Soulful Creations

I promise.... Anyway a wise person once said- "A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand", and no, the wise person is not me! I made different kinds of cookies this past year and this post is kind of delayed. 1. The bell-shaped cookies are scraps from Linzer cookies I made- recipe source here . 2. Ooh, that is the box I hand delivered the cookies in... 3. Bottom left are the citrusy orange sable cookies- recipe source here . 4. The gorgeous Australian Pistachio-ginger melbas- recipe source here . I am sending the orange sable cookies and Pistachio melbas to the cookies and cakes event hosted by Mahima of Indian vegetarian kitchen . On to the recipes, shall we? Orange Sable cookies Ingredients 1 1/4 cups slivered almonds 1 cup confectioners' sugar 6 tbsp crisco and 6 tbsp unsalted butter  3 tbsp finely grated orange zest (2 to 3 oranges) 1 tsp clove powder 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg 1 large egg 1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice 1 1/2 c...

Hello everyone, Like most people, I am back after a short break. This past year has been wonderful in terms of the new recipes that I got to try and quality of my posts and photographs (even I could see some improvement!).  More than posting on my blog, I love reading post from great foodies- thank you to all those who keep my enthusiasm to cook going! I hope this continues on in 2010 too and that I become a better blogger in terms of my writing, photography and posting frequency. So let the fun begin y'all... If you ever get bored with my food blog, which I am sure happens once in a while, please do drop by my avatar's blog , I assure you not that, that would be any interesting either!

Oops, I forgot to post my day 4 recipe for the marathon, I did post day 5 with the chocolate cake! Anyway barring that mistake, this would be the day 6 of the marathon and the 11th in my books (confusing numbers eh?!) Well these are yet another batch of cookies that I made to be sent to friends this year- absolutely delicious people! A success story modified from the Martha Stewart recipe for Noel Nut balls , I am beginning to like her cookie recipes... Ingredients 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 1/2 cup vegetable shortening 2 tbsp honey 1 tsp orange juice 2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour 3/4 cup chopped pecans (best if chopped by hand) 1/2 cup sifted confectioners' sugar, plus more for rolling 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg 1/2 tsp clove powder Method Cream butter and honey until fluffy. Add orange juice, and beat to combine. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pecans, confectioners' sugar, and salt, nutmeg, clove powder. Add ...

If you are like me, the one thing that you cannot resist is a late-night-hot cuppa tea with beautiful butter biscuits from one of the street vendors, especially when you are travelling. When I was little, we used to go on long distance buses pretty often and the thing that I would always get when the bus makes a stop is hot milky chai and at least four of those salty butter biscuits. I have grown up with the flavour of these biscuits. And today I have attempted to recreate the flavour, thanks to the recipe for benne biscuits from the Foodie's Hope blog. I have modified some of the amounts in an attempt to make the biscuits a bit more salty. How to make them 1. Sift 1 cup plain/all purpose/Maida flour, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp of salt . 2. Cream 1/2 cup softened Butter and about 1/3 cup white Sugar until creamy and fluffy (I used a less than 1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons of sugar, well it was probably closer to half a cup!). 3. Add in the flour mix little b...