Sugar Cookies

Christmas goody bag is incomplete without sugar cookies.  It is soft and sugary taste.  It can be shaped the way you like with a cookie cutter e.g.. Star, bells, Christmas tree, etc. Then decorate it with royal icing or sugar icing. 

So, try to make it this Christmas and impress your loved one with this special treat.

Ingredient

Maida/ flour – 2 cups

Butter – ½ cup
Caster sugar – ½ cup + 2tbsp
Egg – 1
Baking powder -1tsp
Vanilla essence – ½ tsp
 

Method

1.  Mix together maida and baking powder.

2.  Cream together butter and sugar till light and fluffy.

3.  Now add egg and mix well.

4.  Mix in the maida  and knead lightly to combine.

5.  Cover in a cling wrap and keep in refrigerator for 3 to 4 hrs.

6.  Take it out. Roll it and shape into cookies.

7.  Bake at 180⁰c for 10 min.

8.  Cool and decorate.

Fresh Fruit Jam – Homemade

This is again a recipes which I got from my mother’s diary. As a child I never like it because I felt the bottled ones are better.  But now I feel this is better. 

Why I made this after years is a story.  I am going on vacation and my fruit basket is filled with fruit which I got from different sources.  As I was clearing up the dining table, I saw the fruits and wondered what to do with these fruit.  In a normal scenario it would have gone to my neighbor, but she is already gone on vacation. That’s when the childhood memories came back and I immediately call up my father to find by mothers diary and get the recipe. And he hunted for diary and gave me the recipe the same night.  I prepare it immediately. 

I enjoyed making it and became a little nostalgic. 

Anyway try it enjoy it with bread, roti and just a spoonful when that sweet craving walks in.  And don’t forget to comment back or put questions.

 

 

Ingredient

Mixed fruit – 1kg (cut into small pieces)

(I have taken 2 apple, 2 guava, 4 banana, 100gm grapes, 2 oranges.  But you can take a choice of any fruit) 
Sugar – 750gm
Citric acid – 1tsp
Sodium Benzoate – 1 pinch
Pink Color – few drops  

Method

1.  Remove the skin and cut the fruits into small cubes, peel the orange and de-segment it, then remove the skin and only use the pulp.

2. Cook this fruits in a heavy bottom pan. If required put a little water, so that it does not stick to the pan.

3.  When the fruits are half cooked add the sugar, mix well, cover with a lid and keep cooking till the fruits become into pulp. 

4.  Now strain this mixture. Use the pulp which is collected in the container and discard the remaining in the strainer. 

5.  Pour the pulp back into the heavy bottom pan and cook it in low heat, till it attains a thick consistency.

6.  Add citric acid, sodium benzoate and the colour, mix well and put off the heat.

7.  Let it cool a little and then transfer into glass bottle.

Note : Keep stirring in between.

 

Fresh Strawberry & Ganache Cake

It is strawberry season, and there are fresh strawberry available all over the market.  Chocolate and Strawberry  is a heavenly and romantic combination. So tried to make something special out of this combination. It was well appreciated.

Ingredient

For the Cake

Flour/maida - 250gm

Granulated sugar – 250gm
Butter – 250gm
Egg - 250gm (ie. 5eggs)
Baking powder - 1tsp
Vanilla essence - 1tsp

For the Icing

Dark cooking chocolate – 300gm
Cream – 200gm ( I use Amul Tetrapak cream)
Fresh Strawberry - 20
Silver balls - 20

Method

For the Cake

1. Sever flour & baking powder together .

2. Powder the granulated sugar .
3. Preheat the oven to 180⁰c for 5 min.
4. In a bowl beat the soft butter and sugar powder ( 1 min with a beater or 5/6 min with hand)
5. To this add egg and beat. ( 2 min with beater or about 8 min by hand).
6. Add essence and mix .
7. Now fold in the flour.
8. Grease and dust a 8” x 8” round container
9. Pour the mixture into it.
10. Bake at 18⁰0c for 45 min or till the knife come out clean
11. Transfer it to a rack and let it cool completely about 2 hrs. OR you can prepare it overnight.

For the icing

12.  Boil the cream, when it starts boiling, switch of the heat.
13.  Add the grated white chocolate and mix well, the white chocolate starts melting.
14.  When the mixture becomes a thick liquid, sieve it with the big meshed sieve.
15.  When it cools down, it is ready for icing.

