Gladiatorburger was the first place where I tried a Halal burger in Canada and instantly fell in love. The Oakville location simply adds to the experience with its great hospitality, customer service and a wide range of burgers and sandwiches. Everything can be customized to offer an experience that hits all the right spots
The sides are equally flavorful and vary in size and range from fresh milkshakes to poutine and fries
A great Halal food experience in the heart of Oakville
We love baking; we bake just when we can and we bake when we can not. The baking is usually slower in summer because we like cooler things like smoothies and trifles to beat the heat, but we make sure that there is always a jar of home-baked cookies in the pantry, regardless of the season.
By the way when I say we, it myself and my little ones.
They just need a go ahead from mommy to start, even when one cant stand the oven heat in the house.
I accept I would totally do that in search of a good, sweet cookie.
Though I baked a lot of cakes when I used to bake professionally, but I am not really a cake person. I am a cookie person, I love cookies.
This recipe is the first one for cookies that I tried. I found it online many years ago and kept a printout in my recipe book. Then I misplaced that recipe book. Even frantically searching online out of my cravings, I could not find the same recipe. I tried few other recipes but they were all either too floury or not sweet enough.
Until two years ago, I found that recipe book and I found this lost treasure of a recipe.
We bake these cookies around Christmas and Eid to send to our friends and family. And these are loved by everyone.
These are rich, buttery and sweet, with just enough tang of the raspberry jam. The coconut adds more texture and a little crunch in the flour base.
PS: I would love to give credit for this so if you do know/find the link, please reply in the comments section
INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 stick unsalted butter
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
raspberry jam
DIRECTIONS:
1- In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the coconut, baking soda, and salt. In a standing electric mixer fitted with a paddle, or using a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter with the sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla, scraping the side and bottom of the bowl. Beat in the dry ingredients at medium-low speed. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
2- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and bake for 12 minutes. Make a dent in the cookies; fill with jam and bake for about 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.
RECIPE NOTES:
Though the recipe calls for a total of 22 minutes of baking time, I bake for 8 minutes, then make dents, fill in jam and then I bake an additonal 5 minutes. Once the cookies cool down, the texture is perfectly balanced between soft and chewy. These tend to get hard if over-baked, so as always less is better.
These cookies never lasted in the pantry for more than a week so I am unable to tell you how long these will stay good.
The dough seems to get difficult to handle and the cookies flatten out when it stays on room temperature for a while. I take out in portions, roll while it is still cold and hard and then take out more.
There is Ramadan, there is iftar and then there is chat masala- a spicy, tangy concoction of household spices that is used mainly for garnishing and adding in more flavor or spice.
A staple of the iftar feast, no traditional savory is complete without this pinch of color and flavor, be it chana chat (traditional chickpea salad), fruit chat (traditional fruit salad), dahi baray (fried lentil dumplings in a sweet and savory yogurt base) or even pakora (gram flour fritatas).
I grew up seeing my father sprinkle chat masala on everything in his plate.
As passionate as my mother was, the earliest memory of chat masala is home made.
Though I never got a chance to learn from her, because by the time I actually started cooking, she was gone.
This recipe I learnt this from my MIL and it tastes just like the one my mother used to make.
It is made of simple household spices from the pantry, roasted and then ground to your liking.
Making a fresh jar right before Ramadan is just another tradition I follow religiously and so will you when you try it.
Enjoy the spice! (Remember to read the side notes)
Chat masala:
Ingredients:
Whole cumin- 1 cup
Whole round red chilli- 1 cup
Whole coriander seeds- 1 cup
Whole black peppercorn- 1 tsp
Carom seeds(Ajwain)-1 tsp
Himalayan black salt (Kala namak)-1 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp
Citric acid (Tatri) – As per your taste
Directions:
Dry roast the first five ingredients until fragrant.
Pulse the dry-roasted ingredients in a coffee been grinder.
Transfer the grounded mixture in a deep mixing bowl.
Add the remaining ingredients.
Mix well.
Store in an air tight container.
Side notes:
I grind my spices to a medium blend. I like to leave it a little chunky, and it is absolutely your choice if you want to grind it fine or leave it chunkier.
The salt you can add per your liking, reduce or increase the quantity.
