Vanilla Panna Cotta

 

 

A quick and perfect italian dessert!

If you enjoy that creamy texture that melts in the mouth then this is your calling 🙂

Ingredients:

• Milk – 250 ml
• Cream – 250 ml
• Gelatine – 1 1/2 tbsp
• Vanilla Essence – 1 tbsp
• Cardamon – 3 no.
• Cinnamon Powder – 1/2 tsp
• Sugar – 25 gms

Method:

• Sprinkle gelatine over 1/2 cup of cold water and let stand for 2 minutes.
• Then on slow flame, stir continuously till the gelatine is dissolved
• Heat cream and milk with vanilla essence, crushed cardamon seeds and cinnamon powered.
• Add the sugar and gelatine and stir well until everything is melted, do not boil.
• Pour into 6 serving cups.
• Refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours.

You can serve fruits purees, ganache or just with a dollop of your favourite jam.

 

 

Lebanese Cake

The texture and taste of this cake is very different from the other cakes I have made. And it’s definitely a healthier option as we use semolina in it and very less flour. This cake does take longer in the oven, but definitely worth the wait.

Ingredients:

• Semolina (Suji) – 1 1/2 cups 
• Flour – 1/2 cup
• Turmeric powder – 1/2 tsp
• Baking powder – 1 1/2 tsp
• Sugar – 1 cup
• Milk – 1 cup
• Oil – 1/2 cup

Method:

• Preheat the oven at 180C; and grease a baking tin
• Sieve together semolina, flour, turmeric and baking powder and mix well
• In a big bowl, combine milk and sugar and stir till the sugar is dissolved
• Add the dry mixture and oil to it; beat with the electric mixer for 5 minutes on medium speed
• Pour the batter into the prepared baking tin
• Bake for 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the centre comes out clean
• Let it cool in the oven for 5 minutes before you take it out
• Garnish with powdered sugar (optional)

And it’s ready to eat 🙂

Cinnamon Rolls

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Adapted from Krissy’s Creations

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• Flour – 2 ¾ cup
• Sugar – 2 tbsp
• Baking Powder – 1 ¼ tsp
• Baking Soda – ½ tsp
• Salt – pinch
• Milk – 1 ½ cups
• Unsalted Butter – 6 tbsp (Melted)

 For the filling:

• Unsalted Butter – 2 tbsp (Melted)
• Sugar – 2 tbsp
• Cinnamon – 1 tbsp

For the glaze:

• Confectioners Sugar – 2 cups
• Milk – 1 tbsp

Method: 

For the dough and filling:

• Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, in the bowl
• Add the milk and melted butter and mix until a dough starts to form
• Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and begin kneading the dough with your hands until a dough ball forms.  If the dough starts to become too sticky, add more flour a little bit at a time
• Now roll out the dough into a large rectangle that is about ¼-inch thick.
• Combine the sugar, cinnamon and melted butter for the filling in a small bowl and then spread it on the dough; being sure to cover the complete surface
• Starting with the shorter end of the rectangle, slowly roll the dough up into a long, tight log.
• Flour the edges of a sharp knife, and carefully cut the log into 1 to 1½-inch thick rolls.  To cut the rolls, rock your knife back and forth, being careful not to press too much into the dough.
• Place the rolls on the prepared baking sheet, and bake the rolls until the dough starts to turn a light golden brown, about 10-15 minutes.
• Remove the rolls from the oven, and allow them to cool

For the glaze:

• Whisk together confectioners sugar and in a medium bowl until the glaze is lump-free and is thick, liquid consistency.
• If the glaze is too thick, add more milk a little bit at a time, and if it too thin, add more confectioners sugar.

To serve, drizzle the glaze over each cinnamon roll.  If you are not serving the rolls immediately, wait to glaze the rolls right before eating.

Enjoy 🙂

Chocolate Pizza

I like this invention! For this recipe I used a pizza base bought from the market, but I have also made thin crust pizza base at home. That is crispier and healthier.

