Mango Gateau with Peaches and Cream

Happy Children's Day to all..... I know I am very late in wishing and in India its already the next day after Children's day, but better late than never right and I have a reason :-)
Well I'd been dreading today's date since past two months as today was my baby's vaccination day!!!
I thought he would be crying the whole time and may get a fever like last time, but he totally surprised me when he cried just for 2mins after the shots and was back to his happy bubbly self again. He amazes me everyday!! :-) So its a Happy Children's Day afterall....

Now coming to this post , I made this cake sometime back for a potluck at a friends house and it was the first time I tried baking a sponge cake!
Finally I got a good recipe and idea from my friend Ria's blog and it was simple and very easy. It came out really well and looked beautiful and was simply delicious. Everyone at the potluck loved it !

I spent so much time trying to decorate the cake ( as I was simply excited about making it look good) that I dint get much time to take good photographs before going for the potluck party.

The sponge cake came out really soft and perrrrrfect! The only thing I might try to change next time while making this cake would the amount of eggs used, but I guess that's what made the cake so so soft!! It was firm yet simply melt-in-your mouth good! 

 A Gateau is a French style sponge cake traditionally made with cream and may be multilayered.
I had some Mango pulp, Whipping cream and canned peaches at home and thought of adding those in the cake where I flavored my whipped cream with Mango pulp and used the juice from the canned peaches to moisten the cake and decorated the cake with peaches (and few strawberries).

I didn't want a big/thick sponge cake so I poured half the cake batter into my flower shaped cake pan and that cake I got to keep to myself and got to share some slices with Ria and few other friends and you :-)

Mango Gateau with Peaches and Cream Recipe
Recipe source : Ria's Collection
You'll need
For sponge cake:
Whole eggs - 6
Sugar - 1.5cups
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp

For the cream (frosting):
Heavy whipping cream - 1 cup
Mango pulp - 1 cup
Powdered sugar- 2tbsp

For decoration:
Canned peaches with juice - 1 can
Strawberries - 4-5

Directions
For the sponge cake:
1. Preheat Oven to 350F.
2. In a bowl beat together the eggs and sugar until nice and fluffy (approx 5-10mins without stopping)
3. Whisk together the flour and baking powder and slowly incorporate the flour into the egg-sugar mixture.
4. Grease a 9 inch baking tray slightly with butter and pour the cake batter in the cake pan. ( I poured only half the batter in my round cake pan , and poured the rest into my flower shaped pan)
5. Bake for 25-20mins or until a tooth pick inserted into cake comes out clean and let it cool before removing from the cake pan.  

For the cream frosting:
1. In a bowl beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks appear and slowly add the powdered sugar.
2. Fold in the mango pulp and make your mango cream.
3. Make two halves of the cake and pour some juice from the canned peaches on the inside (this further moistens and flavours the cake) and then put the mango cream and some mango pulp over it.

4. Place the other half of the cake over this cream and pulp layer and coat the outer layers of the cake also with the mango cream and level it out smoothly with a butter knife.
5. Decorate the cake with sliced peaches and whipped cream. Strawberries also give a really good taste with the mango cream.

Suggestion: If the cake top is uneven or bulged out after baking and cooling , then using a large serrated knife slowly cut the bulged portion and shape it and level it and invert the cake before frosting ,so that the bottom side of the cake becomes the cakes top part and looks neat.

Sharing the recipe with:
1.  Bake Fest #1 Event hosted by Vardhini of Zesty Palette.

2.  Tasty Tuesday hosted by Cami.

3.  Bake with your Heart event hosted by Khushi.

4. Love Lock with Sweets event

Enjoy your day!!

-Manju

Turnip Greens Stir fry with Potato

To be honest I was never a green leafy veggie lover :-) but my parents were very strict when it came to eating healthy and I had to eat whatever was served. I gobbled it down to be precise without chewing ;-)
Spinach (Palak) used to be the most cooked green leafy veggie at home, and my mom would prepare it as a stirfry with coconut (thoran) or mayb add it to lentil soup (daal) or sometimes make Palak Paneer (spinach cooked in Indian cottage cheese) , which somehow I liked!

Well whichever way it was cooked, I never liked the taste. Now I'm sure you are thinking I am writing about the wrong dish here talking about Spinach when ideally my post is on Turnip greens !
Don't worry, now coming to my main dish here, it was my mother-in-law who introduced me to this leafy dish. She convinced me that its tastes good and persuaded me to give it a try, and was I glad I did!

