DATE AND FIG BISCOTTI

All bakeries in Delhi have stocks of Cake Rusk.  It is something that my family, especially R has been in love with. I remember picking up half a kg of fresh cake rusk every week and it vanishing even before the week ended.  Some would have tutti-fruiti in it, but we always liked the plain ones, coz the fruit in the cake rusk was always very hard, spoiling the texture.

I too am very fond of this particular preparation, but I never realized it would be so easy to do it at home.  Till I actually did it myself.  This recipe is my second attempt at the cake rusk or biscotti in the international language.  The first one I did was Almond and Orange which required some improvement.  And the second one came out perfectly.  After this I think I will be making more biscotti than cookies or muffins or cakes.  They are soooo good, and healthy too.

This is my own recipe.  After I got the hang of the whole concept of getting the texture right, I made my own stuff.  


Prep Time - 10 minutes
Cooking Time - 20-30 minutes (Logs)
Cooling time - 30 minutes
Cooking Time - 8-10 minutes (Biscotti)
Cooling Time - 20 minutes
Makes about - 2 dozen biscotti of medium size

Ingredients
 2 cups atta
1 tspn baking powder
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup dates n figs chopped
1/4 cup cinnamon honey (I don't think it's available in India so use honey mixed with 1/2 spoon of cinnamon or put the powder in the flour)
5 tbspn salted butter
2 tbspn rum (optional)


Method
Preheat oven to 150 deg
In a dish mix the flours n baking powder
Add the dates n figs n give it a good mix
Separately beat the butter n eggs
Add the sugar n mix
Pour in the rum
Now mix the wet into the dry
Add the honey
Combine into a dough
Don't knead too much
Pat into 2 logs by dividing them into two balls
Try and keep the logs rectangular
Lay them on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
Now bake for 30 minutes
Remove from oven n cool for 30 minutes
Meanwhile before 30 minutes are over start preheating once again
Once the logs are fairly cool use a serrated knife to slice them into 1/2 inch slices and lay them cut side down on the baking sheet with the baking paper and bake again for about 8-10 minutes. Just until they start browning.
Take the sheet out and leave to cool.

Believe me you will love the crumbs as much as the biscotti itself.

LEMON SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Today was my birthday.  Another year went past.  Another year with good and bad moments.  Last year I was celebrating in another country surrounded with friends.  This year, it was just my family.  New country, little known people, but a heart ready to explore the newness of the place.

Birthday's are always special.  But as the years pass by, they loose their charm and other matters in life and yet more, other people in your life take priorities.  But still there's something about the day that makes it very unique.  A certain zing in the air, continuous phone calls and messages from friends world over.  It is enough to celebrate the fact that your are alive and there are people who care and lovey.  The very fact that you are alive and kicking is enough to thank the almighty, and thank I do for all that I am.

I am celebrating this day which is very special, and more so, coz its my husband's birthday too with these eye winking cookies.  "Eye winking" coz you'll certainly wink when you take a bit.

LEMON SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Prep Time - 25 minutes
Cooking time - 20 minutes
Cooling Time - 15 minutes
Makes about 30-36 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup atta / wheatflour
1 cup maida / refined flour
1/2 cup butter at room temperature (salted)
6 tbspn sugar
2 lemon - zest
1 lemon juice

Method

Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy
Add the lime zest and lemon juice and mix well
Slowly add in the flour and mix well
Knead into a smooth dough using milk at room temperature
Leave aside for 15 minutes
Take small balls and press into small cookies
Sprinkle with some more sugar on top
Lay them on a baking sheet lined with butter paper
Preheat the oven to 180deg and bake these for about 20 minutes

Allow to cool

Serve these with a wink and you'll love them.  Every time you open the box of cookies you are surrounded with a totally butterly and tangy smell that keeps lingering.  This a keeper of a recipe.

COCONUT CHERRY COOKIES

We had just  begun to settle down when its suddenly time to move on.  A sudden transfer for my husband called for us to pack our bags and move to a beach city.  Dar es salaam is  so different from Nairobi.  Nairobi is a beautiful town full of natures bounty, things that I love - huge big trees all around and lovely beautiful flowers in all, I really mean ALL colours and variations you can imagine.  I miss Nairobi real bad, but am trying to settle down.  Looking for whatever is best in this new city.

But I guess thats what life is all about.  When you think you've reached your destination, God wants you to see some more.  I was not ready to move but had to.  Leave friends back and look for new ones.  New purchases, a new house. I look forward to new beginnings.  Even though Dar es salaam is not as developed as Nairobi, with malls and shopping centers are cropping up everywhere.  I still want to experience the same thrill which I felt when in Delhi and new malls meant more choices in shopping about 15 years ago.

