Whole Wheat Lemon Ginger Cookies

" Winter = More Tea/Coffee = More Cookies = Warmth = Lemon Ginger Cookies "

 

















These cookies were a hit in my house as well as among friends who got to taste them :) 
They are so yummy that will make your tummy always have some space for these !!!

Ingredients

• • 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger (about 1 ounce)
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 egg yolk, room temperature

Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, lemon zest, and baking soda. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, granulated and brown sugars, vanilla, and egg yolk on medium until fluffy, about 8 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and beat just until combined.

• Place coarse sugar in a small bowl. Roll rounded teaspoons of dough into balls. Place, 2 inches apart, on two parchment-lined rimmed baking sheets. Bake until edges are slightly brown, 14 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. 

Enjoy them anytime :)If you make them please share your experiences.

Perfect Frosting !!!

Perfect Frosting and a perfect quick recipe - Believe me....

Ingredients:

2lb 10x Powdered Sugar - i got Dominos

1 cup Vegetable Shortening - i got Crisco

1/4 cup water, if required 2 tbspns more

Directions:

1] Sieve the powdered sugar to remove all the lumps and keep in a separate bowl

2] Beat the vegetable shortening at medium speed for 3-5 mins till it becomes light, creamy and shiny

3] Mix water and powdered sugar and mix well with spatula

4] Once mixed well, beat the mixture for 5 mins on high speed till you get a nice glaze and peaks in the frosting as seen in the pic

5] Frosting is ready with medium to stiff consistency which can be used to make borders and flowers. If you want to use this frosting to ice the cake or cupcake then add little water till you get thin consistency.

Your Frosting is ready in less than 10 mins.

Types of Consistency:

Stiff consistency Icing/Frosting -

Stiff icing is used for decorations such as flowers ,figure piping and stringwork. If icing is not stiff enough, flower petals will droop. If icing cracks when piped out, icing is probably too stiff. 

Medium consistency Icing / Frosting -

Medium icing is used for decorations such as stars, borders and flowers with flat petals. If the icing is too stiff or too thin, you will not get the uniformity that characterizes these decorations. Medium to thin icing is used for icing your cake. Add water or milk to your icing recipe to achieve the correct consistency.

Thin consistency Icing / Frosting -

Thin icing is used for decorations such as printing and writing, vines and leaves.

Now make your cake or cupcakes and this super easy frosting and let the creativity begin....
Have fun!
Richa

Hula Coola .... to cool you off this Summer !

A perfect drink for Summer - Make it for potlucks, Happy Hours, Parties or simply for yourself to pamper :)


Ingredients

1/3 cup sweetened cream of coconut - if you don't find cream of coconut just add Coconut milk
1 fresh ripe Pineapple
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup ice cubes
few sprigs of Mint
1/2 cup of Sweetened Shredded Coconut flakes
Salt - optional

Directions

Put cream of coconut, pineapple, lemon juice, mint, shredded coconut and ice into the pitcher of a blender, and blend for 15 seconds on high speed. Stir ingredients. Blend for 15 seconds more on high speed.

Pour and serve topped with some shredded coconut and mint leaves - tastes refreshing, amazing and yummm!!
Enjoy and get compliments....
Richa

Chicken Kathi Roll

 I made this recipe keeping Meeta's Monthly Mingle in mind and also was missing Indian Street Food.....
Its a super simple recipe - it has lot of steps but they are pretty simple... and tastes amazing!!! You can modify this recipe in terms of Marinade the way you like or just keep it the way i mentioned... it will surely make you want more ... I omitted the Mint Chutney for one Roll as my friend doesnt like Mint flavor and she loved it ..... Just one thing is important - Enjoy ...

Ingredients
for Chicken Marinade
3 Chicken Breasts - cut into small pieces
2 tspns Tandoori Chicken Tikka Masala
1/2 tspn Red Chilli Powder
1-2 tspn Ginger-Garlic paste
1/2 tspn Chat Masala
Salt as per taste

For Kathi Roll Stuffing
1 Green Pepper - Chopped
1 Red Onion - Chopped
1 tbspn Oil

for assembling Kathi Roll
6 Indian Flatbreads (Roti / Chapatis)
1 tbspn Butter
6 tspns Mint Chutney