Since it was my first try my MIL suggested to add potato so that in case I din't like the taste of the Turnip greens I would atleast have a potato to save my day :-)
Not only did it taste good, it wasn't too watery or soggy as how spinach would be when cooked, and it had a pretty good leafy taste and no weird smell. Thank you Mummy!! :-)

I prepared it as our usual Kerala style thoran with some grated coconut, but you can skip the coconut if you want. I have already given a small heads-up about thoran in my post on Beetroot thoran .

Turnip Greens Stir fry with Potato Recipe
Recipe source: My Mother-in-law
You'll Need:
Turnip Greens - 1 bunch
Red Onion - 1 large finely chopped / sliced  ( 2-3 medium size)
Potato - 1 medium size ( cut into small cubes )
Grated Coconut - 2tbsp
Garlic clove - 1
Green chillies - 2-3
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
For tempering :
Canola oil - 2 tbsp (can use any vegetable/cooking oil)
Mustard seeds - 1-2 tsp
Dry red chilli - 1-2
Curry leaves - 1 sprig (4-5 leaves)

Directions:
1. Wash the Turnip Greens well and place them on a kitchen towel or stand the leaves in a bowl to drain the water off. Chop the leaves into thin strips.
2. Using a mixer grinder, pulse together the grated coconut with garlic and green chillies , make sure it does not become a paste.
3. In a large frying pan heat the oil and crack mustard seeds , then add the dry red chillies and curry leaves and saute for 1 minute.
4. Add the red onions, cubed potato, turmeric powder and add salt and saute until onions becomes soft and pink.
5. Now toss in the leaves and cover and cook until the leaves are tender. (for about 5 -10mins)
6. Add the grinded coconut mixture and cook with the lid off on medium heat until the potato gets cooked and the entire thoran is dry.
7. Serve hot with plain rice and maybe some curry if you like.

I must however mention that I still cook Spinach at home and consider it to be very healthy , but Turnip Greens would be my favorite green leafy dish so far !! :-)
And according to my MIL Radish greens also taste quite nice , similar to Turnip greens, so I guess my next trial would be on Radish greens ;-)

Enjoy your meal !!

I'm sending this post to
1.  Fast Food not Fat Food Event #7 hosted by Priya of Now Serving
2. Healthy Cooking Challenge : Healthy Lunch event guest hosted by Kavi of Edible Entertainment and hosted by Smitha of My Tasty Curry.

- Manju

Coffee Cake with Streusel topping

Its funny that this cake is called Coffee Cake as there is not a pinch of Coffee in the cake :-)
While going through the recipe of this cake I read it almost twice to make sure I wasn't missing out the Coffee among the ingredients, but no, it definitely has no coffee. Well apparently coffee cakes are cakes that are intended to be eaten while having coffee and they usually have a cumbly or streusel based topping.
(Source: Wikipedia)

This cake was a result of a boooooring Sunday!! I had nothing to do, had no plans of going out anywhere and was feeling lazy to the core. And around 9pm that night I was simply frustrated of my laziness and was digging into my fridge to check for that last piece of chocolate when I thought why not bake a cake!! :-)

I immediately checked my pantry and fridge for basic cake ingredients and that was there. All I needed was a simple recipe. I checked my favorite baking website www.joyofbaking.com for any easy cake recipe and that's when I found this Coffee Cake and luckily I had all the ingredients mentioned including Sour cream.

I must admit its the first time I used Sour cream in my cake and it came out really well. The cake tasted like a delicious butter pound cake.
For the streusel topping you can use dried fruits, nuts or chocolate chips , I used all 3  :-)
The cake was soft yet dense and the streusel topping was sweet and crunchy and compensates the need or want to have any frosting.


Coffee Cake Recipe
Recipe source: JoyofBaking
You'll need
For cake:
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Baking powder - 3/4 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Butter - 10 tbsp (at room temperature)
Eggs - 3
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Sour cream or Yoghurt - 2/3 cup
For streusel topping:
Walnuts - 1 cup chopped
Slivered Almonds - a handfull
Raisins - 1/2 cup (optional)
Chocolate chips - 1 cup
Brown sugar - 1/4 cup
Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
All purpose flour - 1tbsp

