Dishoom's Nankhatai

Who could have had an inkling of what this year had in store for us?! Right at the onset of the year, I remember announcing that I wanted to start posting on my much ignored blog. And then before I knew it, I..well...we all found ourselves navigating a 'new normal' that none of us had prepared for and has proven to be more stubborn than any of us had reckoned. You would all understand when I say that the past few months of lockdown restrictions have been a roller coaster of contrasting emotions that has left us all, for lack of a more articulate word, fatigued.

In the past few months, patience is a virtue we've all had to cultivate especially as we witnessed the games our mind can conjure up with paranoia and insecurity. There have been lessons in fortitude and resourcefulness but an even greater lesson in empathy and an even more important one in privilege that have been learnt. 

I've found myself obsessing over micro details whilst looking on helplessly at the bigger macro world. I've been overwhelmed and humbled by the kindness and generosity of strangers and disappointed and even angered by the callousness of those I've known.  I've amazed myself with my resilience in facing upto certain situations but the time in isolation has also meant confronting and acknowledging each of the uncomfortable vulnerabilities in my life. And despite, being able to connect to any part of the world through virtual technology, never has the inability to cross the shortest of physical distances rendered me more helpless and frustrated. And suddenly you realise that while the days have been long, weeks and months have just gone by!

Lest you get me wrong, I am aware of all that I need to be grateful about. Most importantly, that I found myself at home with my mother and not stuck in limbo, on my own, somewhere out there in the world, in these uncertain times. It's been inexplicably heartening to have friends, many I haven't been in regular touch with, reach out and ask how I was doing. And the difficulties we've faced are those that nobody has been immune from. And yet, even as restrictions have eased and could that be light that we see at the end of the tunnel, I'll admit to feeling at times, uncertain and unmoored in a way that I haven't felt in a long time. Like I said patience is a virtue we've all had to cultivate!

And while the world was baking banana bread and experimenting with sourdough, these simple nankhatai were my little baking indulgence in the initial weeks of lockdown. Well, until my trusted hand mixer of more than two decades decided to give way. We can have a discussion another day on all our trusted appliances that decided that the lockdown was the perfect time to throw a tantrum!

These nankhatai are from my much treasured Dishoom cookbook The cookbook is a love letter to south Bombay, one much after my heart and deserves a separate appreciation post one day. For now, let me tell you about these nankhatai. Extremely simple to make and can be made even without a hand mixer. They worked well with the rationing that we had to contend with in the initial few weeks of the lockdown. They are made with staples that every Indian kitchen will have. I have another nankhatai recipe on the blog but this is a superior one with the addition of besan (chickpea flour). It improves the texture and makes it closer to the ones from the Irani bakeries. 

Not too sweet and crunchy enough to warrant a dip in a cup of chai, these nankhatai were a little indulgence during some very uncertain days and for that I will always remember them with gratitude! Give them a try yourself!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

It was at the height of Summer, when the mind was too distressed to indulge in any kind of voluminous reading, that I picked up this slim book with a green cover and blue edged pages. It was Ruskin Bond's latest and was simply titled, 'A Book of Simple Living : Brief Notes from the Hills'. I figured since I couldn't make it to the hills, which in an ideal world I would escape to, for the three brutal months of Summer, I'd find some comfort in Ruskin Bond's words that have always celebrated the magic of the mountains. 

And what an enchanting read it turned out to be. The notes, most no more than a page, are written with the author's trademark simplicity, honesty and a certain childlike wonder. I simply let the words wash over me as he wrote about life's simple joys and even simpler truths. Be it the mountain view from his window as the season change or the daisies growing out of the rocks or the memory of a past love or the sound of a gushing mountain or simply, a sweet appreciation for the balm that solitude provides. So that even on an excruciatingly, unbearable Summer's afternoon, whilst stuck in an air-conditioned room, one was left with no option but to smile. 

