Kerstkransjes - Dutch Cookies

I have been making various cookies this week for Christmas . Two days back I made suji-crystal-cookies  and today it is these delicious Dutch Cookies. They were so yummy , they got over in a jiffy and I had to make one more batch the same day. These cookies are for International Food Challenge by Saras .

Recipe Source : dutchessroz.com

Ingredients :

200 gm .......................flour ( maida )
150 gm .....................cold butter ( finely chopped )
1 .............................egg  ( yolk n white separated )
1 tsp........................baking powder
100 gm .................sugar ( powdered )
pinch full ...............salt
1/4 tsp...................vanilla essence
2 tbsp..................almond flakes ( to garnish )



Method :


In a mixer add flour, butter, egg yolk, baking powder , salt , sugar and essence.

Process it for few seconds.

Knead into a smooth dough .

If needed add few drops of milk .

Wrap the dough in a cling film and chill it for 1 hour.

Take out the chilled dough and roll it to 1/23 cm thick disk.

Cut the cookies with cookie cutter.

Make a small hole at the centre with another cutter.

Brush the cookies with egg white and sprinkle almond flakes.

Arrange them on a greased baking tray 1 inch apart.

Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.

Suji Crystal Cookies

Feeling very excited to post these colorful cookies which were instant hit with everyone in the family. Personally I don't like such colorful snacks as there is a liberal usage of artificial colors. But I think once in while we all can afford indulging in such lovely treats and be childish. After all they are perfect for this festive Christmas season.

Though the name of these cookies is Suji cookies they do not contain Suji ( semolina ) at all. Instead the are made of maida and the almond powder used lends it a very rich texture and flavor.

 Loved making these cookies for Priya's  Home Bakers Event  hosted  by Niloufer .

Recipe Source : umaskitchenexperiments.com


Ingredients :


1 cup.......................maida
1/2 tsp.....................baking powder
1/2 tsp.....................baking soda
1/2 cup ..................sugar powder
1/2 cup ..................almonds ( dry powder )
1/2 cup..................ghee
a pinch ................salt
1/4 tsp.................vanilla essence
1/4 tsp each ........ food colors (  used yellow, pink and green )



Method :

In a mixer pulse together maida , baking powder and baking soda.

Also add sugar powder, almond powder, essence and salt to it.

Now take this in bowl and add ghee to it and knead to a soft smooth dough.

Rest the dough  for 15 - 20 minutes .

Make three portions of this dough .

Add 2 / 3 drops of color of your choice to each part and knead well.

The color should uniformly be spread all over.

Now take a small ball of each color and roll them to form a big ball.

This should be done gently so the colors don't mix and you get a marbled effect.

Press this ball to get a cookie shape.

Spread 2 inches apart on a greased baking tray .

Bake in a preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes at 150 degrees celcius.

Saltine Crackers

This month it was  Aarthy  who suggested a brilliant idea of making crackers for baking-partners a very interesting event by Swathi . She suggested two type of crackers - Saltine Crackers which are usually salty and Graham Crackers which are sweet . I chose to make Saltine Crackers and am also planning to make the sweet variety soon .

 As making crackers was completely new to me I did not modify the recipe at all and thought of following the original recipe . But I made two goof ups -  firstly I completely forgot to fold the rolled out dough and then also forgot the prick the rolled crackers with a fork . But even after all this my crackers turned out good. They were not very crispy n crunchy but still were yummy and delicious. Planning to make them again for perfection.

Ingredients : 

3/4 cup.........................maida
1 pinch.........................baking soda
2/ 3 drops ...................... vinegar
1 pinch .........................salt
1/2 tsp.........................sugar
1/4 cup........................lukewarm water
1 1/2 tsp......................dry yeast
3 tbsp........................water
1 tbsp........................butter
1 tbsp.......................oil
1 tsp salt + 1 tbsp pepper powder ( for topping )


Method :


Boil 3 tbsp water, butter and oil till butter melts and cool till it is lukewarm

Add yeast and sugar to 1/4 cup lukewarm water and set aside for 10 minutes.

When the yeast mixture becomes frothy add maida, salt , soda and vinegar .

Mix the mixture and add the lukewarm butter mixture.

Now knead to form a dough.

The dough will be very soft and sticky.

Keep the dough in a well greased bowl and plastic wrap it.

