Thursday, February 28, 2013

Eggless Hershey's 'Prefectly Chocolate' Chocolate Cupcakes

Life is unpredictable,beautiful and precious, can you imagine that you crossed a wonderful human few months ago just like that and now you cant start your day without her.Fortunately its happened to me and she is celebrating her two years of marriage anniversary today, eventhough miles separates us i really want to celebrate this day with her atleast through this virtual world with this eggless chocolate cupcakes.Happy Anniversary my dear Sis, wishing you both many more years of togetherness,happiness,loads of love and many more beautiful things, may god bless you both.

Our this month's Baking Eggless, a baking event started by Gayathri entering into its second year after a beautiful year of many eggless bakes.You rock Gayathri,seriously am happy to be a part of this monthly event,our this month's challenge is this yummyilicious,very chocolatey and droolorthy chocolate cupcakes, Gaju of Gaju's Kitchen suggested this bake and its a big hit among my kids. Actually i couldnt able to bake earlier as i do usually, so many things to finish and a weekend to London kept me busy, to be honest i even thought to skip this challenge. Finally yesterday i finished baking these beauties, oh boy these cuties are really addictive. I replaced the eggs with flax seed meal and obviously its works out wonder. Thanks to both Gayathri and Gaju for pulling us to make this fabulous cupcakes and my family enjoyed it thoroughly.


For cupcakes:
Recipe Source: Hersheys
1+3/4cup All purpose flour
2cups Sugar
1/2cup Vegetable oil
1cup Milk
1cup Boiling waer
2tbsp Flaxseed meal
3/4cup Dutch process cocoa powder
1+1/2tsp Baking soda
1+1/2tsp Baking powder
1tbsp Vanilla essence
1tsp Salt

Heat the oven to 350F, line the muffin mould with paper liners and keep aside.

Stir together the sugar,flour,cocao powder,baking powder,baking soda,flax seed meal and salt in a bowl.

Meanwhile take together the milk,vegetabke oil an vanilla in an another bowl, make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients.

Gradually add the wet ingredients,boiling water to the dry ingredients,mix it well, the batter will be thin.

Pour enough batter to the prepared pan, bake for 20-25minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Remove the pan from the oven and let them cool completely.


For Chocolate Mascarpone Cheese Frosting:
1/2cup Mascarpone cheese
3tbsp Dark chocolate powder
1cup Powdered Sugar
2tbsp Milk
1tbsp Vanilla
Few sugar pearls

Beat together the cheese,chocolate powder, powdered sugar,milk and vanilla essence until everything get well mixed.

Transfer to the piping bag and pipe it on the top of the cupcakes as you desire.Sprinkle the sugar pearls as you desire.

Just enjoy these beauties with your favourite drink.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Ragi Rava Khara Pongal & My Weekend Trip to London

If you are in my friends list in FB,you might have know how much busy i was during this weekend.Yep i had a funfilled, super busy and a joyful weekend in London. Actually i planned this trip to participate in Blogger's buzz meet organised by London food bloggers, thank god my better half was kind enough to pay my eurostar tickets and took care of everything during my weekend trip to London.I stayed at Priya R's place and we had loads of fun together, actually Priya suggested me to stay with her when i was chitchatting with her about my trip, how wonderful she is na,honestly tell me who will say immediately come and stay with me,i have to say a big thanks to her husband too. Both were wonderful,kind,caring and i came back home with many more memorbale moments. Thanks Priya, am really blessed to get a caring sister like you.

I landed friday nite at st. Pancras international railway station, both Priya and her husband picked me at 10.45pm. Next day morning myself and Priya went to the blogger's meet, i met many more foodie bloggers like me. This meet was simply fabulous,well organised and we had a photography session with Jeanne of Cook Sister, a macaron baking class and a blog monetizing class. We had a brunch,lunch and snacks there itself,we also came back to our place with a goodie bag filled with many stuffs in it.Please do check Vineetha's space to know more about this meet, she wrote much more better than me about the whole day we spend together with many more food bloggers like us.

Sunday Priya and myself went to Stratford mall to meet Jagruti and Jayasri ravi,we had some chaat food together and we had a wonderful time four together. Then finally we went to the famous bakeware shop Lakeland to get some baking stuffs for me, omg i was completely astonished to see the variety of baking stuffs there and i was lost.I bought few but somehow i want that complete shop you know, god only knows how i loved all those baking stuffs.Seriously i went to London with a suitcase and came back home with two more bags.Finally my weekend went to faster and two days wasnt enough for me as usual.



Coming to Ragi Rava khara pongal, its very much as like rava pongal,instead of using semolina, i went for my  recent favourite ragi rava, else everything goes for the usual ingredients. But tastewise, ragi rava didnt changed anything and this dish tastes exactly as like our usual pongal. Some were asking me wat is Ragi rava,its 100% ragi grains broken into small bites as medium quality rava, actually  it is ragi semolina, some thought that i mixed both ragi flour and usual semolina, nope its semolina prepared from ragi grains. Hope i cleared their doubts here.Sending this filling pongal to my own event CWS-Ragi or Quinoa guest hosted by my dear sister Divya.


1cup Ragi rava
1/4cup Split Moongdal
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
1/2tsp Grated Ginger
2tbsp Oil or ghee
1/2tsp Cumins seeds
10nos Peppercorns
10nos Cashew nuts
Salt
Few Curry leaves


Wash the moongdal and take in pressure cooker with a cup of water, ginger,asafoetida powder and salt, cook upto 3hisses.

Meanwhile dry roast the ragi rava, once the steam goes on, transfer the cooked moongdal to a bowl, add enough water if needed to make 2+1/2cups of dal.

Add this dal to the roasted ragi rava and cook in medium flame until the ragi rava gets well cooked and the dal water gets absorbed by them.

Heat the ghee or oil, fry the cumin seeds, peppercorns,cashew nuts and curry leaves until they turn brown.

Add the tempered spices & cashews to the cooking ragi rava-dal mixtures, toss them well until everything get well mixed.

Serve hot with sambar or coconut chutney.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Soya Upma

Who will say no to a healthy twist to our usual Indian breakfast dishes??that too the usual rava upma as soya upma. Actually this recipe is from Tarladalal's healthy breakfast cookbook, this recipe is definitely filled with healtthy and nutritious stuffs in it. I immediately got hooked to this protein rich upma while going through the cookbook and prepared them for my breakfast few days back. Obviously do i need to say anything about this tasty and healthy upma, actually the simplicity of this dish is the highlight of this upma, just cook the soya granules, saute the veggies,mix and toss everything together,thats it, watelse we need for a busy morning breakfast.

