Thursday, January 22, 2009

Eggless Pudding Cookies

Recently I discovered that the baking powder I have been innocently adding to so many of my bakes contains aluminum in it. I researched on this topic a little and my research did not specifically yield any issues from ingesting this aluminum contained in food, yet I felt it was an unnecessary additive in my food that I was not keen to include in mine and my family's diet. So I switched to aluminum free baking powder. If you, like me think you do not want to include this unnecessary additive in your food, look for aluminum free baking powder, this is available in almost all grocery stores.

While on the topic of baking powder,here are some tips for buying and checking effectiveness of baking powder. Since baking powder has a short shelf life it is better to buy the baking powder in small quantities each time. Also to check the effectiveness of the baking powder already lying in your shelf, stir in 1 teaspoon of baking powder into 1/3 cup of boiling water, if it gently bubbles than the baking powder is still effective and can be used.

Moving on...I came across this cookie on Madhuram's Eggless cooking site. From the very first time I saw this simple and elegant recipe I knew I would not be able to resist making this. I made two batches of these cookies, one with butterscotch flavor and the other with pistachio flavor. In place of all purpose flour I used a combination of ground flax cereal, almond meal and semolina flour in the first and a little milk powder instead of semolina flour in the second.

Both of these turned out fantastic and if you gave it to someone and asked them to guess the ingredients they would not be able to guess that they were actually consuming something as healthy as flax cereal and almond meal in their cookie. I also reduced the quantity of butter, then started getting nervous while the cookies were baking that they would get messed up because I did so, luckily it was fine and we thoroughly enjoyed these quick and yum treats. I particularly loved the pistachio flavored one because I used a little milk powder in that and loved the taste of pistachio and milk together.




Click here for a printable version of this recipe

Ingredients and method to make Pudding cookies Variation 1

1/2 cup finely ground flax cereal ( See notes below)
1/2 cup finely ground almond meal ( See notes below)
1/4 cup fine rava (semolina flour)
1 pkt 3.5 oz of Jello Pudding and pie filling (butterscotch flavor)
1/3 cup Smart balance light (or butter)

Preheat oven at 375 deg F

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and keep aside

Process flax cereal in food processor/ blender until fine, keep aside

Process almonds with skin in food processor / blender until fine, keep aside.

In a large bowl, mix flax cereal, almond meal and semolina flour and keep aside.

In another bowl, cream together the butter (or smart balance) and jello pudding and pie filling until smooth and mixed well.

Add to this the ground flax cereal + almond meal + semolina flour mixture and mix well until it is well blended.

Roll the dough into little balls and place on cookie sheet and flatten gently.

Bake in the oven for about for 15 mins.

Remove and cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

This yielded about 16 cookies small

Notes: I used the flax cereal from Trader Joe's which is not very sweet, you could probably use any type of cereal here that is not very sweet.

Or you can use replace the quantity of ground cereal with all purpose flour (maida)



Click here for a printable view of variation 2

Ingredients and method to make Pudding cookies Variation 2

1/4 milk powder
3/4 cup fine powder of flax cereal
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup smart balance light (or butter)
1 pkt 3.5 oz Jello instant pudding and pie filling pistachio flavor

Preheat oven at 350 deg F

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and keep aside

Process flax cereal in food processor/ blender until fine, keep aside

Process almonds with skin in food processor / blender until fine, keep aside.

In a large bowl, mix flax cereal, almond meal and milk powder and keep aside.

In another bowl, cream together the butter (or smart balance) and jello pudding and pie filling until smooth and mixed well.

Add to this the ground flax cereal + almond meal + milk powder mixture and mix well until it is well blended. Add milk and mix some more

Roll the dough into little balls and place on cookie sheet and flatten gently.

Bake in the oven for about for 15 mins.

Remove and cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

This yielded about 20 really small cookies

Notes: You can easily replace the quantity of ground cereal or any of the other two items like almond meal or semolina flour (or even all three if you choose ) with equal quantity of all purpose flour.(maida)

43 comments :

Varsha Vipins said...

Wow..those are really healthy delights Usha..:)

Vidhya said...

perfecto! Usha. cookies look really delicious. I have started baking recently. will try this soon.

