Banana bread infused with rum soaked sultanas

Been a while since I did some baking, and when I saw a banana bread recipe on Nigella Lawson's website, I thought this would be perfect for a weekend! And I had some rum sitting about too which I was thinking of using up lest I start using it in other ways ;) Also, added to that I had some bananas which no one seemed to be interested in consuming!

Banana chocolate bread with rum soaked sultanas

So, that was what pretty much lead to this bread, and the chocolate was something I added just to on a whim, which I thought would be the perfect combination for the liquor.

Banana chocolate bread with rum soaked sultanas

 Ingredients

Sultanas - 2/3 cup
Dark rum - 5 tbsp
Flour - 1 1/4 cup
Baking Powder - 2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cocoa powder - 1 tbsp
Unsalted butter (melted)- 9 tbsp
Superfine sugar - 3/4 cup
Eggs - 2
Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
Very ripe banana (mashed) - 2 large
Chopped walnuts (optional) - 1/3 cup

Method

1. Pour the rum over the sultanas in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from fire and keep covered for about an hour. This helps the sultanas soak in all the rum and distend a little. After an hour, drain the remaining rum and keep aside the sultanas.
2. Preheat the oven to 170 C.
3. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt together. 
4. In a separate bowl, melt the butter, add sugar and beat well. Add eggs and vanilla extract to this mixture. Next add the mashed bananas and then the soaked raisins, followed by the chopped walnuts.
5. Add the sifted flour mixture to the wet ingredients and fold it in.
6. Pour this mixture into a greased loaf tin  and bake at 170 C for about 40-60 mins. A tester will come clean, on being completely baked.

If you do plan to make it, I must add, it tastes heavenly, and the rum is not that over powering that you would think of opting out. Try it... its a great flavour!

Christmas Cookies #MB2013

I have set myself to do something which I have never ventured into. I am planning to make over 7 dozen cookies for friends and my office and B's office folks. I do not know what has come over me, but I think I want to try doing something which I have always wanted to do, but have stayed away in the belief it is just too much work. Now being in the 'baking season' I thought… why shouldn't I :)

I am going to set myself out to make 3 different kinds of cookies, and make dainty little packs which I can hand over. That is going to be like about 50 cookies of each kind. I actually did sit and work out the details and have a made a list of the recipes which I will be following and how I am going to plan out the whole process. I see now how the professionals actually charter out their day and plan things. It is truly an effort.

Am I thrilled? Oh yes!

Am I petrified? Oh boy… you have no clue.

But, I am going to do it!

Za'atar Fantail

Za'atar Fantail

Ingredients

Milk - 1/2 cup luke warm
active dry yeast -2 tsp
sugar - 1 tsp
Flour - 2.5 cups
Salt - 1tsp
Olive oil - 1/3 cup
Milk - 2/3 cup

za'atar -as required ( This can be replaced with any herb/cheese. If using dry herbs, then mix the herbs with olive oil and brush it over the dough where applicable)

Za'atar Fantail

• Mix the sugar into the 1/2 cup luke warm milk and sprinkle the active dry yeast over it. Let it stand for about 10 minutes, or until frothy. In case there is no froth, you can try warming the milk a little, and still if no luck, then start over

• Sift the flour and salt together and add half this mixture to the yeast mixture slowly

• Add the olive oil and then continue adding the rest of the flour mixture. Now, add the milk slowly to obtain a smooth elastic dough. Continue to knead the dough for about 15 minutes more

• Now coat the dough with olive oil and let it rise in a warm place for 1.5 - 2 hours. Keep the bowl covered with a towel or cloth

• Get a muffin tin ready , oiled or sprayed as preferred

• Punch the dough down, and roll it out into a rectangle of about 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle the za'atar over the rectangular rolled out dough. Cut the dough into long strips and pile the strips one over the other to form a single pile

• Now cut the pile through ever 5-6 cmd, to obtain smaller piles. Place each small pile vertically into each muffin cup and let rise for another 30 mins

• During this time, preheat the oven at 180 C

• Once the dough has risen again in the muffin tray, brush with egg white/ milk and bake at 180 C for 15 - 18 mins

Herb Cheese fantails

They looked real pretty :) 

Chocochip - Banana Bread

I am so thrilled that I have a good photo of what I have made. I am terrible at photos especially when I try to get shots of food. This one is an exception... and hence I wanted to post it to the blog asap!

