September mornings are bright and breezy. Cloudless skies, nippy mornings and chilly evenings, unexpectedly warm days and so much brightness of autumnal colours all around. There is an opera of birdsongs in the air and trees are lush and fields are a thick carpet of green.


Yesterday morning we saw a dove sunning herself.


Later in the day, two Brahminy Starlings were atop a terrace for a very long time seemingly enjoying the warmth of the Sun.  

Weather is unpredictable in the hills. We thought we were already in Autumn. Today, we woke up to a dark cloudy morning and roaring clouds. It rained heavily and once again, we had slush, puddles, and pools all around. Later, it cleared up and we had a wonderful sunny day.


Good weather also calls for good comfort food. We had whole wheat batter bread with a veggie. Later we had truffles made with desiccated coconut. We made the truffles keeping in mind our taste preferences.


This is a recipe born out of the craving to have something sweet after meals. It had to be guilt free. The truffles have desiccated coconut, ground oats, fresh, milky walnuts from the hills, coconut oil, honey, and turmeric. A drizzle of melted white chocolate for the glam quotient. I named them Golden Truffles.

Golden Truffles


Ingredients

  • 1 ¼  cup desiccated Coconut
  • ¼ cup powdered oats
  • ½  cup Honey
  • 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
  • ½  cup Walnut kernels chopped fine
  • 1 tablespoon  + ¼  tsp Coconut oil
  • 1 pinch Salt
  • 1 small slab of white chocolate

Instructions

  1. In a deep bowl take desiccated coconut and oats. Add turmeric powder, walnuts, and salt. Mix well
  2. Add honey and coconut oil. Mix well with hands. The mixture should come together after mixing.
  3. Pinch a small portion of the mixture. Press it and shape truffles.
  4. Keep in the refrigerator.
  5. Melt white chocolate in a double boiler. Add coconut oil to make it a little runny.
  6. Drizzle it over the truffles.

My Tip:
Adjust the quantity of honey to bind the truffles. If the mixture is too sticky, add more desiccated coconut. If the mixture is sandy, not coming together, add more honey and coconut oil.

The fag end of the monsoons is marked by bright sunny day in the morning, the sudden proliferation of mushroom-like gray clouds followed by a heavy shower. The Sun comes back again and the repetition of the event goes on.


Yesterday, we spotted a waterfall in the forest. A huge waterfall full of verve and vigour that comes into existence after every heavy downpour. Later in the day, it begins to weaken and finally becomes a weak trickle until another heavy downpour feeds it and infuses life into it.
Air is fresh and nippy. We plucked some fresh cucumbers from the backyard. These are tender and we love to eat these with skin.



Our home is smelling heavenly. Cinnamon Raisin Rolls are baking in the oven.
Warm cinnamon rolls taste delicious and make the best breakfast on a lazy Sunday when everyone is at home and there are no deadlines and work goes on at a leisurely pace.


We made cinnamon rolls with a slight change in the original version keeping in mind our health and taste preferences. This is an eggless version. In the dough, we added oil in place of butter, the glaze was kept minimal as we are not too fond of very sweet topping.


Cinnamon Raisin Rolls

Ingredients

Dough

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm milk
  • 2 tablespoons sugar/honey
  • 3 tablespoons oil/butter
  • 1 tablespoon butter (to brush the rolls)

Spread

  • 3 tablespoons soft butter
  • ¼ cup unrefined cane sugar powder or sugar powder
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup golden raisins

Glaze

  • ¼ cup icing sugar
  • 2 teaspoon milk
  • 2 teaspoons soft butter

Instructions

  1. Whisk together flour and salt in a large bowl. Keep aside.
  2. Add sugar to warm milk. Stir to dissolve. Add yeast. Mix. Cover and keep for 10 minutes to activate.
  3. Add oil and stir.  
  4. Add ½ cup flour to this mixture, Stir. The dough will be sticky. Add another ½ cup and so on till you use all the flour and dough becomes too thick to stir. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute. The dough should be a little sticky, elastic and smooth.  
  5. Transfer to a greased bowl. Turn around so that the dough is coated with oil all over.
  6. Cover and keep in a warm place for 1 hour or until double.
  7. On a lightly floured counter, roll out the dough into a thin rectangle. Brush with butter. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle raisins.
  8. Starting at one end,   tightly roll up the dough. Keep the seam side down. With a serrated knife, cut into 2-inch sections.
  9. Place the rolls on a liberally greased 9 inch round cake pan keeping some distance between the pieces.  Cover and keep to rise in warm place for about 30 minutes or until puffy. Brush with butter.
  10. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden.
  11. Remove from the oven and keep on a rack to cool.
  12. To prepare the glaze, mix all the ingredients. The glaze should be thick and pourable.
  13. Drizzle glaze over warm rolls. Serve.

Linking to Bread Bakers.
#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.
This month, the Bread Bakers are baking breads with grapes, and our host is Sneha of Sheha's Recipes.
Do check out the recipes with grapes by other members of the group.












It has been raining for the last fifteen days. The streams and brooks have become gushing torrents. The tree trunks and the ground have become carpets of moss. Most of the rivers are in a spate and the causeways are flooded. 


Tree ferns hanging from every branch are a feast for the eyes and a sure stress buster. 


Mushrooms of intriguing shapes and colours are peeping from behind the rocks.
Rain has restricted us indoors. 
To beat the monsoon blues, we baked some rustic whole grain cookies with cardamom. If you love buttery cookies, use butter or, else, coconut oil also works well. The cookies are healthy, hearty and delicious. They are best enjoyed with hot ginger tea. You’ll love the aroma that wafts through when these are baking.


Whole Wheat Cardamom Cookies | Atta Elaichi Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoon cardamom powder
  • ½ cup unrefined cane sugar
  • ½ cup coconut oil or butter
  • 6 tablespoons milk

Instructions

  1. Whisk together first five ingredients in a large bowl.
  2. In another bowl, mix coconut oil/butter and sugar  till light and creamy. If you are using coconut oil, it may not fluff up like butter.
  3. Add dry ingredients. Mix well.
  4. Add one tablespoon milk at a time. Mix with hands to get the mixture together into a soft dough. It should not be sticky.
  5. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C.
  6. Cover the baking tray with a parchment sheet.
  7. Make small balls of dough and flatten them. Cut into the desired shape with a cookie cutter.
  8. Place the prepared dough on the tray keeping enough distance between them
  9. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges turn brown.
  10. Remove from the tray and cool on the rack. Hot cookies are very soft and need to be handled carefully.
  11. Once cold, the cookies will be crisp.
  12. Store in an airtight container.






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