And then a few weeks later, I would come across his very first book, 'The Room on the Roof', a special illustrated edition to mark it's 60th anniversary. As he himself explains, the book was written by him, when in a foreign land, terribly lonely, he wrote down all his memories of a time, when egged on by adolescent energy and rebellion, he broke off the shackles of authority and propriety to embrace a world of colour, adventure, angst, desire, excitement, envy, joy and a multitude of other emotions that one grapples with at that age.

It's interesting to place the two books, side by side. One, as Bond puts it, is a 'book about adolescence by an adolescent', capturing the emotions of one, on the cusp of life. The other is written by a man, who has just turned eighty, sharing his secrets of contentment, whilst acutely aware of his own mortality. What they both have in common is the honesty and simplicity that run through their pages which has the ability to look you in the eye, prompting you to pause and look within. With the two books, you are privy to one man's journey through life. And you are left with one of life's most enduring messages. That to shrug off life's rancour, hostility and disappointment and to arrive at your twilight years with a twinkle in your eyes, a smile on your face and laughter in your voice, is in living in the moment, moving on from the past, building a bond with nature and appreciating life's smaller and simpler moments. Because as he writes, "Happiness is a mysterious thing, to be found somewhere between too little and too much". 

And talking about the simple things in life are these chocolate chip cookies that I baked. Choc chip cookies are one of those baked goods that everyone bakes, everyone has a recipe of and everyone has an opinion on. I zeroed in on a recipe that has popped up in countless blogs, with each one saying this recipe met the brief for what they were looking for in a chocolate chip cookie. Why, it even won BuzzFeed's Chocolate Chip Cookie Taste-A-Thon (yes, they do have something like that!), fending off some serious competition.

The recipe is by Tara O'Brady, the voice behind the blog, 'Seven Spoons' and this recipe appears in her debut cookbook by the same name. What draws me most about the recipe is how fuss free it is. You don't need to bring the eggs and butter to room temperature. You don't even need a hand mixer, a bowl and a whisk will do just fine. Although what is non-negotiable is that you should use chopped up chocolate chunks instead of standard chocolate chips. You choose whether you want to rest the dough or bake them right away, although I'd recommend that you let the dough rest overnight.

Because, the cookies that will emerge from your oven have nothing to fault them with. They are slightly crispy, slightly chewy and those little islands of warm, melty dark chocolate have the power to set the world right. I don't like to use the term 'best ever' but let's just say, I reckon your search for a chocolate chip cookie recipe will end with this one. So, when you do get the time, give it a shot.

Tom Alter, captured the essence of Ruskin Bond's work when he writes, "Ruskin knew that life was not a childhood game, but he also knew that the game of childhood was the only way to survive life".

Chocolate, Almond and Orange Biscotti

Since I don't have anything interesting to share when it comes to food, I thought I'd pop in and say hello and share with you the books that I've read recently. The first is Elif Shafak's 'The Architect's Apprentice'. I have been wanting to read more of her work after she captivated me with her earlier book, 'Forty Rules of Love'. And the second book is the final instalment of Amitav Ghosh's 'Ibis' Trilogy, 'Flood of Fire'.

I am no one to critique these novels or these writers except to say I am just in awe of both of them. Their ability to write a story of fiction, breathe life into its characters and then build the plot to a crescendo whilst capturing the drama of human emotions that beats at its heart, is story telling at its finest.

Ghosh's book is richer and more complex but that's also because his canvas stretches across three books. And I also feel that his book is steeped in the culture of traditional Indian storytelling, with its myriad of sub plots whose paths intersect and intertwine through the book.

But, most of all these books remind me that the more I read, the more I realise how little I know. Both are books of fiction that are set in a factual, historical setting and one can only marvel at the sheer research undertaken by both authors to write these books. Shafak's novel has the Ottoman Empire as its backdrop while Ghosh's novel is set in the theatre of the Anglo-Chinese Opium War.

And I'll admit my knowledge of both is abysmal. In fact, my knowledge of history overall is patchy and wonder if it has anything to do with insipid history curriculum that we had in school. And it's a handicap because to the understand the issues of the present, one needs to view them through the periscope of past events.

Now, that's enough of a ramble about the books that I've read. Instead, let me tell you about these biscotti. I saw these on Pinterest and there was something about them being dipped in chocolate that made me want to bake them.