Chocolate Ginger Bundt Cake

I have recently discovered the lovely bundt tin which my mom gave me and baking a cake in that is so wonderful! The slices are so beautiful, perfect for a person to munch on. I felt like a chocolate cake and generally I do NOT like ginger, but when I saw the combination of ginger and chocolate, I thought why not give it a try.

And before you ask why not complete cake picture... it was cut even before I could get the camera !

Chocolate cinnamon cake with rum drizzle

Chocolate cinnamon cake with rum drizzle

Inspired from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

Flour - 1 cup
Light brown sugar - 3/4 cup
Condensed milk - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/3 cup
Butter - 1/2 cup
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1/2 cup
Freshly peeled and grated ginger - 2 tsp
Baking Soda - 3/4 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Ground cinnamon - 1 1/2 tsp

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 C. Grease a bundt pan and dust with cocoa powder.
2. Put butter, sugar and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan and heat, stirring, to get a viscous mixture.
3. Transfer into a bowl and let it cool for 5 mins. Now add condensed milk, grated ginger and milk to this viscous mixture and mix well.
4. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and ground cinnamon.
5. Fold the flour mixture into the butter mixture and pour into the prepared pan. Do not over mix.
6. Bake the cake for 20-25 mins and check whether it is done. In case the tester comes out not clean, you can proceed for another 5 mins.

Whats been cooking?

Half n Half Pizza: Pesto sauce with tomatoes and
tomato sauce with basil leaves!

Lemon tart 

PS: I really need to learn to take better photos. I am so terrible at it. :(

We Knead to Bake: Basil Garlic Pesto Pull-apart bread

I had seen quite a few blogs about We Knead to Bake, I thought about it and just let it go. But, today when I sat down and thought that I need to bake something, its been so so long, my thoughts were again on this. So I thought with January drawing to a close, lets jump onboard too!

I had some Basil Garlic Pesto handy and I thought for dinner, some bread would be perfect and this just seemed so perfect with the pasta veggie salad I had in mind.

I made a small loaf so that it is used up at dinner time, and I can make something new for tomorrow.

Ingredients

Flour - 1.5 cups
Salt - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Yeast - 1 tsp
Basil Garlic Pesto - 3 tbsp
Milk - 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup (warm)

Method

1.  Add sugar to 1/4 cup milk and stir well. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it stand for 5 mins. It should become frothy.
2. Sift flour and salt together. Add oil and the yeast mixture to this. Finally add the 1/2 cup milk to this and knead well to make a elastic soft, little sticky dough.
3. Let the dough rise for 2 hours or until doubled.
4. Punch down the dough and roll into a square and spread the Basil Garlic Pesto evenly all over.
5. Take a pizza cutter and cut the square into equal strips. The number of strips will depend on the square size you have rolled out.
6. Stack the strips one over the other with the filling facing upwards.
7. Now, cut the pile into neat squares so that you have 3-4 piles of square shaped dough and filling towers.
8. Now, arrange the towers horizontally in a loaf pan so that the filling open outward and keep stacking so that all your towers are used up.
9. Now, let it proof for 1 hour.
10. Preheat oven to 180 C and and bake for 30-35 minutes or till lightly browned on top.

Prior to baking, arranged in the loaf pan

Baked Pull-apart loaf

Eggless Chocochip cookies

Eggless Chocochip cookies

A huge fan of chocochip cookies... that is what I am.

Love them but hate how most of the store bought packet ones are so crisp and not chewy. The chewy imported stuff that you do get... I can not swallow after paying those prices.

I just attempted an eggless recipe as this is something which a friend has been asking for some leads... so I thought why not try something and then send the recipe across :)

So, have been attempting some stuff and this eggless chocochip recipe is a sure keeper...

Simple.
Quick.
Yum.

