THE BAKERY TRAIL..

Biscuits..rare is the person who has not eaten biscuits, sweet, salty or spicy, there are thousands of varieties of biscuits or cookies all over the world. Each country has its own speciality, be it the shortbreads or butter cookies or the sandwich cookies and the list is endless.

Growing up in Pune our biscuits and cakes were from the famous Parsi bakeries which Pune is famous for, namely Kayani bakery, Royal bakery and pasteur bakery to name a few. These bakeries sell biscuits and cakes w recipes  of which are handed down over generations, and the best part is that over the years the taste and quality remains the same.. anyone who has been to Pune will vouch for the melt in your mouth shrewsbury biscuits of Kayani bakery or the cheese papadi and not forgetting the khari puff biscuits..its no wonder that their cakes, biscuits , breads are sold out even as they are made. Each bakery has its speciality which loyal customers keep going back for. I remember how Baba  wanted bread only from Royal bakery,  and mummy used to tell me to go pick it up, and me cutting across bhimpura lane to buy the bread happily because it gave me a chance to go to my favourite library, the Punjab library where the owner uncle Manguram had the most fabulous collection of mills and boon books and comics…Royal bakery also had the most amazing glass cakes so called because of their shape.. these buttery milky cakes were super soft. Pune in the 1970’s had some pretty well known bakeries , many of them still around even today.. sadly some have shut down like the Sham sunder bakery where nankhathais were  really delicious..Those were the good old days…

I am not too much into baking, but recently my son Sagar encouraged me to start baking cookies… and so began the search for some of my old recipes for cookies. Today i share with you a recipe for coconut cookies. these remain crisp for a long time due to the pure butter used.

COCONUT COOKIES

225 GMS UNSALTED ANCHOR BUTTER

225 GMS SUGAR

1 1/2 CUPS FLOUR

1 1/2 CUPS DESSICATED COCONUT

1/4 TSP SALT

1 TSP VANILA ESSENCE

 

PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 160 DEGREES CELCIUS  AND LINE A BAKING TRAY WITH BUTTER PAPER.

BEAT BUTTER AND SUGAR TOGETHER WITH A ELECTRIC MIXER UNTIL LIGHT AND FLUFFY. ADD SALT AND VANILA ESSENCE. NOW FOLD IN THE FLOUR AND DESSICATED COCONUT. REFRIGERATE THIS FOR 30 MINS. MAKE SMALL BALLS OF 4 GMS EACH AND PUT THEM ON TO THE BAKING TRAY, FLATTEN WITH YOUR FINGERS, LEAVING SOME SPACE BETWEEN EACH COOKIE. I MAKE THESE IN BATCHES OF 30.. PUT THE TRAY IN THE PREHEATED OVEN AND BAKE THE COOKIES FOR ABOUT 12 TO 15 MINS. AS SOON AS YOU SEE THE EDGES TURNING SLIGHTLY BROWN , REMOVE AND TRANSFER THE COOKIES ONTO A WIRE RACK TO COOL.. AND BAKE THE REMAINING BATCHES OF THE COOKIES, FROM THIS RECIPE YOU WILL GET AROUND 150 SMALL CRISP COOKIES.

 

IF YOU LIKE A SLIGHTLY CHEWY TEXTURE, THEN DONT FLATTEN THE COOKIES.