Healthy Cookies

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN "Sağlıklı Kurabiye"
PER ITALIANO "Biscotti della Salute"

Yesterday salad and today "healthy" cookies...
Is this just a plain coincidence or does it have anything to do with the warming weather and upcoming summer at some subconscious level? I honestly don't know:)

Why are they referred as healthy cookies by the way? Because they don't have any flour, sugar, egg, butter or margarine!
I hear some of you saying "How on earth?" Well.. You can see the recipe below. - Ok, ok, they have a respectable amount of chocolate but let's give ourselves a break on that matter, won't we? :)

They are not crispy kind of cookies but have a softer texture. I like having them warm as well, right out of oven, better not to exaggerate though ;)

They are healthy alright, yet not so low on calories, so our motto "everything in moderation" applies here too.
We sometimes have these cookies instead of Kellogg's or Nestle Fitness bars, one cookie replacing one bar.
If you don't have to worry about putting on weight, you don't obviously need to limit yourselves with 1 cookie only! :)

Ingredients:
100g blanched almonds
30g dessicated coconut
220g oats
1 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon

400g banana, peeled, cut into 3-4 pieces each
40g olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

200g chocolate chips

Preparation:

Hazelnut Cookies

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

Another cookie recipe which I prepared with Christmassy cookie cutters...

Ingredients:
200g toasted, skinned hazelnuts
250g butter, cut into pieces
150g sugar
2 eggs
20g milk
350g flour
170g rice flour
1/2-1tsp cinnamon
1 bag of baking powder (10g)
1 bag of vanillin sugar (5g)

To Decorate:
Royal Icing

Preparation:

Chocolate and Cacao Cookies

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PER ITALIANO

Ingredients:
50g dark chocolate
130g butter, cut into pieces
30g sugar
1 egg
210g flour
20g unsweetened cacao
1/4 tsp baking soda

100g white chocolate


Preparation:

Royal Icing

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

I'd like to give you a royal icing recipe which could be easily prepared with very simple ingredients that could be almost always found at home.

The recipe is from the Italian Thermomix Book "Io e il mio Bimby"

Ingredients:
250g sugar
1 egg white (of a 60g sized egg)
20g fresh lemon juice

Yapılışı:

Butterflies and Spiders

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PER ITALIANO

While preparing Cocoa Biscuits to make Witch Hats for Halloween, I made 2 doughs and shaped the rest as butterflies and spiders. I used milk chocolate topping for spiders and white chocolate for butterflies.

Afiyet olsun...

Cocoa Biscuits

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN
PER ITALIANO

With this recipe you can prepare some beautiful biscuits which won't crack during baking so it would make them very easy to decorate.

I used milk chocolate for topping. Since the biscuit itself is not very sweet it seemed to me it would be too strong with dark chocolate. But when I made them again I had the chance to try them also with dark chocolate and I did like it! It depends on one's preference as always. Also white chocolate could be a nice alternative.

I am not an expert when it comes to using a piping bag but working on it. I prepared my piping bag myself by using baking paper. I cut a very small hole due to my needs and I found it much easier to work with.

You can see this video if you would like to prepare your "paper cone". Even if it looks very easy to make, it requires a couple of practices.


Cocoa Biscuits Ingredients:

50g sugar
120g butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature
1 egg, at room temperature
220g flour
35g unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking soda


Chocolate Topping Ingredients:

120g chocolate
25g milk
Optional: candy sprinkles, pearls


Preparation:

Flower Biscuits

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150g sugar
400g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
150g sunflower oil


Coating
100g dark chocolate
Colored sprinkles

• Pulverize sugar for 20 seconds on Speed 10
• Sift in flour, add baking powder, vanilla, oil and eggs. Knead for 1 minute
• Mix for 1 minute on Speed 4-5
• Flour the surface where you will work. Place the dough. Let it rest for 5 minutes
• Roll out with a rolling pin on the floured surface (it'd stick otherwise) around 3-5mm thick.  
• Cut with flower shaped cookie cutter. Place them in oven tray that is covered with baking paper (I got 2 trays full) 
• Bake in preheated oven at 175°C for 15-20 minutes.
• Let them cool 

• Melt chocolate using bain-marie method
• Spread some chocolate in the center of flower biscuits and sprinkle with some decorations
• Let chocolate solidify before you serve

Afiyet olsun....

Witch Fingers

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It's been a few days that I couldn't take care of my blog as I wished.

