A PORTUGUESE COCONUT CAKE &CUPPY CAKES-QUEQUINHOS ESPICAIS DE ISABEL

This post is very special not only coz i bake it for a special day in my life but also the heaRtfull story it comes with....

This is how ISABEL,OF THE WONDERFULL BLOG began her post about these cakkeys that she specially baked for me-i was so so so touched and overwhelmed with my adorable virtual pal and now we r in each others heart as well.....

Para uma linda amiga virtual que me solicitou uma receita com Crunch, a Sugar Plum, autora do lindo Blog vanillastrawberryspringfields, hoje pus em prática esta receita. São bolinhos obtidos da junção do coco àquele chocolante crocante que fazem as delícias de miúdos e graúdos: o chocolate Crunch. Aconselho vivamente para quem gostar de um bolinho estaladiço com sabor a coco. Sugar, espero que gostes, assim como todos os visitantes do Sítio das Delícias que resolvam experimentar.....

Honestly Isabel had me at Queques Crunch Sugar Plum,which translates to "CAKKEYS CRUNCH SUGAR PLUM"..........


Worst parT here was coudnt comment awhile on her post coz many a time the profile box doesnt open for blogger blogs where commenting is embedded below the post -it jus gets stuck and i have to keep re loading the page till it goes thru and it could take a few days too for this....


So i darted her an email which she was sweet enough(as ever)to post.....

Her heartfelt love over whelmed me-we barely connected awhile ago thru r blogs and a few emails and me casually asked her for a specific portuguese recipe,she went all the way....


Not only emailed it to me but posted it too and specially for me and i wanna dedicate this post right back to her....her as a wonderful human,


Isabel as a woderful blogger who has all the gorgeousness that portuguese delights have to offer and its a wonderful world at her site O SITIO DAS DELICIAS-rightly named as a site for delicacies galore......

O Isabel, mia queridinho amiginha virtual-muitissmo obrigado para esta recieta delicias


Isabel tu es uma buneca-AND THIS IS THE MESSAGE I WAS SO TRYING TO LEAVE @ HER LOVELY BLOG-she's so loving & affectionate & sweet.....and really tugged hard at my heart strings and really my first portuguese blogging buddy...
tu es uma anjinha-primera te tudo i'm sorry para repondera tao tarde
mais nao posso commentara sobre pocos blogues de blogger ,nao sei
porque porciso estou escrevera email com muito muito amor para ti
amorzinho que tu mia desta.....
esto momento estou tentar Enviar um comentário sobre o blogue mais nao
posse(am trying at the moment to leave u a note with all my love on ur
blog but it just aint going thru)
podos postar mia esta message para seu blogue(can u post this message
to ur blog till i get my laptop or settings sorted)
eu adoro tudo de sitio das delicias de isabel.....

Que lindos e maravilhos esta quequinhos....gostei muito e vou fazera
para toda familia que juntna na 28th dec....
nao se commo para desser obrigado.......
tambem para palavres genti
delicia, adorei.com muistismo amor e grandes bejinhos muitos e abracos

AND MY DEAR ISABEL REPLIED SO SO SWEETLY ,I MEAN HER WORDS ARE SO FILLED WITH HONEY ,REFLECTING THE AMAZING PERSON SHE IS....
obrigada pelas plavras amáveis que me enviaste. és uma pessoa formidável! Eu peço desculpa por não escrever em inglês, escrevo pouca coisa, coisas simples e para te agradecer, não podia me limitar a palavras simples. Assim, quero dizer-te que talvez não fossem esses bolinhos que tu procuravas, pois tu és capaz de muito melhor, pois tens tantas receitas lindíssimas no teu blog, com fotos belíssimas, mas foram feitas com todo o carinho a pensar em ti!
Decidi postar o teu comentário nos comentários, pois queria deixar arquivada a tua mensagem carinhosa no meu cantinho, já que a tua amizade já está arquivada no meu coração!
beijinho muito grande!

a few of 'em all together.........

Oh her portuguese is absolutely adorably sweet and love her for that and more and i simply had to bake these adorable cakkeys and a little heart too 4a special midnight cut between jus a handfull of us @fly and though we had loads of cakes comong thru out the next day,this one was very very special...
Obrigado O mia amiginha isabel,
muitos muitos grandes bejinhos ....

