BABY RUGELACH-HAVE THE CAKE BAKES A BUTTERY TENDER MELT IN UR MOUTH COOKIE THIS MONTH

A BUTTERY TENDER MELT IN YOUR MOUTH COOKIE

Am very thrilled with this months choice of RUGELACH by MICHELE at HAVE THE CAKE though when i first read about it i was so lost with something i had never had nor heard about and there was i shooting questions evrywhere and yeah googling way.....

Thanx a ton Michelle for introducing this to my little far away world and i so love ur stori of a little girl(u)festing on these gorgeous melt in ur mouths as ur grandmom baked with all her love.... 

And there were 2 kinds of rugelach,as u see here,some the pinwheeled ones and some with rolling a round and cutting pie kinda wedges and rolling 'em around but all the dough crusts were almost the same give or take the addition of sugar.

The recipe at have the cake suggests a pie crust and i did wonder if i should go in for my all butter pie crust but all the pics  i saw had a different story and yeah i stuck to this cream cheese dough ......

Most of the site i checked have similiar recipes ,infact of the lovely cookie or pastry crust is a ever so flakky and light (as in texture) butter & cream cheese dough

These are the site's i went thru were at INA GRATENS RECIPE HERE , DEB AT SMITTEN KITCHEN WITH HER PERFECT PINWHEELS HERE (every one of my were different ) and KAF HERE

And finally but not the least but one of the first sites PETE'S BAKES, i hopped by which really hellped me in getting a clearer pic of rugelach thats neither seen or eaten in my part of the world and Joanne(of eats well with others)too suggested the same site and gave a me a few inputs coz though most sites said it as a cookie the original recipe ,on Have d cake said pie crust which for me would be my all butter pie crust whereas most here have a cream cheese butter flour crust or cookie dough,i chose to make it the sweeter way by adding a bit of powdered sugar and there i was...

Now lets begin working with the lovely cookie dough first
8oz cream cheese
2 sticks (250 grams butter)
1/4 cup icing sugar(optional but i think i would increase this quantity the next time)
2 cups sifted flour
1tsp(or2)vanilla extract(i know it aint authentic but would love to try this some lemon zest too)

1. Set the cream cheese and butter in a bowl so that its really soft ant then cream well with extract if using till fluffy.


2.Add icing sugar and beat in well.


3.Now beat in flour to 3 to 4 batches and work to a lovely dough.


4.Roll into 2discs,wrap in butter paper and then cling wrap and refrigerate for an hour(well i did for almost a week)

Now to begin with the actual cookie making...
I just divided the dough into 2 (i halved the above recipe)- 
tried pinwheels with a mix of blueberry and strawberry preserve/jelly /jam where u roll the dough into a rectangle say 1/8 th inch-i jus rolled it comfortable enough not to break and had to refrigerate it later-maybe coz its been a real warm day here today...

THESE WERE MY PINWHEELS -Oh yeah they could have been bigger but i heard someone exclaim aloud that good things come in small packages... :-)))and i overdid the jammy part but we love it this way...

The second disc i rolled into a not very perfect circle and kept it in the refrigeration awhile...cut 'em into very uneqaul wedges-like u would for a pie (yes gurls this is absolutely easy even for my kinda not too perfect baking) and a few were stuffed with CHOCOLATE /JAM/JELLY CINNAMON SUGAR...then the wedges rolled ,begining with the larger side and rolled the cookies too in CINNAMON SUGAR for a little traditional touch.(for the chocolate i used ,milk chocolate callets)

And i baked them to a GOLDEN BROWN as KAF says....took my oven around almost 45 mins(yeah it takes time to fire up-dont know why...)

 

The options are really endless with this one,i mean u can do so so muc..maybe a jam and ur fav nut taosted and chooped filling...an apricot preserve for a traditonal touch...and loads of chocolate chippys with sugar...and maybe lemon curd too...have to try it out all the options and wont be suprised if i bake these again before the month ends......

These are so so so so good and buttery and flaky-loved them...have had or seen them first time in my life and would love to introduce these around someday

Why did i call 'em baby rugelach...coz they are so so cute(even before going into the oven) and so tiny and delicate and come with a stamp handle with care-the pinwheels ie..specially since i overloaded the jam...

And every single one was a different shape-all very cute...even my dear non cookie lovers around loved these melt in the mouths.

The next time i surely plan to picture these step by step.

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.

A BEAUTIFULL COCONUT WEDDING CAKE(psst psst....its delicious too...)

Wedding cake huh? Yeah u read right-w/o really planning it or anything ,i actually ended up having the frosted cake ready(not all made it to the frosting table) on their wedding anniv which really had me so so so thrilled & the eager beaver in me with the joys of spring served it to all as their wedding cake & even my littlest bro who has absolutely no sweet tooth & doesnt indulge/join in,in our cookie espresso parties had a few helpings of these and before long it had all vanished.....

And snowy white coz thats exactly what this frosting is -smooth & snowy white & sets beautifully-give it an overnight to set-beautiful!!!

I have been travelling around blogosphere & a whole new world awaits,a whole new exciting world & while munching on oreos & exploring i discovered a wonderfull site with a wonderfull monthly challenge on-------have the cake,u must read all about this exciting challenge here----& the november challenge is a coconut cake.