Ingredients:

• Pizza base – 2 no
• Chocolate chunks – 100 gm
• Cream – 1/2 cup
• Assorted Fruit – 1/2 cup
• Assorted Nuts – 1/2 cup
• Maply Syrup – 1 tsp
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Method:

• Preheat the oven at 150C
• Grill the pizza base for 5 minutes, and take it out
• For the chocolate sauce, heat the cream till boiling then add chocolate chunks, vanilla essence and maple syrup to it
• Put a spoonful of the chocolate sauce on the pizza base, top it up with the fruit and nut. I used kiwis, grapes and cashews!
• Grill it for another 5 minutes and take it out from the oven
• Using a pizza cutter, slice the chocolate pizza and serve warm

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Centre and Dark Chocolate Glaze

These cupcakes are to die for! I can eat them over and over again all day. But on second thoughts that’s definitely not a good idea, imagine the amount of exercise I would have to do to burn it out.

I came across this recipe online, and again started my experiment at 10 o’clock at night. Yes, I mostly start baking at that time. The one odd thing I realized was that all the dry ingredients are mixed first and the butter and sugar is added to it, which is the opposite of how I bake all the cakes. So the texture of this cupcake was a little stiff, and I was worried about how it would turn out once baked. To my surprise, it was really soft and melted in my mouth! :):)

Do try this recipe and send me pictures 🙂

Ingredients:

For Cupcake:

• Cake flour – 1 1/2 cup
• Baking powder – 1 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt – 1/4 teaspoon
• Butter – 8 tablespoon
• Sugar – 1 cup
• Eggs – 2 no.
• Vanilla essence – 1 teaspoon
• Milk – 1/2 cup
• Strawberry crush – 1/2 cup

For Glaze:

• Heavy cream – 1/2 cup
• Maple Syrup – 1 tablespoon
• Dark chocolate chunks 100 grams
• Vanilla essence – 2 teaspoon

Method:

For Cupcake:

• Preheat the oven at 180C
• Sieve and mix flour, baking powder and salt
• Beat in the butter gradually, and then add the sugar and thoroughly mix it.
• Beat in the eggs, vanilla essence and milk
• Half fill the cupcake liners and create a well in the center; add the strawberry crush in it and top it up more cupcake batter
• Bake for 20 minutes at 180C
• Let it cool before glazing it

For Glaze:

• Heat the cream in the microwave until it boils which would be approximately 1 minute
• Add the maple syrup, vanilla essence and dark chocolate chunks to the cream and let it stay for 3 minutes
• With a spatula mix the glaze till all chocolate has melted
• Refrigerate for 20 minutes and decorate the cupcakes

Banoffee Pie

Ingredients:

• Marie Biscuits – 1 packet
• Melted Butter – 2 tbsp
• Condensed Milk – 1 tin
• Banana – 2
• Rich Cream – 250 grams
• Icing Sugar – 2 tsp
• Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp
• Chocolate

Method:

Layer 1

•   Crush the biscuits and add the melted butter to it. Set it in the bowl and put in fridge for five minutes.

Layer 2

•   Boil the tin of condensed milk for two hours and put a thin layer of it on layer 1

Layer 3

•   Slice the banana into thin pieces and put on layer 2

Layer 4 

•  Beat the rich cream with sugar and vanilla essence till fluffy and put on layer 3
•  Use some crushed chocolate/coffee and cinnamon powder for decoration.

Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

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Ingredients:

For Cake:

• Cake flour – 1 1/4 cups
• Sugar – 3/4 cup
• Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
• Salt – 1/2 tsp
• Cocoa powder – 1/2 tsp
• Olive oil – 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp
• Buttermilk – 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp
• Egg – 1
• Red food coloring – 1 tbsp
• Vanilla extract – 1/2 tsp
• Vinegar – 1/2 tsp

Foe Cream Cheese Frosting:

• Powdered sugar – 3/4 cup
• Hung Curd – 1 cup
• Unsalted butter – 4 tbsp
• Vanilla extract – 1/2 tspk

Method:

For Cake:

• Sift together the cake flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder into a bowl. Set aside
• In another bowl, mix together the olive oil, buttermilk, egg, red food coloring, vanilla extract and vinegar with a beater
• Slowly add in the dry ingredients on low speed until almost combined
• Pour the batter into a lightly greased loaf pan
• Bake at 250 degrees F for 1 hour.