ADAPTED FROM ISABEL'S BLOG FULL OF DELICIOUSNESS
3 ovos(EGGS)
150 g de manteiga amolecida(BUTTER SOFTENNED)
150 g de farinha com fermento(SELF RAISING FLOUR)
100 g de coco ralado(GRATED COCONUT)
140 g de açúcar(SUGAR)
150 g de chocolate Crunch(OR CHOCO CHIPS)

1)pRE HEAT THE oven to 180*c.
Break up the crunch chocolate into pieces if using.
2)Beat the eggs with the sugar till it pales in color.
3)Add the flour & really soft butter and fold in well.
4)TIp in the grated coconut and beat in well & lastly add the choco chippys or chocolate crunch
5)Pour into prepared cupcake tins or a small heart cake tin and bake till springs back to touch

(I got my heart as well as 4 small cuppys)
The only change i made is added a few lightly roasted hazlenuts and some vanilla extract and cardomon for flavour....

FROSTING....


Very similiar to this one i used for these cookies here ,except that i warmed up a little coconut milk with water & vanilla and added to the confectioners sugar that i ground with a few cashewnuts...

Oh this frosting born in my kitchen today was so so good ...its jus a keeper...and yeah have fun with the toppings...

Oh the coconutty flavour totally shines thru the next day....

u know i scrapped a few crumbs-ok quite a bit actually and made 3 balls ,like cup cake pops kinda and kept 'em in and believe ,they were so so good the next day that there was no time to dip 'em in chocolate and dress 'em up.....

I AM ALSO LINKING THIS LOVELY BAKE FOR 'WHAT DID U BAKE TODAY' @ KRAZY KITCHEN WHERE THERE HAVE A PARTY WITH A LITTLE THEME EVRY SINGLE DAY...HOP BY TO DROLL OVER DELICIOUS INSPIRATIONS

AND ALSO TO THE LOVELY FOODIE FRIDAY...JUST FOR FOODIES LIKE U AND ME!!!

AND TO A CARNIVAL(i love carnivals with the word food in 'em)FOOD ON FRIDAYS

AND YEAH HOW CAN WE MISS OUR LOVELY CHOCOLATE RECIPE FRIDAY.

AND FRIDAY FOODS HERE....

ANH YEAH WE HAVE THE LOVELY FRIDAY FEASTS TOO...HOP BY...

HO!!!HO!!!HO!!!I DID IT TOO.....THE TRADITIONAL ITALIAN WAY

Whew....i actually finally did it what with my lappy bugging and dont ask me how many times it hung and how many times i uploaded the pics and how many drafts got saved w/o the pics,with me jus trying to save one....whew!!!!

And though my i did it!!! inspiration was Chaya..i actually did it -applies to my whole situation here....

Italian biscotti has held my attention from my very first crunchy bite...its different and didn think one day i'd bake 'em some day and here today on the thresh hold...no no...have crossed the thresh hold of baking 'em...


I say this coz a few decembers back,i think it was high school,i looked in awe at the biscotti lined up at an absolutely cute chocolatey quaint hand baked stuff home bakery and in awe of the gorgeous baker too-she's really good and we have picked up her goodies many a time...


I dont have any kiddy memories of biscotti ,like sitting on my moms or dads lap n drinking high tea with 'em-actually more like watching- and dipping the ends of the biscotti ever so systematically into dark italian shots or espresso's and biting into thes crunchy delights....no these werent one of the things mom baked really or we sighted at any high tea's.....



And here we get biscotti only at the resorte cake shops otherwise and then i read about this great biscotti maker in new delhi who baked for the who's who and page 3 of delhi ,even Mrs.SOnia Gandhi...need i say more....i had his number too but never did really end up ordering from him....

sO for me it was an elegant ,far away food perhaps that went well only with all those delicious movie sets ,where English stars had their afternoon tea's attended by ladies and assitants, in perfectly placed cups on perfectly matched trays with perfected blended deco..... Not a delicious cooki i would bake some day in my own kitchen with my own hands....

THere are 2 reasons am baking a biscotti,ofcourz i always wanted too but this month at this LOVELY GROUP-HAVE THE CAKE-which am so proud to be a part of -Collen picked on biscotti and i was very thrilled about this one but u know coming from a land of more chai than cafe drinkers i still haven spotted chai spice on the shelves so was on the look out for a good recipe...and am more into a bite of choco chips and jam yeah....