The citric acid or amchur powder can also be added per your liking. If you want it tangy, increase, if not then reduce.
So I had been sick, really sick for past so many days. I do not even remember since when. I finished two rounds of antibiotics but got sick again two days later. Then someone in the family told me to get some anti-allergy, and I found relief in my kids Benadryl syrup. No I still did not get to sleep, but it definitely helped. By the way I was wondering, why are OTC anti-allergy medicines are so expensive?
On another note I missed a birthday and so many days of productivity.
And then last Tuesday I realized schools are closing for holidays and I haven’t got any thing for teachers for Christmas. I like to create gifts and presents myself. It gives those things a personal touch I feel.
But there was neither time, nor energy or brain to shop or plan. So I Googled and found this amazing thing- White chocolate peppermint pretzels.
Took only three ingredients, about 3 hours and some mason jars that I had bought some time back. And yes a lot of fight and struggle with my macho number 3 as he was constantly trying either to pull down the chocolate bowl or break the pretzels.
Just sharing the recipe-Its a great activity to do with children as well (Hint hint winter holidays)
[yumprint-recipe id=’2′]
I had a couple while I was still making, it tasted that good:)
A little piece of twine, a handmade chalkboard greeting card and a piece of gold lace-Voila!
I have often seen child number 1 being the most angelic, most well mannered, well behaved one, while number 2 is usually an opposite. It is not because I am child number 1 but because even my children are like that.
My first born is the first born of both the families so she has always been a blue-eyed baby. Plus she is the most well mannered baby I have ever come across. It is not because she is mine, but I have always gotten compliments about her, to the extent that my friends would ask me for advise on how to get theirs as disciplined and behaved.
Of course I know no magic, number 2 and number 3 are a proof.
Number 2 was/is a loud baby (just like her mother). She is a Mini-Me. Care free, easy going, easy moving, distracted, extremely loving and super intelligent. When outside, both number 1 and number 2 are known for their manners, etiquettes and behaviour. But she likes to be a baby at times, and after number 3 even more.
She is the only summer baby in the family, so we always have greater and better chances to plan and celebrate her birthday. But for past couple years we could not. I was travelling on or around her birthday so we would just cut a cake and give presents, but then there were occasions and that too very often, when she would come to me with those puppy eyes, and huge pout and say “Am I not your daughter? Why do I never have a birthday party? Why do I not get to invite my friends? Etc etc etc”
Being the crafty mom that I am, I’m always on the look out for stuff, cheap stuff that I could use for little, unnecessary stuff. About a year back, I had seen some nice chevron and damask patterned stuff at the local craft store in the clearance section and boy it was a treasure for about 20 bucks. So I had been thinking of using that stuff towards her party; to make her happy on a budget. But it just happened, like it always does, that few days before I set the party, I happened to visit the store again. And something caught my eyes. It was a paper ice-cream cone garland, from summer stuff. I just loved the colours and put it in my trolley for a mere $2.75. That ice-cream cone garland just turned everything upside down.
I came back home and dived deep into my magic closet where I keep all the left over papers, cards, glitter, paints, glues, mod-podge, pom poms like Mr. Maker. And I came out successful. A whole bunch of goodies that were gonna keep me busy for a whole lot of days.
I made the invites out of the card stock that I had saved. Glitter, markers, paper fasteners, pom pom balls were all part of the project.
Since the weather was great, so I planned a backyard party with everything in the party to do something with summer and candy and ice-cream.
The Pizza cones: That actually matched the total ice-cream theme (Recipe here)
The Fruit Punch: Just the simple orange juice with some honey added for sweetness, and reusable plastic ice cubes
The Ice-Cream: I did not get a chance to take the picture of ice-cream itself but I used three different flavours from President’s Choice: Sprinkle Party Cake, Rainbow and Galactic Swirl (All Kosher Certified) The toppings were marshmallows, cherries, sour jelly beans, and mini m&m’s.
The Mango smoothie: A little sprinkle goes a long way, and so it did help attract the young guns to that healthy nutritious smoothie inside.
The party favours: I chose these super cute gum-ball machines, that were an instant hit with the girls. Of course there were these little fights over who wants the pink (Which obviously everybody did) but it was manageable.
