Heart Shaped Cookies

Happy Valentine's Day!



Roses and Hearts all wrapped up in a love boat..
These are my mom's donut cookies reinvented as heart shaped cookies. She made them shaped as donuts cut with two circular metal lids. One was an old 777 sambhar powder's tin lid, and the other the cap of a vanilla essence bottle. I loved doing the cutting, figuring out how many I can get from each batch and now I see the same thrill on my son's face when he does the cookie cutting with cookie cutters.
He also sprinkled the sugar on the cookies after frying them.

We grew up on these and always thought donuts looked and tasted as these cookies. So imagine my surprise when I first saw a Dunkin Donut. It looked like my donuts on steroids! And it was so cakey in texture!
So now while I love the cholesterol laden donuts from Krispy Kreme(and some from Dunking Donuts), I had to try and recreate the old donut-cookies for nostalgia's sake.

So here is the recipe, straight from my mom. Be warned, it is not too sweet and it is fried.:)This is also my entry to Trupti's Little Chefs In The Kitchen Event.

You will need: To make about 24 cookies
All Purpose Flour ( Pilsbury or Gold Medal)-8 tbsp
Yogurt-1 tbsp
Melted Butter or Ghee-1tbsp
Powdered Sugar- 4 tbsp
Baking Powder-1 tsp
Vanilla-1tsp
Egg-1/2 beaten egg
Oil for frying
Cinnamon sugar- Mix ½ tsp cinnamon powder with 2-3 tsp powdered sugar and keep aside.

Preparation Method:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Pour the melted butter, yogurt and vanilla into the mix and blend evenly by hand. Now slowly add the mixed egg, a little at a time, just enough to form a soft dough. Do not pour the egg all together. I judged it to be half an egg but depending on the size of the egg, you may need more or less. So add a drop as you knead along to moisten the dough till it reaches the correct consistency. The dough should feel dry and not sticky.
2. Keep for 10 minutes and then take a small ball and roll it out with the rolling pin. Sprinkle some flour as you roll if it sticks to the rolling pin. The thickness should be around 3-4 mm. Use a cookie cutter and cut out the shapes.
3. Heat enough oil in a pan or kadai, for deep frying and when it is hot enough, lower the heat to medium high and slide in the cookies, 5-6 at a time depending on the size of your pan. Fry them as you would fry puris. Turn them almost immediately after sliding them in and let it fry on each side for a minute or so till they turn golden in color. The heat should not be too low or too high.
4. Drain onto paper towels and sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on them while they are hot.
These stay fresh for about 4-5 days.