As we move on, am sharing this simple but delicious cookie recipe

Ingredients :-

2 cups - maida
1/2 tspn - baking powder
a big pinch - baking soda
a small pinch - salt
3/4 cup - vegetable oil
1 - egg
1 cup - sugar
1 tbspn - vanilla essence or cherry essence 
1/2 cup - dessicated coconut
some glazed cherries - halved (as per requirement)

Recipe :-

Preheat the oven to 180 deg cel
Mix the dry ingredients except the coconut well
Now in a separate bowl take the oil and beat in the egg till light and fluffy
Now add the sugar and beat well
Add the essence and beat well
Mix this liquid into the dry ingredients
With your hands mix everything together. 
If the dough is too dry or not coming together add in some milk (at room temp)
Grease a cookie sheet and make some balls of the dough and flatten them on the dessicated coconut
Top each cookie with a halved cherry
Bake for 10-12 minutes
Dont let it brown

You will get about 30-32 cookies

12 YEARS OF MARRIAGE AND A CAKE

Today we celebrate 12 years of our wedding!!  Yes 12 years have passed and a two lives from the North and South of the country came together and mingled to become a family.

Our marriage was a movie story kinds.  The boy - a North Indian Punjabi Hindu and the girl - a Delhi born and brought up Keralite Christian girl.  My family was so totally against the marriage and they tried all tactics and tricks and emotional blackmail to pull me away from this so called alliance that I had sought for myself.  And his family had happily accepted me as a part of their family because they knew that their son had made up his mind and they would not be able to change his mind.  My parents finally gave in to their stubborn daughter after a lot of melodrama and mein shaadi karoongi to isse nahi to kunwari reh jaoongi!!!

Today we have withstood a lot of phases in our lives and stuck by each other through thick and thin.  Ups and downs of lives and careers, making tough decisions and enjoying the sweetness that life offered us.  Most importantly a beautiful daughter who is the light of our lives, and the most precious gift God could give us.

Life witthout each other would be incomplete and infathomable and so I pray that God blesses our togetherness now and till death do us apart.

This cake was made some while before but I am posting it today, since the anniversary cake was brought from the market.  I had made this cake on the occassion of the farewell of a good friend of mine leaving Kenya and resettling in Canada.

For the first time I made a 3 layered cake and I must say it was HUUUGEEE.  The cake must have weighed at least 3 kgs..............but it was delicious.  I had strawberries and a fruit cocktail can that Rajeev had brought from the Del Monte factory, which I also wanted to use fruitfully :)

Ingredients :-

For the sponge

1 cup - maida / refined flour

1 cup  - atta / wheatflour (I add to increase the health quotient of the cake)

1 tspn - baking powder

1 tspn - baking soda

1/2 cup - warm milk

3 eggs

1 cup - butter or refined oil (I mostly use oil to increase the health quotient of the cake)
1 cup - sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tspn - vanilla essence

Recipe

Seive the flours, salt, baking powder and soda together
Separately beat the oil and sugar together till creamy
Add the egg one by one till fluffy
To this add the vanilla essence
Add this mixture to the flours and mix well
Add the milk mix well
Pour this into a greased and dusted pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180 deg cel till 45 minutes

For the strawberry frosting

Ingredients
1-1/2 cup - fresh cream
1 cup - icing sugar
1 tspn - strawberry colour

1 tspn - strawberry essence

Recipe

Beat the cream till soft peaks form

To this add the icing sugar and beat till stiff peaks form

Add the stawberry colour and essence and mix till you get the desired colour

Put this in the fridge till you are ready to use it

For the assembling

Ingredients

1 cup - juice (use any flavour you like but orange or pineapple goes best, I used the residue from the fruit cocktail and some pineapple juice)

Fruits from the fruit cocktail

Strawberry fan to garnish

Recipe

Cut away the top of the cake to make a smooth surface

Now cut the cake carefully with a big serrated knife into three slices

Keep these safely and separately

Now on the tray you are going to serve put the first layer and sprinkle juice on this till it is well moist

Spread a layer of the cream on this and spread small peices of the fruit cocktail on the cream

Next take the other layer and sprinke juice till well moist

Very carefully place this on top of the fruit and creamed layer.  Press lightly and again spread the cream and fruits

Now add on the last layer and this time cover the whole cake with cream.

Top this with strawberry fans which I made by cutting slices of strawberry but without cutting right through and spreading these slices with very soft hands I used a fork to make a design on the cake and added some sprinkles on the corners

CHERRY UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

My little daughter loves animals just like me.  Since she was about 3 months old, I have been showing her picture books of animals and her first love was HOOORRRSSEEE.  She loved the horse, and still loves it,
now that she gets to ride on one every Thursday in school!!!

We took her to the Safari Walk today and she just loooved it soo much.  We too enjoyed the lovely green surroundings with amazingly cool breeze and even though we had to walk through the whole park it was not tiring.  The walkway was made of wooden planks which were surprisingly very strong and reliable and took us through the jungle.

We came to celebrate with this lovely muffin which was not too difficult to make


Recipe Source - My own Time taken - Preparation (15 minutes), Baking (25-30 minutes) Ingredients :-

1/4 cup - maida / refined flour
1 cup - full cream / malai
1 cup - caster / powdered sugar
cherries - halved and 4 each per cake
1/4 cake  - raspberry jam
Milk - enough to make into a thick flowing batter (room temperature)
1 tsp - baking powder
1/2 tsp - baking soda
1tspn - vanilla essence

Recipe :-

Preheat oven 180 deg Cel
Seive the flour, baking soda  and baking powder together
Beat the cream and the sugar just till mixed welll
Now add this to the flour
Add the vanilla essence
Mix milk till you achieve a pouring thick consistency
I took the halved cherries and laid 4 of them side by side covering the bottom of the cupcake liner with the rounded side down and the cut side up
Now pour batter covering 1/2 the cup
Microwave the jam along with a tbspn of water and beat well till its loose
Add a tspn of this jam and cover another tbspn full of batter on top
Bake for about 20-25 minutes.

The cake was moist and soft and we enjoyed it very much, especially my girl

CHOCOLATE JAM COOKIES

Last two weeks have been pretty bad with my little one being ill.  She somehow teeths and falls ill the same time!! and it really makes it very worse for all of us.  Her coughs send me down the depression mode oh so badly :(

With lots of hard work and running around, she finally is better, though her teething isint over yet.  Before she could be fine, my MIL caught the cough and fever, and then me and then my husband :) 

I was just mentioning at home that all our illnesses would have been worth the while if only she was better.

I read at a clinic once "deciding to have a child is deciding to see a peice of your heart walk out in the open"!!!

I today realize how true it is.  Yes, I as a parent would smilingly take up all that comes her way.  Protect her, keep her away from the blazing sun, the icy cold wind (ok maybe its not that cold, but still), a bee that came through the window, a hot cup of tea...........the list is endless.  I would hate myself if even after all this something does cause her tears to flow.

You know I put her in school this January, and the school to my convenience is right across the road.  It is so close that I sitting on the chair at my table, next to the window keep my ears so sharp open to listen if she is the one who is crying!!

Initially, I used to run across whenever I heard her cry.  I dont do so anymore. Hey, its not coz I dont want to do that - its coz the teachers dont allow me to!!!!  They laughed their heads out, wanting to know if I am always sitting by the window!!

Well, well, what can I say.  Dont all mothers do that??

Hmm let me come down to business now.  I made some chocolate jam cookies for my little one's school.  She did love them

Ingredients

1 cup - wheatflour / atta
1 cup - refined flour / maida
1/2 cup - quick cooking oats
1/4 cup - drinking chocolate powder
1 cup - sugar
3/4 cup - refined oil or butter
1 teaspn - coffee powder
1 egg
1/4 teaspn - baking powder
1 teaspn - vanilla essence

Jam Filling
Ingredients
1/2 cup - any jam of your choice but the mixed fruit goes best
1 tspn - water

Recipe
Mix the flours and oats with the baking powder well enough
Add the chocolate powder and the coffee and mix again
In another bowl beat the butter, sugar till creamy
Add the egg and beat well
Now add the vanilla essence
Mix both
It should turn into a thick paste consistency
If its very runny add some flour
If its dry add some milk
It actually shouldnt be both of the above, if the measurements are correct, but the ingredients texture may vary at places, hence this suggestion :)
Pat into small balls right onto a greased cookie sheet

Now to make the jam filling just heat the jam and add that wee bit of water to get it a little diluted.  This is so that when baked the jam doesnt get so jammed (thick) that its difficult to eat.

Into the balls makes small indents using either a oiled thumb or the back of a spoon and drop in spoons of the jam.
Your oven should be preheated to 180 deg cel
Just pop the cookie sheet in and take it out in about 10 mins.
Let them cool.