On my journey of baking 12 cookies i bumped into another fantastic blog-SUSANS...and she had a cookie festival on...its great and i send all my cookies in there and so did she have a great post on biscotti making......
And honestly she had me at 'traditional'.......
Loved her step by step recipe-a first timer needed it & it had me going the nutty choco way jus what i had planned in for and the tweety tweaky that am i halved the almonds to accomodate my mix of milk & semi sweet choco chips.....gorgeous truly.....

Though i would love to try all the options in the world 4 this one though i dont know when coz have so muc to try n bake.....

RECIPE ADAPTED FROM SUSANS BLOG
3/4 CUP ALMONDS
3/4 CUP CHOCO CHIPS(MILK & semisweet)
1/2 CUP CONFECTIONERS SUGAR
1/2 CUP LIGHT BROWN SUGAR
1/2 TSP GROUND CINNAMON
A FEW PODS OF CARDOMON SEED WHOLE(great addition of flvour)
1 TSP BAKING SODA
1 1/4 CUP AP FLOUR
1.5 JUMBO EGGS OR 2 SMALLER ONES
1 TSP VANILLA EXTRACT
4 TBH MELTED BUTTER

1)Preheat oven to 350 degress f.
Place almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast for 10-14 mins.

2)In a small bowl whisk eggs with vanilla ,till well blended.

3)Now i a large bowl.hand mix toasted almonds(now a little cooled),choco chips,sugars,cinnamon,flour and baking powder.
Add the whisked eggs.(SAVE A WEE BIT TO BRUSH THE TOPS)

4)Work batter together with lightly floured hands and it'll be sticky here but keep going by squeezing the batter with ur hands till a dough starts to come together
(i love these little but v imp details Susan has taken care of coz for a 1st timer like me i know exactly what to expect)

5)Once the dough is nice and firm,divide into 2 equal pieces and shape into logs.-Its does stay a little sticky but lightly floured hans do the trick here.(2.5 inches wide and around

6)Now here what i did was that since my dough was already kneaded well instead of adding my choco chippys to in corporate to the dough i dug 'em in between for a chocolate layer.(didnt get the chocolate layer throughout though)

7)Brushed the tops with beaten egg(i saved a bit of the egg beaten with vanilla)

8)Now bake in a pre-heated oven for around 35mins -4o mins and cool for 20-30 mins before u begin to slice 'em.

9)Now my slicing wasnt perfect and i did have a few breakages ,though i did follow the cutting with a serrated knife in a see-saw fashion and however much id love to blame the poor knife guess it was me!

10)Bake again for 30mins and let cool in the warm oven-they were just right for our crunchy crispy palatte.

Love the word Biscotti -twice baked -coz this is what i do all the time coz i love 'em crunchy cookies so so much....

Ok the melted butter is an addition to the recipe after i read Chaya's post-infact almost had made her recipe but my next biscotti is definately from kaf,thanx to Chaya..they look good.

I substituted baking soda for powder coz the best cookie i have baked have soda in'em and then thought maybe im wrong and added a pinch of baking powder but guess my pinch wasnt really a pinch coz when they were warm they had this barely there after taste which vanished later,thank God!

A few things i learnt about melting chocolate ,was melting milk choco for these cookies the other day and added a few drops water instead of the butter i planned and there i had a roughly mess so added a few tsps of milk and the damage was reversed....

So though i had thought i would dip a few in chocolate i thought a simple coconut sugar frosting would go with the taste so had confectioners sugar with warmed coconut milk and a vanilla bean and loved this flavour so muc-it wen well with my biscotti...

AInt very happy with my pics this time ,though have jus been gifted a digi cam by my fly-maybe its me ,have yet to get the hang of macro shooting,i hope its me and not the camera :-(((

aND friends will u please please please take a few moments and vote for me HERE for this months I HEART CUPPY CAKKES...please dont say no and the deadlines 1st Jan...

Or head straight to SWEETEST KITCHEN and vote for me at the right hand side poll.(sugar at vanillastrawberryspringfields)yeah i do value ur time and am grateful for ur vote-thanx a ton....

AND A HAPPY BRITE LOVELY NEW YEAR!!!

And i simply am too bubbling over not to mention this one,have just recieved .....