To assemble the cake

 
16.   In a bowl cut 5 to 6 strawberry in to small piece
17.   To this mix 2 tbsp of the ganache. Mix well .
18.   Cut the cake horizontally from the center to make 2 equal half.
19.   Place the bottom half of the cake on the icing stand.
20.   Spread the ganache and strawberry mixture evenly on this.
21.   Now place the other half of the cake on top of it in a sandwich form.  
22.   Spread the remaining Ganache on top of the cake and spread all over the cake and the sides, evening.
23.   Cut the remaining strawberry into thin slices lengthwise.
24.   Now decorate the ganache covered cake with these strawberry and sliver balls.
25.   Refrigerate this cake for a hour or till it sets.

Now it is ready to cut and taste.  

Mummy's Basic Cake Recipe

My first baking lessons where given by my mom. She made yummy rum cakes for Christmas in her old fashioned round oven. We all relish it. The place we grew up, cake making was not very common. So she was a super baker in her own way. Her underlined theory was there are 4 main ingredient for cake i.e butter, sugar, egg & flour. And all should be in equal proportion. In a way this is drilled into my head. Any way this recipe is for a 1kg cake, where I have taken all the ingredients in the measurement of 250gm which totals out to be 1kg.  

 

Ingredient

Flour/maida  - 250gm

Granulated sugar – 250gm
Butter – 250gm
Egg - 250gm (ie. 5eggs)
Baking powder - 1tsp
Vanilla essence - 1tsp

Method

1.            Sever flour & baking powder together .

2.            Powder the granulated sugar .
3.            Preheat the oven to 180⁰c for 5 min.
4.            In a bowl beat the soft butter and sugar powder ( 1 min with a beater or 5/6 min with hand)
5.            To this add egg and beat. ( 2 min with beater or about 8 min by hand).
6.            Add essence and mix .
7.            Now fold in the flour.
8.            Grease and dust a 8” x 8” round container
9.            Pour the mixture into it.
10.        Bake at 18⁰0c for 45 min
 

Tips :

To check if the cake is baked from inside insert a tooth pick or a skewer, if it comes clean then the cake is baked properly. If not you can keep it for 5 more min.

Tangy Mushroom Clear Soup

Winters are here and hot soups are always relished. But for some reason not known to me I was scared of making soup.  And because of this I always ended up preparing packet soups.  This season I have thought of trying my hands on soup. This one is my first attempt and was pretty clear.  

My son liked it, so you can also try.

Ingredient

Fresh button mushrooms - 6 sliced

Spring onion – 1 chopped
Garlic – 2 cloves chopped
Vegetable stock cube – ½ cube (I use maggi veg stock)
Water – 3½  cups
Soya sauce – ½ tsp.
Black peppercorn – 8 to 10 crushed
Fresh coriander stalk – chopped (the part above the root)
Lemon juice – ½ tsp.
Vermicelli – ¼ cup semi cooked (optional)
Oil – ½ tsp.
Salt to taste
 

Method

1.     Boil the stock cube with the water.

2.     Heat oil in a wok
3.     Add spring onion and garlic and sauté over medium heat for a minute.
4.     Add the mushroom and continue to sauté for another minute.
5.     Add the boiled stalk
6.     Now add soya sauce, crushed peppercorn, coriander stalk and salt. Simmer a cook for 5 min.
7.     Mix in the vermicelli and cook for 1 more min
8.     Put off the heat and add the lemon juice.

9.  Serve hot in Individual soup bowls.

Ginger Bread Man Cookies

Christmas is near the corner, and the festive mood is back again. I start my baking season with ginger bread man cookies. This is an adaptation the site joy of baking.  It was sweet and spice. And I enjoyed decorating it.

Please try it and send your feedback.  

 

Ingredient

Maida/ all purpose floor – 3cups

Salt – ¼ tsp
Baking soda – ¾ tsp
Dry Ginger powder – 2 tsp
Cinnamon powder – 1tsp
Nutmeg powder – ¼ tsp
Clover powder – ¼ tsp
White butter – 100gm + 1tbsp (around ½ cup)
Granulated white sugar – 100gm (1/2 cup)
Tight packed brown sugar granulated – 160gm (2/3 cup)
Egg - 1

Method

1.   In a large bowl, swift together the flour, salt, baking soda and spices.
2.   In another bowl beat the butter and both the sugar with electric mixer until light & fluffy.
3.   Add egg and beat until well combined.
4.   Gradually add the flour mixture to form a dough.
5.   Take and ball size portion of the dough.
6.   Roll the dough to ¼ inch thick.
7.   Cut the cookies with the ginger bread man cutter.
8.   Line the baking sheet with butter paper and place the cookies.
9.   Pre heat the oven and place the rack in the center.
10. Place the baking sheet on the rack and bake for 15 min, depending on the size of the cookies.

