Tag: baking

Bhune Murgh ki Biryani … delicious one pot rice & chicken Indian meal

“Some foods are so comforting, so nourishing of body and soul, that to eat them is to be home again after a long journey.”
Eli Brown

Bhune Murgh ki Biryani  … fragrant, rich, flavoursome yet very homey. This one pot layered biryani was indeed a surprise, a biryani that cooked up quiet well for once. I have a love/hate relationship with making biryanis, often ending up in a puddle of tears. They never come out the way I’d like them to look and taste, and I had all but given up. This one recipe has given me immense confidence!It’s thanks to this cookbook from Notion Press, A Culinary Journey for the Love of Biryani, that I tasted success. Yet I want to talk about Notion Press first as they offer the novel concept of self publishing in India. It is startups like these that are changing the way books are created. Notion Press is a publishing platform for authors from India that helps create, publish, and distribute print and eBooks. In an attempt to make publishing as easy as possible, they offer a variety of customized publishing solutions. I’m already tempted to say the least, but now, back to the cookbook on hand.I love the feel of a good cookbook and the cover image and design had me immediately interested. Don’t judge a book by the cover they might say, but that’s exactly what I did. It’s a warm , yet beautifully styled cover which tells the story to perfection, spices and all. I couldn’t find credits for the image {maybe I missed it}, but I sorely missed more images within. A single image is not enough to whet my visual appetite…The paper feels good. Quality is important and it’s been taken care of well. The biryani cookbook offers over 100 ‘tantalizing’ recipes, and I have to agree since what I cooked was very promising indeed. Co-authored by Tanuj Singh and Varuna Mathur, it has a good narrative. The foreword is a great read, followed by notes to the readers; light-hearted warm, very homely, very interactive. It leads you to the kitchen and gets you playing with pots and pans almost immediately!
I bookmarked a few recipes, and have to say that the book is not error free. I  think perhaps with self publishing, the onus lies on the content writer, not the publisher. The book would improve with better editing and grammar checks. A couple of recipes skipped the meat altogether. The ingredients are not uniform across the book; sometimes in weight, sometimes a measures, other times a number. Also some capitals, some not is a bit of a distraction. Most importantly, the number of servings are missing across the book. The new cook will certainly be at sea as he/she attempts to guess how many mouths the recipe caters to. And of course, more pictures please. That said, the book is still a keeper!
Finally zeroed down to the Bhune Murgh ki Biryani, trying to play it safe, well aware of my past biryani disasters. The introduction had me smiling. “If ingredients could make a dish, this is one of the top variants in the list. With rice being cooked in cardamom, and chicken in whole spices, cashew and khus khus paste provide that richness and a crunchy edge to the dish thereby rendering it as a pretty common home-style“.For me it turned out to be pretty uncommon and quite a lot of fun. As they say in the notes, the book is “about perceiving cooking as an emerging process with no guidelines, no limitations but loads of creativity and fun.” That was so me, and just what I did. I took shortcuts to the steps, for eg, added whole cardamom to the water to cook rice in. I ground the onion and cashew together with the poppy seeds. I browned the onions first and then cooked the chicken in the same wok and remaining fat to simplify things. I finally baked the biryani layered in a ‘lagan‘ or Indian copper pot in a low oven for about 45 minutes. It still worked well.I am proud to say I have salvaged my reputation quite a bit with this Bhune Murgh ki Biryani from the book. Needless to say, I am already itching to try another one. I find biryanis most comforting, a one pot meal that hold eternal charm, hold nostalgic memories, and are ever so satisfying. The book also includes a few biryani recipes from around the globe which are interestingly unique in their own ways – Durban Biryani, Irani Biryani, Nasi Biryani, Swahili Biryani to name  few. It’s a good book to have on hand. Cuts out the work for weekend lunches! Oh and it offers a variety of pilafs, vegetarian biryanis  and accompaniments too.
My next biryani might be the Kashmiri Biryani or the Matka Murgh Biryani. Perhaps the Sri Lankan Muttom Biryani or Kolkata Biryani. Gosh, the book actually spoils you for choice! You can find it here – A Culinary Journey for the Love of Biryani

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Bhune Murgh ki Biryani {roasted chicken biryani}