These are dry, crackly cocoa biscotti with a hint of orange and cinnamon that are given texture with almonds and pistachios that are then dipped in shiny, glossy dark chocolate so that nobody can find any fault with them. Biscotti are some of the easiest and least time consuming biscuits to make. I will say though that these biscotti taste better the next day when the flavours have been allowed to deepen.  

I am currently reading Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina' and wondering why I haven't read it till now. I'd love to hear what you are reading, no matter what the genre is. Have a lovely weekend!! 

 

Chocolate Hobnob Biscuits

It's been a bit quiet around here, hasn't it?! It's not that I have been super busy but rather the mind's been a bit preoccupied and honestly, before I knew it, the days have just gone by! I've even had a few posts in mind but they've just remained stuck right there..in my mind! I've had the time, the inspiration, the kitchen to myself and yet, for reasons that remain unknown I've just stayed away from the kitchen.

 

And then this week, as it always happens, I wanted to pre-heat the oven again. Just like that! So, to ease back into the groove with things, I decided first up to fill up the biscuit jar that's been lying empty for way too long.

 

I saw these biscuits on Izy's blog a few days back and I knew had to bake them. For no other reason than nostalgia. Chocolate-coated Hobnobs and chocolate-coated Digestives have kept me company through many an exam and late night project submission deadlines. And for some reason, I always chose the dark chocolate ones over their milk chocolate peers. Well, the reasoning was that the virtues of dark chocolate would counter the evils of excessive and stress induced snacking. The mind's ability to twist logic around to validate our decisions is simply genius!!

But, coming back to these biscuits that I baked. Hobnobs are oat-based biscuits and this recipe is brilliant. There is no white sugar, no white flour, no eggs and they taste even better than the shop bought ones. You could leave out the chocolate topping but I advise against that. The chocolate completes it. And with the Indian climate, store them in the fridge. Hobnobs taste better when cold.

 

You should hopefully see some more activity on this blog in the coming weeks. In the meanwhile, I hope you've been well..xx!

 

Dark Chocolate And Fig Biscuits

If you enjoy reading as much as I do, you will most likely identify with what I have to say. I buy new books at a much faster rate than I finish reading the books I already have. When I hear about a book or read a good review or listen to an author talk about their work or spend an hour or two at the bookshop, invariably I'd pick up a book or two. And for some reason, if I don't get the time to catch up with my reading, the pile of unread books just grows.

 

With the elections last year, much of my reading was political and non-fiction. So, at the beginning of the year, when I took stock of my books, I realised that pile of fiction had really, really grown. A few of my favourite authors from Kazuo Ishiguro to Alex Rutherford to Amitav Ghosh are releasing their new books this year. It makes sense that I should tackle some of my unread books before I buy any more new books. It's a different matter that the day after I made the resolution, I spent an hour at the book store and picked up two new books. I need help! Tell me, I am not the only one guilty of this??

 

 

And these biscuits are perfect to have nearby when you curl up with a good book on a lazy afternoon. Nothing extraordinary about them but there are comforting and cosy as only biscuits baked at home can be.

 

These are flavoured with dark chocolate chunks and chopped dried figs. I have used demerara sugar because I want to increasingly use raw and demerara sugar for my regular home baking. I rather leave the refined, white stuff for special occasions. For anyone in India wondering, FabIndia sells both raw and demerara sugar that can be used for baking.

 

 

The biscuits are just how I like them. Not too crunchy nor too soft and not too sweet. If you like, use any other dried fruit of your choice but don't let go of the dark chocolate. It's always nice to encounter a chunk of dark chocolate in your biscuit.

 

The biscuits taste better the next day and hold up very well for a week. I am sure you will enjoy them.

 

 

I have just started reading Richard Flanagan's 'The Narrow Road to the Deep North'. It got itself recommended after it won the Booker. It's still early days to pass an opinion on the book. What's been occupying your bed side table these days??

