Christmas always comes with a certain smell in the air. The Christmas tree, strings of balloons, bells and the streamers around a well-decorated Christmas tree are all dedicated to Christmas yes. Then, the festival is as much about food as it is about anything else. The peculiar aspect of Christmas is that every community despite not belonging to Christianity always celebrates this festival with aplomb.
This is the beauty of Christmas. The carols, the mass at midnight and the carnivalesque food in Christian homes--all have been traditions of Christmas we have seen since childhood.
As an ode to Christmas, I have been decking up a medium-sized pretty Christmas tree ever since toddlerhood. Making a crib and cookies to munch on have been traditions my home follows for a long long time. Here are three quick Christmas cookie recipes that are quick, yummy and very very Christmas-y.
Desi- Style Choco Chip Cookies
The choco chip packets were not always available years back with as much ease as they are now. No neighbourhood shop would sell neatly chopped chocolate chips when I was a kid. The cookie recipe thus is a choco chip infested one but the chips are homemade with good old Dairy Milk. The dough is made from brown sugar and white flour. Simply take a little white cooking oil and mix in some brown sugar. Beat with the spoon, but not too much. Add some vanilla essence, a pinch of salt and add a tiny bit of milk too. Just at room temperature. Add the white flour, baking powder and some cooking soda. Combine into soggy yet tight dough. The mixture must hold up like roti dough yet be slightly loose. Chop the dairy milk and mix up with the dough. Bake for 15 minutes. The cookies turn gigantically big, so keep that in mind while lining the dough onto the baking tray. The smell that comes out reminds you of the tiny cookie shops gracing the by-lanes of countries such as the UK, trust me.
Milkybar cookies
This is the sophisticated white chocoalte cookie recipe. The process is the same as above but instead of Dairy Milk, you chop some Milkybar and have fun. You might even garnish these cookies on the top with some flaky almond slices. The taste changes in a big way than a traditional chocolate cookie.
This one is more suited to bunch up even without a glass of milk on the sides. This cookie recipe was a hit with my health-conscious aunty but today you get to market such a recipe as gluten-free and “everything” free category. We substitute the maida with freshly ground almond powder and some desiccated coconut. Add coconut oil instead of the typical white oil here. Add brown sugar. All of these will come in two-tablespoon measures for a single batch of cookies. You can hike up the proportion directly as per the cookie numbers you want. Add some cashew or pistachios that have been finely chopped, into the dough. Make tiny-sized balls. Ensure that the tray is well-spaced thanks to the added baking powder in the dough.
Bake for 15 minutes and do not let the cookies turn very brown. The taste and aftertaste of this beauty is un-explicable. You have to take a bite to get it. Cookies are an integral part of Christmas. The cookie tins are vital collectibles too. You give a box of cookies and you get two, they say. This Christmas show some spirit by warmly baking some of these beauties. And of course, sharing them too!