If you are a vegetarian or a soya lover like me, this simple upma is definitely a feast for u. You can carry this upma very well even for a lunch, also you can serve them as a snack if you have sudden guests, yep feed your guest with healthy stuffs,am sure they wont hesitate a second to finish their plate. This is my last and third post of this week's blogging marathon with cooking with cookbooks as theme.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#25.


1cup Cooked soya granules
1no Onion (big & chopped)
1/2cup Grated carrots
1/2cup Greenpeas
1/4cup Grated cabbage
3nos Green chillies (slit opened)
1tsp Cumin seeds
1tsp Uradal
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
1tsp Grated ginger
Oil
Salt

Heat the oil in a kadai, let crackle the cumin seeds,uraddal, add the asafoetida ,ginger and green chillies and onions..

Cook everything until the onions turns transculent.

Add the veggies now and saute them for few minute.

Finally add the cooked soya granules and toss everything gently..

Add the salt and mix again well.

Serve hot with your favourite chutney.

Dont worry,if you dont have soya granules, cook the soya chunks in salted boiling water, drain the excess of water, grind it as a coarse paste and use it.



Monday, February 25, 2013

Arathidhoota Pappu/Banana Stem Dal

 Last week,my parents came from India and i bugged them to bring me some fresh veggies, one among them is super fresh banana stem. I cooked this delicious dal with those fresh banana stem for our lunch. As am running my fourth week of blogging marathon with cooking with cookbooks as theme, i chosed this pappu from Cooking at home with Pedatha by Jigyasa Giri and Prathibha Jain. Actually i won this book through an event before two years and the authors send this book to my sister who is living in India,she received this book on behalf of me.Finally during their latest trip to India, my parents brought me this cooking at home with Pedatha cookbook and two more cookbooks i won through few more events from India, as my sister received them at her place.

Finally i cooked this healthy,comforting and delicious pappu from this book.This tasty dal goes for a simple preparation and tastes simply awesome when served along with rice and spicy potato fries. Usually i make a simple stir fry or a simple kootu with this healthy banana stem, if you want to give a change to your usual dishes with banana stem,do try this super comforting,fingerlicking pappu.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#25.



2cups Banana stem (chopped as small cubes)
1cup Toor dal
1/2tsp Turmeric powder
2tbsp Tamarind pulp
1tsp Jaggery
Oil
Salt
1tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal
1tsp Fenugreek seeds
3nos Dry red chillies
Few curry leaes
1/2tsp Asafoetida powder

Pressure cook the toor dal with enough water upto three whistles, if the dal is thick add more water,churn well and keep aside.

Heat enough oil in a kadai, add the mustard seeds,urad dal,fenugreek seeds, fry until they turns brown, add the dry red chillies,curry leaves and asafoetida powder,fry for few minutes.

Add the chopped banana stem and cook for few more minutes.

Now add the turmeric powder, tamarind pulp,jaggery,salt and cook until the vegetable is well cooked.

Finally the cooked dal,cook in simmer for few minutes.

Serve hot with rice and spicy side dishes.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Croissants~~We Knead To Bake#2

Croissants, the word itself makes me drool. Actually i tasted my first croissants the next day i landed Paris, this happened almost before 18years. This buttery flaky viennoiserie bread roll is quite famous as like the french macarons in France, you wont miss this flaky bread rolls if you live in Paris. Each and every corner of the street will have a bakery and each bakey will have this buttery bread rolls definitely with different variations, you may get them with chocolates as pain au chocolat, while some makes a almond pastry cream and call it as almond crossiants. Obviously atleast once a month for a sunday brunch we will get our crossiants from the nearby bakery. My kids love this bread rolls, i never thought of making these bread rolls until Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen challenged these crossiants for our this month's We Knead To Bake challenge.

Croissant dough sounds exactly like a puff pastry dough but these croissant doughs are yeast leavened dough and the dough is layered with butter,which are rolled and folded several times and this technique is called laminating.This laminating technique gives that layered and flaxy texture to this bread roll. Croissants in french means crescent, since this bread roll is rolled like a crescent, these bread rolls are called croissants. 

French croissants are well known and french peoples even prepare croissants as savoury version using cheese and ham in it, its one of their favourite food and this stuffed croissants are quite often served during the lunch in most of the canteens or served in xmas dinner tables.Coming to this croissants, it took 3days for us to prepare, the first day i simply prepared the yeasted dough with the flour and instant yeast, the 2nd day, i did the lamination and the third day, i finally baked these croissants. I got 7numbers of large size croissants and 7nos of mini croissants. Thanks to Aparna for suggesting croissants and i truly enjoyed preparing and baking myself. Everyone at home enjoyed thoroughly and gonna make croissants myself at home atleast once a month, as mine turned out exactly like the bakery bought croissants.

        
                                              Croissants with egg wash

For the dough:
4cups All purpose flour+ extra flour for dusting & rolling
1/2cup + 2tbsp Cold water
1/2cup +2tbsp Cold milk
1/4cup Sugar
40grms Softened unsalted butter
1tbsp + 1/2tsp Instant yeast
2tsp Salt

For Butter Layer:
250grms Cold unsalted butter

For crust:
1/4cup Milk or 1egg

Day 1:
Take all the ingredients given for the dough in a bowl, mix everything gently,by scraping the sides of the bowl until you get a soft dough, dont knead to much as we do for the breads.

Lightly flour a pie pan and place the dough.

Gently shape dough as flat ball by pressing it down before storing in the fridge, as this helps a lot for rolling the next day, dont make a tight ball as they may strengthen the gluten which we dont need for croissants.

Lightly dust the top of the dough with flour and wrap well with a plastic,so that they wont dry.

Keep in fridge for ovenite.

Day 2:

Next day, take 2parchement papers, cut the cold butter into half thick slabs, place these pieces on the parchement paper to form a 6inch square.

Cut the butter into pieces to form a prefect a square, top it with an another parchement paper,roll it well giving much pressure so that the pieces begin to stick together.

Pound the butter until it flattens well and form a even square, trim the edges to make a prefect neat square,put the trimmed butter on the top of the square and pound them lightly with the rolling pin.

Refrigerate this for a while.

Laminating the dough:
Unwrap the dough and roll it out as 10inch square,brush the excess of the flour.

Take the butter out of the fridge,butter should be cold but pliable. Unwrap the butter and place it in the centre of the dough, so that its forms a diamond shape on the dough.

Fold the sides of the dough over the butter, stretch it slight so that point of edges will reach the middle of the butter square.

Lightly press the edges together to seal completely the butter inside the dough, ensure the butter shouldnt escape from the dough while rolling.