Directions
1. Pre-heat oven to 350*F
2. Grease a 9 inch cake pan with butter and keep aside ( I used a Round cake pan)
3. Roast the walnuts in oven for 8-10 minutes.
4. In a bowl mix together all the streusel topping ingredients (Walnuts, Chocolate chips, Brownsugar, Cinnamon powder, All purpose flour) and keep aside.
5. Sift together the dry ingredients (All purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt).
6. In a separate bowl using an electric mixer beat the butter until smooth for 2mins.
7. Add the sugar and continue to beat for 4-5 minutes until very smooth.
8. Add the eggs one at a time and continue beating the mixture.
9. Finally add the vanilla extract.
10. Start adding the dry ingredients little at a time and add sour cream in between and finish off with dry ingredients and beat on low until all the ingredients are well incorporated.
11. Now add half the cake batter into the cake pan smoothing it out evenly, sprinkle half the streusel topping mix on the top.
12. Add the remaining cake batter and again after evenly smoothing it out add the remaining streusel topping all over the top.
13. Bake for about 40-50 mins until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. (Mine was done in 45 mins)
14. Let the cake cool for sometime and then remove the cake from the pan.

Suggestion: If using raisins in the streusel topping add it in the initial layering in the middle of the cake as the raisins when placed on top may burn during baking.

All in all it was a really good cake . Manish is usually not much of a 'cake' person, though he doesn't mind it once in a while, but for this cake we were literally fighting for the last crumb!
Also adding some of the streusel mixture in between the cake gives a nice bite now and then.
I definitely had it more times than I had my coffee ;-)

Enjoy your cake !!

I'm sending this post to Bake Fest #1 Event hosted by Vardhini of Zesty Palette.

Sending this post to Bake with your Heart event hosted by Khushi.

-Manju

Beetroot Thoran ( Beetroot Stir fry)

I don't think any Keralite meal is complete without some thoran or mezhukuperatty as a side dish.
Thoran is a dry side dish made mostly with veggies like beans, carrots, cabbage, green leaves etc. The preparation involves starting with some tempering by cracking mustard seeds with some curry leaves , adding the veggie and adding some grated coconut at the end.
Mezhukuperatty ( pronounced Me-rhu-ku-pe-ratty) is again a dry side dish prepared almost the same way but without adding any coconut or any tempering. The same veggies can be used to make either preparations and both are one of a kind.

So lets start with thoran , here I prepared Beetroot thoran. Beetroot has a lot of health benefits , they are a very good source of calcium, iron, Vitamins A and C and also a good source of folic acid. Betacyanin, the pigment which provides beetroots its distinct color has excellent antioxidant properties. All this is info is from what I have learnt during my school days I guess, I'm sure it has a lot more benefits.

I guess my very first meal that I prepared after my wedding was Beetroot thoran with pumkin curry and rice :-) and to this day that remains mine and my hus's favorite lunch meal combo :-) Mayb some fried fish would be good too....drool drool !
This is my own recipe, I'm sure there maybe plenty of other ways to make thoran, but this is easy and how I make it. Also its best to use fresh grated coconut, but since I dint have any, I used dry coconut powder.

I've provided few step by step pics, hope this gives an idea about the preparation. :-)

Beetroot Thoran Recipe
Recipe source : My own

You'll need
Beetroots - 3-4 medium sized (Grated)
Red Onion - 1 large (Finely chopped)
Green Chillies - 2-3 (Thinly sliced)
Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
Red Chilli powder - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
For tempering:
Canola Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1-2 tsp
Dry Red Chilli - 1 or 2
Curry Leaves - 1sprig ( 4-5 leaves)

Directions:
1. Heat the canola oil in a frying pan and crack the mustard seeds , then add Dry Red chillies and Curry leaves and saute for 1 minute.
2. Now add the chopped red onions and green chillies and add little salt and saute for another 2 minutes until the onions become soft and pink.

3. Add the grated beetroot ,the red chilli powder and turmeric powder at this point and cover and cook until beetroot becomes soft ,for about 5-10mins (the red chilli powder helps to add little spice as the beetroot maybe sweet to taste)

4. Next add the grated coconut ( I used dry coconut powder) and cook the beetroot thoran by taking off the lid. This helps to get the mixture to dry up.
(Forgive my snap here, the light was not good )

5. Take it off the heat when you feel the beetroot is well cooked and dry.

6. Serve it hot with steamed rice and some curry if you like, else its tasty when eaten alone with rice too.

Beetroot thoran will taste sweet with a hint of spice which is something I like. If you like more spice, you could add red chilli flakes instead of the red chilli powder.
I could eat this with plain rice all day. Its simple , healthy and tasty ofcourse!