Directions:
1] In a bowl, mix all the ingredients for Chicken Marinade and keep it aside for atleast 1 hr
2] Preheat Oven at 350 degrees F, Bake the chicken for 12-15 mins
3] Turn the Oven to Broil which is at 500 degrees F and let the Chicken broil till you get a nice crust on it.
4] In a heated pan, add Oil, when heated add the Onion and bell pepper and saute for a while till Onions are cooked.
5] Add Broiled Chicken to this and saute for atleast 5 mins till it starts sticking to the pan. This will give nice blackened effect to the chicken.
6] Heat a flat pan / tava. Apply butter to Flatbread / Roti and put on tava and let it cook till it turns slightly brown.
7] Repeat this for all 6 Rotis
8] Apply Mint Chutney to all the Rotis/Flatbreads. Put Chicken Stuffing in the center and fold the roti and close it with a toothpick. Repeat for all the 6 Rotis.
9] Broil the Kathi Rolls for 1 min - Dont keep the Tray of Kathi Rolls too close to the coil to avoid burning.

Now just Enjoy this wholesome meal :)

Richa

Cookies ~ everybody loves them in some form or the other.... I had a lunch invite by one of my dear friend who happens to be my next door neighbor as well and i was wondering what should i bake as i had very little time. Addition to this my lil one was asking me about cookies since last 2 days.... and it clicked me.. Cookie pops for a friend and cookies for kids - there is a saying in Hindi "ek teer mein do nishaane" which means you hit 2 targets with one arrow.

So i finally decided let the cookie be simple and accessories be fancy which will make it special :)
People always ask me this question - do you plan your baking or you just do it when thought comes? How come you always have inventory up to date when it comes to baking ? Well to answer this - I always keep my baking ingredient list stocked !!! and sometimes my baking is planned and sometimes just when i feel like :) Sometimes i even bake when i think i have sometime ..... day by day its becoming a passion for me and i'm loving it !!! Whenever i bake i get this feeling of satisfaction and feeling of i did something on my own and others liked it..... sometimes i feel i'm going crazy to feel this way...but Baking gives me relaxation .... it doesnt bother me in anyway ......

OK back to where i was :P so i made the Sugar cookie dough and with 1/4th dough i made Cookie pops and rest of it i added some colorful sprinkles in the dough and made cookies using circle and heart shaped cookie cutter...End result - it was awesome !!! 

They are simple, sweet and you can make so many things out of them - just use your creativity.


Ingredients

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


Directions

1. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium; add eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture gradually, beating until incorporated. Shape dough into 2 disks. Wrap each in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Let 1 disk of dough stand at room temperature until just soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/4- to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut out shapes using cookie cutter. Transfer to baking sheets 2 inches  apart. Gently press cookies down. (Cookies will stick once they are baked.) Roll out scraps once, and repeat. Repeat with remaining disk of dough. Freeze until cookies are firm, 15 minutes.
3. Bake in batches, switching and rotating sheets halfway through, until edges of cookies turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.
4. For Cookie pops - fill the dough in the cookie pan, press the pop stick firmly. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes till they turn golden. Remove and cool them on the wire racks. Decorate with Royal Icing or Ganache. I used Ganache and some sprinkles on top.

Enjoy these with almost anything and anytime during the day.

Richa

Flashback !!!

Hello All... its been a while i haven't updated this blog due to mainly 2 reasons-

1] My parents were visiting me here in USA for the very first time
2] I moved into a new apartment

But that doesn't mean i didn't bake...rather i baked a lot.... tried lot of things... below are the pics..i'm wondering which recipes should i post.. Can you all help me - which ones would you like to see?

Orange-Cranberry Cookies

Chocolate cake with Chocolate Ganache

Homemade Chocolate bars

Banana cupcakes

Chocolate Wine cake for my Birthday

Cranberry Blondies

Ginger Cookies

Chocolate Linzer cookies with sugar-free Raspberry filling

Chocolate cake with whipped cream strawberry filling

Valentine's Day gifts for my friends

Earl Grey Chocolate Cake

Dark Chocolate Coconut Blondies

Vanilla Cake with Whipped cream strawberry filling Cake

Chocolate Cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day!

Isn't it a big list :P
Hope you liked all of them ..... I will try to put recipes for most of them but i would love to hear the top ones so i include them first....

C ya!!!
Richa

Tomato Tart

Baking Tart was on my To-Bake-List since quite a long time and i finally ordered a Tart pan on Amazon and i was all set to make my very first Tart and as usual my guinea pig was my family and some friends....and the Test results were successful and the Tart was a hit !!!