Gently start rolling the dough without pressing too much, dust the dough gently,roll the dough as a rectangle dough,dont forget to shape the corners with ur fingers in case if they lose their square shaped.

Pick up one short end of the dough and fold it back over the dough, leaving one-third of the other end of dough exposed.

Brush the flour off and then fold the exposed dough over the folded side. 

Put the dough on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for 20 minutes to relax and chill the dough.

Repeat the rolling and folding, this time rolling in the direction of the two open ends until the dough is about 8 by 24 inches. 

Fold the dough in thirds again, brushing off excess flour and turning under any rounded edges or short ends with exposed or smeared layers. Cover and freeze for another 20 minutes.

Give the dough a third rolling and folding. Put the dough on the baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap, tucking the plastic under all four sides. Refrigerate overnight.

Day 3:
The next day, unwrap and lightly flour the top and bottom of the dough. 

With the rolling pin, “wake the dough up” by pressing firmly along its length.

Slowly roll the dough into a long and narrow strip, 8 inches by about 44 inches. If the dough sticks as you roll, sprinkle with flour. 

Once the dough is about half to two-thirds of its final length, it may start to resist rolling and even shrink back. If this happens, fold the dough in thirds, cover, and refrigerate for about 10 minutes. 

Lift the dough an inch or so off the table at its midpoint and allow it to shrink from both side,this helps prevent the dough from shrinking when it’s cut. 

Check that there’s enough excess dough on either end to allow you to trim the ends so they’re straight and the strip of dough is 40 inches long. Trim the dough so that they are straight.

Divide the dough:

With a knife,mark the top of the dough with 5inch intervals along the length,now place the tape measure along the bottom lenght of the dough.

Make a mark 2-1/2inches in from the end,make marks at 5inch intervals from the point along the bottom of the dough.

Make diagonal cuts by positioning the yardstick at the top corner and the frist bottom mark,use a pizza wheel and cut the dough along this line with connects each top of mark to the next bottom mark.

You will get 7 triangles.

Shape the croissants:
Work with a pieces of triangular dough at a time.

Using a rolling pin,lightly roll the triangle to stretch a little, this will give your croissants height and layers.

With a sharp knife, make a 1/2inch long notch in centre of the short side of each triangle,this helps rolled croissant curl into a crescent.

Place the triangle on a work surface and with one hand on each side of the notch,begin to roll the dough away from you towards the pointed ends.

Roll the dough tight enough,brush the croissants with milk or with egg whisking an egg with a teaspoon of water.

Brush the croissants lightly, place the croissants in a cool place for proofing about 2hours.

Croissants are ready to bake if you able to see the layers of the dough from the side, if you shake the sheets slightly the croissants will wiggle.

                                       
                                                      Mini croissants brushed with milk

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F, brush again the croissants one more time and place you baking sheets in the middle rack of the oven.

Bake for  15 to 20 minutes until the crust turns golden brown,cool the croissants completely.

Khatte aloo/Sour Potatoes

Am starting today the last and fourth week of blogging marathon of this month with a beautiful theme, cooking with cookbooks. Seriously before blogging, i never referred or cooked from a cookbook,to be honest i never bought cookbooks at all,obviously my book shelf will have only few cartoon and story books. I still remember my mom got her first cookbook from her MIL when i was almost 10years old and this cookbook travelled with us for a long. One day while shifting we lost my grandma's cookbook and we never tried our hands in buying an another cookbook or cooking from a cookbook.Sometimes my mom used to gather few supplements from some monthly tamil magazine but somehow she never cooked from them too.


When i saw this theme, i really want to try  few dishes from the cookbook i have won through many events i have participated earlier in this virtual world. During my 4 years of blogging, i won a bunch of cookbooks and am really thankful to each and every food bloggers for sending me these beautiful books. Actually i have to say a big thanks to Srivalli for suggesting us this theme, i chosed to cook this khatte aloo from Tarladalal's Punjabi Subzis.This khatte aloo tastes simply awesome as side dish with rotis, the mild sourness of dry mango powder gives a distinct flavour and this dish really goes for an easy breezy preparation.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#25.


3nos Potatoes (large & cubed)
1/2tsp Ajwain seeds
1tsp Dry mango powder
1tsp Garam masala powder
1tsp Coriander powder
1/2tsp Cumin powder
1no Tomato (large & chopped)
1/4cup Thick yogurt
Oil
Salt

Cook the cubed potatoes in salted water until they turns soft, drain it and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a kadai, add the ajwain seeds and potatoes.

Saute well till the potatoes turns crispy.

Add the dry mango powder, garam masala powder,coriander powder and cumin powder,cook for few more minutes.

Add now the chopped tomato,some water and cook until the potato gets well coated with the spices.

Finally add the yogurt and bring it to boil, put off the stove.

Serve hot with rotis.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Ragi Rava Kheer

Sorry guys, i know my recent posts are with ragi rava, yeah wat to do. I completely fallen in love with this healthy rava, the most interesting part is these ragi rava suits prefectly for making both sweet and savoury foods. An another interesting dish with this ragi rava from my kitchen is this healthy,tasty and rich kheer. If you love semolina kheer, am sure you will definitely love this ragi rava kheer. A small cup of this kheer will be really filling and quite healthy at the same time.

An easy dessert to prepare in a jiffy, you can make this kheer if you have sudden guests at home and as usual i used sweetened condensed milk to make this kheer more creamy and thick. Give a try friends,am sure you will definitely fallen in love with this ragi rava kheer.Sending this bowl of yummyilicious kheer to my own event CWS-Ragi or Quinoa guest hosted by my dear sister Divya.


1/2cup Ragi rava
1+1/2cups Milk
1/2cup Sweetened condensed milk or sugar 
1tsp Cardamom powder
Few almond flakes & Pistachios

Heat the milk and sweetened condensed milk together, meanwhile wash the ragi rava, drain the excess of water using a strainer.

Add this washed ragi rava to the boiling milk,put immediately the flame in simmer, cook until the ragi rava get cooked.

Finally add the cardamom powder, cook everything for few minutes..Put off the stove..

Serve warm, garnished with almond flakes and pistachios..

Friday, February 22, 2013

Ragi Rava Sweet Balls

I tried few dishes using the famous ragi rava, one among those dishes is this cute healthy sweet balls. This balls are really very simple and you will enjoy thoroughly. Ragi rava is quite versatile and you can prepare any dish with this nutritious healthy ragi rava.

