Thumb Print Cookies- An Ultimate Indulgence!!!

Buttery short bread cookies filled with jam is a a perfect dessert for any occasion. It's a hit among friends and family. These are perfect holiday treats which can be gifted to friends.

I baked these cookies along with my kids and my 6 yr old was very excited to fill the cookies with jam. As most of my friends know that, we have moved to our own space, to meet and greet our neighbors,  I baked these cookies.

These cookies are so easy to make and just needs a handful of ingredients which is easily available in your pantry. These cookies can be baked within 30 minutes and because of jam, this becomes a super hit among kids. I filled these cookies with strawberry and blueberry jam, you can use any jam of your choice and it won't go wrong.

Make sure that while shaping the balls, it should be smooth and firm, or else the cookie dough can crack (like mine). Some recipes call for adding the jam after baking the cookies, but adding the jam pre baked will be nice and warm and bakes into the dough. Hope you all will try this recipe and if so, let me know. So, lets get started..

Ingredients:

1. All Purpose Flour- 2 Cups
2. Corn Flour- 1/r4 Cup
3. Salt- a Pinch
4. Butter- 1/2 Cup
5. Eggs- 2 
6. Vanilla Essence- 1tsp

Method:

1. Sieve the all purpose flour, corn flour and salt. Keep it aside.
2. Meanwhile beat the softened butter and sugar. Add the eggs and beat till creamy.
3. Add the above mixed flour mixture into batches and mix till it forms a smooth dough.
4. If it feels sticky just keep this dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, mine was perfect so started to shape them into balls and place them on a tray lined with parchment paper.
5. Use your thumb to make an indentation into each ball of cookie dough. Spoon 1/2 tsp of jam on each of the indentation.
6. Bake for about 10- 12 minutes or when the bottom turns light brown. Remove and cool completely and enjoy the jam filled cookies.

Very Berry Smoothie

Smoothies are a great choice for breakfast, midday snack or after a workout. This very berry smoothie is delicious, healthy, and nutritious smoothie which is filled with all your favorite berries. It takes hardly about 5 min to prepare this smoothie.

I make different varieties of smoothies and I like to have it after a nice workout. Sometimes if I am lazy to make breakfast, this will be my savior. My 4 yr old is crazy about the smoothie. Any smoothie you give him,  he will drink it without any fuss.
A  refreshing, delicious smoothie is a tasty way to drink your fruits. This is a basic smoothie recipe and a very healthy and nutritious one. You can add spinach, Greek yogurt, bananas or anything of your choice. Whatever you add, this smoothie will turn out amazingly delicious and healthy. I would always experiment with the ingredients. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, whatever it is, the outcome would be a healthy smoothie.

Ingredients:

1. Strawberries, Blueberries, raspberries- 1 Cup
2. Red Currants- a handful
3. Almond / Soy Milk- 1 Cup
4. Flax Seeds- 1 tbsp
5. Chia Seeds- 1/2 tbsp
6. Dates- 4-5 nos
7. Hemp seeds- 1 tsp

Method:

• Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend till smooth desired consistency. Enjoy.

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Healthy Banana and Mixed Berries smoothie

My dear friend introduced me to this smoothie, who herself is a big smoothie lover. She would always tell about different varieties of smoothies which she makes at home for her family. One day when I was in her house, I asked for the recipe and generously she made a big batch of this smoothie and whatever she told about the smoothie is completely true. It is a very filling, healthy, appetizing, flavorful and simply mind blowing. While adding the frozen berries, banana and spinach the smoothie will be thick, just add enough amount of water or milk.

There are lots of variations in making smoothies, like for kids we can add milk, for adults, who are health conscious can make this smoothie by adding water. Instead of regular milk, you can also add almond milk, by making the almond milk at home. I will share the recipe some other time.

This makes more healthy by adding dates instead of sugar. If you want your smoothie sweeter, you can increase the number of dates. This is so filling that you can have this instead of breakfast or lunch. I made this for lunch after my workout and it is very filling and healthy. There are much more different smoothie recipes which she gave and you can see all the recipes in my future posts. For now, enjoy an amazingly delicious healthy smoothie and stay fit...

Ingredients:

1. Banana- 1 no
2. Apple- ½ no
3. Frozen Mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries)- ½ Cup
4. Dates- 5 nos
5. Chia Seeds- 1 tbsp
6. Flax Seeds- 1 tbsp
7. Spinach- ½ Cup
8. Water- ¼ Cup

Method:

1. Combine all the ingredients except chia seeds in a blender until smooth with the required amount of water.
2. Soak the chia seeds in little water for about 10 minutes.
3. Pour the smoothie into a serving glass and garnish with the soaked chia seeds and enjoy a healthy smoothie. (You can add the chia seeds in the smoothie and blend everything together).