My VERY FIRST AWARD from Chaya @ Sweet and savoury(her lovely biscotti is jus next to mine at have the cake) and within a few hours (ok say 24)
i recieve my second from Geri of Heart and soul cooking-oh i cant thank u'll enough ,both wonderfull buddies whose blogs i love but yeah will post all about it soon ,am working on it already and th little delay is for a little gesture am going to do along with the posts so u will read about it in a bit(please give me time)and yeah will pass on both the awards to my wonderful friends soonnnnnn......

And yeah am on FOODIE FRIDAY this week,i mean how can i miss this lovely foodie's day...i cant....

And then there is the lovely STOP AND SMELL THE CHOCOLATES with WOULD U LIKE CHOCOLATE WITH THAT?

AND FRIDAY FOOD that comes with loads of tip and a really looking foward to interveiw this week.

CRISPY FRIED SALT & PEPPER CALAMARI'S /SQUIDDYS/LULAS @NIGELLA LAWSON @IHCC

Small plates,snacks or appetizers are so so welcome in the holiday season and we love to gorge on 'em even otherwise and my all time favs are rissoes de camarao and emphadinhas and croquettes and.....ok i better stop else will end up listing 'em all .....AND THIS IS THE THEME OF THIS WEEKS I HEART COOKING CLUBS WHERE WE SO LOVE AND ENJOY EVERY MOMENT IN TIME OF COOKING @ NIGELLA LAWSONS FANTASTIC RECIPES....

Nigella sure does know the how to invent in her kitchen the best of appetizers,thru any season ,be it summers, christmas or bitey moments and she shines thru 'em all....
And so do  girlichef, Adventures with the Woods, BigSisLilSis & Living in the Kitchen with Puppies-the lovely members of I HEART COOKING CLUBS!!!!
Loved the small write up up ,yeah indeed SMALL IS BIGGGG
aND THAT LOVELY COLLAGE RIGHT HERE and also check in what delicious ideas the rest of the lovely gang cook up... 


Well its really difficult to single one out (and i actually had another meaty one but no pics so no posting)and this one rocks too!

well managed a few pics till they were all goneeeeeeeeeee.......and am jus about getting the hang of my brand new digital camera and my very own...SMALL IS BIG RITE HERE TOO....

YEah am super joyous about this one gizmo and its really a cool camera which my dear little b chose and picked and my parents gifted to me before the clock struck 12.....
And so my first savoury shot with this cam are these sqiddys which instead of the traditional ringa rossies ,we had 'em cubed..

Ok so instead of yapping a bit more shall we head on strait to the 'making of these crunchy squiddys' and then the yummy revs...


ADAPTED FROM THE CRUNCHY MUNCHY KITCHENS OF NIGELLA LAWSONS WORLD
honestly i weighed nothing..jus went with a portion of squiddys and will try my best to portion it out...
1)MARINATE AROUND A CUP OF SQUIDDYS/CALAMARI IN THE FOLLOWING
----freshly squeezed lime/lemon juice
----a tsp or 2 of whole peppers lightly crushed
----salt to taste
2)NOW TAKE A GOOD AMOUNT OF CORNFLOUR IN A ZIPLOCK POUCH(well i took in quite a bit that my calamari/lulas were totally snow covered) AND ROLL IN AND RUB IN THE CALAMARI WELL TILL COVERED.
3)hEAT SOME OLIVE OIL IN A PAN(i shallow fried 'em and kept adding a little oil when things sizzled in a pan) and fry well on both sides to a golden brown hue.

Oh these are absolutley elicicous and crunchy and they did stay crunchy awhile and with a little dollop of sour cream dressing or ketchup or a squeeze of lime juice or on their own they rock....
And here's my request here again for all the help i need for the voting for I HEART CUPPYS CAKES....
VOTING IS HERE SO PULEEEZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ,PINKY PROMISE PLEAAASE GIVE ME UR VOTE...THANX A TON....

OLA ...HOLA...HIYA...HI....I NEED UR VOTES....PLEASEEEEEEEEE HELLLLLPPP

Hi my dearest buddy's,pals and friends in blogosphere.TOday i so need ur help and a few moments of ur time...

I aint a high reader blog or have a high following high traffic but what i so cherish and love are the few wonderful people am just about meeting and loving u.

