Eggless butter biscuits!

This has been a long time coming.

I cannot bake without eggs. Let me rephrase that. I couldn't even IMAGINE baking without eggs. But I had to, a challenge that I reluctantly accepted because of a vegetarian friend (no, not one of those hipster vegans who are vegans cz it's cool to be vegan, a kind that I absolutely hate but a real, true vegetarian). It turned out great! The recipe *drumroll* unrolls.

Ingredients

• 250g butter
• 400g flour
• 100g (or as per taste) icing sugar
• 100g cornflour
• Few drops of vanilla essence 
• Mixed ground spices (optional) 

Method

- Sift together flour and cornflour.
- Beat together butter and icing sugar until well combined.
- Add the flour mix to the butter mixture. Add a few drops of vanilla and a few spoonfuls of spice. Mix well.
- Cover in clingfilm or plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
- Flatten with a rolling pin (about 1/2 cm thick) and cut into desired shapes.
- Bake till golden brown in colour.


The result is buttery, crunchy and deeply gratifying. The nose is immediately taken over by the sweet vanilla first, giving out that particular smell that spells of home, hearth and love. For me, this is the smell of beautiful afternoons of teatime goodies and simply, happiness. The first bite registers the butter and then the sweetness of sugar with a thin lacing of spice that is faint but is very much there. The warm notes of vanilla embraces the entirety of the mouthful leaving your senses enveloped in a beautiful vanilla cloud. Convaincu, one can only sigh in sheer pleasure while reaching for another and then, yet another.

I made it plain this time since I did not want to complicate the dish as I was already freaking out due to the absence of eggs (yeah, I'm not kidding). Well, what do you know, baking without eggs IS possible after all!

You can add peanuts, cashews and whatever additions you want to make the cookies yummier or you can just make it buttery and biscuity plain. I added a pinch of spice (I love spices and love spices in everything) so that you can just about sense a faint whiff of cinnamon as you munch on these. The perfect teatime treat!

I shall now make a confession. I make cookies so that I can eat the batter. There. You can now imagine where about half of the cookie batter went.

  

Bread pudding a la Sri Lankan

I <3 Bread pudding :)

Cold bread pudding, screwing my face up as I bite into pieces of lemon peel, cardamom pods and sorting through raisins are amongst my most fondest memories of childhood. And that is exactly what this blog is about - Nostalgic food that are close to the heart.

Of course this is a different recipe than what my mother used to make for us when we were small. I don't remember the exact differences but I do remember this; she likes to serve it cold, I like my bread pudding hot.

Derived from the British, the classic bread-and-butter pudding becomes plain old bread pudding when it comes to this tiny island. How do we like it? Very Sri Lankan. And here is my recipe.

Ingredients

• 12 pieces of bread (approx.) top crust removed
• 4 eggs
• Sugar (as per taste)
• 500 ml Sweetened condensed milk (can be alternated by 500ml regular milk)
• 1 rind of lime
• 4 tablespoons powdered spice (cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, clove) 
• 200 g butter
• 200g raisins/sultanas
• Vanilla essence

Method

- Beat the eggs and sugar together until well combined.
- Add the milk.condensed milk and beat.
- Add the ground spice, few drops of vanilla essence and the rind of lemon. Keep mixture aside.
- Butter both sides of the bread and layer the bottom of a baking dish with a layer of bread.
- Sprinkle raisins/sultanas over the bread. Then pour a part of the egg/milk mixture to soak the bread.
- Spread another layer of bread over this. Keep layering till all the bread and the mixture is gone.
- Bake in a moderate oven till the top is crisp and a skewer inserted in the middle of the pudding comes out clean.
- Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream melting over the top.

The result? Beautiful, soft, yielding pudding with a moist middle that is buttery, milky and not too sweet. The top is browned wonderfully so as to give a buttery crunch to the otherwise spongy treat. The finely grated lime rind gives the pudding the distinct citrus taste and aroma while the spices add a certain fragrance while also cutting through the buttery sweetness of the pudding. Ah, decadence!

I like this warm with a bit of vanilla ice cream melting over the top. It's just fine without the ice cream too and would serve very well as a teatime treat on its own as well as an indulgent dessert after a meal. Get creative with it as this is a very versatile dish. Fruit sauce, fresh fruit, custard anything goes.

A warm bowl of this on a rainy cold day, cuddled up on a couch. Heaven just heaved a longing sigh.

I like this very Sri Lankan bread pudding for the fact that is unimaginably simple. Uncomplicated, clean flavours and a myriad of textures for your whole being to wonder and ponder over. What is more, it can be made out of the ingredients that can be found in any household without having to splurge on expensive ingredients. It also appeals to the lazy person that I am, taking literally just minutes to make. And the sweetness isn't too overpowering either. This can be downed in bowlfuls and while it is very filling, one would not feel sick from too much sweetness as is the case with other desserts out there.

What can I say? This is a taste from childhood that I still crave for from time to time. Mother, the best cook that I know in this world said that this particular one was exceptionally good. Made meself proud :)