Pita Bread- No Yeast & No Oven

Ingredients 

1. 1½ cup Maida
2. 1½ cup whole wheat flour
3. 1 tsp sugar
4. 1 tsp salt
5. 1 tbsp baking powder
6. 3/4 cup milk or water 
7. 3tbsp vegetable oil/ olive oil 

Method 

1. Mix the flours, sugar, salt baking soda well. Using a shallow bottom plate make a well & add the milk, start making the dough, add water as required. 
2. Make a soft dough, don’t make it very stiff. Grease a bowl with olive oil, and keep the dough in the bowl, cover the bowl with a cling film.
3. Keep this dough aside for 3 hours in a warm place. 
4. After 3 hours the dough will Slightly rise. 
5. To make the pita breads, make small 8 balls and keep then aside. Start rolling the pita bread, make thick chapati & fry it on a skillet, the pita will puff up
6. Store it in a kitchen towel and cover it with the towel to keep the pita bread soft.

Whole wheat butter cookies (Eggless)

A perfect buttery cookie that will go well with your hot cup of tea, coffee or plain milk! I made these with whole wheat flour (Atta). you can also replace whole wheat flour with All purpose flour. These are made from just 3 ingredients.

Ingredients

1. 2 cups Whole wheat flour (Atta) 
2. ¾ cup powdered sugar (add more to adjust the sweetness)
3. 1 cup unsalted butter(softened not melted)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150ºC for 10-15 minutes (300º F, Gas No-2, Oven Terms- Slow) 
2. In a large bowl, cream the sugar & butter with hands or hand mixer. it should change its color to white. 
3. Sift the flour and add it to the sugar & butter mixture, until it forms a soft dough. Rest the dough for 15-20 minutes or more.
4. Make small balls with palm, press with fingers to make a desired shape, you may also use a cookie cutter. I used a tiny round shaped steel box as a cookie cutter. you can use a fork to prick the cookie on the top.Roughly It should be of .50cm thickness
5. bake for 20 minutes or until the cookie turns brown in color. 
6. The above ingredients will yield 28-30 cookies depending upon the size you give.

Notes: 

1. Add more sugar if you think the cookie dough is less sweet.
2. Remember every brand flour acts differently (I used ashirwad atta), after resting the dough for more than 20 minutes it shouldn't be sticky to your hands, it should be relatively dry, i.e. when you touch the dough it should be dry but not very crumbly. if it is too crumbly add 1 tsp butter or more as needed.
3. I added a tbsp of butter after resting the dough as I thought the dough was dry. 
4. If you make the cookies with All purpose flour (Maida), you may be able to roll out the dough with the help of rolling pin, but rolling the dough with wheat flour was not possible.
5. When you remove the cookies out from the oven, they might be soft but once they cool down they will harden.
6. Baking time depends upon the side of the oven. Mine took 18mins
7. You may also use 1 cup APF & 1 cup wheat flour. 

Mango Muffin with Mango frosting

These gorgeously looking Mango muffins with a little crunch of walnuts are to die for. The mango frosting will add extra richness & creamy taste for this mango dessert. To add more vibrant orange colour I added the mango pulp with the batter; you can try different variations like adding mango pieces instead of the pulp- Surely they will be delicious & full of flavour.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup walnuts
2. 1¾  cups cake flour (I used wheat flour)
3. ¾  cup powdered sugar
4. 1 teaspoons baking powder
5. ¼  teaspoon baking soda
6. ¼  teaspoon salt
7. 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
8. ½ cup unsalted butter
9. 1½ cups fresh mango puree (i.e "Amras")
10. 1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
11. 1-2 spoon of milk if the batter becomes very thick

for frosting

1. ½ cup butter (room temperature)
2. 4 tablespoon mango puree
3. 2 cups icing sugar
4. few drops of vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
2. Place the walnuts on a baking sheet & bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Let cool and then chop roughly
3. In a medium-sized bowl beat eggs until light and fluffy, combine the mango puree, melted butter, and vanilla with spatula. In another large bowl combine the wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, & walnuts.
4. Now lightly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until they combined and the batter is thick and chunky. (Do not to over mix the batter. Over mixing the batter will yield tough, rubbery muffin.) Add milk as required if the batter becomes too thick.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins. Bake about 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
6. Place on a wire rack to cool for five minutes and then remove muffins. Serve warm or at room temperature. Prepare the mango frosting by mixing all the ingredients, pipe it with a regular mango flavoured buttercream frosting using the star tip.  

the batter looked yummy, i felt like eating it raw :-)

 

Yields- 20 medium sized muffins. 

Almond Cookies

If you wish to gift something different to your dear one's this Diwali, try these Almond cookies, which are home baked with love. You may pack these in gift boxes or a decorative plates or gift bags. Hope you all have a safe and a wonderful Diwali!

