Monster Eyeballs! {Purple Berry Macaroons}

Happy Halloween peeps! Everyone knows that Halloween means you're in for a sugar overload. If your a mom you know that the entire month of October means sugar overload central, prepare the insulin for a diabetic coma any second sort of situation. Seriously. I volunteered at my 3rd graders Halloween party (still amazed someone hasn't petitioned, rallied and picketed that it be renamed "Fall Harvest Festivities Celebrations") and the amount of cookies, cupcakes, candies, fruit punch and crackers that were involved made me cringe.






Why people? Why must Halloween be associated with buckets or pillowcases full of sugar? Every year I struggle with either not passing out anything at all (which I just can't bring myself to do) or handing out prizes and toys which I tried one year and got egged for the trouble. Damn teenagers.


Which coincidentally brings me to cookies. Obviously. Am I a hypocrite? Possibly, but I'm talking macaroons people. Yes, coconut is a sugar, natural or not. I've debated this to death and am standing my ground that...

a. Yes, sugar is sugar but all things in moderation.
b. Not all sugar is created equal, natural is better than processed.
and
c. I like coconut so who gives a crap.

 Creepy, [naturally] sweetened cookies. 

Berries + Coconut + Bananas & Chocolate = ?

Deliciously spooky monster eyeballs of course! Frieking out your little ones is just an added bonus.

These come together in minutes, literally. Confession: I am not the worlds greatest baker. Anything involving sifting, fluffing, or basically measuring precisely quite frankly puts me off. 

These macaroons I made with ease with the help of my 4 year old, who oddly enough 'loooooveees' to bake.

You could use marshmallows which honestly would probably hold their shape and color better than these bananas did but I wasn't going for show quality here. 

I used a bigger, restaurant type straw to punch holes in the center of the bananas so that the

chocolate pieces would stay put. I used chocolate covered Acai berries to put in the middle but

any type of small chocolate candy will work.

Recipe from Leanne at Healthful Pursuit

PREP TIME 15 MINUTES      BAKE TIME    30 MINUTES      YIELDS    24 COOKIES

Ingredients 

2 teaspoon freshly ground chia seeds3 tablespoons water1 cup frozen mixed berries1 tablespoon honey½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1½ cups shredded unsweetened coconut1 banana, sliced with holes punched into the middle of each slicechocolate covered Acai berries or other chocolate pieces 

Instructions 

1. Combine chia and water in a small dish and set aside.

1. Preheat oven to 300F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Set aside.

1. Add mixed berries, honey, and extracts to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Begin to stir constantly until liquid reduces to half and it fairy thick but not syrupy. Remove and place in a medium-sized bowl.

1. Add chia mixture. Add coconut and mix with a spoon until it’s completely coated.

1. Place tablespoon amounts in the palm of your hand and work into circles. Press down to make into a coin shape and place on the prepared baking sheet.

1. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

1. Remove from the oven and place banana and chocolate piece on top.

1. Return to the oven and cook for 2-3 minutes. 

1. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before removing from the cookie sheet and placing on a cooling rack.

Monster Eyeballs! {Purple Berry Macaroons}

Posted by admin

Happy Halloween peeps! Everyone knows that Halloween means you're in for a sugar overload. If your a mom you know that the entire month of October means sugar overload central, prepare the insulin for a diabetic coma any second sort of situation. Seriously. I volunteered at my 3rd graders Halloween party (still amazed someone hasn't petitioned, rallied and picketed that it be renamed "Fall Harvest Festivities Celebrations") and the amount of cookies, cupcakes, candies, fruit punch and crackers that were involved made me cringe.






Why people? Why must Halloween be associated with buckets or pillowcases full of sugar? Every year I struggle with either not passing out anything at all (which I just can't bring myself to do) or handing out prizes and toys which I tried one year and got egged for the trouble. Damn teenagers.


Which coincidentally brings me to cookies. Obviously. Am I a hypocrite? Possibly, but I'm talking macaroons people. Yes, coconut is a sugar, natural or not. I've debated this to death and am standing my ground that...

a. Yes, sugar is sugar but all things in moderation.
b. Not all sugar is created equal, natural is better than processed.
and
c. I like coconut so who gives a crap.

 Creepy, [naturally] sweetened cookies. 

Berries + Coconut + Bananas & Chocolate = ?

Deliciously spooky monster eyeballs of course! Frieking out your little ones is just an added bonus.

These come together in minutes, literally. Confession: I am not the worlds greatest baker. Anything involving sifting, fluffing, or basically measuring precisely quite frankly puts me off. 

These macaroons I made with ease with the help of my 4 year old, who oddly enough 'loooooveees' to bake.

You could use marshmallows which honestly would probably hold their shape and color better than these bananas did but I wasn't going for show quality here. 

I used a bigger, restaurant type straw to punch holes in the center of the bananas so that the

chocolate pieces would stay put. I used chocolate covered Acai berries to put in the middle but

any type of small chocolate candy will work.

Recipe from Leanne at Healthful Pursuit

PREP TIME 15 MINUTES      BAKE TIME    30 MINUTES      YIELDS    24 COOKIES

Ingredients 

2 teaspoon freshly ground chia seeds3 tablespoons water1 cup frozen mixed berries1 tablespoon honey½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1½ cups shredded unsweetened coconut1 banana, sliced with holes punched into the middle of each slicechocolate covered Acai berries or other chocolate pieces 

Instructions 

1. Combine chia and water in a small dish and set aside.

1. Preheat oven to 300F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Set aside.

1. Add mixed berries, honey, and extracts to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Begin to stir constantly until liquid reduces to half and it fairy thick but not syrupy. Remove and place in a medium-sized bowl.

1. Add chia mixture. Add coconut and mix with a spoon until it’s completely coated.

1. Place tablespoon amounts in the palm of your hand and work into circles. Press down to make into a coin shape and place on the prepared baking sheet.

1. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

1. Remove from the oven and place banana and chocolate piece on top.

1. Return to the oven and cook for 2-3 minutes. 

1. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before removing from the cookie sheet and placing on a cooling rack.

