oranges appear in plenty. The season to warm up. The season to eat almonds. The season to bake. The season for a reason to bake.

So I craved these biscottis and baked them again. The original recipe calls for clementine oranges. It said mandarins or other fruit zest will work too. I tried these again replacing clementines for Indian oranges and they were zesty and flavorsome. Although these photographs come from the time I baked them with clementines, let your imagination drift away to try other flavors. During that vacation, I spent many evenings flipping pages of cookbooks I had borrowed from the nearby State library. The flipping, the photographs, the intros and side notes for the recipe had often inspired me to get on my toes and rush to bake. This recipe comes from one among them. I wish though I had noted down where it came from. I promise, the moment I figure out, I shall credit it duly. For now, I hope this biscotti brightens up your day irrespective of the weather in your country.

CLEMENTINE-SCENTED ALMOND BISCOTTI

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup / 70g caster sugar
1 large egg
Grated zest of 1 clementine / mandarin / Indian orange
2 cups / 150 g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
50g raw, whole almonds, skin on

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Place the eggs, sugar and zest in a large bowl, and beat it in a food processor or with an electric beaters until its pale and creamy. Fold in the flour, baking powder and almonds. It should be quite a wet and sticky dough at this point. Scrape the dough onto a floured surface and knead gently to bring it together. Shape the dough into a long log.

Place the dough log on the baking tray and bake for around 20 minutes. The dough should be fully cooked through before removing the logs from the oven. Allow to cool on a baking rack for 30 minutes.

Using a sharp serrated knife, slice into 0.5 cm thin slices. Place the slices on the baking tray and bake on each side, till the edges begin to brown. It took approximately 10 minutes on each side. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a baking rack. They will continue to crisp up as they cool down. Once completely cool, enjoy them dunk in milk, tea or coffee of your choice. Else, store these biscuits in an air tight container.

NOTES

- You can replace the clementines for mandarins too. Clementines and mandarins belong to family of oranges. Indian oranges will be a great substitution.
- You can try replacing oranges to lemon zest for a lemony flavor.
- You can replace the almonds for nuts of your choice. I haven't tried dry fruits yet, but I am sure they would be wonderful too.

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!

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.

There has been a long silence on my blog. But that's with a reason. There has been a lot going on in the past few days. Remember I told you how I was caught between making productive decisions, weighing out their pros and cons and hoping for the best. A lot got sorted and matters did get clearer with time. I feel a lot better. There was a lucrative offer that I turned down unwillingly for a good reason. Instead, the daughter and I planned an overseas travel to join my husband for a holiday. It seemed dicey initially, but all fell in right place, the right time and we did travel as intended. So there was packing and unpacking, unsettling and re-setting, the jet-lag and weather change, an adaptation to a new country, a new home and new kitchen.

It's taken time to get into grooves of routine in a new place where I am vacationing for 3 long months. For these months, I am on a sabbatical from work, devoting my time wholly to the family; my husband and daughter. I had been looking forward to this personal time and space for a long time, particularly to spend some quality time with my growing daughter, hence this break was thoughtful one and a big welcome. Three months may be a too short period to justify the time spent, yet I wish to make every use of this and enjoy her company.

My recipe post for today and, may be, for next couple of weeks comes from my kitchen in India. In a bid to wrap up the pantry staples and close the kitchen before we moved out, I consumed the last batch of Ragi (Finger Millet Flour) to bake these biscuits. These Ragi biscuits (as they are commonly referred to in Indian bakeries) are gluten-free and delicious. If you are not gluten intolerant you may consider using equal qualities of millet and all purpose flour for easier handling. They are simple to make and easy to put together. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Ragi Biscuits

2 cups finger millet flour (ragi flour)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup clarified butter (desi ghee)
1/2 tsp. cardamom powder
1 tsp. baking powder

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven at 180 C.

Roast ragi flour in a thick bottomed pan / kadai on a medium low heat, for about 5-10 mins till the raw smell goes away. Take off the heat and add the powdered sugar, melted ghee, baking powder and cardamom powder to it. Mix well.

Make small balls of the dough and keep it on a greased or (lined with parchment paper) baking tray. Poke an almond each into the biscuit dough. Bake at 180 C for 12 minutes. Allow them to cool completely. Store in a cool dry place.