The Bhune Murgh ki Biryani is a one pot comfort meal, rich, flavourful and homely. The flavours tease the palette and the chicken is beautifully spiced. It turned out to be deliciously good, and quite a keeper from the biryani cookbook. Be light on the spices if you are cooking for the first time, or like mild food. {Minimally adapted from 'A Culinary Journey for the Love of Biryani'}
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Rice

  • 1 kg basmati rice
  • 8-10 green cardamoms powdered
  • 2 tbsp salt as per taste

Bhuna Chicken

  • 1 kg chicken breast diced in bite sized piece
  • 50 g ginger grated
  • 6-8 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 tsp carom seeds {ajwain}
  • 5-7 onions ground to a paste
  • 50 g cashewnuts ground to a paste
  • 2 tbsp poppy seeds {khus khus} ground to a paste
  • 5-6 tbsp garam masala
  • 3-4 tbsp Kashmiri red chili powder

For frying onions

  • 4 tbsp clarified butter {ghee}
  • 3-4 large onions sliced

For layering dum

  • 5-6 strands saffron soaked in1/2 cup warm milk
  • 2 tbsp clarified butter {ghee}
  • Fried onion slices

Notes

  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Clarified butter {desi ghee} for cooking}
  • Spice content might be adjusted as per taste {I did use a lot less}

Instructions

Rice

  • Wash and soak rice for an hour. Meanwhile, boil some water in a vessel and add salt and green cardamom to it. {I used whole cardamoms}. Once the rice is 3/4th cooked, drain it and keep aside.

Fried onions

  • Heat ghee in a deep wok and fry the sliced onions until golden brown. Drain and reserve. Use remaining ghee for cooking chicken, adding more if required. {This is what I did. The instructions are missing from the recipe}

Bhuna Chicken

  • Heat ghee in a deep kadhai/wok and add grated ginger, garlic, whole red peppers and carom seeds. As the garlic gets brown, add the onion paste and fry. Mix in the cashews and khus khus paste and continue to fry. Sprinkle garam masala powder and Kashmiri red pepper powder and mix it well. Cook until the fat starts showing at the surface, adding water occasionally as required.
  • Add the chicken pieces and let them cook over high flame till the chicken is cooked. Stir as needed. {I cooked over high heat for 5 minutes, then covered and simmered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until done}.

Layer the dum {slow cooking}

  • Once the chicken is cooked, add the rice to cover the chicken masala. Sprinkle the saffron and milk mixture on it along with some ghee and fried onions. Cover the lid and cook on 'dum' for 15 minutes. Serve hot.

Notes

  • I layered the chicken masala and rice for final 'dum' {slow cooking} in a heavy bottom metal 'lagan' / pot, dotted it with ghee, sprinkled over the soaked saffron and milk, topped it with fried onions, and sealed the mouth with heavy duty aluminium foil. Baked it at 150C for an hour.
  • I reserved some fried onions for garnishing, and served the biryani with a garlic raita/spiced garlic yogurt.

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake with Wine Macerated Strawberries

So much chocolate. So little time!

Dark Chocolate Cheesecake with Wine Macerated Strawberries is really as good as it sounds and looks, and tastes even better. The cheesecake is a chocolate lovers delight – deep, dark, rich, sensuous, indulgent, sinful. With so many superlatives, I might well throw another in. It’s dead S I M P L E too! Make it ASAP and you’ll know just what I mean.It’s a recipe I’ve minimally adapted from Ruchira @ Cookaroo. She’s quite the best ‘chef’ I know. Her recipes are always quick, simple and foolproof. I’ve made this Dark Chocolate Cheesecake before and it was SO GOOD that I couldn’t wait to make it again.The recipe now lives in my head. I go about tweaking it here and there depending on what I have on hand. It’s a keeper!  Minimal fuss, maximum taste! I throw it together in my Thermomix and it takes under 20 minutes to come together. I used digestive biscuits the last time. Didn’t have digestives on hand this time, so I threw in Hobnobs instead. Just as good! I do a lot of chocolate desserts, simple ones mostly. Simple recipes like these leave you a lot of time to think about what more you can do. I could have just gone naked {ahem} with the cheesecake, but a luscious rich chocolate ganache takes this beautiful Dark Chocolate Cheesecake to a delicious new level. How could I skip it. The cake was for a birthday, so now something had to be celebratory, I mean a little more celebratory. Also, so much time on hand makes me fidgety. I just have to do something more!

