Vegan Peanut Butter Choco Chip Cookies | Eggless Cookies

Cookies are anytime snacks at home. The kids like to take some for their short (snack) break at school, and although I am not too fond of cookies, I make these sometimes and pack it especially for the little one. 

I had a jar of peanut butter and they didn't like quite as much as a sandwich (yes, my PB &J lover-readers will be disappointed!! sigh !) So, adapted this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie with my own changes, and these were truly melt-in-the-mouth cookies. 

I prefer the crunchy ones, so that's for another day. Surely was a hit with the kids, and I enjoyed making a small batch too. I might add in a tsp or two more of flour the next time to make it less crumbly (or perhaps that's how this recipe is meant to be!)

If you are a cookie fan, check out the following options:

Eggless Vanilla Butter Cookies with Tutti frutti & Chocochip

Eggless Choco Chip Badam Nankhatai

Choco Oatmeal Cookies

Eggless Wholewheat Custard Powder Coconut Cookies 

Baked Onion Crackers

Oats Butter Milk Crackers (Wholewheat, Butterfree & Eggless)

Let's get to the recipe: (1 cup = 200 ml)

Prep time : 15 mins, bake time : 10-12 mins per batch, made : 12 medium sized cookies

Dry ingredients:

Maida / APF - 3 TBSP (I would recommend 1 tsp more next time)

Baking soda - 3/4 tsp

Salt - a tiny pinch

Nutmeg powder - 1/16 tsp

cinnamon powder - 1/8 tsp

Wet ingredients:

Powdered jaggery - 1/3 cup ( you can use cane sugar or any other sweetener but results would vary)

Dark chocolate Chocochips - 2 tsp (optional)

Butterscotch chips - 1 tsp (opt.)

Peanut butter - 1/2 cup

Oil (any neutral oil) - 1 tsp

Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Sieve the dry ingredients thrice over. Pre heat oven to 175 C / 350F. Line a flat cookie tray with parchment or silpat. 

Mix all the wet ingredients leaving out the chocochips and the butterscotch chips. Add the dry ingredients and fold gently to make a soft dough. Add the butterscotch chips and gently mix (do not knead) till they come together,

freeze in a cling wrap for 30 mins (I didn't !)

Make small roundels and flatten with a spoon and mark out any design with the back of a fork,. arrange chocochips if using. Make similar cookies with the rest of the dough.

Bake for 8 mins and gently flip them over till they are done. leave them inside the oven once the baking time is over, they will firm up.

They make look raw, but they are done and melt in your mouth.

Oven Roasted Vegetable Soup | Kids Delight recipes

My kids are really fond of Soups. I make it regularly for them, and try to attempt a new soup every time, although both the kids have set preferences too like the elder one likes  Veg Manchow Soup and the little one's Tomato Veg Clear Soup . I was talking to Harini (a co-blogger) some time ago and she mentioned Oats as her favourite ingredient and that her go-to dish was soups that she enjoys .That got me to thinking that I must start using Oats regularly in my everyday meals (other than the Oats Ladoo, Oats Masala Vadai, Oats Dosa, Oats Pongal I usually make). I personally prefer the Corn- Spinach Soup

Till I get to that stage, this week I present three kid-approved family recipes that we all love. The last is this delicious Oven Roasted Veggie soup thats packed with so much nutrition and fibre, it could become a meal by itself for weightwatchers and/ or diabetics as its fibre-rich, almost no fat and filling too. 

Note to self : I would add powdered Oats to this the next time I make it , but for now we truly enjoy this power packed soup that we had with Roasted Garlic Focaccia.

I thought I would  post a separate DIY post on how to roast veggies in an oven, but for now I have used the roasted veggies that I made the previous day.

