Bake bhai Bake – Oats cookies with Romi

Hey pariwar! Let’s sing along, dance along, walk along, play along, so also, ‘bake along!’ A baker’s family enjoys the bakes, the aroma and the baking environment and soon the ‘bake-sphere’ so impacts those around that each one starts baking. Very soon the newbie becomes the head honcho! Bakers’ families will agree when I say that the baking bug bites badly and my family and friends and are all bitten, nay smitten, by this one.

Romita, we call her Romi, is today’s guest baker and she is my youngest sister in law. She is a very fond of making exotic dishes both Indian and western and is constantly upgrading her culinary skills by formal training and also experimenting at home. She is a wonderful baker too and we both keep dreaming of and planning our future ‘baking odyssey’! 

So here is her baking journey, in her own words and in her own inimitable style..

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Happiness is – a warm oven, fresh bakes, family & friends..

It is interesting when one has to get into a thinking mode to write something and how those thoughts bring back beautiful memories… beautiful influences… 

I am lucky to be related to Renu Amitabh. (She is my Bhabhi – my eldest brother in law’s wife). 

So, firstly let me tell everyone that she is an extremely affectionate, hardworking and positive person and she has been an important influencer and motivator in kindling my baking interests…

She knew my fondness for pizza, cakes, pastas, bread (sinful foods!!) and whenever we visited these were invariably ordered and cakes were baked. Eventually she starting treating us to homemade pizza and other delicious homemade bakes (which she had perfected after multiple attempts) whenever we visited Delhi. 

Who would have thought, baking breads and more at home can be so simple and fun!

And I discovered that when sometime in the year 2018, Renu Bhabhi made bread at my home in Bangalore for the first time in a microwave (I didn’t have an Oven then !!) I wrote her recipe and she in turn encouraged me to bake on my own and voila …….. after some attempts, I had soon learnt baking breads, pizza at home 😊She very graciously conducted baking session for my friends in Bangalore.

  

With my hectic work schedule, I couldn’t find time to bake much. Somewhere within me there was a dream and desire to wear a Chef Coat and explore this field. (I am a big MasterChef Australia fan and it is my favourite show) I got that opportunity when I took a career break after 19 years of intense working in the corporate sector and fulfilled my dream by enrolling for a short term Certified Culinary course in 2018. I completed that course and plunged into a Certified Patisserie course which is ongoing (Delayed due to lockdowns ☹)

I can’t express how much fun I am having learning, experimenting and baking various stuff @ HOME and sharing with so many of my acquaintances and in turn encouraging them to bake. My family and friends love the homemade Breads, Buns, Pizza, Cookies, Cakes which I now regularly bake and I am encouraged to bake Puffs, choux pastry and much more!!! 

The entire baking process is an experience… The dough making, watching the dough rise, aroma from the warm oven, fresh bakes on the table and healthy happy smiles 😊

So, a big shout out to everyone… experiment, play with ingredients and Just start baking !!

Here is the recipe of one of my favourite Oats Cookies.

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Ingredients: ( This recipe will give around 20 cookies of appx 20 gm -25 gm each)

Plain Flour	130 GM
Baking Powder	¼ TSP
Cinnamon Powder	½ TSP
Butter	100 GM
Brown Sugar	140 GM
Egg **	1
Vanilla Essence	1 TSP
Oats	150 GM
Raisin (soak in warm water)	30 GM
** For eggless, Replace 1 egg with 50 ml milk

• Sieve all dry ingredients and mix around 80-85 GM oats in the flour
• Mix sugar and butter until the mixture is light and fluffy
• Add egg (or milk for eggless), vanilla essence and mix
• Add flour and chopped raisin (which was soaked in warm water)
• The dough will be sticky 
• You can leave the mixture in fridge for ½ hour
• Make small flattened round balls of around 20-25 gm each and roll it in remaining oats and place in tray
• Bake for 15-20 mins at 170 degree in a pre heated oven till golden brown

Replace oats with any other ingredient of your choice like Choco chips and enjoy the variation.

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Do try out the healthy and delicious Oats Cookies and share your experience!