Time: 30mins
Ingredients

1 and 1/4 cup - All purpose flour/ Maida
1/2 tsp - Baking Soda
1/8 tsp - Salt
1/4 cup - Butter softened ( I think this can be reduced if desired)
1/4 cup - Vegetable Oil
1/4 + 1/8 cup - Granulated Sugar ( If you like them less sweet, make it just 1/4 cup)
1/4 + 1/8 cup - Firmly packed Brown Sugar
1 tsp - Vanilla Extract
6 tbsp - Milk
1tsp - Vegetable Oil
1 heaped cup - Semi sweet chocolate chips

Method
1. Set the oven to preheat at 190 C for 15 minutes.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and the salt.
3. Cream butter, sugars and the vegetable oil
4. In a small bowl, mix the milk and 1tsp vegetable oil. Add vanilla extract to this mixture
5. Add the above mixture to the creamed butter and sugars
6. Mix the flour in slowly mixing all through.
7. Finally fold in the chocolate chips and any nuts if you wish.
8. Spoon it on to a baking sheet, lightly greased.
9. Bake for 8-9 mins.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies
Inspired from: Eggless Cooking

Italian herb mini loaves

Zesty flavours was a new blog which I happened to come across when I was looking for a quick bread to make alongside my pasta. I had just about 2 hours on my hand and I was also not in the mood for too much of kneading and proofing.

I did some changes to a recipe which I came across there and these mini loaves came out perfect. Soft, fluffy, and with a bang of flavours. These are those small everyday dinner breads you would want when not in a mood for some serious baking. It does not take too long, nor effort. But, the end result speaks far from it!

Ingredients ( Yields about 5-6 mini loaves)

Active Dry Yeast - 1/2 tbsp
Luke warm water - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Olive Oil - 1/4 cup
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Garlic powder - 1 tsp
Dried Oregano - 1/2 tsp
Dried Parsley - 1/2 tsp
Dried Rosemary - 1/4 tsp
Italian Seasoning - 1 tsp

Procedure

1. Dissolve 1/2 tbsp sugar in lukewarm water, follow it by mixing in the yeast. Let the yeast get activated, which should take approximately 7 - 10 minutes.

2. In a bowl pour the olive oil and 1/2 tbsp sugar. Beat well, by hand or using an electric mixer. Now add 1 cup flour, salt and the flavouring ingredients, change over to a dough hook or knead by hand. Once the dough starts to form, add the remaining 1/2 cup flour slowly so that the dough becomes simpler to handle and starts leaving the sides of the bowl.

3. Continue to knead for about 10 minuted by hand or else about 6-7 minutes on the hook. Grease a dough lightly and let to rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled, covered with a towel. In case the ambient temperature is a little on the lower side, place the bowl over a vessel with warm water and place a towel covering the entire setup.

4. Punch down and divide the dough into 6 equal parts. Roll out the dough into a rectangle, brush with olive oil and shape into a mini loaf. Now place this in a baking pan. Let the loaves rise for another 30 mins.

5. Preheat the oven to 200 C. After 30 minutes, lightly brush with some olive oil and bake for 15 - 18 minutes. The done loaves should sound hollow when tapped.

These can be served with some plain salted butter or some garlic butter too. 

Attempts

Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls

Chocolate Swirl Cake aka Marble Cake

Chocolate Swirl Cake aka Marble Cake

Vanilla butterscotch chip cupcakes

I had some butterscotch chips which my mom got for me, and I did not know what to do with them.Cupcakes were the first thing which came to my mind, and I did try a batch earlier, but then I got this idea to do a Vanilla butterscotch chip cupcake with some chocolate ganache on it! It looked real good in the image that it formed in my head... but I wanted to see how it would come out.

What do you think? These were the last three remaining from a batch of 12! They vanished!

Wholewheat Mango Muffins

Sunday Breakfast is Muffin breakfast.....

Today it shall be...

Wholewheat Mango muffins

Ingredients
Granulated sugar - 2/8 cup
Oil - 1/8 cup
Mango - 1; 1/4 diced and the rest pureed
Egg - 1, beaten lightly
Vanilla - 1/4 tsp
Multigrain flour/ Wholewheat flour - 3/4 cup
Baking Powder - 3/4 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Ground cinnamon - 1/4 tsp
Walnuts - 1/2 cup chopped (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 C. Spray the muffin moulds and keep ready.
2. Mix the sugar and oil. Now add the pureed mangoes, vanilla and half of the egg.
3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined. Now fold in the diced mangoes and walnuts.
5. Spoon into prepared moulds and bake for 20 mins.
6. Toothpick test would show whether its cooked and a little brown on the top looks real pretty too !

Enjoy!

Oatmeal crispies

I have had some Oats lying about every since B stopped having Oats porridge for breakfast. I personally am not a very big fan of oats, so I do not have porridge or the upma variety of Oats. I prefer my simple Kellogg's if I am to have a cereal for breakfast.