I love reading all u come up with in the kitchen and stopping by and leaving u a hi (though my laptop so is bugging with blogger comment boxes that are embedded below the post,including my own which i can treply on but yeah now i make it a oint to leave a reply on each of ur personal blogs when u leave me a little note of love and enjoy stopping by @ each of ur worlds too).
Now awhile ago i posted about THESE LOVELY GOAN PORTUGUESE CUPPY CAKES and have entered these for a very sweet contest I HEART CUPPY CAKES and now the votes are up http://www.sweetestkitchen.com/ @ JAimeAnnes world where she hosts this month.

I wont get even half way thru this without ur help so please do take a few moments of ur really precious time and do vote for me HERE.
(psst ...psst...last month i got no votes :-(((   )

Infact i baked another portuguese coconut cake yesterday which was v special but its too late to enter that one now and i dont even have the post ready.

Batica has a lot of emotional value too to me coz i have roots in goa and yeah we have loads of goan portuguese food...

And before i take any more of ur time,i do so muc wanna thank thank thank u ,loads of tonns of cartloads for the vote....

Happy holidays and keep rocking....

A BASIC EGGLESS CHRISTMAS COOKIE GEARS UP TO CHRISTMASY...

FROM A BASIC EGGLESS COOKIE RECIPE TO A CHOCO CHIPPY FILLED ,THUMBS IN THUMBALINA and CHOCO DIPPED CHRISTMAS COOKIES

Your watching Rachel Allens Bake said the presenter and yeah i sure was ,coz her basic cookies with her class were sitting in the oven and i knew that if i bake 'em a little longer these would jus be the right cookies....

This was a few months back and i really dunno why i waited this long to try this one out...its lovely,tweaked it a wee bit with extra choco chippy's and my expierence with soda bi carb has always been good with cookies so added a wee bit.

i usually halve a recipe for a reason(besides i'll have to bake again real quick),i have only 2 cookie trays that aint too bigg(yeah i need to get get 2 good ones) and this works well coz i leave 'em and run along with other errands and they are done-i always leave a cookie to cool in the oven coz i love the crispiness it adds.....

ADAPTED FROM RACHEL ALLENS BAKING WONDERS 'BAKE'



110 grams butter, softenned(salted)
55 grams(1/2 cup)confectioners/icing sugar
zest of a lemon +vanilla essence
5 OZ (140 grams-1cup+2 tbh) flour
1/4 tsp soda bicarbonate
100 grams (3/4 cup)choco chips(mixed white,milk and semisweet)

1.Beat ur softenned butter and cream well till soft.
2. Add the suagr n beat in well.
3. Tip in the flour and soda bicarb and the choco chips and bring a soft dough together with light hands.

4.Rolled a few into balls and flattenned,a few rolled in cinnamon sugar and thumbs in AND red & green jam filled...

 and a few with a fork (just got 17 cookies outa these)Some of the milky choco chipys melted well into the cookie forming a layer of gooey chocolate inbetween.....

These are the chocolate dippy ones with milk chocolate, i added a few drops of water instead of butter,as i did for another confectioners sugar kinda and had the milky chocolate turned into a gooey matty mass which i salvaged with some milk to get some ganache.......
Its a delicious milky choco ganache  that set beautifully.......... 
And decorates very beautifully.........

WISHING U A TWINKLING ,ROCKING, JOY BUBBLING MERRY CHEERY CHRISTMAS

AND WINNIE THE POOH AND FRIENDS WISHES U DEAR PAL A VERY CHEERY DAY TOO.....
KEEP THE MUSIC PLAYING......

MY FAV SANTA ,THAT SITS TIGHT ON OUR KITCHEN COUNTER ,BAKING COOKIES WITH ME ,JOINS POOHY POOH IN WISHING YOU TOO.........

OH SURE ,ITS A TIME TO INDULGE IN ALL THE LOVE FILLED DELICIOUSNESS TOO.....

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY,ITS ABOUT JESUS,FOR WHOM WE CELEBRATE ,COZ OF WHOSE BIRTHDAY WE HAVE A WONDERFULL LIFE TO CELEBRATE.....

I WISH FOR ALL THE JOY,PEACE,LOVE FREEDOM AND ALL THE GOODIES WE ARE UN FULLFILLED IN OUR HEARTS,W/O,TO BE OURS THRU HIM FOREVER....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS.........WE LOVE UR BIRTHDAY THE WORLD OVER.....