Chocolate khoya peda

Happy Deepavali!
Renewing my blogging after a long gap on this festive day. I tried out the chocolate peda with homemade khoya with inspiration from Raks kitchen recipe. This recipe turned out to be a quick and easy one and well suited my limited time for festive preparation due to work and home.

Homemade khoya ingredients:

Non fat milk powder.               - 1 1/2 cups
Whey protein.                            - 1/2 cup
Milk.                                             - 1/2 cup
Ghee(clarified butter)               - 2 tbsp

Ingredients for peda:

Homemade khoya                        - 2 cups
Unsweetened cocoa powder      - 1 tsp
Sugar.                                              - 1/4 cup
Ghee or butter                                - 1 tsp
Elaichi powder.                              - 1 tsp(2-3 elaichis)
Almonds(chopped).                      - 1/4 cup
Salt.(optional)                                - a small pinch
Toasted Pistachios( chopped)    - 1 tbsp


Steps to make Khoya:

Heat the milk and the ghee in a pan just enough to start boiling. Take off heat. In a bowl add the milk powder and whey protein powder and mix well. Add the warm milk to this milk powder mix and stir till it all blends into one thick mass. This can be made  into desired shape hile warm and refrigerated for future use. As it cools it will retain that shape.

Steps to make peda:

Heat a thick bottomed vessel in low heat. Add the khoya, cocoa powder, sugar, almonds, ghee and elaichi powder. If the mixture is too thick add 1-2 tsp of milk or water as desired. Mix them well to remove all lumps and to form one smooth mixture. Raise the heat to medium and keep stirring.Once the mixture becomes more of a liquid reduce the heat. The mixture will thickens, at this point add the salt. Stir until the mixture leaves the bottom and sides of the pan as one whole solid mass. Switch off the heat and transfer to another flat plate or pan to let it cool.
Once cool enough to handle, grease your hands and start rolling them into balls and place them on a parchment paper. Flatten them into 1/4 inch thick circles. Decorate the center with chopped pistachios. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour before serving.

Tips:

1. The original recipe for khoya suggested using full fat milk powder.
2. Whey protein was an optional addition which I tried, if you dont have it you can just use milk powder.
3. I refrigerated the mixture for about 15-20 minutes before rolling them.
4. Allow the mixture to cool well before rolling into balls else it will be hard to shape it.
5. Reduce heat of pan once mixture thickens to avoid clumping and the mixture burning or becoming harder in texture.
6. Transfer to plate in room temperature or you can chill the plate before transfering from pan. This will stop the cooking in the mixture and get you the right texture for shaping.

Ginger snap cookies

With the cold weather already settling in early this year it is time to get the baking recipes started and light up the fireplace.I started off my first cookie baking this year with ginger snaps.

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour       - 1 1/2 cups

All purpose flour         - 1/2 cup

Soy flour                     - 1/4 cup

Baking powder           - 1 tsp

Nutmeg powder          - 1 tsp

Black pepper powder - 1 tsp

Cocoa powder            - 1 tbsp

Fresh ginger               -  1 tbsp( grated)

Brown palm sugar     - 3/4 cup

White sugar               - 1/4 cup

Large egg                   - 1

Butter                         - 1 stick

Oil                              - 3 tbsp

Almond milk             - 1/4 to 1/2 cup

Salt                            - 1 tsp

Leave the butter out in room temperature for half hour. Powder the brown sugar.

Add all the dry ingredients together in the food processor and blend well. Now add the melted butter, oil and the egg yo the dry ingredients. Let them blend well. Add the milk and run the processor in dough setting for a couple of minutes until it forms a soft dough. 

Take the dough out and refrigerate it for an hour to two wrapped in cling wrap or a tight container.

Pre-heat oven to 375 F.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it into one inch balls and flatten it to 1/2 inch thickness on a baking tray. Bake it for 12-15 minutes. Makes about 40 cookies.

Recipe source:

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2011/11/gingersnaps/

Almond-cashew Chocolate butter

Ingredients

Cashews(toasted)                 - 1 cup
Almonds(toasted)                 - 1 cup
Salt                                       - 1tsp
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1 tbsp
Olive oil                                - 2 tsps

Pulse the cashew and almonds together in the food processor until finely chopped. Pulse into finer pieces adding the cocoa powder.

Then add the salt and pulse until a smooth paste. Finally add the oil and pulse for a few seconds.

 

 Tips:
1. You can use raw cashews and almonds to avoid using the oil.
2. I added 1/2 tsp of water in the final pulse as mine was a little dry.
3. You can add 1-2 tsps of honey or sugar if you want a sweet taste to the butter.