Suggestion: Some people like the taste of garlic in their thoran preparation, the best way to incorporate it is by pulsing once or twice a clove of garlic with some grated coconut and green chillies if you like in a mixer grinder and adding it at Step #4 , the thoran texture will look different and you wont bite into any garlic or chillies ;-)


I'm sending this post to
1.  Fast Food not Fat Food Event #7 hosted by Priya of Now Serving and
2. Healthy Cooking Challenge : Healthy Lunch event guest hosted by Kavi of Edible Entertainment and hosted by Smitha of My Tasty Curry.

- Manju

Fish curry in spicy Coconut gravy

Keralites are generally fish lovers. And my husband loves to have at least one fish item for Lunch or Dinner. I wouldn't be surprised why, as my Mother-in-Law is an expert cook and makes the most delicious fish curries and fish fry I've ever tasted.

At my house also we have fish quite often and one of my favorite Fish curry is this, which is made with ground whole corriander seeds and dry red chillies in a ground coconut based gravy. You can add Tomatoes , either as whole pieces or pureed to get a bit on tanginess to the gravy and it goes very well when served with rice.
Also the dish is not as spicy as the title suggests, you can adjust the spice level by reducing the dry red chillies while grinding.

The best thing about this dish is that you can use any fish of your choice. I prefer fleshy fish like Salmon , Tilapia or King fish. Its a simple and easy recipe and takes very little time to prepare.
I love this fish curry, its simply finger licking good ! The house smells so good while preparing this fish curry, you can smell the ground corriander, ginger and the curry leaves....mmmm.....yumm!! And it goes so well with rice, you don't need any other side dish!

I couldn't take any good snaps and was lucky enough to atleast click these, as my husband just went off with the curry as he couldn't wait anymore. I'm Happy Sad you can say ! :-) But hope you like these.
Again this recipe is another one from my mothers handwritten recipes which she gave me before my marriage. I'm so grateful to her for sharing them.

Fish curry in spicy Coconut gravy Recipe
Recipe source : My mom
You'll need:
Salmon - 2lbs ( any fish may be used)
Fresh grated coconut - 1 cup
Dry red chillies - 3-4 pieces
Corriander seeds - 2-3 tbsp
Water - 3-4 cups ( some for grinding and rest for the gravy)
Turmeric powder - 1.5 tsp
Ginger (cut into thin strips ) - 1/2  inch
Green chillies - 2-3 cut lengthwise
Roma Tomatoes - 2 (cut in quarters or ground to puree)
Meen puli (Tamarind) - 1-2 lemon sized pieces
Fenugreek powder - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig (4-5 leaves)
Salt to taste

Directions
1. Clean and cut the fish into small cubes.
2. Grind the coconut, dry red chillies, turmeric powder and corriander seeds into a fine paste with 2cups of water. If using tomato puree, add the tomatoes also at this point. ( you can reduce the amount of water for a thicker gravy)
3. Heat a non-stick deep bottomed pan on medium heat and pour the spice-coconut paste.
4. Add the ginger, green chillies, fenugreek powder and tamarind and let it come to a simmer.
5. Now add the fish, tomato pieces and curry leaves, salt and add 1cup water or as per the gravy required and let the mixture boil until the fish is cooked.
6. Serve hot with Rice.

Trust me and try this dish, you'll not be dissapointed. Enjoy!

-Manju

Vermicelli Upama ( Semolina noodles )

Vermicelli or Semya Upama is a simple yet delicious breakfast dish , but we eat it as a snack or sometimes even take it for Lunch or have it for Dinner, so its quite a versatile dish. I love the thin noodle like texture and it can be cooked up in no time.
I try to make it healthy by adding some mixed veggies or sometimes scrambled eggs. I'm sure you could get creative and try different options like adding grilled chicken or fish, after all its almost like a thin pasta.

Vermicelli is a thin spaghetti like noodle made of Semolina flour. Its easily available in any Indian grocery store, I haven't really checked if you get them in other food stores though. You can buy it both in plain and roasted form. Semya payasam (kheer made with milk) is another common sweet dish that is made with vermicelli.

I made this upama one day before going to work and it looked pretty good so went off to take some snaps though we were getting late for work , ssshhhh don't tell that to my boss :-)
I just added some grated carrots and green peas and garnished with cilantro and it was simply awesome!
You can also add peanuts or grated coconut as per your wish.

