Coconut Laddoo

Laddoo's are Aditya's fav and i think every other Indian loves them :)
These coconut laddoos are very easy to make and are not very sweet in taste... and whenver you offer them you will always get a compliment :) in return..... I learnt them from my Mom and here goes the recipe...

Ingredients -
1 small can - Condensed Milk / Milkmaid (in India)
3-4 cups - Dessicated coconut
1/2 cup - Dessicated coconut for layering
1/2 cup - Sliced Almonds (Optional)

Method -
1] In a saucepan, warm up the Condensed milk.
2] Add desicated coconut and Almonds to the saucepan and mix well for 3-4 mins till themixture looks cooked.
3] Take it out of the heat in a dish and make small laddoos out of it and roll it in the 1/2 cup dessicated coconut.

That's it - isnt it easy :)
Try it out :)

Lemon Cookies

I was going through my refrigerator and saw these nice fresh Lime lying there and the first thing came to my mind was lets Bake Lemon Cookies !!!

But i had this big question in front of me - how do i bake them? then i started adding all the ingredients i thought will be required and made these cookies and they came really well - they are less sweet, gives a hint of lime and not at all buttery :) just the way i like them ..... and luckily these were appreciated by friends and family as well ....and guys they are EGGLESS .....

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups All Purpose flour
3/4 cup Sugar
1 cup butter, softened
Zest of 1 lemon ( Medium size)
Juice of 1 lemon ( used the same lemon from which i scraped the Zest)
2 tspn Baking Powder
1 tspn Baking soda

Directions:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients except sugar in a large bowl and keep aside. 
2. In a bowl, mix sugar and butter. Beat with hand till the mixture becomes creamy. Do not overdo this step as it will introduce lot of air in the mixture which is not good for cookies. 
3. Add lemon juice and zest to the sugar-butter mixture and mix well. 
4. Add this mixture into the dry ingredients and knead a dough. 
5. Make 1/2 inch balls out of this dough and press them with hand and place on parchment paper on cookie sheet. 
6. Preheat oven at 350 degree F. Bake these cookies for 15-20 mins - Monitor in between, if you see cookies are turning golden brown, take them out from the oven. 
7. Let the cookies cool on the cooling rack for 10 mins and they are ready to eat.

These cookies are really good with Coffee :) and very light as well. 

Enjoy !!!

Cupcakes

Cupcakes ~ Yummmmm !!! thats what comes to my mind when i hear the word Cupcakes :) I had been to Indian Grocery store and i picked up Tooty-Fruity packet.... All Indians must have eaten tooty-fruity cake or tooty-fruity ice cream for sure and when i saw this packet i thought of baking a cake first; but then i thought lets try Cupcakes and i also was baking a Marble cake for one of my dear friend and some batter was left so decided to make Chocolate cupcakes as well. And both the experiments were really successful - they were Yummmy :)  Simply loved them !!! so did my friends and family.
Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup tooty-fruity pieces
1 tbspn cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Process whole pistachios, sugar, and salt in a food processor until finely ground.
2. Add butter, vanilla, and eggs, and process until smooth. Add flour, and pulse until just combined.
3. Divide batter in two bowls. In one bowl add the tooty-fruity pieces and in other bowl add cocoa powder. Mix well and fill in the muffin cups.
4. Preheat the oven at 350 degree F.
5. Bake until firm and pulling away from liners, about 28 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks.

Enjoy these yummy cupcakes - they are light, spongy and less sweet :)

Baked Mathri

Ingredients:

1 cup Wheat Flour
1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour (or Maida)
1/4 cup Sooji or Rava
1 tbspn Ajwain Seeds
1 tspn Black Pepper
Salt as per taste
2 tbspn Oil
Cookie Cutters (optional)

Directions:

1. In a container mix all the dry ingredients and keep aside.
2. In a small pan, heat oil and then add to the dry mixture. Mix well.
3. Knead the dough using water and wrap it up with moist cloth or cling film for 1 hr.
4. Later, divide the dough into 2-3 balls. Roll each ball and using fork poke the rolled dough. This will help the Mathris to stay flat.
5. Using cookie cutter cut the rolled dough into shapes you like. If you dont have cookie cutter, you can use any small bottle lid and cut the shapes.
6. Preheat the oven at 350 degree F (180 degree C). Arrange all the cut shapes on cookie sheet and Bake for 13-15 mins. 
7. Remove the cookie sheet when Mathris turn golden brown. 

Enjoy this healthy snack with Tea / Coffee or just like that :)

Watermelon Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients

2 pints pistachio ice cream or add Green Food color in Vanilla (that's what i did)
1 pint Vanilla Ice Cream
1 quart Watermelon Sorbet
Handful of Chocolate drops / chips
1 six-inch-round layer Vanilla Sponge Cake

Directions

1. Line a 3-quart metal mixing bowl with plastic wrap, and leave the edges overhanging. Place lined bowl in freezer for 10 minutes; this will be the mold. Chill the bowl of an electric mixer as well.
2. Place pistachio or Green Vanilla ice cream in the chilled mixer bowl. Using the paddle attachment of the mixer, beat on low speed until ice cream is spreadable, about 30 seconds. Remove chilled mold from freezer. Using a rubber spatula, coat inside of mold with all the pistachio ice cream, making a 1/2-inch-thick layer. Return mold and clean mixer bowl to the freezer for 30 minutes.
3. Place vanilla ice cream in chilled mixer bowl. Beat on low speed until spreadable, about 30 seconds. Remove mold from freezer. Using the rubber spatula, coat pistachio layer with the vanilla ice cream, making a 1/4-inch-thick layer. Return mold and clean mixer bowl to freezer for 30 minutes.
4. Place sorbet in chilled mixer bowl. Beat on low speed until sorbet has softened, about 1 minute. Fold in chocolate chips. Remove mold from freezer. Pack sorbet into center, making an even layer that comes to 1/3 inch below the top of the ice cream layer. Cover sorbet portion with sponge cake; trim cake if necessary. Return mold to freezer until completely hardened.
5. To serve, place a serving plate upside down on top of the mold. Holding plate against mold, invert both. Place a hot wet kitchen towel over the mold. Remove the metal bowl. Immediately before serving, remove the plastic wrap.

Vanilla Sponge Cake

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter, for pan
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch-square baking pan. Line pan with parchment paper, and butter again. Flour the pan, and set aside. In a small bowl, sift together flour and cornstarch; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg yolks, vanilla, and 1/2 cup sugar on high speed until thick and pale, about 5 minutes. Transfer the egg-yolk mixture to a large bowl. Wash and dry the mixer bowl and the whisk attachment.
3. Combine egg whites and salt in the mixer bowl, and beat on medium speed until whites hold soft peaks, about 1 1/2 minutes. With mixer running, slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Continue beating until stiff and glossy, about 1 minute.
4. Fold the egg-white mixture into the egg-yolk mixture. In three additions, fold the reserved flour mixture into this new mixture. Transfer the batter to prepared pan, and smooth the top with an offset spatula. Bake until a cake tester inserted into middle comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool; turn out cake, and wrap it in plastic wrap until ready to use.