Milano Cookies

Milano Cookies, yes have seen them a lot in the imported food section but never tasted them as Eggs!! were mandatory. Gave it a shot for the Daring Bakers July challenge.

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

Well .......... they are so simple to make and the same goes for the taste, very very delicate crispy,chewy and as you chew u get this awesome chocolate swirling along your mouth which is sandwiched between two crisp layers of cookies....mmm heavenly!! yes that's what i would call it. I could not attempt on the Marshmallow cookies because of the vegetarian factor. Also the vegan mallows have corn syrup which is not easily available.. but will give it a hand once i grab this syrup from some where.

I added a tinge of lemon rind as well as lemon juice just for a little zest. Ive tried chocolate and orange a lot of times now it was Mr lemons turn :) n ya lemons and chocolates go very well for sure. I almost used the recipe for Eggless Milano's from here except for a few changes.

Eggless Milano Cookies.

3/4th cup milk

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon rind

2 cups flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix all the dry ingredients and gradually add the wet ones while mixing the batter well. It should form a cake like batter. Whisk well for a few minutes and fill in a piping bag.Meanwhile Pre-heat your oven at 180 deg C and also prepare your baking tray with a parchment paper. Squeeze you piping bag to make desired shape's. Well the original shape of milanos is a Elongated Oval kind... but i was all in for hearts :) and small rounds which look like macaroons :)Its fun cause once you start piping shapes you want to do so much it.. so explore your creativity. :)

Bake them for about 20 min or until golden in colour. Baking them less will give them a cakey texture so be careful not to burn them or leave them undone.

While they bake Make your chocolate filling.

Chocolate Filling.

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 orange, zested ( i did not add)

In a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools). Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies

Whole Wheat Eggless Walnut Brownies

My hubby loves sizzling brownies, also had to think of a dessert for a lunch so gave a try to Wheat Brownies, yes they are egg less and awesome. They turned out to be pretty soft and chewy.

Every bite had crunchy walnut bumping in my mouth which made the taste more interesting.

I am slowly trying to adapt some of my recipes to make them healthier by using more of wheat flour, using less butter .. etc

And to motivate me Madhuram always has a ongoing event !! here is another one for you Madhuram for the Whole grain eggless baking event.

Whole Wheat Eggless walnut Brownies

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup water

1/3rd cup butter

21/2 Tbs coco powder

2cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla essence

2tsp baking pwd

3/4th cup w walnuts

1/4th tsp salt.

Mix water with 1/3rd cup flour and heat in a nonstick n low heat until a smooth paste.

Let the mix cool. Along side mix butter with coco pwd and heat to a smooth paste on low low flame.

Add sugar to the cooled flour-water mix and add rest of the flour, vanilla essence , salt, baking powder,Mix it along with butter and coco mix. Blend all of in a blender until smooth.

Mix in your nuts and pour into a greased tin. Bake at 180deg for about 30 min.

You can make variations by adding almonds, choco-chips etc etc :)Server hot along with cold ice-cream!!

Eggless Wheat-Choco Muffins

Happy Birthday Maaaaaaaa :)Wish u all the love and luck in the world and Thanks a lot for everything! u all mean the word to me :)
This post is dedicated to my Maa :) i got late today to wish her :( sorry for that :) here's a small lil way we enjoyed your day!! With some Low fat Wheat-Choco Muffins!! Hope u had a great day today!!
I am also forwarding this post to Madhuram;s Event for this month!! Shes hosting this wonderful event to use Whole Grains as ur main ingredient! i m absolutely going to try hard and post as many recipes as i can :)
Here is the recipe for

Eggless Wheat Muffins.

1Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 Sugar
1/4th cup Coco-pwd
1/4th cup Oil
1/2 cup water
1/4th cup Milk
1/2tbs Baking Pwd
1tbs Vanilla essence
2tbs Honey

Mix all the above ingredients and blend well until smooth. Pour in your muffin moulds and bake at 180 deg for about 30 min.
Garnish with M&Ms :) and loads of love!

Happy Birthday Nani! :) from Kaira and her friend Kishi :)!!!

Malpua/WHole wheat pancakes.

These sweet wheat pancakes are my favourite. I had not made or u can say had them in ages, So yesterday was one occasion i thought was perfect to make them on. It was Guru purnima, and had to make some prasad and the first thing in the morning when i woke up was MALPUA :) so it had to be it ! :)

I made a very instant version of it just mixing the batter and frying them. Its pretty instant so ya u don't have to wait too long to eat this yummy treat :) which u have to otherwise until u make ur sugar syrup. Traditionally they are deep fried and dipped in sugar syrup to sweeten them.

SO here's my instant recipe for :

Malpua's/Whole wheat pancakes.

1 cup whole wheat

½ cup sugar

1 tsp fennel crushed.

¼ cup curd

½ cup milk

Pinch of cardamon pwd.

Ghee

Nuts to garnish

Mix all the ingredients except the nuts and ghee, blend well in a blender or mix well until smooth. Let it stand for 10 min or more, In the mean time heat some ghee in a pan on medium low heat. Pour a tablespoon worth of batter in the pan and let it cook, Flip on the other side to cook evenly until golden brown. Remove on a kitchen paper and plate them, while garnishing with ur choice of nuts :)

Thats the pic of my daughter while her mouth is stuffed with malpua;s 2 at a time :)

The best option is to serve it with chilled RABDI :) (Indian sweet made with milk)