Procedure1 Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter two cookie sheets. I used one extra large cookie sheet I recently purchased from Walmart. It was a dark coated non stick pan. Usually cookies baked on such dark coated sheets turn brown very quickly, so I lined it with parchment paper and then greased it with cooking spray.

2 In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in the coconut and oats.

3 Melt the butter with the sugar and honey in a small saucepan over medium heat. Remove it from the stove and let it cool for 2 minutes.

4 Pour the melted butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well with a spatula.

5 Roll into balls the size of walnuts and place 1 inch apart on the baking sheet and flatten it slightly with a fork.

6 Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. If using 2 cookie sheets, shift racks halfway through the baking to ensure even browning. Mine turned golden brown after 13 minutes itself. I think it’s because of the dark coated cookie sheet.

7 Let the cookies cool on the sheets until they firm slightly. Then using a spatula carefully lift the cookies and transfer it to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Taste These coconut cookies were very sweet. Initially it was crisp around the edges and chewy in the center. After 2-3 days, it started getting soft around the edges too. It also smells very buttery when consumed immediately. We did like the taste and I will make it again but will definitely do something to reduce the sweetness. My son liked it very much, but my husband did not like it in the beginning. He started liking it after 4 days when it was more chewy.

My Notes1 The recipe did not mention whether to use sweetened or unsweetened coconut. I had the sweetened one, so I used it. I think if I had used the unsweetened variety the sweetness of the cookies would have been perfect for us.

2 Light corn syrup was mentioned in the recipe. I had that in hand, but I anticipated that some of you might ask what can be substituted for it. So I used honey. I think either omitting this or reducing the quantity of sugar to 1/2 cup will also work if you want less sweeter cookies.

3 These coconut cookies spread a lot, so be sure to leave enough space while placing the dough on the baking sheets.

Procedure1 In a large mixing bowl sift all the dry ingredients except oats and sugar. Stir in the oats.

2 Take out the butter from the refrigerator, cut up into small pieces and add it to the flour mixture. Using a pastry blender further cut the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. If you don’t have a pastry blender you can do this with your fingers or fork too, but it’s more work.

3 Stir in the sugar and add milk little by little to form a soft dough. Knead until smooth.

4 Press the dough into disk, wrap in plastic wrap and leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes. Set the kitchen timer for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off start preheating the oven at 375F for 15 minutes. So by the time the oven preheats it will be 30 minutes and you can start working on the cookie dough. Also butter 2 cookie sheets.

5 Lightly flour the surface. Roll out the dough into 1/4 inch thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the cookies. Gather the dough scraps, re-roll and continue the same procedure until all the dough is used.

6 The cookies tend to stick to the floor, so use a spatula to lift and transfer the cookies to the baking sheets. Place them 1 inch apart. Prick all over with a fork.

7 The baking time depends on the thickness of the cookies and the material of the baking sheet. Note that cookies baked on a dark colored non stick baking sheet tend to bake faster and if not alert the bottom will get burnt. My second batch cookies were thinner than the first batch. So the first batch took 13 minutes, while the second batch was done in 10 minutes. Look for golden color cookies. If baking both the batches at the same time, place each baking sheet in individual racks and shift sheets halfway through baking.

8 Leave the cookies in the baking sheet itself for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Taste These digestive cookies taste exactly like sweet chapathi (or what we call chakkara roti in our house). I don’t if everybody makes this chapathi. First you roll out the chapathi dough, apply generous amount of ghee and sprinkle sugar all over, then fold it and apply ghee and sugar on each fold and roll it out once again and then cook it on a hot tava. So these cookies taste exactly like that. If you like the sweet chapathi you will definitely like this one too. Initially you may feel that it is very sweet but once you eat one cookie you will get addicted to the sweetness and will reach out for one more.

As for the texture, it is crispy but not “melt in your mouth” type of crispness but quite similar to a hard candy. After reading hard candy don’t assume that you cannot bite it. It’s definitely chewable and very tasty.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F for 15 minutes. Grease a 8 inch square baking dish. In a small bowl combine the almonds, brown sugar and cinnamon; set aside. The butter can be melted on stove top or microwave oven or even in the oven while it’s preheating.

