Choco-Nut Swirls (and diamonds and hearts and stars!)

One of the advantages of having a one-hour commute from home to my place of work (looking at the brighter side of things) is that I get time to either read my backlog of books or browse a whole lot of blogs and sites...In this, a book, my phone, and Google Reader are my best friends! Towards the end of the week, I'm usually trawling the net for recipes to make for my son to take to school the following week, for his evening snack time. I bookmark them on the spot and then make them during the weekend, my trusted phone by my side...Those that my son loves, I blog about and those that he doesn't, get deleted :-)...Obviously, he enjoyed these and even my parents and friends found it delicious.

I was looking for ways to include more nuts into his diet as he doesn't like them raw (normally I sneak almond powder into his dosa batter or make sweet dishes incorporating nuts). This recipe is wonderful for including them in your toddler's diet. Of course, I'm filing it under my Toddler Treats collection and I have Archana Vivek to thank for this, from whose blog I found it. Check out the recipe at My Culinary Endeavours. I have modified it a little by:


1. Using a mixture of cashew nuts and almonds, while Archana used cashew nuts (she, in turn, had modified it from the original by using cashew nuts instead of coconut powder!).
2. I also made it into different shapes using cookie cutters, just to make it more attractive for my son (while the original is shaped like a roll, which I also tried).


So this recipe seems to be evolving and now its your turn to work your magic and make it your own! On to the recipe now!

Ingredients

For the chocolate layer:

1. 10-15 biscuits (digestive or plain biscuits-I used Marie)
2. 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
3. 1/4 to 1/2 cup cold milk

For the nut layer:

1. 1 cup powdered nuts (I used cashew nuts and almonds--you can use a mixture of nuts or just one kind)
2. 3/4 cup sugar, powdered
3. 2 tablespoons melted butter
4. 1 teaspoon cardamom powder

• Powder the biscuits finely, in your blender.Transfer to a mixing bowl.
• Add the cocoa powder and mix well.
• Stir in the milk gradually, mixing it with your fingers to make a nice, firm dough (like for chapathi/poori, etc.) Keep this aside.
• In another mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients mentioned above for the nut layer. Let it become a sticky dough.
• Now spread a little butter on a clean surface or an inverted plate or your chapathi-rolling board.
• Place the ball of chocolate dough on the surface and spread it out with either your palms or your rolling pin. It's okay if it breaks around the edges. Let it be about 1-inch thick.
• Now take the nut dough and spread it, with your fingers, on top of the chocolate layer.

To make swirls or a roll shape:

After spreading the nut mixture on top of the flattened chocolate dough, roll this dough over into a cylindrical shape. Wrap it in aluminium foil or clingfilm and freeze it for 30 minutes. Take it out and cut into half-inch thick discs. It is ready to serve after a few minutes.

To make other shapes:

Once you have spread the nut mixture on the chocolate dough, take out your cookie cutters and cut out the desired shapes. Serve.

Make sure to store these in the refrigerator.

I'm linking this to the event Bookmarked Recipes at Aipi's yummy blog US Masala

Also linking it to: