Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

Wishing you all very Happy New Year in advance. Hope you are having a wonderful time with your dear ones during this festive season. I am having good time with attending holiday parties and experimenting new dishes at my kitchen. Unlike last couple of years, this year San Diego is bit colder and having rain quite often. It’s a good change for the sunny weather of San Diego. But this cold weather is perfect for baking. It’s an awesome way to warm your home. So I used this opportunity and did lots of baking in last few days, baked Christmas cookies, cakes, and some savory stuffs.

Today I will share the recipe of one of those, named Sugar Cookies. Some things just never lose their magical appeal. I tried many other type of cookies but delicate sugar cookies remained my favorite for years. Whether sprinkled with colored sugar, frosted or  decorated, they are as popular now as in the past. Sugar Cookies are usually made during this Christmas season. They are commonly made of sugar, flour, baking soda, butter, eggs and vanilla extract.

At first cookie dough is made and then it is rolled and cut into shapes by a cookie cutter. Finally it is baked until the edges are brown. Sugar Cookies are with sweet and tender crisp edges. These cookies are delicious with or without any icing . But If you want to decorate your cookies, there are many options. You can use frosting, sprinkles or both of them. Here I have used royal icing, that I have learned from the website called Joy of Baking. There are two ways of making royal icing. You can either use powdered sugar, egg whites and lemon juice or you can use meringue powder as a substitute of raw egg white. I would always like to use the second option. 

Recipe of Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing ( for about 2 to 3 dozens cookies )

Ingredients :

All purpose four : 3 cups 
Salt : a pinch 
Baking soda : 1 teaspoon 
Unsalted Butter : 2 stick ( 1 cup )

Sugar : 1 cup 
Eggs : 2 
Pure Vanilla Extract : 1 tablespoon 

Method :

1. Take a bowl and add flour, salt and baking soda to it. Whisk it together and set it aside. 

2. Now take sugar and butter in another bowl, beat it using hand mixer or electric mixture until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and beat it. Add vanilla extract and mix it until well combined.

3. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until the mixture forms smooth dough. Divide the dough into two parts. Wrap each part in plastic wrap and refrigerate it over night or at least 3 to 4 hours

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F ( 170 C ). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 

5. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface to thickness of 1/4 inch. Cut out desired shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter. 

6. Transfer cookies to the prepared baking sheets. Again put the unbaked cookies in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to chill it. 

7. Bake cookies for about 10 minutes or until the edges are just starts to get brown. Remove from the oven and let cookies cool. 

For Royal Icing 

Ingredients :

Powdered sugar : 3 cups

Meringue powder : 2 tablespoons 

Pure vanilla extract : 1/2 teaspoon 

Warm water : 1/4 cup - 1/2 cup 

Food coloring ( if you want to use ) 

Method :

Mix the sugar and meringue powder, until combined. Add the warm water and vanilla extract and beat it using hand mixer or electric mixer on medium high speed until stiff peaks form. Check the consistency, to get the desired consistency you can add more water or sugar. 

Add food coloring, if desired and decorate the cookies as you wish. 

The icing hardens when it exposed to air, so transfer the leftover icing immediately to an airtight container. 

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Rum Balls

As I mentioned in my last post we were planning for a India trip during Christmas vacation. Unfortunately our plan didn’t work for some reasons. I was so upset and sad for the same, but for me this year Santa came early to make me happy. Last few days I was searching for deals on camera and lenses. Santa came to know about that and ordered a new camera and lens for me. Couple of days back I received them and got so excited to have a Nikon D610 and 24-70mm lens in hand. So from now onwards you can hope to see more posts from me.

Today I will share the recipe of a truffle that is very popular especially during the holiday season. You can call it a candy or no-bake cookies  The name of this Christmas treat is Rum Balls. It’s the perfect adult indulgence during this festive time.  Rum balls are sweet and chewy, a mixture of finely chopped nuts, crushed cookie crumbs, cocoa, powdered sugar and obviously rum as the name suggests. They are roughly the size of a golf ball.

Rum balls are not so difficult to make. To start with, add the ingredients as I mentioned above and stir to mix well. When the mixture holds together firmly it is rolled into balls. Then they are coated in powdered sugar or cocoa or melted chocolate whatever your heart wishes. My favorite is the chocolate coating one. This Rum Ball recipe is adapted from #joyofbaking .

