Coconut Cookies (eggless) / Nariyal ke biscuit

Sometimes you want nothing chocolate-y, sometimes you just want wholesome goodness, sometimes you need to have coconut cookies...
So I baked a batch of whole wheat coconut cookies, which turned out pretty neat.

The recipe is very simple and can be found at more places than one...I really cant remember where I jotted it from.

Ingredients

1. Whole Wheat flour- 1 cup
2. Softened butter - 100gm (1/2cup)
3. Grated coconut- 1 cup + 1Tbsp for topping
4. Icing sugar- 3/4 cup
5. Baking powder-1tsp
6. Coconut Extract- 1/2 tsp (optional)
7. Milk- 1-2 Tbsp

 Method

• Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees centigrade.
• Cream the sugar and butter. Add the extract.
• Mix the baking powder with the flour thoroughly. 
• Add the flour to the creamed sugar and butter. Mix well.
• Add grated coconut and make soft dough. Add milk if the dough seems to be too dry.
• Prepare the baking sheet by brushing it with a little butter.
• Take extra grated coconut in a flat bowl.
• Make small rounded balls, press them on the coconut flakes/grated coconut so some if them stick to it.
• Place on the sheet leaving room for the cookies to expand.
• Put the tray in the oven for 12-15 min. Keep your eyes on it. they should not burn.
• When slightly browned at the edges and just about to set, take them out let it cool in the tray for a minute or so.
• Remove and store in an air-tight container.
• Bake the rest in a similar manner.

Enjoy!!

Baby food- plantain

Plantain is of banana family. I was introduced to this food by my husband. Its normally needs to be cooked before eating.As the plantain ripens, it becomes sweeter and its color changes from green to yellow to black, just like bananas. 

Mostly we ate plantain which were salted and fried (no wonder they taste good!). 

Ripe plantains can also be fried and eaten with black eyed beans cooked in palm oil; a popular dish in Nigeria.

"Steam-cooked plantains are considered a nutritious food for infants and the elderly. A ripe plantain is used as food for infants at weaning; it is mashed with a pinch of salt and is believed to be more easily digestible than ripe banana."

sourced from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantain_(cooking)>

This is the recipe which I'm going to write about today. My baby ate the boiled plantain , mashed and mixed with honey without a hitch.  Maybe your baby will also like it..and if she doesn't well u can gulp down the tasty stuff urself…it 'll work as a snack between meals.

Ingredients

Plantain- 1, peeled and cut into a few pieces

Water

Salt to taste

Honey- 1 tsp

Butter/Ghee- 1/2 tsp

 

Method

Heat water in a pan and add the plantain pieces into it. They should be immersed in the water. Add a pinch of salt and cover the pan with a lid. Do not cover it fully, but leave it open on one side to let the steam escape. Cook on medium flame.

When the water is approximately half, check the doneness with a fork or knife.

Take out the plantain pieces, mash them and add butter/ghee and honey. Mix well . When it cools to room temperature, feed it to the baby.

Eggless Choco-orange cake with Nutella frosting

Happy new year!!

I know I've been absent from the blog space for a while now, but now I'm bacck! And we are starting this new year with this very celebratory choco-orange cake...yummm.


Choco-orange cake with nutella frosting
Adapted from Anushruti's cake 

Ingredients

200 gm (1 1/2 cups) plain flour (i use whole wheat flour, pre-milled)

50 gm (1/4 cup) cocoa powder( i used Hershey's)

30 gm (4 tbsp) fine sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda/ sodium bicarbonate

1 tin/400gm sweetened condensed milk ( Nestle)

150 gm butter melted

1 tsp Orange extract

250 ml  (1 cup) water

For soaking the sponge

Orange juice ( fresh or packed, i used packed)- 5 tbsp approximately, but you can use more if you wish to. I intend to use more next time.

Nutella frosting

 Nutella- 1/3 cup

orange extract - 1 tsp

Filling for layer

Pulp of 2-3 oranges (or mausmi/moshumbi)  - about 1/2 cup

Icing sugar- 25 gm (5-6 spoons approx.)

20 gm butter

Method

1. Grease and line the bases of cake tin with greaseproof paper/baking parchment/butter paper.

2. Assemble the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and baking soda, mix with a fork and sieve once to make the mixture uniform.

3. Preheat the oven at about 150 c/300F.

4. Add in the condensed milk, melted butter, vanilla and water. Beat with an electric hand mixer or whisk till the mixture is uniform and smooth and there are no lumps. Do not overbeat.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 50-60 min. or until a skewer or toothpick comes out clean.

6. After the cake is, allow to rest in their tins forsome time and then cool them by keeping them on a cooling rack.

7. When the cake is cooled, slice it from the middle and divide into 2 parts. Sprinkle the Orange juice. Keep both parts seperate and leave them overnight.

Filling

Mix all the ingredients together and leave it overnight.

Frosting

Put Nutella in the microwave for 10-15 sec to make it smoother in consistancy, add orange extract and whip it to mix well.

 Assemble the cake

Spread the filling on the bottom portion of the cake and place the upper part on it. Press gently. Now spread the nutella frosting on the top and sides with a flat spoon or butter knife. You can sprinkle a little icing sugar or white chocolate chips on it.

Devour the yummy cake...;)

enjoy

Milky Vanilla cupcakes- easy eggless recipe

A friend of mine was faced with a dilemma. Her son was asked to get "cupcakes" for the cristmas party which they were having at their school. Not really into baking; she wondered what to do as they had to get home made stuff.

