Linzer Cookies - celebrate Valentine's day with some reduced butter cookies :-)

Some of you atleast know my perspective of the valentine's day, it is not to be celebrated for a day if you are generally not expressing the emotion throughout the year or conversely, make every day a celebration. Granted there are days where you pull your hair out and yell at your valentine but that is part of the grand scheme of life. So, personally I do not subscribe to do anything special on the Valentine's day :-). Now, before you write me off as the middle aged (which I may be), unromantic person(not a chance) there ever was/is alive, let me tell you I am much in love and look forward to stay that way for years to come. And despite all my personal opinions on the matter, I seem to be making something special for this day as part of my obligations in this virtual world :-).

I was out shopping yesterday (nothing exotic, just the boring groceries) and every store I went to from a departmental store to a pharmacy had people crowded around either the flower bouquets and chocolates or the greeting cards. And also, the majority of people in these aisles were male. For laughing out loud (no LOL for me, I really am showing my age today in more ways than one), I don't know what to make of this gender bias in the stores ..

After that contradictory opening, here I am with some delicious, sweet cookies to appease you all today. I know the post is coming a day after the Valentine's day, but like I say always, every day is special if you want to bake something for your loved one(s), so go ahead and enjoy these precious bites albeit with a little restraint since they have much butter than I normally use in my cooking :-).

Today being the 15th, this post is part of my monthly Baking Partner's challenge that is conceptualized and hosted by Swathi. She gave us a choice of 2 types of cookies for the challenge and let us pick one. Infact, I made both of the cookies but missed taking pictures of the first one. And without pictures, what is a blog post?? I thought of making them again for the sake of pictures but decided to instead try the other choice and here I am with some delicious Linzer cookies. I am not a cookie person myself but these crunchy bites with some apricot jam sandwiched in between made for a delicious bite. Linzer cookies are of European origin and are 2 cookies sandwiched with a layer of jam or marmalade (choose any fruit flavor that you love). These cookies are flavored with both citrus and spices to wake you up. I would recommend experimenting and finding out the combination you like best. I added some tangerine and meyer lemon zest, you can easily replace them with orange or lime or regular lemon zest if that is what you have/like. I also added some cinnamon and cloves. Since you add all these flavors, the cookie dough is kept aside for a few hours (I refrigerated mine overnight for about 30 hours) so they seep into the dough and give you a burst of flavors on biting into a cookie. The original recipe says it can be refrigerated upto 3 months but I don't see the point of it, it is not like you are making a fruit cake :-). So.. I will leave the determination of resting period to you intelligent souls.

Now there was another reason I didn't refrigerate it too long, yes, Valentine's day was around the corner and I had to bake it quickly :-) but I also made mine a reduced fat cookie by slashing the amount of butter to half and wanted to see how my substitute ingredient worked. Sure, I hear the collective gasping of all you cookie connoisseurs hating me for bringing shame to the world of cookie making and also proudly bragging & blogging about it. Hear me out a little bit, will you? I have done this trick before while making some of my other cookies and haven't found my cookies lacking anything at all. I know it sounds hard to believe but it is definitely not a story of denial. Butter in cookies are over rated according to me, if you can make paneer butter masala without the butter or Dal Makhni without the makhan then why not cookies with reduced butter? Beginning to sound reasonable? I know I can convince (most of you atleast) with this argument, so read on..

I shy away from making traditional cookies for the amount of fat they seem to claim as needed. Once during a girl scouts bake sale, we made dozens and dozens of cookies and my hands I am sure got the best moisturizing like never before or after as I was handling the dough. A few years back, when DD was in elementary school, I used to meet another mom in her Taekwondo class. This super sweet lady and I became friends and she invited me to a cookie exchange during the Holiday season. In those days, I was very hesitant to bake anything, let alone experiment with traditional, butter laden cookies. I called her ahead and explained my predicament and she sweetly suggested I could bring in something else if I was not comfortable making cookies. I ended up taking some fruit punch to that gathering but the point of Christmas cookie exchange is to literally exchange your best, favorite and handed down the family cookie recipes with each other and I got a bunch of index cards with cookie recipes on them and every one of them spelt butter in substantial amounts and so I just kept them aside. If cookies have to be baked, I look for options that I like - added nuts, spices, fruits to bring out the flavor.