Regular readers would know that I publish one recipe for each weekday. But last week I couldn't so. Since we started renewing the kitchen there was lot to do and we had our lunches and suppers out, at my mother-in-law's. I didn't have time to post even the recipes I already had. Works in the kitchen haven't been finished yet however I have a bit more time now and I will try to post more this week.

I made these horrifying Witch Fingers for Halloween. I can say that they were quite a big hit :)
I know! Halloween time is over for 2010. Sorry for publishing this late! Nevertheless, you can try them for next Halloween or a horror theme supper :)

100g butter
50g sugar
1 pack vanillin sugar (5gr)
2 eggs
A pinch of salt
300g flour
Blanched almonds
Any red color jam (Strawberry jam that I bought wasn't as red as I liked. So, after I dipped fingers into jam I used few drops of Alchermes liqueur for a better color and resulted great!)

• Mix butter, sugar and vanillin sugar for 3 minutes at 37ºC on Speed 3
• Add eggs and a pinch of salt. Mix for 5 seconds on Speed 3
• Add flour and mix for 20 seconds on Speed 6. (If not well mixed mix for some more seconds)
• Roll and wrap with plastic film. Put it in the fridge at least for 30 minutes (I put in the freezer for 30 minutes)
• Get small pieces from the dough. Roll them into a finger shape. Place them in an oven tray which is covered with baking paper
• For nails, place almonds, and press them into dough a little.
• Make small cuts (not too deep) with a knife to make them look like wrinkles on the fingers
• Bake them in preheated oven at 180ºC for 30-40 minutes
• After baked, remove almonds gently, spread a little jam under the nails and then place the almonds back
• Spread a little jam also at the bottom of the fingers and place them into the serving plate

Enjoy:)




The link for the original recipe is here

  

M&M Cookies

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These cookies are as delicious as they look. They might be a bit tricky too bake so be aware. They will be soft kind cookies, not hard ones.

150g flour
100g unsweetened cacao powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
120g milk chocolate
120g butter
200g M&M (100+100)
320g sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

• Melt chocolate together with butter using bain-marie method
• Place a bowl on TM Bowl and weigh flour and cacao. Add baking soda and salt and mix all with a spoon.
• Put sugar, eggs and vanilla and blend for 30 seconds on Speed 5
• Add chocolate and mix for 1 minute on Speed 5
• Start TM on Speed 4. Pour down flour mixture through the hole of TM lid by spoon. (1,5 minutes in total)
• Add 100g of bonibon and mix with spatula
• Cover oven tray with wax paper. Get small pieces with an ice-cream spoon and place in the tray. (Attention! Place them at least 5cm from each other. They will get widen during baking)
• Decorate your cookies with the remaining 100g M&Ms
• Bake in the preheated oven at 170ºC for 15 minutes. (When you take them out of the oven they will seem soft, they are supposed to be like that so don't you worry! Soon they will put themselves together:) )
• Let them cool on wax paper on wire racks.

Enjoy!

It's adapted from Double Chocolate Cookies Recipe by Martha Stewart

Tahini and Sesame Cookies

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100g sugar
100g walnuts

500g flour
15g salt
200g margarin or butter (room temperature)
1 egg
1 MC tahini

1 egg yolk
Sesame

• Put sugar in TM Bowl. 10 seconds / Speed 10
• Add walnuts and chop for 10 seconds on Speed 6-7. Set aside
• Sift in flour, add salt, margarin and egg. Mix for 1 minute on Speed 3-4 and then for another minute on Speed 4-5. At the same time mix with TM Spatula through the hole of TM Lid
• Sprinkle a little flour on the surface and roll out the dough gently about 30x50cm. (it will have a crumbling texture so be careful not to break)

• Brush with tahini on the top and then spread sugar-walnut mixture
• Roll it carefully into a log shape
• After that roll again to lengthen it pressing gently with your hands (from the center towards to the ends) to around 60cm
• Cut into slices around 2,5 - 3cm pieces. (If you cut too thin they may fall during baking)
• Brush with slightly beaten egg yolk, dip into sesame and place in oven tray which is previously covered with baking paper
• Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 30-35 minutes

Afiyet olsun.