 

Florentines

Well, hello December!! I am not sure how you got here so fast but you've arrived with all your trappings! My inbox is filled with Christmas and holiday recipes. My Facebook page is filled with impending travel plans. Every second day is an auspicious day for weddings as per Indian almanac and with it the never ending stream of ceremonies, parties and traffic jams. The migratory flock of NRIs (non-resident Indians) have returned to teach us a thing or two on how to exploit an advantageous exchange rate. Yes, it looks to be a typical December!!

And December is also the month when food blogs throw up some of their finest food posts, keeping the holiday mood in mind. You will also see a surge in cookie recipes as families get ready for the impending family reunions.

 

And that's how I got the idea to make these florentines. Most florentines that you would have come across are these thin cookies that have nuts and dried fruits, bound together by sugar and butter. But, the recipe I have gone with, is a mini version from my all-time favourite 'Popina Book of Baking'. The recipe bakes them in a mini muffin tin that results in these adorable bite-sized confections.

This recipe by Isidora Popovic, the lady behind the Popina bakery, is a very simple one. The florentines are chewy, surprisingly not too sweet and with each bite you will taste one of the different components. Dipping one side with chocolate helps complete them. And yes, I will acknowledge that I could have been less clumsy with the dipping.

If there ever is a month of late nights, it has to be December. And what better accompaniment to all those late night coffees than these florentines!!!

Affogato With Pistachio, Orange and Vanilla Cantuccini : 'TWD : Baking With Julia'

I'll admit.. I have a weakness for exotic sounding recipes, or should I paraphrase that as recipes that sound exotic to my Indian sensibilities. The more unusual sounding the recipe name, the more likely it is that I'll have a go at it. From rugelach to Finnish Pulla to cucidati, the book, 'Baking with Julia' has a fair share of them. One of the reasons, I guess that I keep coming back to the group despite my long absences. 

 

So, this Tuesday, I am having a go at the exotic sounding cantuccini! But, turns out that I have already made something similar. Cantuccini are Italian biscotti by another name. If anyone knows why the different names, do let me know. I suspect it has something to do with regional variations.

 

 

A while back, from the same book, I had made some dark chocolate and roasted almond biscotti. Crunchy, dry, crackly and not too sweet, I have been a fan of these Italian cookies ever since and not much convincing was needed to make them again.

 

While this recipe calls for almonds, having already used them earlier, I turned to the Middle East for inspiration. I went with the classic combination of pistachios and orange zest to flavour these cookies.

 

 

Because there is no butter or fat used in these cookies, they bake, as the recipe states, into 'a formidable state of crunchiness'. This makes them perfect for some dipping action. That's why their traditional accompaniment is vin santo but a cup of espresso or tea would do too.

 

But, since we are in the mood for something new today, I decided to serve them with affogato. Affogato is one of the simplest desserts ever created. In Italian, affogato means drowned. So, you take a scoop or two of vanilla ice-cream and drown it in a shot of hot espresso. And, me being me, I added a shot of coffee liqueur for good measure.

 

 

Where do I start? The cantuccini were superlative with a winning flavour profile. The orange zest was refreshing and the pistachios provided a much welcome nutty texture and flavour. The affogato, for all its simplicity, is one remarkable dessert. The hot espresso melts into the vanilla ice cream and then with a dash of the coffee liqueur, you are looking at a one-shot coffee ice-cream without all the work that goes into it.

 

Mix these two Italian components, the cantuccini and the affogato, and its a delightful marriage of flavours. The orange complements the coffee and the dry, crackly texture is perfect for dipping into the melted ice-cream.

 

Next time you call your friends over, ditch the coffee and serve them affogato with some cantuccini instead. Although, I must warn you that you mix gossip and cantuccini at your own peril. You won't notice how many you've had as you make your way through that bowl of ice-cream and the latest round of 'who would've thought..' gossip. Trust me.. I speak from experience!

 



Cucidati | X-Cookies : 'TWD : Baking With Julia'

I have been most erratic with baking along with 'TWD : Baking with Julia', these past few months. With the year drawing to a close, I think I still have some time to catch up with a few of the interesting ones I missed out on. For instance, I have had my eye on these X-cookies, ever since I bought the book, last year.

