Eggless Oats Chocolate Biscotti

This month's theme for Home Bakers Challenge was announced by Priya of Priya’s Versatile Recipes . She chose biscotti for this month's challenge with four choices – two savoury and two sweet. The options were Savoury caraway cheddar biscotti, Eggless oats chocolate biscotti, American style vanilla biscotti, Savoury Mediterranean biscotti

‘Biscotti' literally means 'twice baked' in Italian - 'bi' meaning two and 'scotti' means baked. It's a great snack and also light breakfast. I like having biscotti’s around because they make the perfect little treat to dunk into an evening cup of coffee. You can make a big batch and store them in an airtight container for weeks and they are still as good and fresh when you eat them. Just dip and dunk with a cup of hot tea or coffee whenever you wish. If you're not a tea or coffee drinker, don’t hesitate to dip these biscotti’s in a glass of milk for an energy booster to start your day.

I chose to bake these deliciously crunchy Eggless Oats Chocolate biscotti’s. These biscotti’s are really awesome, actually amazing is what I should say. They taste delectable and the best part is that they are not excessively rich. What I like about them the most is that they are not overly sweet,  and yet perfect enough to satisfy my sweet tooth. The burst of flavors in each and every bite make these biscotti’s really worth trying.

I strongly encourage all those who love baking but haven’t tried baking biscotti’s before to bake these incredibly easy biscotti’s. And those who are novice to baking, make these for an instant confidence boost which is definitely guaranteed. You can also make these biscotti’s for a nice homemade Christmas gift if you're looking for ideas.  

Ingredients:-  

• 1¼ cup all purpose flour
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• ½ cup rolled oats
• ½ cup butter (at room temperature)
• ¼ cup melted chocolate
• 2 tbsp chocolate chips 
• 1 tbsp cocoa pdr
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp baking pdr
• ½ tsp baking soda
• a pinch of salt

Method:-

• Sieve flour, cocoa pdr, salt, baking pdr and baking soda in a bowl. Mix in oats and keep aside.
• Beat together butter and sugar till smooth. 
• Add melted chocolate and vanilla essence and beat till well combined.
• Add the flour mixture and the chocolate chips and knead well to form a soft dough.
• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
• Roll the logs in the form of two logs and transfer to a greased baking tray. 
• Bake the logs for 20 - 25 minutes.
• Cool completely over a wire rack.
• With a sharp knife, slice it diagonally in 1 inch pieces.
• Bake it again for 5 minutes.
• Flip the biscottis and bake the other side for 5 minutes.
• Let them cool completely before storing in an airtight tin.
• Serve with hot tea / coffee / milk.

Notes:-

• If the dough is too hard to knead, sprinkle a few drops of milk to assemble them.
• If the dough is too sticky to knead, add some flour to bind it.
• This makes 15 - 20 biscotti's.

Happy Baking!!

Spooky Witches' Fingers - Home Baker's Challenge # 6

October is the month of Halloween and for the first time in my life I have made something creepy as this. This month's challenge for Home Bakers Challenge was announced by Nalini's Kitchen . She gave us four choices for Halloween  - chocolate glazed pumpkin cookies, spooky witch fingers, Halloween whoopie pies and ghostly cupcakes. 

I was really excited to make these unique and creative spooky witch fingers. They were quite simple, easy and delicious to make for such a realistic and impressive outcome. These spooky witch fingers, according to my husband were hilarious but a little more horrid at the same time. My son loved these frightful cookies especially when I was taking the pics - the whole dramatic blood and all.

On this note, I hope everyone has a scary (but safe) Halloween this year!

Ingredients:-

• 2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 cup butter (at room temperature)
• 1 cup icing sugar 
• ¾ cup whole almonds
• 1 egg  
• 1 tsp almond extract 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract  
• 1 tsp baking powder  
• 1 tsp salt 

Method:-  

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  
• Line your cookie sheet with a parchment paper. 
• Combine butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl and beat well.
• Gradually add flour, baking pdr, and salt. Beat well to form a soft dough.
• Wrap in a cling film and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and scoop 1 heaped teaspoon at a time.
• Roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie. 
• Press one almond into one end of each cookie to give the appearance of a long fingernail. 
• Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance. 
• Arrange the shaped cookies on the baking sheets.  
• Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes or until the cookies are slightly golden in color.

Notes:-

• For the eggless version use the same dough for Thumbprint Cookies  just omit the strawberry crush. 
• If the almonds keep falling after you've baked them, Just add little jam and stick the almonds back to the fingers.

Happy Baking!!
 
Sending this to :- Sharanya's Let's Celebrate Halloween Event 

 5.11.13 - +Joerg Sterner  tried the spooky witches fingers I made for October Home baker's challenge... Thanks Joerg for sharing your feedback... God bless..  

