Cheesecake Cookies with Almond Crust

Am a fan of cheesecake but i always hated the crust made of Graham Crackers. This one is different. This crust has nuts (of your choice) and it gives a real bite to the crust.
So now you have a superb Cheesecake plus a nice crust too.
I got this recipe from Food Network and gave a try this Christmas and its going to be my evertime favorite too.

Ingredients
Makes 25 cookies

Crust
All Purpose Flour - 1 cup
Light Brown Sugar packed - 1/4 cup
Chopped Almonds - 1 cup
Butter - 1 stick (8 tbsp) melted

Filling
Cream Cheese - 16oz  take them out of fridge atleast 30 mins before using
Sugar - 1 cup
Eggs - 3
Vanilla Extract - 1 tspn

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the ingredients under Crust and press the into a 13*9*2 inch baking pan.
It will look like its not enough but keep spreading and pressing till it covers all the pan.
Bake it for 15 mins or until lightly browned.

Now in a new bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar till smooth. Add eggs and the Vanilla Extract and beat well.

Now pour this into the crust and spread till it covers the crust completely.
Bake them for 30 mins
(The recipe asks for baking 20 mins but mine was done by 30 mins only. Keep checking after 20 mins)
It will look all puffed up, but dont worry it will retain to the original look once its cooled.

Once its cooled completely, cut them into squares. Garnish as you love.

This will be a sure hit, so go ahead and make them

Happy Cooking Guys!!!

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze

My Next Venture for this Christmas was this Cookie that i got from Food Network. Its made of Ricotta Cheese which gave it a Cake consistency. And the Lemon Glaze was just the kick it needed. They are just perfect against each other.

Ingredients
Makes 45 Cookies

All Purpose Flour - 2 1/2 cups
Baking Powder - 1 tspn
Salt - 1 tspn
Unsalted Butter - 1 stick (8 tbsp)
Sugar - 2 cups
Eggs - 2
Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese - 15 oz
Lemon Juice - 3 tbsp
Lemon Zest - 1 lemon

Glaze
Powdered Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Lemon Juice - 3 tbsp
Lemon Zest - 1 lemon

Mix the All Purpose flour, Baking Powder and salt together and keep aside  (Dry Ingredients)

Take the butter and sugar in another bowl and combine them until fluffy using an electric mixer.
Now add the eggs one by one after mixing them well into the batter
Now add the Ricotta Cheese, Lemon Juice and the zest ad mix it well into the Batter (Wet Ingredients)

Now add 1/3rd of the Dry ingredients into the wet Ingredients and mix well. Do the same with the rest of the Dry Ingredients till its mixed well.
This is the Cookie Batter

Prehat Oven to 350 degrees F

Line the baking sheet with a Parchment paper and drop the cookie batter around 1 1/2 tbsp each.
Leave some space between each cookie as they will spread a bit.

Glaze
Take the powdered sugar in a bowl and add the zest and the lemon juice and mix well. This is our Glaze.

Rest the cookies for atleast 20 mins once they come out of the oven. Now spoon little zest onto them and let them rest for some time.

If you are planning to stack them for storing, its better to rest them atleast 2 hours after putting the glaze.

This cookie is really tasty, so please try atleast once.

Happy Baking Guys!!!

Rice Kheer / Payasam

When we went for a Lunch Buffet, i got this payasam there and it became our favorite at that instant itself.
From that day onward i have been searching for its recipe and got it from Padhus Kitchen.
I have made this twice till now and am sure that the number is going to increase a lot.
I have not made any changes to the recipe but still will add how i made it.

Ingredients - Serves 4
Whole Milk - 4 cups
Basmati Rice - 2 tbsp (Yes that is enough)
Sugar - to your taste level
Ghee - 2 tsp
Cardamom - few pods (to your taste level)

Heat 1 tsp ghee in a skillet and roast the Basmati rice and fry for 1-2 mins
Now give a quick pulse to this rice in a grinder just enough to break them
Take care not to break it a lot
Smear the remaining ghee on the bottom and sides of a pressure cooker and add the rice, milk and cardamom seeds.
Drop a steel spoon into this to avoid the milk getting burned.
Heat this in very low heat (in a range of 1-10 heat level, i kept it in 2) for 35-40 mins.
If the rice is not cooked through or if you want it be more thick, heat it for some more time
Add the required amount of sugar and heat it for 5 mins more and take it off heat.
Serve it hot or Cold

You can substitute the rice to Rose Matta, but when i tried, it took me 1.5 hrs to get the rice cooked, so i felt its not worth it.

I love it when its cold

Happy Drinking Guys!!!

Parippu Pradhaman

Didnt post any recipes for quite some time. I have some in my drafts but deleted the photos of the dishes, so will have to wait for some more time to make them again and post it :-)
Today i have a sweet dish from my side to you all - Parippu Pradhaman
Its really very simple and few ingredients, yet this is the first time that i am making it

Ingredients (Serves 4)
Moong Dal - 1/2 cup
Water - 1 1/2 cup

Jaggery - 400 gms (adjust to your taste level)
Water - 1/2 cup

Cardamom pod - 1
Coconut Milk Lite (Randampaal) - 1.25 cup
Coconut Milk Thick (Onnampal) - 1/2 cup
Copra / Coconut pieces sliced thinly - 1/4 cup
Cashew - few
Ghee - 1 tbsp

Take a pressure cooker and dry roast the dal for a minute. Now add the water and let it cook for 3 -4 whistles
Meanwhile melt the Jaggery with the water mentioned, filter and keep aside

Once the dal is cooked and done, mash the dal with your spatula and add the melted jaggery and the cardamom pod. Let it boil for 5-6 mins

Now add the Thin coconut milk and let it boil for 2 mins.
Switch off the heat and then add the thick coconut milk and mix it well.