It had a nice crusty crust with well done filling and nothing was burnt - Aditya said "it has a right blend of spices" and everything was just so right it.....

Ingredients

1 tbspn chopped garlic
3 tablespoons olive oil
All-purpose flour, for dusting
1/2 recipe of Pie Dough
1 cup ounces Ricotta cheese
1 1/2 pounds firm but ripe tomatoes (4 medium), cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Shredded cheese for topping
Italian seasoning (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 1/8-inch-thick circle, about 12 inches in diameter. With a dry pastry brush, brush off the excess flour; roll the dough around the rolling pin, and lift it over a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Line the pan with the dough, pressing it into the corners. Trim the dough so that it is flush with the edges; transfer to the refrigerator to chill, about 30 minutes.
3. Spread garlic evenly on the chilled crust. Sprinkle with half of the Ricotta cheese. Arrange the tomatoes on top of the Ricotta cheese, in an overlapping circular pattern. Season with salt, seasoning and pepper. Sprinkle with remaining Ricotta cheese, and drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons oil and Shredded cheese. Transfer to oven. 
4. Reduce temperature to 400 degrees. and bake until crust is golden and tomatoes are soft but still retain their shape, 45 to 55 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool for 20 minutes, and serve warm.

Tart / Pie Dough

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

1/4 to 1/2 cup cold water

Directions

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds.
2. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky; be careful not to process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
3. Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disc and wrap in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill at least 1 hour. Dough may be stored, frozen, up to 1 month.

Dark Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Last weekend i was so looking forward to the new target opening up within a mile from my apartment and to be honest it really did make me happy to finally spend couple of hours there..... I and one of my very good friend Rhonda had visited Target and when we were hungry we decided to have a cup of coffee in Starbucks which was located in it.

I decided to go for my favorite Cafe Mocha ~ No Whip - 1 pump of chocolate with Almond Biscotti ... while i was chatting with Rhonda and nibbling on Biscotti i said - " Rhonda i think i can bake this stuff " and being a very good friend of mine she agreed and said "Sure you can!" and that motivated me to take this one step and bake these dark chocolate almond biscotti's.

I did lot of homework on how to bake them and i was missing out on one or the other ingredients mentioned. Some said i need pistachios, some said i need some different kind of sugar... but i had to bake them at any cost so this baking devil in me is quiet... so i decided to bake with what i have at home and these biscotti's turned out to be really well - i replaced pistachios with Almonds and used a normal sugar what i had and chocolate chips with unsweetened chocolate so they are not very sweet. Believe me it did taste the same i had in "Starbucks".... I'm not exaggerating my baking here but these Biscotti's really made me feel good about myself :)  and they are damn easy ~ trust me !!!!

Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for baking sheet

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for baking sheet

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup chopped Almonds

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a baking sheet; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.In a double boiler melt chocolate and keep aside. 
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs; beat until well combined, scraping down sides of bowl if necessary. Add flour mixture, and stir to form a stiff dough. Stir in almonds and melted chocolate.
4. Transfer dough to prepared baking sheet; form into a slightly flattened log, about 12 by 4 inches. Bake until slightly firm, about 25 minutes. Cool about 5 minutes. Reduce oven to 300 degrees.
5. On a cutting board, using a sharp serrated knife, cut biscotti diagonally into 1-inch-thick slices. Arrange biscotti, cut sides down, on baking sheet, and bake until crisp but still slightly soft in the center, about 8 minutes.

You can enjoy these with Tea/Coffee or just a lil snack as they are very light, crunchy and less in FAT !!!
Enjoy!!!

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.

Dark Chocolate Truffles

February a month of love...Love is in the air ~ that's what people say :)
Well for us its a month of Birthdays, anniversaries and ofcourse Love ...... I'm a BIG fan of chocolates - i simply love them and can eat them almost anytime, but since last few years have been gaining control over them to check my weight..... I know there are many of you who will say ... "Richa you don't need to loose weight"...and when i say "I was fat once" there are many who will say "You are joking".... Well my old friends who have seen me they will agree that yeah i was fat once :) :)

Anyways coming back to the topic of truffles - i simply love them, they are creamy and heavenly in taste and as a matter of fact they are very easy to make so here goes the recipe for the yummiest truffles.... which you can make on Valentines Day for your loved ones....I'm thinking of making few around Valentines Day for my friends....