Recipe of Rum Balls : makes 20 pieces ( little bigger size balls )

Ingredients :

Toasted walnuts, chopped ( pecans, hazelnuts, almonds can be used ) : 1 and 1/2 cups

Vanilla wafer cookies, finely crushed : 1 and 1/4 cups ( shortbread cookies or digestive biscuit can be used )

Unsweetened Cocoa powder : 2 tablespoons

Powdered  sugar ( confectioners sugar ) : 1/2 cup

Honey : 2 tablespoons

Rum : 1/4 cup

For Toppings

Powdered sugar :

Unsweetened Cocoa powder :

Finely chopped Pistachios ( other nuts can be used )

Melted Semi sweet chocolate : 120g

Melted white chocolate: 30g

Method :

1. Toast the nuts until lightly browned and fragrant comes up. Let it cool completely and then chop them. Place the nuts in a food processor or grinder and pulse until finely chopped. Once done, set is aside.

2. Now put the vanilla wafer cookies in the food processor and process it until finely ground.

3. Add the ground cookies to the finely chopped walnuts. Now add powdered sugar and cocoa powder to it and mix it until well combined.

4. Add honey and rum to the mixture and mix it again. You can add little more rum, if necessary.

5. Now refrigerate the mixture for half an hour. Then give them shape into 1 and 1/2 inches balls.

6. Then roll the rum balls in confectioner sugar, cocoa powder, finely chopped nuts.

7. To dip into chocolate, put chopped semisweet chocolate ( around 120g ) and one tablespoon of butter in a heatproof bowl. Now place the bowl over a sauce pan of simmering water. Stir it, once it is melted remove it from the heat. Dip the rum balls one at a time in the melted chocolate until it is coated with chocolate. Use two spoons or a fork and remove it from the bowl of melted chocolate.

8. Again put the chocolate covered balls into the refrigerator for around 10 minutes or until chocolate has set. Once the chocolate has hardened melt some white chocolate and drizzle the rum balls.

 Notes :

• Rum Balls can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for couple of weeks
• If you do not want to add alcohol, use orange or apple juice in the pace of rum.
• Store rum balls for at least a few days before serving, so their flavors have time to mingle.

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Chocolate chip Pecan Blondies

After having a hectic festival season, slowly I have started realizing that the year 2015 is coming to an end. It gave me lot of pleasure when I was looking back and rewinding happy moments of the year, mostly it was the year of having party on every weekend with our close friends J. Before the new year begins, we are planning to visit our home country. So I am very excited about the trip and nervous at the same time, because not ready yet with packing and shopping. But whenever I think that soon will meet my parents and relatives after a year, it makes my mind delighted.

Today I will share a recipe of rich sweet dessert bar, Chocolate Chip Pecan Blondies. You can save this recipe for holiday baking. Blondies are like partly cookies, partly brownie made of  flour, brown sugar , butter , eggs  and baking powder. They are baked in a brownie pan and then they are cut into squares to serve. Though they are like cookies and brownies , but much more easier to make than those two. You don't have to roll the dough into balls like in cookies or there is no chocolate to melt like in Brownies.

The version, made with Chocolate chips and pecan is my favorite, but you can omit the pecan from recipe if you have a nut allergy. Though the traditional recipe is with egg, but unfortunately I didn't have enough eggs when I tried the recipe. I used plain yogurt in the place of eggs and came out darn good. So out of necessity an egg-less Blondies was born. I know many of you who don't like to eat eggs can try this recipe.

It has become a huge hit for my family and friends who have tasted it that day. So I will prepare again this recipe once I am back from my holiday season.

Recipe Of Egg-less Chocolate Chip Pecan Blondies , makes 16  to 18 squares 

Ingredients 

All purpose flour : 1 cup

Salt : 1/2 teaspoon 

Semisweet chocolate chips : 3/4 cup

Chopped pecans : 1/2 cup 

Baking powder : 1/2 teaspoon 

Unsalted Butter : 1 stick, at room temperature 

Light brown sugar : 1/2 cup

Granulated White sugar : 1/3 cup 

Plain Greek Yogurt : 1/4 cup

Vanilla Extract : 1 teaspoon 

Method :

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 13-in. x 9-in pan then line the pan with parchment paper, again spray it with non-stick cooking spray. 