For the cream cheese frosting:

• Sift the powdered sugar into a bowl. Set it aside.
• Whisk together the butter for a couple of minutes until fluffy then add the cream cheese and mix well
• Add in the vanilla extract and mix
• On low speed, add in the powdered sugar
• Then increase the speed to medium high and mix for 2 minutes until the frosting is smooth.
• Invert the cake and take it out of the pan. Slice it from the center and spread the frosting. Now do the same on the top of the cake and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Substitutes:

Buttermilk: In a cup of milk add 1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Cake Flour: For one cup of cake flour, in a cup add 2 tbsps of cornstarch and fill with all purpose flour.

Apple Pie

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Ingredients:

For Crust:

• Flour – 1 cup
• Cold butter – 8 tbsp
• Ice water – 1/4 cup
• Salt – 1/2 tsp
• Sugar – 1/2 tsp
• Egg White – 1  (to wash)

For Filling:

• Apples – 4 no. (peeled, cored, diced)
• Sugar – 4 tbsp
• Cinnamon – 1 tbsp
• Clove – 4 no

Method:

For Crust:

• Mix the dry ingredients on a marble surface (Marble is best because it keeps the ingredients cold, and cold ingredients are the key to producing a tender, flaky pie crust.)
• Dice the butter into small pieces and cut it into the dry mixture with a fork to ensure that you make a flaky pie crust.
• Gather the pie crust mixture into the center of your preparation surface and create a well in the center of the mixture, gradually add the ice cold water
• Knead it a few times till dough is formed

For Filling:

• In a pan without lid, add the apples and sugar and stir to combine the sugar with apples
• Mix in the cloves and cinnamon and keep gas on simmer and cook for 30 minutes or till water is dried out and apples are soft.

For Pie:

• Roll out the dough in a square and in the center put the stewed apples
• Now cut the dough in horizontal lines, 1 inch away from each other
• Start folding it from the top; first the left and then the right alternating it to form the braided effect
• With a brush egg wash the pie
• Bake in oven for 20 minutes

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

• Butter – 1 tablespoon
• Cinnamon Raisin Bread – 8 slices
• Milk – 2 cups
• Semisweet/Dark Chocolate – 80 gms
• Eggs – 2
• Brown Sugar – 1/2 cup
• Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp
• Icing Sugar – for sprinkling

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Lightly butter baking dish; set aside.
• Toast bread in the oven or toaster until lightly crisped.
• In a medium saucepan, combine milk, chocolate, and butter; place over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until chocolate has melted, about 5 minutes.
• Tear bread into large pieces; scatter evenly in prepared baking dish. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, granulated sugar, and vanilla. Whisk in warm milk mixture until combined. Pour over bread.
• Bake until pudding has puffed and is firm, about 25 minutes. Cool at least 10 minutes, and dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

 

Chocolate Mug Cake

Preparation time: 8 Minutes

Baking Time: 1 1/2 minutes (In Microwave)

Ingredients:

• All Purpose Flour – 3 tablespoons
• Powdered Sugar – 3 tablespoons
• Cocoa Powder – 2 tablespoons
• Salt – a pinch
• Baking Powder – 1/4 teaspoon
• Milk – 3 tablespoons
• Olive oil – 3 tablespoons
• Egg – 1
• Vanilla essence – 1 teaspoon

Method:

• In a bowl sieve all the dry mixture, the add the egg and oil and milk and the vanilla essence
• Whisk with spatula well
• Grease a microwave mug with oil, and add the batter to it.
• Now bake it in the microwave for one and a half minutes. Make sure you do not keep it for longer as this will make the cake hard.

Ready to eat. Serve with ice cream or custard.

Note: This is a microwave cake, if kept for long after being prepared the cake will become hard. It should be consumed immediately.