Vermicelli Upama ( Semolina noodles ) Recipe
Recipe source : My own
You'll need
Vermicelli (semolina noodles ) - 2.5 cups

Chopped Onion - 1 cup

Chopped Green chilli - 1 or 2 chillies

Finely chopped ginger - 1 tsp

Grated or cubed carrots - 1 cup

Green Peas - 1/4 cup

Boiling water - 2 cups

Oil - 1 tbsp

Chopped Cilantro - for garnish

Salt
For tadka / tempering:

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 1 stem

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Chana daal ( small split chickpeas) - 1tsp

Moong daal ( split beans ) - 1tsp

Peanuts or Cashewnuts - 1 tbsp (optional)
Grated Coconut (optional)

Directions

1. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a skillet and roast the vermicelli till light brown and until it becomes crisp and keep aside. ( Or you may buy roatsed Vermicelli from any Indian grocery store)

2. Heat 1 tbsp of oil and add the mustard seeds.

3. Once the mustard seeds crack, add the curry leaves.

4. Add the chana daal and moong daal and fry till it becomes mild brown. ( You may fry peanuts and cashew nuts at this point as per your wish, I did not have those so dint use any)

5. Then add the chopped green chillies and ginger and turmeric powder and once sauted for a while add the Onions and saute them till light pink.

6. Add the grated carrots and peas and saute for 1 min.

7. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil and add it to the mixture of onions and veggies.

8. Add the roasted vermicelli and add salt.( adding a lilttle extra salt helps it to get infused better with the semolina noodles as it has no salt )

9. Cover the skillet and let the vermicelli mix with the boiled water at medium heat.

10. Stir once in between and keep closed until fully cooked. Vermicelli cooks really fast, it shouldn't take more than 5-10 mins on  high heat.

11. Garnish with chopped cilantro or grated coconut (optional) and serve hot.

Why don't you try this today and let me know how it turned up ! :-)
Enjoy your day!

I'm also sending this post to the Fast Food not Fat Food Event #7 hosted by Priya of Now Serving

Also sending this recipe to Healthy Cooking Challenge : Healthy Lunch event guest hosted by Kavi of Edible Entertainment and hosted by Smitha of My Tasty Curry.

- Manju

Pumpkin Cupcakes & Scary Eyeballs !!

I kept searching for a good pumpkin based dessert recipe and almost all the recipes I saw used canned pumpkin. I kept wondering, when you get lovely fresh Pumpkin in the stores , specially now that its Fall, why not use them.

Thats how I came to make these Pumpkin cupcakes with some chopped Pecans and Cream cheese frosting and they came out really well. And to keep up with the fun of Halloween , I decorated them like scary vein popping eyeballs !!

I took the recipe from the Joy of Baking website , but made a couple of changes. I added a little paprika powder for some kick and though you couldn't really taste any paprika, it sure tasted good overall. Also I skipped the butter and used Vegetable oil instead which made the cupcakes really moist.

I used some fun Halloween Pumpkin designed cups for the Pumpkin cupcakes and the chopped Pecans give a nice bite while enjoying these beauties ;-)

Pumpkin Cupcakes Recipe
Recipe source : Joy of Baking.com
(Yields a Dozen cupcakes)
For Pumpkin Cupcake:
All purpose flour - 1.5cups
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Cinnamon Powder - 1/2 tsp
Ground cloves - 1/4 tsp
Ground ginger powder - 1/4 tsp
Paprika powder - 1/4 tsp ( my variation)
Pumpkin puree - 1 cup ( I made my own)
Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup ( I dint use butter, if using then use - butter 1/2cup)
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 1tsp
Eggs - 2 large
Chopped Pecans - 2-3 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
For Cream cheese frosting:
Cream cheese - 4oz
Confectioners sugar / Powdered sugar - 1cup
Butter - 2tbsp
Vanilla extract - 1tsp

Directions
1. Preheat overn to 350F
2. For homemade pumpkin puree: Chop pumpkin into small cubes (approx - 1cup) and boil with 3 tbsp water and once the pumpkin becomes soft blend it or puree it until smooth.
3. Sift together the dry ingredients : All purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon powder, ground cloves , ground ginger, paprika and salt.
4. With the help of an electrc blender or hand mixer, mix togther the sugar and oil (or butter) until smooth, then add the eggs one at a time, vanilla extract and slowly mix in the flour mixture and pumpkin puree alternately.
5. Now add in the chopped pecans
6. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake cups and pour the batter into each 2/3 full.
7. Bake for 20 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
8. Place on a wire rack to cool down completely.

