Healthy Baking : Savoury Rosemary Coconut Cookies

After this healthy Ragi-Ginger cookie, I've been wanting to try out a savoury version using my favourite herb, rosemary. Rosemary features in one of my all time favourite cookies, the Rosemary Shortbread, but that's very heavy on butter. This is my attempt to feature rosemary in a healthier cookie. I've used black pepper and lemon zest to give a flavour boost. Desiccated coconut along with rice flour gives these a nice light texture. These are perfect for those who are trying to avoid sugar, or as holiday gifts for people who don't have a sweet tooth, or simply because you are fed up of too much sugar in the holiday season. Try this healthy cookie and let me know how you find it!

Recipe for Savoury Rosemary Coconut Cookies
Makes 24
Time taken - Under 30 minutes


Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup ragi flour
1/4 cup rice flour
2 tbsp milk powder
1/4 cup dessicated coconut
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp ground black pepper
Zest of one lemon
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
3-4 tbsp cold milk
1 tbsp crystal sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven at 180° C.
2. Keep a baking tray ready, lined with silicone mat or a greased tin foil or parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except butter and milk, until well combined.
4. Add the butter pieces and with finger tips rub the mixture together until it feels like bread crumbs
5. Add milk 1 tbsp at a time and knead gently till it comes together like a dough. 
6. Divide into 24 equal balls, rolling each between lightly greased palms.
7. Lightly press into a disc and place on the lined baking tray, leaving some space between each disc so that there's place for cookie to expand.
8. Sprinkle a few crystals of sugar on top of each cookie. This is optional. You could stick a rosemary leaflet on each cookie instead.
9. Bake for 12 mins or until the tops turn lightly golden. Remove on a wire rack and cool. The cookies will crisp up on cooling. Save in airtight container.

You can substitute rosemary with fresh or dried thyme for a different flavour.

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Healthy Baking: The Really Gingery Ragi Biscuit

Ragi, flaxseed, jaggery, ginger, sesame seeds - you might wonder what these utterly healthy ingredients are doing in a cookie! You might even think it's a complete madhouse of an idea. Ragi / nachni / mandwa / finger millets have been an Indian superfood well before everyone and their uncle started pestering relatives abroad to get them boatloads of quinoa for their daily consumption instead of rice. India, being the world's largest producer of millets, it's high time we showed some respect for our own grains, rather than scrambling after every latest food trend in the world. Ragi, like most other millets, formed a part of prehistoric Indian meals, then completely ignored and considered downmarket in the years that followed, where the rich ate rice, and now slowly the awareness of these prehistoric grains as being nutritional powerhouses is coming back. 

For those who haven't tasted ragi flour, it does have a coarse texture and wont feel as smooth as a refined flour in your mouth. The coarseness comes from the fiber content in ragi. Among all millets, ragi has the highest calcium content (370mg/100g). Its calcium content is nearly 10 times that of wheat (41mg/100g) and 35 times that of rice (10mg/100g). 

Sesame seeds, not only make these cookies look pretty, they are also rich in calcium and good fats, and with flaxseeds rich in omega-3, this is one uber-healthy recipe, perfect for your kid's lunch box treat or with your afternoon cup of tea. If you've baked cookies using traditional cookie recipes, you'd know that most of them call for 1-2 sticks of butter, upto 250 grams! Here, you get 20 biscuits with just 3 tbsp butter. You can, by all means, try substituting butter with ghee, for a richer, deeper flavour. 



Regarding flaxseeds, their nutrients are only absorbed if the seeds are powdered. You get powdered flaxseed in several supermarkets (Nilgiri's in Bangalore) and health food stores. If you don't find them, get the whole seeds, lightly toast 100 grams flaxseeds and powder it in the mixer. Keep in airtight container in the fridge. 

Recipe for Ragi - Ginger Biscuits
Makes 20
Time taken - Under 30 minutes

Ingredients
1/2 cup ragi flour
1/2 cup maida
2 tbsp skimmed milk powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
5 tsp powdered jaggery
1/2 cup crystal sugar
2 tsp flaxseed powder
1 tsp dried ginger powder (sonth powder)
1/2 tsp finely grated ginger*
1/2 tsp chai masala or 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
3-4 tbsp cold milk
1 tbsp black sesame seeds + 1 tbsp white sesame seeds (or entirely white)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven at 180 C.
2. Keep a baking tray ready, lined with silicone mat or a greased tin foil or parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients except butter and milk, until well combined.
4. Add the butter pieces and with finger tips rub the mixture together until it feels like bread crumbs
5. Add milk 1 tbsp at a time and knead gently till it comes together like a dough. 
6. Divide into 20 equal balls, rolling each between lightly greased palms. Gently press each ball on the sesame seeds laid out on a plate, only on one side and place the flattened ball, sesame seeds side up, on the baking sheet, leaving a little space between each cookie, for they'll expand.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180C until the tops are browned. Cool and store in air tight container.