Healthy Baking : Savoury Rosemary Coconut Cookies

After this healthy Ragi-Ginger cookie, I've been wanting to try out a savoury version using my favourite herb, rosemary. Rosemary features in one of my all time favourite cookies, the Rosemary Shortbread, but that's very heavy on butter. This is my attempt to feature rosemary in a healthier cookie. I've used black pepper and lemon zest to give a flavour boost. Desiccated coconut along with rice flour gives these a nice light texture. These are perfect for those who are trying to avoid sugar, or as holiday gifts for people who don't have a sweet tooth, or simply because you are fed up of too much sugar in the holiday season. Try this healthy cookie and let me know how you find it!

Recipe for Savoury Rosemary Coconut Cookies
Makes 24
Time taken - Under 30 minutes


Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup ragi flour
1/4 cup rice flour
2 tbsp milk powder
1/4 cup dessicated coconut
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp ground black pepper
Zest of one lemon
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
3-4 tbsp cold milk
1 tbsp crystal sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven at 180° C.
2. Keep a baking tray ready, lined with silicone mat or a greased tin foil or parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except butter and milk, until well combined.
4. Add the butter pieces and with finger tips rub the mixture together until it feels like bread crumbs
5. Add milk 1 tbsp at a time and knead gently till it comes together like a dough. 
6. Divide into 24 equal balls, rolling each between lightly greased palms.
7. Lightly press into a disc and place on the lined baking tray, leaving some space between each disc so that there's place for cookie to expand.
8. Sprinkle a few crystals of sugar on top of each cookie. This is optional. You could stick a rosemary leaflet on each cookie instead.
9. Bake for 12 mins or until the tops turn lightly golden. Remove on a wire rack and cool. The cookies will crisp up on cooling. Save in airtight container.

You can substitute rosemary with fresh or dried thyme for a different flavour.

Healthy Baking : Savoury Rosemary Coconut Cookies

Posted by admin

After this healthy Ragi-Ginger cookie, I've been wanting to try out a savoury version using my favourite herb, rosemary. Rosemary features in one of my all time favourite cookies, the Rosemary Shortbread, but that's very heavy on butter. This is my attempt to feature rosemary in a healthier cookie. I've used black pepper and lemon zest to give a flavour boost. Desiccated coconut along with rice flour gives these a nice light texture. These are perfect for those who are trying to avoid sugar, or as holiday gifts for people who don't have a sweet tooth, or simply because you are fed up of too much sugar in the holiday season. Try this healthy cookie and let me know how you find it!

Recipe for Savoury Rosemary Coconut Cookies
Makes 24
Time taken - Under 30 minutes


Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup ragi flour
1/4 cup rice flour
2 tbsp milk powder
1/4 cup dessicated coconut
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp ground black pepper
Zest of one lemon
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
3-4 tbsp cold milk
1 tbsp crystal sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven at 180° C.
2. Keep a baking tray ready, lined with silicone mat or a greased tin foil or parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except butter and milk, until well combined.
4. Add the butter pieces and with finger tips rub the mixture together until it feels like bread crumbs
5. Add milk 1 tbsp at a time and knead gently till it comes together like a dough. 
6. Divide into 24 equal balls, rolling each between lightly greased palms.
7. Lightly press into a disc and place on the lined baking tray, leaving some space between each disc so that there's place for cookie to expand.
8. Sprinkle a few crystals of sugar on top of each cookie. This is optional. You could stick a rosemary leaflet on each cookie instead.
9. Bake for 12 mins or until the tops turn lightly golden. Remove on a wire rack and cool. The cookies will crisp up on cooling. Save in airtight container.

You can substitute rosemary with fresh or dried thyme for a different flavour.

Healthy Pumpkin Quinoa Cookies

I am pretty sure that I was an extremely well mannered and very grateful child. I know that I  NEVER traded my lovingly packed brown sack lunch which was made up of either  PB&J or Spam sandwiches, yes Spam, and crudités for unhealthy, sugar laden treats like Ding Dongs (which were gloriously wrapped in tin foil) and Twinkies that the other kids (who's parents obviously didn't love them) sported in their Rainbow Bright lunch boxes. Indeed, I was an unusually thoughtful and agreeable child (not to mention cute and lovable) who never, ever, EVER complained about or threw away her healthy, home made lunches. 

The End. (Nobody who reads this knows my parents right?)

My children, my own flesh and blood are tempting my patience when it comes to eating healthy, home made foods. Yes, I have succumbed to the fact that each of my 4 children go through their phases of not liking one thing or another, never at the same time mind you. And I have relented to the reality that dinner time is more akin to an ugly, major court hearing where I am the judge, lawyer, jury and henchman.  

What manages to get on my very last, frazzled nerve however is that my spawn  children begged and pleaded on their adorable little knees to pleeeease make them lunch because the school lunches were "gross" (can't disagree there). So I did. Again.

And they are complaining about it.

Again.

I roasted a 'pie' pumpkin at 400F for about 40 min. then scooped out the flesh and pureed. Your cookies will be much lighter in color then if you use canned pumpkin. Make sure you poke several holes in you pumpkin before roasting to let out steam! Otherwise it can explode, trust me. :(

 In fact, child numero dos had the nerve to tell me that he "changed his mind, the school lunches weren't so bad after all."  Punk.

I mean I have been making these cute little treats packed lovingly with a love note from Dear ol' Mom.

Pinterest pinners must not have boys.

These pumpkin cookies were a hit with the Spawn, the Kale pesto turkey wraps, not so much. Baby steps. I think I will stick to making these for breakfast cookies and after school snacks. 

Recipe Source:  Healthful Pursuit

YIELDS  24 SMALL COOKIES       PREP TIME  15 MINUTES    BAKE TIME 30 MINUTES

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup raw quinoa
• 1 cup (150 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar 
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup (130 grams) pureed pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 egg white 
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions:

Add quinoa to a fine mesh stainer and rinse well. Add water and quinoa to a saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes. Uncover, remove from heat and allow to cool for a few of minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.