I thought maybe salter butter caramel and had visions of gooey goodness dripping off the edges. Yet when I opened the fridge, I saw a box of juicy fresh strawberries and I knew I had to have them on some way. Maybe do strawberries in balsamic vinegar? No, no, strawberries in red wine screamed the bottle of Shiraz at me.You might remember these Lamb Chops with Red Wine I made recently, best I’ve ever made. Rosemary, garlic, and a limited edition Shiraz came together ever so beautifully to create this dish with so much character and loads of depth. There was some wine left over, so red wine macerated strawberries it was going to be.Anything on my kitchen counter becomes an ingredient in my recipes. Loads of fresh oranges and star anise sitting pretty on the counter could only mean one thing. They would help flavour my macerated strawberries. In went the zest of an orange and a few star anise. They created delightful undertones as you can well imagine.The result was a flavoursome, beautifully coloured red wine topping which tastes as good as it looks. Here you go, the recipe is a must try. For me, it’s the only chocolate cheesecake recipe I’ll ever need! Thank you Ruchira ♥!

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Dark Chocolate Cheesecake Red wine macerated strawberries

Dark, divine, sinful, creamy, chocolaty and above all, as simple as can be, this Dark Chocolate Cheesecake will leave you wanting for more. Recipe minimally adapted from Ruchira @ thegreatcookaroo.com. You won’t need another recipe ever! Can be made 2-3 days ahead of time.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 13 hours 10 minutes
Servings 8 people

Ingredients

Biscuit base

  • 150 g Hobnobs or digestive​ biscuits​
  • 30 g cocoa powder
  • 20 g organic jaggery granules
  • 50 g butter

Dark Chocolate Filling

  • 200 g dark couverture chocolate melted
  • 300 g cream cheese
  • 200 ml single cream
  • 30 g cup cocoa
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 90 g organic jaggery granules

Ganache

  • 100 g 52% couverture
  • 100 ml single cream

Red wine macerated strawberries

  • 250 g strawberries chopped
  • 50-75 g brown sugar
  • 2-3 star anise
  • zest of one orange
  • 100 ml red wine
  • 40 ml orange juice

Instructions

Biscuit base

  • Whiz the biscuits, brown sugar and cocoa in food processor until you get a fine meal. Add butter, whiz again to mix. Press into 8″ loose bottom tin. Chill in the freezer while you get the filling ready, and the oven preheats.

Dark Chocolate Filling

  • Preheat oven to 160C.
  • Place all ingredients of the filling in bowl of food processor, and blend well to mix, 1-2 minutes on medium speed.
  • Pour into crust, and bake for an hour. Leave to cool in the oven, then cover and chill for 4-6 hours, better overnight.

Red Wine Macerated Strawberries

  • in a non reactive bowl, put in the strawberries, star anise, orange zest and brown sugar. Stir to mix, then pour in the wine. Stand covered in the fridge overnight.
  • Discard the star anise, and strain the strawberries. Reserve in a bowl. Place wine in a small saucepan with a quarter cup orange juice, and simmer until thick and syrupy. taste and adjust sweetness if required. Cool slightly, then pour over the strawberries.
  • Ladle the strawberries over the ganache. If the syrup is thin, reduce it further until nice and thick. Cool and pour over strawberries.

Ganache

  • Place chocolate and cream in a heatproof bowl. Heat in microwave for 1 minute. Whisk​ with a balloon whisk​ until smooth. Cool about 30 minutes, then whisk​ again​. Chill until a little f​irm. Whisk once again till glossy and smooth, and holds peaks. Spread over​ chilled cheesecake.

Baking | Cheesy Chicken Pot Pies … comfort food for the holidays with #bigbanyanwines

 “Pie makes everybody happy.”
Laurie Halse Anderson

These Cheesy Chicken Pot Pies were waiting to happen for really really long. I haven’t made a chicken pot pie in years, and it’s the one thing that is oft requested by the kids. Maybe it was pure ‘make the pastry’ laziness, or just too much to do, it just kept getting postponed. Then yesterday, these very comforting pot pies puffed up in the oven. Funnily enough, the impetus came from a bottle of wine!