Tip
*To get finely grated ginger for salad dressings, tea and ginger cookies, store the cleaned ginger roots in a ziploc bag in the freezer. They stay forever, don't get soggy and when grated, give finely powdered fresh ginger. 

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Easy Eggless Choco-Vanilla Cookies

"If I hear "I'm hungry" one more time, I'm going to check myself into a nearby hotel and switch off my mobile phone!"

 That's me telling my four year old, who tells me he's hungry every 15 minutes and the minute I rustle up something, he conveniently forgets about his hunger and runs off to rebuild a Lego castle for the 500th time. But yesterday, I went out for a beautiful wine evening at The Sheraton #socialhour- it's when people at Sheraton Hotels around the world come together for a toast at the decided time. What's more, the wine served at each hotel across the world is from the same winery, for that week. After multiple cabernet sauvignons & rieslings, a good night's sleep at my cousin's place & breakfast with a wonderful friend at the legendary Veena Stores, I'd had enough of me time and couldn't wait to get back home to my mischief monger boy. So today, when he said "I want cookies, mummy" - my guilt pushed me faster than a runaway train to start the oven and then think of something to bake on the spur of the moment.


It started with creaming some butter & sugar, added flour and one thing led to the other. I ended up with these oh-so-cute brown & cream cookies. When I posted the pics on Twitter & Saffrontrail FB page, I was goaded into doing this quick post on how I made them. I'm sorry I'm unable to provide very exact measurements, I hope it's very close to the quantities I've used. Anyway cookies aren't as unforgiving as cakes, so they should turn out okay! They only take 20 minutes, and I promise it will make your child (or the inner child in you) smile :-)

Recipe for Half & Half Cookies
Takes under 30 minutes
Roughly 30 cookies of ~ 2" diameter

Ingredients
4 heaped tbsp soft unsalted butter (if salted, reduce the salt by a pinch)
1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 tsp sea salt - pulsed in mixer for few seconds
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract or powder
1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp cocoa powder
few tsp cold water 
1-2 tsp cold milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven at 180 C.
2. Line a big baking tray with tin foil or parchment.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar-salt mix with a spoon for 2 minutes, adding in the vanilla extract, until well combined.
4. Sift the flours and baking powder together on a sheet of paper or mix it with a fork in a bowl and add it to the creamed mix.
5. Mix well until it forms a dough, adding 1-2 tsp of cold water or milk to bind, if required.
6. Divide roughly in half. Keep one half aside. To the other half, add the cocoa powder, a few drops of cold milk and knead gently to make a smooth but stiff dough (or you cant slice them).
7. Now you'll have two rounds of dough, one white and one brown.
8. Divide each into two logs, to get two white logs and two brown logs.
9. Join one white log and one choco log and roll into a log on a clean smooth surface. It's not necessary, that the white and brown parts are exactly half and half, don't stress out over this-just make sure each log as some white and some brown.
10. At this stage you could refrigerate for 15 mins or so and then slice into 1.5 cm thick slices or go ahead without chilling.
11. Place each slice on the baking tray leaving some space between each cookie.
12. Bake at 180C for 10-12 minutes, until the white parts start turning golden. At this point they will still be very soft, so don't overbake. They will crisp up as they cool
13. For chewy cookies, remove them a little earlier.

Note
You can bake as many as you want at a time and freeze the remaining logs / slices to bake as and when required. You dont need to thaw the dough. Slice frozen dough and bake as it is in a preheated oven-adding 1-2 minutes extra for fresh cookies on demand :)

What people who tried this have to say!

Cookie making debut. Made choco-vanilla cookies for the wife and kids. instagram.com/p/ZdS0Gnpeog/
— Obstetrix (@ScissorTongue) May 18, 2013

@saffrontrail wow luks super.. hey i made the kung fu panda cookies today.. turned out well :) thks for making my kid happy too :)
— sowmya (@vishalsowmya) May 17, 2013

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My Diwali Gift to you : Triple Decker Brownies

I was looking for something blow-your-socks off sinful to make this Diwali to take to a friends' place tonight and also for the kids in my complex for the Diwali Party. And thank you, Pinterest, for leading me to the right place. I found this piece of awesomeness on this blog and one look at her pictures is enough to set you drooling. 