This ragi rava balls goes for simple ingredients,i just added few almonds nuts to give more nuttiness to these simple sweet balls. Also i rolled these balls using milk and just used a teaspoon of ghee for frying cashew nuts, else this nutritious sweet balls are quite addictive and you wont stop munching them. With a cup of ragi rava, you will get 6-7medium balls, an incredible sweet balls suits prefectly for a sudden cravings.Sending this cute balls to my own event CWS-Ragi or Quinoa guest hosted by my dear sister Divya.



1cup Ragi rava
1cup Sugar
10nos Almonds
4nos Cardamom seeds
1tsp Ghee
Few broken cashew nuts
Milk as per need

Grind the sugar and cardamom seeds together as fine powder.

Meanwhile roast the ragi ravanalmonds in a kadai until a nice aroma comes out, put off the stove and let them cool completely..

Grind this roasted ragi rava and almonds as bit coarse powder,add the sugar mixture and mix well.

Heat the ghee and fry the broken cashews until they turns brown

Add the hot ghee and fried cashews to the ragi rava-sugar mixture, mix everything well.

Add enough milk to the mixture and make out small balls from the mixture, you can also use ghee while making this laddoos.

Store it in an air tightened box.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Gingelly Oil Chicken Roast

Gingelly oil gives a wonderful flavour to any dish they are added, usually i'll make tamarind based tangy gravies with gingelly oil. I still remember most of the foods prepared at my grandma's place will always have gingelly oil in it. Especially the chicken roast, this droolworthy,flavourful chicken roast goes for a simple cooking process and this dish goes wonderful as side dish with hot piping rasam rice.

If you are planning to make some chicken roast,give a try to this dish and am sure this chicken roast will definitely will become your family favourite.If you are a vegetarian, you can make this same roast very well with potatoes,cauliflowers or with paneer.


1/2kg Chicken (cut as medium sizes)
3nos Onions (chopped)
1/2cup Tomato puree
1tsp Ginger garlic paste
1tsp Chilly powder
1tbsp Coriander powder
1/2cup Yogurt
Salt
Few curry leaves
1tsp Fennel seeds
3nos Dry red chillies
1/2cup Gingelly Oil
Coriander leaves (chopped)

Marinate the chicken with chilly powder,salt, yogurt and keep aside for half an hour.

In a kadai, heat the gingelly oil, fry the fennel seeds and dry red chillies, add now the chopped onions,ginger garlic paste and cook until the onions turns transculent.

Now add the marinated chicken,tomato puree,coriander powder and cook them for few minutes.

Cook everything in simmer.

Sprinkle some water and cook everything for few minutes until the chicken roast turns dry.

Finally add the chopped coriander leaves and put off the stove.

Serve as side dish.


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Ragi Rava Upma

My latest favourite is this ragi rava,i picked a packet of this healthy rava before a month for the sake of giving a trial, but finally i got hooked to them and this time while we went to the Indian grocery,i came back home with two packets of this ragi rava. Actually this rava is completely prepared with the healthy and nutritious finger millet aka ragi.

You can make any food with this ragi rava, i tried instant idlis and this upma till now,both these dishes turned out fabulous and my next trial is to make some savoury cake or muffins with this grain,let me see how its turns out.Healthy dish to kick start your day, i used gingelly oil for preparing this upma and the addition of gingelly oil gives a wonderful flavour to this beautiful healthy dish.Sending this muffins to my own event CWS-Ragi or Quinoa guest hosted by my dear sister Divya.


1cup Ragi rava
1no Onion (big & chopped finely)
2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
1tsp Ginger (minced)
1tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal
1/2tsp Channadal
3nos Dry red chillies
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
Few Curry leaves
2cups Water
 1tbsp Gingelly oil
Salt

Dry roast the ragi rava in a pan until a nice aroma comes out.

Heat the gingelly oil, let splutters the mustard seeds, urad dal,channadal,dry red chillies,fry until they turns brown.

Add now the sliced onions,grated ginger,curry leaves and slit opened green chillies,sauté until the onions turns transculent.

Immediately add the salt, cook for few seconds, add the water and bring everything to boil..

Add now the roasted ragi rava to the cooking veggies, stir continously until the ragi rava gets well cooked,put off the stove.

Serve hot with chutney.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Vegan Barley Chocolate Cake

I really want to bake a super moist and rich chocolate cake with barley flour and finally i baked some two weeks back for a friend's birthday. As she is a vegan foodie, i really checked few sites to get an interesting chocolate cake,but finally i got hooked to Madhu's Vegan Barley Chocolate Cake. Thanks to Madhu for giving us this beautiful,super moist cake and my friend simply loved this cake.Initially i was bit skeptical about the barley flour in cake, also i have read somewhere that barley flour are not glutenous like wheat flour or all purpose flour,while i went through this cake post at Madhu's place,she also shared the same thought, thank god she also had the same thought like me. After reading her post, i was very much confident and tried my hands with homemade barley flour.

This cake turned out extremely spongy and i was very much happy with the final result. You can try ur hands in making cakes with barley flour in case if you want to experiment like me. A wonderful alternative to those who dont want to make bakes with all purpose flour or wheat flour. As am running my third week of blogging marathon with baking with wholegrains as theme, am posting this beautiful chocolate cake.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#25.



2cups Barley flour
1cup Sugar
1/4tsp Salt
1tsp Baking soda
1/2tsp Baking powder
1/4cup Unsweetened cocoa powder
1tbsp Vanilla extract
1/3cup Canola oil
1tbsp Apple cider Vinegar
1cup Cold water

Preheat the oven to 350F for few minutes.

Grease generously the bottom and sides of a round baking pan and line it with parchement paper.

Sift together the barley flour,cocoa powder,baking soda,baking powder,sugar and salt, keep aside.

Mix the vanilla extract,canola oil,vinegar,cold water in a another bowl and gradually add it to the dry ingredients,dont overmix the batter.

Pour now this batter to the prepared pan and bake for 25-30minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Cool it completely, remove the parchement paper and slice the cake as you desire.

You can frost this cake very well or dust it with powdered sugar.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Pain Tournesol/Sunflower Bread

 Our this month's Defi Boulange, a fabulous bread baking event by Nadia and Manue challenged us a beautiful sunflower shaped bread.Its first time am trying my hands in making a flower shaped bread, am quite happy with the outcome. Everyone at home,simply loved this bread, i combined both all purpose flour and ashirvad atta flour for making this beautiful bread, which suits prefectly for this week's blogging marathon coz the theme for this week is baking with wholegrains.

I love wholegrains, i do cook and bake quite often with them. Actually i'll try to add a wholegrain atleast once a day. If its rice for lunch,my dinner will be definitely something with oats or whole wheat. Even my small family started loving the foods prepared with wholegrains eventhough sometimes i have mix and match or completely make the wholegrains as i have some picky eaters at home. But seriously i never failed to feed my family with whole grains. Coming to this bread, this bread goes for usual bread dough, its bit consuming while shaping else you can bake this bread once a while. You can serve this bread with any kind of foods and will attract everyone if you present this bread along with other foods in a party menu table.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#25.