That's when I came into picture. She knew my relations with the oven were good :-) and asked me to make cupcakes for her son. Always looking for an excuse to bake something new, I jumped at the suggestions and soon was busy digging into all the recipes I've got and searching the internet for more.

As per her suggestion, I decided not to frost them as they might get spoiled on the way, but could not help myself from sprinkling some chocolate on it.

Here's the recipe. (Adapted/modified from divinetaste)
Makes 12 big muffins

You'll need:
1. 210 gm (1 1/2 cups) plain flour/maida/All purpose flour
2. 1 tsp baking powder
3. 1 tsp baking soda
4. 100 gm (3/4 cup) milk powder (full fat)
5. 100 gm (3/4 cup) fine sugar
6. 100 gm (1/2 cup) butter, melted
7. 250 ml milk (I've used low fat)
8. 1 tsp vanilla extract
9. Chocolate drops- to decorate (You can use chocolate chips also)
 
Method:
1) Line your muffin tray with cupcake or muffin liners. Or grease and dust them with flour if you don’t want to use the liners.
2) Preheat the oven to 180 C/350F.
3) In another large bowl, put in the flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix well with a fork.
4) Put in the milk powder and the sugar into the flour and mix well.
5) Stir in the melted butter, vanilla extract and the milk and mix gently with the whisk. Do not over mix.
6) With the help of a spoon fill the prepared moulds with the batter (till 3/4 of the cup) and sprinkle some chocolate drops on them.
7) Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean.

I tasted it as soon as it was done. It was warm, fluffy, moist and a delight to look at. Just the right amount of suger for me, but some people may want to reduce it to 1/2 cup if they are using suger procured in India (I find that sugar much sweeter than what we get here).

Now there is only one question - Will the kids like it?

Fruit chutney- sweet & spicy

I was looking for something fun to cook (meaning- little effort and great taste) when I stumbled upon this one in my archive. This one is for the keeps, trust me. The lovely blend of berry's tartness, date's sweetness and chili's spiciness with the hint of ginger makes you go yumm…..

Since I did not have all the ingredients of the original recipe,so I modified it a little, but essentials are the same.

Ingredients:
1. 1 large Tomato, Chopped
2. 2 Cups of Chopped Strawberry (Fresh or Frozen)
3. 1 katori(200 ml) Pitted Dates- chopped
4. 1 Red Apple chopped into small pieces
5. 1 teaspoon of Mustard Seeds
6. 1 Red Dry Chilli
7. 1″  Cinnamon Sticks
8. 1 Hot Green Chilli Pepper, chopped
9. 1″ Ginger Peeled & grated
10. 1 Cup Sugar
11. 1 Tablespoon Vinegar
12. 1 Cup Orange Juice

Preparation:

1. Heat a pot.
2. Add the mustard seeds, Red Dry Chilli & the Cinnamon sticks.
3. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add all the other ingredients and simmer at low heat, till the Fruits are soft & mushy & the consistency gets thick enough to coat a spoon. I just kept it on fire and got busy in preparing dinner with occasional checking in between. It took about 40 minutes to be done.
4. Pour the Chutney mixture into sterilized jar whilst still hot. Cover with an airtight, plastic lid. A metal lid will be corroded due to action of spices and vinegar, so it is not advisable to use it.
5. Keep it in the refrigerator after the jar cools down to room temperature

Serving suggestions

You can make a sandwich, or serve it with rolls, croissant, buns etc.
I enjoyed it with the Indian chapatti too! as an accompaniment , since I'm not much of a pickle eater.

Home-made Chocolate granola

I've never been the one to eat much packaged cereals. For me breakfast has been mostly a typical Indian fare of paranthas, pohas, suji upma, vegetable daliya etc. That was until I discovered how easy was it to have variations with the daily cereal. I also came accross this recipe on 'delicious days'(blog by Nicole Stich), which made my cereal bowl even tastier!

Ingredients
Modified slightly from the original recipe
1. Chocolate - 50 gm (I've used 70% cocoa)
2. Brown sugar- 1/2 cup
3. Water - 1/2 cup
4. Oats (Quaker)- 1 & 1/2 cup
5. Extra virgin Olive oil- 30 ml
6. Honey- 60 ml
7. Desiccated coconut- 1 tbsp
8. Almonds- 1 Oz, about 10 in number
9. Coco powder- 1 tbsp
10. Cinnamon- 1/4 tsp
11. Pinch of salt

Method
1) Preheat the oven at 180 degrees centigrade for 10 min.
2) Put water and brown sugar in a pan and bring it to boil , till sugar dissolves.
3) Remove from heat, let it cool for a few minutes.
4) Add oil, honey and lastly chopped chocolate and stir until blended well.
5) In a medium sized bowl put oats, almonds, coconut, coco powder, cinnamon and salt.
6) Pour the chocolate syrup on the oats and mix well.

7) Spread this mixture as chunks evenly on the baking sheet.
8) Adjust the temperature to 165 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes.
9) Check frequently and stir in between.
10) After baking, let it cool completely before storing as it'll develop its crunchiness during cooling.

Serving suggestions
Add a little to your breakfast cereal or yogurt to make it sweet and chocolatey
Can be used as a topping for ice-creams, smoothies etc.