Chocolate crinkle cookies (Snow caps)

I am back from my holiday and it sucks. It means back to daily chores like cooking, cleaning and writing and having nothing much too look forward to. Well life must go on right? Anyways, we had a lovely time down at the coast and pigged out so much, I can assure you I have gained a few pounds. Cornwall is known for the cream tea's and just looking at the clotted cream served with scones will gain you a few calories, seriously! But on another note they were probably the best cream tea's I've ever had. All the while Ro kept dabbing huge amounts of cream on to his scone I kept chanting heart attacks and cholesterol levels which fell on deaf ears. So we left all those behind and indulged in food on all 5 days.

I haven't yet sorted through the pictures, but will try and do so at the earliest and post a few as well. There were a couple of interesting food items I wanted to try, but Cornwall being the fish central, most of it had to do with fish and I am not that big a fish fan as you all might already know. Convincing Ro was too much of an effort so i let it pass. But seriously how interesting would the Stargazy Pie have been? I think a darn interesting one to at least photograph. Ro thought otherwise, and so we decided Cornish Pasty instead. So we went all the way down south to the tip of England to actually eat the best Cornish Pasty evah. Not overrated people, not overrated at all. I loved it. I am thinking of actually trying it out at home "some day."

Coming back to the cookies', since it was a 6 hour drive from London, I decided to pack some goodies for the road trip. My husband, yes the one who is such a sucka for anything chocolate, pleaded with me to make some chocolate cake. Of course I didn't listen, because as we all know, I am not the awesome wife who will listen to stuff the husband says. Instead I went ahead and made a cake of my choice and was happily packing it when I realised I had a wee bit of butter left over from my previous expeditions which would expire in a couple of days. So I googled and googled and googled and landed on a picture of crinkled cookies which looked so darn pretty, I had to make it. 

So I searched for a recipe and came up with one that was really easy, but didn't need butter. But by then I was so excited at the prospect of photographing the crinkle cookies, butter was the least of my problems. Made the cookies in a jiffy and gosh they were the prettiest ever. I ate one or two right out of the oven and it was nice. Taste wise, well I would say it's a wannabe brownie/ cake. Its somewhere in between a cake and a cookie to be precise. The husband and friends who were travelling with us actually thought they were bought from some bakery (I'm wondering if that's a compliment or not) and happily gorged on them as well. I took a bite from a few leftover cookies the next day and actually hated it, to be honest. I decided to give chocolate one more chance but it failed me. So sorry chocolate, you and me need to part ways. We obviously want different things. (Ro claims that's like saying he and I need different things, because his ultimate aim in life is to die and go to chocolate heaven). 

So anyhoo, the recipe is a keeper cos I'm sure those chocolate lovers out there would fall for it and if not a chocolate lover, then it would at least grab the attention of the photographer in you. Either ways, its easy to make and is perfect to gift for Christmas or serve for kids' parties. I don't intend to do either, but decided to keep the recipe, just in case I became a convert!

Recipe adapted from here (makes about 24 to 26 cookies)

Dark chocolate- 1/2 cup, broken into medium slices (I used Green & Blacks, 70 percent choc.)

Brown sugar- 1/2 cup, packed

Oil- 2 1/2 tbsp

Egg- 1 large

Vanilla essence- 1/2 tsp

Plain flour- 1/2 cup

Baking powder- 1/2 tsp

Salt- a pinch

Icing sugar- 1/4 cup

In a bowl stir together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Melt the chocolate in a saucepan over low heat.

Remove from heat and add sugar and oil and mix well till the sugar has dissolved, somewhat.

Add the egg and vanilla and mix well till you no longer see any traces.

Mix in the flour and stir till you form a smooth batter.

Close the bowl with a lid and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

The batter would have hardened a bit. If not keep it for some more time.

When you are ready to bake, line a baking tray with parchment paper or foil paper and put the powdered sugar in a plate large enough to roll the cookie balls.

Using a 1/2 tbsp measuring spoon scoop out the dough and make balls. 

Roll in the icing sugar and place on the tray, about an inch apart. This is what cracks when the cookies are baking and gives the crinkled effect. 

Bake in an oven preheated at 175C for about 10 minutes for a chewy one or 12 to 13 minutes for a crunchier version. 

Once done, cool completely on the rack and then store in air tight containers or zip loc bags

Notes: You can add any nut of choice (walnuts, hazelnuts etc) right after mixing the flour. Just chop them up and fold it in.

By the time you finish rolling the entire batch, the first few might have no icing sugar visible because it gets absorbed. No problem, just lightly roll it again and place into the oven immediately.

I thought 1/4 cup icing sugar was a little too much, as I ended up wasting a bit once I was done.

I preferred the chewier version better.

Thomas Keller's Macaroni Gratin (a very dignified mac n cheese)

The 3 year old (read Ro) has been nagging me AGAIN! This time for macaroni and cheese of all the things. I have tried making mac & cheese so many times but it has always failed. I mean taste-wise its kinda fine, but I've never really got the consistency, the sauce or the look (????!!!!) right. Marks & Spencer has a good mac n cheese in their ready to eat section and I've resigned to buying it from there whenever I'm craving it.

