Naan Khatai

Naan Khatais have a special place in my heart. Because they are a part of my beloved grandmother’s (Who passed away this year.God grant her peace) childhood in Delhi(India). I used to stare at her in fascination when she used to talk about the monkeys who used to snatch things from unsuspecting victims. For example once my great-grandmother fried(they didn’t have ovens,therefore didn’t bake) a batch of naan khatai and left it in her veranda to cool. Since they were already tired of monkeys snatching stuff, she was keeping a close eye on that batch of naan khatais. However somebody called from inside the house and she turned her back towards the tray to answer the person. And when she turned back. ……….. no tray,no naan khatais. 

 

A pair of monkeys was sitting there munching naan khatais with the tray in their hands. And these monkey-cum-thieves stole about everything they saw. And they were damn smug about that. When people make movies depicting monkeys imitating people, they aren’t using special effects. Monkeys not only imitate humans but they also make fun of them after stealing their stuff. I recently asked a friend in Delhi about these guys.And she says, that the population has decreased due to authorities being on a monkey-chase. However they are still there. I feel thankful that the only monkeys we have are the ones in the zoo or in a circus. I wouldn’t like them steeling my naan khatai or other cookies for that matter.

 

The other memories of naan khatai involve my mum and the aunts. The way they used to sit on the ‘takhat’ (kind of like an extended bed minus the mattress, so it was hard) at my grandma’s house and gossip around their cups of tea, samosas and naan khatais. I would sit there (being a huge sucker for gossip) and would dunk my naan khatai in my mother’s tea. And let it there for longer than neccessary. So the naan khatai would break and settle at the bottom of the cup. And somebody would have to get her another cup of tea. So, baking these always brings about the best memories of my life. These large gatherings occur rarely now, now that grandma isn’t there to hold us all together!

 

Bake Time: 25-30 minutes
Makes: approx 12 cookies

Ingredients:

• Unsalted butter or Ghee – (1/2 cup, 4 oz) at room temperature
• Powdered Sugar – 1/2 cup
• Cardamom Powder – 1/4 tsp
• All Purpose Flour  – 1 cup
• Baking Powder – 1/4 tsp
• Salt – 1/8 tsp
• Sliced pistachios- For garnishing

 

Instructions:

•  In a mixing bowl, combine powdered sugar and softened butter/ghee.Mix well with a spoon.
•  Add Cardamom Powder and mix well.
• In a separate bowl, sift All Purpose Flour with Baking Powder and Salt.
•  Knead Flour mixture with Butter Mixture to form a soft dough.
•  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and leave it for 10 minutes in the fridge.

• Now heat the oven to 300 degree F or 150 degree C.
•  Divide the dough into 12 equal portions.
•  Roll each portion into a smooth ball with no cracks and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper .(Or sprayed with non-stick vegetable oil spray).Leave ample space between dough balls.
• Garnish each ball with sliced pistachios.

• Bake on the middle rack for 25-30 minutes (keep an eye on them– naan khatai should remain white).
• Remove the naan khatais  from the baking tray and cool on the cooling rack.

Advertisement

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

I hate to break it to you spammers, that I don’t like spam. I don’t want to buy a cheap bottle of Viagra.Maybe because I’m a woman, and can’t suffer from erectile dysfunction(Thank God!). I also don’t want 10,000 followers for $10. Because over generous ‘deals’ make me suspicious and curious. And curiosity simply kills the cat.

To Japanese spammers. I am tolerant of all races and languages. However, I don’t understand Japanese, and you’re simply wasting your time (and making me frustrated) by posting spam on my posts. Now if you’d redirect those lovely spammy comments to your fellow Japs, I’d be mightily grateful.  And to those rich billionaire guys, who’re being chased by their ‘cruel’ government. They have billions of dollars they ‘don’t know what to do with’. Don’t ask me if you could send billions of dollars to my bank account. I don’t need your billions guys, you can keep them. I’d rather have chocolate chip cookies. P.s I don’t even have a personal bank account yet. So yeah, I’m trying to save your time. Time is money.

Ingredients(Makes 16, 4-inch cookies)

• 1/2 cup (1 stick)unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup (150 grams) powdered white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 mini dairy milk chocolate (or any other milk chocolate)
• 3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips (White and dark chocolate mixed)

How-To

Sift together the salt, flour and baking powder. Make sure they’re evenly incorporated.

In your stand mixer (You can also use hand mixer) put the butter, egg and vanilla extract. Mix till thick and creamy. Add powdered sugar and cocoa powder alternatively and mix some more. Stiff cookie dough will form.

Detach the bowl from the mixer and fold in chocolate chips.

Cover the bowl with transparent film and chill in the fridge for an hour.Take the chilled dough and break the milk chocolate into it. Fold in with a spoon. 

Take your baking tray and spray with non-stick oil (Or cover it in parchment paper)Use a ice-cream scoop to get even sized cookie proportions on to your baking tray. Give each cookie space to expand.

In a preheated oven (375 degrees Fahrenheit) bake the cookies, until firm. Don’t wait until they get hard. Because they will harden while cooling. 

Cool the cookies on the rack.

  

Cookie Love

  Hello lovelies and lovelaas( lovelaas for males). Since English is not my mother tongue, I would be given a little leverage when I run off the track, or wouldn’t I? Anyway, this cookie recipe I’m sharing is an extremely tried and tested one at our place. So tried and tested that it has become completely run off the mill. But that doesn’t do away with the fact that these cookies are always high in demand at our house. I usually make them plain(Without cocoa powder, chocolate chips) but this time my chocolate love elbowed its way even into my cookie baking prowess.

Ingredients:( For approx 2 dozen + small ones,depending on size)

• 3/4 cup butter(softened to room temperature)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cup all- purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest (optional-if you like the lemoney scent  )

Extra

• I divided my dough into 3 parts. In the first part I kneaded in cocoa powder(1/4 cup). In the second part I added chocolate chips. The third part was left plain(I decorated these ones with roasted almonds after cutting out shapes).

How to go about it :

• Add sugar,butter and whisk these together in a bowl.
• Add the egg and vanilla and whisk well.
• Mix the flour, baking powder, lemon zest and salt
• Mix all the above ingredients in one bowl. Knead well.
• Refrigerate for 3-4 hours or more.
• Take the dough and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough
• use the cookie cutters, to cut out shapes as desired.(Personally I love hearts)
• Set to bake
• Bake until the cookies get firm. Don’t over bake.

The last picture is of  eclairs and chocolate truffles that a cousin bought on his way back from London…….!  I just totally love chocolates. Excuse me while I devour this loveliness .

You’re not hungry by any chance, are you ? 😀 😛