Recipes

Crock-Pot chose my original recipe as a first place win! It’s a warmer and goo-ee-er version of the Rustic Apple cake I’ve been making for years. It’s slow cooked, warm, spicy, and spiked. I’m certain the use of whole wheat flour is what makes this dessert so delicious. I can’t wait for the mailman to arrive with my prize package. 🙂 I hope you will enjoy this steamed in the crock-pot cake!

We call it Indian Rice Pudding in American but it’s more like a cold soup. I’m sharing with you a traditional recipe from one of my favorite cook books.

The movie Monsoon Wedding got me thinking about Indian food. It’s about an arranged marriage in India during the monsoon season which is usually in July. What I loved most about the movie was the portrayal of the leading men (the groom and the brides father.) They were handsome and honorable.

I watched it over three nights. It wasn’t a long movie but it was a busy week.

The book I picked from my collection to match this movie was originally published in 1973 by Madhur Jaffrey. This is a copy of the first printing.

I love this book. I’m not selling it in my Etsy shop, it stays with me! But I’m sure you can find a copy out there. The writing is so real and authentic. Look at what she says… Don’t you dare call it rice pudding! Ha! But does “rice pudding” sound so much better than “Cold Cardamom Basmati Soup?” How could our American taste buds relate? Pronounced KEY-EAR or KEEHD or rhymes with HERE if you don’t have a good Indian accent, which I don’t. 🙂

I just stared at the page when I read the recipe. How could this be? One Tablespoon of rice? HUH? When I made this recipe, I made half, just to be sure not to waste too much milk in case this was some type of publishing error. But it wasn’t. Count on the recipe to make 2-3 servings, max. It was difficult to find pistachios that were unsalted. So I bought salted, and then rinsed them in hot water. It worked just fine. I sprinkled some on top like the recipe specifies but really that crunch was too much. If you put them all in when it’s hot, they soften and are so delicious in the kheer by the time it’s chilled and ready to serve. This is really like a cold soup, often it is considered a milky pudding but not thick at all like the pudding we know. Let’s just stop calling it pudding right now! Ha Ha.

This was a simple twist today on the classic recipe below. I pureed some nice ripe mango and swirled it on the top. I also chose to use Basmati rice. Cardamom is a must and Vark is something I can’t seem to get my hands on. I found the closest thing to an earthenware bowl I could find. Whallah!

My Mom and I used to go to an Indian restaurant in Topeka and for dessert I usually got the kheer with a little dollop of mango ice cream. Something about kheer and mango, it’s a harmony of flavor.

A few minutes ago I sat in the kitchen, … relaxed in the dimness of a rainy evening. I’m pondering love and all the ways it evokes and evolves, or dissolves. That Movie, this Recipe….and ENJOYED every spoonful of this classic and flavorful Indian dessert.

Be sure to use Basmati rice and Whole Milk. 🙂 To reduce the cost, you can use some ground Cardamom to taste in place of the pods.

The EASIEST ONE-BOWL Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe that uses part butter and part margarine for a crisp edge and chewy center.

Most recipes on the web, claiming to be the “BEST” are made with ONLY butter. I like to use butter AND margarine. The reason I started using part margarine is that even though the all-butter recipes are divine when they first come out of the oven, by the next day they are crispy like potato chips. Also, I find the all-butter a bit too greasy on the corners of my mouth.

In my mind, The perfect chocolate chip cookie is gently crisp on the edges, but not greasy, and chewy-soft on the inside, even the next day. I’ve been making my Chocolate Chip Cookies this way for about 20 years.

No, no vanilla extract. But add it if you like!

No sifting, no hand-mixer…Just put all of the ingredients in the bowl and mix with a wooden spoon. I use no fancy flour and no waiting by the freezer. The only tools are 1) A cookie scoop 2) and a baking mat OR Parchment paper (not waxed paper). If you don’t have either of those, some Pam Baking Spray will be fine too.

Once I started using parchment paper, I was hooked. It makes everything so much easier. CLEANER. Not just cookies, but for meat loaf, baked chicken, you name it. No more scrubbing pans and soaking them in the sink. Then, out came the BAKING MAT. (When I first wrote this blog post over a decade ago, baking mats were just not a thing.)

The cookie scoop isn’t REALLY necessary but it will make all of your cookies the exact same size resulting in a batch of cookies uniform in color and texture. It’s an inexpensive kitchen staple.

*Remember that cookies continue to bake on the sheet from the bottom up for about 2 minutes after you pull them from the oven, so you might want to pull them out right before you think they are golden.

“I LIKE” CHOCOLATE: I like semi-sweet. I like the mini-chips. I like Dove dark chocolate bars chopped up. Anything goes! What do you like? Put it in there! I like equal parts chocolate chips, equal part cookie. But some like chunks of chocolate with just cookie holding it all together. So I will let you decide how much chocolate you like! B

Let’s get the word out that part butter/part margarine chocolate chip cookies are the best! 🙂