Now in a different pan, heat the ghee and fry the cashews and add into it.
Now add the copra / coconut pieces and fry till they brown and add it into the pradhaman along with the ghee.

Let it sit for 15-20 mins and serve

Start your weekend with something sweet :-)

If you dont have Coconut Milk Lite, then mix 1/2 cup Thick Milk with 3/4 water and use it :-)

Carrot Halwa - Gajar Ka Halwa

Carrot Halwa is a famous North Indian Dessert. Its made up with the fewest ingredients possible. It just has carrot, milk , sugar and ghee in it. Even with this less ingredients, it comes out very tasty. I tried it and i felt the stirring part to be a bit more but as far as the outcome is good am  fine with stirring or working a lot.

It took me all together 40 -50 mins to cook this including the preparation part

Ingredients (Serves 4)
Grated Carrot - 450 gms
Milk - 2 cups
Ghee - 3 tbsp
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder - a pinch
Cashew - few (for garnishing)

Boil the milk and let it boil for some time and get thickened. I let it boil for 10 mins. Keep stirring so that it doesn't get burnt.
Now heat the ghee in a pan and add the grated carrot and let it cook for some time. It will change color and texture once its cooked well. It took 8 mins for me.
Now add the milk along with sugar and cardamom powder and let it cook in the milk. Keep stirring till all the milk is absorbed.No need to keep on stirring continuously. Stir occasionally. It took 20 mins for me.
Do a test taste and let it cook till it starts leaving the edge of your pan.

Roast the cashews and add into this as garnishing.
Serve warm or chilled

Try and let me know how it went for you.

Happy Eating!!!

Ariyunda turns Mittayi - Ari Mittayi

Ariyunda goes long way in our marriage. When Raj was working in Trivandrum, he will bring Ariyunda whenever he comes home. I was working in Bangalore, so once he came there along with my mother and some 'ariyundas' for a small trip. By the time he brought breakfast from a shop, my mother was so hungry that she kept eating those Ariyundas. When he was back, he saw the plight of a single Ariyunda waiting for him.
From that day onwards he named and calls (behind her) my mother 'Ariyunda' and she is  aware of it :-)
Even to this day 3 years later, he keeps nagging me about that.

Well i started off with Ari Unda but by the time i finished, it turned out something like this. It resembled 'Kadala Mittayi', so i thought i will name it 'Ari Mittayi'.

It was a mistake from my side but it resulted in something tasty. I really liked it a lot, so thought of sharing this.
Its a bit difficult in making the balls out of it, but believe me its worth that. Even though Raj complained about it at first, he ended up having them.


Ingredients
Matta Rice - 1/2 cup
Grated Coconut -  1/2 cup
Jaggery - 150 gms
Cashew - 5-6 nos
Water - 1/4 cup

Wash and drain the rice and dry roast it in a pan till it changes color a bit and starts giving a spluttering kind of sound. You can try by chewing a grain. It should be very crisp
Dry roast the cashews and powder it with the roasted rice till you get fine powder.
Melt the Jaggery along with the water and strain to remove any impurities
Now heat the melted jaggery till it reduces a bit.
Now add the coconut and the rice cashew powder and mix it well with the jaggery.
By the time i stopped, this converted to a bit sticky. Hence it turned like this.
Now let it cool till you can make balls out of it with your hands.
It will be sticky, so you will have to scrape your hands before each balls

Happy Crunching!!!

Semiya / Vermicelli Payasam

Its Vishu and am really missing being at home. The get together of whole family and cooking and finally the eating part. That's what am missing the most. All the fire crackers in the night and the 'Vishu Kanni' and 'Kainettam' in th early morning. Its something we used to wait for the whole year. Even a 10 rupee was so precious.
Making a whole sadya and that too just for 2 persons, no way. But something sweet ought to be there.
My first sweet recipe in the blog: Semiya Payasam along with my Vishu wishes to all.

Ingredients (Serves 4)
Semiya/ Vermicelli - 1 cup                      
Milk - 4 cups (I used whole milk)
Sugar - 1- 1 1/4 cups (This was too sweet so adjust to your sweet level)
Cardamom powder - a big pinch
Cashews - 10 nos
Raisins - 10 nos
Ghee - 1 tbsp

Dry roast the 3/4 cup of vermicelli till light brown and keep aside
Dry roast the remaining 1/4 cup till it turns bright white and keep aside
its good to have 2 colors of vermicelli. It gives a good texture.
Boil milk in low-medium heat and add the vermicelli and the cardamom powder. Let it get cooked in the milk
Do keep stirring in between so that it doesnt get burnt
Once the vermicelli gets cooked, add the sugar and stir it well so that it dissolves in the milk.
Once the semiya gets cooked completely (soft), take it off from the heat

Now heat the ghee in a pan and fry the raisins till it gets plump and add the raising alone to the payasam
Fry the cashews in the same pan and add it to the payasam.
Stir it well and serve it

Happy Eating!!!