Back to the reduced fat cookie, I already told you that I slashed the amount of butter by half but that eliminates the moisture content in the recipe, so how did I make up for it? I added 1.5 Tbsp (for the quantity of ingredients I am giving below) of milk and made the dough. If someone doesn't tell you about this or if you haven't grown up rolling in Paula Deen's recipes all your life, you will not notice the reduction and there is nothing in the taste that tells you otherwise. The surrounding flavors make you forget about the lack of full on butter and lets you enjoy the cookies feeling a little better :-). So go ahead and try these delicacies at half the guilt or indulge yourself in the original version itself.

What do you need to make Linzer cookies? 
Makes about 1.5 dozen sandwiches
1  cup + 2 tablespoon All purpose flour
1/2 cup ground almonds and/or hazelnuts
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/8 Tsp salt
1 Tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 Tsp ground cloves
4 Tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature, original recipe says 8 Tbsp butter)

1.5-2 Tbsp milk
1/8 Tsp almond extract
1 Tsp grated lemon zest
1 Tsp grated orange zest
2 Tbsp jam/jelly/fruit preserves (I used apricot jam)
1 Tsp + extra Powdered sugar for dusting

How do you make Linzer cookies?

• Soak almonds in warm water for about 45 minutes to an hours, remove the outer peel and pat them dry.
• Make a powder of almonds along with 1 Tsp of powdered sugar in to a fine consistency.
• Prepare cinnamon and cloves powder and keep ready. 
• Wash, pat dry and grate the rinds of lemon and oranges to get the required amount of zest. 
• Bring all ingredients together (except butter and milk) in a wide bowl and working with your fingers mix them well for a couple of minutes.
• Cut the butter into small pieces, add them to the bowl and mix them well. As you knead, the natural oil from the almonds also helps as a source of moisture.
• The dough starts to come together within 3-4 minutes, if it is very crumbly and falling apart, slowly add milk (room temperature) and knead it in. I used only 1.5Tbsp of it, so go by what your fingers are feeling in the dough bowl and adjust the milk.
• Once you have a firm ball of dough in hand, pat it into a slab (dimensions doesn't matter really), wrap completely with a cling wrap and refrigerate it (3 - 24 hours).

• When you are ready to bake the cookies, prepare 2 cookie sheets by laying out parchment sheets on them.
• Spread another parchment sheet on the working surface, take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it sit out for 10 minutes.
• Mean while, preheat the oven to 325F and set the racks to 1/3 distance from the top and bottom. 
• Remove the plastic wrap and place the slab on the parchment paper, Lay another parchment sheet on top (this avoids the dough and excess butter sticking to your hands and the rolling pin) and start to roll the dough out to about 1/8 inch thick. 

• Remove the top sheet, use the cookie cutters to cut different shapes. You get Linzer cookie cutters in the store which makes cutting the center piece easy but if you do not have them, just use different shapes to cut an outer shape and a smaller inner shape. 
• You will make equal number of solid halves (without center cut) and center cut halfs to finally assemble the sandwiches. I hope the pictures tell the story better than I am able to do :-). 

• Lay out the cut shapes with 1/2 inch distance between the two and bake them for a total of 14-15 minutes, open the oven once midway through, rotate the cookie sheets and also by interchanging the top and bottom cookie sheets - this insures even baking without burning. 
• Watch the cookies towards the end of baking time and take them out once the edges start to brown slightly.
• Let them stand for a few minutes to become firm before you assemble the sandwiches.