Turns out these fig stuffed, hand-shaped cookies originate from Sicily. The distinctive X-shape that this batch has, is contributing baker, Nick Maglieri's, special touch in shaping these cookies. Apparently, for Sicilians all over the world, there is no Christmas without cucidati.

 

 

The dominant ingredient in the stuffing is figs. The rest you can take liberties with. My filling was much like Nick's, except that I replaced the apricot preserve with some homemade strawberry jam that I had lying around in the fridge.

 

The biscuit that holds this filling is a buttery, short-crusty kind of  pastry. Both the components can be made in a processor, so there is nothing tedious about it.

 

 

My issue was with the time consuming process involved in filling and then shaping these cookies. If anything, while working with these cookies, I had a vision of a Sicilian Nonna, sitting around with her friends, shaping these cookies while they indulged in a round of gossip and match making. As you might have guessed, this recipe is definitely not for those short on time or patience!!

 

 

But, if you manage to get through that tedious process, rest assured, the fruits of your labour will have many admirers. You will definitely taste the figs but the rest of the filling has a complexity that will not be easily distinguishable. The entire sweetness comes from the dried fruits, as there is no sugar added to the filling. That ensures that there is no cloying sweet after taste.

 

Give it a day or two, and the flavours meld and mature beautifully together and if you are discerning enough, you might get a hint of the alcohol used. The pastry that encases is buttery and a perfect foil for the filling.

 

 

These cookies are traditionally made for Christmas. If you have it in you to put yourself through the time consuming process of making these cookies, for your platter at home, you can be sure that these will be the star of the show!!

 

Linzer Cookies aka Jam Biscuits

Many a blogger will tell you how blogging has helped them discover hitherto unknown aspects of their personality. For me, working with food, fresh produce and props has helped me discover my personal sense of colour and aesthetics. Another unexpected one has been the discovery of me as a 'jam lady'. Funnily enough, I don't eat that much jam but I do enjoy making them. My mother, of course, can't get over how her kitchen klutz of a daughter found her inner jam lady!! C'est la Vie!!

So, how does this jam lady make her jams?? Well.. they are made with the fruit of the season, without any commercial pectin and not cloyingly sweet. I am not pedantic about their consistency. As long as it's spreadable, I am good to go! And this weekend, I made a jar of plum jam. Plums have a natural tartness which in my dictionary makes them a perfect candidate for jams.

 

And when you make jam, you've got to make jam biscuits. Whether they were made at home or bought from the supermarket, every one has had their fill of them as a child. Mine came from the local, neighbourhood bakery!

The ones I am sharing with you today are the cookie version of the Austrian classic, Linzer Torte. Originated in the early 1700s, the Linzer Torte is nothing but a posh Jam Tart that is filled with black currant preserve and then topped off with a lattice crust. The cookies use the same principle but a different presentation. It is two almond flavoured cookies that sandwich a layer of jam. The upper cookie has a cut-out in the centre that lets the jam peek out.

I made these cookies in two batches. I nearly gave up with the first batch. This is an extremely soft dough that wasn't helped by the extreme humidity that we are facing these days, thanks to the rains. The dough kept breaking and poor quality cookie cutters had a pair of flower cut-outs looking like a pair of eyes that people carve on the pumpkin during Halloween. If you look in the background of some of the photographs, you will get a glimpse of them.

 

Highly frustrated, I switched on the air-conditioning and decided to go with one big cut-out in the centre. This plan worked a lot more smoothly.

Are these cookies worth the effort?? Most definitely yes! The almonds are toasted and the resultant nuttiness enhances the flavour profile of these cookies. Once completely cooled, you will taste the subtler flavours of cinnamon and lemon. And topping it all off is that plum jam that retains a certain tartness that cuts through all the sugar while the jam itself gets more.. jammy! And the fruity freshness that bursts through is simply delightful.

 

The cookies taste even better the next day as the jam helps the cookies to soften and the flavours to mingle. So, if you have time on your hand, these cookies are worth your time and effort.