2. In a large bowl, combine butter, brown sugar, sugar, yogurt and vanilla extract, just until blended. 

3 In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder, mix well. Now add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture. Gently mix it together. Stir in chocolate chips and pecan. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

4. Bake it for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top becomes lightly brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack completely. Cut into bars.

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Elo Jhelo ( Bengali Fried Pastry Dipped in sugar syrup )

Happy festive season to all of my Indian friends. Hope you all had great time with friends and family, taken lots of pictures with them. My today’s recipe is a traditional Bengali sweet or snack, generally served during festivals like Durga Puja and Bijaya Dashami (the day when rest of the India celebrates Dussehra). It’s called Elo Jhelo which is very old school traditional Bengali sweet. It is a sweet pastry, made of all purpose flour, vegetable oil and ghee. I have seen my grandmother making this sweet for our joint family and used to greet her guests with this sweet. While I am thousands of miles away from my root and culture and miss home in the festive seasons, what else I can do other than recreating what we used to eat in our back home.

The good thing about Elo Jhelo is that they are not overly sweet but delicious in every bite. On the other hand, it’s a great fun making this dessert. The dough is first prepared, made into small balls. Then they are rolled like a luchi or puri. With a sharp knife, make 5-6 slits vertically across the surface of the rolled dough. Then fold over and over until it gets all overlapped. After this step, it is deep fried until it becomes crispy and then get dipped into the sugar syrup. When you read this process it may sound difficult, but don't hesitate to try it out. This was also my first attempt but the result exceeded my expectation J

Recipe of Elo Jhelo ( Fried Pastry ) : for 10 to 12 pieces 

Ingredients :

For Dough : 

All purpose Flour ( Moida ) : 4 cups ( approximately 500 g ) 
Salt : a pinch 
Nigella seeds : 1 teaspoon 
Vegetable oil or ghee : half cup 
Water : little less than 1 cup

For Sugar Syrup : 

Sugar : 1 cup 
Water : 1 and 1/2 cups 
Cardamoms : 4-5, crushed 
Lime juice or vinegar : 1 teaspoon 

Oil  : for deep frying 


Method :

1 : Take a big bowl, add flour, salt and nigella seeds. Mix it well, now add the oil or ghee to it. Again mix it well. Slowly add water to the flour very little at a time. Add water and knead it for about 5 to 6 minutes until it becomes smooth. The dough will be soft but firm. Once it is done, cover it with wet kitchen towel and set it aside for half an hour. 


2. Now divide the dough into 12 equal portions. Make it a perfect smooth surfaced round ball. Roll out each ball with rolling pin into a thin circle of about 3 inches like puri or luchi. With a sharp knife make 4 to 5 slits vertically on it by leaving about 1/2 inch space at the ends. Hold the end parts together and start rolling the pastry carefully until it gets all overlapped. Slightly twist the ends . Do the same process for the remaining balls.


3. Take a deep frying pan and heat oil on medium high heat. When smoke comes up, lower the flame and fry the Elo Jhelo in small batches till they are golden brown on both sides. Take out from oil and let it cool down first. 

4. Now  take a pan, add sugar and water and boil it. Add crushed cardamoms and vinegar to the syrup. Let it boil for 5 to 7 minutes. Add the fried Elo Jhelo in the sugar syrup. Mix them to coat with syrup. Take it out from the syrup and place it on serving plate. 

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Yakhni Pulao

It’s that time of the year, the month of October when the Bengali hearts across the world start to beat in excitement . Yes, our long wait for one year is over, it’s now the time to celebrate Durga Puja. From the very first day of October I can feel the festive mood in the air, smell the flowers of the season even though sitting far away from the land of Durgoutsav. Since we can’t wake up in the early morning and tune to radio any more, played the “Agamoni” song so many times in YouTube. The sound of “Dhak” is still so fresh and can bring back the childhood joy to our minds.

Like every year, San Diego Bengali community started its preparation to celebrate Durga Puja from the beginning of the month. Last couple of weeks we were so busy preparing for kids drama. In the midst of this busy schedule, I got to manage some time to share this recipe that you can try in this festive month. Before introduction of the recipe, wish you all my Bengali readers a very Happy Durja Puja. 

Chicken Yakhni Pulao is my today's recipe. It’s a  simple rice based preparation, a classic and popular North Indian dish. Yakhni means broth or stock , the particular type of pulao is cooked in meat stock so it gets the name. Originally Yakhni Pulao is made with mutton broth, but here I am making this dish with chicken. Preparing this dish is not as complex as it sounds. Not only simple, it takes only 30 minutes to complete. People would love to have Yakhni Pulao with just salad or raita but you can add a curry dish too with it, if you wish.