So the other day Ro comes home from work and he's craving mac n cheese. I give him the brilliant idea of popping over to M&S and picking up a tub but no, he wants his super awesome food blogger wife (exact words) to make it instead. Sweet talking me into anything works, except cooking. I don't fall for it..never have and I'm pretty sure I never will. I tell him it takes at least 2 hours for me to make it and that I'm craving Chinese instead and he instantly changes his mind. We head to our favourite Chinese joint just down the road and are both happy. Ro more than me for some reason. How can someone juts let go of a craving like that???

Weeks passed and the mac n cheese idea was long forgotten. Everything was fine with the world, until I stumbled upon Ellie's stylish mac n cheese. Now when I crave something, its different..I have to have it no matter what. I've dragged Ro to a zillion stores and restaurants at ungodly hours just because I wanted the perfect churro or the perfect espresso coffee and baked at 10 in the night because I wanted something warm and sweet out of the oven.  He humours me most of the time, but otherwise tells me to piss off or make my own espresso at home.

So anyways, I'd bookmarked the recipe and decided to make it on a day I was lazy. mac n cheese, how long can it take anyway??? Apparently quite long. Its only after I started that I actually read what Ellie had written...30 minutes for the sauce alone...Ro was gonna get back home soon and I didn't have dinner ready (this after teasing him all day saying oh you are soo gonna thank me for tonights dinner). I almost changed my mind and postponed mac n cheese for a day I was proactive, and that's when Ro called to say he was grabbing a couple of drinks with his colleagues and would be home a bit late, but would definitely come for dinner (I didn't tease him any more..yeah sure, was my calm reply).

I started off the cooking process and this is no simple mac n cheese to make but taste-wise it was probably the best mac n cheese I ever had. It cannot really be called mac n CHEESE because its more of the white sauce that adds the richness than the cheese per se. Maybe that's what I liked about it because too much cheese can make it oily and unappetising, It cannot be whipped up in no time and you need to have immense patience. But the recipe is a total keeper, and so I'm penning it down for a day I'm super proactive and want to make gourmet mac n cheese :)

Recipe halved from here, originally from Thomas Keller's cookbook Bouchon

Macaroni- 115 gms (approx. 4 oz) (I used spirali since I already had a pack with me)

Cooked Ham/ Bacon- 1/4 cup, diced (I used bacon)

Grated nutmeg- a pinch

Thyme- 1 tsp, minced

Parmessan cheese- 1/4 cup, grated

Bread crumbs- 2 tbsp

Salt and pepper- to taste

Mornay sauce- 1 1/2 cups (recipe below)

Mornay sauce

Butter- 2 tbsp

White onion- 1/3 cup, diced (half of one large onion)

All purpose flour- 2 tbsp

Milk- 1 1/3 cup

Heavy cream- 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp

Bay leaf- 1

Peppercorns- 2

Whole cloves- 2

Ground Nutmeg- a pinch

Cheddar cheese- 1/4 cup

To make the sauce, place a diffuser (a tawa or so) on medium heat and a large saucepan on it.

Melt the butter and add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook stirring occasionally for about 3 minutes or until the onion turns translucent.

Sprinkle the flour and cook for a further 3 minutes, whisking constantly and making sure the roux doesn't burn.

Whisking constantly pour the milk and cream till they are mixed well.

Bring to a simmer and then add the bay leaf, black peppercorns and cloves.

Reduce heat to low and continue to simmer, whisking in between to make sure the sauce doesn't get burnt and doesn't form clumps. If it does, like Ellie says, pour into a new pan and continue the process instead of scraping the bottom.

Let it stay on a gentle simmer for about 30 minutes until the sauce becomes nice and thick, but smooth.

Take it off the flame, remove the peppercorns, cloves and bay leaf and add the cheese. Whisk to melt

You can use this sauce immediately or can make it the previous day or a week in advance and store it in the refrigerator. To thin it out later, if needed, add a dash of heavy cream to it.

Assembling:

Cook the macaroni according to the instructions on the cover. Drain and keep aside.

If the Mornay sauce was just made, then take it off the flame and into it add the cooked macaroni and bacon. Mix well and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

It may look a bit loose, but not to worry the macaroni will absorb the sauce while baking.

Pour into a baking dish or individual gratin dishes. Sprinkle with cheese and thyme, followed by bread crumbs

Bake in an oven pre-heated at 190C for 15 to 20 minutes or till the sauce bubbles at the sides.

If you want to brown the top a bit, turn on the grill for about 6 to 8 minutes.

Serve with garlic bread or on its own.

Notes: The taste of thyme and nutmeg was distinct and I loved it. It is obvious so if you don't like it, you can omit the same.

The bacon can be substituted with ham, mushrooms, artichokes might be nice too.