4cups All purpose flour
1cup Atta flour/wheat flour
2tsp Active dry yeast
2tsp Salt
1tsp Sugar
1/4cup Olive oil
1/2cup Warm milk
2cups Warm water
30grms Butter (room temperature)
1no Egg yolk 
1tbsp Water
Black poppy seeds
Sesame seeds

Dissolve the sugar and the yeast in the 1/2 cup of warm milk. Keep aside for about 5 minutes till the yeast mixture bubbles up.

Put flours, salt, olive oil, in the bowl and mix it well with your fingers. 

Add the yeast mixture and the warm water and knead till you have a soft, smooth and pliable dough which is not sticky. Add a little extra flour if your dough is sticky.

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a bowl greased with oil, turn the dough to coat it completely with oil.

Cover and let it rise for 2 hours or until the dough almost double in volume.


Divide the dough into 2 large equal balls,keep aside one ball.


Take a large ball and divide as 5equal balls, roll each balls as a circle disc of 20cm diameter,brush the top of a circle and place an another circle over it,do this with 4circles.

Place the fifth circle on the top and stretch it to close the sides of the other circles. Cut in the middle of the circle as 8 equal wedges,take care not to cut upto the edges.

Transfer it to a baking sheet and turn the wedges outside to fall like the petals as shown in the picture.

Take the another large bowl, make a small ball from the dough and keep aside.

Again divide equal balls from the remaining dough and roll each balls 12cm diameter, brush the top of each circle with butter,place an another circle over it. 

Place the fifth circle on the top,stretch it to close the sides, place this circle in the middle of the already prepared petals like dough.

Cut in the middle of the circle as 8 equal wedges and turn the wedges outside to fall like petals.

Now roll the small ball as a round ball and place in it the centre.

Keep in warm place for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350F, brush the bread with egg yolk mixed with water, springle generously the black poppyseeds,black sesame seeds on the top of the unbaked bread.

Bake for 25-30minutes until the crust turns golden brown,keep aside and let them cool completely.

You can enjoy this bread with any spreads or meats.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Eggless Baked Dates & Wholewheat Pancakes

Its been a while i want to make baked pancakes with dates, recently my aunt send me a parcel with many wonderful stuffs in it. Have you seen my new props with wooden stuffs,she packed me through the parcel and am the happiest person in the world, along with those props she also packed me few nuts,dry fruits and few dairy milk chocolates. Dates were one among them and i used the seedless dates she send to me for making this beautiful baked pancakes. Instead of making pancakes through the pan,give a try to this baked version,am sure you guys will love it.

No more cooking with continous checking, flipping pancakes and all , these baked version works out wonder. Within 20minutes and a muffin pan mould,your pancakes are ready to relish with your favourite syrup. These baked pancakes suits absolutely prefect for hectic morning days and you can feed everyone easily,just by packing this baked pancakes for their breakfast. These baked pancakes can be enjoyed thoroughly like a fingerfood and no need of forks or knives to cut or eat. How simple na!!.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#25.


2cups Wholewheat flour
1cup Dates puree
1/4cup Honey
1tsp Baking powder
1cup Yogurt
Water as per need

Mix the honey,dates puree,yogurt in a bowl, meanwhile sieve the flour with baking powder.

Gradually add the flour to the wet ingredients, add enough water to make a thick batter.

Line the muffin liners over the muffin baking tray.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Spoon out the pancake batter to the mould lined with the muffin liners.

Bake for 15-20minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Once they get well cooled, dust generously the top with confectioner's sugar and enjoy.

Dal Baati Churma~~IC Challenge

After a month break Indian cooking challenge is back with some beautiful Rajasthani traditional dishes, most of us may know very well  or atleast heard a bit about this Rajasthani traditional dal baati and churma.PJ of Seduce Your Tastebuds suggested this fantastic foods for our this month's ICC, honestly i have to say a big thanks to PJ for pulling me to cook up this delicious and traditional food of Rajasthan.

Usually i'll prepare my challenge foods before a week,but unfortunately coz of my illness i couldnt able to prepare this wonderful dish earlier, but finally i prepared them today for my lunch as my kids and hubby wont come for lunch. I quickly prepared this authentic food of Rajasthan this morning and had them for lunch, its been a while i havent had this much satisfying lunch.Simply loved this dal baati and churma, eventhough my tastebuds fallen in love with the churma.


Recipe Source: Sanjeev Kapoor
Rajasthani Dal:
1/2cup Channadal
2tbsp Yellow moong dal
1tsp Ginger (grated)
1/4tsp Turmeric powder
2tbsp Ghee
1tsp Cumin seeds
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
2nos Dry red chillies
1no Onion (small & chopped)
1tsp Red chilly powder
1/2tsp Dry mango powder/Amchur powder

Wash and cook the dals together with turmeric powder,enough water and ginger in a pressure cooked for upto 3whistles.

Meanwhile heat the ghee in a pan, add the cumin seeds,dry red chillies,asafoetida powder and fry until the cumins turns brown.

Add immediately the onions and cook for few minutes, add immediately the cooked dal and chilly powder.

Bring to boil and cook in simmer for few more minutes,finally add the dry mango powder,give a stir and put off the stove.

Recipe Source: Tarladalal
Baati:
1cup Wheat flour
1/2cup Rava
2tbsp Gram flour
1/2tsp Ajwain seeds
2tbsp Ghee
Salt
Oil for frying
Milk for kneading

Combine together the wheat flour,rava,gram flour,ajwain seeds,ghee and salt, mix well and add milk to knead to form a stiff dough.Knead well and divide the dough as 8-10equal balls.

Flatten them lightly and with your thumb make an indentation in the centre of the baati.

Boil enough water in a vessel,drop the already prepared baatis in the boiling water, cook for 20minutes on high flame.

Drain it and keep aside,let them cool completely.

Heat the oil for frying, now fry the baatis and cook in simmer until the crust turns golden brown,drain the fried baatis with a paper towel and keep aside.

While serving bread each baati into two pieces, pour the melted ghee over the baatis and enjoy along with the dal.

Recipe Source: Priya
Churma/Choorma:
1cup Wheat flour
2tbsp Rava
2tsp Gram flour
1/2cup Sugar
Milk as per need
3tbsp Ghee
Nuts like cashew,pistachios & almonds
Oil for frying

Combine together the wheat flour,rava,gramflour with a pinch of salt in a bowl,add slowly the milk and turn as stiff dough.

