Chocolate Chip Cookies (eggless)

I have always been on the search for a good eggless cookie recipe. I had known that plain yogurt was a perfect substitute for eggs, but had never tried it. I decided to try the yogurt substitute with this recipe, and the result was a very moist, chewy and melt-in-your-mouth good chocolate chip cookie. This is one of the best cookies I have ever tasted, and when I sent some with my kid to school, his friends gobbled them up in 5 minutes. This is a great recipe for anyone watching the fat content in their desserts.

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Cream brown sugar, sugar, and butter together until fluffy.
3. Add in vanilla yogurt, and mix well.
4. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt together in a separate bowl and fold into the wet ingredients.
5. Carefully  fold the chocolate chips into the dough.
6. Scoop rounded spoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheet, place in the preheated oven for 10 min until golden.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Sending this recipe to 'only' cooking with chocolate hosted by Foodelicious, and Bake Fest hosted by Priya and started by Vardhini.

Classic Banana Muffins

 I have been trying a lot of muffin recipes lately, just because they are so easy to make, and are also very versatile and can be made healthy by using white whole wheat flour. The Kids love taking this to school as part of their lunch instead of the routine peanut butter and jelly sandwich. There are also a lot of end of the year parties coming along at the school, so I think some healthy vegetarian cupcake recipes will be coming your way soon! I'm so excited to show you some awesome cupcake decorating tips as well.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour*
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
3 ripe bananas
1/2 tsp vanilla extract.

*I used white whole wheat flour

1. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt together and set aside.
2. Mash bananas to a pulp and mix in sugar, oil, and vanilla extract.
3. slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients to get a tough, but smooth dough.
4. Scoop batter into muffin pan or loaf pan (for banana bread), bake at 350 F for 25 min or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Cool, serve, and enjoy!

Linking this post to Lets Bake Cupcakes and Muffins hosted by simply.food, "Let's Party" hosted by Divya and Surabhi and Bake Fest hosted by Priya and started by Vardhini

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

A healthy, nutty breakfast muffin recipe, that is hearty and filling.

Ingredients:
-1 1/4 cup Oatmeal
-1 1/4 cup Milk
-1/4 tsp Cinnamon
-1/2 tsp Vanilla (Optional)
-1/2 cup oil
-1/2 cup Brown Sugar
-1/2 cup chopped pecans (or other nuts)
-1/2 cup chocolate chips
-1 egg
-1 1/4 cup flour
-4 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp salt

Procedure:

1. Soak Oatmeal in the Milk, add cinnamon, set aside for 15 min.
2. Add in Oil, Brown Sugar, Chopped Pecans, Chocolate Chips, Egg, and Vanilla, mix until well combined.
3. Mix Flour, Baking Powder  and Salt in a separate bowl, and slowly incorporate into the wet ingredients.
4. Pour batter into lined muffin pan 2/3 of the way in each well, put in the oven at 400 F for 20-25 min, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Take out muffins, cool, and serve.

Linking this post to Lets bake Cupcakes and Muffins hosted by simply.food, "Let's Party" hosted by Divya and Surabhi, and 'only' cooking with chocolate hosted by Foodelicious, and Bake Fest hosted by Priya and started by Vardhini.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

These yummy Chocolate Chip Muffins are inspired by Nina Mehta's vegetarian cookbook, but I have adapted it a little to my taste to make it a bit more healthy using White Whole-Wheat flour instead of All-Purpose and 'I can't believe it's not butter' to cut down on the fat content. The result was great, the yummy muffins are chocolatey and melt in your mouth good. All this healthy-ness makes me fell guilt-free when I pack this for my kids lunch, and I know they will be delighted to see this rare treat in their lunchboxes tommorrow :)

Here goes the recipe :)

Ingredients
-1.5 cups White Whole-Wheat flour
-1 cup thick yogurt
-1 cup sugar (decrease to taste)
-1/2 tsp Baking Soda
-1.25 tsp Baking Powder
-1.5 tsp Vanilla Extract
-3/4 stick Butter (Softened)
-3/4 cup Chocolate Chips

Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 400 , and line muffin pan with muffin liners.
2. Mix together yogurt and sugar until sugar is completely incorporated.
3. Add in Baking Soda and Baking Powder, mix, and set aside for 5 min until bubbles appear.
4. Add in butter and vanilla extract and beat till smooth.
5. Slowly incorporate the flour, and mix till you get a smooth, thick batter.
6. Fold Chocolate Chips into batter.
7. Pour batter 3/4 of the way up in each of the wells in the muffin pan.
8. Place in top rack of oven at 400 F for 20-25 min, or till a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into one of the muffins. Take out, cool, serve, and enjoy! :)

Linking this post to Lets bake Cupcakes and Muffins hosted by simply.food, 'only' cooking with chocolate hosted by Foodelicious, and Bake Fest hosted by Priya and started by Vardhini

Eggless Honey Almond Cookies

This easy healthy cookie recipe came out when I was experimenting with my huge bag of multi-grain flour. The cookies came out like shortbread, nutty and earthy, not too sweet, and not too bland, just perfect! These beauties are healthy and delicious, so what's not to love? Try them out...

Ingredients:
-2 cups Multigrain Flour (or White Flour)
-1 cup ground almonds
-pinch of salt
-2/3 cup honey
-1/2 cup oil






Procedure:
1. Mix flour, ground almonds, and salt in a bowl.
2. Combine honey and oil in a separate bowl.
3. Fold in the honey and oil into the dry ingredients and form a ball of dough.
4. Form balls in the size of your choice, and flatten slightly.
5. Place in oven at 325 Fahrenheit for 15-20 min unitl the cookies are golden.
6. Take cookies out of oven, cool, serve, and enjoy!

