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.

  

Chicken Pomodori melt - Panino

Can I just say that I absolutely love Panino?

It started as a mild infatuation, while I was searching for a substantial lunch at the Good Market. I'm not a huge rice fan and hence sad to say, the options were scarce, expensive and hardly sufficient.

That's when I came across Panino. I had one of their roast paan panini first (I believe it was a chicken pomodori melt) and I was hooked.

I have tried so many of their creations so far, the BBQ pulled chicken, the mushroom & cheese, the chicken burritos and etc, all of which had a unique identity of their own. While I absolutely loved some, others I generally liked and some I did not like (for example, the burritos has a little too much of rice and too little chicken in it which was not to my liking. However, the flavours were good) But today I shall rant and rave about the Chicken Pomodori melt that, hands down, tops the list for me.

I love, love, LOVE the chicken! Very well seasoned and dare I say, melt in the mouth? I love what they have done with the spinach there and that spread! Oh dear god, that spread! Whatever that spread is, it gives all the flavour that the panini needs. It coats the chicken, the spinach and whatever else is in that filling and perfectly balances it out. Would I have it seven days a week for lunch? Hell yeah!

Oh btw, I like my Chicken Pomodori in a wrap. Sure it costs Rs 50/- more but it sure is worth it.

Best part is, it's healthy. I'm bit of a health conscious person and like to watch what I put in my body. Because of this, it is somewhat difficult to find "snacks" for myself. Another reason why Panino is just about perfect for me. And I know this will sound weird but it tastes healthy too (probably it's the spinach. Shrug)

Not a huge fan of their drinks though. Prices are outrageous. For a bottle of thambili, they charge Rs 150/-. For a bottle of narang or ginger beer, its 250! I mean sure, I understand that the eco friendly glass bottling and everything costs, but as an actual food item, its way too overpriced for me. I did try their homemade ginger beer once out of curiosity. It was good, but would I pay Rs 250/- for it? No.

All in all, I'm happy. I found my go-to place for those little cravings. Sad part is I have to go all the way to the Cotton Collection to get my fix. Oh well......