Lemon Blueberry Muffins using Blueberry Compote

When I started baking, I used to try to bake almost all the cakes and among them, I loved citrusy flavor of the lemons. Whenever I go to starbucks, I used to order lemon loaf cake. Then one day I tried making the lemon loaf cake at home which came out successfully.

Blueberries are my favorite among berries. I had so many blueberries left out in refrigerator after making cupcakes, smoothies and so on. So before it gets damaged I thought of preparing blueberry compote, so that I can store them and can use whenever I needed.

By using my favorite ingredient and blueberry compote I thought of preparing something and so this delicious muffins are ready within minutes. Now these muffins have become a staple in my house. We can also make these with fresh blueberries. These muffins are soft, moist, lemony, full of blasted blueberries. These are my daughter’s favorite too. We don’t like to frost cupcakes. Plain is what we prefer the most.

Blueberry Compote:

Ingredients:

1. Blueberries- 2 Cups
2. Water- ¼ Cup
3. Sugar- ¼ Cup
4. Lemon Juice- 2 tsp

Method:

• Combine water, sugar and blueberries Boil for about 10 minutes on low flame, till the berries turn soft. Switch off the flame and add lemon juice. Stir and when it becomes cool, transfer in a glass jar and store in refrigerator.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour- 2 cups
2. Baking Soda- 1 tsp
3. Salt- a pinch
4. Butter- ½ Cup
5. Whole Milk- ½ Cup
6. Sugar- ¾ Cup
7. Vanilla Essence- 1 tsp
8. Eggs- 2 nos
9. Lemon Juice- 2 tbsp
10. Lemon Zest- 1 no
11. Blueberry Compote- ½ cup

Method:

1. Beat the butter, sugar along with lemon juice and lemon zest to light and creamy. Beat the eggs along with vanilla essence till fluffy in another bowl.
2. Mix the egg mixture to the butter- sugar mixture and beat well.
3. Sieve the flour with baking soda and salt. Fold this flour into the above butter- egg mixture little by little alternating with milk.
4. Fold well without any lumps Pour this in a greased muffin pans and bake for about 20- 25 minutes or till a skewer inserted comes out clean. Enjoy warm or cool muffins.

Simple and easy Blueberry Milkshake

I had mentioned in my previous (Blueberry Cupcakes) post about this blueberry milkshake. Here I am posting you this amazing, scrumptious, succulent, darkish purple blend which will be loved by all.

I know that this is a summer time drink, but I love this any time and in any season and that too if it is made of blueberries. When my brother brought these blueberries last month, the first thing came to my mind was to make this milkshake which I was craving for… and here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Blue berries- ½  Cup
2. Milk- 1 Cup
3. Sugar / Honey- 3 tbsp (as required)
4. Vanilla essence- 1 tsp (optional)

Method:

1. Drop all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and a yummy, delicious, simple, easy, mouthwatering, milkshake is ready within minutes. Garnish with more berries on top.

Lemon, Blueberry and Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Since quite some time now, I was in search of fresh blueberries, but I couldn’t get any and those which we get in market were so expensive that I decided to get it through my brother who works in the UK, when he was planning to visit me in July.

I am a huge fan of fresh blueberries. When I visited UK and Europe last year , I had eaten these blueberries in tonnes. My bro was not sure whether they will stay fresh till he reaches Bangalore, but I was confident and he bought about 2- 3 packets.  I wanted to make many dishes out of these, but ended up eating most of it, just like that. And with the last few which I had saved, I made these cupcakes and also a blueberry milkshake (which I will be sharing later).

In these cupcakes, I have added fresh blueberries along with white chocolate chips and lemon zest. The lemon zest imparts a strong citrusy flavor to these cupcakes. These lemon, blueberry and chocolate chip cupcakes would make a perfect addition to your breakfast menu. Try this out and you will end up eating more…

Ingredients:

1. Blueberries- 1 Cup
2. All Purpose Flour- 1 ½ Cups
3. Baking Powder- 1 ½ tsp
4. Baking Soda- ¼ tsp
5. salt- a pinch
6. Sugar- 1 Cup
7. Butter- ¼ Cup
8. Egg- 1 no
9. Buttermilk- ½ Cup
10. Milk- ½ Cup
11. Lemon Zest- 1 lemon
12. Chocolate Chips- ½ Cup (I have used white chocolate chips).