Add flour, sugar, ground flax, pumpkin spice mix and salt to a large bowl. Add 1½ cups of the cooked quinoa to the dry ingredients. Stir until combined.Add pumpkin, oil, vanilla, egg white and maple syrup to a small bowl and stir well. Pour the wet mixture in with the dry mixture and stir to combine. Scoop into small balls and place on prepared baking sheet. They will not spread out, so you can keep the cookies close. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until cooked through and golden. Remove from the oven, let cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack and allowing them to cool for a couple of hours. Cookies will become firmer as they cool.

Healthy Pumpkin Quinoa Cookies

Posted by admin

I am pretty sure that I was an extremely well mannered and very grateful child. I know that I  NEVER traded my lovingly packed brown sack lunch which was made up of either  PB&J or Spam sandwiches, yes Spam, and crudités for unhealthy, sugar laden treats like Ding Dongs (which were gloriously wrapped in tin foil) and Twinkies that the other kids (who's parents obviously didn't love them) sported in their Rainbow Bright lunch boxes. Indeed, I was an unusually thoughtful and agreeable child (not to mention cute and lovable) who never, ever, EVER complained about or threw away her healthy, home made lunches. 

The End. (Nobody who reads this knows my parents right?)

My children, my own flesh and blood are tempting my patience when it comes to eating healthy, home made foods. Yes, I have succumbed to the fact that each of my 4 children go through their phases of not liking one thing or another, never at the same time mind you. And I have relented to the reality that dinner time is more akin to an ugly, major court hearing where I am the judge, lawyer, jury and henchman.  

What manages to get on my very last, frazzled nerve however is that my spawn  children begged and pleaded on their adorable little knees to pleeeease make them lunch because the school lunches were "gross" (can't disagree there). So I did. Again.

And they are complaining about it.

Again.

I roasted a 'pie' pumpkin at 400F for about 40 min. then scooped out the flesh and pureed. Your cookies will be much lighter in color then if you use canned pumpkin. Make sure you poke several holes in you pumpkin before roasting to let out steam! Otherwise it can explode, trust me. :(

 In fact, child numero dos had the nerve to tell me that he "changed his mind, the school lunches weren't so bad after all."  Punk.

I mean I have been making these cute little treats packed lovingly with a love note from Dear ol' Mom.

Pinterest pinners must not have boys.

These pumpkin cookies were a hit with the Spawn, the Kale pesto turkey wraps, not so much. Baby steps. I think I will stick to making these for breakfast cookies and after school snacks. 

Recipe Source:  Healthful Pursuit

YIELDS  24 SMALL COOKIES       PREP TIME  15 MINUTES    BAKE TIME 30 MINUTES

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup raw quinoa
• 1 cup (150 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar 
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup (130 grams) pureed pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 egg white 
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions:

Add quinoa to a fine mesh stainer and rinse well. Add water and quinoa to a saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 15 minutes. Uncover, remove from heat and allow to cool for a few of minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.

Add flour, sugar, ground flax, pumpkin spice mix and salt to a large bowl. Add 1½ cups of the cooked quinoa to the dry ingredients. Stir until combined.Add pumpkin, oil, vanilla, egg white and maple syrup to a small bowl and stir well. Pour the wet mixture in with the dry mixture and stir to combine. Scoop into small balls and place on prepared baking sheet. They will not spread out, so you can keep the cookies close. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until cooked through and golden. Remove from the oven, let cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack and allowing them to cool for a couple of hours. Cookies will become firmer as they cool.

Healthy Baking: The Really Gingery Ragi Biscuit

Ragi, flaxseed, jaggery, ginger, sesame seeds - you might wonder what these utterly healthy ingredients are doing in a cookie! You might even think it's a complete madhouse of an idea. Ragi / nachni / mandwa / finger millets have been an Indian superfood well before everyone and their uncle started pestering relatives abroad to get them boatloads of quinoa for their daily consumption instead of rice. India, being the world's largest producer of millets, it's high time we showed some respect for our own grains, rather than scrambling after every latest food trend in the world. Ragi, like most other millets, formed a part of prehistoric Indian meals, then completely ignored and considered downmarket in the years that followed, where the rich ate rice, and now slowly the awareness of these prehistoric grains as being nutritional powerhouses is coming back. 

For those who haven't tasted ragi flour, it does have a coarse texture and wont feel as smooth as a refined flour in your mouth. The coarseness comes from the fiber content in ragi. Among all millets, ragi has the highest calcium content (370mg/100g). Its calcium content is nearly 10 times that of wheat (41mg/100g) and 35 times that of rice (10mg/100g). 

Sesame seeds, not only make these cookies look pretty, they are also rich in calcium and good fats, and with flaxseeds rich in omega-3, this is one uber-healthy recipe, perfect for your kid's lunch box treat or with your afternoon cup of tea. If you've baked cookies using traditional cookie recipes, you'd know that most of them call for 1-2 sticks of butter, upto 250 grams! Here, you get 20 biscuits with just 3 tbsp butter. You can, by all means, try substituting butter with ghee, for a richer, deeper flavour. 



Regarding flaxseeds, their nutrients are only absorbed if the seeds are powdered. You get powdered flaxseed in several supermarkets (Nilgiri's in Bangalore) and health food stores. If you don't find them, get the whole seeds, lightly toast 100 grams flaxseeds and powder it in the mixer. Keep in airtight container in the fridge. 

Recipe for Ragi - Ginger Biscuits
Makes 20
Time taken - Under 30 minutes

Ingredients
1/2 cup ragi flour
1/2 cup maida
2 tbsp skimmed milk powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
5 tsp powdered jaggery
1/2 cup crystal sugar
2 tsp flaxseed powder
1 tsp dried ginger powder (sonth powder)
1/2 tsp finely grated ginger*
1/2 tsp chai masala or 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
3-4 tbsp cold milk
1 tbsp black sesame seeds + 1 tbsp white sesame seeds (or entirely white)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 180 C.
2. Keep a baking tray ready, lined with silicone mat or a greased tin foil or parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except butter and milk, until well combined.
4. Add the butter pieces and with finger tips rub the mixture together until it feels like bread crumbs
5. Add milk 1 tbsp at a time and knead gently till it comes together like a dough. 
6. Divide into 20 equal balls, rolling each between lightly greased palms. Gently press each ball on the sesame seeds laid out on a plate, only on one side and place the flattened ball, sesame seeds side up, on the baking sheet, leaving a little space between each cookie, for they'll expand.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180C until the tops are browned. Cool and store in air tight container.