For Cream cheese frosting:
Use cream cheese at room temperature and using an electic or hand blender blend the cheese until smooth, then add butter, powdered sugar and vanilla extract one by one and blend it well until the frosting becomes smooth and creamy.

For the scary eyeball designs I used
a. Cream cheese frosting
b. Grape flavoured Skittles
c. Blue colored Cream Cheese frosting
e. Pureed strawberry jam
Puree some Strawberry jam and put it in a piping bag.
Add the blue colored frosting in another piping bag.
Spoon some Cream Cheese frosting on the Cupcakes and place the Skittle candy in the centre, pipe some the blue colored frosting around the skillet and pipe the strawberry jam in a vein like design.

I wish everyone a fun filled Halloween and have a great time trick or treating. Hope you all have selected your costumes by now :-)
I picked out some cute Lady bug and Pumpkin costumes for my little monster at home ;-)
Enjoy!!

Sending this post to Halloween Fiesta event hosted by Vardhini of Zesty Palette. I want to thank Kavi of Edible Entertainment for letting me know of this beautiful event and also Vardhini for her invitation.

I've also sent this post to Priya's Healthy Bakes Roundup Event Announcement. ( There was some error while linking the post so my Pic has not shown up)

Also sending this post to Bake Fest #1 Event hosted by Vardhini of Zesty Palette.

Sending this post to Bake with your Heart event hosted by Khushi.

- Manju

Sugar Cookies - for baby's day out!!

I've been so excited to share this post , but wasn't getting enough time with the baby, household chores and grocery shoppings :-)

I had taken my little one to my office last week and I wanted to take something sweet for my colleagues. Obviously I wanted a simple recipe which I could prepare without getting interrupted ;-)
Finally I found this really simple recipe for Sugar cookies and I must say they came out really well for my first time try. They were so good, it just melted in your mouth.

Thanks to my little sweetheart , I got the time to frost and decorate the cookies (he was sleeping , ofcourse!)
It almost felt like an Arts and Craft project to prepare the colored frosting and creating the different designs  :-) I totally enjoyed it.

I'm not a big fan of Sugar cookies loaded with sugary frosting, so I made two kinds. One batch with colorful sugar frosting (for a child like theme) and the other batch with chocolate drizzled on them...Yumm!
Also I'm glad to say that everyone in office loved it! We had a good time and the baby totally enjoyed his day out at my office :-)

I used a star shape to cut out my cookies, you can use whichever shape you like.  The only variation I did from the original recipe was to skip the almond extract as I do not like its taste, instead I used extra vanilla extract.

I will definitely make these again. Its so easy to make them and anyone from kids to adults can enjoy them.
Sugar cookies are a great treat for any season!

Sugar Cookies Recipe
Recipe source: Annie's Eats

You'll need :
2 ½ cups flour - sifted
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract ( As per original recipe use: 1tsp vanilla and 1.5tsp almond extract )
1 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Using a hand or electric beater cream the butter.
2. Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
3. Blend in egg, almond extract (I din't use this), vanilla extract, salt and flour.
4. Chill the dough until firm. (For about an hour)
5. Roll to ¼” thickness on well-floured surface.
6. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheets.(I used a silicone baking mat on my cookie sheet to place the cookies)
7. Bake at 375° for 8-10 min. Cookies should not brown.
8. Frost and decorate when cool. Yields about 40 cookies.

For sugar frosting: I used store bought Wilton Icing writer, Wilton White decorating icing and used Wilton Gel food Color to get the different colors. Also used some colored sprinkles.

For the chocolate drizzle:
Melt 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips with 4tbsp butter.
Pour it into a piping bag or Ziploc bag and snip off the tip
Place the cookies over a wire rack over your baking sheet and drizzle the chocolate onto the cookies as shown.

Suggestions: The cookie dough should be rolled to an even thickness, else some cookies may burn (if thinner than the rest) 

I somehow felt my cookies had a slightly salty aftertaste, so I would suggest adding just a pinch of salt instead of 1tsp as per actual recipe. 

Try them out, they are so easy to make and can be enjoyed even without any frosting. Its that good!

Sending this post to Bake Fest #1 Event hosted by Vardhini of Zesty Palette.

Sending this post to Bake with your Heart event hosted by Khushi.

 Cookie Party hosted by Shema of Lifescoops

- Manju