Jenga mini loaves

Easter proved to be one treasure box of surprises. Being in a neighbourhood of young parents and grandparents looking after their insanely adorable grandchildren, its not surprising to hear high, chirpy voices echoing throughout the area everyday.

And, I got along really well with the bunch of them! Friends insist that it is some kind of maternal instinct developing, but I beg to differ. Being surrounded in my extended family with young cousins, nieces and newphews, hanging out with kids are the norm. So, having completed my initiation with the 7 little children in my neighbourhood, I officially became their 'badminton coach'. So, with my lazy non-rainy evenings spent playing badminton with them, we naturally became quite good friends! So much so that 6-year old leader of the bunch asked if I was in Primary Six (12 years old).

'Hanging out' with them inspired me to make the 'Jenga mini loaves'. Cheesy as it sounds, they actually reminded me of the 'Sunkist Ads'. Hence- Orange Jenga mini loaves! Their longish twiggy-like shapes made them easy for the kids to hold and eat. :)

Easter treasures are definitely for keeps.

Easter in pictures: back to basics

Easter back home was : lazy mornings, rainy/humid afternoons and evening sunsets. Even though I was technically supposed to be studying for the finals - being back home, in my own kitchen and the tiny patch of grass we call our garden, made me feel like baking all over again.

First start- the chocolate macarons. Although it didn't turn out successful (in every sense of the word), the hours spend sifting crushed almond powder and the tedious process of repeated, patience-inducing processes was sadistically satisfying. Like my 'Cheesecake workout', this was every bit as good for toning my oversized arms. :) So, with that sitting on my countertop, an experiment gone so wrong, I decided that it was time to go back to basics. Not the basic macaron that I tried and succeeded the first time round, but back to the very basics- the foundation of my entire baking life- the butter cookie.

Flipping my small collection of cookbooks to compare proportions and finding something that didn't contain too much sugar, I decided on Dorie Greenspan's 'Punitions'. Im not sure if I got the spelling right, but apparently, little kids in the olden days of Paris were punished with these cookies. I really don't know how that works- if I were to get a cookie for every wrong I ever did- I would probably be the happiest kid in the world!

But that aside, butter cookies were the order of the day. With my sister's friends coming by after school, I figured that these delectable bite size delights were probably the easiest thing to whip up.

Iced cold Lavender tea, butter cookies on our little patch of grass, what more could I ask for?