Notes:

* Roasting Ragi is very essential, else you will end up with muddy tasting, flavourless biscuits.
* Instead of cardamom powder, you may flavor them with vanilla seed powder.
* These biscuits are quite delicate since ragi flour does not have gluten in them. If you are not particular about being gluten free, you can substitute half of the ragi flour with whole wheat flour and bake as suggested.
* These biscuits are quite nutrition and can be fed to kids as a snack box item.

Sometimes baking alone is solace. It’s so much fun because the kitchen is closed, daily chores wrapped up and the entire house is fast asleep enjoying their deep slumber. And then you creep tiny footsteps into your kitchen knowing you'll venture into your little space with absolutely no snooping. It’s all your time, your space and just the you that you know. I enjoy that little 'me' time I get when I am there, putting together flour, sugar and nuts amass into a sweet smelling dough that bakes into a heavenly bite, lifting my weary moods. So what if it means sacrificing a bit on sleep, in the end it’s all rewarding.

So when my past two weekends went chock-o-block with work at office taking priority, this is exactly what I did. With deadlines to meet, I carried home quite a lot of the load, lost track of time, almost to a sense I had no time to blog or surf the net, cater to personal time and space for family which I so much love to balance. These are times when mid night baking comes handy, even if that means baking simple cookies or a quick cake that helps me vent the fatigue off the mind with some physical activity like baking that I love doing. These almond biscotti were a result of one such midnight baking attempt.

In the past few days, despite the urge to bake, I’ve not really baked much. I realize I posted a recipe for an eggless chocolate cake hardly a fortnight ago, but yet seems like ages since I baked. So these almond biscotti were the perfect excuse. Inspired again by BBC GoodFood, these biscotti were tweaked to be eggless replacing the same with milk powder and milk. The resulting biscotti is delicious dunked in tea. If you know how Indian Rusk tastes like and are missing them, then these little treats can be your answer to them.

Roasted Almond Biscotti

INGREDIENTS

70 g whole almonds, toasted and chopped coarsely
1 tbsp. oil (optional)
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
Pinch of salt
130g all-purpose flour
75g granulated white sugar
35 g milk powder
35 ml milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. In a small bowl lightly beat the oil, milk and vanilla extract together and set aside. In another bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, milk powder and salt. Gradually add the milk vanilla mixture and beat until a dough begins to come together. Add in the almonds and knead the dough gently. Lightly flour the surface and roll the dough into a log 15 cm long and 5 - 6 cm wide. Transfer to a baking tray and bake for 30 mins. Remove from oven and cool for 10 mins. Cut into slices 1-1.5 cm thick diagonally and arrange evenly on baking tray. Bake on each side for 10 mins or until they are golden. Remove from oven and cool.

Notes:

* Using oil is optional, but recommended since this recipe is eggless.
* Baking soda helps the dough in rising and makes up for the lack of egg.

I am not giving up baking with dark chocolate, but certainly you’ll see them reducing a bit in this space. You know well that all this while I have been using Morde Dark Chocolate in my bakes. While I have nothing against them and do love the fact that they are cheap (say 200 bucks for 500 gms), I’m increasingly aware that it comes at a cost that’s detrimental to our health. Stripped of all the cocoa butter and replaced with hydrogenated vegetable fats, including trans fats, it took me some determination for my daughter’s sake to give up on Morde or Selbourne and move to a better brand.

A while ago I asked my Bangalore buddies on FB if there was an alternative to it, since Cadbury’s Bournville was way too expensive for baking, but I got no satisfactory answers. What if there was a baking disaster? I would care not to lose night’s sleep over wasting couple of bars of bournville in my failed baking attempts! Does anyone have an answer please???

I love dark chocolates and biting into them makes me sensational. It evokes my happy moods.

I gambled into some cookie cravings this week while the weather wasn't so nice and chill as I would have loved it to be. For the first time I experimented with a bar of Cadbury’s Bournville dark chocolate and used them in baking like this Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies, least they fail, the less guiltier I feel about my failing attempt or the expensive bars. They are still too expensive for baking, but till I look for an alternative I may go with these. I baked these cookies for our evening tea and they turned out delicious our evening bites.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Adapted from the Big Book of Baking

INGREDIENTS

88 gm plain flour
62 gm soft salted butter
42 gm brown sugar
28 gm white sugar
1/2 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
62 gm chocolate chunks

DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C. Lightly grease the baking trays.

Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat them till well combined. Please a teaspoonful of the dough on the prepared tray, giving sufficient space between them to allow spreading while cooking.

Bake in a pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes, or till the cookies are golden brown. Once done, transfer the cookies carefully to a cooling rack and cool them completely.

Notes:

* To adapt to a vegan version, replace egg with equal amount of flax meal paste. Use vegan dark chocolate and replace salted butter with a vegan butter substitute.

As a child I was hooked to story books which eventually graduated to reading novels in my teens. The classics as they are called, I was often lost in thoughts on reading Jane Austen’s novels which were mostly set in a backdrop of classic, opulent English setting of the Victorian era. The emotionally powerful stories vividly spoke about English lifestyle and their culture. As a petite girl, these stories often left me mesmerized in fantasy. The stories had women carrying an unequivocal English dignity and austerity, replicating a sophisticated class that was explicitly an emblem of the elite British culture.

Food often made masquerading appearances in these novels. Like the scenes where the English women walked in through the long corridors, sweeping their gowns as they passed by, the house maids poured in steaming hot tea from vintage kettles to tea cups held by their saucers and they sat by the fireplace in their lofty countryside mansions, overseeing acres of green pastures, speaking softly, elegantly, slowly sipping away their afternoon tea along with freshly baked cakes, warm scented scones and buttery biscuits. You bet, I’ve fancied being a part of this culture.

I often loved the way life appeared over there, chic & classy, at least from the way it was depicted in these books, albeit a nostalgia for something I did not really know as a fact but only experienced through these books. More often I dreamt of taking a trip to the English countryside, sipping that afternoon cup of tea and taking luxurious bites into those warm scones and biscuits.

I wonder at times what took me so long to bake these scones. Oddly, I’ve baked classic cakes and English teacakes on couple of occasions, but never made a start with scones. Glad I headed for a start and I loved the effort that went into making these. It was an afternoon that went fruitful in baking these scones and savouring them to our satisfaction. Here's another attempt at a step by step to help you with these Chocolate Chip Scones.

Chilled butter, grated and cut into flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Butter being rubbed into the flour mixture till it resembles coarse meal, similar to bread crumbs.

Cream poured into flour, while chocolate chips being thrown in and dough brought together with light hands. Dough being rolled to form scones.

Dough being cut out into scones using a biscuit cutter. Pressing the remaining scraps back together to form another piece. Brushing the scones with cream for that golden crust.

Look at those oven baked beauties. Pass me those golden, light and creamy scones for my tea please!

Chocolate Chip Cream Scones

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons chilled, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
Handful of chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream

DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat the oven to 220°C.

Place flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl and mix them well. Grate chilled butter into this mixture. Using your fingertips, rub butter into the flour mixture till it resembles coarse meal.

A few larger butter lumps are totally fine. Stir in chocolate chips. Stir in heavy cream and mix gently using a fork until the dough begins to form. Transfer the dough and all dry, floury bits to countertop and knead just until it comes together into a sticky ball.

Pat the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, gently roll it into a 3/4-inch thick circle. Dip the biscuit cutter in flour and cut out scones. With light hands, press the remaining scraps back together to form another piece (like what I did) and cutting until dough has been used up. The scones that are made from the remaining scraps will be little denser compared to the others, but they taste fine. Brush the scones with cream or milk for golden crust.

Place rounds or wedges on ungreased baking sheet and bake until scone tops are light brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack for at least 10 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Here are a few notes to get some well risen scones:

Do not knead or over mix the dough, else it will come out tough. Handle it with light hands. Lightly dipped the biscuit cutter in flour to cut scones from the dough. Don't twist the cutter, or the scones may not rise evenly. Place the scones side by side on a lined baking tray so that as they rise the sides will keep up straight and even as they cook. Finally, scones taste best served with some clotted cream and any fruit preserve. Serve them warm with tea for your evenings.

The recipe here calls for a good dose of heavy cream, and perhaps could be the reason why they are good to taste! Undoubtedly, when you do bake things made of butter and heavy cream in them, the resulting bite would only melt in your mouth.