NAN KHATAI..AKA CLOUD COOKIES......

These have to be without a doubt my favourite cookies  yes even over chocolate chip cookies . I have been craving these like crazy for the last few months so I finally decided to try make them . These little beauties  are the perfect pick me up cookies  and will lift your mood instantly , they are buttery soft and just melt in your mouth .I call them cloud cookies mainly because I cannot  actually say Nan Khatai out loud without tripping over my own tongue and they are so light  practically burst with flavour. You just have to give them a try. I was quite pleased with my first ever attempt at these and were easier to make then I thought !

Recipe is relatively simple 

1 1/4 cup flour 

3/4 cup icing sugar 

1/2 cup ghee in liquid form 

Pinch of salt 

• Preheat oven to 170 C 
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment or grease
• Sieve flour and salt together 
• Cream the ghee and icing sugar together and slowly add flour  a tablespoon at a time till you can form a soft ball of dough  you may not need to use all the flour.Adding too much flour can make them hard I am told so be careful .
• Cover the dough with cling film and let it  rest for 20 minutes ( I was too impatient I  let it rest for maybe
• 10 minutes and it was fine )
• Break of dough and form small balls with slightly damp hands and place on a baking tray about 1 inch apart 
• Bake for about 10-13 minutes keep an eye on them and don't let them brown on top
• Once done remove from oven let cool for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool down completely .
• These little morsels of heaven are amazing and they make my mornings complete I have one or two after breakfast and my day just seems instantly better!
• I found another recipe which I shall try the next time 
• This is it http://www.divyascookbook.com/2012/06/nankhatai.html

Not Quite Anzac Biscuits

In honour of Anzac day I decided to try make some cookies , never really tried them before. Found a recipe  on exclusivelyfood.com.au was very excited at how easy it all looked. I have had a mad craving for anything peanut butter lately so I decided to substitute some of the butter with peanut butter yum.. Now I have been a little distracted off late so I didn't pay much attention to the actual recipe...big surprise I hear  you say. So somehow my mixture became too dry to mold into balls of dough. In an attempt to save it that is when I mixed in one egg.

That seemed to do the trick, so once again we were back in business. Baked for 15-20 min they were golden and crunchy on the out side, but the so soft and moist on the inside a mixture of dark brown sugar with the peanut butter I am guessing.

Makes about 25 biscuits.

100g butter

60g peanut butter
2 tablespoons (40ml) golden syrup
92g (1 cup) rolled oats
85g (1 cup) desiccated coconut
150g (1 cup) plain flour
168g (3/4 cup) brown sugar
1 tablespoon (20ml) boiling water

1 egg lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Celsius fan-forced). If you will be baking one tray of biscuits at a time, move the oven rack to the centre of the oven. If you wish to bake two trays of biscuits at a time, place one oven rack in the upper half of the oven and one in the lower half of the oven.

Line one or two large baking trays with baking paper.

Place butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally.

Stir oats, coconut, flour and sugar together in a large bowl.
When butter has melted, combine soda and boiling water in a small bowl and stir into butter and golden syrup mixture.

Add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients, mix in one lightly beaten egg 

Bring the mixture together and mould into small balls , place on the baking trays about 5cm apart and flatten gently with a fork.

Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Double Choc Chip Cookies

                                                                                                  by the Konstant Kraver

These Cookies are not for the faint of heart, and the aroma's of dark chocolate just wafting through your house will have you and everyone in it drooling ,before you even take them out of the oven......In fact excuse me a moment while I go get another cookie after all someone has to taste test........

These decadent cookies came about because my Dad had a craving for a chocolate chip cookie ,which is odd he was never one for cookies usually.I did base it of the a recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cook book , which I must say is coming in pretty handy !

Makes twelve.

50g unsalted butter
325g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

1 Tbsp coco powder
2 eggs
½ cup soft light brown sugar or light muscovado sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup Nestle white chocolate melts
¾ cup plain flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
2 baking trays, lined with greaseproof paper

Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas 3. Put the butter and  the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (do not let the base of the bowl touch the water). Leave until melted and smooth. 

Put the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract ,brandy in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat until well mixed. Pour in the chocolate mixture, beating on slow speed until well combined.

Sift the, cocoa powder flour, salt and baking powder into a separate bowl, then stir into the chocolate mixture in 3 additions, mixing well after each addition (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Finally, stir in the  white chocolate until evenly dispersed.

