Spritz Cookies- Bite size treats!

Spring break is over. there is an audible sigh in the vicinity.. I join in.

It has been a hectic week with  an active child at home. Thank God for perfect weather! 

While many of you are still wearing thick jackets or cranking up the heat in your homes, we have flung open our windows to let the gentle breeze in, packed all the winter woollies and pulled on the flip-flops! We have donned soft tees, and Capri and for  those who can carry it off, shorts and go for evening walks.

Welcome Spring! 

Spring Break from school also means play dates! We had arranged a play date for my son and his little friends and he wanted me to make cookies for them. Of course, I had to agree! 

Sometime last year, I gave in to my urge to buy a cookie press. 

At $10, I thought it was a steal! 

When I made the cookies last year, it took me a while to get the hang of it and when I was fumbling, I kind of  thought it wasn't 'such a good idea, after all'. The whole thing got shoved to the very back of the cabinet.

I tentatively pulled it out, looked at it long and hard and finally decided to use it. What's the worst that can happen?  It won't spritz, hah! I'll roll and cut and bake. I'll make cookies. There! 

I followed the recipe from Joy of Baking. I wish I had taken time to go to the store and get some garnish, my son wanted m & m's, I kept putting it off  and then it was time to bake.

When you try these, plan ahead and get something to decorate the cookies, m & m's, dried fruit, nuts, the cookies will look so pretty with that added something!
I will the next time I make these, I will drizzle them with some chocolate! yum!

Notes:
The cookies are light and flaky and mildly sweet.  Because these are piped/ spritzed, they are small, 2-bite cookies.
They are very brittle too, of course.
The recipe calls for 6-9 minutes of baking, until the edges are barely brown. It could be my oven, but 6-9 mins. did not cut it for me. I baked my cookies for 10 mins. I like to see a honey brown edge to my cookies.
The barely-brown-edges makes it doughy and floury under done and I don't like it.

Must remember:

Use a cookie sheet or a jelly roll pan

Pipe/ Spritz cookies directly onto the cookie sheet, do not use any butter / oil to grease the cookie sheet. Do not use any parchment paper or base under the cookies. This is important. This was one of the mistakes I made when I first made the cookies, I used parchment paper. The cookie dough sticks to the press and lifts the parchment paper and it's just a mess! 

Be patient, if it does not click the first time, don't give up. just try again. 

A treat after a tall glass of milk! 

Serve with a tall glass of milk. Give a surprise by adding some in your child's lunch box, share a plate with your girlfriends at tea-time!
Enjoy! 

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A simple Vanilla cake using Oil

How often have you seen a child straining at his/ her Mother's hand and demanding something .. anything? 

How often have you done that as a  child? I know I have. Almost every time I stepped  out of the house with my parents, something fancy (IMHO) and utterly useless ( in my parents opinion) would engage me, so much so , that I'd refuse to budge without claiming it as my own. I was around 3 or 4 years old then.

Shortly after our  home started bearing a very strong resemblance to a toy store, my parents took to warning me at the first sight of a demand rearing it's greedy head, " Asa vaglis tar police kaka dumm bhartil, oradtil  tula... chalel ka?" ( meaning: If you behave like this, that policeman will take you to task, do you want that?)

For some time, I was down ( but not out, oh no, no.... definitely not out! ). I would meekly walk on, after putting  my soul into my eyes and looking with undisguised longing at a toy and then very meaningfully at my Mother or Father. They remained unmoved and the 'police kaka' remained in his 'chowki' and peace in my parents hearts and minds and purses.


Until one day, I could no longer bear it, I saw one particular toy I wanted needed, it felt like my existence depended on it ( yeah, right!) Necessity like this makes heroes out of the meekest, and so when I began asking for the toy, my Mother simply pointed to the policeman sitting in his booth ( this booth was in  the apartment community we lived and  most of the time, the cops would sit idle), the policeman had nothing to do and so  looked at me  and wiggled his bushy eyebrows and  and said," aaann?" That was it, the last straw on the proverbial camel's back, I looked at my Mom and  then defiantly at the cop , and mustering all the courage a 3 or 4 year old could, told him , "aaaap"  and brought a trembling finger to my pursed lips, indicating that he put a lid on it.
The cop was shocked into silence and my Mother, thoroughly embarrassed and wanting a quick exit, bought me the toy and I beamed at the world with the trophy in my hand.


Now, why am I relating all this here? Because I occasionally adopt the age old technique of 'police kaka' with my son. He is yet to assert himself with one, but something  happened the other day. 
It was a beautiful day, cool crisp breeze , not really sunny, but not cloudy either, you know what I mean... in short a perfect day for a walk after the bad weather.Little S and I went out  for a small walk. The pattern is, I walk, he skips or jumps ahead of me, looking back every few steps just to make sure I am there and also sometimes seeking non-verbal reassurance that he is allowed to skip or run as long as he sticks to the side walk. 
On this particular afternoon, we were sauntering at our own pace and suddenly he stopped in his tracks and waited for me to catch up, there was a police car parked in front of one building. In a hushed tone he told me , "poos"(his word for police). His eyes wide, he glanced up at me, I smiled and affirmed that this was a 'poos car'. I looked at the car and at that precise moment I felt his tiny warm hand slip into mine. I clasped it lovingly and firmly and fell in step with him.  Reassured that  no one, not even a 'poos' can harm him when he is with Mommy, my little boy skipped , holding  onto my hand and a triumphant smile on his lips. 

