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Cashew Cookies with Filling
Last night, on returning from office, I saw a mail from my Mom with a picture of all the sweets and savories she has prepared for the festive season. This is a yearly custom she follows, and the picture is mailed to relatives the world over to salivate and drool over that which they cannot have.
It was around 8:30pm and I felt it just wouldn't be Diwali if I didn't prepare something. So, I set out to prepare 3 dishes ( 2 sweet and 1 savoury ) in 3 hrs flat.
I started at 9 and I was done by 12:15am. Not too shabby, huh? Ofcourse, I chose easy to make things - Festivals are not a good enough reason to stop being lazy. I got all the recipes from some delightful food blogs that I follow.
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Chilli Biscuits
1. Chilli Biscuits
Followed the recipe exactly from FingerLickingFood.
On hind sight, I would have added a teeny pinch of haldi, and some ajwain to the dough for added flovour.
The Mint leaves were easy to get since I grow them, Curry leaves presented a bit of a challenge since my Kadipatta Plant is still rather small - but it made the sacrifice of 1 twig of leaves.
2. Cashew Cookies
I followed this recipe from : foodiezone
I substituted almonds with cashews, this made the dough a little wetter so in went more flour ( about twice the recommended quantity ). On being taken out of the fridge, the dough was not as pliant as expected, so i rubbed some butter on my fingers and found it easier to shape. I also added a few drops of Vanilla essence. I filled half the cookies with Strawberry jam and the other half with some left over orange flavored chocolate.
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Orange Flavored Chocolate with Nuts
3. Orange Flavored Chocolate with Nuts.
This was my own creation, inspired by this recipe: from fingerlickingfood
It was my first experience with melted chocolate ( I used 1 full bar of cooking chocolate - semi sweet ) For orange flavour, since I didnt have orange juice or zest, I added 1 cap full of Orange vodka. This caused the chocolate to seize and become very pliable and easy to handle.
I tossed in whole cashews and almonds and rolled them into little balls and left them to set over night.
Note:
All the photos are taken by Keshav with his camera ( my fingers were all buttery ). He was also the first taster - I can never take the first taste of anything I cook.