Ingredients

1. 1 cup almond powder
2. ¾ cup whole wheat flour (atta) 
3. ¾ cup powdered sugar
4. ¾ cup clarified butter (ghee) or melted butter (I used melted ghee)
5. pinch of salt

Method

1. In a deep bowl, mix the dry ingredients (wheat flour, almond powder, sugar & salt). Mix well.
2. Add the ghee keeping aside some so that the dough doesn't become too wet. knead the dough to make a firm ball and let it rest for 15 mins, cover with a damp cloth or cling film. If needed add the remaining ghee.
3. Make small balls of the dough and press them with the help of your palms to form the shape of cookie. Place them on a cookie sheet (or baking sheet) 
4. Bake the cookies at 150ºC about 10-15 minutes or until they turn golden brown.  After they become lightly golden brown remove the cookie sheet from the oven.
   Keep aside the cookie tray until the cookies come to room temperature.
5. Note: the above measurement will yeild 12 Almond cookies- size of store bought biscuits or 30-35 cookies of coin shape

Dough- Let it rest for 30-45 mins

 

Arrange the flatten balls on the cookie sheet

Molten Chocolate cake

It's my blog's 3rd birthday, and to celebrate this occasion I baked Molten Chocolate cake. A shout out to all my friends for your constant support & encouragement, hope you all would continue to support me throughout this journey. My special thanks to KD & my family, without them I could not achieve so much.

Ingredients
5 tbsp cooking chocolate
2 tbsp butter
1 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp all-purpose flour, sifted
½  pinch of salt
½  tsp vanilla essence
Icing sugar & Strawberries for serving.
Vanilla Ice cream (optional) - for serving
Method 

Preheat your microwave at 200°C

Melt the dark chocolate & butter together using a double boiler, you can also use the microwave to melt it. Keep aside to come to room temperature.
Grease 3 individual ramekins with butter

Use hand blender to mix together the eggs, egg yolk along with the sugar, a pinch of salt & the vanilla essence, until eggs triple in volume.

Slowly fold the melted chocolate in, add the flour on top and fold in, making sure to keep the batter light.

Fill the ramekins with the chocolate-egg batter
Place in the microwave & bake for 10 min and take out. Keep aside to cool, you can also demould the ramekins before serving the molten cake. For this you have to line the ramekins with baking sheet.
Sprinkle with icing sugar & serve with strawberry.
The above measurements will serve 3 people.

For baking the Molten Chocolate cake in a baking tray, take 4 times the above measurements for serving 12 people & you will need 2 baking trays for baking.
You can also serve the Molten Chocolate cake with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

Home baked doughnuts

Traditionally, doughnuts are deep fried, but there's no harm in baking them, right? As I am a firm believer of "tradition says be different".  I came across a baked doughnuts recipe on the internet, made some changes & baked them at home. Some people use buttermilk instead of milk. Feel free to substitute milk from my recipe with buttermilk. My 3½ y.o son and K are big fans of eating the doughnuts (also spelled as donuts). Since these are baked one's, these taste similar to a cake. A perfect snack for kiddos lunch box.

 Ingredients

(for doughnuts)

1 cup wheat flour

3 tsp sugar

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

½ cup milk

1 egg

1 tsp vanillaessence

2 tsp vegetable oil

for chocolate coating

1 cup of choco chips.

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Sieve the wheat flour & mix the dry ingredients (wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt) in a bowl.

In a separate bowl beat egg until fluffy, add the vanilla essence, oil & the milk beat again for a minute.

Add the dry ingredients to this egg mixture, fold well until it becomes into a smooth batter.

Spoon this batter into doughnut pan. Fill only ½ of the doughnut pan with the batter, because the doughnuts will rise after they get baked.

Bake in the oven for 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted come out clean.

how to make the chocolate coating?

Melt chocolate in a double boiler. Dunk the doughnuts into the melted chocolate to evenly coat the chocolate over the doughnut by making a swirl. Over the chocolate add sprinklers of your choice. Keep on a wire rack to cool and the chocolate to harden.

Yeilds: 12 doughnuts

Double boiler method

1. Add water to a pot and over it keep another pot with choco chips in it
2. See to it that the water from the lower pot doesn't touch the pot placed above it.
3. When the water becomes hot (don't bring it to a boil), the choco chips will start melting, stir it with a spoon to evenly melt all the choco chips.
4. Switch off the flame, use the same process to melt more chocolate if required.