Assembling Linzer cookies (Do this when you are ready to serve, else the preserve layer tends to soften the cookies):

• Take a solid half, spread a thin layer of jam or preserve, top it with the other half with the cutout.
• Take a Tsp of powdered sugar in a thin sieve and sift it over the top.

Notes:

• Time saver tip - You can use store bought almond meal instead of soaking, peeling and grinding the almonds.
• As you cut out the cookies, bring the scraps and the center cuts back into a ball and repeat the process. You can also bake the center cutouts separately but they cook faster because of their size.
• You can serve these cookies without making them into sandwiches if the cutouts pose a problem. Slather some jam on top and bite in :-)

Biscotti - here comes an egg free version loaded with nuts

Long before India became independent from the colonial rule, Rabindranath Tagore wrote this beautiful poem visualizing a new, awakened India. It was later translated to English by himself and included in his Nobel prize winning collection Geetanjali. I remember reciting this on many occasions during my school years and every time it was a surreal experience. Now after so many years, making home in two countries and loving them both with my heart, Independence day holds a special significance. While the generation of our elders that took part in India's independence struggle is slowly vanishing, while we still have a lot more to do before the dream becomes a reality,  I wanted to share this beautiful piece with all of my readers.

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

Happy 67th Indian Independence Day!

Those of you familiar with my blog already know that I am part of a group called Baking Partners started by Swathi. We bake savories or sweets every month and post it on the 15th. We usually get a couple of related recipes to choose from and the challenge is flexible to accommodate egg free, gluten free, high altitude revisions to the original recipes. While I chose to break free from my egg aversion for the last 2 challenges, this time I wanted to try it without eggs. Of the 4 recipes Swathi sent us, the family voted for the Italian Biscotti.

Biscotti (biscotus in singular form) have an Italian origin meaning 'twice baked bread' referring to the baking process. Fresh baked bread is allowed to cool very slightly before being cut into oblongs and baked for a second time until they are crunchy and hard. These stay well on journeys thus making them popular during travel and war!

If you have never had Biscotti before, imagine a much less dryer version of the tea time favorites - Rusks. Biscotti are not overly sweet and are traditionally served with a drink such as orange juice so it can be dunked in the juice if preferred. Good biscotti hold shape and do not crumble, elegantly sweet and is a party in the mouth as you can mix & match flavors you like. I chose to do a simple biscotti flavored with orange tangerine rind and loaded with walnuts, the end result was a crisp, sweet treat that had walnuts popping in every bite with a burst of citrus flavor.

So far I have tried 2 different egg replacements in my baking experiments, you can use flax meal soaked in water to replace the eggs in cakes or use fruit sauces in cookies. These work really well and you just need to be cognizant of which one works where and the amount for the replacement. I had book marked a few of those recommendations and tried apple sauce in my biscotti today. I also reduced the butter from the original recipe and upped canola oil slightly. Biscotti were delicious, perfectly crunchy without being hard and disappeared just like hot cakes :-) since I made the first batch yesterday.

What do you need to make Walnut Biscotti?
1.5 cups All purpose flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Tblsp butter (at room temperature)
6 Tblsp unsweetened apple sauce
1 Tblsp grated rind of orange/tangerine (replace with lemon rind if you prefer)
3/4 Tsp baking powder
1 cup walnuts
2 Tblsp canola oil (or any other non flavored oil)

How do you make Walnut Biscotti? 

• Preheat the oven to 325F, spread the walnuts on a cookie sheet and bake them for 5-7 minutes or until they are toasted crisp. 
• Remove the walnuts from the oven, let cool slightly and chop then into small bits. 
• Bring sugar and butter in a large bowl and beat them with a fork until smooth. 
• Mix oil, apple sauce and the orange rind into the bowl. 

• Sift flour and baking powder into the bowl and mix everything together to make a soft dough. 
• Prepare a cookie sheet by spreading a layer of parchment paper on it. 
• Dust your hands slightly with AP flour and divide the dough into 2 pieces and shape them into logs. 
• Place the logs on the parchment paper leaving a couple of inches between them. 

