Tahini Cookies with Hazelnut & Chocolate

This is the 2nd recipe I've tried from The Big Book of Treats by Bombay's most well known pastry chef Pooja Dhingra.  I made one small change - I used hazelnuts instead of almonds because I didn't have any, and I added chocolate chips.

It doesn't get cold in Bombay, but I imagine this would be great for places that do get cold. It would go perfectly with a cup of hot chocolate.

You'll need:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cup castor sugar
2 2/3 cup flour (I used gluten free brown rice flour)
180 gm Tahini* 
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup milk
100 gm hazelnuts (I used them whole but you could chop them up)
1/4 cup chocolate chips (another 1/2 cup if you plan to dip the cookies in chocolate)

*I had a store-bought bottle of it but if you can't find one, lightly roast white sesame seeds on a pan and once it's cool, blend it with 2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp warm water till you get a smooth paste

Wash your hands before starting because you won't get this done with a spoon.

In a mixing bowl, mix the flour, butter, and sugar till the mixture is crumbly and looks like breadcrumbs.

Add the tahini and lemon juice and again mix well.

Add the milk and mix again till you get a pliable dough.

Finally, put in the hazelnuts and chocolate chips.

Roll the batter into golf-sized balls and then flatten it out about1/4 inch thick.

Place them on a greased baking tray and bake at 165 deg C for 15 minutes.

*For Convection Microwave - I baked at 170 deg C for 20 min on the convection setting

As soon as I took it out of the oven, I found the cookies to be very crumbly (could be because of the gluten free flour), but I gently lifted them onto a wire rack to cool and it set well as it cooled.

Usually I find that cookie recipes turn out to be too sweet for our liking so I reduce the sugar amount. So with this I used just 1 cup but found that I should've added the entire amount required because it wasn't sweet enough. So I dipped the bottom of the cookie in melted chocolate (melted in the microwave in 30 sec bursts) and kept it chocolate-side up till it set to add some sweetness to it. It worked!

Makes: 20 cookies

Peanut Butter and Banana Pancakes

This was such a wholesome and delicious breakfast that it almost made me wish I woke up earlier in the mornings to make it more often. Almost.

You'll need:
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup buttermilk*
1/3 cup peanut butter* 
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Butter to cook
1 Banana
Chocolate chips (optional)
Maple syrup

For the buttermilk, instead of using the milk method, I just used half and half of thick yoghurt and water.
For the peanut butter, I used the crunchy variety, but I assume the creamy version would blend better.

Thinly slice the banana and keep aside.

In a bowl mix the peanut butter,  buttermilk, egg and vanilla till they're blended.

Sieve in the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Fold gently till the flour is mixed in well but don't over-mix - the batter should be a little lumpy.

Heat a small pan on medium flame, put in some butter to coat the bottom. Pour in a ladle of batter and gently spread it out.

While the bottom layer is cooking, top the pancake with some banana slices. You can choose to add the chocolate chips now or just top it up while serving.

Turn the pancake and cook for another minute.

Remove from heat and serve with syrup.

Makes: 4-5 pancakes

Cheddar Biscuits

I had these at Red Lobster and they were so delicious that I had to learn to make these at home.
I got a recipe which said use melted butter, but it turned out bread-y instead of biscuit-y. So cold butter, like in the making of pie crusts, is the way to go.

You'll need:
2 cups all-purpose flour*
1 cup buttermilk, cold
1/2 cup butter, cold
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, sharp/mature
1 tbsp baking powder
1tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
Pinch of salt

*I resisted using wholewheat/regular flour because I was afraid they wouldn't rise in the oven.

In a bowl, mix the flour and butter till crumbly.

Fold in the rest of the ingredients gently, putting in the cheese at the very end.

Place tablespoon sized batter on greased baking tray.

Preheat the oven to 200 deg C and bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

For the topping:
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp finely chopped coriander or oregano

Mix all the ingredients and brush over the biscuits while they're still hot.

Best served warm.

Makes: 12-15 biscuits