Have the cake -i read all around and just wanted to be a part of this group so darted an email & Rena was so sweet & warm ,that got me all the more enthu to participate.And having somebody so sweet behind this event immediatly send me the positive vibes.(found out about this thanks to ---joanne-thank u Joanne)

Oh it was much fun emails flying to & fro & loved how with a quick search she came up with A GREAT LIST of substitutions for me(something i truly need) & oh got down to the joy of baking.............

Coconut cake is something i associate about Goa-for it famous coconut based delicacies galore-which i recently baked & to perfection, so with this lovely coconut cake i could actually take in the aromas while reading the recipe,was sure about this recipe

 though i'll have to miss the filling and thus the layered version for want of good sour cream(i make my own by adding few drops of lime or white vinegar or some yoghurt to 25% cream,&stand it for awhile,i dont know how right or wrong i am but thats the closest i get)but i dont think that'll go for this filling though i could have 'tried' with 'my' heavy cream(i still dont know where i can get that from around place),risking to lose my lovely cakkey.
Was also tempted to bake a few muffins which i did & loved 'em.

U'll love this must try recipe--------------bookmark it to make ur family high tea or weekend brunch delicious!!!!

I'm sure this'll be great with a white chocolate ganache or white choco butter cream but have stuck to the frosting here & grated white chocolate instead of coconut & a few milk chocolate callebaut arriba callets for the polka dots(ofcourse was tempted to make do with my sprinkles too which am running out of).

Other fact was that had to use my hands to whisk & whip (but rest assured my hamilton beach all metal carmine red-hopefully-might soon be on its way-i hope i have made the right choice here)but have been doing just that for the last few months and have been paddling my own canoe where whisking is concerned and am fine about it.

I was so thrilled to see 'me' virtually as in sugarplumfairy on their list of bakers-thank u rena for the invite & addition.

Coconut ,coconut & coconut galore..
oh the sweetness & soft white flesh we adore!!!!!
Curries,rices ,soups & desserts or a brew,
Oh in fantastic cakes to it shines thru!!!
Oh i so enjoyed baking this so much though its purely 'hand made-whats wrong with that or what exactly is that now u ask-well well well hand made = hand whisked the good 'ol grandma way :-))))

So while i was wisking the gorgeous butter ,then butter & sugar & then eggs ,one at a time,well well i got to see NO RESERVATIONS ,now isnt that a double treat+the batter was delicious from the word go & had fun with the fillings too...atta gurl......way to go!!!!!

I got 9 big cuppys& 2 small ones & a big little one!!!
This cake is absolutely soft & moist with a tighter crumb & am so glad i stuck to this simple easy but gorgeous recipe. The coconut flavour get even better the next day & is just right ...loved it...we all did...

FOR THE CAKE
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1.5 cups sifted self-rising flour
1/2 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1.Cream butter well till light and fluffy,add sugar and beat well (really really well)
2.Add eggs ,one at a time ,beating well between each addition.-Oh the mixture is a gorgeous moussy creamy mix by now
3.Now tip in flour & coconut milk,begining & ending with flour.
4.Add vanilla & beat just until mixed.

5.Ok now if u want a filling fill cupcake cakes 2/3rd ,nutella in one,milk chocolate callets in another or dark chocolate -pineapple would be fantastic too but i had none.

FOR THE ICING
as i said i hand whisked this icing& since i dont have an electic hand beater ,i replaced 1/2 cup of sugar with icing sugar as wasnt sure if my arms would take all the whisking to dissolve the sugar-it aint mentioned but for a fristing like this i guess castor or superfine sugar would be it but i didn have that either.
I absolutely didn allow the water to touch my luminarc glass bowl but yet it got a wee bit grainy which we all ignored coz it set in really well,was delicious & complemented the coconut cake really well.also a frosting as this keeps the cake from drying out.
I took around 14 mins,whisking with my hands that i was & switched between boiling & simmering water.
I could have started again coz its just egg white & sugar but still i thought it would be sad to waste such beautiful snowy white frosting-a bowl full at that!!!
U need to work a little quick with this when ur frosting the cake as it begins to set in!!!

3/4 cups sugar
1/8teaspoon cream of tartar or 1/2 tablespoon white corn syrup (I USED LIME JUICE AS A SUBSTITUTE)
PINCH OF salt
1/6 cup water
1 egg white
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1.Place sugar,cream of tartar/lime juice,salt,water,egg whites in the top of a double boiler or glass bowl that fits on a pan of simmering water so as the water not to touch the glass bowl(we dont want grainy icing do we?)
2.Beat well with a whisk for 3-4 mins(1 min if u have hand held mixer)
3.Place pan /bowl over boiling water making sure the top poan doesnt touch the boiling water.
4.Beat constantly with a whisk(10-14 mins,aw my arms)but a electric hand beater will do it for u in 7 mins on high.
5.Finally beat in vanilla.

CUPPYS WITH NUTELLA LAYER
DELICIOUSLY COCONUTTY,READ ORIGINAL RECIPE HERE

CUPPY WITH ARRIBA MILK CHOCOLATE CALLETS

WHATS NEXT ON HAVE THE CAKE---KEEP IN TOUCH----