The Watermelon jello: Who does not like jello? That too when it is made in a watermelon shell and looks like watermelon slices!
The cake: I had decided to go for a seven layered rainbow coloured cake with vanilla buttercream for the inside. And had two different themes in mind for the decoration. But then I left it blank, like a canvas and kept some edible decorating markers on the side so the guests and the host could decorate it themselves. It was one of the biggest hit of the party. everyone so excited as to when we were going to decorate the cake.
The girls had an amazing time decorating it. Though it was a bit difficult for them to run the markers through the soft fondant but hey, cooking and baking and decorating for them is such a fantasy right now at this age!
I couldn’t have thought of a better idea than to hide colour inside the cake so when she cuts it, she is as happy as this rainbow:)
Not a very good quality picture but this is how the table looked like.
Happy reading… Do post your comments in the section below!
Since birth I have a little issue, a teeny tiny bug that always reined me towards the paths less travelled. I always found different things better. The price tag(read obstacles, hardships) was not the matter, never was. It was always the worth of that different thing for me that made me steer into that direction, regardless of the opposing forces.
Okay enough bragging Amber…
This Ramadan had been a very very busy one, thanks to my 18 month old little labbittt who has this unending, never tiring, not to mention unnerving energy to keep the chores coming in for me. I still managed to do doe crafts and test my skills.
Every year for Eid I try to offer my cake-shop customers something new, something unique, something different. It works for me both ways. One that my customers are happy to find goodies that are otherwise rare or entirely unavailable at other places. Second, I make extra batches and keep them for family and friends so they enjoy a different treat every time. And above all, I get to hear “My mom is the bestest baker with the bestest idea” and trust me nothing beats that!
So while I was on my mission to explore, create or remake something different, I sought help from Google Mamoo(Mom’s brother) As always Mamoo Jan did not disappoint me and brought me a horde of different images and recipes. But I was still looking for something different, yet easy because my baby-yes that says it all.
I had time constraint, plus the energy constraint as the hot summer fasts were about 17-18 hours long and for a person like me who misses about 70% of the sehris, it was a difficult task when mixed with other chores.
And then I struck gold. While I was going through the same colourfully designed cookies that are hours of back breaking labor and delicate crafting, I came across this amazing love-at-first-sight treasure box kind of cookies. The ones that are sure to spark excitement as they slide those little basked lids and smiles when they actually reach those candies tucked inside! Its a win!
You know Eid for Muslims is like Christmas for Christians. Damn I sound such mommy-like.Well, living in a foreign land, it sometimes gets really difficult for parents like myself to keep our children focused. They see all these glamorous and sparkling festivals like Easter and Halloween and Christmas-thanks to the Corporate cycle though. And we tell them, we celebrate Eid. Okay what is Eid Mamma? Oh that boring day back home where you spend the entire Chaand raat either getting Mehndi(Henna) done or just having fun on the streets, and then you offer Salah in the morning and then hit the sack for the entire day. Then wake up in the evening and go see some relatives or eat out etc?
Nay!!
We got to make sure that our Eid here is as sparkly and shiny as our neighbours Christmas or Halloween is. To tell them little minds that ours is a beautiful religion and it gives us all the more chance to celebrate all the beautiful festivals just like any other religion.
So we here, thousands of kilometres away from our roots, try to make every possible effort to make their faith strong and their identity positive, while still maintaining their innocence and happiness. Since I always tell them that Eid is like our Christmas, hence the presence of all the shiny wrapped presents and if not then something that is close. Which is why the thought of these baked beauties just made my day!
I got small braided baskets from Dollarama and lined those with gold coloured paper. I placed the cookies inside and left it uncovered so when the baskets were handed over, the kids were actually jumping to explore whats wrapped inside the treasure boxes. Unfortunately I could not get proper pictures of the finished baskets but just this random one from my iPhone that I took to send to hubby and even that I forgot to send to him.