The Chardonnay from Big Banyan Wines sat calling my name. I’ve read about wine marinades for poultry and lamb, and the idea is always intriguing. I had some chicken waiting for a marinade, and one thing led to another. Soon I had a concoction in a bottle, a wine marinade/dressing! The rest of the partners in crime in the Cheesy Chicken Pot Pies were staple favourites like garlic, thyme and cheese, and seasonal favourites carrots and kohlrabi. Sweetcorn too.I use a basic marinade most of the time and various permutations and combinations of it depending on time, and then mood of course. A 3:1 extra virgin olive oil and lime juice always works well to begin with. Garlic is a must in my food, so naturally the same follows for dressings. I always have a jar of peeled garlic in the fridge because I do believe freshly minced garlic offers the best flavour. Then I add and subtract pantry basics at will. Honey and mustard add a nice touch to vinaigrette, as do dried herbs. Remember to gently rub the herbs between the palms of your hands to make the flavours come alive a little more. You could always add a dash of Tabasco or then roasted chili flakes. As I said, I do keep my food simple and basic. This time I decided to go with wine instead of the lime juice for the marinade. It’s the same way that you can use a vinegar instead of lime juice. Time is a great luxury. It allows you to endlessly play around with ingredients, also endlessly shoot images if you enjoy that. That is just what I did.The rest was quite straightforward. I made a wholewheat rough puff pastry dough for Cheesy Chicken Pot Pies. Tossed the idea back and forth. Did I want a ‘pot pie’ or did I want a crossover pastry? It’s tough when you get caught in the middle of silly indecision like this. A little wine always helps to clear the mind, which it certainly did! Some in a glass, some in the marinade and it was pot pie with a tiny lattice on top.

There is something intrinsically therapeutic about weaving a lattice for a pie if you know what I mean. Even the unbaked version feels so rewarding it’s amazing. Revising pastry weaving after what feels like ages, I was a bit unsure. However once I began, I felt I could practically weave the world! Happily enough, my wholewheat puff pastry also behaved really well. The result, a bowl scraping good delicious Cheesy Chicken Pot Pie!

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Cheesy Chicken Pot Pies

With a filling of chicken marinated with @bigbanyanwines, carrots, kohlrabi and cheese of course, these Cheesy Chicken Pot Pies turned out wickedly good! Did I tell you that the rough puff pastry is wholegrain? Yes it is and worked very well especially with the wine marinated chicken.
Course Main Course, Snack
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Marinade

  • 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup Big Banyan Wines Chardonnay
  • 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
  • 1/2 tsp rock salt

Pastry

  • 100 g wholewheat flour
  • 100 g plain flour
  • 100 g butter 1/4" pieces
  • Juice of 1/2 lime
  • Pinch salt
  • Ice water as required

Filling

  • 4 chicken thighs
  • 1 tbsp clarified butter/ghee
  • 3 cloves garlic chopped
  • 4-5 garlic greens chopped
  • 1/2 tsp roasted red chili flakes
  • 1 tsp dried thyme, or few sprigs fresh
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 2 carrots chopped
  • 2 kohlrabi chopped
  • 1 cup frozen sweet corn
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • 1 cup milk
  • 100 g smoky Gouda grated

Instructions

Marinade

  • Marinade: Place in a bottle and shake well. Use as required.

Filling

  • Take approximately 1/2 cup of the dressing and marinate the thighs for a couple of hours, preferably overnight.
  • Place flat in a heavy bottom pan over medium high heat and cook until done, turning once. Reserve pan juices if any.
  • Remove the cooked chicken from the pan, chop up and reserve.
  • Wipe down same pan, and heat 1 tbsp clarified butter.
  • Add garlic, garlic greens, roasted red chili flakes, dried thyme and onions to it.
  • Saute until fragrant. Add the carrots and kohlrabi and give it a good stir. Then add 1 tbsp plain flour and give it another good stir.
  • Lower heat to minimum, and pour in pan juices if any and 1/2 to 3/4 cup of whole milk, stirring constantly. Increase heat and continue to stir until the sauce thickens.
  • Add chicken and sweetcorn. Taste and adjust seasoning. Take off heat and stir in grated cheese.
  • Divide into 4 X 4" baking dishes. Allow to cool.
  • Preheat oven to 200C.
  • Divide the chilled pastry into two. Work with one half at a time, keeping the other covered and chilled.
  • Roll out into a long thin 12" by 6" rectangle. Cut into strips with a fluted pastry cutter and weave a lattice on top of one bowl then another. Repeat with the remaining dough to make a lattice for the other two pies.{Can be readied until this, cling-wrapped and chilled. Pop into the oven just before the meal}
  • Reduce heat to 180C and bake for 30 minutes until the lattice is crisp.
  • Serve immediately or at room temperature.