Tip
*To get finely grated ginger for salad dressings, tea and ginger cookies, store the cleaned ginger roots in a ziploc bag in the freezer. They stay forever, don't get soggy and when grated, give finely powdered fresh ginger. 

Healthy Baking: The Really Gingery Ragi Biscuit

Posted by admin

Ragi, flaxseed, jaggery, ginger, sesame seeds - you might wonder what these utterly healthy ingredients are doing in a cookie! You might even think it's a complete madhouse of an idea. Ragi / nachni / mandwa / finger millets have been an Indian superfood well before everyone and their uncle started pestering relatives abroad to get them boatloads of quinoa for their daily consumption instead of rice. India, being the world's largest producer of millets, it's high time we showed some respect for our own grains, rather than scrambling after every latest food trend in the world. Ragi, like most other millets, formed a part of prehistoric Indian meals, then completely ignored and considered downmarket in the years that followed, where the rich ate rice, and now slowly the awareness of these prehistoric grains as being nutritional powerhouses is coming back. 

For those who haven't tasted ragi flour, it does have a coarse texture and wont feel as smooth as a refined flour in your mouth. The coarseness comes from the fiber content in ragi. Among all millets, ragi has the highest calcium content (370mg/100g). Its calcium content is nearly 10 times that of wheat (41mg/100g) and 35 times that of rice (10mg/100g). 

Sesame seeds, not only make these cookies look pretty, they are also rich in calcium and good fats, and with flaxseeds rich in omega-3, this is one uber-healthy recipe, perfect for your kid's lunch box treat or with your afternoon cup of tea. If you've baked cookies using traditional cookie recipes, you'd know that most of them call for 1-2 sticks of butter, upto 250 grams! Here, you get 20 biscuits with just 3 tbsp butter. You can, by all means, try substituting butter with ghee, for a richer, deeper flavour. 



Regarding flaxseeds, their nutrients are only absorbed if the seeds are powdered. You get powdered flaxseed in several supermarkets (Nilgiri's in Bangalore) and health food stores. If you don't find them, get the whole seeds, lightly toast 100 grams flaxseeds and powder it in the mixer. Keep in airtight container in the fridge. 

Recipe for Ragi - Ginger Biscuits
Makes 20
Time taken - Under 30 minutes

Ingredients
1/2 cup ragi flour
1/2 cup maida
2 tbsp skimmed milk powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
5 tsp powdered jaggery
1/2 cup crystal sugar
2 tsp flaxseed powder
1 tsp dried ginger powder (sonth powder)
1/2 tsp finely grated ginger*
1/2 tsp chai masala or 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
3-4 tbsp cold milk
1 tbsp black sesame seeds + 1 tbsp white sesame seeds (or entirely white)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 180 C.
2. Keep a baking tray ready, lined with silicone mat or a greased tin foil or parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except butter and milk, until well combined.
4. Add the butter pieces and with finger tips rub the mixture together until it feels like bread crumbs
5. Add milk 1 tbsp at a time and knead gently till it comes together like a dough. 
6. Divide into 20 equal balls, rolling each between lightly greased palms. Gently press each ball on the sesame seeds laid out on a plate, only on one side and place the flattened ball, sesame seeds side up, on the baking sheet, leaving a little space between each cookie, for they'll expand.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180C until the tops are browned. Cool and store in air tight container.

Tip
*To get finely grated ginger for salad dressings, tea and ginger cookies, store the cleaned ginger roots in a ziploc bag in the freezer. They stay forever, don't get soggy and when grated, give finely powdered fresh ginger. 

Protein Packed Banana Sunflower Cookies gluten and sugar free

My baby is going to be 4 years old in a few weeks. I suppose that means I can officially no longer use the excuse that I am still trying to loose the baby fat. What's that you say? Most people say it only takes 6 months to a year at most to lose the weight after having a baby. Well then, I guess I better find another excuse for hanging onto the chubs like being almost 40=slow metabolism, being constantly busy with 4 kids and work.......

Alright, alright. Excuses suck and they don't create results so I'll  just have to suck it up and take matters into my own hands. Step it up a notch. Or two.

My chubby tummy is really starting to get on my nerves. The chubs have gots to go! I have been telling myself for almost 4 years, since aforementioned baby numero 4 that I will not buy new clothes until I lose at least 20lbs. 30 would be super.

The fact that my wardrobe is seriously out of style should tell you something. It's been way too long just waiting for the weight to come off. After I had my first 3 children I worked out once and a while, a few times a week usually hiking or playing tennis and sometimes home workouts when it was too hot outside. The wight came off fairly easily. So what happened after baby #4? This belly won't budge!


Taking matters into my own hands I decided to join a workout program along with a month of Shakeology with my long time fellow blogger and inspirational friend Jen aka The Fit Housewife.
I'm so excited to get started! My package should be on the doorstep any day now and I'll be on a 90 kick ass jump start to the new me with Chalean Extreme.


Getting motivated to workout isn't easy for me. Usually I have to tell myself to at the very least do a Yoga or 20 minutes of Pilates and after I do I'm energized and ready to kick it into gear with a tougher workout. Cute new workout clothes also are a great motivator so when Marni from ZUMBA Fitness offered to send me some of their new apparel I was more than happy to check it out.

I recieved this cute tank top which I loved! It wans't clingy which helps hide the tummy while I try to get rid of it. I really liked how airy it was, I hate when my clothes stay wet when I sweat. 

These sports bras would look great under their open back tanks!