Hazelnut Chocolate Chips Cookies

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180g sugar
2 egg yolks
200g margarine (room temperature)
450g flour
25g cacao powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 pack vanillin sugar
100g chocolate chips

to decorate:
1 egg white
Roasted hazelnuts (roughly chopped)

• Turn sugar to powder sugar for 10 seconds on Speed 10
• Add margarine and egg yolks and blend for 1 minute on Speed 4 until it gets creamy
• Sift in flour, cacao and baking powder. Mix for 10 seconds on Speed 3 and then for 40 seconds on Speed 4
• Add vanillin sugar. Mix for 40 seconds on Speed 4
• Start TM on Reverse/Speed 2. Add chocolate chips through the hole of TM lid. (1 minute in total)
• Put dough in a bowl. Knead for 30seconds by your hands. Cover with plastic film and let it rest in the fridge for half an hour
• Get walnut size pieces from the dough and roll. Flatten them a little. Soak the top of them in egg white and then hazelnuts. Place them in a oven tray which is previously covered with wax paper.
• Bake them in the 180° preheated oven for 20-25 minutes

Enjoy!

Curry and Rosemary Pretzels

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400g flour
220g margarine or butter (room temperature)
85g fresh cream
1 dessert spoon salt
1 dessert spoon curry (original recipe uses 2 dessert spoons of curry)

1 egg yolk
Dried rosemary

• Sift in flour. Add margarine. Mix for 1 minute on Speed 4. Use also TM spatula through the lid to mix better.
• Add salt, curry and cream. Mix for 1,5 minutes on Speed 4. Make use again of TM spatula
• Knead for 2 minutes
• Let it rest for 15minutes at room temperature
• Get small pieces from the dough. Roll each piece into a rope about 20-22cm long and twist into a pretzel shape (as in the photo)
• Place them in oven tray which is previously covered with wax paper
• Brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg yolk. Sprinkle with dried rosemary in the center (where the ends connect together)
• Bake them in the 180°C preheated oven for 20-30 minutes until browned

Enjoy!

I've got the recipe from a Turkish magazine

Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies

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2 orange peel (without the white)
120g fresh orange juice (of 2-3 oranges depending on the size)
150g sunflower oil
1 egg yolk
510g flour
170g sugar
1 tsp baking powder
70g chocolate chips (+ some more for the top of the cookies)

• Put orange peel in TM bowl and proceed for 15 seconds on Speed 7. (Repeat again if needed)
• Put orange juice, sunflower oil and yolk in TM bowl. Sift in flour. Add sugar and baking powder. Mix all for 30 seconds on Speed 4-5. Clean down the sides of TM bowl and mix again for 50 seconds on Speed 4-5. Make use of also TM spatula through the hole of TM lid to help mixing better.
• Knead for 2 minutes
• Add chocolate chips. Mix for 40 seconds on Reverse/Speed 3-4.
• Get small walnut sized balls and place them on the oven tray which is previously covered with wax paper.
• Decorate the cookies with some more chocolate chips
• Bake them for 20-25 minutes in 175°C preheated oven.

Enjoy!

Cookies with Cornmeal

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IMPORTANT!!!

Before you try this recipe, please check the related posts in Forum Thermomix web site!!!

You should know that there is a debate going on about cornflour and cornmeal.

Apparently cornflour refers to cornstarch in some countries.
I live in Italy and what I used in this recipe is yellow cornmeal for polenta which is called as "Farina di granoturco/Farina di mais". In Turkish it is called as "Misir Unu"

I believe you will have enough information when you visit the link I've given above.

When you find the right ingredients I can assure you that this is a wonderful recipe. I had seen it in a Turkish magazine and recently I’ve adapted it to Thermomix. I got many compliments whenever I made these cookies. I highly recommend them.

200g margarine or butter (room temperature)
170g sugar
2 eggs
140g yellow cornmeal (not cornstarch!!!)
200g plain flour
1 pack of vanillin sugar
1 pinch of salt

150g bitter chocolate

Put margarine and sugar in the TM bowl, proceed 3 minutes on Speed 4. (From the 2nd minute add the eggs one by one)
Use spatula to clean down the sides of the TM bowl. Add plain flour and cornflour by sifting. Add also vanillin and salt. Mix for 1.5 minutes on Speed 3-4 and at the same time use also the spatula through the hole of TM lid.
Cover the bake tray with wax paper (oven paper). Put the mixture in a pastry bag. And form the cookies by squeezing them onto the wax paper with the desired shape.
Bake them in 175ºC preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

Make use of the bain-marie method to melt the chocolate.
When the cookies are cooled down, immerse half the cookies in the chocolate sauce and place them on alluminium foil. Let them rest until the chocolate cools down and sticks nicely on the cookies.

Enjoy!