Ingredients:
for filling-
1 cup - Bitter-sweet chocolate chips
6 tbspn - Heavy Whipped cream
1 tspn - Butter or shortening

for coating-
1/4 cup - Bitter-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup - Heavy whipped cream
1 tspn - Confectioner's sugar

Method:
Filling
1] In a bowl put chocolate chips and keep aside. In a pan bring heavy whipped cream to boil. Add butter. Mix well and sieve in the bowl of chocolate chips.
2] Mix with a fork and let the chocolate melt till you get a smooth paste. Dont whisk too much. Stir and refrigerate overnight.

Coating
1] In a bowl put chocolate chips and keep aside. In a pan bring heavy whipped cream to boil. Add butter. Mix well and sieve in the bowl of chocolate chips.
2] Mix with a fork and let the chocolate melt till you get a smooth paste. Dont whisk too much.

Final Step
1] Take a cookie sheet and place parchment paper (butter paper) on it.
2] Take out the filling from refrigerator and make small balls with hand.
3] Dip the balls into the coating mixture and pick them with a pair of fork. Place on the cookie sheet. Repeat the steps till filling mixture lasts.
4] Refrigerate the truffles for 15 mins. Take them out and decorate the way you want and refrigerate again. Take them out just before serving.

I decorated my truffles with Pink buttercream as i had one and chocolate shavings which again i had tried at home. They looked good and tasted even better ... Yumm Yumm Yumm !!!! So next time you want truffles you know whom to call :P :P
I loved them from the bottom of my heart :) :)
Enjoy !!!

Chocolate-Orange Ganache sandwich cake

Ganache ~ creamy, chocolaty, lustrous thick liquid when comes in front of your eyes - one is bound to say Yummmm!!!! I have been reading a lot about Ganache lately and wanted to bake a cake in which i can use it as well as add some extra variety to it...

Its been a crazy week lately, I'm down with severe headache since last 7 days, my lil one and hubby are down with flu.... its very depressing to see your lil one sick and not smiling.... Finally today i thought of baking a cake which is my recipe (based on my experience now in baking cakes have reached a level of mixing ingredients i like and creating a new one) ... This cake came out really well - Light, chocolaty with hint of orange and not very rich in calories :) I used the Ganache in between two layers and not as icing on the cake, but you can use it the way you want....



Ingredients:
for Cake:
1 cup - All-purpose flour
1/2 cup - Sugar
1/2 cup - Butter
1 tspn - Baking powder
1 tspn - Baking Soda
2 tbspn - Cocoa powder
2 oranges - peeled and pureed (Take the zest and keep it aside)
2 Large eggs
1 tspn - Vanilla extract

for Ganache:
1/2 cup - Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup - Heavy whipped cream
1 tspn - butter
2 tbpsn - Orange Zest (Use the orange zest for Ganache and orange pulp for cake)

Method:
1] In a container, put chocolate chips and keep aside. In a pan, add heavy whipped cream and bring it to boil. Add butter and mix it well. Sieve it in the chocolate chips and mix till chocolate melts completely. Let it cool. Add Orange Zest and keep it aside. Your chocolate-orange Ganache is ready.
2] In a food processor, whip the eggs and keep them aside.
3] In a food processor, mix butter and sugar and whip it. To this add all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, orange puree, vanilla extract and cocoa powder. Mix it nicely till you get a light and fluffy mixture.
4] Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F and pour the batter in a baking pan. Bake it for 40 mins or till the skewer comes out clean.
5] Once the cake is cooled, cut it in two parts horizontally. Spread the Ganache in between. Add nuts if you like and put the top layer on this.

Your cake is ready.... Its easy and tastes great with anything... You can enjoy this with tea/coffee as its very light or as a simple light dessert... It is a perfect dessert when you want to eat something nice but not very rich and creamy..... We simply loved the cake.... and i'm gonna make it again :) :) what about you???

Yoghurt with Berries and Cereal

It was 10:30 in the night and as usual i was hungry... generally i go to kitchen and get a big bowl of cereal for myself. Today i felt like having something nice yet healthy so i can go off to sleep without guilt.... i get those guilts when i indulge myself into a rich dessert and i skip desserts for next 10 days :D
i took a good look into my refrigerator and i saw fresh Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries waiting for me ..... and i got an idea to use all of them with Yoghurt and cereal... I know this is a very common recipe but guys what if someone who is unaware of comes and read this blog - i will help one soul satisfy his hunger in a better way - so here it goes.....



