Guest Post by Shobana Sekar : Tutti Frutti Cookies

I still remember Shobana the first day she messaged me asking about life in Malaysia as she said her family will be following her husband who will be working here. We have been friends since then, I love her blog Kitchen Secrets, her photography skills always amaze me. Do visit her blog and you will be amazed too not forgetting she shares wonderful recipes that she have tried. Now let me pass over to her and let us see what she has in store for us.

We wish u a Merry Christmas.. we wish u a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year..... Merry Christmas everyone.. I's pleasantly surprised when Arthy of  Sumanarthy's Kitchen asked me whether I wanna do a guest post for her awesome blog. Yes, of course I would like to.. this is what I've conveyed her. So when I asked what should I make, am told it should be related to Christmas and New year bakes/ food. Also I've bookmarked this recipe from Sharmi's space few days back and when I told tutti frutti cookies, Arthy instantly agreed to the idea. 

Thanks Arthy for a great opportunity and also this is my first ever guest post in my 2 yrs of blogging. I've always been a big fan of Arthy's blog for her Asian recipes and traditional, which is her mom's recipes. I've already tried few noodles recipe from her blog and to tell u that tastes exactly like a take out from many restaurants here..I mean, way better than take out.. I know u get what I meant. One more thing is, she has many simple recipes that u can even make in a jiffy with no compromise in taste and it's speciality. Do check out her blog ppl..

  

 

Adapted from Sharmi's passions with changes:

Ingredients:

All purpose flour -- 2/3 cup

Almond meal -- 1/3 cup

Vanilla essence --1 tsp

Milk -- 2 tsp (add few more tsp if the dough needs)

Tutti frutti -- 1/3 cup

Unsalted butter -- 5 tbsp, @ room temp

Confectioner's sugar / Icing sugar -- 1/2 cup ( I feel 1/3 cup is more than enough, so add as per ur taste)

Method:

• Click here to know how to prepare almond meal. U may also grind the almond in a grinder to a fine powder and use it.
• Add the icing sugar + butter and beat until it's light and fluffy. Add the vanilla essence and mix using a whisk.
• Add the almond meal + all purpose flour + tutti frutti and mix them gently unyil it's combined. 
• The dough has to be bit sticky, so add a tsp of milk and check the dough. If u feel, u need to more, add a tsp again and mix thoroughly. Do not add any more than 2 tsp of milk.
• Now gather the dough and form a log. Take a sling wrap and roll the log in it. Cover all the ends and seal.

• Freeze the dough for 45 minutes. In the mean time, line the baking sheet with parchment paper, take the cutters,if using, and make ur work bench ready.
• Preheat the oven to 160 deg C.
• Take the log from the freezer and uncover it. U may cut the log into slightly thick discs and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
• But, I used the cutter. Roll the log as slightly thick chappathi's and cut with ur cutters. Arrange the cookies on the baking sheet with the enough space from each other and bake for 15 to 21 minutes(my oven took 21 minutes) until the edges started changing to golden brown.
• Gather the dough and again form a roti and cut it with the cookie cutter's and do the same step until u r done with the dough.

Notes/Suggestions:

• My oven always takes more of the time than the already given timings to bake. All together my oven took 21 minutes forthe star shaped cookies and 24 minutes for the flower shaped cookies.
• But the recipe calls for 12 to 15 minutes max to bake the cookies in any shape. So keep an eye on ur cookies after 11 minutes of baking.
• I feel half cup sugar is a lot, and I always like mildly sweet cookies, u may reduce if u don't like very sweet cookies.

• Do not dump all the milk @ once, add tsp by tsp and check out the consistency of the dough. Remember, we've added 1 tsp of vanilla and that is a wet ingredient.
• U may substitute the tutti frutti with mixed nuts / dried cranberries / soaked cherries.

 Merry Christmas to all,

Happy Baking,

Shanavi