 

As a child, the fascination of jam biscuits was in seeing the vibrantly coloured jam peek out through the cookie. All these years on, the same fascination endures!!

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookies : 'TWD : Baking with Julia'

I believe different cookies appeal to different personalities. This is just my personal conjecture and has no scientific nor psychiatric basis to it. For instance, I like to think the chocolate chip cookie appeals to those who like to keep it basic and don't want to mess with the classics. The white chocolate and dried cranberry cookie is for those who always keep abreast with the latest trends. The oatmeal and raisin cookie is for those who love the rustic ways of country life. The rocky road cookie, for the thrill-seekers who constantly crave for adventure.

 

And then, Dorie Greenspan tells us that these mocha chocolate chip cookies, that we made for this week's bake-together for the 'TWD:Baking with Julia' group, are the thinking person's chocolate chip cookies!! I figured I needed to bake them to figure out what she was talking about.

 

 

This is a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe with a liberal helping of coffee powder in them. It also uses more than a normal amount of chocolate chips. Two things that can never be a bad thing in my book. Coffee and chocolate are one of my favourite flavour combinations and this recipe has both of them in good measure.

 

 

The cookie dough spreads quite a bit during baking. The end product is thinner than a regular chocolate chip cookie. You'd imagine a thin cookie to be crisp but it is in fact, soft and chewy.

 

You will taste the coffee and the intensity of the coffee powder will impact the final product accordingly. I personally found the flavour balance just right.Thanks to the coffee powder and the dark chocolate chips, these are not overtly sweet. And for that reason, it may not find favour with children. These cookies are crammed with chocolate chips and like I said, that's always a good thing!!

 

These are not the prettiest cookies you will bake. Dorie Greenspan, of course, has a better way with words than me. In her words, these cookies have a 'genteel homeliness'. Like I said, she has a way with words!

 

 

The flavours are not as basic as a chocolate chip cookie. It has a subtle adult nuance that while I personally enjoyed may not be appreciated by all. If you enjoy your coffee, you'd enjoy these chocolate chip cookies with a mocha twist. As for being a thinking person's chocolate chip cookie, I prefer to call them chocolate chip cookies for grown-ups!!

 

Lemon Curd Thumprint Cookies

If you live near the tropics as I do, you look forward to Winter. We have none of that freezing temperatures, grey landscape, 'havent-seen-sunshine-in-days' kind of weather. Winter is about gentle sunshine that prompts happier moods and wider smiles. It is about weather that tempts you to organise lunch in the garden, if you have that luxury. It is about searching for that one odd sweater in the deep recesses of your cupboard because that one sweater represents your entire winter clothing. It is about gardens being filled with flowers of all colours. It is about markets bursting with fresh produce. Yes, we get strawberries around this time of the year! But, not just strawberries, every fruit and vegetable looks healthier, fresher and plumper than it does all year round.

 

So, when I saw a mound of huge, plump, yellow lemons, I knew I had to make something with them. It's a winter thing! As winter turns to summer, in India, these huge, yellow lemons will shrink and disappear from the markets to be replaced by tiny, green limes. So, Winter is the time to enjoy this citrus!

My mother is a big fan of lemon and all things citrusy. She's been after me for something lemony.. 'how 'bout making a lemon meringue pie, lemon sponge pudding or even, lemon curd tartlets??', she's told me pointedly, time and again, when asked for suggestions on what to bake.

 

Way back in the summer, I had spotted these lemon bar cookie cups on 'Barbara Bakes' - that brilliant treasure trove of impressive yet doable recipes!! I had bookmarked it then and finally got around to making them.

Barbara gives a brilliant resource for making the lemon curd. If you have never made lemon curd before, I recommend that you turn to this recipe. It yields a beautiful, silky smooth lemon curd, and more importantly, without any fuss.

 

For the cookies, I used Rachel Allen's basic shortbread cookie recipe. And to bring it all together, I turned to Barbara's brilliant technique of using mini-muffin tins to make these thumprint cookies. If you are as hopeless as me in getting the dough into mini circles and then, making an indent in it, this technique is a God-send!