I've baked brownies tons of times and they are the two go-to recipes you'll find on my blog. But this one is from another planet. Bottom layer of cookie dough, middle layer of Choco Cream cookies (Oreo / Dark Fantasy / Bourbon) and top layer of brownie. So, while this looks complicated, if you've baked cookies and any sort of cake or brownie, you can do this. All you need is to buy a few packets of Oreos or any other rich cream filled biscuits.

Recipe for Triple Decker Brownies / Oreo Brownies / Cookie - Fudge Brownies

Makes 16 pieces

Time taken : Prep time around 30 minutes, Baking time : 35 minutes

Recipe Source : What's Gaby Cooking

Ingredients

For the Brownie Layer:

150 grams unsalted butter (left on counter top or straight from fridge is also fine)

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp coffee liquor or decoction

On medium heat, in a big saucepan, melt butter. Once slightly melted, take off heat and stir to melt it fully. Add cocoa powder, sugar and whisk well till incorporated.

Remove from the stove, it should not be too hot. Whisk in eggs quickly along with vanilla.

Finally add flour and salt, coffee liquor, whisk well - for 3-4 minutes and keep aside.

For Cookie Dough Layer :

100 grams softened unsalted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar or powdered jaggery

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (maida)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, using hand mixer, cream butter and sugars for 3-4 minutes.

Add vanilla extract, egg and whisk again for a minute or so.

Add the flour, salt and fold in with a silicon spatula.

In the end fold in the chocolate chips.

Oreo Layer : 

Roughly 20 Oreo or Dark Fantasy cookies, if you get double stuffed Oreos, choose those, with the Vanilla filling as the white stands out in the dark brownie. I used a mix of choco filled and vanilla filled cookies, but next time will stick to vanilla alone.

Assembly

1. Line a 9X9 inch pan with parchment or aluminium foil. Butter or grease with oil.
2. For Cookie Layer : Put the cookie dough on the greased lining of the tin and spread it well to the corners, in a uniform layer.
3. Oreo Layer : Place the cookies side by side covering the cookie dough entirely. Break the cookie in half, if you want to cover a little bit of extra space.
4. Brownie Layer : Top the Oreos with the Brownie batter smoothening it out right upto the edges with a silicon spatula.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until tester comes out clean.
6. Remove from over and cool outside removing it along with parchment / foil on a cooling rack - for one hour.
7. Cut into 16 squares.
8. Serve as it is, slightly warm or with vanilla ice cream.

If you liked this post, you could follow the Saffrontrail Facebook page for more frequent updates and pictures.

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The healthiest cookies I have ever baked

I don't bake cookies often. Just one simple reason - the quantity of butter that most cookie recipes ask for, totally intimidates me. But a few weeks ago, I was baking cookies for days in a row, starting with these unbelievably healthy flourless, butterless, eggless and almost sugarless cookies which I stumbled upon on 101cookbooks.


I adapted slightly, adding a little honey to sweeten them up a bit, as it was for the kids in the playgroup. The teacher wrote me a note saying they were delicious and no one wanted to share them with anyone. So much for the notion that nothing healthy can ever be delicious.


Thanks Nikki for sharing it with us butter-phobics via Heidi's blog. 

Oats - Banana - Almond - Chocolate cookies 
Makes around 3 dozen bite sized cookies
Time taken - under 30 minutes


Ingredients
3 bananas, peeled and mashed (riper, the better)
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract
1/4 cup rice bran oil
2 cups oats ( I used Saffola brand)
1/4 cup almonds - roughly pulsed in mixer [if allergic to nuts, use 1/4 cup cornmeal instead]
1/3 cup scraped coconut, fresh or frozen (if frozen, microwave for 30 seconds to soften it)
4 tbsp of honey or brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
150-200 grams of chocolate bar, chopped roughly [Morde or Selbourne is good]


Directions
Preheat oven at 175 Celsius.


In a large bowl, combine mashed bananas, vanilla extract and oil with a whisk.
In another bowl, mix all dry ingredients except the chocolate. 
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mix until combined. 
Stir in the chocolate chunks at the end.


Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. If you have a smaller oven, bake in batches convenient to you.
Drop heaped teaspoon fulls of cookie dough keeping an inch of space between the cookies.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
These will be chewy when cooled. 


Notes
These make a perfect healthy snack for you or your kids. Also simple enough and non messy to bake together with young kids. 
The batch I sent to school, I skipped the almonds as some kids could be allergic to tree nuts. The cornmeal worked well in that. Another batch I baked with almonds, that had a beautiful flavour and crunch, to which I added almond extract.

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