Enjoy

ORANGE RASPBERRY CAKE

Life is strange, and so are we. Things happen to us which we never ever thought would be part of our lives. Never in our lives did we think that we would have to shift to a new town, let alone having moved to a new country altogether!! But somehow the shift came calmly and without much fuss. We are now more or less settled in the town of Nairobi, and I am so totally liking it out here. The weather is lovely. I can sit by the window and experience cooooool (extremely cool, but not cold) breeze touching my face, at the same time, I can experience the lovely warmth of the sun caressing me. It is such a beautiful feeling. You know just having the pleasure of this phenomenon gives me the consolation and confirmation that God is nearby. He couldnt be too far off. Every evening as I sit by my window, there is a lovely sight I behold and that is of very tall trees outside being touched by the rays of the sun only on the top, while the rest of them is shadowed. It is as if they are reaching out to catch the fading sun, and dont wanna let go. In capturing all of this beauty of the city, I am also indulging myself in extensive cooking. My daughter has begun to go to a playschool very near to my home, and that gives me a lot of spare time during the mornings. Last week I had oranges aplenty, and fortunately for me they were quite sweet, and I also a handful of raspberries. So this is what I ended up baking - AN ORANGE RASPBERRY CREAM CAKE

Ingredients - For the cake
1-1/2 cup - refined flour
1 cup - wheatflour
1/2 tspn - baking powder
1/4 tspn - baking soda
2 eggs
3/4 cup - butter
1 cup - sugar
1 tspn - vanilla essence
1/2 cp - orange juice

Now preheat the oven to about 180 deg cel
Beat the butter and eggs (add them one by one)
Add the sugar and beat till creamy
Add the vanilla essence and beat again
Seive the flours and the baking powder and soda
Now slowly mix the wet into the dry till no lumps are left
Prepare a baking dish by greasing it and dusting it with flour, which I always do
Add the batter to the dish and put in the oven for about 35-40 mins
Pls check using a toothpick or whatever that the cake has been done
Let it cool Use a serrated knife to cut the cake into two
Sprinkle the orange juice liberally onto the cake parts and keep them in the fridge

For the frosting
1 cup full cream
2 tbspn orange rind
3/4 cup caster sugar (i had to use 1 cup since sugar in Nairobi is less sweet, God knows why!!!!)
1 tspn vanilla essence

Chill the beater and the utensil for beating the cream in the freezer for about 20 mins
Beat the cream till soft peaks
Add the sugar, orange rind and vanilla essence and beat till stiff peaks

Now to arrange
Take out the two cake slices
Use the bottom of the original cake upside down on the topmost layer of the final cake.
This way the top of the frosted cake is smooth and even.
Use the upper portion first.
Place it on the cake tray or serving platter and spread a thick layer of cream on top of it.
Sprinkle it with chopped orange and rasperies.  Be liberal
Now place the other portion upside down, so that the brown and flat side is on top
Now you can cover the whole cake with cream using a spreading spatula
Decorate the top with orange slices and raspberry

This was a refreshingly cool cake. The tangy sweet orange and the sweetness of the cake blended very well and it didnt take too much to finish it. Take care till next time.

FOR THE LOVE OF COOKING

Life has been moved on, and so have I. I became a mother after years of waiting to hold a baby in my arm. I never knew what being a mother would be like, until I became one. When the Doctor handed over a wrapped bundle onto my chest, I saw the most beautiful black eyes, looking at me with surprise. And what did i feel, all the anxiety and fear that was in me till now on the Operation Table vanished in a jiffy to God knows where. Is this true? I will never forget that moment till my last breath. The Doctor told me I had a beautiful daughter, and indeed she is beautiful, and she will remain so. She is one and half now. Time has flown. She is the most lovely gift God gave me till today. What I feel for her cannot be written down in words. I could die for her, and it would still be insufficient......... Hmmmm, that was just a peep into my hiatus of about 4 years. I surely am back for good now. You will soon know and agree with me. I really hope to be blog hopping as much as I can, and post at least 1 recipe a week to start with (that is so that I dont get addicted yet again!!!) I made a batch of Fruit and Nut Oat Cookies. Heres the recipe. The picture will follow soon.

Ing :-
1 cup oats
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup nuts and fruits of your choice
2 tbspn honey

Method :-
Melt the butter and sugar on a very very slow flame.
Switch off flame
Add the oats and the fruits and nuts
Add the honey and vanilla essence
In another bowl mix the flour and the baking powder.
Beat the eggs and add to the flour
Add the rest of the mixture and fold in by hands
Meanwhile preheat oven to 180 Deg C
Make small balls with your hands and press them flat
Spread them on a baking tray and bake for about 20 mins
Cool and store

They were super duper delicious and to make them more healthy you could wheatflour instead of refined flour.