Later, as he slept, I stole a kiss and decided to bake  him a cake, for his unconditional love and trust in me, for holding my hand and touching my heart .

Source: Kaboose

Makes Two 9-inch (23-cm) round layers or one 9- x 13-inch (23 x 33 cm) rectangular cake.

• 2 cups (500 mL) sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2-1/2 cups (625 mL) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (250 mL) milk
• 3/4 cup (175 mL) vegetable oil
• 2-1/4 teaspoons (11 mL) baking powder
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) vanilla

Cooking Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line two 9-inch (23-cm) round cake pans or one 9x13-inch (23 x 33 cm) rectangular baking pan with parchment paper. Grease the paper and the sides of the pan well.
2. In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs together until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Add flour, milk, oil, baking powder, and vanilla and beat for another minute, just until the batter is smooth and creamy. Don't over beat. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan(s).
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the tops are golden and a toothpick poked into the center of the layer comes out clean. (A single rectangular pan will take longer to bake than two round ones.) Loosen the sides of the cake from the pan with a thin knife, then turn out onto a rack and peel off the paper. Let cool completely before covering with frosting, if desired.

Verdict:   
YUMMY CAKE! in Little S's words. 
This was the first time I had baked a cake with no butter, instead using oil. I was nervous, I am no baker, but this cake is really very simple and easy to make and very light and tasty. It is sweet, but not overly so, just the right amount of sugar. 
The only thing that did not stick to the recipe was the baking time indicated. My cake required about an hour, but this could be  my oven, so if you do try this, check the cake at the 30-40 minute mark.

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

There was a phase in my life when biscuits ( as we call then in India) or cookies  were a large part of my diet. In fact there were many phases like that. My parents were working and so I had the house key round my neck and  after school I could do as I chose for a couple of hours. 

My schedule did not change, I'd come from school , enter the house, fling off my shoes, throw my school bag, head right into the kitchen, gulp a huge glass of water, hunt for something to eat (though my Mother used to keep healthy and filling snacks on the dining table, I never bothered about them) open  all containers, find the biscuits - eat a few , head to the bedroom, change into fresh set of clothes ( leave the school uniform on the floor), slip on flip-flops and go straight to play with friends. 

Sometimes my friends would come home and  I was a pretty good hostess, I'd serve them water first and then  after a while I'd bring out a platter of snacks ( mainly cookies ) and most unusually, a bottle of pickles... yes, pickles. If that sounds unusual, let me give you the logic behind it. It's like this, if you eat sweet 'X' and  then sweet 'Y', it (Y) wouldn't taste as good, so in order to enjoy every variety, a bite of something spicy or salty was necessary in between  and hence, the pickles. 

Then came my MMS days, my friend ( from Delhi) had rented an apartment close to the college and I parked  myself there during exam time. There was a 'convenience' store opened in the first floor apartment , they would sell biscuits, chocolates, tea, coffee, notebooks, pen, pencil and similar stuff. We would pop down, grab packets of biscuits ( there was a Kellogg- Chocos biscuit brand we favored) and have those  for breakfast and lunch.  After exams we would grab a couple of Vada paav and rush home to prepare for the next days test paper. 

Coming to the USA opened up a world of cookies for me, there was a sea of cookies in so many flavors and I fell in love all over again. Chocolate chip cookies were my favorite and I'd pick every opportunity and reason to eat 'just one'. 

I wanted to make  them at home, I was reminded of Martha Wilson , I was addicted to comic books (still am) and loved Dennis the Menace and thought it very nice of Mrs. Wilson to bake cookies . I had never used a oven mitten and held a tray of cookies  and to me it was almost out of a fairy tale, cookies at home, unlimited supply! And now that I enjoy baking I decided to go ahead and bake cookies. It was natural that I go for chocolate chip cookies. I love them ( who doesn't!?) and my Son loves them. I can get him to do anything for a 'kiikoo', as he first called them.  M says it's hereditary, like mother- like son. Huumph! 

Source: Nestle Toll House Chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 (the original recipe calls for 2 ) cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
• 1/2 (the original recipe calls for 1) cup chopped nuts

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.


Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. 

Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until  


creamy. 

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

Gradually beat in flour mixture. 

Stir in morsels and nuts. 

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.


BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. 

Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes, remove to wire racks to cool completely. 

* Notes:

I made a few changes , I used regular granulated sugar, I did not have brown sugar on hand. 

Reduced the quantity of sugar to 1 cup + 2 tbsp.

I used 1 cup chocolate chips , M likes just a 'sprinkling' of chocolate, not an overload  :(

I used just 1/2 cup of chopped nuts for fear that little S may not chew them and then have a 

choking fit ( I was wrong, I might as well add, he can chew cookies and chips  and the like very 

well, odd how he has trouble with rice and vegetables and roti.... "heredity" M whispers)

The cookies that were in the oven for 11 mins were crisp, very enjoyable, however 

the 9 minute ones were perfect, crisp on the border, chewy on the inside . This was for my 


oven, I am not sure if oven temps. vary, but I'd suggest you check at the 9 minute mark and 


if required go to the 10 or 11 minutes

Have a Great Weekend!!! 

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