Recipe of Chicken Yakhni Pulao : Serves 3 to 4 people 

Ingredients :

Chicken : 2 lbs ( around 1 kg ), cut into medium-big pieces 
Yogurt half cup 
Garlic paste : 2 tablespoons
Ginger paste : 1 and half tablespoons 
Ghee or white oil : 4 to 6 tablespoons 
Cloves : 3-4 
Cinnamon stick : 2 inch 
Green Cardamom : 3-4 
Black peppercorns : 2-3 
Bay leaf : 1
Caraway seeds ( sahi jeera ) : 1 teaspoon 
Green chilies : 3 , slit in half 
Turmeric powder : 1/2 teaspoon 
Salt :
Basmati rice : 2 cups 
water : 4 cups 
Red onion  : one big, thinly sliced 
Cashew nuts : halved , a handful 


Method :

1. Take a bowl, add chicken pieces. Add ginger paste,garlic paste and yogurt. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for 1 to 2 hrs. 

2. Soak the rice in water for half an hour. Drain and set it aside. 

3. Take a big pan, add oil / ghee and heat it up. Add onion to the hot oil / ghee and stir it util it is crispy fried. Once it is done, take it off from the oil and keep it aside.

4. In the same oil, add the cashew nuts. Fry it until they are golden in color. Remove it from oil and set it aside. 

5. Add one or two tablespoons oil or ghee in the pan and again heat it up. Add green cardamoms, cloves, cinnamon stick, black pepper corns, bay leaf and caraway seeds. 

6. Once it sizzles, lower the flame add the chicken and marinade. Add the turmeric and green chilies. Saute the chicken for 5 to 6 minutes. Add salt and stir it again until oil separates from the spices. 

7. Add four cups of water. Once it starts boiling add the drained rice, mix it well. Cover the pan with lid. 

8. Reduce the heat and let it cook until both chicken and rice are done. 

9. Garnish the Pulao fried onion and fired cashew nuts and serve hot. 

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Brownie Ice Cream Cake

My east coast friends might find it strange that I’m posting a frozen treats in the month of October. Here in San Diego, summer is still there in its peak form and sometimes very close to scoring a century. So it’s great time for ice cream lovers to try out different experiments. But I see no reason for my other friends not to like this recipe because true ice cream lovers enjoy it round the year.

Today I am sharing a delicious cake recipe that I recently made for my son and his friends. It  is a decadent dessert, truly a chocolate-lover's dream . It’s pretty simple to assemble and surely will satisfy of anyone's chocolate and ice-cream craving both at the same time.

The cake has three layers. At the bottom it has a layer of brownie, topped with ice cream. Then it has some chocolate ganache over the ice-cream layer and finally decorated with some oreo cookies. You need to first bake the brownie. Once it is done, let it cool down and pour the soft ice-cream over it. Then freeze it and finally pour the chocolate ganache over it. You are all set to indulge yourself. 

Recipe of Brownie Ice Cream Cake : 9 inch round Cake : Serves : 15 to 20 people. 



Ingredients :

Fudge Brownie mix : 1 box
Water :1/3 cup 
Vegetable Oil : 3 tablespoons 
Plain Yogurt : 1/4 cup ( to substitute for egg )
Vanilla Extract : 1 teaspoon
Ice Cream ( any flavor as per your choice , here I used Chocolate Chip Cookie dough Ice Cream ) : 1/2 gallon 

For Chocolate Ganache :

Semi sweet chocolate chips : 2 cups 

Heavy Whipping Cream : 1 cup

For Decoration : 

Oreo Cookies 


Method :

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (170 C ) Grease a 9 inch springform pan with nonstick spray.

2. Combine the water, vegetable oil, Plain yogurt, vanilla extract. Mix the wet ingredients with a fork.

3. Add the mixture to brownie mix. Mix it well. 

4. Pour the mixture into the greased pan and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes until it is set or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let it cool for 10 minutes in the pan.

5. Once brownie is cool, remove the ice cream from freezer and allow it to soften for about 8 to 10 minutes. 

6.  Now evenly spread the ice cream in a layer over the brownie layer. Wrap the cake pan tightly in plastic wrap and freeze at least 2 hours or until ice cream is firm.  

