To start with, a key ingredient for me is ‘home made cream’. To get the best cream, boil the milk, let it cool and then keep it in the refrigerator for at least 4-6 hours (or even better, overnight). It will yield a thick layer of cream. Strain this well and store in the freezer. Repeat this prcoess for days (or weeks). Even toned milk gives you enough cream to make your own butter, ghee or fudge once every 2 weeks! Now, for the goodies:
Coconut Toffee
2 cups cream (defrosted overnight)
2 cups sugar
2 cups fresh grated coconut
1 tsp vanilla esence
Food colour (if desired)
Malai Fudge
3 1/2 cups cream
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup finely chopped nuts
1 tsp vanilla essence
Food colour (if desired)
Stir the cream and sugar well over a low flame in a thick-bottomed vessel. Once the sugar melts, increase the heat marginally, but keep stirring constantly with a long-handled wooden spoon (it gets hot!) to prevent it browning at the bottom. When the mixture is bubbling well, add the coconut or chopped nuts and continue to stir till the mixture thickens. Do not keep the flame too high, as any splashing drops would be very hot. Add the vanilla essence (and a drop of food colour if preferred, though the natural brownish colour is nice and iyou can avoid needless additives). Once the mixture is thick and leaves the sides of the vessel (about 30-40 minutes), pour onto a flat plate lined with greaseproof paper. You could also simply use the wrapping papers of your butter, by folding and conveniently storing them in a corner of the freezer. Leave the mixture to cool for about half an hour. The, while still a little warm, cut into squares or diagonal shapes and, after some further cooling, refrigerate in an air-tight container. The toffee/fudge can keep for upto a month - if the family members let it!
Some tips to ensure that your toffee/fudge comes out well:
- When collecting the cream, make sure you strain it well, so that all the milk drains out. If you have not done so, it will affect your consistency, and the cooking time will increase as well.
- Ensure the flame is not high at the start, else the sugar may crystallise and you will get grains of sugar in the toffee.
- Ensure the flame is never so high that the mixture sticks to the bottom and begins to brown, or you will have brown specks in a cream-coloured fudge. Take special care with stainless steel vessels, which ‘burn’ faster; it is best to use is a thick bottomed vessel.
- When to take the mixture off the flame: taking it off too early will make it sticky, taking it off too late will make it more dry/brittle. Here’s what you should keep a look out for. First, the mixture should leave the sides of the vessel as you stir; second, the wooden stirring spoon should begin to leave a gap across the bottom of the vessel when you drag it across, so you can see the base of the vessel (I call this the ‘Moses Effect’, like the parting of the Red sea!). By then the mixture should be bubbling and beginning to change colour slightly at the sides of the vessel or at those bubbling spots, which will look whiter – somewhat foamy - than the rest of the mixture. That is your cue to test it. The traditional way is to put a drop of the mixture in a saucer of cold water and roll it with your finger - if it powders, keep it longer, if it rolls into a ball, it is ready to take off.
- If you have taken the mixture off too early and it has not hardened after 3-4 hours, don’t despair - cover the plate with cling film and refrigerate. You may have better luck cutting it after a day. If it is still sticky, you can shape it with your fingers and refrigerate again.
- When storing the toffee, make sure you use greaseproof paper between the layers, else they may stick together (especially if slightly underdone, which may happen initially).
- If you are refrigerating the toffee, be careful to use an air-tight container, else your toffee will pick up other food odours.
- I occasionallly change the vanilla essence to almond or peach essence in the Malai Fudge. Keep experimenting - you will come up with great surprises.
Once you have tried making the Malai Fudge, you could alter the amount of sugar to suit your taste and consistency (less sugar makes it chewy, more makes it crunchy). Less sugar however means you may have to stir a little longer to reach the desired consistency.
Good luck!
Shortbread Cookies
This is another favourite recipe that takes me back to my childhood days. This keeps well and does not spoil for days.
Maida – 200gms
Sugar – 100gms
Ghee – 100gms
Salt – ¼ teaspoon
Sift the maida (flour) with salt. Slowly rub in the ghee and mix together with your fingertips. Add castor sugar (or grind ‘normal’ sugar in a mixie). Knead the dough for about 20 minutes till it is smooth. Then keep it overnight in an airtight container (to soften it). The next day, form round shapes from the dough and ‘top’ them with slices of glaced cherry. Place these on a baking tray, with a little gap between them as they would increase slightly in size. Bake at 150C for 20 minutes. Finally, once cooled, store the baked cookies (biscuits) in an air-tight container.
Spoilt Milk Toffee: Some time back when the milk had got spoilt, I simply strained the curdled mixture and used this ‘khoya’ (1 cup) along with 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup cream, 1/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup chopped nuts to get an interesting toffee that people wanted the recipe of!
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