The past three months have been few of routine, workouts and measurements. I have been very regular at the gym and I have been trying to tone my body up and get rid of the pregnancy and lactation effects ob my body. In spite of the gym, one of the key factors for a very minimal differenece on the scale was courtesy a very bad eating pattern, and on consulting a dietician, there was really nothing wrong in what I was eating, just that I need to organize meals. That is where these delicious crispies came in. I needed a morning meal prior to my workout.. so that I can follow it up with a good lunch once I am back.


I came across this recipe when I was scurrying about the web in search of how to make some small brinjals/egg plant which I had. I chanced upon Kath's blog and then not only the brinjal but these oat crispies were also tried. They are the perfect morning energy bars and in fact with the walnuts in them, they would be quite nutritious too. I added a little raisins too along with the walnuts, and I think any nuts would be wonderful with oats. Might try almonds and raisins for my next batch.

Here is the recipe. Also do check out Kath's blog for some great meal plans.

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 beaten eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1½ cups (180 g) flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon soda

3 cups (360 g) quick-cooking oats 

½ cup chopped walnuts

Method

1. Thoroughly cream the butter and the sugars together. (I mixed them at medium speed in my stand mixer for about 5 minutes.)
2. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.
3. Stir together the flour, salt and soda. Add the flour mixture to the dough and mix well.
4. Stir in the oats and chopped walnuts.

5. Shape into 2 or 3 logs and wrap with wax paper. refrigerate overnight. You can also put the wrapped logs in freezer bags ad freeze for later use.

6. This would yield about 3-4 dozen crispies :) baked at 180 C for 10- 12 minutes.

Double Chocolate muffins

A sunday morning is complete only with some warm, fresh out of the oven stuff to dig into. And today we had as the title suggests, some double chocolate muffins. This recipe is inspired from the Double chocolate chunk muffins over at Crepes of Wrath.

 The muffins are oh-so-soft and fluffy which is something I loved about this recipe. I did a minor change to it though, and did not have any chunks, I added all the chocolate to my mixture itself in the melted form.

Here is the recipe which I followed for 12 regular sized muffins.


Ingredients

Unsalted butter - 3 tbsp
Unsweetened chocolate - 2 ounces
Sugar - 1/2 cup & 1/3 cup
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1/6 cup
Baking Powder - 1/2 tbsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Butter milk - 3/4 cup
Egg - 1 regular /small egg
Vanilla Extract - 1/2 tsp
Demerara Sugar - for sprinkling

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190 C and prepare 12 moulds for the muffins.

2. Chop the unsweetened chocolate and put it in a bowl alongside the butter. Now, microwave the chocolate and butter for 1 min in two 30 sec stretches. After 30 seconds, stir the content once. After the contents are melted, add 1/2 cup sugar to the mixture and stir well. Keep aside.

3. In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg and vanilla essence. Following this, add the butter-chocolate mixture into this bowl whisking continuously to incorporate.

5. Now, slowly fold in the flour mixture into the wet mixture. Do not over mix.

6. Now spoon this mixture into the mould, so that the moulds are half filled and sprinkle sugar on the top of each.

7. Bake for 20 mins and check whether a toothpick comes out clean at the end of the time.

Note: In case you are not using liners, then once slightly cooled, remove the muffins from the mould to prevent bottom burning.

Oatmeal Mango Muffins

It might seem that I am on a rage of baking. But, the truth is, I try to make something at home so that I am not tempted to head out and get something from the closest bakery. Its fresh alright, but also more fattening! I want to make warm fresh stuff for breakfast, and for small eats, as these are the usual culprits which I pick up during my routine grocery shopping.

Today I tried a Oatmeal Mango Muffin. We being in the mango season, and mango slush being very simple to create, why not in a muffin. I found an Oatmeal applesauce muffin recipe with a very simple method to follow. Also, I did not have many ingredients which were asked for in other recipes. There are many recipes out there, but I chose this solely on the basis of available ingredients. I also made only 6 muffins, just enough for us for Sunday breakfast.

Oatmeal Mango Muffins ( makes 6 regular muffins)
Adapted from : Oatmeal Applesauce muffins

Ingredients

Instant Oatmeal - 1/2 cup
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Brown sugar - 1/4 cup
Cinnamon Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Vanilla Essence - 1/4 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Mango slush - 1/4 cup
Egg white - 1

Method

1. Chop half a medium sized mango into rough pieces and blend it well. Add a little water if you think the contents are too thick, else skip the water. Measure 1/4 cup of this slush and keep aside.