7.  Take a heatproof bowl, put the chocolate chips and keep it aside. Take a saucepan, place cream in it and heat it over medium heat, bring it to a boil. 

8. When it just starts to a boil, immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate chips. Let it rest for couple of minutes, then stir until the mixture gets smooth, beat it with a wire whisk till it becomes soft and fluffy.

9. Remove the cake from freezer, remove the wrap. Drizzle it with chocolate ganache, decorate with oreo cookies and serve immediately. 

Note: If you eat eggs,  you can bake the brownie as per package direction.

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Lebu Pata Diye Dal r KurKure Alu Bhaja ( Lentils with Lime leaves and Crispy Fried Potatoes ) - Bengali Comfort food for a Hot summer Day

Today I am going to present some Bengali comfort foods. Sorry for my non-bengali followers that I have to use some pure Bengali terms today. The list of traditional Bengali food that often makes you nostalgic is really long. But these two recipes are perfect for San Diego’s current scorching hot weather.

Today’s recipe is  Lebu pata diye Daall and Kurkure Alu bhaja.  When we visit our parents after a long gap, we love to have only traditional Bengali meals, the food we grew up on.  A traditional Bengali meal starts with Rice, Daal, fries and then filled up with a veg or non-veg dish, which could be fish, meat or egg. It will be complete only with Chutney and some sweets at the end.  

So let me start with Kurkure Aloo bhaja whose English translation is crispy deep-fried potatoes.  It’s usually made by deep-fried julienne potatoes. Kur kur e Aloo bhaja bears similarity to the “French Fries” of the western world. Only difference is the sizes. Our Aloo bhaja is thin and small whereas french fries are thick and big. Kur kure aloo bhaja / Jhuri Aloo bhaja is served with a bowl of hot steamed rice and a bowl of lentils. 

The second recipe is Lebu pata diye Daal, soupy red lentils tempered with lemon leaves. Last month when I shared the recipe of Lebu Lanka Murgi, I had some fresh lemon leaves in my refrigerator from that time. So thought let it try with some lentils and so from then onwards we got hooked on it. The taste is so refreshing that I am sure you would love it. You can try this recipe with various types of daal but I preferred to use musur (red lentil). Let me share the recipe now.

Recipe of Kur Kur e Aloo Bhaja / Jhuri Jhuri Aloo Bhaja : Serves - 4 

Ingredients : 

Potatoes : 2 large potatoes ( preferably russet potatoes ) 
Oil : for deep-frying 
Salt : 

Method : 

1. Peel the potatoes and cut lengthwise into 1/8 inch-thick julienne in food processor or with a sharp knife. 

2. Wash thoroughly and transfer the potatoes into a bowl of ice and cold water. Let it chill into the refrigerator at least for 30 minutes. 

3. Heat Oil in a heavy pot over moderately high heat. Once oil heats up, drain potatoes and pat completely dry using paper towels. 

4. Fry them in batches. Stir gently with a slotted spoon until golden and crisp. Transfer potatoes to paper towels and season with salt. Serve hot with steamed rice. 


Note : Use a big pot for frying the potatoes and fry them in two or three batches otherwise the oil could bubble up and overflow. 

Recipe of Lebu Pata diye Dal ( Lentils Tempered with Lime Leaves ) serves : 4 

Ingredients :

Masur Daal ( Red Lentils ) : 1 cup 
Lemon leaves : 4-5 ( kaffir lime / Gandhoraj Lime leaves )
Nigella seeds : 1/4 teaspoon
Turmeric : 1/4 teaspoon 
Green chili pepper or Dry red chili : 1 or 2 
Oil : 2 tablespoons 
Salt : to taste 

Method :

1. Wash the lentils and boil it with 2 cups of  water, turmeric, salt and two lime leaves.  To boil lentils you can use microwave or do it using stove. Generally to boil red lentils I do not use pressure cooker, as it do not take much time to cook. If you want you can use pressure-cooker too. Once done, mix thoroughly and set it aside. 

2. Take a pan, add oil and heat it up. Add the chilies and nigella seeds and wait until it starts splattering. Add the other lime leaves and wait for couple of minutes. Now pour in the boiled lentil and simmer for another 5 minutes. Check the seasoning. If you like add one teaspoon of lemon juice too. Switch off the gas and serve hot with steamed rice. 

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