Frosted Chocolate Surprise Cookies | Cookies for Christmas

We had lots and lots of fluffy white snow over the last week, and were pretty much snowed in over Christmas. The white stuff covered the entire landscape and covered the branches of the bare trees too. The falling temperatures and the ice rain that followed froze pretty much everything in sight including the snow covered branches, and we felt we were in one of those picture postcards of a winter wonderland!! Sleigh bells ringing, reindeer, hot chocolate, and all!! Ahh Christmas!!

Cinnamon Walnut Cookie Logs | Cookies for Christmas | Eggless Baking

Its getting pretty chilly out here. There is snow on the ground and on some days the wind chills are below the freezing mark. With the Thanksgiving behind us, everyone seems to be in a great hurry to get Christmas preparations under way. Lights, trees, festive decorations, and candy are all out in plenty. Santa has set up his workshop in the malls and the smiles on the children's faces are a sight to behold!!

Classic English Digestive Biscuits | Digestive Cookies

The one biscuit that I came to love from my time in England is the English Digestive. Ubiquitous yet unobtrusive, this most English of biscuits has found a place in the heart of many a visitor an local alike. The story of the English Digestive goes something like this: Known originally as a Wheaten, this sweet meal biscuit came to be called a 'digestive' as the use of sodium bicarbonate in the recipe led people to believe that the biscuit had antacid properties. Though records of its existence in England go back to the 1870s, it is believed that such brown meal biscuits were sold by English bakers from the 1850s!

Eggless Tutti Frutti Biscuits | Indian Bakery Style Cookies

Some years ago I was a regular visitor in Hyderabad. Work took me there every few months. Though I lived most of the time in the city, there were weeks when I was out in the field. Whenever I was out on a field trip, I would put up in rest houses surrounded by beautiful greenery and fields. Early mornings were beautiful and when it rained it was wonderful to see all kinds of birds, bugs, and frogs line up along the tiled courtyard and sing in relative harmony!!

Yummylicious Banana Cardamom Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is one of our favourite banana cakes. Seasoned with cardamom that complements bananas so beautifully, it is a perfect treat for the festive season! Of course, I love that the cake is eggless too. Usually when I make this cake in the afternoons for tea, I just dust it with some icing sugar! This time however to chase the rainy day blues away, I decided to indulge and frost it too:) The frosting recipe is very easy to do, just throw it all together and blend it and you are good to go.

Nariyal Barfi | Coconut Burfi (Soft) | Coconut Fudge

Come Autumn, its the beginning of festival season in India. Festivals of course mean family, friends, and food!! Lots and lots of delicious food made especially to celebrate. Festival food tends to be rich in every way - full of sugar, deep fried, packed with dried fruits and nuts, and topped off with lashings of ghee (clarified butter). Everyone has their favourites and can't imagine the festival season without them.