Friday 21 December 2018

Merry Christmas!! with a Panettone!!

"HO...HO..HO!! Jingle bells Jingle bells..jingle all the way. Santa Clause is coming to town riding on a sleigh!" Yayyy!! Sooo?? Are you ready to welcome Santa, coming in 3 days 😉😉☺☺...
I am ready now...with this Panettone....the new found love here in UK. It is a rich, moist, fluffy, soft and sweet Italian bread which is a kind of cross between a cake and a bread. Sounds yumm, no??!! I know....but wait till you bake your own to relish...THAT my friend, is HEAVENLY 😇😇.

Wednesday 28 November 2018

Saturday 11 August 2018

Fudgiest Double chocolate Brownies (EGGLESS and WHOLEWHEAT)

Did you know that dark chocolate is exceptionally good for your health? It has loads of anti-oxidants to rejuvenate our body and mood both. And what if it is presented to you in the yummiest possible way (ohh! I know, chocolates are yummy in themselves. But for me brownies are even more yummy😋😋😊😊)....and what if I tell u that it is eggless and free from refined flours...ahhhh!! Got u now😄😄....!! So here are my wholewheat double chocolate brownies...that are hands-down the yummiest and fudgiest brownies EVER!!

Friday 27 July 2018

Kesar-pista Naankhatai (Eggless Indian Shortbreads)

Hi friends!! This is going to be the shortest post in my history of blogging. Not because of lack of time, but because a batch of these beauties is in the oven and I need to go check on both...my cookies, as well as my toddler who is waiting patiently at the oven door for the cookies to come out. My kid is also a hardcore naankhatai lover (just like her mom)!! And I am sure you too will become one after trying these out....


Wednesday 27 June 2018

Marbled Loaf Cake

If you are a foodie and you get a chance to travel, you tend to subconsciously pick up certain textures and tastes that linger on long in memory. And they needn't be something elaborate....usually it is the simple rustic things that stay back with me. So my today's post is actually dedicated to a slice of Marbled Loaf Cake that I had in Starbucks enroutè Edinburgh. It was light and simple but its texture n taste was simply yummm. I am not intending to replicate it here...but that slice did remind me of the fact that my blog doesn't have a recipe of this vintage beauty yet!! So here is my recipe of this classic cake. Please note that this is not a copycat recipe of Starbucks cake...but flavour n taste-wise is better than that, as it is homamade with love, and without any added preservatives/chemicals.....hope you will love it as much as we do at our home.....

Friday 15 June 2018

NAAN-KHATAI: EGGLESS CINNAMON COOKIES



The word "naan-khatai" always rings fond, nostalgic memories for me; it being associated with my naani (maternal granny)....no....not just literally ("naan" khatai!!) but through her cooking. She used to bake the perfect naan-khatais, and keeping our little hands off it was impossible. This was always a featured request from us kiddies, on all her visits without fail. Her recipe eluded us a lot after she was gone, as there was no documentation. Somehow after many years, I found her recipe, quietly tucked away in my mother's recipe diary....and obviously my joy knew no bounds!! So this is my grandmother's recipe that I'm going to share today.

nankhatai

Thursday 12 April 2018

Wholewheat-Oats flour-Honey Blueberry Muffins: Healthy and Nutritious!! No white sugar!

An oft asked question to any baker is...what is the difference between a cupcake and a muffin?? They look the same...right?!! Well! not everything that looks same is actually same! Technically speaking, a muffin is a cousin of quick breads...and a cupcake is the cousin of cake. If you look at their crumbs, muffin has coarse texture, unlike the fine smooth crumbs of a cupcake. Their processing is also different. Muffins use the "wet-dry ingredients" method of mixing...cupcakes rely on creaming method. Taste-wise, muffins are drier than cupcakes and definitely need Jam, butter, juice or milk alongwith. Cupcakes are buttery treats...screaming occasional indulgence. But whether it is a muffin or a cupcake...it is loved by one and all. Seriously! who can say no to them.
These blueberry muffins are made with Wholewheat and oats flour (no All-purpose flour) and sweetened with Honey instead of Sugar...wholesome and nutritious, with a lot of fibre punch from oats!!