 I like the sassy edgy quality of Zumba's line of comfortable workout clothes. 

Sporting my cute, new workout clothes and stocked with these healthy,

 protein packed pre-workout cookies I'm ready to get my cardio on!

These banana sunflower cookies taste like banana bread, my favorite!
Sweetened with a touch of honey and a handful of shredded coconut and made with
good for you gluten free flours minus the starch. I'm in love.

 

Oil free, butter free, refined sugar free, grain free. These still tasted wonderful. They have a cake like texture and the sunflower seeds added just the right amount of texture and heartiness, not to mention tons of beneficial vitamins and protein.

PREP TIME    10 MIN   

BAKE TIME    10 MIN

YIELDS    16-20 COOKIES 

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas

1/2 cup plain, fat free yogurt (or sugar free applesauce)

1/4 cup honey preferably local Organic, aides w allergies (eye it)

1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut (or more honey)

1 cup spelt flour

1 cup buckwheat flour (or almond flour)

1 cup shelled, unsalted sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon iodized salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to cream together the bananas, yogurt and honey for 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the sunflower seeds, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture along with coconut. Mix thoroughly to combine. 

Drop rounded tablespoons of the dough onto the baking sheet, placing them about 2" apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.

Sunflower seeds are an excellent source of Vitamin E, the body's primary fat-soluble antioxidant. Vitamin E travels throughout the body neutralizing free radicals which can reduce the
symptoms of asthma, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, conditions where
free radicals and inflammation play a big role.

The minerals and vitamins in sunflower seeds also can greatly help reduce the severity of asthma, lower high blood pressure, and prevent migraine headaches, as well as reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke.





Sources
The World's Healthiest Foods

Protein Packed Banana Sunflower Cookies gluten and sugar free

Posted by admin

My baby is going to be 4 years old in a few weeks. I suppose that means I can officially no longer use the excuse that I am still trying to loose the baby fat. What's that you say? Most people say it only takes 6 months to a year at most to lose the weight after having a baby. Well then, I guess I better find another excuse for hanging onto the chubs like being almost 40=slow metabolism, being constantly busy with 4 kids and work.......

Alright, alright. Excuses suck and they don't create results so I'll  just have to suck it up and take matters into my own hands. Step it up a notch. Or two.

My chubby tummy is really starting to get on my nerves. The chubs have gots to go! I have been telling myself for almost 4 years, since aforementioned baby numero 4 that I will not buy new clothes until I lose at least 20lbs. 30 would be super.

The fact that my wardrobe is seriously out of style should tell you something. It's been way too long just waiting for the weight to come off. After I had my first 3 children I worked out once and a while, a few times a week usually hiking or playing tennis and sometimes home workouts when it was too hot outside. The wight came off fairly easily. So what happened after baby #4? This belly won't budge!


Taking matters into my own hands I decided to join a workout program along with a month of Shakeology with my long time fellow blogger and inspirational friend Jen aka The Fit Housewife.
I'm so excited to get started! My package should be on the doorstep any day now and I'll be on a 90 kick ass jump start to the new me with Chalean Extreme.


Getting motivated to workout isn't easy for me. Usually I have to tell myself to at the very least do a Yoga or 20 minutes of Pilates and after I do I'm energized and ready to kick it into gear with a tougher workout. Cute new workout clothes also are a great motivator so when Marni from ZUMBA Fitness offered to send me some of their new apparel I was more than happy to check it out.

I recieved this cute tank top which I loved! It wans't clingy which helps hide the tummy while I try to get rid of it. I really liked how airy it was, I hate when my clothes stay wet when I sweat. 

These sports bras would look great under their open back tanks!

 I like the sassy edgy quality of Zumba's line of comfortable workout clothes. 

Sporting my cute, new workout clothes and stocked with these healthy,

 protein packed pre-workout cookies I'm ready to get my cardio on!

These banana sunflower cookies taste like banana bread, my favorite!
Sweetened with a touch of honey and a handful of shredded coconut and made with
good for you gluten free flours minus the starch. I'm in love.

 

Oil free, butter free, refined sugar free, grain free. These still tasted wonderful. They have a cake like texture and the sunflower seeds added just the right amount of texture and heartiness, not to mention tons of beneficial vitamins and protein.

PREP TIME    10 MIN   

BAKE TIME    10 MIN

YIELDS    16-20 COOKIES 

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas

1/2 cup plain, fat free yogurt (or sugar free applesauce)

1/4 cup honey preferably local Organic, aides w allergies (eye it)

1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut (or more honey)

1 cup spelt flour

1 cup buckwheat flour (or almond flour)

1 cup shelled, unsalted sunflower seeds

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon iodized salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to cream together the bananas, yogurt and honey for 1 minute.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the sunflower seeds, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture along with coconut. Mix thoroughly to combine. 

Drop rounded tablespoons of the dough onto the baking sheet, placing them about 2" apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.

Sunflower seeds are an excellent source of Vitamin E, the body's primary fat-soluble antioxidant. Vitamin E travels throughout the body neutralizing free radicals which can reduce the
symptoms of asthma, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, conditions where
free radicals and inflammation play a big role.

The minerals and vitamins in sunflower seeds also can greatly help reduce the severity of asthma, lower high blood pressure, and prevent migraine headaches, as well as reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke.





Sources
The World's Healthiest Foods

Easy Eggless Choco-Vanilla Cookies

"If I hear "I'm hungry" one more time, I'm going to check myself into a nearby hotel and switch off my mobile phone!"

 That's me telling my four year old, who tells me he's hungry every 15 minutes and the minute I rustle up something, he conveniently forgets about his hunger and runs off to rebuild a Lego castle for the 500th time. But yesterday, I went out for a beautiful wine evening at The Sheraton #socialhour- it's when people at Sheraton Hotels around the world come together for a toast at the decided time. What's more, the wine served at each hotel across the world is from the same winery, for that week. After multiple cabernet sauvignons & rieslings, a good night's sleep at my cousin's place & breakfast with a wonderful friend at the legendary Veena Stores, I'd had enough of me time and couldn't wait to get back home to my mischief monger boy. So today, when he said "I want cookies, mummy" - my guilt pushed me faster than a runaway train to start the oven and then think of something to bake on the spur of the moment.