Pastry

  • Sift the flours and salt. Grate 80g of the frozen butter into this and mix lightly.Add the lime juice and enough chilled water using a knife, stir the flour and water together until a dough begins to form. Now use your hands to bring it into a ball {You might need a little more water}. Press into a neat square, wrap it in cling film, and chill for 30 minutes.
  • Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle with a long edge 3 times its width. Grate the remaining butter and spread it evenly over 2/3rds of the rectangle.Take the third which is not sprinkled, and fold it over the middle of the buttered part, then fold the two layers over the remaining single layer. You will be left with 3 layers of pastry and 2 layers of butter separating them.
  • Turn the pastry by 90 degrees. Dust with flour and roll out into same proportions as first rectangle.Take one of the short sides and fold it over to reach the middle of the remaining part of the pastry. Fold the remaining third on top of the first one to get 3 layers on top of each other. Wrap pastry in cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
  • Repeat again 2 more times, and chill for at least an hour. The pastry will keep in the fridge for 4 days, and in the freezer for a month.

Smoky Baked Mushroom Cheese Dip with #bigbanyanwines for the holidays

“Wine is just a conversation waiting to happen.”
Jessica Altieri

Smoky Baked Mushroom Cheese Dip is a definite crowd pleaser, and a great addition to the holiday table. Smoky Gouda, wine simmered mushrooms, garlic and fresh thyme make one of the best cheesy dips ever. Baked briefly under a hot grill until the cheese melts into gooey goodnes. Serve immediately with simple crusty artisan bread to soak up the wine juices and deliciously flavoured cheese.Think of cooking with wine and the mind often wanders into the sweet tooth territory. As much as I love working with wine in bakes and desserts, my taste buds are definitely savoury. Begin to explore savoury options with wine and suddenly new avenues open up. The list seems endless. Here’s one super quick, simple  and absolutely delicious recipe to stir up with wine. I used a really nice crisp Sauvignon  Blanc from Big Banyan Wines, and baked a rustic garlic and thyme bread to serve with it. You can pretty much use a store bought crusty artisan bread. They are great to mop up the juices with! The mushrooms and bell pepper browned in clarified butter, with a dash of Worcestershire sauce simmered in wine add earthy rustic flavour to the dish. With generous smoky cheese added to it, you can expect magic to happen. Make sure you use quality ingredients including a good quality wine. That is the secret of any good recipe!To begin with, the Sauvignon Blanc itself is really nice, one of the better Indian white wines I have to say. Crisp, delicately flavoured and very fresh! The whiff of green bell pepper undertones complimented the Smoky Baked Mushroom Cheese Dip really nicely. The dip is like a fondue; quite popular during winter. Try and bake it in a cast iron pan since the pan retains heat for longer, keeping the cheese nice and gooey. The other good thing about cast iron pans is that they can be popped back into the oven to reheat if the dip gets cold.In the unlikely event that you have some Smoky Baked Mushroom Cheese Dip leftovers, make a grilled panini sandwich with it, layering it with fillings you enjoy. Then sit back and enjoy the deep moorish flavours that tease the palate. It’s really that addictive, like a pizza in a sandwich!The wine would work well in a creamy pasta sauce, also as a marinade for chicken. Another great option is to make a Queso Fundido using wine instead of vodka. Then a step further a Queso Flameado, a dish of hot melted cheese and spicy chorizo that is often served flambé. Often compared to cheese fondue, this is a party dish and a popular appetizer.

What is your favourite way to cook with wine?

