M & M cookies; Meatless Monday

This post was meant to be posted on Monday.The last Monday of 2014.Unfortunately, I could not get to it.But I still want it to be dedicated to the wonderful team at Meatless Monday, here in New York. I believe that they do remarkable, rewarding work.A special mention of Vanessa Protass and Diana Rice, the wonderful ladies who made it possible for my Cornmeal Upma recipe to be published in their "The homecook breakfast book", sponsored by Earthbound Farms. That was my accomplishment in 2014! I shall therefore go ahead and label this post "Meatless Monday".

Which kid says no to cookies? None that I know of! Holiday season is incomplete without baked goodies! My kids are not too fond of cakes and pies. But they love cookies. I always make their favorite chocolate chip cookies for them. My daughter has been asking me to bake some M&M cookies for a while now. Other day when my husband was about to grab a bag of M&M cookies, I told him, "don't bother;I will bake a batch ". That gave me the necessary impetus to bake this batch. I have also been meaning to try this recipe that I came across that uses a little corn flour with the regular flour. I must say the result was good. The cookies were nice and decadent with a kind of soft, cakey texture in the middle.The soft texture is also due to the addition of more baking powder than baking soda. The cookies rise well and don't spread as much. Baking is such a science! Little bit of variation in the rising agent, the type of flour used and the type of sugar used can make such a huge difference in  the texture of the cookies. Anyways,the cookies were all gone within a couple of days! You can find the original recipe here.

Servings: makes 24 medium-sized cookies.

Ingredients:

Flour: 2 cups
Corn flour/corn starch :  2 tsp
Baking powder: 1tsp
Baking soda:1/2 tsp
Salt: a pinch
Unsalted Butter/ coconut oil: 1/2 cup or 1 stick
Flaxmeal: 2 tbsp  mixed in 6 tbsp water ( or use 2 eggs)
Brown sugar: 1/3 cup
White sugar: 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence: 1 1/2 tsp
M&M candies : 1 cup
Chocolate chips: 1/2 cup

Method:

Mix Flaxmeal and water and keep aside.

Cream the butter/oil  and sugar together. Add vanilla essence, baking powder, baking soda, salt, Flaxmeal and water mixture and mix well. Now add the cornflour and the flour little by little until combined. Do not overmix!

Stir in the M&Ms and chocolate chips. Keep it in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F or 180 deg C.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper and keep ready.

Use a spoon or ice cream scoop and place small balls of equal size on the baking tray at least 2 inches apart.

Place the tray on the center rack of the oven an bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cookies.

Take the cookies out and let it cool down on a cooling rack. Don't worry if the center of the cookies seems a little soft. They harden upon cooking down.

Enjoy with a glass of milk or just like that!

Store in an airtight container. Stays fresh or up to 1 week.

Happy Holidays!

Cooking made easy:

Keeping the cookie batter in the fridge for at least an hour, keeps it from spreading upon baking.  If in a hurry, keep the cookie dough in the freezer for 20-30 mins and then bake.

Most cookie batters ( dough)can be made ahead of time ( read leisure) and baked in portions as needed. This way you can have freshly baked cookies within 10 mins when your heart desires!! How cool is that!

Tip for healthy living:

Store-bought cookies have several ingredients that have been added to increase the shelf-life of the cookies. When consumed in excess, this  may have a detrimental effect on the health of the children. Also, shortening is often used instead of butter. Shortening has saturated fats and again can have a deleterious effect on our health. Hence it is best to consume less processed locally made foods. Even better, make it at home. Remember, the longer the shelf-life of a food product, the more processed it is!

Food for thought:

He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.Thomas Carlyle

Classic Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Chocolate-chip cookies is the one thing that I could make over and over and rest assured that they will disappear in no time! :) My kids just love it! My sister-in-law and her kids are visiting us and I figured what better than home-made chocolate chip cookies. I made huge batch, one big container of big ones and one cookie jar of small ones for my little one. My son the minute he saw the little jar, he goes.. "Cookies".. "Mommy cookies, baby cookies!" ; Referring to the big and small cookies!The cookie jar was half-empty by that night and within 2 days of making them, they were all gone and become a part of history:)! Here is the classic chocolate chip recipe from Nestlé:

Servings: makes about 60 cookies

Ingredients:

Flour: 2 1/4 cups
Baking soda:1 tsp
Salt: 1 tsp
Butter: 1 cup, at room temperature.
Brown sugar: 1 1/2 cups
Vanilla essence: 1 tsp
Eggs: 2 large, beaten.
Chocolate chips: 1 cup

Method:

In a bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl, using an electric mixer, mix together the butter, sugar and vanilla essence until creamy.

Add the beaten eggs and mix well.

Slowly add in the flour mixture little by little. Mix well.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Cover the batter with cling film and freeze it for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 deg F.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Using a ice cream scoop, drop spoonful of dough onto the cookie sheet 2 inches apart.

Place the cookie sheet on the center rack of the oven and bake for 9-11 minutes depending on your oven.

Check for doneness using the toothpick test. When the toothpick is inserted into the center of the cookie and it comes out clean, then the cookie is done!

Let the cookies cool on the cooling rack for 5-10 minutes.

Once completely cooled,store the cookies in an airtight container.

Enjoy with a cold glass of milk or just like that! :)

Cooking made easy:

Freezing the cookie dough makes for cookies with desired thickness. The dough balls when placed on the cookie sheet tend to spread out making the cookie large but thinner. Freezing the dough minimizes this phenomenon.

I generally tend to make a huge batch of batter ( like above) and freeze half of it for future use. This way I have fresh cookies any time the kids desire!

Tip for healthy living:

Limit the amount of sugar in your daily diet. Use natural sugars like palm sugar, jaggery, honey, molasses,coconut sugar whenever possible. It is much healthier.

Food for thought:

Be mindful when it comes to your words. A string of some that don't mean much to you, may stick with someone else for a lifetime. Rachel Wolchin