Meenal Jhala

I was delighted that Rachana and Adi were coming home for the first time. I had only met Rachana at my aunt’s place, which was like her second home. My aunt, who is no more and she were dear friends. My aunt and I were very close too. She is the inspiration behind my love of baking. So when Rachana said she wanted to come home with her hubby I was happy. She got some prasad, homemade sheera for mom and dad and me, it was so tasty. And we had Bhel puri for dinner and then coffee and chocolates afterwards.

Here’s the recipe of the chocolates I made as an after dinner treat. They’re yum, if I may say so myself. You’ve got to make them at home.

Makes 10

Ingredients

150 gms marzipan ( you can take the marzipan recipe from my blog)

1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts + 10 halves for decoration

150 gms melted dark chocolate

Method

1 Mix the chopped walnuts into the marzipan.

2 Shape the marzipan into a 9 inch log.

3 With a sharp oiled knife chop the log into 10 even pieces.

4 Dip each piece into the melted chocolate covering the marzipan completely.

5 Before the chocolate covering dries stick a walnut half onto the marzipan. Leave to dry

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week but they will be gone long before that!

Peace, such a common word but so important, especially in these turbulent times. Now just imagine that you could help in bringing peace to the world. Yes you can, one cookie at a time.

Dorie Greenspan who’s wonderful recipe this is, says-

“The original recipe for these cookies was given to me by my friend, Pierre Hermé, the wonderful Parisian pastry chef.  In the cookies’ first incarnation, they were called Sablés Chocolats, or chocolate shortbread.  In their second, the one in which chopped chocolate was added to the sweet/salty dough, they were dubbed Sables Korova and were served at the Paris restaurant of the same name.  Finally, a neighbor of mine gave them the name they truly deserve:  World Peace Cookies.  He was convinced that if everyone in the world could have these cookies, there would be planetary peace.  I hope he’s right.  What I know for sure is that everyone who has these cookies smiles and smiles are pretty powerful”.

So bring a smile to somebody’s face this Christmas by making these absolutely delicious cookies, smiles and happiness as opposed to hate are a sign of peace in the world. Make these wonderful cookies today.

And the good news is, they don’t have eggs in them so if you don’t eat eggs like some Gujaratis where I live, this recipe is reason to cheer!

Here is the recipe

Makes 30 cookies

Ingredients

1/4 cups (170 gms) all purpose flour

1/3 cup (30 gms) cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons (155 gms) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup (135 gms) packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup (50 gms) sugar

1/2 teaspoon fleur del sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

5 ounces (140 gms) bittersweet chocolate chopped into smaller than 1/3 inch pieces

Method

1 Sift and mix the all purpose flour, cocoa powder and baking soda.

2 Beat the butter and sugars till soft and creamy.

3 Add the salt and vanilla extract to the butter sugar mixture and beat until incorporated.

4 Gently fold in the flours until just mixed. Don’t overmix.

5 Add the chocolate pieces and mix until just incorporated.

6 Put the dough on a work surface and divide into half. Roll each half into a log measuring 1 1/2 inches (4 cms ) in diameter. Wrap  the logs in plastic tightly and twist the ends and keep in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months).

7 Heat the oven to 165 degrees C (325 degrees F) with a rack in the center. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.

8 Using a sharp knife to slice the logs into 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) rounds. If the rounds crack while cutting them, don’t worry, just press the bits back together. Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, about 5 cms apart. Keep the remaining dough chilled until you are ready to bake the next batch.

9 Bake the cookies one batch at a time for 12 minutes. When done, they won’t look done or even feel firm to the touch. Let the cookies cool. Serve warm or let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Marzipan is used to make delicious sweets and as a filling or encasing for cakes and chocolates. It is said to have first been made in the Middle East and then travelled to Spain. In India the Portuguese brought marzipan to Goa, but this is a different kind, one made with cashew nuts, not almonds.

Marzipan is mostly made with a combination of sugar and almond flour or ground almonds. The ratio of sugar to almonds varies from place to place. Usually marzipan has a greater ratio of sugar to almond flour, than almond paste in which the sugar content is less or equal to the quantity of almond flour.

Homemade marzipan is so much better than the store bought variety. Because, you know what ingredients go into making homemade marzipan as opposed to store bought, which may be mixed with cheaper ingredients or plain adulterated.

In this post I will share 3 recipes for marzipan, in fact they are links to excellent, easy, doable marzipan recipes on the net. All three are recipes for vegan marzipan. One is a regular vegan marzipan, the other is the Goanese type, and the third is a sugar free marzipan. Check out all three and decide which one you’d like to make this Christmas.

Here are the links:

This is a recipe from a blog, the idea of which I like a lot. Going slow and environment consciousness.

Here is the Goanese recipe with cashew nuts for the base.

Here is a wonderful recipe for sugar free marzipan.

So go ahead and make some delicious sweets and desserts this Christmas for your loved ones.