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Smoky Baked Mushroom Cheese Dip

Smoky Gouda, wine simmered mushrooms, garlic and fresh thyme make one of the best cheesy dips ever. Baked briefly under a hot grill until the cheese melts into gooey goodness, serve immeditaley with home baked bread or a crusty bread to soak up the wine juices and deliciously flavoured cheese.
Course Appetiser, Snack
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 3 people

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp clarified butter/ghee
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic chopped
  • 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves {or dried}
  • 100 g button mushrooms sliced
  • 1/2 red bell pepper finely chopped
  • 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
  • 2 sprigs of fresh thyme {plus extra for garnish}
  • 1/2 cup Big Banyan Wines Sauvignon Blanc
  • 250 g smoked Gouda cheese
  • 100 g mozzarella
  • Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
  • Crusty bread

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven, top element only to 180C.
  • In a heavy bottomed pan, melt the clarified butter with olive oil. Add the chopped garlic and thyme. Saute until fragrant. Add the mushrooms and finely chopped bell peppers. Saute until the mushrooms are brown and add a splash of Worcestershire sauce.
  • Add the wine and sprigs of fresh thyme. Increase the heat and allow the wine to reduce by half. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Now add the grated cheese and stir to allow it to melt slightly, allowing the wine and cheese to somewhat combine.
  • Once done, transfer into a cast iron pan and place in oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the cheese has melted and is nice and bubbly.
  • Gently remove from oven, and serve immediately with crusty bread and Sauvignon Blanc from Big Banyan Wines.

Baking | Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés . . . crisp indulgent eggless Christmas cookies

“If chocolate is the answer, the question is irrelevant.”
Unknown

Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés … dark chocolate, a mix of wholegrain flours, a little all purpose too, brown sugar, sea salt, of course butter. All these come together to make an eggless cookie, the indulgent sablé,  a quintessential round French shortbread cookie. Crisp, deeply chocolate, buttery, wholegrain, eggless, Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés are the yummiest cookies ever! Even better since the recipe is eggless. The only sablés I’ve tried before were Dorie Greenspans famous World Peace Cookies, ones that I loved. She’s since reinvented them into an even more delicious version that I just discovered.

With wholewheat and buckwheat in this buttery chocolaty shortbread, I didn’t expect things to go so well. Can safely say these are my best chocolate shortbread cookies to date, best eggless cookies too! They’re inspired and adapted from Chocolate Sables @ The Boy Who Bakes, and HE is so good in everything he bakes! These are great for the festive cookie platter, fab for hanging off the tree and make a great gift too.I did a batch for Diwali earlier, and now a cookie cutout one for Christmas. With hand made wreaths using the perennial local ‘Mor Pankhi’, a genus of coniferous trees, it was a lot of fun. Made the wreaths for the Teabox Christmas shoot earlier in November, which was a fun & creative shoot. Here’s a peak of a couple I shot on the side, and you can see more on their website.You could always add some tea leaves into the cookies to make this a chocolate tea shortbread. Now that’s an idea I might work on. Until then, here are Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés, eggless cookies loaded with chocolate, and almost wholegrain, with the goodness of buckwheat {kuttu ka aata}. Great comfort food, great for the holidays.

What is your favourite Christmas cookie to bake?

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Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés

Crisp, deeply chocolate, buttery, wholegrain, eggless, Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés are the yummiest cookies ever! Adapted from The Boy Who Bakes.
Course Snack
Cuisine French
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 2 dozen

Ingredients

Dry mix

  • 50 g wholewheat flour {aata}
  • 50 g buckwheat flour
  • 50 g plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 black truffle sea salt {or sea salt}

Wet mix

  • 115 g unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 100 g brown sugar
  • 125 g 52% dark chocolate ground {or finely chopped}

Instructions

Dry Mix

  • Stir dry ingredients in a bowl to mix. Reserve.