• Bake for 28-30 minutes and take out the cookie sheet. 
• Let the baked logs cool for a couple of minutes before slicing them with a sharp knife. 

• Place the cut biscotti back on the parchment paper with one of the cut sides down, put it back in the oven for 8 minutes, flip them over and continue to bake for another 6-8 minutes or until you see the biscotti developing a golden hue all over. 

• Remove from the oven, let cool (pop a few in the mouth as you wait, they taste delicious when warm) completely before storing them in air tight container. 
• I cannot tell you how long they will stay fresh as my biscotti are all gone :-)

Notes: 

• Original recipe asks you to wait for 10 minutes between the bakes but I found it easier to cut through the softer (and hotter) logs and did it after letting it sit for a couple of minutes. 
• Original recipe asked to add a Tblsp of crushed coriander seeds, I didn't do it as DD doesn't like coriander seeds flavor especially when she gets a piece in the mouth. 
• I added tangerine rind since that is what I had on my counter top and the flavor was immensely pleasant. You can experiment with other citrus fruits you like. 

• Reducing the butter from its 4 Tblsp to 1 Tblsp really didn't matter at all and I have started to think if all that 8 Tblsp would have made it way too buttery for our tastes. I am sure the apple sauce helped provide the required texture and the little bit of butter brought in the required flavor  - a win-win for all. 
• A couple of popular Biscotti variations are almonds, hazelnuts, chocolate, pair them with a good vanilla or almond extract. I am thinking cardamom will lend a wonderful aroma to biscotti too.
• When you take out the biscotti after the second bake, they do not have to be very crunchy as they turn harder on cooling.

Almond mocha bars - chewy, chocolatey bars for the holidays

How have you all been? I disappeared for the past week as we had family visiting. It has been loads of chitchatting, catching up, eating, outings and movies. DD had a blast with her 2 cousins and they all had long faces as we said 'bye' to them yesterday. It was a nice wrap up of 2012 and we are back again to the 3 of us at home with a couple of days left before the New Year begins. It is time now to take stock of how well and fast 2012 went by and get ready for another exciting year and unlimited opportunities.

As the girls got together for Christmas, there was obviously lot of anticipation and excitement starting with decorating the tree, we decided to get a small fresh one this time unlike the previous years where we have stood up the pre-lit plastic tree. The small tree actually looked beautiful and smelled fresh after all the ornaments went on it. The girls were very considerate to respect the potential, future diabetic Santas at home and instead of cookies, left crackers and milk by the fireplace :-). I baked a batch of these warm almond mocha bars for the girls and they enjoyed the slightly chewy texture of the bars loaded with roasted almonds and a hint of coffee to keep them awake through the night (they didn't need it as each other's company was intoxicating enough for them :-)).

We adults at home got treated to a dinner cooked by the girls one of the nights. The two sets of parents and one set of grandparents were all banished away from the kitchen, kitchen was cordoned off and draped by sheets so we don't even get a peep into the happenings. Amma was only consulted when it was critical and there was no other way out and she was allowed only once in the kitchen with eyes blinded on the sides to dig out the yogurt from the refrigerator. We were very pleasantly surprised when they served us with appetizers containing a very creative ritzies (Ritz crackers topped with onion, tomato, cilantro, chat masala and such), baked samosas followed by a full course of methi paranthas, rice, mutter paneer, raita and subzi and rounded off with brownies. Although they took the help of some semi prepared food, we were all extremely proud and happy about the well orchestrated effort that went off smoothly with no fights, no walkouts but a very mature and calm execution. They were completely tired by the end of dinner and moms & dads had to pamper them by feeding them their dinner :-). I wanted to share a few pictures of the dinner we had to give a glimpse of the girls efforts. Very proud of you S,K & N.

This is another recipe I got from Michael's cookie books I mentioned in my previous post, doesn't have eggs but we all loved the subtle coffee taste as you bite into the rich bars loaded with almonds and chocolate pieces. I am sure you can replace almonds with other nuts of your choice and I want to try with some roasted coconut flakes next time I bake these as I like the flavor it gives to the cookies.