It started with creaming some butter & sugar, added flour and one thing led to the other. I ended up with these oh-so-cute brown & cream cookies. When I posted the pics on Twitter & Saffrontrail FB page, I was goaded into doing this quick post on how I made them. I'm sorry I'm unable to provide very exact measurements, I hope it's very close to the quantities I've used. Anyway cookies aren't as unforgiving as cakes, so they should turn out okay! They only take 20 minutes, and I promise it will make your child (or the inner child in you) smile :-)

Recipe for Half & Half Cookies
Takes under 30 minutes
Roughly 30 cookies of ~ 2" diameter

Ingredients
4 heaped tbsp soft unsalted butter (if salted, reduce the salt by a pinch)
1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 tsp sea salt - pulsed in mixer for few seconds
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract or powder
1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cocoa powder
few tsp cold water 
1-2 tsp cold milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 180 C.
2. Line a big baking tray with tin foil or parchment.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar-salt mix with a spoon for 2 minutes, adding in the vanilla extract, until well combined.
4. Sift the flours and baking powder together on a sheet of paper or mix it with a fork in a bowl and add it to the creamed mix.
5. Mix well until it forms a dough, adding 1-2 tsp of cold water or milk to bind, if required.
6. Divide roughly in half. Keep one half aside. To the other half, add the cocoa powder, a few drops of cold milk and knead gently to make a smooth but stiff dough (or you cant slice them).
7. Now you'll have two rounds of dough, one white and one brown.
8. Divide each into two logs, to get two white logs and two brown logs.
9. Join one white log and one choco log and roll into a log on a clean smooth surface. It's not necessary, that the white and brown parts are exactly half and half, don't stress out over this-just make sure each log as some white and some brown.
10. At this stage you could refrigerate for 15 mins or so and then slice into 1.5 cm thick slices or go ahead without chilling.
11. Place each slice on the baking tray leaving some space between each cookie.
12. Bake at 180C for 10-12 minutes, until the white parts start turning golden. At this point they will still be very soft, so don't overbake. They will crisp up as they cool
13. For chewy cookies, remove them a little earlier.

Note
You can bake as many as you want at a time and freeze the remaining logs / slices to bake as and when required. You dont need to thaw the dough. Slice frozen dough and bake as it is in a preheated oven-adding 1-2 minutes extra for fresh cookies on demand :)

What people who tried this have to say!

Cookie making debut. Made choco-vanilla cookies for the wife and kids. instagram.com/p/ZdS0Gnpeog/
— Obstetrix (@ScissorTongue) May 18, 2013

@saffrontrail wow luks super.. hey i made the kung fu panda cookies today.. turned out well :) thks for making my kid happy too :)
— sowmya (@vishalsowmya) May 17, 2013

Easy Eggless Choco-Vanilla Cookies

Posted by admin

"If I hear "I'm hungry" one more time, I'm going to check myself into a nearby hotel and switch off my mobile phone!"

 That's me telling my four year old, who tells me he's hungry every 15 minutes and the minute I rustle up something, he conveniently forgets about his hunger and runs off to rebuild a Lego castle for the 500th time. But yesterday, I went out for a beautiful wine evening at The Sheraton #socialhour- it's when people at Sheraton Hotels around the world come together for a toast at the decided time. What's more, the wine served at each hotel across the world is from the same winery, for that week. After multiple cabernet sauvignons & rieslings, a good night's sleep at my cousin's place & breakfast with a wonderful friend at the legendary Veena Stores, I'd had enough of me time and couldn't wait to get back home to my mischief monger boy. So today, when he said "I want cookies, mummy" - my guilt pushed me faster than a runaway train to start the oven and then think of something to bake on the spur of the moment.


It started with creaming some butter & sugar, added flour and one thing led to the other. I ended up with these oh-so-cute brown & cream cookies. When I posted the pics on Twitter & Saffrontrail FB page, I was goaded into doing this quick post on how I made them. I'm sorry I'm unable to provide very exact measurements, I hope it's very close to the quantities I've used. Anyway cookies aren't as unforgiving as cakes, so they should turn out okay! They only take 20 minutes, and I promise it will make your child (or the inner child in you) smile :-)

Recipe for Half & Half Cookies
Takes under 30 minutes
Roughly 30 cookies of ~ 2" diameter

Ingredients
4 heaped tbsp soft unsalted butter (if salted, reduce the salt by a pinch)
1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 tsp sea salt - pulsed in mixer for few seconds
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract or powder
1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cocoa powder
few tsp cold water 
1-2 tsp cold milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 180 C.
2. Line a big baking tray with tin foil or parchment.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar-salt mix with a spoon for 2 minutes, adding in the vanilla extract, until well combined.
4. Sift the flours and baking powder together on a sheet of paper or mix it with a fork in a bowl and add it to the creamed mix.
5. Mix well until it forms a dough, adding 1-2 tsp of cold water or milk to bind, if required.
6. Divide roughly in half. Keep one half aside. To the other half, add the cocoa powder, a few drops of cold milk and knead gently to make a smooth but stiff dough (or you cant slice them).
7. Now you'll have two rounds of dough, one white and one brown.
8. Divide each into two logs, to get two white logs and two brown logs.
9. Join one white log and one choco log and roll into a log on a clean smooth surface. It's not necessary, that the white and brown parts are exactly half and half, don't stress out over this-just make sure each log as some white and some brown.
10. At this stage you could refrigerate for 15 mins or so and then slice into 1.5 cm thick slices or go ahead without chilling.
11. Place each slice on the baking tray leaving some space between each cookie.
12. Bake at 180C for 10-12 minutes, until the white parts start turning golden. At this point they will still be very soft, so don't overbake. They will crisp up as they cool
13. For chewy cookies, remove them a little earlier.

