Lavender Shortbread Rounds

This recipe made approximately 32 shortbread rounds, I think... I'm not sure how many I ate before I counted them.

This recipe has been modified from the family baking book, however, the tips are entirely of my own devising.
There were some tears and some despair followed by joyous epiphanies. I don't usually break down and cry over a recipe gone awry, but this was for Tej's birthday party and I so wanted to do everything right.

I share with you all my wisdom and then some. Have fun!

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour (white flour/maida) - 2 1/4 cups
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Unsalted butter, softened - 2 sticks or 16 tbsp
Confectioners' sugar - 1/2 cup
Granulated sugar - 1 tablespoon + more for sprinkling
Dried lavender flowers - 1 tsp (for a stronger lavender flavor, use 2 tsp)

Preheat your over to 300 degrees F.

Process the lavender flowers along with a tablespoon of sugar in a clean coffee grinder or food processor until you get a 'mostly fine powder blend'. This lavender-sugar will look a little blue-grey in color (picture on top) compared to the confectioners sugar (below).

Sift the lavender-sugar, salt and flour together and set it aside.

Cream the butter and confectioners' sugar together until light and fluffy. This took 6 minutes in my kitchen with a handheld electric mixer. 

Add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mix until combined. Turn the mixture out on to a lightly floured surface and mix till it comes together in a ball.

Portion into little balls and flatten to make small discs about an inch or inch and a half in diameter and just about, less than half an inch in thickness. Lay them out on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and poke holes using the tines of a fork.

Sprinkle the cookies with granulated sugar.

Space the shortbread rounds leaving at least an inch of space all around.
Bake for around 40 minutes. When ready, the biscuits will still be white.
Cool on a wire rack.

Troubleshooting:

Dough too dry - add cold water one tablespoon at a time into the flour mixture until it comes together.

Dough too sticky - Wait a few minutes, leaving the dough uncovered and try again. Check the dough every 2-3 minutes.

Dough too wet - allow it to stand at room temperature for a few minutes, it usually becomes more dry as time passes. If not, add flour one teaspoon or even lesser at a time and try kneading it again.

You absolutely need to:

- Use confectioners' sugar, do not substitute with granular sugar. If you don't have any confectioners' sugar, grind granulated sugar and corn starch together in a food processor/ grinder till you get a fine powder blend of the two. The ratio I have had success with is 1 cup of granular sugar and 1 1/4 tablespoons of corn starch or arrowroot powder.

- Set your oven at low temperature

Storage:

Shortbread keeps for a long time, we've had a batch of cookies that kept for a week in an airtight container with no changed in flavor. They might have kept for longer without going bad, but we finished them in a week.

Apple Cake

Ingredients:

Firm Apples, Golden Delicious/ Granny Smith/ Fuji - 3 large or 4 medium 

Walnuts, chopped - 1 cup 

Raisins -  1 cup 

Flour - 3 cups

Sugar - 1 1/2 cups 

Baking Powder - 1 tsp

Baking Soda - 1 tsp 

Vanilla Extract  - 1 tsp

Eggs, large - 3 

Salt - 1 tsp 

Cinnamon, ground - 1 tsp 

Oil, neutral tasting - 1 1/4 cup

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F

2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, mix well and set aside. 3. In a large bowl combing the eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla essence. Using a handheld mixer, blend till the mixture is glossy. 

4. Incorporate the flour mixture to the wet mix in 3-4 installments. The cake batter will be very thick and sticky. 

5. Add chopped apples, walnuts, and raisins to the cake batter and mix to combine. 

6. Empty the mixture into a greased, fluted cake pan and bake for 50 minutes. 

Additional baking may be required. The cake is ready when it turns golden brown and a wooden skewer dipped in it comes out clean.

Chèvre-Honey-Walnut Sandwiches

This is a recipe in which I take great pride. I didn't read about it, I didn't see it be done, I just came up with it. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean it hasn't been done... it probably has. Like most other things I believe I created only to be told by some insufferable know-it-all that it has been done before.
Nevertheless, whether it was I or anybody else who made them, these sandwiches are delicious. 

Ingredients to make six half sandwiches:

Cinnamon Raisin Bread, sliced (toasted, if you prefer) - 6 slices
(If you don't have Cinnamon Raisin, any other bread will do. Just not sourdough!)
Goat Cheese, crumbled - 3 tablespoons or soft goat cheese - 1/4 cup
Honey - 2 tablespoons
Walnuts, chopped, 2 tablespoons.

Making the spread: Mix the goat cheese, honey, and walnuts together in a small bowl. The honey will hold the nuts and cheese together. It also does a fantastic job of complementing the saltiness of Goat cheese with its deep sweetness. Do not use goat cheese packed in brine for this recipe.
The walnuts add a new texture and flavor dimension to the spread.

Spread this between slices of Cinnamon Raisin Bread and cut diagonally.
If you used soft goat cheese, you could even cut it in strips.

Goes very very well with black coffee or tea.

Of rain and cups of hot tea

Today dawned wet and cold. When I sat up in bed, I realized the cat was not in his usual spot on the comforter. I moved to look around the bed when I felt something soft against my calves. The something soft was purring.

You see what I mean? Today morning was wet and cold. The kind of morning that makes a cat burrow under a down-comforter instead of lying on top of it. But we were up, there was no going back to bed now. The cat was arching his back and starting his series of post-nap stretches.

For a little while after we had woken up, we sat and watched the rain. I sipped my coffee and the cat ate his breakfast, which was followed by his ritualistic face-washing session.

Having grown up in Bombay (now Mumbai) I have always loved the rain. Cold though it may be, I love these wet Chicago days, so reminiscent of the full-blown monsoon back home. Through a reaction almost as instinctive and ritualistic as the cat's post-meal face-washing, I find myself trying to recreate memories that seem almost inextricably entwined with the rains. Memories of home. Like, walking in the rain on Marine Drive with my dearest friends, eating piping hot bhajjias and fire-roasted ears of corn from street vendors, drinking hot coffee at Churchgate station before boarding the train back home, on which we would all promptly fall asleep cold and wet, yet giddily happy.

Monsoon always conquers the city of Mumbai. The rain drops don't just wash the city, they scrub it clean. Their sound, as they lash onto our streets and buildings, mute the noise of the loudest engines. Construction work stops, cars move slower, and strangers stand together under awnings, staring at the rain with mixed feelings of relief and resentment. Relief for the respite from the heat, and resentment for breaking the rhythm of their stride. There are others too, who carry on unfettered. With umbrellas and improvisations (like newspapers?!) to shield them from the rain.
Yes, the monsoon always conquers the city of Mumbai.
Forcing her to slow down. Take a break. Flush her lungs.

And through this all, the entire city seems united in the belief that there could be no greater joy than a piping hot cup of chai or coffee.

So here goes - a recipe for authentic Indian Chai masala (Chai-Spice) 

1 tbsp Green Cardamom (crush them to remove the seeds inside the pod)
1 tbsp Ground Ginger Powder 
1 tsp Black Pepper Corns
1 tsp All Spice (whole)
1 tsp Cinnamon powder
1 tsp Cloves


Grind these spices together in a spice mill/ coffee grinder to a fine powder and store in an airtight container for up to six months. You could even store it in the refriderator or freezer, just so long as you take as much as you need from the airtight container with a dry spoon and return it to the fridge promptly.

You only need a pinch for each cup of tea, so this prepared mix should last a while.