Mango Milkshake - Its mango season

Last year, it was rain and this year it was Sun, who proved fatal to Mango crop(Alphonso). But just like any other year, I got my share of Mangoes and that to plenty. This is a bonus to be born in Konkan area. Personally, I prefer mangoes in its original taste rather using them up in shakes, icecreams etc. But husband can have mangoes in any form and insist on using them up in shakes, icecreams etc. Marriage is certainly about being opposite and thats the beauty of it.
So here i have used the king of fruit in thick mango milkshake. It was filling and healthy.
Igredients :-
Mango :- 3 (fully ripe)
Milk :- 1 half ltr(Cold)
Cream :- 2 TBS
Sugar :- As per taste
Procedure :-

• Remove the skin of mangoes and cut into cubes. Reserve few for garnishing
• Puree the same in blender.
• Add milk, cream and sugar. Blend it further. Add few pieces of Ice while blending.

Your refreshing Mango milkshake is ready.

Mango besides being tasty has several health benefits as follows:

• Mangoes contain phenols, this phenolic compound have powerful antioxidant and anticancer abilities.
• Mango is high in iron, pregnant women and people with anemia are advised to eat this fruit regularly.
• Mango is effective in relieving clogged pores of the skin.
• It is also valuable to combat acidity and poor digestion.
• Mango is high in antioxidant and low in carbohydrates.

Mango is a rich source of vitamin A(beta-carotene), E and Selenium which help to protect against heart disease and other ailments. (Information Source :- Hub Pages)
So eat Mangoes and be healthy !!!!!!!!!

Eggless Chocolate Almond Butter cookies : - I did it !!!!!!!!

Baking cookies was on my mind for quite some (very long!!!!) time. but when I visited Divya's Easycooking , i was mesmerised with her eggless cookies. Though I am non-vegetarian and loves eggs to the core , i do not prefer cookies with egg in it. I have to confess here that eventhough all along I have a good luck with baking cakes, but my cookies experiments were total disaster with burnt cookies, melted cookies etc etc....

Finally inspired by Divya, i chose her Eggless butter cookies recipe which was very simple. With all my enthusiasm, passion for baking and obviously with crossed fingers , i started doing preparations....... Recipe as it is from Diya is as follows:-

Eggless Butter Cookies

Ingredients:-

Maida - 1 cup

Cornflour - 1/2 cup

Icing Sugar - 3/4 cup

Butter - 3/4 cup(in room temperature)

Chopped nuts - 1/2 cup(optional)

Vanilla essence - 1 tsps

Method:-

Preheat oven to 150*C.

Sift together maida,cornflour and icing sugar.

Cream the butter with a fork and add the nuts and vanilla.

Mix the flour mix to the butter mix 1 tbsp at a time.

Mix well,add 1 tbsp milk if the mix is too dry.

Make small balls of the mix and flatten a bit with hands or using a fork.

Place on a greased baking tray and bake for 20 minutes or till golden brown.

My variation :-

1. Instead of sifting icing sugar with flours, I creamed it with butter.
2. Added a pinch of Baking powder in flour.
3. My cookie batter was sticky, so I adventurously added one tablespoon of Cocoa powder. The batter was still little bit sticky. So i further added a teaspoon of almond meal which was ready in my refrigerator. Put the batter in fridge for 10 mins and it was hardened a bit.
4. Shaped it in round and designed with fork as suggested by Divya.

Once I put the cookie tray in oven, my countdown began !!!!!!!! Impatiently waiting for cookies to get ready. Once they started spreading their wings on cookie sheet as per my expectations, my joy had no bounds. But 15th mins onward they were still soft to touch but there was a little smell of burning. So with little disappointment i removed them from oven and put it on the rack for cooling , thinking about their future( whether to airtight container ot to dustbin) , praying strongly for their future to be good.... With little hesitation, i tasted one and OMG, they were so good... all buttery, bittery, chocolatey, crunchy,... Finally I won...

Now I am confident that I can bake good cookies also without any eggs in it... Hurray !!!!!!Thanks Divya for wonderful recipe.