Foaming Cookies-Daring Bakers Revisited-July 2013

Better late than never...
Butter late and cookies...
No standing and kneading...
And no going wrong.
Gingerbread men,Margarita glasses without the vodka and tulips and Shamrocks.

Yes these are my new cookie cutters.
And these are my men.
OK,Gingerbread Men-Foaming Cookies Men_Buttery Men,Yummy men.
And Tulips and Vodka less Margaritas and Shamrocks,minus the frosting.

Late ,but responsible.
Very responsible.
I did bake for the July daring bakers Eenie Meenie Miney Moe!Challenge. I made Foaming Cookies from the november 2012 daring bakers challenge.

Blog Checking Lines:

In a "celebration" of past Daring Baker and Daring Cook challenges, Lisa challenged all of us to search through the Daring Kitchen archives and pick any one we'd like! The REAL challenge was picking which delicious recipe(s) to try!

Super!
An Opportunity not to be missed.
If you live in north India at this time of the year ,you would know that this is not baking or for that matter frosting country.
It is hot!
Hot and humid.
Everything is just damp and smelly and the days become worse till it rains.
And then it pours and the vicious cycle of heat starts all over again.
So butter and batter melts.
Frosting is not easy and fondant is just out of the question.
So when I saw Foaming cookies,I was tempted.
It said that the cookies dough firms on cooling,she obviously does not speak of India.
But Voila,it did.
Easy to roll out and cut out,the batter was god sent.
I also made mini apple pies out of some dough.

A chance day trip to Shimla and the site of the roadside swelling with the seasons first apples and pears....
Red and green and golden,so apple pies were imperative.
I just chopped up a couple of the baby green apples and added to the tiny pie cases and baked them.Dusted with cinnamon,they were super.

So late or no,I post.

for the

Foaming Cookies-Daring Bakers Challenge Revisited-July 2013

you need

3/4 cup normal granulated sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup or 112 gms butter-soft(a blessing at this time of the year)
1/2 tsp bi-carbonate soda
1 tbsp hot water.

Simple stuff,no fuss was what attracted me.I had dreams of croissants and fondant topped masterpieces,but reality bites hard.
Just out of the fridge,butter begins to melt.
We are in Verka county,Punjab.
I like salted butter,only as it is easier on the palate and easier to taste.

Whiz the butter and the flour in your food processor.If you want to avoid the food processor,go mixing the butter in the flour with a fork.The soft butter blends in like magic.

Place the sugar in a small sauce pan and pour over the milk.It may look as the the milk is less,but trust me-its enough.Place on low heat and allow the sugar to melt.

Once the sugar has melted the syrup looks a little grey and well-syruppy.Let it cool.
When cool enough,time for a simple chemistry experiment.
In the meanwhile measure out 1 tbsp of hot-HOT water and add the soda bi- carb to it.
Fizz,it should.

And pour into the grey syrup.
Let it foam.

Like so.
Success!

Add to the flour butter mix and well mix.

The dough will be like a batter,and could have looked better.
No jokes.

Let it RIP-rest till it cools.

 S,it firms up to a roll -able state.
Without placing it in the fridge.
Honest.

A little dusting of flour on the work top and rolling pin,the dough divided into 4 parts was rolled out about half a centimeter thick or thin-whichever word you like.
And cut.

The scraps were rerolled and cut,till I got two cookie trays worth of cookies.About 28 in all.
Oven on at 175C or 350F.

Two cookie trays in for a little less than 20 minutes.

This is the amount of fruit I picked from the vendors on the national highway.
Loaded with vitamins and pesticides and dust and god knows what else.
Moral of the story,wash your fruit well before you eat it.

The left over cookie scraps I rolled out and placed them at the bottom of a muffin tray and topped with chopped granny smith apples,a wee bit sugar and dusted with cinnamon,baked for about 35 minutes.
The cookie tray...

And the mini pies...
Gone so fast,I'm inspired to bake them again.

Contrast...what you should and what you should not be eating.

So lets strike a balance,between sin and butter based cookies and cookie bases.

And enjoy the fruits of our labours.

 Ebony and Ivory,
OK, a wee bit overdone and some cookies just right...
But butter cookies and butter cookies and when they taste and smell and feel of them,
They are so worth the effort and calories.

So simple and so worth baking.
If just for a little bit of guilt trip and the taste of butter.
These home made cookies are so much better than store bought,chemical laden stuff,they taste like Danish Butter Biscuits.
Bake a tin full for your family and enjoy!

So rightfully, after so many blog posts,

So what are you baking today???