What do you need to make Almond mocha bars?
Makes about 24 bars of 1.5inch X 2.5 inch
1/2 cup butter or 1 stick (US measure) - at room temperature
1/2 cupfirmly packed brown sugar
1/2 Tsp almond extract
1 cup AP flour
1 Tblsp instant coffee granules
1/4 Tsp baking powder
1/8 Tsp salt
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sliced almonds

How do you make Almond mocha bars?

• Toast almond on medium heat until you can smell the toasted nuts (takes about 5-7 minutes on stove top), chop into small pieces and keep aside. 
• Cream butter, brown sugar and almond extract until fluffy - I used my hand electric blender for 3 minutes
• In a small bowl sieve together AP flour, coffee granules, baking powder and salt. 

• Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter mixture and stir to form a soft dough. 
• Add the chocolate chips and chopped almonds.
• Press the mixture into baking pan (I used 8X11 and the dough covered about 3/4 of the pan), keep the thickness of the pressed dough to about an inch. 
• Bake in a 350F pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes or until the top turns light golden. 
• Let it stand for 5 minutes and make markings with a sharp knife for desired size. 

• Let the bars cool completely in the pan before cutting them out. 

Buttery Pecan cookies - Save one for Santa

Holidays have started (finally), I signed off yesterday evening and have shut down my laptop and kept it away for another week :-), it feels wonderful since we were able to wrap up stuff nicely and not carry any work related guilt into the Holidays. DD came back home after a hectic week of tests filled school and is looking forward to relaxing for the next 2 weeks. We have family coming over tomorrow and looking forward to meeting the cousins.

Although DD and the visiting cousins are long past the stage of expecting St Nicholas down the chimney and reward them with presents for being the good girls they are, they do enjoy some good cookies, if it home baked it is all the more fun :-). They know very well where the presents come from too. And it is not Christmas unless you baked some sinfully buttery, delicious cookies right? The aroma from the kitchen confirms that it is the season to be jolly. So here I am baking a few cookies to enjoy at home and share with friends. These pecan cookies are very easy to bake, slightly heavy in calories (aren't all cookies?) and extremely delicious. I baked a batch of these buttery pecan cookies on Thursday night for DD to take to school and she came back with compliments from her friends, as the cookie jar was empty and I had absolutely no pictures from the last batch, I baked another batch just now.

I found these cookie recipes in a $1 recipe book I got on one of those strolls in Michaels (this is an arts & crafts store and has loads of raw materials for creative people). Though I am a much limited person in this department, I love to just walk through the isles in this store and sometimes I find unexpected surprises. Many of my friends attended the Wilton's cake decoration classes in this store and bake dream like cakes. This being the holiday season, they had some small recipe books about cakes, chocolates, cookies and other holiday recipes. Honestly I had no intention of shopping for cook books but when they are right by you on a stand while you are waiting at the checkout counter and are priced at $1 a piece, I couldn't pass up the offer. I got one of each :-)). The books have loads of classic, traditional holiday recipes but many are very rich from my perspective. While I have nothing against eggs, I feel (may be just my prejudiced mind) that the smell of the egg lingers on in the baked goodie and I prefer avoiding eggs if possible and it is one less ingredient that I need to shop for and preserve. So I did find some no egg cookies in there and have book marked it.

I love nuts, all kinds of them and pecans have a very nice, nutty flavor especially when toasted slightly. When the recipe called for a generous amount of pecans, I liked it even before baking it. These cookies are slightly crumbly yet soft and have a definite pecan flavor in them.

What do you need to make Pecan cookies? 
Makes about 24
1/2 cup butter softened (1 stick in US measurements)
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 Tsp vanilla extract
1 cup All purpose flour
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 Tsp salt

How do you make Pecan cookies?

