Joy of Baking inspired Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

             I love Joy of baking website and the the host Stephenie. She has tons of recipes in her site. I have tried many of her recipes and the latest one I tried was the chocolate chip cookies recipe. Her recipes are with videos which are easy to follow. All the recipes have an introduction about the dish followed by the ingredients and instructions. The ingredients section is very clear as she mentions the quantity of each and every ingredient in multiple ways. For example, if it is butter its given as 1 cup (2 sticks) (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature. There is no way of messing this up. I would strongly recommend this site,especially, if you are new to baking. 

My husband loves this cookie(YAYE!). I have never seen my husband have a cookie or biscuit before. He loves this one. Its true when you say 'there is a time for everything', isn't it? He likes to have this slightly warm.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients that I used :

1 cup (200 grams) unsalted butter,room temperature (226 grams in JOB)

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar

3/4 cup (160 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla essence

2 1/4 cups (295 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup  walnuts coarsely chopped  (I used some hazelnuts too)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips

Method :

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) with rack in center of oven. I used a nonstick pan but if you are not line the cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Cream the butter in the bowl of your electric mixer (paddle attachment or with a hand mixer). Add the white and brown sugars and beat. As per the JOB this takes about two minutes to become fluffy. Add the eggs one by one beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat till incorporated. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt add to the egg mixture.Beat till incorporated.

  Add the chocolate chips (keep few aside) and nuts(I kept few hazelnuts aside too)  about half way through mixing. I refrigerated this for 30 minutes.

I dropped 1 tbsp of cookie dough on the pan and press in few chocolate chip cookies and hazelnuts on the dough.

Bake it till the edges were golden brown. Voila! how can it easier. I made 5 cookies and freezed the rest of it. As you can see in the below picture the cookie which had the chocolate chips and hazelnuts pressed into it is more appetizing(for me at least:). 

Cherupayyar Thoran / Keralean Green Gram Coconut Stir Fry Recipe

Green gram, as you may know is rich in carbohydrates, dietary fibre and protein.In Kerala, green gram is commonly used to make a 'cherupayar thoran' and 'payasam'. Cherupayar thoran, in my opinion , should be served with steaming hot kanji, kachumor, pickle and pappadams.  If you have not tried this combination,trust me, you are missing on something that no restaurants or hotels can offer you. 

You can make this humble side dish in two ways. Either you can soak cherupayar overnight or cook this after dry roasting this. If you are soaking cherupayar overnight you would need to pressure cook this only for 3 whistle otherwise you go for 4 whistles. I went for the roasting method though.

Ingredients :-

I cup Green gram

2 1/4 cups Water

1 cup Grated coconut 

6 Sliced shallots 

3 Sliced green chillies

1/4 tsp Chilli powder

1/4 tsp Pepper powder

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/4 tsp Cumin seeds(optional) 

I sprig Curry leaves

salt

1 tsp oil

Method :-

Wash cherupayyar under running water(I soaked the cherupayyar for 1 hour) and dry roast on a nonstick pan. Transfer this into a pressure cooker.Without adding salt pressure cook this on high flame for 6 whistles. Let the pressure cookerrest for 15-20 minutes(do not open the lid yet) .

Meanwhile combine grated coconut, sliced shallots, garlic, green chilies, pepper powder, turmeric, powder, chili powder and salt in a bowl using your fingertips. However, I used a mortar and pestle to grind this a little bit. I want the flavour of each ingredients to come out.

After 15 minutes when you open the pan usually you won't see excess water but if there is excess water put the flame on and evaporate the water(we do not want to lose the nutrients, do we?).

Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they splutter add the curry leaves and coarsely ground coconut mixture. Cook this 3 minutes and add green gram. Add more salt in this stage if required. Mix well and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

Serve with hot kanji or rice :)

Strawberry Smoothie

 Whaatta way to start your day- Pink Party! Had this for lunch too :D

Ingredients:

2 cups frozen strawberries

1/2 frozen banana

Organic honey 2 tsp

Almond paste (homemade) half cup

Method:

Blend the strawberries, banana, honey and almond paste. You can add water or ice cubes as per the consistency that you like. Serve in a tall glass!

Cheers!

Pan Roasted Chicken and Potatoes Recipe

So what did I make for lunch.. Pan roasted chicken and potatoes.yes! This was amazing.. Anyone who reads this should try this goodness.. This a very easy recipe. 

Here is the Recipe:-

Ingredients

Chicken legs and thighs 400gms

 Potato 1 medium

Sweet potato 1 medium

Jalapeno hot sauce  10 drops

Pepper powder 1 tsp

Paprika or Kashmiri chilli powder 1 tbsp( I used both;))

Onion powder 1tsp

Garlic powder 1tsp

BBQ spice 1.5 tsp *I buy my BBQ spice mix from carrefour (spice section) which is awesome*

Olive oil 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp

Dry Italian herbs 1 tbsp

Salt

Method:

1)Marinate the chicken with jalapeño hot sauce, pepper powder, chilli powder, paprika, a tbsp of olive oil, BBQ spice powder, dry Italian herbs, onion powder, garlic powder and salt for half an hour.

2)After half an hour cut the potatoes into medium size pieces and mix them with the chicken

3)Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil with a half teaspoon of butter in a steak pan. 

3)Throw in the chicken pieces and potatoes in the pan. Fry this 20-25 mins on medium low heat without covering the pan.

Serve with some lettuce. Easy peasy:)