Apple Crumble

Apple Crumble recipe on Spice Wok, Pune http://www.spicewok.com/recepie_detail.php?id=316&cuisine=Easy%20desserts

Ingredients

6 apples
3/4 cup powdered sugar

1½ cup self raising flour
4 tsp honey
6 tbsp butter (room temperature)
1 cinnamon stick
vanilla ice cream for serving
Method
Peel, core the apples & dice them into chunks.
Cook the apples. Add the apple chunks into a pan, add honey and the cinnamon stick and cover with the lid.
Stew the apples by cooking them gently until soft. check the apples by stirring occasionally with a spoon.
After ½ an hr check that the apple is cooked by mashing it a bit with the spoon. The apples should be soft but not pureed. Set aside & allow the cooked apples to cool to room temperature.

To make the crumble topping mix the flour, sugar and the butter gently with your fingertips in a bowl to resemble a breadcrumb.
Preheat the oven to 150º.
Add the stewed apples to the baking dish & cover the apples with the crumble topping.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the crumble is golden brown and crunchy.
Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Serves-6-8 adults according to portions taken. Please adjust the quantity accordingly for more or less people.

Coffee & Cinnamon cake

My Recipe in Thursday Magazine in Oman

Ingredients
1 cup wheat flour
½ cup self-raising flour
3 eggs½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup milk (room temperature)
2 tsp coffee powder
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar (use more if the sugar is less sweet)
few drops of vanilla essence
½ tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees, Grease a baking tray (i used a round tray) & line it with a wax paper.
Sieve the flour, baking soda, cinnamon powder & salt. keep aside.
in a seperate glass mix coffee powder in the milk.
Beat the eggs until fluffy, add butter,  vanilla essence & sugar beat again for 2 minutes. Add the flour little at a time mix properly, At the end add the milk with coffee. combine the batter, it should be smooth. Add it into the baking tray.
Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Remove the tray from the oven & cover it with a kitchen towel. After 10 mins demould the cake on a wire rack or a plate and cover it with the same baking tray to retain moisture.

Coffee & cinnamon Cake recipe on SpiceWok, Pune
Here's the link: http://www.spicewok.com/recepie_detail.php?id=317&cuisine=Easy%20desserts

Wheat flour & Curd cake (Eggless)

Ingredients
1½  cups wheat flour
½  tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
4 tsp cocoa powder (sieved)
1 1/4 cup thick curd
1 cup powdered sugar (Add more if the sugar is less sweet)
½  cup clarified butter (melted) or ½  cup butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
little icing sugar while serving
Method
Sieve flour & cocoa powder in a dry bowl. keep aside
Preheat oven to 180 C.
With the help of whisk, cream the sugar & yogurt until all lumps of sugar have dissolved. now add baking powder & baking soda. let it rest for 5mins. You will find that mixture have become fluffy & bubbles will appear.
Add clarified butter, vanilla essence and combine well. Now add the wheat flour mix thoroughly with a whisk.
Pour into baking tray.
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Try to de mould after 10mins on to a wire rack. cover with the baking tray to retain the moisture.
While serving sieve a tsp of icing sugar on the top.

Car logo cake & muffins

3 cheers on my son's 3rd birthday. I baked car-logo cake to celebrate his birthday. As you can see he is totally into cars & he asked me to bake his fav "folkwagen" (as he calls it) cake. 
recipe - chocolate cake with buttercream frosting

add 4 tsp of cocoa powder in the above recipe to make a chocolate cake. Slice the cake into 2 parts spread chocolate sauce on both side to make it moist. decorate the cake with butter cream frosting

for the kids-
Chocolate Muffins with butter creamfrosting

Date & Walnut Loaf

Sharing my recipe of date and walnut loaf (because the shape resembles to a bread).I often bake this one because my toddler son is a fan of this one. He loves carrying a few pieces at school, most importantly I am happy that the lunch box is polished within no time. I'm sure most of the mothers would have the same to say. I usually love having a piece (a bit warmed and served) with a strong brew or tea.A perfect coffee-tea time snack I say.Here's my recipe....

Ingredients

½ cup walnuts

1½ cup dates deseeded & chopped

2 cups wheat flour
½ cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

½ cup sugar

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup boiling water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla essence
Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C & place rack in center of oven. Put a wax paper inside the loaf pan, lightly toast the walnuts for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely OR dry roast on a pan.

In a large bowl mix the dates with the baking soda and a pinch of salt. Pour boiling hot water (1 cup) over the dates, stir, and leave to cool to room temperature

In another mixing bowl add wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, salt. Combine the mixture, then add the butter. this mixture resemble to breadcrumbs, then stir in the chopped walnuts.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg with the vanilla essence

Now fold the dry mixture and beaten egg mixture into the cooled dates along with the water.

Pour this batter into the Loaf pan and bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, this take about 55 to 60 minutes. leave it to cool on a wire rack

Makes 18-20 pieces of ½" thickness.This can be stored in the freeze for a week in a air tight box.