• Toast pecans on stove top or microwave* until they are fragrant. 
• Coarse powder the toasted pecans. 
• Mix softened butter, vanilla extract and brown sugar in a bowl and cream them until the mixture is light & fluffy, I used my electric hand mixer for 3 minutes to get the right consistency. 
• Mix flour, pecan powder, salt in another bowl and add it to the creamed butter mixture. 
• Bring them all together until a soft dough forms. 

• Knead for a minute, break into 2 pieces and roll them into logs of about 6 inches long. 
• Wrap the logs in cling wrap or thin plastic sheet and chill it in the refrigerator for about an hour. 
• Take out the chilled logs, cut them into discs of 1/2 inch thickness, arrange them on a baking sheet with atleast 3/4 inch space in between. 

• Preheat oven to 350F, bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until they turn light brown on top. 
• Take them out (holding the edges as the center will still be a little soft) and let them cool on wire racks. 
• Enjoy the buttery, pecan flavored cookies with a glass of cold milk. 

Notes: 

• I toasted the pecans on stove top in a heavy bottom pan, takes about 4 minutes with frequent stirring to avoid burning the nuts. You can microwave the nuts - arrange them in a single layer in a microwave safe plate and let it cook for 1 minute on high and give rest for 30 secs, repeat the process 3 or 4 times or until the pecans start to smell heavenly.
• Keep the butter on the counter top for a couple of hours for it to soften. 
• The cookies are soft to touch when you take them out of the oven but they will become harder as they cool. 

Enjoy the Holiday Season and I will see you shortly with more recipes. 

Cookies with a secret - Celebrate Valentine's day with a kiss

Happy Valentine's day everyone! I know the post is kinda last minute but my excuse is that I am on the west coast and the day has not yet begun for me. For all others that are ahead of me, hope your valnetine's day turned out well and is going well.

I think about why some food items become a hit while some do not though they both taste very good. As in any other visual media, presentation is what clinches the final score. I believe presenting a food right is as important as the love of labor that goes into the creation of the food itself.  So while I am working on taking the pictures in the right light, settings and with props, I borrowed a simple recipe from Taste of Home recipe collections which has both the looks & the taste to touch your heart :-). I have modified the original recipe a little (reduced the butter & confectioner sugar from the original). Talk about magazine clippings all over the house.

Personally, we don't make a big deal of Valentine's day or go out on the celebration, it passes like any other ordinary day but keeping in the spirit of Valentine day celebrations going on around me (both in the physical & virtual world), here I am with a cookie wrapped around a kiss (I mean the Hershey's kind).

What do you need to make the Valentine cookies? 
1 stick unsalted butter
2 cups All purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts (go ahead & use almonds or cashews if you feel like)
18 kisses chocolates
1/2 cup of confectioner sugar (use powdered sugar alternatively)
1 Tblsp cocoa (I used unsweetened)
1 Tsp vanilla extract

How do you make the Valentine cookies?

• Cream the butter, sugar & vanilla extract until light and fluffy. 
• Fold in the chopped nuts and mix. 
• Add the flour and mix well.

• Knead the dough for a minute. 
• Cover the dough with a plastic cling and refrigerate for about 45 mins to an hour or until it is firm.

• Pinch a small ball of the dough and flatten it on your palm, put a chocolate kiss in the center and shape the dough around the kiss.
• Repeat until you finish all the dough. 

• Place the wrapped balls in a baking sheet and bake at 375 F for 10 - 12 minutes, take them out before they turn brown. 

• Sift the confectioner's sugar and cocoa powder together in a wide plate.

• Roll the warm cookies in the mixture and set it to cool completely. 

We liked the crumbly texture of the cookie with crunchy walnuts and the hidden kiss inside, I am sure kids will enjoy this for any of their parties.

Fair warning: One of these cookies is sufficient to tip the balance of the scale to the wrong side, so go easy on them..

A Very Happy Wedding Anniversary to my Amma & Nanandi who tied the knot many years ago on the Valentine's day and have kept it strong.