Last night as I prepared these red velvet cupcakes, the girls asked if they could watch O’Canada on YouTube. I put it on, and guess what? I got the same goosebumps; just like the ones that I always get when the national anthem of Pakistan is played. Does that mean I am Canadian now? Does that mean the new bill C-24 poses no threat to me? Does that mean my vacation travels and tax information would not be shared? Oh well, lets not talk about all that at least today. Happy Canada Day 🇨🇦
May our maple syrup gets sweeter (and pure), may our Tim Hortons gets stronger, may our poutine get richer, may our oil sands remain oilier, may our moose remain loved, may our winters grow shorter, may our summers are happier(and affordable), may our sports get some attention by the rulers and not by selling mittens, may the diversity continues to grow, may the tolerance becomes equal for every one-Amen!
Ammi(mother) used to say “The color of the perfect tea is golden; just like the color of the skin of almond. Any thing else is not tea!”
I can’t say how many other teachings of her I follow, but this one, I kept in the first shelf of my cabinet of her memories. And perhaps its more of a trigger for me, just like a blessing from her, that I seek refuge in.
I grew up in a typical Pakistani house hold. My mother just loved to cook for us: the best biryani I’ve had till date, the best trifles and not to forget the qeema that I still wish I could learn to cook like her.
The only thing that remained exclusive to and for her was that cup of tea!
We used to order special kind of tea leaves from some shop in the old Karachi city. And no other person, not even our maid was allowed to touch her tea. Twice a day, of which the evening one was her favorite, she would herself, put water in the pot, let it boil, then add tea leaves, sugar, and cover and let it brew for few minutes. Then she’d heat the milk separately, and pour the tea in the cup, add milk, stir and sit in the corner and sip and enjoy her little magic potion.
And yes- we, as children, were not allowed to have tea. So until about 9th or 10th grade, tea was not much of a thing for me.
As I grew up, I learnt how to cook. I am a foodie myself, so didn’t take much of an effort. Yet for some reason, I could not get the tea right. By this time, I was also occasionally honored to make tea for Ammi. Too strong, too light, too meh. So after every attempt, I would tell myself not to try it again.
My college days were where I actually started liking tea. When preparing for exams, studying late night, I would ask her to make me tea and she would gladly make two, and bring to me, at which time, both of us would kind of have a break and sit and sip together.
That was the time when I used to think one can’t fall asleep after having a cup of tea. My mamoo(maternal uncle) would always have tea right before hitting the sack and I would think how on earth? Of course now I only laugh at the thought of this thought as now my day ends with a hot cuppa tea, just flipping channels in my corner of the house.
It wasn’t really until I started working that I started having tea. There were meetings, workshops, seminars and being a Pakistani tradition, tea was always part of these.
When I’d come back from work, or on a weekend, some times my sister would make tea, and I still remember Ammi saying “It does not taste like tea-its tastes like dirty socks!”
Good old days….
Dubai was when and where I actually discovered or say rediscovered my love for tea. I would watch people enjoying this weird mixture of water, sugar and flavored evaporated milk, with a hint of tea leaves in the name of tea. Nightmare!
I even witnessed one part water, three parts of milk and sugar, with a teabag floating somewhere in that liquid, being called tea.
Tastes can vary and every one has the right to enjoy what ever they like. But calling alien mixtures tea is injustice and for the love of tea I just can not bear it.
I know there are so many different variations of tea even in that one part of the world from where I come- some like tea with milk/cream, some just black, some with no sugar while some with sugar and some like my brother too much sugar or say tea in sugar. Then there is this famous Pathan ki chai which is usually found in a small shabby roadside cafe, very strong and brewed for hours. And as so many go by the trend only, so the Masala chai is also ‘IN’ these days, wherein a lot of different spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, cloves etc are added to the tea.
Image Courtesy: @FurSid
But like someone once told me in Colombo, Sri Lanka, until you brew the fragrant tea leaves in water and let it stand few minutes, how can you call it tea?
My household, the first utensil I bought was a proper steam kettle. it makes that sound like a steam engine when ready, and its shiny and I love it just like a little girl loves her doll!
Most likely it is because of my mother’s love for tea, or because the man in my life also loves tea and so it is double the bond or may be it is just my own liking.
Of course its not the same every where I go, so when out I prefer coffee because my tea tantrums are not tolerable for and by most. Even when sick or bed ridden, the only thing I do not and would not compromise for is my cup of tea.
And I believe so I say “The color of the perfect tea is golden; just like the color of the skin of almond. Any thing else is not tea!”
