It is the holiday season over here. It is only a little different from Kolkata… there is a festive cheer, everyone is in a good mood, there is the anticipation of new things. But in Kolkata, festive season is more about eating out, going out with friends and family while here it is mostly about staying in and cooking for friends and family and eating in. One thing’s for sure, be here or be there – you will definitely be caught up in the shopping spree and eating out/cooking frenzy.

Ingredients:

• Strawberry Compote – 2 tbs (recipe here)
• Cottage Cheese – 1 Cup (recipe here)
• Sugar – 1 tbs (or more, if you like more sweet)
• Reserved Liquid from Strawberry Compote – 2 tbs (I just saved about 3 tablespoons of the liquid while making the compote)
• Milk – 1 Cup
• Water 1/2 Cup
• Chocolate chip – a handful

In a pan, cook together all of the ingredients except water and milk till it turns into a crumbly mixture. Add the milk and water to the mixture and cook till all the liquid evaporates. Let it cool. Set in a pan and cut into your desired shape.

I melted 1/4 Cup chocolate chips with 1 tbs of the reserved liquid from the compote and poured it onto the cooled down kalakand. Strawberries and chocolate – one of my favorite combinations. The husband, who is not a big fan of strawberries, polished off most of the kalakands. This recipe yielded about 6 or 7.