Whole Wheat Lemon Ginger Cookies

" Winter = More Tea/Coffee = More Cookies = Warmth = Lemon Ginger Cookies "

 

















These cookies were a hit in my house as well as among friends who got to taste them :) 
They are so yummy that will make your tummy always have some space for these !!!

Ingredients

• • 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger (about 1 ounce)
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 egg yolk, room temperature

Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, lemon zest, and baking soda. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, granulated and brown sugars, vanilla, and egg yolk on medium until fluffy, about 8 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and beat just until combined.

• Place coarse sugar in a small bowl. Roll rounded teaspoons of dough into balls. Place, 2 inches apart, on two parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets. Bake until edges are slightly brown, 14 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. 

Enjoy them anytime :)If you make them please share your experiences.

Dark Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Last weekend i was so looking forward to the new target opening up within a mile from my apartment and to be honest it really did make me happy to finally spend couple of hours there..... I and one of my very good friend Rhonda had visited Target and when we were hungry we decided to have a cup of coffee in Starbucks which was located in it.

I decided to go for my favorite Cafe Mocha ~ No Whip - 1 pump of chocolate with Almond Biscotti ... while i was chatting with Rhonda and nibbling on Biscotti i said - " Rhonda i think i can bake this stuff " and being a very good friend of mine she agreed and said "Sure you can!" and that motivated me to take this one step and bake these dark chocolate almond biscotti's.

I did lot of homework on how to bake them and i was missing out on one or the other ingredients mentioned. Some said i need pistachios, some said i need some different kind of sugar... but i had to bake them at any cost so this baking devil in me is quiet... so i decided to bake with what i have at home and these biscotti's turned out to be really well - i replaced pistachios with Almonds and used a normal sugar what i had and chocolate chips with unsweetened chocolate so they are not very sweet. Believe me it did taste the same i had in "Starbucks".... I'm not exaggerating my baking here but these Biscotti's really made me feel good about myself :)  and they are damn easy ~ trust me !!!!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for baking sheet

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for baking sheet

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup chopped Almonds

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a baking sheet; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.In a double boiler melt chocolate and keep aside. 
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs; beat until well combined, scraping down sides of bowl if necessary. Add flour mixture, and stir to form a stiff dough. Stir in almonds and melted chocolate.
4. Transfer dough to prepared baking sheet; form into a slightly flattened log, about 12 by 4 inches. Bake until slightly firm, about 25 minutes. Cool about 5 minutes. Reduce oven to 300 degrees.
5. On a cutting board, using a sharp serrated knife, cut biscotti diagonally into 1-inch-thick slices. Arrange biscotti, cut sides down, on baking sheet, and bake until crisp but still slightly soft in the center, about 8 minutes.

You can enjoy these with Tea/Coffee or just a lil snack as they are very light, crunchy and less in FAT !!!
Enjoy!!!

Lemon Cookies

I was going through my refrigerator and saw these nice fresh Lime lying there and the first thing came to my mind was lets Bake Lemon Cookies !!!

But i had this big question in front of me - how do i bake them? then i started adding all the ingredients i thought will be required and made these cookies and they came really well - they are less sweet, gives a hint of lime and not at all buttery :) just the way i like them ..... and luckily these were appreciated by friends and family as well ....and guys they are EGGLESS .....

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups All Purpose flour
3/4 cup Sugar
1 cup butter, softened
Zest of 1 lemon ( Medium size)
Juice of 1 lemon ( used the same lemon from which i scraped the Zest)
2 tspn Baking Powder
1 tspn Baking soda

Directions:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients except sugar in a large bowl and keep aside. 
2. In a bowl, mix sugar and butter. Beat with hand till the mixture becomes creamy. Do not overdo this step as it will introduce lot of air in the mixture which is not good for cookies. 
3. Add lemon juice and zest to the sugar-butter mixture and mix well. 
4. Add this mixture into the dry ingredients and knead a dough. 
5. Make 1/2 inch balls out of this dough and press them with hand and place on parchment paper on cookie sheet. 
6. Preheat oven at 350 degree F. Bake these cookies for 15-20 mins - Monitor in between, if you see cookies are turning golden brown, take them out from the oven. 
7. Let the cookies cool on the cooling rack for 10 mins and they are ready to eat.

These cookies are really good with Coffee :) and very light as well. 

Enjoy !!!

Jam filled chocolate cookies

When i was a kid me and my brother use to love Jim-Jam cookies .. i think all kids love those cookies.... Recently i had made Cranberry marmalade and i thought of trying my hands on Jim-Jam cookies using it. For the recipe of Cranberry marmalade click here


Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup - All purpose flour / Wheat flour ( i used wheat flour to give healthy touch)
1/2 cup - melted butter ( you can use more butter instead of milk)
1/2 cup - Sugar
2 tbspn - cocoa powder
2-3 tbspn - Cranberry marmalade (check the link for recipe above)
2 tbspn - cold milk
a pinch of salt
2 - Egg yolks beaten
1 tspn - baking powder
1 tbspn - powdered sugar

Method:
1] Separate the egg yolks, add sugar and butter. Beat and Keep aside.
2] Mix All-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt in a container. Add egg mixture to this and start kneading. Add milk as required to make a soft dough.
3] Knead till dough becomes soft and make small balls from it.
4] Make a well in each ball with your finger and add Cranberry marmalade in that with a small spoon.
5] Arrange the cookies at a distance of 1-2 inch on a cookie sheet or any flat baking pan.
6] Pre-heat the oven at 375 degree F and bake the cookies for 10-12 mins. Cookies are done if the botton becomes brown.
7] Once out of the oven, sprinkle powdered sugar on them. They look lovely !

Enjoy these cookies with a Jam in it :)
We are enjoying these cookies with Tea/Coffee or just like that....