2. Preheat oven to 200 C and line 6 muffin cups.

3. Mix together all the dry ingredients except Oatmeal in a bowl and keep aside.

4. Mix Oatmeal, milk, egg white, vanilla essence and the mango slush together.

5. Now slowly fold in the wet ingredients into the dry mixture kept aside.

6. Pour 1 tablespoon full of the mixture into each mould and let it stand for 3-4 minutes.

7.  Bake for 12-14 minutes and check with a toothpick.

Fingerlickin' Chocolate chip cookies

I have been trying to make the perfect chocolate chip cookies, the kind which I like. Now, what is the kind which I like? I like them very lightly browned on the top, browned at the bottom and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. See.. thats why I have never been able to get it right till date. And, starting yesterday night, I have been on a project and these have turned out the way I love them.

I followed the recipe at Crepes of Wrath and I do not know what is the main difference in the recipe, as the only different thing which I felt I did was refrigerate them, which made the dough more easy to handle and also much better in consistency within the cookie.

Below I just paste the recipe over from Crepes of Wrath, also for my reference later on. The recipe yields about 24 cookies.

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups (16 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (I used half milk chocolate and half semisweet – so sue me)
raw sugar, for sprinkling (optional)

Method

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

2. Beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, at least 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and add in the eggs, one at a time, until completely incorporated. The mixture will look light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and beat in for 5 seconds.

3. Add in half of the flour, mix for 15 seconds, then add in the rest of the flour gradually until just moistened. Fold in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon. Cover the bowl tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours (I skipped this step and really wish that I hadn’t. I think you should chill it for at LEAST 3 hours, and I will do this next time).

4. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line and/or grease two baking sheets. Roll the dough into a ball the size of 2 tablespoons. Place them on the prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart, and press down just slightly with your palm. Sprinkle with a pinch of raw sugar, if you like. Bake for 12-14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until the edges of the cookies are golden brown and the tops just start to darken. 

5. Remove the pan from the oven and allow the cookies for cool for at least 10 minutes, them remove to another surface to finish cooling. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or frozen for up to 2 months.

Some changes which I did as per availability and convenience... I did not have sufficient brown sugar, so replaced the quantity with granulated sugar. I used only milk chocolate chips as I had run out of semi-sweet ones. I refrigerated the dough mixture overnight as it was getting too late, so that would have been about 8 - 9 hours. Following which I left it outside at room temperature for 15 - 20 minutes prior to baking. While baking, I did not sprinkle sugar on top also. Also, I did not bake the entire dough mixture, I froze about half of it in the morning once I was done baking about 12 - 15 cookies. These are the best tasting cookies which I have had home-made and I think this recipe is a keeper for ages.

Brown Beauty

This is a recipe from Betty Crocker's Cook Book, the 1980s edition. This was the first book which I came across on baking, something which my mom owned and swore by. I started making the simple cookies and then graduated to dinner rolls and croissants. Everything turned out wonderful when I followed what was written in this book.

So, when I wanted to make a cake for B's birthday I did not want to risk it, and decided to try the Brown Beauty cake from this book. Though the Bangalore Electricity Board played havoc with my cake, the taste and flavor was wonderful and the way I wanted the fudge cake to turn out. The icing which I did spoilt the look, but there is always a next time ;)

Here is the recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup boiling water
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup shortening / unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg

Method

1. Heat oven to 350 F
2. Grease and flour a pan ( 8x8x2" is the approx size required)
3. Stir boiling water and chocolate until the chocolate melts. Once melted, keep aside for cooling
4. Blend flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
5. Stir the blended ingredients into the cooled chocolate
6. Add shortening and beat for 1 minute, medium speed on mixer, continuously scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl
7. Add buttermilk, vanilla essence and egg.
8. Beat for 1 more minute.
9. Pour into the greased pan and bake for 35 - 40 mins.
10. Cool a while in the oven and then transfer to a wire rack.

Whats been baking?

Chelsea Buns ( Yeast bread filled with almonds, raisins and flavoured with cinnamon)

Sweet cherry tarts 

Pineapple Upside down cake