PonPulari

With the sun blazing down and summer almost here there’s no better way to beat the heat other than with fresh and frothy homemade smoothies, shakes and fruit juices.  …… humble butter milk we love you too!

Ground almonds cooked in milk flavoured with cardamom along with a touch of saffron, the ‘carroty’ taste  complimenting the nutty flavour, this kheer serves best any time of the day, and is for sure a perfect nourishing summer drink which you can prepare in less than half an hour!

Almond Carrot Kheer (fills 4 large glasses)

*Fat free milk- 1 litre/ 1000ml
Almonds-large- 40 nos
Carrot- 1 large
Sugar- 8-10 tsps (or as per your taste)
Cardamom seeds, powdered-1/2 tsp or to flavour
Saffron strands- a few

*Fat free milk is preferred as whole milk suppresses the natural taste of almonds. Kheer made with light milk is more comforting too.

Soak almonds in hot water ; just enough to keep them immersed for 15 minutes. Peel off skin one by one and grind to a paste adding a little milk. Peel the skin of  the carrot, cut into chunks and pressure cook. Cool and grind to a smooth paste. If you have the cooked water, do not worry! Stir in both the pastes into that until blended. If there isn’t any left over water, just blend the pastes in half cup of milk reserved from the one litre.
Add sugar to the milk and bring to boil. Reduce the flame and blend in the pastes stirring continuously. Simmer for 5 minutes to let the nuts cook. Switch off the flame, stir in cardamom and serve hot topped with saffron strands.

I love it chilled, though! It was so soothing and refreshing that I ended up having a whole chilled jug thoroughout the day, skipping meals .

S imple, crunchy, flavorful and addictively delicious is an understatement for these cookies you see here. Tight hugs to Sweet Punch team for the wonderful choice!

Take my words, bake them and you will never regret munching on this very much ‘Indianish’ Cookies!

Recipe Source- Manjula’s Kitchen

Ingredients (to make 24 cookies)

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom powder, ground coarsely 
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (8 tablespoons or 4oz)
• About 2 tablespoons of milk or as needed

Method 

1. Pre heat the oven to 360 degree F.
2. In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients; flour, sugar, salt, sliced almonds and cardamom powder well.
3. Next add soft butter and milk to the flour mixture to make dough. Dough should be very soft.
4. Divide the dough into about 24 equal parts and make them into balls.
5. Press each ball between your palms lightly; every piece should be about 1/2” in thickness.
6. Place the dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet about inch a part.
7. Bake the cookies for about 18 minutes or until cookies are lightly golden brown.
8. After they are done remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Let the cookies cool down for two to three minutes before taking them off the cookie sheet.

The pic up is the 2nd batch of cookies baked with a higher temp and deliberately over browned. They were crunchier and tastier

            The changes made from the original recipe:-

            1. No added milk.The homemade butter was soft enough and dint call for the milk. On the contrary the dough was sticky and I had to knead in 2 tbsps of wheat flour to make it right.

            2. Used half cup,scant, granulated sugar, which was powdered and kneaded in. Still the cookies were towards the sweeter side. 1/4 cup sugar will be ideal for a cup of flour likewise.(The original recipe calls for fine granulated sugar)
          
             3. The oven temp was set to 210 C (a high temp for anyone but not to my old fashioned conv one ) and the baking time needed was 15 minutes, the edges have browned but the cookies tasted great that way.The original recipe says 180 C for 18 min. So the baking time varies according to the temp and type of oven you use.

            4. I made 36 cookies inspite of the changes and will be baking this again and again and again unlike Manjula who does just once in the video