The Art of Simplicity

  1. Take a bowl and add 1/4 cup chia-seeds and 1/4 cup honey. Dissolve 3 tbs of cocoa powder (unsweetened) in 1 cup of lukewarm milk and then add this chocolate milk in the bowl containing chia seeds and honey. Give the ingredients a good mix and leave them in the refrigerator overnight. 2. The next day you will see that the chia-seeds have swollen up after absorbing the chocolate milk and the pudding has become thick. Give it a good mix and then assemble in a glass topping with fruits of your choice, nuts, berries and a dash of peanut butter and desiccated coconut. This makes for an extremely healthy and quick breakfast choice. The measurements given here will make two small cups only in which the pudding occupies only half of each cup and the remaining half by fruits and other toppings.

                                                                                                                                       1. In a bowl, beat one small egg at room temperature, add 2 tsp granulated sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 tbs melted butter and 1/2 cup warm milk. Then add 1 1/4 tsp dry yeast (make sure the milk is not too hot as it will kill the yeast) and stir the mix. After 1-2 mins when you see little froth/bubbles forming, add 1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour(maida) and mix. To make a healthier version, I used whole wheat flour instead and so the taste varies accordingly. You ...

  1. In a bowl, beat one egg, add 1/2 cup granulated sugar ,1/4 cup vegetable oil and 1 tsp almond extract (I used vanilla extract instead) and whisk them together. To it add 1/4 cup whole almonds, 1/4 cup dried cranberries, 1/8 cup whole pistachios and stir them in. The batter will look somewhat like this-                                               2. Sift in 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg and 1 tsp baking powder in the wet mixture and mix the sticky dough. You have to stir until completely blended and then use your hands to knead the dough;this process can be quite tricky and you will have to keep dusting more flour on top of it to get a good dough. This uses up about 1/4 cup of extra flour or a little more (so in total 1 cup of flour will be used up in this dough) and will end up looking something like this-      ...

                                                                                                  1.  Take 1 cup of softened butter (this time to give it a healthier twist, I used unsalted, homemade, white butter at room temperature) and whisk it using an electric hand mixer for a minute. Add 1 cup of brown sugar, 3 eggs one by one and whisk until they combine well into a smooth, fluffy paste. 2. Add 1/2 cup of melted dark compound chocolate/ plain milk chocolate/ chocolate chips to the mixture, 1tbs of vanilla extract and whisk again for a minute. 3. In a separate bowl, sieve and add 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tbs baking powder and 1 tsp salt. Mix the dry ingr...

1. Take a bowl and beat one egg, add 1/2 cup butter at room temperature (so that it can be whisked easily), 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar and beat with a hand mixer until a smooth fluffy paste is formed. Add 1/2 tsp of coconut extract (you can even use vanilla extract instead) 2. In a separate bowl, add 1/4 cup desiccated coconut,1 cup all purpose flour, 1tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda. Add 1 tsp salt and 1/4 cup sweetened coconut chips/flakes. Mix well. (If your coconut flakes are not sweetened, then you may add 1/8 cup of white sugar extra in the first step) 3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine well. Add two tsp of coconut oil and 1 tbs milk and mix the batter well. Use an ice-cream scoop to put the cookies on a flat oven tray (to be greased prior). Bake the cookies at 200 degrees celsius for 15-17 mins till golden brown in an oven which is to be pre-heated at 180 degree celsius for 5 mins.