2 Combine together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.

3 Measure the buttermilk in a liquid measuring cup (or any other bowl). To that add the melted butter, vinegar, extracts and applesauce. Whisk until well blended. If you add the butter while its still hot, the mixture will look curdled, but its okay.

4 Stir the wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just moistened. Fold in 2/3 cup blueberries. If using frozen blueberries, do not thaw before adding to batter, because the color will bleed.

5 Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Top with remaining blueberries. Sprinkle the almond mixture on top. Tap the pan lightly a couple times so that the topped blueberries and almonds sticks to the batter.

6 Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool the pan on a wire rack.

7 Remove the cake from the pan after 10 minutes and transfer the cake directly to the wire rack. The cake is quite light, so you will have to be very careful while tilting the pan. A couple of almonds will fall down.

Taste I have baked a lot in the past one year but this blueberry coffee cake will definitely make it to the Top 5 if I prepare such a list. I’m not exaggerating here but it was unbelievably good. So good that my husband asked for seconds and had it too! This has never happened before. I didn’t have almond extract, I think it would have tasted even better with it.

This cake doesn’t rise much, around 1/2-3/4th inch only. As for the texture, it was very lighty and fluffy, unusual for an egg less cake. I think the vinegar did the trick. The sweetness was perfect, the addition of almonds gave a nice crunch to the cake. The only thing to look for while baking this cake is that it’s very light and has to be handled very carefully while removing from the pan.

My Notes1 The original recipe had mentioned 2/3 cup buttermilk, which is what I did for the first batch and as I have mentioned earlier, the cake was so fluffy that I felt that it would fall apart while removing from the pan. I had to be very careful. So while preparing the next batch (yes we liked it so much that I baked it again the next day to share it with my new friends here) I reduced the quantity of buttermilk to 1/2 cup and this time it was quite manageable.

The cake is very light (just like a cake with eggs) when kept at room temperature. It hardens up a little when stored in the refrigerator. So I was thinking that the next time I bake it, I would cool it in the fridge itself, so that removing it from the pan will be easy.

2 If you leave the cake in the pan itself for much longer time, the bottom of the cake will become soggy from the heat and the condensation. It happened to my first batch and I had to blot it with paper towel.

3 I think this recipe without the blueberries would make a perfect eggless white cake.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F. Grease the baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.

2 In a big bowl combine together the flours, bran, flax seed, baking powder, baking soda and raisins (if using) and set aside.

3 In a medium bowl, blend together butter and sugars until creamy.

4 Add applesauce and vanilla and mix until well blended. If you use an electric beater to mix the applesauce it may look curdled, but don’t worry.

5 To the wet ingredients add the dry ingredients and mix well.

6 Drop the dough by tablespoon on prepared baking sheets. Lightly spray the tablespoon with non stick spray, so that the dough will drop easily. Use a butter knife to scoop out the dough from the tablespoon.

7 The baking time mentioned in the recipe is 8-10 minutes. The cookies look very even after 9 minutes but I removed them out anyway. After it cooled we tasted it and felt that it required further baking. So baked again for another 3 minutes. This time it had a nice golden brown color. Leave it in the baking sheet itself for a minute and then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.

Taste The earthy smell of white whole wheat flour was predominant when the cookies were consumed fresh (on the day of baking). But they tasted very good the second day. The smell was very mild. My son is enjoying the cookies very much, so I guess he doesn’t even smell anything different.

My Notes1 I reduced the quantity of both the sugars considerably and even then felt it was quite sweet. So check the original recipe if you like your cookies very sweet. I also used 3/4th cup of raisins, which was optional in the original recipe.

2 I’m not a cinnamon fan, so I used very little of it. I think the earthy smell of the whole wheat flour can be overcome by using considerable amount of cinnamon (about 1 teaspoon).

3 If oat bran is not available, you could also use coarsely powdered quick cooking oats.

4 Using non hydrogenated margarine or any vegan butter will make these cookies even more healthy by cutting back on saturated fat and cholesterol.

5 Usually I bake the entire batch on the same day and the cookies vanish in no time. So this time I decided to freeze the dough. I baked only 20 cookies. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop tablespoonful of the remaining dough onto the sheet. Cover it loosely with another parchment/wax paper and freeze it for an hour or until it is firm enough. Then transfer the frozen cookie dough to a Ziploc bag and write down the name of the cookie and date when it was prepared and put it back in the freezer. I read that the dough keeps good anywhere between 1 month to 3 months. Thawing of the dough is not necessary while baking it. Just bake for additional 2-3 minutes. In this recipe it would be around 13-15 minutes.