Keep the bowl in fridge overnight.

The next day bring the dough to room temperature and knead it .

You will need extra maida as the dough will be very sticky.

Roll the dough in a rectange and fold one third rectange through the left half .

Fold the right side on the left part .

It should resemble the folded envelope. ( I forgot this step totally )

Again roll the dough in rectange shape and roll it very thin.

Press the topping with the rolling pin for it to stick in the crackers

Cut them into squares .

Seperate them carefully and place them on a greased tray.

Now prick them with a fork . ( I forgot this step too )

Bake these crackers in a preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

Crunchy Seed Cookies

Made these crunchy nutty cookies for the valentines day. They are very healthy and nutritious as I have made them with whole wheat flour. The fennel seeds give these cookies a very unique flavor. Thanks Swathi for these lovely yummy cookies.

Adapted from Alice Medrich,


Ingredients :

1 tbsp....................white sesame
1 tbsp..................black sesame
1 tbsp................fennel seeds
2 tbsp..............sugar
1/3 cup ..........sugar
2 cups .............wheat flour
1 tsp................baking powder
1/2 tsp.............baking soda
1 ..................egg
3 tbsp..........butter
1 tsp............vanilla
salt





Method :

Mix both sesame, saunf and 2 tbsp sugar and keep in a plate.

Beat butter and 1/2 cup sugar till smooth and well blended.

Add egg , salt , vanilla and beat well.

Add baking powder and soda and beat again for a minute or two.

Now add the flour gradually and knead the cookie dough.

Knead as little as possible do not over knead.

Now flatten the dough on a flour to 1/4 inch thickness .

Cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter.

Press one side of cut cookie in the mixture of sesame and sugar.





Place these cookes on a greased tray an inch apart from each other.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 180 degrees in a preheated oven.







Linking this to  baking-partners an event by a dear blogger friend Swathi

American Sugar Cookies ( for HBC )

The month of December brings joy and festive mood and so we at HBC ( home-bakers-challenge)  an event by Priya Suresh  also have many Baked Christmas Goodies to choose from for our this month's challenge. Priya Ranjit  our host for the month of December gave us such a wide choice that I am tempted to try as many of them as possible. These traditional sugar cookies are the first from that list. Thanks Priya Suresh and Priya Ranjit for this yummy treat.

Ingredients :

1 n 1/2 cup................maida

1/2 cup .....................butter

1/2 cup.......................sugar

1...............................egg

3 to 4 drops.............vanilla

1 tsp.......................baking powder

1/4 tsp...................salt

50 gm ...................chocolate 

few silver balls 

Method :

Cream together butter and sugar till very fluffy .

Add egg and vanilla and further mix for 2 more minutes.

In a grinder add maida, salt and baking powder and just pulse for a minute.

This ensures uniform mixing of baking powder in the maida.

Now add maida little at a time to butter egg mixture.

Knead a dough and chill it for 4 hours or more . ( mine was in fridge for almost 8 hours)

Take out the chilled dough and roll it with a rolling pin.

Cut the cookies in desired shapes .

Brush the cookies with milk.

Sprinkle some sugar over the cookies . ( I did not do this )

Bake them in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.

Cool them completely and then decorate.

Instead of sprinkling sugar before baking you can decorate it after baking the way you want.

I melted  the chocolate over a double boiler.

And spread this evenly on the cookies and sprinkle some silver balls on them.

Speculoos Cookie Sandwiches ( For Baking Partners)

Just recently I posted a recipe for Kourabiethes - Greek cookies and today posting a recipe for Dutch - Speculoos Cookie Sandwiches (Also known as Speculaas )

For August month's Baking partners challenge Swathi had suggested four different types of cookies from around the world and so though I made Greek cookies I was also tempted to try these sandwich cookies. 

These are actually very traditional cookies made by pressing the dough in a mould and they taste a lot like ginger biscuits but with some more spices like cinammon, cloves , nutmeg etc....

These cookies really taste  very unique due to these spices. They are then  filled with a filling of our choice.

 I made my all time favourite lemon filling which was a hit and loved by all . But I would like to mention that without the filling also the cookies taste amazing. So now off to the recipe ......