Make medium sized balls from the dough and keep aside.

Heat the ghee and fry the nuts until they turns brown,keep aside.

Now heat the oil for deepfrying, fry the balls until they turns golden brown,keep aside and let the balls gets cool completely.

Grind this fried balls as coarse powder in a mixer.

Transfer this coarse powder to a bowl,add the sugar, fried nuts,remaining melted ghee and give a stir.

Serve this delicious churma with dal and baati.

Notes:
Instead of frying the baatis,you can also bake them in oven at 200C for 15minutes eventhough i went for frying. 

I used oil for frying but traditionally baatis are fried in hot ghee.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Lemon Macarons With Lemon Curd

Life was bit busy nowadays, almost a week of sickness made me super lazy and very much tired, obviously i had loads of stuffs left aside during those nasty days. Finally since yesterday,am having foods as before (yep i couldnt feed correctly during more than 3days coz of the nasty high fever and my tastebuds were completely dead) and trying to finish all the leftover stuffs.Dont talk about cooking now,am yet to cook different dishes and still didnt started really cooking as before,just having usual quick and easy foods. I really need someone to pull or kick me to cook with full spirit as before.

Coming to today's post, every 15th of the month we Baking Partners, a group of home bakers will be baking something specially and this month's challenge is the famous French macarons. I dont have words to say how i love macarons and we never failed to get them from a famous shop here, thats a real advantage of living in Paris, you can get easily this fabulous devils in every pastry shops and Paris streets are filled with many bakery and pastry shops,so obviously macarons are one of our family favourites. I tried my hands in making macarons long back and my first Macarons turned out simply awesome. When i saw our this month's challenge with french macarons as challenge, i was really happy to make them again. Vidhya of A Portion to Share and Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen,the brain child of this event, chosed this fabulous macarons.

Macarons may sounds really easily, but they are truly very hard to make and you have to be very careful while mixing the flour & sugar mixture to the beaten snow like egg whites, this part plays an important role in making macarons. Overmixing or undermixing will show their faces while your macarons starts baking. After many trials and many disasters,i seriously learned few important things highly recommanded while making macarons. Obviously my lemon macarons came out extremely prefect.I went for lemon curd for the filling, this lemon curd balanced very much the sweetness of my macarons and we just loved it.



Recipe Source: Martha Stewart

2nos Large egg whites (keep in room temperature for 48hours/2days)
1cup Confectioner's sugar
3/4cup Almond flour
1/4cup Superfine sugar
1tsp Lemon zest
pinch Salt/cream of tartar
1/4tsp Yellow food colour powder

Take the confectioner's sugar and almond flour in a food processor and pulse it until well combined, sift the mixture twice with the food colour, finally add the lemon zest,keep aside.

Whisk the whites with salt with a beater on medium speed until soft peaks form, reduce the speed to low and add the superfine sugar gradually.

Increase the speed to high and whisk until stiff peaks form (approximately 8 minutes).

Add the flour-sugar mixture over the whites, fold until the mixture turns shiny and smooth (this is called macaronage, if you take the batter with a spatula, the batter of the macaron should fall like a ribbon)

Now transfer to a pastry bag filled with a plain round tip.

Meanwhile line baking sheets over two baking trays, now pipe out small rounds with enough spaces between them on the line baking sheets, until the batter gets finished.

Tap the bottom of the baking try to the release the air from the piped batter.

Let them sit in room temperature for 30minutes to allow the skins to form(if you touch the top of the piped macarons, you can feel the top is hard and no batter will stick your finger)

Preheat the oven to 300F,bake the macarons for 20minutes, rotate the baking sheet half way for even baking, remover from oven and transfer to a cooling rack.

Lemon Curd:
55grms Butter
225grms Sugar
2nos Lemons
2nos Eggs

Put a large bowl over a pan of water. Put this on the heat, and once the water has come to the boil,put the unsalted butter,sugar into the bowl.

Meanwhile, grate the rind of two lemons and squeeze their juice into another bowl.

Once the butter has fully melted, add the rind and juice to your large bowl over the pan.

Finally, beat two eggs and pour them into the mixture.

Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon. Keep it moving slowly all the time so that it coats the edges of the bowl.

This will allow it to start cooking on the hot glass. Over the next 20 to 30 minutes it will thicken and you may start to see some white parts forming in the otherwise yellow mixture. This is perfectly normal.

Eventually you will see that the mix has become considerably thicker and you will be able to draw the spoon through it and see the bottom of the bowl.

Once you have reached this stage it is ready to be poured into the jar.

Remove the pan from the heat and very carefully ladle the hot mixture into a sterilised jar using a funnel if necessary to help you get it in, without it running down the sides.

Seal the jar so that it is airtight and store the curd in the fridge. It should keep for around a month
 Assembling the macarons:
Take a macaron,fill it with half a teaspoon of lemon curd and close it with an another macaron. Arrange them in a box and conserve it in fridge atleast for a day.

Enjoy!

Notes:
Use always food colours in powder form or gel food colouring, dont use liquid food colouring, this will spoil the macaron batter.

Piped macaron should sit in room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.


Thursday, February 14, 2013

Brioche Muffins aka Rose Muffins

                    Happy Valentine's day friends!!!! wishing you all  loads of love and happiness on this day!!

I have few posts in my drafts sitting since a long and am trying to post them as rite now i dont have fresh posts to post. I know many of you might be busy in preparing valentine's day dinner and packing your secret gifts to your loved ones.

Brioche muffins, this cute looking muffins goes for usual brioche dough and these muffins tastes fabulous when served with meats or grilled veggies. You can prepare this muffins simply as usual muffins but i went for rose like muffins, they were cute,pretty elegant and very attractive. My kids enjoyed this muffins with nutella spread with their favourite chocolate drink for their snacks. If you want to make some muffins with brioche or if you have leftover brioche dough, do make some and am sure you guys will definitely love this.


3cups Bread flour or all purpose flour
1tbsp Active dry yeast
1/2cup Milk (luke warm)
3nos Egg yolks
1/4cup Sugar +1tsp Sugar
1tsp Salt
100grms Butter
Sugar pearls

Mix the yeast,a teaspoon of sugar and salt to the luke warm milk, keep aside until the yeast turns foamy.

Meanwhile take the flour,egg yolks,sugar in a large bowl, add gradually the foamy yeast and turn everything as a soft dough, now add the butter and knead everything for 10minutes.

Arrange the dough in a bowl covered with a towel,keep aside for atleast for 2hours until they double their volume.

Knead the dough again for few minutes, divide the dough as two equal balls.