Ingredients:
Handful of Strawberries (chopped), Blueberries and Blackberries
2 tbspn - Plain Yoghurt ( i had Low fat - that made me feel good)
handful of your fav cereal ( i had Kelloggs oat & honey)

Method:
1] Mix all the berries in a bowl.
2] Add Yoghurt on top of it.
3] Sprinkle your fav cereal

That's it - Enjoy your guilt-free, healthy and yet Yummy dessert...
I simply enjoyed it and wanted more and more :)

Handmade fresh Pizza - right from scratch

Today was one of those days when i was motivated to bake something different and which i have never tried - trust me the list is big enough.... But i had this urge of making Pizza base at home and it came out really well... So guys next time you want to eat pizza you know whom to call for it :) trust me its easy....



Ingredients:

Pizza base- (this proportion makes one pizza base)
1/4 tspn - Active Dry yeast
1/8 tspn - Sugar
1/8 tspn - Salt
3/4 tspn - Olive Oil
3 tbspn - Warm Water
1/4 cup - Whole Wheat flour ( or All-purpose flour)

Pizza Sauce-
1 - ripe tomato
1 tspn - dried Oregano
1 tspn - dried Basil
Salt as per taste
1 - Garlic bud (finely chopped)

Toppings-
Capsicum - chopped
Olives - sliced
Onions - chopped
Cheese - as per requirement
(you can add as many toppings you want)

Method:
Pizza base-
1] In a medium size bowl, dissolve dry yeast and sugar in warm water. Set aside for 10 mins.
2] Into this add salt and olive oil.
3] Add flour to this mixture and start making a dough out of it. Knead till the dough is not sticky.
4] Apply some oil on a separate bowl on the sides and place the dough in that. Cover the bowl with a cloth. Keep aside for 1 hr atleast untouched.
5] After 1 hr, you should see the dough doubles in size. Take the dough and roll it with rolling pin and give a desired shape (generally round or square).
Your Pizza base is ready :)

Pizza Sauce-
1] Make tomato puree (simply churn tomato in a mixer and take it out in a bowl).
2] Add Oregano, basil, salt and Garlic.
3] Spread it on the pizza base evenly.

Final Assembly-
1] Add all the desired toppings on the pizza base having sauce on it.
2] Pre-heat the oven at 425 degrees F. Put the pizza base on the pizza pan / cookie sheet / flat baking pan and Bake for 8-10 mins. You will see the base is cooked.
3] Broil/grill the pizza for 1-2 mins or till the cheese becomes slightly brown.

Your Hot Pizza is ready to eat.
We loved this pizza and have decided to make it again with different toppings.
I made it of whole wheat and didn't add too much of oil or cheese - so its Healthy yet delicious....
So guys next time you want to eat Pizza you know where to call ;)
Enjoy!!!

Blueberry Cake

This weekend was full of birthdays and some parties so i was most of the time in kitchen preparing something for those occassions.... Took chicken tikka to one of the birthday party, took Marble cake and tilgul (sesame seed and jaggery sweet) to one of the party and made a Blueberry cake for one of my friends birthday.....
She loved blueberries and i thought why not make a cake using them.... and when the final product came out i was happy... All the time when i was baking and decorating this cake i was thinking - is this a special cake? if somebody gifts me this cake on my birthday will i like it? i worked hard on this cake keeping these things in mind till the time i got answer as "Yes"....



Ingredients:
1 cup - All purpose flour
1/2 cup - Sugar
1/2 cup - Butter
3 - Eggs
2 tspn - Baking powder
1/2 tspn - Baking soda
1/2 cup - Fresh Blueberries
1/4 cup - Milk
1 tspn - Vanilla extract
a pinch of Salt

Method:
1] In a mixer/beater, beat the eggs and keep aside.
2] Beat sugar and butter and keep aside.
3] Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda and add to the sugar-butter mixture. Beat it nicely. Add milk and beat again till the mixture is smooth.
4] Add beaten eggs and vanilla extract to the above mixture and beat till it becomes light.
5] Take a baking cake pan. Butter it and sprinkle flour on it. Spread blueberries evenly on the pan and pour the batter on top of them.
6] Pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees F. Bake the cake for 40-45 mins or till the skewer comes out clean.

Decorate it with your favorite icing / frosting or can simply be enjoyed the way it is. I had made simple buttercream icing with a Pink food color.

Enjoy this yummy cake anytime you want !!!
I loved baking this cake and decorating it too :)