(makes 24 cookies)

Diet Soda Cake

A diet soda cake involves just two ingredients, diet soda, and cake mix. I have seen this recipe online for some time, but was afraid to try it (what if it failed?). But a few days back I decided to splurge and go for it, all I did was mix 12 oz (1 can) of sprite zero and a box of strawberry cake mix, put it in a pan, and into the oven at 350 for about 40 minutes. The results were quite good, the cake was moist and yummy, but it was lacking in sugar, so I guess it would taste even better if you frosted it. All in all, this is a great quick recipe that vegetarians and vegans can enjoy without too many fussy ingredients.

Here is an official recipe with real instructions:

Ingredients:
-One box of cake mix (I used pillsbury)
-One can of diet soda (I used sprite zero)

Procedure:
1.Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit
2.Mix together cake mix and soda
3.Put in greased pan
4.Place in oven for 30- 40 min until a toothpick comes out dry
5.Take out cake, cool, serve, and enjoy.

Pancake Mix Apple Pie Recipe

I was craving apple pie yesterday and had nothing but pancake mix and one apple in the house, so I decided to experiment and it turned out to be delicious. In my excitement to eat it, I totally forgot to take a picture, so please excuse me for that. Here comes the recipe, try it out, you will love it!

Pancake Mix Apple Pie

Ingredients: 

Crust

-1 cup pancake mix

-1/2 stick butter

-Pinch of salt

-2-3 tablespoons of cold water

Filling

-Thinly sliced apple disks

-1/4 cup sugar

-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

-2 tbsp Jaggery/Bellam (brown sugar)

-Powdered sugar (Optional)

Procedure:

1. Mix pancake mix with salt, them incorporate the cold butter into the pancake mix with a food processor.

2. When the mix looks like small peas, start adding the cold water, one tbsp at a time until it starts to leave the side of the bowl. (If you use too much water, add some more pancake mix)

3. Gather the dough into a ball with your hands, flatten into a disc and place in the fridge for 15 min. 

4. Take the dough out, and press into a pie plate

5. Place the apples in the pie dish, sprinkling a spoon of sugar between each layer. 

6. Mix the brown sugar (jaggery) and cinnamon together to make a crumble topping, and put it on top of the pie. 

7. Place leftover dough in a lattice design on top of the pie, or leave untopped.

8. Put the pie in the oven at 350 Fahrenheit for 20-30 min. until the crust is golden. 

9. Let the pie cool, and sprinkle powdered sugar over the top. Serve by itself or with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. 

Ricotta Cheese Peda

Peda is a staple for indian festivals, but it does take a while to go through the whole process of making it.  This is a super easy recipe that simplifies the process greatly and tastes DELICIOUS! Most of the ingredients are store-bought so it is already half done for you! So there really isn't any excuse not to make it for you and your family. :)

 Ingredients: 

• Ricotta Cheese - 30 oz tub
• Heavy Cream - 16 oz tub
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Cardamom Powder
• Saffron (Optional)
• Vanilla essence (Optional) 1/2 tsp 
• Pistachios (Optional)

Procedure:

1. Place a heavy bottom pan on the stove on medium heat, add the ricotta cheese and continuously stir it in the pan.
2. After some of the moisture evaporates from the cheese, add in the heavy cream, cardamom powder, saffron, and vanilla.
3. Continuously mix the contents of the pan on medium heat 
4. When the mixture starts to thicken in the pan, add in the sugar as well. 
5. Raise the temperature to high heat and keep stirring the contents of the pan continuously. (If the mixture starts to bubble and splatter out of the pan, don't panic, just place a lid halfway over the pan and keep stirring :) ) 
6. Keep stirring, and stirring, and stirring, until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and starts to form a ball. 
7. When the mixture forms a ball, turn off the stove and let it cool for 5-6 minutes
8. Make small balls of peda from the mixture the size of you choice, and garnish with some chopped pistachios. Share and Enjoy! 

~Suneetha

Linking this to the event Showcase-Desserts hosted by Divya

Maida Biscuits Recipe

This is by far one of the easiest homemade snack recipes I have been taught. My mom always used to make these during festivals, marriages, birthdays, or whenever we wanted them! These never fail to remind me of my childhood. Whenever I make these in my home, they never seem to last more than 3 or 4 days, but they are easy enough to make so I can replenish the supply pretty quickly. I always turn to this recipe on those dark and dingy rainy days and it never fails to cheer up the whole family. I will give you fair warning that these are quite addictive and you may find yourself making these again in a couple of days. Here goes the recipe...



Ingredients: 

• Whole Wheat Flour - 1 cup 
• Semolina (Sooji) - 2 tbsp 
• Cumin Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Ajwain - 1/4 tsp
• Chili Powder - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Melted Butter - 2 tbsp 
• Vegetable Oil - for deep frying 

Procedure:

1. Mix whole wheat flour, semolina, cumin powder, ajwain powder, chili powder, salt, and melted butter in a large bowl.
2. Slowly add water to the mixture until it forms a ball of dough 
3. Make small balls of dough the size of a lemon and roll out each ball on a floured surface like a chapathi
4. Cut the rolled out dough into diamond shapes (cut diagonally in each way)
5. Heat up the vegetable oil to a boil in a vessel.
6. Slowly add the diamond cuts and wait until they rise to the surface.
7. Remove the diamond chips from the oil and place in a paper towel lined bowl.
8. Wait till the paper absorbs the excess oil and the chips cool.
9. Store in an airtight jar and enjoy!

Linking this post to Mom's Recipe event hosted by Srav's