For more tips do head over to Ellie's space.


Sending this to Presto Pasta Nights (#209) hosted by Sweet Artichoke.


PS: I have to tell you that after all the drama, Ro gets back home and gives me a sheepish grin and tells me he grabbed a sandwich on the way cos he was sooo hungry. I had already downed a glass of wine and was feeling a bit light headed or something, I let it pass saying he can take it for lunch the next day..Thanks to the wine, otherwise I would have definitely been a bitch about it!

Cake Pops

Of course everyone knows Bakerella who introduced cake pops to the blog world. I love going through her website and just gawking at those numerous recipes and ideas and reading all the fun stuff. It was when I saw a video promo of her recipe book that I decided I had to try the pops. She made it look so goddamn easy that I would be a fool to not try out something so easy and incredibly cute. Boy was I wrong...the easy part still in tact, but the fool I am, decided to act all brave and try a few extra stunts, only to goof up big time, waste ingredients, time and energy and by the end of it something as easy as making pops turned out to be a time consuming, nail biting, husband torturing experience. The outcome was brilliant, but not one I enjoyed so much after the goof ups. 

Note to self: always stick to the recipe and don't ask the husband for help when the whole process involves melted chocolate.

For starters, I just couldn't find candy melts in any of the stores, second, I couldn't find lollipop sticks unless I decided to buy a packet of 50 lollipops, threw away the hard candy and preserved the stick (not a great idea..yes, but it did cross my mind you know) and third, no styrofoam to hold the pops. Whined about my 'issues' to Ro and obviously 'Mr. know it all' had all the answers and solutions. He asked me to use chocolate instead of the melt and so I decided to use white chocolate. For the sticks, he nicely cut out our left over bbq skewers into equal halves and for the styrofoam bit, he spent some half hour making holes on a cardboard piece which would then hold the pops. Yeah yeah he's brilliant, I know!

But the problem arose when I decided to act a lil smart and pour some double cream into the melted choc and there...it curdled..it frikking curdled. I almost cried. Threw away that entire set and rushed to the nearest grocery store, picked up a bar and hurried back. Again, the smart ass that I am, wanted a pink  pop and decided to add some red food colouring to the melted choc...this time a lil part of my brain was working and so I at least had the common sense to take a spoon full of melted choc and try it out first. Lucky I did that, cos that curdled too. So my idea for pink pops were down the drain. So white it was and I must say, it still looked so awesomely pretty.

Any flavour cake- 1/4 kg (250gms) (I used a golden syrup cake)

Philadelphia Cream Cheese- 100gms, at room temperature

White chocolate bar- 150 gms

Lollipop sticks- 16 (I used wooden skewers, cut in half)

Styrofoam- to stick the pops in for drying (used a cardboard with holes in them)

If you are baking a cake, wait for it to cool completely and then crumble it in a large mixing bowl (you can also wince a bit while doing this to a perfectly baked cake)

Add the cream cheese frosting to this and mix thoroughly with your hand (so you can lick it later), without leaving any specks of cream cheese.

Keep a baking tray with baking paper ready and roll the mix into small balls and place them on the tray. I got about 16 of them, but it would depend on what size you want really.

Chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. I kept mine over night. Bakerella says you can even freeze it to speeden up this process

Break up the white chocolate and melt them in a bowl over boiling water or in a microwave as per instructions. 

Dip one end of the stick into the melted chocolate, shake off excess and insert it onto the rolled cake balls carefully, going a lil less than half way.

Holding the stick, dip the ball into the melted chocolate till it is fully covered, rotate to have an even coating, tap off the extra chocolate gently...not too hard because the cake can fall off (trust me, I know) and fix them on the styrofoam piece or onto a cardboard on anything that can hold it upright.

I chucked it immediately into the refrigerator for it to harden a bit.

If you want to add a few sprinklers do so after you have dipped it in the chocolate, because then, it will stick on easily. 

And like Bakerella, you can of course paint away ..anything you want. I definitely didn't have the patience after all that drama.

Notes: What you need to do is crumble an already made cake and then make balls out of it. Now who would want to painstakingly bake a cake only to crush it and crumble it? Not me for sure. So I used a store bought cake and continued with the steps involved. You are free to bake any flavour cake you like and then use the same. I just wasn't sure I'd go ahead with the crumbling bit once I made a pretty, fluffy cake. Didn't want to take any chances there. Also, I was lazy. I used a golden syrup cake for the pops and paired it with a white choc covering. Since the cake is your own choice, I decided not to pass on a recipe as such, but you can follow it from here if you are interested though.

Do check out Bakerella for more ideas and tips.

Since I'm pretty sure kids would love these pops I'm sending it to Srivalli's event 'Kids Delight- Finger food.'
Its can definitely be gorged down in one or two bites and so sending the same to 'Sugar High Fridays' event hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen where this months theme is 'Bite Size Desserts.' This long running successful even is the brain child of Jennifer.