Rosebud Madeleines

Madeleine was on my list since long. These are very small sponge cakes with a shell like shape, which is obtained using the special madeleine molds. These are described as French butter cakes cause of their French origin and yummy buttery taste. I was looking around in most local stores in my area since sometime to find the madeleine pan, but without much success. That is when CSN stores contacted me to do a review of some of their products. I was looking at the wide variety of products that they had to offer, ranging from twin beds to cookwares to pick the perfect item for my review and guess what, I found the Madeleine pan on their cookware website. They do have a wide selection of all kinds of specialty cookware. Something definitely worth checking out!

Once I received the Madeleine pan, I started going over the 5 to 6 recipes that I had shortlisted for making madeleines. One of them was the Rosebud Madeleine recipe that was in the book "How to be a domestic Goddess" by Nigella Lawson. That sounded perfect, one of the reasons being the use of rose water which I love the flavor of.

Makes 12 Madeleines

Salted Butter	- 1/4 cup + Additional for greasing
Eggs	- 1 large
Sugar	- 2 tbsp (level)
All purpose flour (Maida)	- 1/3 cup
Rosewater	- 1 tbsp
Confectioner's Sugar	- for dusting (optional)

1. Melt the butter at a low heat and then leave to cool. You could also use unsalted butter (that is what the recipe actually calls for and then add a pinch of salt to the batter).
2. Beat the Egg and Sugar in a bowl for 5 minutes using an electric mixer, until it is as thick a mayonnaise.

3. Sieve in the flour into the egg-sugar mix shaking a sieve that is held above the egg-sugar mix.

4. Fold in the flour smoothly into the egg-sugar mix.
5. Add the melted butter and Rosewater and mix smoothly in.
6. Keep the batter in the refrigerator for an hour and then leave at room temperature for 30 minutes. (This is an optional step; I tried it with and without this step; did not feel much difference).
7. Preheat the oven at 425 degree F.
8. Brush the insides of the madeleine molds generously with butter.
9. Fill the molds with the batter (this would be 2+ teaspoons full for each). Do not worry about filling the indentations completely with the batter. The batter will spread as it heats up.
10. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Keep checking in between. It will be ready as the sides start to brown a bit.
11. Remove the madeleines from the pan and let it cool on a rack.

 12. You could serve by dusting confectioner's sugar. It is awesome even without dusting the sugar.

These are a perfect tea time snack and for munching anytime. It is also an easy recipe with not too many ingredients. If you do not have rosewater, you could use some other essence like vanilla. But I would suggest getting rosewater if you have an option.

Showing off my newly acquired possession from cookware.com.

Cheesecake Thumbprints

Baking is an art that intrigues me. I keep getting Baking books from library to try out stuff, but would most of the time end up looking at the pictures and returning them; sometimes because I feel they are time consuming and at times because I may not have all the ingredients on hand. This time I had 'Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook' from library and me and my son were flipping the pages. We came across the recipe for Cheesecake Thumbprint cookies and my son was wanting to make it. He is 4 and enjoys watching me cook and giving me a helping hand. So I finally decided to try this one out and am happy that I did.

Makes around 15-16 cookies

Cream Cheese	- 2 ounce
Sugar	- 1/4 cup
Sour Cream	- 3/4 tsp
Vanilla Essence	- 3 drops
Salt	- 1/8 tsp + half a pinch
Butter	- 1 stick (1/2 cup) at room temperature
Egg yolk	- 1 large
All Purpose flour/Maida	- 1 cup

1. In a bowl, beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer at a medium speed for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.

2. Add 1/8 cup of sugar and half a pinch of salt and blend until smooth for 3 minutes.

3. To the cream cheese mixture, add half of the egg yolk, sour cream and vanilla and beat until smooth.

4. Refrigerate the cream cheese mixture for about 30 minutes.

5. In the mean time, beat the butter and remaining sugar with an electric mixer at a medium speed for 2 minutes. I used salted butter.

6. Add remaining salt (not needed, if using salted butter), egg yolk and beat to combine. If using Salted butter, add 2 tbsp of sugar in addition to the 1/8 cup of sugar.

7. Sift the flour into the butter mixture slowly with the mixture on low speed.

8. Once the ingredients are mixed well, use your hands to make the dough into ball shape.

9. Preheat the oven at 350 degree F.

10. Line a baking tray with a parchment paper.

11. Shape Level tablespoons of dough into balls and place on the prepared baking sheets about an inch apart.

12. Using your thumb or a spoon, make an indentation  in the center of each ball.

13. Bake for 10 minutes and remove from oven and make indentations again with a spoon, as the dough may have raised a bit.

14. Bake again for 7-9 minutes until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. Turn off the oven.

15. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

16. Once cooled, fill the center of each cookie with around a teaspoon full of cream cheese filling, mounding it slightly.

17. Preheat the oven again at 350 degree and bake the cookies again for 7-8 minutes, until the filling is firm.

18. Cool the cookies in a wire rack completely and refrigerate in an air tight container for at least 4 hours before serving.

Your cheesecake thumbprint cookies are ready! The cookies are best if they are refrigerated overnight. Allow them to sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Honey Drop Cookies

Each country has a different name for a Cookie. In India and England they are called biscuits; in Spain they are called Galletas; and so on. According to culinary historians, the first historic record of cookies was their use as test cakes. A small amount of cake batter was baked to test the oven temperature. The name cookie is derived from the Dutch word koekje, meaning "small or little cake". Biscuit comes from the Latin word bis coctum, which means, “twice baked”. That is some history about cookie that I got from the internet.

The recipe that I have here is adapted from the Kairali Cookery Show "Magic Oven" by Lakshmi Nair. It is a quick and easy recipe and very tasty too.

All Purpose flour (Maida)	- 1/2 cup
Baking Powder	- 1/2 tsp
Egg	- 1
Sugar	- 1/3 cups
Salted Butter	- 3 tbsp
Honey	- 2 tsp
Vanilla Essence	- 1/4 tsp

1. Sift the flour and baking powder together. Also add a pinch of salt if you are using unsalted butter.

2. In another bowl, whisk the butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy.

3. To the butter, add the egg and beat well.

4. Add in the essence and honey and mix well.

5. Add the sifted flour and mix well.

6. Pre-heat the oven at 300 degrees F.

7. Line a baking pan with parchment paper and grease with butter.

8. Drop by 1/2 tsp of batter to the pan. Make sure you leave enough space between each drop of the batter as it would increase in size.

9. Bake for around 12-15 minutes until the cookie is golden brown.

When you take the cookie out of the oven, it may be slightly soft at the center. But as it cools it would become crispy.

This recipe will yield 30-35 cookies. My son loved it and the entire box of cookies vanished in no time! It is a quick recipe and a keeper.