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Coat the blueberries and chocolate chips in 1 tbsp of flour so that it won't sink to the bottom when baked. Keep this aside.
3. Beat the eggs along with lemon zest till fluffy. In another bowl beat the butter and sugar till light and cream.
4. Sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt thrice and keep this aside.
5. In the above egg mixture add the buttermilk and beat well.
6. Slowly fold the sieved flour mixture alternating with milk into the wet ingredients well till the flour and milk gets finished.
7. Add the coated blueberries and chocolate chips in the above cake batter and pour this in a greased cupcake liners and bake for about 20- 25 minutes.

Blueberry Cupcakes

Spring is at its best and even though the weather is hot, I am loving this climate as every morning you feel some new energy within. The streets are covered with carpet of flowers which is a feast to the eyes. I wake up to the pink, white, lavender and many more different colourful flowers which can be seen through my bedroom window.

In this mood I wanted to make something fresh and in the morning I baked some cupcakes with blueberries and they tasted amazing that I again made another batch because I know that these will get finished within seconds.

If you remember, I had used the pureed blueberries in my blueberry cheesecake and half of the bottle was lying idle in my fridge and whenever I see that I used to have a spoonful :) So instead of finishing all those blueberries, I decided to use those in cupcakes and these cute little cupcakes happened one day. My little one was enjoying each and every bite.

Ingredients:

Recipe Adapted from : Cate's world kitchen

1. All purpose flour / Maida- ¾ Cup
2. Sugar- ½ Cup
3. Butter- ¼ Cup
4. Blueberries (Puree)- 3 tbsp
5. Salt- a pinch
6. Vanilla Essence- 1 tsp
7. Baking Powder- 1 tsp
8. Egg- 1no
9. Milk- 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Meanwhile sift flour, baking powder, salt and keep it aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar till fluffy and creamy. Add egg, vanilla essence and mix well.
4. In the above bowl add the flour mixture and milk alternatively. Atlast add the pureed blueberries and mix well till everything is combined well.
5. Pour this in greased cupcake tins and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.
6. Cool in the pans and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the topping:

• Melt the white chocolate in hot cream (amul) and mix well. Let it cool for some time. In this add the blueberry puree and mix well.
• Keep it in the refrigerator for half an hour and spread this on the cake.

Blueberry Cheese Cake

Celebrating Eid and my blog's first birthday.... Eid Mubarak to all my near and dear ones...

Yes, there are two occassions for me to celebrate this week. Id al Zuha and my blog’s first birthday comes on the same day. It has been exactly one year since I started my blog to share my recipes with all you friends. Ever since, I have got to meet very talented and creative people all around the world, got wonderful and lovely friends and learnt a whole lot of cooking, much more than I could ever imagine.

I reckon, my blogging idea started one day when I was preparing something in the kitchen and  my husband came and commented that I should start writing a blog since I spend a lot of my time google-ing recipes and reading the various blogs. At first I laughed it off, but after a few days, he himself took the initiative to start this blog and here I am.

I never imagined that my blog will have any followers or that anyone will comment on the posts :-) But today I am quite excited with the response I am getting from all of you. I would like to once again thank my inspiration and well-wisher, Nagalakshmi.

I got this home made blue berry jam which my husband’s colleague gifted him, when he was in US last month. I thought of making this cake since I always liked blue berry and wanted to do some recipes with it.

In this recipe, we can also use the whole blueberries. Blue berry is an excellent antioxidant.

Ingredients:

1. Blueberry jam / Crush / Whole berry - 4tbsp
2. Cream Cheese- 2cups
3. Whipping Cream- 1cup
4. Lemon Juice- 1tbsp
5. Sugar- ¼ cup
6. Vanilla Essence- 1tsp
7. Marie biscuits- 1pckt
8. Butter (melted)- 50gms
9. Cinnamon powder- 1tsp
10. Sugar- 3tbsp

Method:

1. Crush the marie biscuits with a rolling pin or in a food processor.
2. In this add the melted butter, cinnamon powder and sugar and crumble well till it resembles sand.
3. Press this onto the bottom of greased 9- inch spring form pan and chill in refrigerator.
4. Blend the cream cheese, whipping cream, lemon juice, sugar and vanilla essence until smooth. In this mix 3tbsp of blueberry jam.
5. Spread this over the refrigerated crumb base and smooth the edges with a spatula.
6. Keep this in the refrigerator overnoght or till it is completely set and firm.
7. Run  knive around the edges of the pan to loosen the cake. Release pan sides and t ransfer to a platter.
8. Decorate and enjoy yummy and creamy dessert.

Note:
If there are no berries, then we can simply make the cheese cake.