FRUIT AND NUT BAR

Hi there.......hope you are all doing well and keep good spirits. "Good spirits" - is that something in our genes, or is it something that we ought to cultivate, or is it something beyond our control. I for one, have begun to believe that it is something that a few are blessed with, and it is also something that one can learn to cultivate within oneself, by taking the one's who are already blessed with as examples. It surely is not something that is beyond one's control.

We often see a few samples of God's creation who are always seen with a smile on their face, a twinke in their eyes and a spring in their steps....and they spread that attitude to others - isint that true. We look at them and think oh - how happy she or he is....but it surely is not the case that they do not have any issues in their lives. Its just that they have that attitude of letting go. If you hang onto burdens, worries and problems, they have a tendancy to pull you down. But if you learn to give them up, even if for a short while, and allow the Almighty to handle them, maybe just say a small prayer saying that you give up the particular issue into his mighty hands, you will see that you suddenly feel lighter and better. I have tried doing it a lot of times, and maybe you should to.....

My husband was returning from a 15 day tour to Africa, and I was more than excited and happy to have him back home, so that I could fight with him and trouble him. My life is no fun without him, coz I love the constant arguments and then the making up. I wanted to do make something really special for him and God knows where I got the recipe of a "FRUIT AND NUT BAR" from and since I had all the ingredients for it. Without second thoughts, I jumped off the bed and into the kitchen. I even baked a batch of Butterscotch Brownies from MY DIVERSE KITCHEN.

1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup light brown sugar (I used normal sugar)
1 1/2 cups walnuts (I used 1 cup almonds & 1/2 cup walnuts)
1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries
1 1/2 cup dates, pits removed and cut into quarters
1 cup (165 grams) dried apricots, cut into bite size pieces (i did not use any)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I did not have it so substituted it with maple syrup)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C)
Line a square baking tin wiht aluminum foil & grease it Set aside.
In a large bowl, seive the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Stir in the sugar, walnuts, and dried fruit.
The fruit and nuts should be coated with the flour mixture - nothing better than God gifted hands to do this !!
Whisk the egg and vanilla until light colored and thick in another bowl.

Add the egg mixture to the fruit and nut mixture and mix until all the fruit and nut pieces are coated with the batter. Spread into the prepared pan, pressing to even it out. I did not use my hands but used a spoon this time.

Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and has pulled away from the sides of the pan.

It took all my patience to wait for it to cool down & then cut into peices. I would have got around 16 pieces.

I thought I'd click it, but not much was left to click, but it really tasted good, & am surely going to make it once again. The nuts had a really crunchy texture, n i liked them better than the fruits.

APPLE SPICE CHERRY CAKE

Yes that's exactly what you get when you dont have the exact ingredients printed on the recipe but make do with whatever you have in the refrigerator!!! Somewhat like life, i.e. you should learn to make yourself happy with whatever is available right now, instead of cribbing for what's not around - but do we do that??

.....hmmm..so yes I have been missing, but not because I didnt have the time to blog or anything, but because I've been lazy about blogging. I thought I'd lost it, and I was wondering if I would ever ever go back to it again, but something inside me just doesnt want to let go, and the result is this post, which I am going ahead with despite the fact that I dont have a picture of the cake.....

I think everybody comes across a phase in life, when you loose interest and nothing seems good. Mine came with Dad passing away - he left a void in me, a vaccum. I lost a friend, who meant so much to me, who said so much without saying a word, his eyes spoke of love - "unconditional love" - something which nobody else has ever been able to give me. There are times when I just look at his photograph, and run my hand across it, and there's a pain deep inside me which tells me how much I was a part of him, and how much I will miss him throughout my life ...I was his only friend. I was the only person who he actually poured out his heart to, maybe because at some stage I had made up my mind that I will just let him be him....after all he'd grown old now and maybe couldnt change himself for better or worse. So there were times, when I used to just call him and have him speak to me for hours. He used to speak to me till he had nothing more to say, and I used to just listen and listen. He never forgot to say "thank you" to me for doing that. I really am grateful to God, that he made me do that for him.

We all will agree that its never too easy to adjust with old people, people who have lived life their way, and soon they have everybody wanting them to live life in a different way altogether - dont we all overlook the needs of elders just wanting them to adjust a little bit here and there, or just give up that nagging habit of their's. I am not saying that we are wrong in expecting them to be a little more adjusting, but maybe we could remember the times when they were so much more tolerant towards our constant chattering, our unending flow of questions, our stuborrness to have our way, their not giving up on us when we were younger - arent we all not thankful for the efforts our parents / in-laws put towards bringing us / our spouses up the way we've been brought up...maybe we could do something to show that to them. A little tolerance could go a long way.