Update: I baked the frozen cookie dough and it was even better than the fresh ones. I baked it for 16 minutes at 350F, switched off the oven but kept the baking sheet in the oven itself for another 10 minutes. The cookies had a very nice golden brown color. They were crisp on the outside and soft in the middle.

Step-by-Step Procedure

My Notes Add your choice of nut butter and chopped nuts. You can also go for fat free condensed milk.

Procedure1 Preheat the oven to 400F for 15 minutes. Line the muffin tin with paper liners or grease the tin.

2 In a medium size bowl combine together the milk, butter and buttermilk.

3 In another large bowl sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.

4 Add the sugar, chocolate chips and nuts to the flour mixture and stir well.

5 Slowly stir in the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, but do not overdo it.

6 Fold in the mashed bananas.

7 Fill each muffin cup with 3 tablespoons of batter.

8 Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out clean.

My Notes1 The bananas I used were extremely ripe, so I simply mashed it with a fork. If the bananas are not that ripe you could cut into pieces add few drops of water/milk and blend it in a blender/food processor.

2 The original recipe used chocolate chunks. Since I did not have it I went with semisweet chocolate chips. If you have chocolate chunks, chop 5 ounces of semi sweet chocolate into large chunks and use it instead of the chips.

3 The sweetness was perfect for us. Not very sweet like the ones you get in stores. If you have a very sweet tooth you would have to increase the quantity of sugar or chocolate chips.

4 You could substitute vegetable/canola oil instead of butter to make it healthier. I have tried it in couple of other recipes and it works. Since I wanted to finish the butter in the refrigerator I did not do this substitution.

5 You could also substitute whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour. I didn’t do it this time because the brand of wheat flour I’m using right now is not good in banana muffins. A couple of days ago I tried a banana muffin recipe with whole wheat flour and did not like the taste. I liked it when I made something similar a year ago, but that was a different brand of wheat flour, so I went with all purpose flour itself.

Procedure 1 In a medium bowl sift together flour, cocoa and salt.

2 In a large bowl add the butter and beat on medium speed for 5 minutes until fluffy.

3 Add sugar and beat about 2 minutes, until very light in color and fluffy, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add vanilla if using.

4 Add the flour mixture and combine on low speed, until flour is just incorporated and dough sticks together when squeezed with fingers.

5 Form dough into a flattened disk; wrap in plastic. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour.

6 Preheat oven to 325F for 15 minutes. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. I greased it lightly with the butter wrapper itself.

7 Use a spoon to form the dough into balls and place on the prepared baking sheet. I chilled it for 2 hours and the dough became so hard I was not able to scoop the dough. I had to pinch the dough and roll it in between my palms.

8 Bake until firm, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating halfway through (that is, moving the baking sheet in the top row to the bottom row and the vice versa) My cookies were ready around 23 minutes.

9 Cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with cocoa powder just before serving. (I didn’t do this)

My Notes These shortbread cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

Step-by-Step Procedure Check here for the procedure.

Procedure 1 Preheat the oven to 375F/190C. If using a non stick pan greasing is not necessary, otherwise use parchment paper to line the cookie sheets.

2 In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla.

3 In a food processor/blender whip together the egg replacer powder and water together, until it’s thick and creamy. Add this mixture to the creamed butter and sugar, combine thoroughly.

4 In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

5 Gradually beat the flour mixture into the wet mixture until it begins to form a dough.

6 When it is almost thoroughly combined stir in the chocolate chips and nuts, if using.

7 I greased a tablespoon to scoop the dough and drop it easily onto the baking sheet.

8 Bake 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.

9 Let stand for 2 minutes on the baking sheet itself. Then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool
completely before storing.

My Notes 1 My first batch of cookies did not turn golden brown even after 11 minutes. I removed it anyway and noticed that the bottom was very brown. So from the second batch onwards I removed it from the oven around 9 minutes itself. Even though the cookies had a pale yellow color, they were baked enough and tasted very good. I guess using dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar would give the golden brown color.

2 For vegan chocolate chip cookies use non-hydrogenated, non dairy butter and nondairy semisweet chocolate chips.