Biskoot, as we call it…

As mentioned in my previous post, Mom and Maami were visiting us earlier this month.
My Maami is this super-awesome-homemaker-cook-woman who is like the encyclopedia for anything related to Udupi Brahmin cooking. All our cooking prowess can be directly or indirectly attributed to her, and we still refer to her when in doubt for anything related to Tulu cooking. So when she was visiting, I had a list ready - a list of all the things I'd ask her to make for me , stuff that I've been craving for a zillion years. Mom ensured that we had the raw material (some of the stuff isn't readily available in Hyderabad and they got it all from Hidingala, our hometown), and together they cooked them all for me.

This is one of such awesome but simple dishes only my Maami can make. Yes, its not a traditional Udupi dish (yeah, her repertoire of dishes is vast, as I discovered recently), but we literally grew up on these biscuits(pronounced Biskoot, just for the Tulu touch :) ). The recipe has been handed down from generations of housewives, I believe, and is one of the simplest methods to bake a biscuit or a cookie, in this case.

While recounting how much she loved making these biscuits, Maami told me that back in the days of pressure-cooking, every housewife used to stock a pile of cleaned sand just so that she can bake these cookies, and replenish the Biscuit-dabba as soon as the last one vanished, which I think must've been super-fast. :) As I realized last week, this is versatile cookie recipe. With some creativity, one can create flavors, toppings or combinations with this basic recipe.

Tasty, crispy, sinful but not guilt-inducing… these are a reminder of how those care-free times, when bro & I used to crowd around Mom’s induction oven waiting for the biscuits to be ready! This one is not just a dessert or a treat for me… this is a part of my childhood!

So here it is... my family's Biskoot recipe. Hope you like it as much as I do!
Recipe Source - My super-awesome Maami.

Simplest EVER Cookies

Level – Easy
Preparation time – 15 min
Baking time – 20 min per batch

Ingredients [Makes 3 dozen biscuits]
All purpose flour - 2 C
Sugar, finely ground and sieved – 3/4 C
Desi Ghee (Clarified butter), at room temperature - 1 C
Baking soda - 1/2 Tsp
Salt - 1/4 Tsp
Vanilla extract - 1/2 Tsp

Instructions
Sieve together the flour and soda.
Also, powder and sieve the sugar to remove any lumps. Finer the sugar powder, softer the texture of the biscuits.
Mix together all the ingredients in a large bowl.
Whisk or blender might not work in this case, we hand-mixed the ingredients.
Make small balls out of this dough, and press them lightly.
Line them on a cookie tray, and bake in a pre-heated oven for 20 min at 185 C, or till the edges are about to turn brown.
Store in an air-tight container for up to a week.