I think that's too much of "thought for the day".....I am getting down quick to the recipe, and you'll pardon me for not being up & about yet, but yes - I AM TRYING.

Ingredients

2 cups - shredded apple
3/4 cup - maida / refined flour
3/4 cup - atta / wheatflour
1/2 tsp - baking soda
2 tsp - vanilla essence
2 eggs - room temperature
3/4 cup - butter
1 cup - brown sugar
3/4 - candied cherries
1/2 tspn - cinnamon powder

Method
Cream the butter and sugar first
Add the eggs and beat again
Then add the vanilla essence
Seive the flours, baking soda, cinnamon powder together
Now add the dried ingredients into the wet ones & beat till well mixed
Finally add the cherries & apple
Mix well
I greased to loaf tins & baked for 50 mins at 160 deg C.

The result were two moist cakes.
My husband didnt like it all that much coz he's not very found of moist cakes, n neither do I, but my MIL liked it, and it quickly disappeared in the office!! To put the point forth - two loaves gone in two days!!!

So I guess its all about what tastes actually tickle your tongue!! Right??

Hope to be back soon.....

CHOCOLATE BROWNIE WITH APPLE TOPPING

I am not a apple lover, but my husband is - I have this recipe for a long time, n I took it from the Hersheys site - n when I had some leftover apple pie stuffing, I didnt know what to do with it, so I thought I'd make this recipe finally. Of course, me being me, did make a few alternations here n there...but it was one of the best things I've ever baked. I didnt like the topping bit, but I had someone at home to devour it...so didnt bother me much..
















Ing -
For the apple topping
1 apple
2 tbspn of raisins
1 tbspn cherries chopped
1 tbspn walnuts chopped
4 tbspn - sugar or brown sugar
1/4 tbspn - cinnamon powder
a dash of lime juice
1/4 tbsp - flour

Just mix everything togeter & keep aside.

For the brownie
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar (if you like a much sweeter cake you can make that 3/4)
1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
2/3 cup butter / oil / shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method :
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Seive the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in bowl.
Cream the butter & sugar.
Add water, egg and vanilla essence - beat until smooth and well blended.
Mix the flour into the paste & beat well to incorporate.
Grease a loaf tin & pour the batter into it.
Carefully spoon apple topping evenly over chocolate batter - DO NOT STIR.
Bake for 1 hr or more till the topping is set & a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

This is a keeper of a recipe. I might not add the topping the next time, but the brownie was sure excellent. It had a very lovely taste & an excellent texture.

N there's one thing I've seen all cakes taste better the next day ;-)

FRUIT AND NUT TEA BREAD

It feels so very nice to sit down with family or friends to have a chit-chat about life & its happenings. If there is some hot tea / coffee and some homemade cake or sweet-bread to go with it, the conversation would be sooo much better.

I have adapted the following recipe from BAKING SHEET's . I did a few alternations & here's the end result.




Ing -
1 cup - maida
1 cup - wheatflour
1/2 tsp - baking soda
3/4 tsp - baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp dry ginger powder
2 cardamoms - powdered
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup curd
4 tbsp melted butter
1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 cup - candied cherries chopped
1/4 cup - walnuts crushed coarsely with hands
1/4 cup - tutti-fruitty
a handful of raisins
a handful of chopped almonds

Method -
Preheat oven to 180C.
Grease one loaf pan & keep ready
Seive the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom powder, salt & the spices together.
Add them into a bowl.
Beat the sugar, curd, melted butter well
Add the vanilla extract and the egg.
Add this mixture into the flour gradually, stirring all the while
When both are well incorporated adding fruits & the nuts
Fold all of it well
If the batter is very very dry, you can consider adding a wee bit of milk (normal temperature), but remember the batter has to be very thick.
I used my hands (clean one's please) to scoop the batter into the loaf
Using a spatula smoothen the surface.
Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

The crust browned very fast so when the cake was baked about 30 mins I covered it with a tissue paper to save it from burning.

I served it once with butter & once with jam.

It vanished pretty quickly & I really loved the walnuts & cherries in it.

I am also sending this over to lovely Bindiya of In Love With Food fame for her event "These are a few of my favourite things".