Team Building and cooking

Last week I had gone for team building with my team to Udaipu. It was at beautiful Lake resort called Jaisamand Island Resort. It’s a beautiful location, on the island in Jai Samand lake, which was built by Maharana Jai Singh in 17th century. It was great fun with lots of team building activity and partying.

While the team was parting and clicking great pictures of the resort, the scenic beauty and the people. I got into the resort’s kitchen and tried to learn some authentic Rajasthan Cuisine and did some Food Photography.

Here’s what I learnt ; Gatte ke Sabzi, Dal Batti, Churma, Kair Sangari and Bajre ka khichra. I will start trying and posting recipes of all these once I am in my full strength. Till then it’s just the photographs.

Gatte ke Sabzi :

 

 Kair Sangari :

 

 

Bajre ka khichra :

 

Batti :

 

Churma :

 

 Other Clicks

Salted Shankarpara

I made this for my elder son, because he like it and carries it to school as tit-bit snacks. In our childhood day, mummy use to make it regularly. Any time we are hungry and she is not there, there was a standard steel container which was always filled with it. Now I wonder, when she use to fill it. Anyway try it with a evening cup of tea and let me know how it feels.

Ingredient

Maida/ all purpose floor – 250gm

Salt – as per taste
Ajwain/carom seeds – 1 tsp
Ghea – 1 tsp
Water – as required
Oil – to fry
 
Method

1.  In a big bowl mix all the dry ingredients.
2.  To this add water little by little to make dough. It should not be sticky ( similar to a chapatti dough.
3.  Take a lemon size piece of dough, roll it into a chappati.
4.  No with a zig zag cutter / pizza cutter / knife cut the chappati’s length wise into long strip.
5.  Then cut it diagonally to get diamond shape.
6.  Fry this diamond cuts till it becomes golden brown.
7. This can be served as snacks and can be stored in a airtight container for a week.

Fudgy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a recipe which I got from a magazine called Club Class which I flicked from my bosses cabin. It look simple so I tried it and it came out well. You can also try and enjoy it and send in your feedback.  

Ingredient

Maida/ all purpose floor – 230gm

Baking powder – ½ tsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
Butter – 200gm
White sugar – 75gm
Dark brown sugar – 110gm
Egg – 1
Chocolate – 200gm  

Method

1.        Sift flour, baking powder and salt, keep aside.

2.        Beat butter and both the sugar in a mixing bowl for few min.
3.        Add in the egg and beat the mixture.
4.        Fold in flour and chocolate chips and mix well. It form a soft dough.
5.        Grease a cookie tray.

6.        Take a spoonful of the mixture, roll and gently flatten (don’t flatted it as the mixture will spread).

7.        Place it on the tray leaving enough space between two cookies for it to spread.

8.        Bake at 170⁰C for 12 min.

9.        Remove from the oven, loosen the cookies while still warm, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely (handle it carefully, because when it is warm it has the tendency for breaking). 

10.     Now enjoy the cookies.

Carrot cupcake with white chocolate icing

This is one of my creation with fresh seasonal carrot and I am loving it.  

 

 

 

Ingredient

Maida/ all purpose floor – 100gm

White butter – 100gm
Castor sugar – 100gm
Egg – 2
Grated carrot – 150 gm
Cinnamon powder – ½ tsp
Baking powder – ½ tsp

For the icing

White cooking chocolate – 400gm

Cream – 200gm ( I use amul cream)
Rum – 1 tsp (optional) (u can substitute rum with essence)

Method

1.    Pre heat the oven to 170⁰C
2.    Sieve the maida and baking powder together as keep aside.
3.    Mix butter and sugar with a beater till is mixes well
4.    Add egg one at a time and mix till it becomes fluffy.
5.    To this add the cinnamon powder and mix for a second.
6.    Now mix grated carrot with a spatula.
7.    And then add the maida, little quality at a time and mix with a cut fold method.
8.    In the cupcake molds put the paper liners ( around 10 molds)
9.    Put 1 tbsp each of the batter into each mold.
10.  Bake it at 170⁰C for 25 min

For the icing

11.   Boil the cream, when it starts boiling, switch of the heat.
12.   Add the grated white chocolate and mix well, the white chocolate starts melting.
13.   When the mixture becomes a thick liquid, sieve it with the big meshed sieve.
14.   To this add the rum and mix well
15.   When it cools down, it is ready for icing.