Wet Mix

  • Place butter, brown sugar and vanilla in bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment. Whisk on medium speed for 3-4 minutes until smooth.
  • Add the dry mix and ground chocolate, and mix on the lowest speed just enough for the dough to come together.{You can do this by hand to play safe}. Don’t over-mix else the cookies will become hard.
  • Bring the dough together, either make a cylinder like roll, cling-wrap and chill for a couple of hours.
  • Alternatively, you could always use the dough for cut out cookies.
  • Preheat oven to 170C
  • Place on parchment lined cookie trays
  • Bake for 12-15 minutes until just firm to touch.
  • Cool completely on cookie racks

Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés

“Food is something that manages to find a way in to approximately 12 out of every 10 conversations we have at Chumbak.”
Chumbak

Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sables – dark chocolate, a mix of wholegrain flours, a little all purpose too, brown sugar, sea salt, of course butter. All these come together to make an eggless cookie, the indulgent sable, a shortbread cookie is a French round shortbread cookie. Another eggless cookie, this time loaded with chocolate, and almost wholegrain, with the goodness of buckwheat {kuttu ka aata} makes for a great gift!

It’s a good time too, at Diwali, when it’s fun to bake and gift good things. With mithai or sweetmeats dwindling in popularity, chocolate always ensures happy gifting. I like to either gift handmade truffles, nut clusters, or then cookies paired with either a lamp, a birdcage, platters, jars etc. The new Gold Collection from Chumbak, with the already beautiful existing range, makes for beautiful gifts with my cookies. Gifts I would love to receive too. Take a look!

With wholewheat and buckwheat in this buttery chocolaty shortbread, I didn’t expect things to go so well. That they did, was amazing. I can safely say these are my best chocolate shortbread cookies to date, best eggless cookies too! They’re inspired and adapted from Chocolate Sables @ The Boy Who Bakes, and HE is so good in everything he bakes! I found them on Instagram and decided to bake a wholegrain version. I figured the food loving folk at Chumbak would love them too!

The dazzling beautiful range of lifestyle products from Chumbak, the quintessential owl included, has me smitten as you can probably see. Hoot Hoot!! I’ve been in love with their quirky designing, innovative products, Indian humour and what not! From a souvenier store for India and Indians in 2010, they’ve grown phenomenally over the past few years. Today, Chumbak is a design led lifestyle brand for products across apparel, home and accessories driven by the best philosophy ever – Make Happy!

This Diwali sees Chumbak creating absolute magic. Take a look at some of their range. I love the fact that I can mix and match infinitely, that I can do daytime setups with flowers, do a drop-dead gorgeous one for the night, build a terrarium within like Madhuli just suggested.  There is so much goodness for gifting. Wrap some baked goodies or chocolate truffles {recipe coming soon}, with them to make that perfect gift.

Chumbak retails over 75 categories across 30 plus stores pan India across formats. To buy any of these looks, a a whole lot more, do stop by here.

“This is what we live for, this is our philosophy and those big words that are synonymous with it. This is #makehappy!”

These few products are just the tip of the iceberg. They have something for every budget, something for everyone. I picked a gold and teal line, a touch of yellow, owls galore. Oh and this wooden cake platter above. Precious like the rest of the wood accents line. Now for the recipe of these cookies!

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Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés

Crisp, deeply chocolate, buttery, wholegrain, eggless, Wholegrain Chocolate Buckwheat Sablés are the yummiest cookies ever! Adapted from The Boy Who Bakes.
Course Snack
Cuisine French
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 25 minutes
Servings 2 dozen

Ingredients

Dry mix

  • 50 g wholewheat {aata}
  • 50 g buckwheat
  • 50 g plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 black truffle sea salt {or sea salt}

Wet mix

  • 115 g unsalted butter room temp
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 100 g brown sugar
  • 125 g 52% dark chocolate, ground {or finely chopped}

Instructions

Dry Mix

  • Stir dry ingredients in a bowl to mix. Reserve.

Wet Mix

  • Place butter, brown sugar and vanilla in bowl of stand mixer with paddle attachment. Whisk on medium speed for 3-4 minutes until smooth.
  • Add the dry mix and ground chocolate, and mix on the lowest speed just enough for the dough to come together.{You can do this by hand to play safe}. Don't over-mix else the cookies will become hard.
  • Bring the dough together, either make a cylinder like roll, cling-wrap and chill for a couple of hours.
  • Alternatively, you could always use the dough for cut out cookies.
  • Preheat oven to 170C
  • Place on parchment lined cookie trays
  • Bake for 12-15 minutes until just firm to touch.
  • Cool completely on cookie racks
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