Note
You can bake as many as you want at a time and freeze the remaining logs / slices to bake as and when required. You dont need to thaw the dough. Slice frozen dough and bake as it is in a preheated oven-adding 1-2 minutes extra for fresh cookies on demand :)

What people who tried this have to say!

Cookie making debut. Made choco-vanilla cookies for the wife and kids. instagram.com/p/ZdS0Gnpeog/
— Obstetrix (@ScissorTongue) May 18, 2013

@saffrontrail wow luks super.. hey i made the kung fu panda cookies today.. turned out well :) thks for making my kid happy too :)
— sowmya (@vishalsowmya) May 17, 2013

Healthy Almond-Coconut Chocolate Thumbprint cookies ~ gluten free

Some days things just don't pan out the way I planned them to. Actually, that seems to be the norm rather than the exception lately. And by lately I mean since I had my first child 18 years ago. Holy crap! I have an 18 year old?!!  Anyway, this weekend I had to work on Saturday and was supposed to be off at 3p.m. and then planned on doing a little shopping at my favorite adds and ends Home store for kitchen props, plates, bowls, napkins etc. then go to Sprouts and then go home make a yummy dinner and possibly get some decent shots to put on the blog. 

At 2:35 p.m. however we get a call that we need to do an emergency tracheotomy on a patient. How rude. What's more, the Dr. didn't have an assistant so I got to double as a first assist and it was a difficult case, couldn't get the trach tube in because the patient had a mushy trachea. So now I'm tired and a bit cranky and it's 4:45p.m. So much for my nice afternoon. So much for making dinner. Pei Wei saves the day!

Fast forward to Sunday...... I was excited to try and recreate one of my favorite childhood breakfasts, cottage cheese pancakes. If you've never had them, don't wrinkle your nose till you've tried them. They are so good! The cottage cheese actually adds a bit of sweet creaminess to the pancakes, almost like a cream cheese crepe. I wanted to try to make them healthier by omitting the flour and tried using almond meal instead. Epic fail! The first batch crashed and burned, literally. The second batch was oily and burned.

Back to the drawing boards. 

Enter these cookies. Every problem or catastrophe can be solve with a good cookie and these are even fairly healthy! Bonus!

PREP TIME    15 MINUTES     BAKE    15 MINUTES     YIELDS   18-20 SMALL COOKIES

Ingredients: 

2 cups almond meal (almond flour w the skins un-removed) 

1 tablespoon flax meal (ground flax seed) 

1/4 cup coconut oil 

1/4 cup local honey  

1 teaspoon real vanilla extract 

1/2 teaspoon almond extract 

1/4 teaspoon sea salt 

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes 

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate (chips or bar)

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a medium bowl mix together the coconut oil, honey, vanilla and almond extract. 

Gradually stir in the almond flour, flax meal and sea salt, and mix well until a uniform dough is formed. 

Scoop the dough by tablespoons and use your hands to roll into smooth balls. Roll the balls in the coconut flakes to coat. Place the balls onto the lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart, and use your thumb to press into the center of each cookie, creating a well for the chocolate. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes till lightly browned. Remove from oven, let cool. 

Meanwhile, in a small ceramic or microwave safe bowl add chocolate chips or chopped up bar. Microwave on medium power for 90 seconds. Stir. Microwave another 90 seconds or until melted.

Spoon chocolate into the center of the cookies and let cool. 

These cookies are also wonderful with a bit of fruit preserves in the middle, my favorite is apricot!

I am submitting this post to Tasty Tuesday's

Healthy Almond-Coconut Chocolate Thumbprint cookies ~ gluten free

Posted by admin

Some days things just don't pan out the way I planned them to. Actually, that seems to be the norm rather than the exception lately. And by lately I mean since I had my first child 18 years ago. Holy crap! I have an 18 year old?!!  Anyway, this weekend I had to work on Saturday and was supposed to be off at 3p.m. and then planned on doing a little shopping at my favorite adds and ends Home store for kitchen props, plates, bowls, napkins etc. then go to Sprouts and then go home make a yummy dinner and possibly get some decent shots to put on the blog. 

At 2:35 p.m. however we get a call that we need to do an emergency tracheotomy on a patient. How rude. What's more, the Dr. didn't have an assistant so I got to double as a first assist and it was a difficult case, couldn't get the trach tube in because the patient had a mushy trachea. So now I'm tired and a bit cranky and it's 4:45p.m. So much for my nice afternoon. So much for making dinner. Pei Wei saves the day!

Fast forward to Sunday...... I was excited to try and recreate one of my favorite childhood breakfasts, cottage cheese pancakes. If you've never had them, don't wrinkle your nose till you've tried them. They are so good! The cottage cheese actually adds a bit of sweet creaminess to the pancakes, almost like a cream cheese crepe. I wanted to try to make them healthier by omitting the flour and tried using almond meal instead. Epic fail! The first batch crashed and burned, literally. The second batch was oily and burned.

Back to the drawing boards. 

Enter these cookies. Every problem or catastrophe can be solve with a good cookie and these are even fairly healthy! Bonus!

PREP TIME    15 MINUTES     BAKE    15 MINUTES     YIELDS   18-20 SMALL COOKIES

Ingredients: 

2 cups almond meal (almond flour w the skins un-removed) 

1 tablespoon flax meal (ground flax seed) 

1/4 cup coconut oil 

1/4 cup local honey  

1 teaspoon real vanilla extract 

1/2 teaspoon almond extract 

1/4 teaspoon sea salt 

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes 

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate (chips or bar)

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a medium bowl mix together the coconut oil, honey, vanilla and almond extract. 

Gradually stir in the almond flour, flax meal and sea salt, and mix well until a uniform dough is formed. 

Scoop the dough by tablespoons and use your hands to roll into smooth balls. Roll the balls in the coconut flakes to coat. Place the balls onto the lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart, and use your thumb to press into the center of each cookie, creating a well for the chocolate. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes till lightly browned. Remove from oven, let cool. 