Spinach Cheddar Muffins - Home Baker's Challenge # 5

This month's challenge for Home Bakers Challenge was announced by Shama Of Easy 2 Cook Recipes. She gave us six choices - vegetable muffins, banana coconut crumps, banana nut muffins, honey drizzled semolina cake, pumpkin coffee cake and spinach cheddar muffins.

I always wanted to bake a savory muffin. But somehow kept delaying it. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to do so. And I was really excited to try the spinach cheddar muffins.

I love the taste of spinach, color, flavor and nutritional value. These are very simple to bake muffins which are quite tasty and healthy too. I made slight changes to the original recipe as it was very mild and also because I used fresh spinach instead of frozen. I made these muffins on a Sunday morning for breakfast and immediately fell in love with these delicious muffins. My hubby declared that I should these muffins at least once a month. 

Ingredients:-

• 2 eggs
• 1 onion (finely chopped) 
• 1¼ cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup spinach (finely chopped) 
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup cheddar cheese (shredded)
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp baking pdr
• 1 tsp red chilli pdr  
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt

Method:-

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease the muffin cups.
• Heat butter in a wok and add onion. Saute for a minute. Add spinach and cook till water evaporates. Keep aside to cool.
• Sieve altogether flour, red chilli pdr, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Keep aside.
• In a mixing bowl, beat eggs. Add milk and flour alternately and keep on beating.
• Add cheddar cheese and spinach and beat until evenly blended.  
• Spoon about 2 tablespoons into each muffin cup. 
• Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 25 - 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

 Notes:-

• You may use ½ cup frozen spinach (thawed, drained and squeezed dry) 
• You may also use cottage cheese instead of cheddar cheese or half cottage and half cheddar cheese as you like.

Happy Baking!!! 

Rainbow Swirl Classic Bread - Home Baker's Challenge # 4

This month's challenge for Home Bakers Challenge was announced by Manjula of Desi Fiesta. She chose bread for this month's challenge with four choices – Rainbow swirl classic bread, monkey bread, chocolate marble Asian bread and Anadama bread.

I love Rainbows.. And so does my son.. I chose a bread that would definitely brighten everyone’s day with its Rainbow colors.. I thought it would be an incredible idea to have fun making this bread along with my son. . My son was soo excited  choosing and deciding the colors I should use..  Believe me, it was absolutely a WOW moment when I sliced the bread. My son loved it and insisted to take some for his school snacks in the form of sandwich :D

Ingredients:- 

• 3½ cups all purpose flour
• 1¼ cups warm water
• 2 tbsp butter (at room temperature) 
• 1¼tsp yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt 

Method:-

• In bowl take warm water and add sugar and yeast. Stir them and let them sit for 15- 30 mins till they form frothy bubbles on top.
• Add 2 cups of flour mix it with a wooden spoon and let it sit for 10 mins.
• After 10 min mix it with wooden spoon and add another ½ cup of flour mix well also add salt. 
• Gradually add the remaining flour and mix the dough well.
• Add butter in the dough and incorporate them by kneading well for 5-6 minutes. After 5-6 minutes of kneading it becomes nice and elastic. 
• Now grease a bowl and and keep the dough covered with a cling wrap for first proofing for about 30 mins. 
• After 30 minutes the dough is nicely raised punch it and give it a knead . Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. 
• Divide dough into 6 or 7 equal pieces place each piece in a small bowl and cover with a tea towel. 
• Remove one piece from a bowl and place it on a plastic cutting board (or any surface you're willing to cover with food coloring). Add several drops of food coloring as per your liking.
• Using gloves to prevent your hands from getting dyed, begin to knead the food coloring into the dough, adding more food coloring until it is fully incorporated. This takes some time; just be patient and it will come together!
• Shape dough into a ball and return to its bowl. Repeat with remaining pieces of dough, dye each dough with different color (red + blue makes purple), being sure to wash your hands/gloves and your work surface between each color.
• Cover bowls with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1½ to 2 hours.
• When dough is risen, punch down all the colourful doughs. Remove red dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface into an 8-by-4-inch rectangle. Roll out yellow piece of dough into an 8-by-4-inch rectangle and place directly on top of red dough. Repeat with green, then blue, then purple doughs until you have a stack of 8-by-4-inch rectangles. 
• Roll up dough tightly from the short end into a loaf. Place loaf in a lightly greased 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Heat oven to 375- 400°F. Uncover dough and bake until browned on top and a thermometer inserted in the bottom center reads 190°, about 30 minutes or until the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.
• Keep aside till cool.

Notes:-

• While you dye if you feel the dough is difficult to handle then you can dust some flour and incorporate the colors to the dough.
• Dyeing may take little time and you have to knead the dough till dough is fully dyed and no part of dough is un- colored it takes some time. 

 Happy Baking!!!