 

I had made the lemon curd a day before, so baking the cookies and assembling the whole thing took me a little more than an hour. Although I wish the lemon curd would have yielded a more yellow, sunnier colour!

 

The lemon curd is lemony and fresh, with enough sweetness to help cut through the obvious tartness and tangy enough, to remind you who is the star of the show!! The petite size is just right for this cookie. This is lemon curd not chocolate, so there is only that much you can have at one go!!

If you love lemons, you will love these cookies. I am not a big fan of lemons and even, I loved these cookies. And, it definitely got Ma's seal of approval!!



Food blogs are right now engulfed by cookie madness. These cookies are a good addition to a cookie platter packed with overtly sweet jam-filled or chocolate/caramel cookies.

If you are lucky enough to live near the tropics, these cookies will match your mood. And if you haven't seen the Sun for a few days, these little drops of sunshine will perk up your day!!

White Chocolate and Dried Cranberries Cookies

Food blogs are more than a collection of recipes. In their unique, individual style, each blogger allows us a little peek into their lives, homes and thoughts. They share with us the excitement of the special days and the mundaneness of every day. They tell us about the joy of their happy times and their anguish during the hard times. They take us along with them on their travels, from a journey back to their roots to some of the most beautiful places in the world. They reveal what is occupying their thoughts from the philosophical and sublime to the humdrum and banal. As a reader, you smile, discover, empathise, identify and move on.

 

And then you come across someone whose story stays with you. Their life is about channelling their toughest adversity for a greater cause. Of a personal loss that has inspired a lifelong mission. Today's post is about one such couple.

 

Sometime last year, Dorie Greenspan wrote about the launch of a book on bake-sale recipes by Gretchen Witt. It led me to their website and to the inspirational work they do. In 2007, Gretchen and Larry Witt's two-year old son, Liam was diagnosed with Stage-4 Cancer. As they grappled with their son's illness, they discovered that one of the main reasons why children with cancer do not survive is because of lack of funding for research into effective therapies for them. So, during the holiday season in 2007, Gretchen along with 250 volunteers organised a larger-than-life bake sale with the goal of baking 96,000 cookies. That event raised US$ 400,000 for paediatric cancer research.

 

Inspired by the success of that bake sale, the Witts founded 'Cookies for Kids' Cancer' in 2008. Sadly, Liam lost his battle to cancer in 2011. However, his parents remain committed to continue their work, to raise funds for research and support through bake sales. Drop by the website to learn more about them and their  work. It is also full of information on how to organise a bake sale.

 

While browsing through their website, I came upon the recipe section that has a little collection of cookie recipes that one could use for a bake sale. That was when I decided I would try one of their recipes as a way to introduce you to the Witts and their work.

 

I zeroed in on the white chocolate and dried cranberries cookies. For the past month, this 'trendy' combination of white chocolate and cranberries has caught my attention from almost every second blog I've visited.

The recipe is as straightforward as any cookie recipe. Being a bake sale recipe ensures that it is easy to follow and the results will be a crowd-pleaser. The tart, dried cranberries provide a beautiful counter-balance to the sweetness of the white chocolate, something my palate really appreciated.

 

What I enjoyed most about these buttery, slightly crumbly cookies is the abundance of the white chocolate and cranberries in each cookie. This is not one of those cookies where you have to go searching for the chocolate chips or the cranberries. Much to your delight, you will encounter them generously with each bite. If anything, I should have made them smaller. Mine turned out slightly on the jumbo side. Not that anyone complained!!

These cookies are a welcome change to the regular chocolate-chip cookies and warrant that you give them a shot. But more than that, drop by the website of 'Cookies for Kids' Cancer' and be inspired. As for me, a bake sale just got on my list of things 'to do'!!  

Pitcaithly Bannock - Scottish Shortbread

A few weeks after I started blogging, my flatmate from University, Becca wrote to me. She had just had a closer look at my posts and recipes and was wondering if I would be interested in a family recipe. "Yes, please!!!", I replied back. And she sent me the recipe for a Scottish shortbread, know as Pitcaithly Bannock.