Prep time : 10 mins (with previously roasted veggies) ; Cook time : 10 mins, Serves : 2

Ingredients:
Roasted Veggies - 2 cups
Unsalted homemade Veg Stock - 1 cup (200 ml)
Salt and pepper - to taste

To roast the veggies (Time taken : Prep + bake : 1 hour)
Cubed / pitted veggies (I used a mix of squash, peppers, carrots, onions and tomatoes) - 3 cups (approx 500g)
Olive oil - 3 tsp
Crushed pepper and salt - to taste

Preheat oven to 200 C / 400 F. In a bowl, add all the veggies, oil, salt and pepper and shake well. Roast for upto 45 mins (or an hour) till the veggies shrivel well (toss them intermittently).  Cool well.

To make the soup:
In a blender, add the roasted veggies in batches, add as much stock as required. Blend into a smooth puree. Adjust thickness to your taste.
In a saucepan, simmer the soup / broth for 1-2 mins till warm. Stir in salt, pepper and any other seasonings as you choose

Tip:
You could add cream to make it richer. The choice of veggies is totally upto you, only tomatoes or bell peppers alone can be grilled to make this soup.  
   

Creamy Corn Cheese Crackers - Jain style | Easy appetisers

Kids love finger food & I love to make them too :  totally non-messy, filling, easy to make and easier to feed fussy kids. We made this one weekend, and it vanished within seconds. My little one is turning to be an absolute sweet-corn fan, and she loved it. I have kept the spice level low, but feel free to add tabasco, paprika or any spice to crank up the heat for adults. 

Check out similar party snacks / finger foods:

Beetroot Cutlet

Bread Dahi Wada

Oats Sprouts Tikki

Baked Paneer Corn Kebab

Vegetarian Shammi Kebabs

Dahi Ke kabab

Paneer Chilly bites

and 50+ varieties of appetisers / snacks 

Let's get to today's recipe. Making this Jain / satvik is totally optional, but we liked this.

Prep time : 10 mins, no cook, Makes : 12 portions.

You would need:

Cheese crackers / Graham crackers - 12 nos.

Fresh American corn / sweet corn - 2/3 cup (not boiled corn)

Bell peppers chopped-  1/4 cup (use multicoloured to make them more appealing)

Tomato ketchup - 1 TBSP

Salt and pepper - to taste

Deseeded tomatoes - chopped fine - 2 tsp

Grated cheese - 1/3 cup (I used black pepper flavoured, but you can go with any variety)

Olive oil - 1 TBSP

Method:

Blitz the corn to a coarse mixture leaving some kernels whole (this takes less than 5 seconds)

In a large bowl, add this and all other ingredients. Mix well.

Spoon them onto individual crackers and serve immediately.

Sending to BM # 81 under "Kid’s Delight – Anniversary Party potluck"

Lemon Fresca | Easy Mocktail | Party Ideas

What's a party without a few coolers ? Check out a few kid-approved Party ideas this week. Today's Mocktail can be made sugar free too. This was made by my elder one herself, and is a quick one to make for unexpected guests or for parties too. 

If you are still planning your Diwali / Xmas party menu, here's a list of mocktails / coolers you can make for your guests.:

Sugarfree GInger-Fruit Mocktail

Sugarfree Muskmelon & Cucumber Cooler

Nam Mengluck - Thai Basil Seeds Drink

Cucumber Peach Sangria | Non Alcoholic Cooler

 Sugarfree Kiwi Basil Smoothie

Orange Tea Mint Cooler | Sugarfree Mocktails | 

Sugarfree Peach and Cucumber Smoothie

SugarFree Carrot-Raisin-Ginger Smoothie 

So, lets get to today's drink - Lemon Fresca. In Spanish, agua fresca (plural aguas frescas) means a beverage consisting of water and sugar with fruits, grains, or seeds added for flavouring.

Prep time : 5 min, Chill time : 30 min+, serves : 2

Lightly sugary Lemon syrup - 2 TBSP

Sprite / sparkling water - 200 ml

Chilled water (plain) - 50 ml

Lemon rind + peel - frozen for 10 mins

Torn mint leaves + crushed ice = for garnish

In a cocktail shaker or a steel flask, shake the ice, mint, lemon syrup and chilled plain water vigourously.Split into the two glasses, top with sprite and crushed ice, lemon rind + peel 

Serve immediately.

Sending to BM # 81 under "Kid’s Delight – Anniversary Party potluck"