Anonymous said...

healthy and yummy :)
classic Usha :)

Anonymous said...

oh wow, really nice recipe! looks yummy.

A_and_N said...

I've done this too from Madhuram's blog :)

And thanks for the aluminium info. I did not know and should take care to pick up al-free one when I go next!

Gita Jaishankar said...

wow, so many facts about baking powder, thanks for sharing the information. The cookies look perfect :)

Amy said...

Mmmm those cookies look great! Yum.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the visit!!! I am not a Vegan but the recipe looks very yummy... Your Vegetable Khichdi looks DELISH! I have added you to the blog roll...

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

cookies look lovely Usha. nice pic.

Anonymous said...

They look truly yummy dear..pass the plates plz..ha ha

Sharmila said...

Many antacids contain aluminum too Usha. I did not know about it in baking powder. And they eventually affect the kidneys and the gall bladder. That is a good writeup. And your cookies look perfect. :-)

Shama Nagarajan said...

lovely delight

Vaishali said...

These look amazing, Usha. Pudding cookies...that's a new idea to me, and one definitely worth trying out if the result's so good!

Unknown said...

good info on bak.powder,,especially how to test its effectiveness..wheareas cookies looks really nice..
what is pudding mix actually like can we use the powder used to make jellies?

Shreya said...

hi, I have not heard of pudding cookies, but they sure look delicious!:-)

Cham said...

Perfectly shaped cookies and al-free who says no? Great and healthy cookies!

suvi said...

so much goodness in a cookie...they look yum!

Navita (Gupta) Hakim said...

that is awesome...lovely ccokies...

Finla said...

Thanks for the info about thebaking powder i will surley check my packet.

Priya Suresh said...

Wow gorgeous cookies they r...gonna try soon..

Anonymous said...

I had no idea baking powder has aluminium in it. I will certainly try to look it up when I have a chance.

Those are great cookies. Thanks for dropping by.

anudivya said...

I tried Madhuram's cookies too, and they were nice. But added less butter, sugar etc...
Your version is too good also, next time I will try this.
oh BTW, Nice nail color ;)

Sunshinemom said...

I decided your nails look the best:) The cookies are great of course!!

Pam said...

What a clever idea! These cookies look really tasty.

lubnakarim06 said...

Wow looks soft, crunchy and yummy..

Manju said...

pudding cookies are something new to me...so is aluminium content in baking powder..will be careful the next time i buy some!!

AnuSriram said...

Thats a very useful piece of info! Cookies Looks delicious!

Vikis Kitchen said...

Cookies look perfect and I bookmarked it.

FH said...

I am amazed that egg less cookies will rise so nicely too, both look good and nutritious as well, good looking cookies! :)

Preety said...

wow eggless version..never tried this one

Beyond Curries said...

That's a wonderful idea of using flax cereal, almond meal and semolina. Way healthy than my cookies. I was also going to try with less butter. Now I know that it works out well. Thanks Usha.

vidhas said...

Very Awesome cookies. Thanks for dropping by .

Navita (Gupta) Hakim said...

Usha,yes the wine can be skipped altogether its merely for extra flavour...and not much is lost. For the salad dressing u asked.

and i still need to find some flax seeds here...:)

LifenSpice said...

the eggless pudding cookies look great! never heard of this combination before

Mangala Bhat said...

Hey This Recipe looks quite different ..will try sometime and let u know Thanks for shraing ..pic looks yummy

Anonymous said...

Good info usha! & a very healthy recipe. Never thot of using pudding !

& those are pretty fingers:-))

Premyscakes said...

Wow, sounds quite different and looks great.

Cynthia said...

Hi Dear, Happy New Year!

Jaishree Iyer said...

The eggless pudding cookies look great! never heard of this combination before... look really delicious Usha.

Paru ... said...

Lovely cookies Usha..And thanks for that info on baking powder, makes me think twice before using it going forward...

Archy said...

Wow, cookies with flax seeds an jello.. wonderful ! Mouth watering pic !!

Deepa Hari said...

Lovely cookies Usha....Thank you for the info abt. baking powder.

Namrata Kini said...

Thanks for the info on baking powder. You have a lovely space here.

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