Chocolate Chip Buns

Janmashtami is a very important festival for us. At my mother's family home in Bombay, there are Bhajan sessions each evening for 8 days and not just the family, but the entire neighbourhood gets together to sing. Everyday, the idol of Krishna is dressed in a different form and there is a different Prasad each evening. On the last day, the children come dressed as Krishna and the Gopis and they get little treats from everyone.

At my parents’ place, Srijayanti is celebrated on one day and it is all about food, really. Fruits, savouries and sweets. I wanted to try out a sweet dish today. I thought about several things. My friend Prajakta said she’d come visiting with her daughter and offered to bring some kheer. The traditional sweet dish had been taken care of. Though I've always wondered how these traditions have come to be. Who decided that Krishna likes only seedai or aval? We were told that and we accepted it. I thought that if the Dashavatars had existed in this day and age, Krishna would have loved Cadbury's just as much as he enjoyed butter.

God does exist everywhere. And on a festival such as Janmashtami, when children don beautiful costumes and become little Krishnas and Gopis, I decided to make a little something that kids would love. And since it has no egg, onion or garlic, even traditionally speaking, it becomes worthy of being offered as naivedyam. The little one who came dressed as a Gopi yesterday to my place was dressed as Krishna the day before. So, here's my little treat for dear little Krishna on his birthday.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Flour

1 1/2 tbsp Yeast

1 1/2 tbsp Oil

1 1/2 tbsp Sugar

3/4 tsp Salt

2 tbsp Chocolate Chips

3 tbsp Cocoa Butter Icing

1/4 cup Milk

1/4 cup Boiling Water

Oil for greasing bowl and baking tray

Coloured sugar confetti for decoration

Take a huge mixing bowl and place the oil, salt and sugar in it. Add boiling water and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the milk now to bring the mixture to room temperature. Add the yeast and mix well. Add the flour, chocolate chips and 1 tbsp of cocoa butter icing and knead into a dough. Place the dough in a greased vessel and cover it with a damp muslin cloth. Allow to rise until double in size (roughly 45-50 minutes).

Knead the dough for a minute on a floured surface and then divide into 16 - 20 equal rounded portions and place them on a greased baking tray.

Allow to rise for 50-60 minutes and then bake in an oven at 400 F for 12-15 minutes.

When the buns are cool, spread a little cocoa butter icing on each and sprinkle with sugar confetti.

This is the stuff that dreams are made of. This was my first attempt at making sweet buns. The flavour was very similar to that of a chocolate doughnut and we could eat it with about 80% less guilt. Some of the buns have gone into the little one's tiffin for today and were also eaten for breakfast by S and his colleagues.

My first Janmashtami celebration cooking was a success. I'm sending this to Latha for her Janmashtami event. These buns were ideal for a breakfast on the go and I made them using left over Cocoa Butter Icing from S's birthday cake. So this is also my entry to the Weekend Breakfast Blogging # 15, the theme of which is Breakfast using Leftovers. WBB is the brainchild of Nandita of Saffron Trail and, after doing the rounds of different guest hosts' blogs, has come back to the Saffron Trail this month.

Yesterday was also the birthday of a very dear friend. Aarti: as promised, these are for you.