Roll the dough as a large disc, with a round cookie cutter cut the rolled dough as small circles. Continue the process until the dough gets finished.

Check Swathi's space for rolling the rose dinner rolls

Arrange one by one in a greased muffin pan and keep again for half an hour until they double their volume.

Preheat the oven to 350F, springle generously the sugar pearls over the muffins.

Bake for 20-25minutes until the crust turns brown.

Let it cool completely and enjoy.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

How To Freeze Ginger-garlic Paste

Sometimes its too hard for me to live without my freezer,even i can say that i cant imagine my life without my freezer,yep i do freeze so many foods,legumes,vegetables and many more stuffs in it. Its been a while,i want to post something useful for many of us.

Ginger garlic paste is very much indispensable in Indian cuisine.In India,we usually make ginger garlic paste freshly whenever we make masala based foods, but if you are living in abroad, we dont have enough time to prepare this famous paste whenever we need and obviously we will go for a huge batch of ginger garlic paste  to last a month and conserve them in fridge.

But sometimes, if we keep this famous ginger garlic paste in fridge for a long,personally i felt like saying that they lose somehow their aroma and i dont like it,so i started freezing them using an icecube tray long back. For my surprise, those ginger garlic paste cubes stayed prefect for almost three months in freezer and they are really handy. One cube of this paste is almost one tablespoon and you can add these cubes as per need to the dish you are planning to do. Its going to be almost more than three years,am ritually following this method to store this indispensable paste.

These cubes conserved in a zip loc bag or a freezer friendly bag, stay very much prefect for several months. Since ever i started making this cubes, i usually make my ginger garlic paste in huge batch and i'll freeze them as cubes using my usual icecube tray and once they are well freezed i'll take off those cubes from the tray and arrange them in a freezer friendly bags and  i'll keep them in freezer for further use.


1cup Ginger (peeled & sliced)
1cup Garlic cloves
1tbsp White vinegar

Grind the ginger,garlic cloves and vinegar without water as fine and smooth paste.

Fill the icecube tray with enough ginger garlic paste and keep the tray in freezer for overnite.

Next day morning,remove the ginger garlic paste cubes from the ice cube tray as we do to remove the ice cubes and arrange in a freezer friendly bag.

Conserve it in freezer and use as per need.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Vendhaya Milagu Kuzhambu/Fenugreek & Pepper Gravy

After a high fever or severe cold, definitely your tastebuds will ask something spicy,tangy comforting food. Two days back, after having a simple porridge for a couple of days my tastebuds started craving for something tangy mildly spicy food. Finally i quickly prepared this fingerlicking kuzhambu and enjoyed thoroughly along with rice and papads for my lunch. Spiciness and the tanginess of this gravy tickled my tastebuds and i really enjoyed having this medicinal gravy.

Yep i prepared this gravy with a special spice powder prepared with dry ginger, peppercorns,cumin seeds and coriander seeds.Peppercorns and dry ginger gives the spiciness to this gravy while fenugreek seeds in tempering gives a mild bitterness.This gravy doesnt even need tomatoes and it tastes almost like pathiya kuzhambu,a mild gravy served to new moms after their delivery.A prefect gravy to relish after a severe cold or fever,needless to say this gravy is my third post for this week's blogging marathon.If you dont like the fenugreek seeds,you can completely skip it.


1cup Tamarind Extract
10nos Shallots
Few Garlic cloves
1tbsp Fenugreek seed
1/2 tsp Mustard
1/2 tsp Urad dal
Few Curry leaves
1/4 cup Gingelly oil
Salt

To roast & grind:
1no Dry ginger/Sukku (medium size)
3tbsp Coriander seeds
15nos Black peppercorns
1tsp Cumin seeds


Dry roast and grind all the ingredients given under the list 'to roast & grind' as fine powder.

Heat gingelly oil in a heavy bottomed pan,once the oil is hot, add the mustard seed and urad dal, let it splutter.

Add the fenugreek seeds, fry it.

Add the shallot pieces,curry leaves and garlic pods to the oil,fry everything well in gingelly oil.

Meanwhile add the already prepared spice powder,salt to tamarind extract and mix well.

Add it to the cooking veggies,cook them for 20 to 25 minutes in medium flame with the lid..stir it occasionally.

Once the oil get separates from the kuzhambu put off the stove.

Serve hot with rice and papads.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Ragi Chocolate Muffins

Ragi, one of the famous millet quite often used in Indian cuisine. You can make variety of foods with this nutritious grain, eventhough one of the famous food prepared with ragi is ragi malt or ragi koozhu. My mom never failed to feed us with this healthy grain, actually i do the same with my kids eventhough they dont like this grain very much. Fortunately, every Indian grocery here have this healthy ragi flour and i'll try to add this flour in most of dishes,especially while making breads,parathas,instant idlis etc. Usually i'll mask this grain with my family's favourite foods, for example today's muffins since chocolate is my kid's favourite i easily combined both ragi and chocolate together for making this healthy muffins.

Am posting this muffins today, as am running my second week of blogging marathon with cooking with alphabets as theme. After yesterday's dish's name starts with 'O',my today's post name starts with 'R.If you want to feed your family with this healthy flour, start your cooking adventure with this flour as something sweet, am sure this muffins will works out wonder to feed your small family.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#25.Sending this muffins to my own event CWS-Ragi or Quinoa guest hosted by a wonderful blogger Divya.


3/4cup Ragi flour
1/4cup All purpose flour
1/4cup Butter
2tbsp Oil
1/2cup Sugar
2tbsp Cocao powder
1/2cup Milk
1/2tsp Baking powder
1/2tsp Baking soda
1no Egg
Pinch salt
Almond flakes (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350F, grease the muffin pan with butter or line with paper liners.

Sieve together the ragi flour,all purpose flour,cocao powder,baking powder,baking soda and salt and keep aside.

Beat together the sugar,butter,egg and oil until the sugar gets dissolves, add the milk, beat well.

Now add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, fill the muffin pan with the batter,springle generously the almond flakes.

Bake for 12-15minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Oats & Broccoli Stir-fry

I was down with flu and i couldnt able to sit or check my blog baby since two days, now am recovering from this nasty flu but yet very much tired. Since am starting my second week of blogging marathon with cooking with alphabets as theme, as my three dishes are ready to be posted, i couldnt keep myself away from this virtual world.My three dishes will starts with O,R,V that y my today's dish name starts with oats.

A simple stir fry, an excellent side dish for a simple curd rice or rasam rice, this stir fry can be served even along with some rotis. Actually i'll add grated coconut usually in my stir fries, for a change i tried adding dry roasted rolled oats in this stir fry and its tastes absolutely fabulous.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#25.