APPLE KUCHEN

"Kuchen" is german word for "Cake". Though this cake has nothing German about, I called it Apple Kuchen to make it sound exotic. I made this use up some apples that have been lying in my refrigerator. The cake turned our really, really moist & delicious. I am going to make it more often.

Ing -
2 cups - apples (peeled, cored & diced into small peices)
1 cup - sugar
1/2 tspn - lime juice
1 tspn - cinnamon powder
1/4 tspn - nutmeg grated
a pinch of salt
1-1/2 cup - refined flour
1 tspn - baking soda
1 egg
handful of raisins
handful of walnuts
handful of tutti-frutti
1/2 cup butter / ghee - melted and at room temperature

Method -
In a bowl put the apples, sugar, lime juice, cinnamon & nutmeg powder. Crush them coarsely with your hands & set aside for 10 mins
Seive the flour, salt & baking powder.
Add the butter & mix well
Now break the egg & beat & add to the flour / butter mixture
Mix well
Add the apples, walnuts, raisins & the tutti-frutti - mix well
Reserve some tutti-frutti for the topping.
Preheat oven to 180C.
Grease a baking dish & pour the mixture into it.
Top with Tutti Frutui & bake for 35 minutes, or till toothpick inserted comes out clean.

WHEATFLOUR MUFFINS

Didnt have coco powder, didnt have maida, didnt have eggs in the house, but me n MIL had a great desire to bake something. Kya karen, kya karen soch soch kar paagal ho gaye the. Finally I couldnt take it anymore & I just barged into the kitchen hoping to do some edible (hopefully) experimentation. The following was the result.

Ing -
3/4 cup - wheatflour
1/2 tspn - baking soda
1/4 tspn - baking powder
a handful crushed walnuts
a handful chocolate crushed (i used some chocolate at home n just cut them coarsely)
1/2 cup - butter
3/4 cup - powdered sugar
a pinch of cinnamon powder
Some milk ....say about 1/2 cup

Method -
Seive the atta, baking powder & baking soda
Beat the butter till light & then add the sugar & again beat till light
Add the butter & sugar mixture into atta.
Beat in one direction.
Add milk till you acquire a dropping consistency
Add the walnuts, chocolate & cinnamon powder.
Mix well & put a tbspn each of the mixture into the muffin cup.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
When the oven is hot, place the muffin cups & bake till 15 mins at 180C. Increase the temp to 220C & bake for another 5 mins.

The result were healthy mini-cakes, with crunchy walnuts & sweet chocolate pcs. The approval was with a nod from both MIL n DIL ;-)

EGGLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

Owing to navratras, I am to avoid anything non-vegetarian at home. Does that deter me from my addiction of blogging & baking & cooking - nah - never !!!

This is what I came up with - EGGLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE. The original recipe was from http://www.baawarchi.com/ but I did make some modifications. I will be posting the pic soon, but the recipe goes as follows.

Ing -
3/4 cup - maida/self raising flour
1-1/4 cup - atta /wheat flour
1 tspn - baking powder
3 tbspn - cocoa powder
1 cup - powdered sugar (I added about 3/4 cardamoms in the grinder when grinding the sugar to get a lovely cardamom sugar)
3/4 cup - butter / oil / ghee
1/2 tspn - baking soda
3/4 cup - beaten curd
3 tspn - vanilla essense
handful of walnuts - broken coarsely
handful of dried dates - cut coarsely
1/4 tspn - cinnamon powder
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup - milk
4 tbspn - brown sugar

Method -
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Seive the flours, salt, baking powder & cocoa powder together. (the absent minded person I am, I even seived the powdered sugar along - & though the cake turned out fine, I would want you to go with the original recipe)
Add the baking soda into the curd & keep aside in a bigger container, coz the curd is going to rise.
Beat the sugar & the butter together till light.
Now in this sugar / butter mixture add the flour & the curd alternatively & mix well.
Ensure that there are no lumps left.
Add the vanilla essence - mix well
Add the cinnamon powder, the walnuts & the dates.
Mix well. If you feel the batter is quite thick add the milk to get the right consistency.
Grease a baking dish & pour the batter into the dish
Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly on top
Bake at 180C for about 40 mins.

The cake was delicious, soft & moist. I loved the dried dates in it & the brown sugar gave a very crunchy crust!!!