Back in University, Becca was the native British girl who alternated between being amused and outraged at the ways of her eccentric flatmates, including yours truly, who came from every inhabited continent of this world, except Australia. She is now married to a wonderful Scottish man whom she met, coincidentally, when we were flatmates. She was a student of English literature with a focus on 17th century Erotica and he, a student of history, with a special interest in Medieval Piracy!! Boring is obviously not a word that exists in this couple's dictionary!!!

And they served this bannock at their wedding. But what caught my attention was the fact that "Pitcaithly" in the recipe title was also her husband's family name. This was truly a family recipe!!

 

This is a straight forward shortbread recipe with the standard ingredients being flour, sugar and butter. The difference in the recipe is the addition of almonds and candied mixed peel. The only minor change that I made was to toast the almonds to enhance their nuttiness.

 

Putting together this recipe is simple, as with any shortbread recipe. However, when it came to their shape, I wanted to do something different. Last week, I came across the idea of shaping the dough into a round and then scooping out a small circle from the centre. It gives the shortbread a slightly different shape from the regular. I got the idea from the blog that has me captivated with its outstanding photographs and recipes. It is written by a Russian woman in Texas and is aptly titled, "From Red Star to Lone Star"!!

These shortbread are everything a shortbread should be - buttery and crumbly and perfect with a cup of tea!! The addition of the roasted almonds and candied peel are interesting and something you might want to keep in mind the next time you bake shortbread!!

Do remember the shortbread hardens as it cools, so you might want to take them out in time or else you risk them becoming rock hard!! I confess that I might have baked these a few minutes longer than was necessary as this batch was slightly crisper than normal.

The Pitcaithly bannock is traditionally made at the beginning of August to coincide with the Lammas feast, marking the transition from summer to autumn and the beginning of the Scottish harvest festival. But, I had a better reason to make these this August. Simple...this August, Mr and Mrs Pitcaithly celebrate their first wedding anniversary!!!

Roasted Almond and Chocolate Chip Biscotti : 'TWD : Baking with Julia'

With their Italian heritage and the unique twice-baked process, biscotti have been on my mind ever since I've started writing this blog. They almost seemed like a grown-up, refined version of the basic, humble cookie that I usually bake. And what better than a Julia Child recipe for my first biscotti post!!

Hazelnut Biscotti was the recipe chosen for this fortnight's TWD:Baking with Julia post. With hazelnuts not that easily available in India, I decided to go with the classic combination of roasted almonds and chocolate to flavour these biscotti.

For those wondering why biscotti are called 'twice-baked' cookies, it is because at first the dough is baked in a log shape, then sliced and baked again to achieve their characteristic crunchy texture.

What I did not know and the recipe taught me is that these cookies have no butter or fat in them except that which is present in the eggs. It is this lack of fat that makes these biscotti in Dorie Greenspan's words "unexceptionally dry and crackly"!!

For all the talk about the technique behind these biscotti, I found them really simple to make. The recipe for the dough followed the simple technique of mixing the dry ingredients with the wet - a technique you will come across with a number of recipes that I post on this blog.

I've come to the conclusion that recipes from this Julia Child book rarely disappoint and this one is no exception. Not too sweet in taste, these biscotti engage you with their crunchy and crackly texture. The roasted almonds along with the chocolate chips were an excellent addition to these moreish biscotti. Roasting the almonds intensified their nuttiness and elevated these cookies from the ordinary.

With their crunchy texture, these biscotti are made to be dipped, making them perfect with a cup of tea or coffee. Make a batch of these highly addictive biscotti and I reckon that neither will you just stop at one nor will they last long at your home!!

As for me, I am writing this post on a Sunday evening where the dark clouds that have been gathering all afternoon are finally giving way to some much-anticipated rain. I'm comfortably ensconsed at home, by the window, with a beautiful book, a steaming cup of coffee and a jar of these scrumptious biscotti to keep me company. Afterall, someone did say, "Life's pleasures often lie in the simplest things!!".