Meanwhile, in a small ceramic or microwave safe bowl add chocolate chips or chopped up bar. Microwave on medium power for 90 seconds. Stir. Microwave another 90 seconds or until melted.

Spoon chocolate into the center of the cookies and let cool. 

These cookies are also wonderful with a bit of fruit preserves in the middle, my favorite is apricot!

I am submitting this post to Tasty Tuesday's

My Diwali Gift to you : Triple Decker Brownies

I was looking for something blow-your-socks off sinful to make this Diwali to take to a friends' place tonight and also for the kids in my complex for the Diwali Party. And thank you, Pinterest, for leading me to the right place. I found this piece of awesomeness on this blog and one look at her pictures is enough to set you drooling. 

I've baked brownies tons of times and they are the two go-to recipes you'll find on my blog. But this one is from another planet. Bottom layer of cookie dough, middle layer of Choco Cream cookies (Oreo / Dark Fantasy / Bourbon) and top layer of brownie. So, while this looks complicated, if you've baked cookies and any sort of cake or brownie, you can do this. All you need is to buy a few packets of Oreos or any other rich cream filled biscuits.

Recipe for Triple Decker Brownies / Oreo Brownies / Cookie - Fudge Brownies

Makes 16 pieces

Time taken : Prep time around 30 minutes, Baking time : 35 minutes

Recipe Source : What's Gaby Cooking

Ingredients

For the Brownie Layer:

150 grams unsalted butter (left on counter top or straight from fridge is also fine)

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp coffee liquor or decoction

On medium heat, in a big saucepan, melt butter. Once slightly melted, take off heat and stir to melt it fully. Add cocoa powder, sugar and whisk well till incorporated.

Remove from the stove, it should not be too hot. Whisk in eggs quickly along with vanilla.

Finally add flour and salt, coffee liquor, whisk well - for 3-4 minutes and keep aside.

For Cookie Dough Layer :

100 grams softened unsalted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar or powdered jaggery

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (maida)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, using hand mixer, cream butter and sugars for 3-4 minutes.

Add vanilla extract, egg and whisk again for a minute or so.

Add the flour, salt and fold in with a silicon spatula.

In the end fold in the chocolate chips.

Oreo Layer : 

Roughly 20 Oreo or Dark Fantasy cookies, if you get double stuffed Oreos, choose those, with the Vanilla filling as the white stands out in the dark brownie. I used a mix of choco filled and vanilla filled cookies, but next time will stick to vanilla alone.

Assembly

1. Line a 9X9 inch pan with parchment or aluminium foil. Butter or grease with oil.
2. For Cookie Layer : Put the cookie dough on the greased lining of the tin and spread it well to the corners, in a uniform layer.
3. Oreo Layer : Place the cookies side by side covering the cookie dough entirely. Break the cookie in half, if you want to cover a little bit of extra space.
4. Brownie Layer : Top the Oreos with the Brownie batter smoothening it out right upto the edges with a silicon spatula.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until tester comes out clean.
6. Remove from over and cool outside removing it along with parchment / foil on a cooling rack - for one hour.
7. Cut into 16 squares.
8. Serve as it is, slightly warm or with vanilla ice cream.

If you liked this post, you could follow the Saffrontrail Facebook page for more frequent updates and pictures.

My Diwali Gift to you : Triple Decker Brownies

Posted by admin

I was looking for something blow-your-socks off sinful to make this Diwali to take to a friends' place tonight and also for the kids in my complex for the Diwali Party. And thank you, Pinterest, for leading me to the right place. I found this piece of awesomeness on this blog and one look at her pictures is enough to set you drooling. 

I've baked brownies tons of times and they are the two go-to recipes you'll find on my blog. But this one is from another planet. Bottom layer of cookie dough, middle layer of Choco Cream cookies (Oreo / Dark Fantasy / Bourbon) and top layer of brownie. So, while this looks complicated, if you've baked cookies and any sort of cake or brownie, you can do this. All you need is to buy a few packets of Oreos or any other rich cream filled biscuits.

Recipe for Triple Decker Brownies / Oreo Brownies / Cookie - Fudge Brownies

Makes 16 pieces

Time taken : Prep time around 30 minutes, Baking time : 35 minutes

Recipe Source : What's Gaby Cooking

Ingredients

For the Brownie Layer:

150 grams unsalted butter (left on counter top or straight from fridge is also fine)

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp coffee liquor or decoction

On medium heat, in a big saucepan, melt butter. Once slightly melted, take off heat and stir to melt it fully. Add cocoa powder, sugar and whisk well till incorporated.

Remove from the stove, it should not be too hot. Whisk in eggs quickly along with vanilla.

Finally add flour and salt, coffee liquor, whisk well - for 3-4 minutes and keep aside.

For Cookie Dough Layer :

100 grams softened unsalted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar or powdered jaggery

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (maida)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, using hand mixer, cream butter and sugars for 3-4 minutes.

Add vanilla extract, egg and whisk again for a minute or so.

Add the flour, salt and fold in with a silicon spatula.

In the end fold in the chocolate chips.

Oreo Layer : 

Roughly 20 Oreo or Dark Fantasy cookies, if you get double stuffed Oreos, choose those, with the Vanilla filling as the white stands out in the dark brownie. I used a mix of choco filled and vanilla filled cookies, but next time will stick to vanilla alone.

Assembly

1. Line a 9X9 inch pan with parchment or aluminium foil. Butter or grease with oil.
2. For Cookie Layer : Put the cookie dough on the greased lining of the tin and spread it well to the corners, in a uniform layer.
3. Oreo Layer : Place the cookies side by side covering the cookie dough entirely. Break the cookie in half, if you want to cover a little bit of extra space.
4. Brownie Layer : Top the Oreos with the Brownie batter smoothening it out right upto the edges with a silicon spatula.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until tester comes out clean.
6. Remove from over and cool outside removing it along with parchment / foil on a cooling rack - for one hour.
7. Cut into 16 squares.
8. Serve as it is, slightly warm or with vanilla ice cream.

If you liked this post, you could follow the Saffrontrail Facebook page for more frequent updates and pictures.