GINGER BREAD

This recipe is adapted from Nandita of SAFFRON TRAIL. I lacked a few ingredients & my laziness to drag myself out of the home, resulted in me making a few alterations, which further resulted in a less sweet but a healthy cake. After I saw the results, I went back to her blog & checked out the comments etc, & realized that adding 1/2 cup of oil would have made the cake more softer. The cake was good but if it would have had the right sweetness to it & probably the softness from the oil it would have been excellent. It looks fab, n another thing - it tastes better than it did yesterday :-)). You can check up Nandita's blog for the actual recipe

Ing -

1-1/2 cup - wheat flour

1/2 cup - semolina / rawa

6 tspn - Sugar - the original called for 3 tspn each of Sugar & Splenda (which I didnt have so I substituted it for 3 more tspn sugar) but I guess it should have been more I should have added at least 8-10 tbspn of sugar

3 tspn - brown sugar - the original recipe called for 3 tspn grated jaggery, which I didnt have
a handfulf dates

a handful of raisins

a handful of candied ginger

some walnuts crushed

2 cups - water

1 tspn - grated ginger

1 tspn - cinnamon powder

3/4 - cloves

a pinch of salt.

1/2 cup - oil

1 tspn - baking powder

1 tspn - baking soda

Method -

Take water in a pan & add the raisins, dates, candied ginger, grated ginger, cinnamon powder, cloves, salt & sugars. Bring it to a boil & on slow flame boil for about a minute

Let the mixture cool completely (she said this was very important)

In another bowl seive the flour, semolina, baking powder & baking soda together.

Into this add the mixture & also the oil (I didnt add the oil in my recipe, but I will do so when I bake this cake the next time, hence adding it here)

Preheat oven to 180 C & line a baking dish with foil.

Grease it & bake the cake for 30 minutes.

The greased foil enabled the cake to come out like a knife in butter !!!

BANANA NUT CAKE

I baked this for sunday breakfast. My husband is not too fond of bananas. To be precise, he pretends to be allergic to the smell of them (yeah, I always thinks he pretends that bit). I made this & he was delighted with the cake & gaves me a "thumbs up" for the same. After he had finished ....I revealed to him the truth that this was a Banana cake..........the reaction.......Oh, it was not bad at all!!!

Well, here goes the recipe -

Ing -
3/4 cup atta
1-1/4 cup maida
2 mashed ripe bananas
a handful of walnuts & raisins
1/2 cup ghee / butter
1/4 cup - brown sugar
3/4 - sugar
2 - eggs
1 tsp - baking powder
1 tsp - baking soda
1/2 tsp - salt

Method -
Beat the ghee & the sugars together till creamy
Add the eggs one by one & beat well.
Sieve the flours, baking powder, baking soda & salt together
Add this flour into the egg mixture slowly beating on one side with the ladel
I pureed the bananas & added them in the end, mixing well with the ladel
Add the walnut & raisins in the end & mix well.
Preheat oven to 160 C, & bake for about 45-50 mins, till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

It tasted very good & vanished before I could click some of it. I have two more bananas left & I plan to bake it tonight. Hope I get some pics this time.

LEMON SPONGE CAKE

I am generally a very poor baker. I put a lot of efforts, but though the cake would taste good at some parts, i.e, the part that is edible, but it would either be uncooked somewhere, or it would crumble or it would be too gooey!! I once actually gave up and promised that I will never ever waste my energy and the ingredients and not to mention the power to bake another cake, but seeing all the wonderful bakers on the blogworld I thought I'd give myself one more chance....just this last one, so I make a Strawberry cake last week, it tasted wonderful, but was a little gooey. I thought I'd give myself yet another last chance, so yesterday evening I tried this Lemon Sponge Cake, n it did come out pretty o.k., i.e, o.k. enough to keep me trying more...

Here goes the recipe. This time I am be posting a photograph too, which I took from my mobile camera the quality is not very good though.

Ing -

1- 1/2 cup - maida/refined flour

1/2 cup - butter / ghee

1 cup - sugar

2 - eggs

1/4 cup - curd

a pinch of salt

1 tsp - baking powder

1 tsp - baking soda

1 tbsp - lemon rind

1 tbsp - lemon juice

yellow colour - as per your preference

Method -

Seive together the maida, salt, baking powder and soda. Beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy

Add the eggs, one at a time and beat well after each addition

Now into this egg mixture add the maida and curd alternatively and mix well.

Lastly add the lemon juice, rind and the colour Once again mix well.

I used the spoon to beat the batter with a light hand.

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Grease a baking dish and bake for about 50-55 mins, cheking with a toothpick to see if the cake is done.

My husband gave the cake a 4-1/2 out of 5, and Diji (my friend in office) said it was good. Both of them are my guinea pigs!! and wait till they read this, I will have nobody to experiment upon. My brother was earlier my enslaved guinea pig, but he has left me and gone to Mumbai.