Mexican Wedding Cookies for Global Kadai

Does running around for an hour with your four year old count towards a workout? I hope so because it is fun and tiring and a great way to keep a toddler occupied when the 'No TV' policy is still on. It also gave me a chance to burn off the Mexican Wedding Cookies I have been eating since the day they came out fresh from the oven.
The cookies were made for Global Kadai, a wonderful monthly event, started by Cilantro to Indianize international cuisines, one recipe at a time. This month's recipe is by Karen Ginnes and below is my Indianized version of the same.

I added nutmeg and ground ginger for flavor. I wanted to add finely ground almonds but ended up with some chunks in it and they gave a nutty texture to the cookies which tasted like a slightly spicy, less buttery, chocolaty version of the Indian nankhatai. Making the dough was simplicity itself and the cookies took about 10 minutes to bake to perfection.

(Makes about 3 dozen cookies)
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup fine sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 + 3/4 cups APF
1 cup almonds, (1/2cup ground fine and the other half coarse)
1/2 cup chocolate chips, chopped coarse
1/2 cup sweetened flake coconut (optional)
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp dry ginger powder (optional)
1/2 tsp instant coffee powder (optional)
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Method:
Cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat some more.
In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients thoroughly.
Gradually add to the whipped butter till well incorporated.
Wrap tightly in the shape of a log in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 325 degree F (180 degree C).
Cut one inch discs out of the log and roll into balls.
Place an inch apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 8 - 10 minutes till the cookies are firm to touch.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool and after a minute dust the confectioner's sugar on top with the help of a small strainer.

Note: The coarsely ground almonds and chocolate chips give a bite to the cookies. You can ground the almonds fine or substitute with walnuts or pecans.

I liked the flavor of nutmeg but ground cardamom or cinnamon powder can be substituted.

These cookies are being shipped to Mahima's Indian Vegetarian Kitchen and to Sara's Corner.

On the fringe and back

November was a tortoise/ rabbit month for me. I had my final papers due in college, a group presentation, a PP talk at my writer’s meet besides taking care of a friend’s kid for a few days and carting him and my son to school. Of course, other regular chores like cooking, cleaning and entertaining go on as usual. At the end of the day, what little energy I had left I chose to spend on catching up on missed episodes of Fringe instead of blogging. After all, I reminded myself, a wise man once said about blogging “blog only if it is fun”.

It was hard not to blog though. In the eight months that I have started blogging, it has become an extension of me. In the few weeks I have been absent from my blog, I was constantly taking pictures to post and mulling over my text to write. But at the end of the day, sitting in front of my laptop, my hands would pause, the mind would turn blank. I would hit the shut down button and go back to watching Fringe.

If you are into sci-fi/ paranormal genre, you can understand how addicting it is to watch Fringe. It airs every Thursday on Fox but clashes with my other favorite genre, comedy. At the moment, there is nothing more hilarious on TV than NBC’s Thurs nights with The Office and 30 Rock. Thank the technology for Hulu, where I can watch my other favorites the next day, especially if I missed the first season but can catch up with the click of a button.

Did I just digress from blogging to TV talk? Well, that is what happens when you take a break and come back after a few weeks. Hopefully, I am back for good, at least for a while. My college doesn’t start till middle of Jan and even though my next three weekends are busy, my weekdays are relatively free. So, brace yourselves for a barrage of posts (fingers crossed).

Before I leave, here’s a bunch of photos I clicked on my brief hiatus. More details and recipes coming soon.

Methi Theplas with potato cauliflower sabzi and carrot, tomato, onion koshimbeer (salsa).
 

Found this simple but yummy recipe for Eggplant Talasani at Manisha's Indian Food Rocks.
 

Eggless Banana Walnut Bread made with semolina (rava). Recipe on Supriya's Red Chillis.
 

Jammy Biscuits baked from Curry Leaf's Experiments, Emotions, Experiences with Food .
 

"I'll eat the jam first, cookie later."
 All those concerned parents out, don't worry. He didn't get to eat the whole plate of cookies. I took away the plate after he polished off two. So don't send me any concerned, anonymous comments like this one.

Not so good cookies

There are a very few pre packaged cookies that I like and I am not a fan of store bought pre packaged cookie mixes and dough. I find them too sugary and synthetic to taste. Besides, it takes maybe 10 minutes more to prepare cookie dough from scratch as compared to opening a packet of pre mix.
Today, however, I broke my rule and decided to make cookies from a Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge cake mix. It had a recipe for making cookies by adding 2 eggs, 1 stick of butter and ¼ cup of brown sugar to the cake mix. I was skeptical of the recipe but followed the instructions and put the cookies in the oven.
Now because the main ingredients were that of a cake, my guess is there was too much baking powder and baking soda in it. It made the cookies expand a lot more than normal cookies. As a result my first batch of cookies was almost as big as a dessert plate. Also, the time specified on the box was way too much (14 – 16 minutes) for the cookies. If my oven light was not on I would have most certainly burnt them. It took about 8-10 minutes for the cookies to be done.
That can be a good thing when you have an impatient toddler hanging around the kitchen asking every two minutes, “Are they done yet?” They did look good too, all brown and chocolaty. Also, there wasn’t a lot of cleanup to do afterwards, just the mixing bowl and spoon.
So, what is the flip side? Well, for one the taste. As I said before, they were far too sweet and didn’t taste as good as the ones made at home. There was no texture to it and the chocolate flavor wasn’t intense even though I used the dark Chocolate Fudge flavor and added good quality chocolate chips for extra measure.
I will stick to my tried and tested kitchen sink cookies recipe.