1no Broccoli (chopped as medium sized florets)
3tbsp Rolled oats (dry roasted)
1no Onion(big & chopped)
3nos Green chillies(slit opened)
1tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal
Few curry leaves
Salt
Oil

Heat enough oil,let splutters the mustard seeds, urad dal, add now the chopped onions,slit opened green chillies,curry leaves,cook until the onions turns transculent.

Finally add the broccoli florets, salt and sauté for few minutes in medium flame and put off the stove..Dont overcook the broccoli.

Add the dry roasted rolled oats, cook in simmer for few more minutes and put off the stove.

Serve warm as side dish.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Potato Masala Stuffed Snakegourd Rings

Snakegourd is one of my favourite vegetable but honestly speaking none at home like this Indian vegetable. To feed everyone at home, i usually prepare them with dals as kootu so that none can remove the vegetable from the dal. But recently i tried making this super crispy starters with snakegourd stuffed with spicy potato masala, this crispy rings are big hit among my kids and they vanished very much quickly. 

Even these rings goes for a bit long cooking process, i dont bother to make them again just to feed this veggie to my kids.I know potatoes is almost everyone's favourite, thats why i went for a quick potato masala, you can also go for paneer masala or minced soya masala or else any other masala your family likes.A prefect starter to serve in a party menu or as a side dish to serve along with variety rice dishes.



25nos Snakegourd rings (medium sized rings,deskinned & remove the seeds)
1/4cup Cornflour
2tbsp Maida flour
Salt
Bread crumbs (as per need)

Potato Masala:
2nos Potatoes
1no Onion(big & chopped)
1tsp Red chilly powder
1/2tsp Garam masala powder
Few curry leaves
Salt
Oil
1/2tsp Cumin seeds

Heat enough oil,let crack the cumin seeds, add immediately the chopped onions, curry leaves, sauté until they turns transculent.

Add the red chilly powder, garam masala powder, salt, saute everything for few minutes.

Finally add the smashed cooked potatoes, cook everything in simmer,put off the stove and let them get cool completely.

Take enough potato masala and stuff the snakegourd rings well,keep aside.

Make a thick paste with cornflour,maida and salt.

Now drop gently the potato masala stuffed snakegourd rings in the flour paste,take out and roll it well in the bread crumbs,continue the same process until the masala stuffed snakegourd rings gets finished.

Heat enough oil in a pan, shallow fry the breadcrumbs coated snakegourd rings until the crust turns golden brown.

Drain the excess of oil with a paper towel.

Enjoy warm with ketchup.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Soccor Ball Cake Pops - A Guest Post

If you are planning to make a snack that can delight your taste buds then try this cake pop. Being first timer on this blog , I am grateful to the blog owner for allowing me to share a guest blog. I would also like to introduce to the new cake pop site “How to make cake pops”. You can also find other interesting design of cake pops and other helpful steps to create a tasty cake pops by visiting this beautiful cake pop site.


INGREDIENTS
For Making Sponge cake
  • White  flour (all purpose flour) - 3/4 cup
  • baking soda - 1/4 tsp
  • baking powder - 3/4 tsp
  • vanilla essence –  1 tsp
  • sour cream  - 1/2 cup
  • salt - 1/8 tsp
  • sugar (extra, if needed) - 1/2 cup
  • oil - ¼ cup

For Decoration
  • Candy wafers - white
  • Lollipop sticks
  • Black edible gel pen to draw hexagon shapes
Making process

  1. Strain and combine purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into one bowl  and keep it aside.
  2. Then mix yogurt sugar, oil and vanilla essence  into another bowl. Whisk till you get smooth and creamy mixture.
  3. Then mix in flour mixture into wet ingredients and Mix well. Remember not to over mix the flour into wet ingredients, if you want the best cake.
  4. Switch the oven to 375 F. Bake the cake for 25 minutes or until done.
  5. Allow the cake to cool down .Once the cakes cool down, divide the cake into small pieces and scrambled it completely.
  6. Add in vanilla frosting into crumbled cake. Knead well and make cake balls .


  1. Place all cake balls into freezer for 10 to 15  minutes.
  2. Melt the candy chocolate( vanilla) into microwave for 40 seconds.
  3. Remove the cake balls out from freezer and dip lollipop stick into melted chocolate and pop in  the stick through the chilled cake balls.
  4. Dip the cake pop into meted chocolate and take out any excess chocolate to drip off before you invert the pops in the foam. Allow the cake pops to dry.
  5. Then mark the hexagon shapes on the white coated pops and fill it using black gel writer
  6. Soccer ball cake pops are ready
About the Author: Pranjali Naik is a food blogger and owner of foodydelight.

Healthy Breakfast Bar

Actually am bored to get store bought cereal bars for our breakfast,somehow i'll get the cereal bars just to feed my daguther as she dont like to have a complete breakfast. Personally i love to give a cereal bar to my daughter with a cup of milk before she leaves to her school, so that she can have the cereal bar at school if she dont feel like having immediately. Coming to this healthy breakfast bar, i prepared this bar quickly through stove top and its take less than 15minutes to make, if you have enough time to make you can go for baking mode.

With loads of seeds,nuts, rolled oats and dry fruits, this healthy bar is a prefect bar to kick start your day. This healthy breakfast bar is quite filling, wholesome,definitely an energy booster, enjoy this beautiful bars with a cup of milk for your breakfast, am sure you guys will have a super satisfying breakfast if you have enough time to have a complete breakfast. This is my third post for this week's blogging marathon as i chosed breakfast on the run as this week's theme.Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#25.


1+1/2cups Rolled oats
2tbsp Mixed seeds (flax seeds,sesame seeds,pumpkin seeds)
1tbsp Almond flakes
10nos Cashew nuts (broken as small pieces)
1/4cup Mixed Dry fruits (black & golden raisins,apricots,pineapples)
3/4cup Honey
2tbsp Brown sugar
1/4tsp Cinnamon powder
A pinch Nutmeg powder
1tsp Vanilla essence
2tbsp Butter

Dry roast the rolled oats, mixed seeds,mixed dry fruits,almond flakes,cashewnuts until a nice aroma comes out, transfer the roasted mixture to a plate.

In the same pan,heat the butter,honey,sugar,cinnamon powder,nutmeg powder,vanilla essence and cook until they starts bubbling.

Add immediately the roasted oats mixture and cook in simmer until the mixture gets off from the pan.

Immediately transfer it to a baking sheet lined over a baking pan, with a spatula press it well to form a rectangle.

Let it cool completely and slice it as bar or squares.

Enjoy with a cup of your favourite drink.