Arrange 6 equal amounts of cookie dough on each prepared baking tray. Make sure that the cookies are spaced apart to allow for spreading while baking. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, checking regularly after 10 minutes. They are ready when the tops start to crack and look glossy. Leave the cookies to cool slightly on the trays before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Mama J Oreo Peanut butter Fudge!

by the Konstant Kraver This recipe was originally my mum’s so this time when she made it , we tried adding a few new things to it and came up with this yummy peanut butter and Oreo fudge. 400g Sugar 2-3tsp Vanilla Essence 395g tin of Condensed Milk 1/2 cup of Water (we use the condensed mill can & filled it halfway with water) 115g Bite-size Oreos 2 tsp Butter for smoothing over the top 1 tblsp Butter (Not required if using peanut butter) 2 cups peanut butter (unsalted) METHOD  Grease a tray with butter and keep set it aside ready.  Pour the condensed milk into a big pot (this will prevent it boiling up).  Add the water to the pot & put the oven on a low heat . Stir the mixture continuously taking care not to let it stick to the bottom, until it starts to thicken - this takes roughly 10 - 15 mins. After about 10 mins stir in the peanut butter and keep stirring. Add the vanilla essence at about the 15min mark as it begins to thicken more. After roughly 20 mins you will notice it has thickened quite a bit and should part like the Red Sea as you move your spoon through (that is it should pull away from the sides). Then stir the oreos through it (if you didn’t use peanut butter add the butter).  Stir for another minute, turn off the fire and quickly with a spatula, pour the mixture into your prepared greased tin. Dip the back of a metal spoon in the butter and quickly smooth over the top. Let it cool for about 5 min and as it starts to set cut it into squares Set the whole thing aside and let it set till it’s firm

Coconut Chocolate Brandy Crackles

by the  Konstant Kraver Ok I confess these originally started off as that lovely soft fudge but I got a little bored waiting for it to set so back to the oven it went and these little beauties were born. Yes, I admit it, I have the attention span of a 3 yr old. Makes 12 large squares Ingredients 400g dark chocolate, chopped 400g can sweetened condensed milk 75g butter, chopped 1/4 cup Brandy 2 1/2 cups Rice bubbles 1/2 dessicated coconut glazed cherries to decorate   Method Line a 5cm-deep, 8cm x 26cm (base) bar pan with baking paper, allowing a 2cm overhang at long ends and grease it as well. Combine chocolate, condensed milk and butter in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in liquor. Next add the rice bubbles and the dessicated coconut into the mixture and give it a good stir till combined. Spread mixture into prepared pan, and flatten well with the back of a large metal spoon. Sprinkle some dessicated coconut over the top decorate with the cherries. Refrigerate for 30 mins or until set. Cut into squares. Serve.

Passionfruit Melting Moments

It is close to tea time and you have unexpected company! Don't fret; these melting moments are easy to whip up in a jiffy. Now, for this recipe you should get 14 decent sized melting moments, but I was slightly lazy to sit there rolling any longer than necessary, so made 9 somewhat large ones. Also these are incredibly delicate, as I discovered the hard way, when one rolled off the top of the plate and with a gentle  "poof" smashed into many  many powdery crumbs!

Ingredients
250g (9oz) softened butter
40g (11/2oz) icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
185g (61/2 oz) self raising flour
60g (2 1/4 oz) custard powder


Passion Fruit Filling
60g (2 1/4 oz) butter
80g(3 1/4 oz) icing sugar

2 Tbsp passion fruit pulp

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line two baking trays with baking paper. Place the butter and icing sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add the vanilla and beat until combined. Sift in the Flour and custard powder and mix to a soft dough. Roll level tablespoons of mixture into 28 balls and place on the prepared trays. Flatten slightly with a fork.
Bake for 20mins, or until lightly golden. Cool on a wire rack.
1. To make the filling, beat the butter and icing sugar until light and creamy. Fold in the passion fruit pulp until well combined. Use the filling to sandwich the biscuits together and leave to firm before serving.

Dairy/Nut/Gluten Free Cookies

I have to say that I am in absolute awe of mums like my cousin who on a day-to-day basis have to think of food for their kids which are free from all food colourings, gluten dairy , nuts etc. Coming up with something that was allergy free of all these I have to say was a huge challenge! 

One I enjoyed but, again I take my hat off to all those parents dealing with these food issues everyday. I found with these cookies you really don’t want to bake them more then 10 minutes or else they will be a wee bit too crunchy, but they actually are quite nice and I found that I had no problem tucking into them until I reminded myself that they were supposed to be for my nephew. The icing I made for them, again making certain that there was no food colouring, etc. was made from some icing sugar and Nuttlex with a tablespoon or two of water.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups Gluten Free Flour

1/4 tsp Baking Powder

3/4 Nuttlex  Olive  (Dairy Free Spread)

1/2 Cup sugar

1/3 Cup Apple Sauce

1/4 tsp salt

2tsp lemon juice



Method
1. Line two cookie trays with baking paper and Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius
2. Beat  Sugar and Nuttelex untill pale and creamy.
3. Add the Apple Sauce ,salt and lemon juice and mix. Stir in the flour and baking powder and mix all ingredients together to form dough
4. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and place in the fridge for about 10 mins
5. Roll dough out and cut out as desired, its fun to make these into holiday shapes or quick and easy just to cut into circles
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes
7. Frost or decorate as desired