Whole Wheat Snickerdoodle Cookies

I have made a few different types of cookies over the past few weeks and have discovered that cookies don't really need that much butter as I find on many popular food blogs on the the internet. My recipe uses half the amount therefore making them a little bit lite. Normally 1/2 a cup would go into a batch this size but I  used 1/4 cup and the results were perfect. In my opinion 1/4 cup is the ideal amount, any additional butter would have made them very greasy. I also added some whole wheat to make them more healthier.

(Makes 9 2" cookies)
(Prep time 10  mins, rest time 20 mins, bake time 15 mins)
Ingredients

Whole wheat 3/4 cup
All purpose flour 1/2 cup
Melted butter 4 Tbs
Baking soda 1 tsp
Brown sugar 1/4 cup
White sugar 1/4 cup
Vanilla 1 tsp
Egg 1 large
Salt 1/8 tsp

Coating:
Cinnamon 1 Tsp
Brown sugar 1/2 Tbs
White sugar 1/2 Tbs

Method

Combine butter, sugar, salt, egg, vanilla in a large bowl and mix all the ingredients together for about 2 mins. I just used a large fork to mix this all.
Then fold in the flour, whole wheat and baking soda.
Refrigerate this dough for about 20 mins so that it firms up a bit.
Roll out about 2 Tbs worth of dough (I could make 9 balls) and toss them around in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Make sure they are very liberally coated on all sides.
Place on a a lined cookie sheet and bake for about 15 min in a preheated 400 degree over.
When they are done take them off the cookies sheet and allow them to cool down a bit before eating.
Enjoy.

Inspiration:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/mrs-siggs-snickerdoodles/

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Idli - Sambhar - Chutney

This humble meal is what we recently had on Christmas Eve.
A small gathering of close friends and good food is always a good idea :-)

Following were the deciding factors behind our selection:
We wanted to spend very little time in the kitchen.
Wanted something spicy.
Something soupy and soul warming.
Vegetarian.
Very little cleanup.
And something you could eat tons of without feeling full or too guilty :-)

The idlis were made using store bought batter.

We used "Shastha idli batter" purchased from Mayuri.
You can get this easily from any Indian grocery store.
We steamed the batter in idli molds for about 15 mins on the stove top. We sprayed a little oil on the molds before filling it up with batter.

The sambhar was semi home made.

Tomatoes 1/2 cup chopped
Daikon radish 1 1/2 cups chopped
Okra 1 cups chopped
Eggplant 1 cup chopped
Green peas 1/2 cup
Carrots 1/2 cup chopped
Garlic 1/2 Tbs copped
Thai chilies 1 Tbs chopped (about 5-6 medium sized chilies) *adjust according to your tastebuds
Water 5-6 cups
Sambhar mix 5-6 heaping Tbs (we used MTR Sambar Mix available from any Indian store)
Butter 3-4 Tbs *optional - we went for it :-)

All the vegetables need to be cut small and they need to be the same size.. about 1/2".
Add the vegetables in a big pot filled with water, add the spice mix and turn on the heat.
Once the water has begun to boil, lower the heat and cook slightly covered for 30 mins.
Add butter at very the end after turning off the heat.

And the chutney was home made.

Fresh cilantro 1 bunch (stems and all - washed ofcourse)
Vinegar 1/2 cup (we used apple cider)
Dried red chilies 2-3 medium sized *adjust according to your tastebuds
Dried un-sweetened coconut flakes 1/2 cup *you can also use frozen or fresh grated coconut
Tomato 1 medium sized
Garlic 1 large clove
Red onion 1/3 of a small onion (roughly 1.5" thick slice)
Thai chilies 3-4 medium sized chilies *adjust according to your tastebuds
Salt 1/2 tsp

All of the above ingredients blended well in a blender.

Tada!
:-)

 

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