Saturday 17 March 2018

Baking Eggless Challenge #5: Eggless Orange Fruit n Nut Pound Cake

Hii friends! For our Eggless Challenge this month, Gayathri gave us a Pound Cake Recipe...now we all know what a Pound cake is. The main characteristic of a Pound cake is its dense and tight crumbs and rich taste and texture. Getting the same tight crumbs and dense texture, without the cake being heavy and doughy, is a real challenge. All the egg substitutes I tried to replicate the egg based pound cake texture, didn't really satisfy me. They either turned spongy or had a different taste profile...unlike a pound cake. I tried and experimented to my heart's content with every possible thing, and finally had my Eureka moment when I hit on this one...quite accidentally!! The credit for this month's egg-free recipe goes to my toddler...it was while browsing the nutrition analysis of various diets to feed her that the thought of using Nuts as egg substitute struck me...and you can see the result! I am really really satisfied with the taste as well as the texture. This cake wins hands down on all the points. Dense and tight, yet light and moist...and definitely as rich as a pound cake should be...yay!!!! we have a Winner here...

Sunday 25 February 2018

Eggless Wholewheat and Oats flour Naankhatai

Sometimes nostalgia hits you so strong that you feel compelled to take a dive in your memory. Yesterday, me and my childhood friend were chatting about the stuff our kids make us do and how pampered their lifestyle is...as happens, the chat swerved from "our kids" to "us as kids"..to school....and eventually, to our tiffins!! She still remembered the naankhatais I would bring to school (we munched them during class😁) and moaned the fact that despite having my recipe she's unable to recreate the taste. I assured her, the recipe is same, what's missing is my granny's love. It was she who used to bake these scrumptious cookies for us...and I guess we will be able to replicate that taste when we become grannys...we both laughed and put the matter to rest. But the naankhatai bug had bit me and I was itching for some baking, so after putting my kiddo to sleep, I went for my round of baking these delectable cookies...but with a healthy twist..Oats flour!!

Friday 16 February 2018

Baking Eggless Challenge#3: Eggless Japanese Milk Bread Loaf (Tangzhong method)

So I am back, with successfully completing our first challenge for the month of February, given by Gayathri. This time it was Milk bread, using Tangzhong method, also called "roux method" or, "cooked dough" method. The science behind it is that using roux enables to retain moisture to a larger extent, resulting in softer and moister bread....and it sure does!!! The resulting bread is soooo soft that you would want to sleep in it😉😊

Monday 5 February 2018

Baking Eggless Challenge#2: Eggless Victoria Sponge

Phew!! This January flew so fast, the first month of the new year gone in the blink of an eye. A major part of this time was spent in zeroing in for a pre-school for my toddler. Being hyperactive she gets bored pretty quickly....and keeping her wits challenged all the time has become a challenge for my dim-wits 😃😃. She has become extra clingy too!! Her "terrible twos" have started and are giving me one hell of a time. Hence pre-school seemed to be the best option to siphon off her extra energy!! Anyways! back to the topic now...we baked cookies for our first challenge (you can read about it here), so for the second challenge of Jan. month Gayathri gave us a basic sponge cake recipe, also called Victoria Sponge.

Saturday 3 February 2018

Mascarpone Quatre-quart studded with cherries and walnuts

Quatre quart (meaning Four Fourths) is a classic French recipe, akin to a pound cake. It's called so, as it uses 4 ingredients in equal parts by weight, viz. flour, butter, eggs and sugar. The Brittany region of France, where it is supposed to have originated, doesn't use anything apart from the basic 4 ingredients. However, as with all other recipes, variations and tweaks have sprung up to cater to the local tastes and produce. Here's my version, using Mascarpone cheese instead of butter...

Saturday 13 January 2018

The PERFECT Eggless Chocolate chip cookies...soft, chewy and crunchy on the outside!

Hi friends!! A very Happy New Year to you all. Hope you all ringed in the new year in healthy and happy spirits. We too had loads of fun celebrating it with our friends and wishing our families back home through Duos and Watsapp. For the baker in me, the New year became extra special when Gayathri  announced Season 2 of the Baking eggless challenge.....remember all the fun we had last time??! (you can read about it here and here). This time she'll be giving us 2 recipes a month, to convert to eggless....wooow, isn't it!! 
For this month's first challenge, it was the famous Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies. Now these are some cookies that are my family's absolute favorite, so I was pretty excited, as well as a bit apprehensive, whether I'll be able to replicate the chewy texture without the egg. But bingo!!! found out egg can be subbed without compromising on the original texture....