Thursday, August 5, 2010

My first bake - Chocolate Cookies

Tried and tasted by Nivedita 
Hi All,
At last, today was the day for my OTG to put into the test. I was searching for the easiest recipe, which my kids also should enjoy.  
As on my friends voting for Cookies I thought of trying these cookies. Here is my tale of baking the cookies.
I decided to follow the simple recipe which was given in the book with my OTG. But I got a very good and easy recipe from HERE.  Thanks to Deepa for sharing so easy recipe.
I am giving the recipe too, as I reduced the quantity to half.
All Purpose Flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Unsalted butter -  1/4 cup
Coco powder - 1/6 cup
egg- 1/2
White chocolate or milk chocolate -1, cut into small pieces
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Milk -  2 tbsp
(I skipped the black coffee as I did not had it)

The cups and spoons I used to measure

Grease the baking tray. 
I did not preheat the oven as I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT MEANS AND HOW TO PREHEAT WITH WHAT OPTIONS ON.
Sieve the APF, Coco powder, baking power and salt in a big vessel.
Beat the egg, butter and sugar till creamy and fluffy. 
Add the sieved flour to this and mix well.
Add milk and knead like a soft dough.
Divide the dough in to lemon size balls. Press the balls to make round cookies shape.
Spread the cookies on baking tray.
Keep it in the middle rack.
Bake it on 180 degree C(350 degrees F) for 10 minutes.
First batch, I kept for 20 minutes (as it was written in the book) 
But When I saw the cookies were getting burnt, I was helpless. I was not sure whether to take the timer knob to zero or not.
These are my burnt cookies. The upper part was too good and was crispy. I GRATED THE BURNT SIDE TO REMOVE THE BLACK PART. 


I could not count how many I made as my daughters went on eating!!
I am happy that I started baking and succeeded in it.

PLEASE GUIDE ME FOR GOOD BAKING,
What is Preheating means? What is the temperature, how much time to keep.
Can I off the OTG in the middle?
Can I bring the timer knob to zero If the food is getting burnt?
I hope to get more answers from you all!
Hey, I am the proud owner of this new OTG and promise to maintain it for many years.

Keep Smiling,

12 comments:

Guna's kitchen said...

Delicious chocloate cookies... nicely baked .. i'm sure dat ur kids love it... thnx 4 sharing

Unknown said...

wow, they have come out very well dear. Congrats on first bake. I am also just learning to bake.

kitchen queen said...

yummy and delicious cookies.

Aparna S Mallya said...

Nivedita,
First of all Congratulations on the oven!! I can imagine how happy you must be to own one!!

Prheating an oven means raising the temperature inside the oven before you put the cake batter or cookie dough inside it. Eg: If the recipe calls for 180C, that means the inside of the oven should be 180C hot. Only then will the cookies bake properly. In other words, if the oven is cold, cookies will not bake evenly.
To preheat the oven, first switch the oven on. Then press the button or turn the knob (whichever is applicable to your oven) such that the preheat time is set to 180C. Then wait for 10 to 15 minutes(once again, depending on the oven) till the oven temp. raises to 180C. Only then should you put the cookie dough inside. (Some ovens have a beeping facility - when the temp reaches 180C it beeps. Or they have a light that goes off when it reaches 180C. If neither of that happens, I suggest you wait for 10 to 15 mts before you put the cookies in the oven)

Cookies usually bake within 10 mts. If you feel your cookies have baked before that, say in 8 minutes, you do not need to switch the timer off. Just open the oven door and remove the cookie tray.
Once the tray is out,don't remove the cookies immediately. Wait for atleast 10 minutes for the cookies to cool down.
Hope this helps.

Kiran said...

Congrats on your first bake.
Cookies look delicious.I guess Champa from Versatile Kitchen will be the right person to anwer your quetions regarding baking.

Neetz said...

wow!! perfect shapes!!!... congrats on ur successful first bake.

Nitha said...

Delicious and perfect cookies..

Hamaree Rasoi said...

Nive,
I'm so happy that you chose my chocolate cookies to treat your children. We should always pre-heat the oven first (180 degree Celsius for 5 minutes) before putting our batch for baking. Here is the link which will give you the idea for how to pre heat your oven :http://www.wikihow.com/Preheat-an-Oven. Most baked goods are baked in the middle shelf as the heat circulates more evenly there. Putting them in the upper rack will burn the upper crust of the cookies.The whole purpose of preheating the oven is to get it up to temperature before you place the food in it. Temperature is an important part of the chemical reaction process in things like cakes, pies, cookies, breads.The texture of baked goods like bread, pies, cakes and cookies very much depends on how fast the heat get to the flour and fat and how quickly it sets.I'm sure after following these tips your second trial will come out even better. If you need any other information just mail me at hamareerasoi.deepa@gmail.com.
Take care. And give my love to your kids
Deepa

Nivedita Thadani said...

Hi All,
thanks every one.
Aparna and Deepa: Thank you very much for your useful tip. I am going to follow it the next time.
Kiran : Yes I do follow her blog regularly.

Lakshmi ...Rasoi ki Malkin..northern and southern spices said...

Agood and yummy cookies for all of us too.

Hari Chandana P said...

Looks perfect and yummyy :)

Sushma Mallya said...

Looks yummy,congrats on succeeding the very first time nivi...looking forward for many such yummy bakes...

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