Ingredients  For the Speculoos :

1/2 cup ...................cold butter cubed
2 tbsp......................curds ( original recipe calls for 1 egg)
1/3 cup....................sugar
1 n 3/4 cup...............maida
2 tsp........................cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp..................nutmeg powder
1/4 tsp.................pepper powder
1/4 tsp................cloves powder
1 tsp.....................ginger paste
1/2 tsp ................salt
1/4 tsp.................baking soda

Ingredients for the filling :

2 tbsp...................butter
5 tbsp..................sugar powder
1/2 tbsp...............fresh cream
few drops.............yellow colour
1 tsp....................lemon juice
1/4 tsp.................citric acid crystals
1/4 tsp................cardamom powder
salt pinch

Method to bake the Speculoos :

In a blender blend together every thing except maida.

Take the mixture in a bowl and add maida to it and make a dough.

Do not over knead the dough.

The dough should not be sticky.

Plastic wrap the dough and keep it in the fridge overnight.

Next day roll the dough and cut the cookies in desired shapes.

Arrange them on a greased tray.

Bake them in a preheated oven for 10 mintues at 180 degrees.

Cook them completely.

Method for the filling :

Beat the butter and sugar very well.

Add cream and cardamom powder and again beat well.

Now add salt and lemon juice and beat .

If the filling is soft keep it in fridge for some time to make it little stiff.

Put the filling on the cookes and top with another cookie.

Keep the cookies in fridge otherwise the cream starts melting.

Kourabiethes ( Greek Cookies for Baking Partners)

This month Swathi gave us a choice of  few world class cookies to try for the Baking Partners Challenge .

Kourabeithes or the sugar cookies which were one of them are originally from Greek . They are different from other cookies as in shape as well as taste. 

So I decided to make them and was delighted with the texture n taste. The orange flavour in them make them more like marmalade cookies. 

The addition of orange rind is a must because it makes the cookies delicious. My kitchen was full of aroma of orange while baking these kitchen and it felt wonderful.

Though the original recipe also calls for adding almond powder I tried replacing it with equal quantity of flaxseed powder and tired making them a healthier version plus it did not make any difference at all in the taste or texture .  

I feel that even without powdered sugar coating they taste great. 

Thanks Swathi for this lovely challenge.

Ingredients :

100 gm .....................butter
3/4 cup........................sugar
2 tbsp.......................finely grated orange rind ( sweetened and dried)
1/2 cup......................flax seeds powder
1 cup........................maida
3/4 tsp......................baking powder

Method :

In a blender beat butter, sugar and rind till very pale in colour.
Take it in a bowl and add flax seeds powder and maida and make a dough.
Do not over knead the dough .
It should be soft but not sticky.
Now make sausage shapes and bend them a little to give a crescent shape.
Place them half inch apart in a greased tray and bake at 180 degree for 20 -25 minutes.

Even though they are little soft , switch off the oven.
They will become hard and crunchy after 10 - 15 minutes.
Roll them in powdered sugar and cool them completely.
Store them in  air tight container.

Linking this to Baking Partners Challenge :



And also to  :

hearth-and-soul-blog-hop165

Peanut Butter Cookies ( Home Baker Challenge - 3 )

After completing two Home Baker Challenges successfully for this month we had to bake a cookie suggested by Viji  of Virunthu Unna Vanga .

 I was surprised at the simplicity of the recipe and yet the selection of cookies done was perfect. They were so very yummy and crunchy that I was amazed. It took me less than an hour to make these cookies from scratch.

I just loved the nutty flavour of the cookies and the buttery texture.

Thanks  priya and viji for this lovely experience...

Ingredients : 

1 1/2 cup.................maida (all purpose flour)
1 1/2 cup..................peanut butter
3/4 cup........................sugar
1/2 cup....................unsalted butter
1 tsp......................baking powder
1 no......................egg




Method : 

1. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees.

2. Mix maida and baking powder well and keep aside for further use.

3. In a blender , blend peanut butter, butter and sugar till smooth.

4. Now add the egg and beat well.

5. To this add the maida and knead well to form a soft dough.

6. Make small balls and flatten them with a fork to make depression marks.

7. Arrange them on a greased pan , two inches apart and bake for 15 - 20 minutes.

8 When golden in colour take them out and cool them completely.

9.Store in an air tight container.

Also linking these cookies to  :

gurus-cooking-giveaway-kids-special-13 

Walk through memory lane  at  samachuruchikalam 

   Vallis kids-delight   at    sizzlingtastebuds