Sprinkle Shortbread Cookies | Christmas Recipes 2014

Sprinkle Shortbread Cookie Recipe

This Year I am baking a huge batch of assorted cookies for friends and family.  I will sharing more Christmas cookie recipes on my blog, hopefully by Christmas day. I was doing too much baking that I got tired to share recipes on my blog. I have always wanted to try these shortbread cookies, they are popular on Pinterest, but for some reason I kept postponing to bake them. Last week when I saw my friend +Sangeetha M  bake these cute cookies I thought its time to bake them ;-). Bite size Christmas shortbread cookies sounds interesting right? and this definitely is such an easy recipe too. If you have any kind of sprinkles just go ahead and make these. They are soft buttery and so attractive that you don't want to miss baking them for christmas. I could not find christmas colors like red and green sprinklers so I went ahead and used mixed colors and they look so attractive nevertheless. For more Christmas Recipes click here.

Eggless Sugar Cookies | Christmas Recipes 2014

Eggless Sugar Cookies Recipe

I love homemade gifts, they taste great, add a personal touch and also make people feel special. One other great aspect is knowing the ingredients you put in them. That said as days are running its time to start prep for the celebrations and why not pack edible gifts as a thank you gift for your guests. Or if you are attending a party at your friends place then pack these to gift them. Trust me they will love it and appreciate it beyond words. I had got these cute message cutters from a review I had done a while ago for Gourmet Co, you can check the post here. You can pick similar cookie cutters in any online or baking supply stores. If you are not the type who does not have patience to do royal icing or fondant or don't have time incase you are looking at a large batch then these cutters are the answer. 

Eggless Candycane Cookies | Christmas 2014 Recipes

Candy Cane Sugar cookies

Its the best time of the year - Christmas and hardly few days more and I have been counting fingers    :-) with our relocation and the time of the year I mean I am all excited for whats ahead. So thankful for this phase in my life where I can sit and think about how far we have come. This happy place seems to be so energizing in a way. Can't than God enough for everything, counting my blessings make me realize how much I am fortunate and how much I am blessed beyond understanding. Thanking God for He is my anchor and my friend. But that said I have been running recipes in my mind to cook for Christmas and baking sure takes all the attention. I have always loved Candycanes and most recipes for candycane cookies call for eggs so I wanted to get my hands dirty to make a candycane cookie recipe that is eggfree. I saw many recipes online and on pinterest where the candycane cookies have a pink tint and I really wonder why. Follow the recipe to the dot and let me know how it turned out. 

Kale Chips Indian Style | How to make Kale chips

Kale Chips Indian Style

If you have not tried Kale, I recommend you to try them and if you find them locally do pick a bunch and make them as chips ;-) trust me you will love it and you can thank me later. Kale is one of the super foods doing the buzz all over the internet and among healthy eaters. I was waiting to grab hold of these greens and try them at home. So for starters I did these Kale chips and they were gone in 5 minutes I mean the entire batch. My husband had no clue what they were and kept munching them, these kale chips are so crisp and light. With much enthusiasm I tried to add a huge bunch of kale into my green smoothie and I did regret of running through a huge batch. The drink turned up a little not like what I expected and I had to add one banana and pineapple to juice it to a decent smoothie. If you ask me is kale chips the healthiest way of eating kale, I would say 50-50 but it is definitely healthy compared to potato chips. Since Kale is protein dense and vitamin loaded they tend to give a wash out effect to the stomach and you will end up feeling good. Would I eat Kale again of course I will :-)

Eggless Oats Coconut Fruit & Nuts Bar | Rolled oats almond cranberry bars

Eggless Oats Coconut Fruit & Nuts Bar

I always love experimenting in the kitchen, I have never found a good granola bar in all honesty. All the store bought ones are either sweet, sticky or have ingredients that I don't fancy. So what do I do? tried my hands in making healthy homemade granola bars. Crunchy on the outside and moist and soft on the inside, a perfect way to cure the sweet tooth and enjoy a light bite. Pack these as a snack for your kids and family they will enjoy those sweet moments of break and thank me later ;-). Since Christmas is coming why not make these for your friends and family, since its egg free vegetarians would love them too. Also you can make them vegan by skipping the butter and adding some vegan butter or coconut oil. 

Here's a list of readers favorite Christmas recipes from last year ;-) a blast from the past!

 40 BEST CHRISTMAS RECIPES

Pav Bhaji Masala | Mumbai Style Pav Bhaji Recipe

Pav Bhaji Masala Recipe

I adore chaat recipes, to me they fit into the best snack food category that is spicy, hot and filling. From Dhoklas, sev puri, pani poori, misal pav, ragda patties to pav bhaji I love them all. I still remember during college days how we used to plan to go to the chaat shops in a nearby mall for evening snack. One of the best excuses if you study in an evening college ;-). Although I love and miss chaat so much my husband on the other hand does not enjoy chaat, the other day I was so tempted to make pav bhaji and went ahead with my usual recipe, a no fail eggless pav buns recipe or dinner rolls that comes perfectly every time. The buns are soft and spongy and are quite light to touch but filling with a bowl of spicy pav bhaji masala. I tried to incorporate my own freshly ground pav masala. You can very well use store bought pav bhaji masala for a quicker version. 

Eggless Pav Buns Recipe | Ladi Pav | Pav Bhaji

Ladi Pav | Pav Bhaji buns Recipe

Baking bread is not rocket science, anyone can bake bread at home as long as you friend yeast. Learning to use yeast is definitely a trick but with practice you will fall in love with freshly baked bread at home. i still remember I struggled with yeast and every time I try to proof yeast it would just not foam up and I used waste another set of yeast just to get all the more disappointed. But one of my friend she helped me and said use warm water and not hot water, all the while I used to kill yeast and it never foamed up. As I did my research I also learnt that yeast does not foam up if it is expired. If you are someone who never had luck with yeast trust me it is simple logic, warm up water in a microwave for 20 seconds, it must be warm to touch and try to add a drop of the water in your inner wrist it must be warm and not too hot. Just add sugar and yeast to the water and mix it once. Let it sit for 5 minutes and the yeast should proof if it does not proof then something wrong with the yeast check the expiry date if thats not the issue then the issue is with the water, repeat the process again. 

Broccoli Masala Stir Fry | Broccoli Indian Recipe

Broccoli Masala Stir Fry

Broccoli is a wonderful super food and most times we shy away cooking broccoli in an Indian recipe. I was one such person who never wanted to cook broccoli but although I loved to cook with them for their nutrient value. Chasing all odds I picked up broccoli on my grocery shopping last week, I wanted to try a simple yet easy recipe to start with. I made this simple Broccoli masala stir fry that turned out to be so good and easy too. Usually broccoli is one vegetable that is tasteless and making a recipe with broccoli has to be something that is flavorful, and flavor from the other ingredients that will get absorbed in the vegetable. Broccoli masala is a dry stir fry dish that goes well as a side to rice and dal or as a side dish for chappathis.