Baked Banana Pudding

I just love warm puddings . They make a wonderful desert after any meal. So when I saw that this month's home-bakers-challenge had a variety of pudding to choose from I was very happy.

This month's challenge was hosted by a dear friend Rafeeda and she gave some healthy options . I chose banana pudding as I already had bananas at home . I also wanted to try baking meringue and so thought that it was a great opportunity. I don't know whether I have baked the meringue top perfectly , but we did like the taste and enjoyed it thoroughly.

Though at the last minute my camera started acting funny and I got really horrible clicks.

Ingredients :



2 .....................big ripe bananas ( peeled and sliced )
1/2 cup.............sugar

2 tbsp................all purpose flour

1/4 tsp................salt

4 .........................eggs ( yolk n white seperated )

1/2 tsp.................vanilla esssence

15 / 20..................vanilla waffers

Method :

Beat the egg whites till soft peaks form and keep aside.

In a thick bottom pan add sugar, flour , salt and egg yolks.

Whisk them well.

Cook on a medium vessel stirring continuously till it thickens.

When the mixture starts bubbling remove from the flames and mix well.

Add vanilla essence and again mix .

Take a oven proof glass bowl and spread 1/3 mixture at the bottom.




Now spread the vanilla wafers on it and then arrange the banana slices.





Add some more pudding mixture and spread evenly to cover the slices.




Again repeat the layer of wafers and banana slices.




Now spread all the mixture evenly.

Pour the stiffly beated egg white on the mixture covering the edges fully.

Bake at 180 degrees for 10 / 12 minutes till the meringue top changes little color.

Cool before serving.






.

Sweet Potato Strusel Bread

Made this yummy Sweet Potato Bread for home-bakers-challenge this month. This is a rich and moist bread not the fluffy and soft kind which we are used to. But sweet potato lends this bread a very unique flavour along with the nutty strusel.

The bread can be had plain as it is sweetish in taste. We thoroughly enjoyed this bread with some custard sauce .

Ingredients :

1/4 kg ..................sweet potato
2 tsp......................butter
1/3 cup.................chopped nuts ( almonds, pistachios, walnuts )
2 tbsp..................sugar
1 cup...................maida
1 cup..................wheat flour
3/4 cup................sugar (powdered)
1 tsp....................baking powder
3 tbsp..................oil
2/3 cup ...............fresh orange juice
1/2 tsp................cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp................nutmeg powder
2 tbsp.................egg replacer powder ( whipped stiff in 1/4 cup water )

Method :


Steam the sweet potato, peel it and mash it
.
In a small vessel add butter , nuts and sugar and heat till the sugar melts.

Keep this mixture aside.

In a vessel add all the ingredients given in the list from maida onwards and mix well.

If needed add some water for mixing well.

The mixture should be thicker than the idli batter.

Pour the mixture in a greased pan.

Put spoonfuls of the nuts mixture on the cake batter at intervals.

Bake for  40 to 50  minutes at 180 degrees in a preheated oven.

Check whether cooked by inserting a toothpick in the bread.

The toothpick should come out completely clean.

Suji Crystal Cookies

Feeling very excited to post these colorful cookies which were instant hit with everyone in the family. Personally I don't like such colorful snacks as there is a liberal usage of artificial colors. But I think once in while we all can afford indulging in such lovely treats and be childish. After all they are perfect for this festive Christmas season.

Though the name of these cookies is Suji cookies they do not contain Suji ( semolina ) at all. Instead the are made of maida and the almond powder used lends it a very rich texture and flavor.

 Loved making these cookies for Priya's  Home Bakers Event  hosted  by Niloufer .

Recipe Source : umaskitchenexperiments.com


Ingredients :


1 cup.......................maida
1/2 tsp.....................baking powder
1/2 tsp.....................baking soda
1/2 cup ..................sugar powder
1/2 cup ..................almonds ( dry powder )
1/2 cup..................ghee
a pinch ................salt
1/4 tsp.................vanilla essence
1/4 tsp each ........ food colors (  used yellow, pink and green )



Method :

In a mixer pulse together maida , baking powder and baking soda.

Also add sugar powder, almond powder, essence and salt to it.

Now take this in bowl and add ghee to it and knead to a soft smooth dough.

Rest the dough  for 15 - 20 minutes .

Make three portions of this dough .

Add 2 / 3 drops of color of your choice to each part and knead well.

The color should uniformly be spread all over.

Now take a small ball of each color and roll them to form a big ball.

This should be done gently so the colors don't mix and you get a marbled effect.

Press this ball to get a cookie shape.

Spread 2 inches apart on a greased baking tray .

Bake in a preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes at 150 degrees celcius.

Basbousa - Egyptian Semolina Cake

This month for Home Bakers Challenge I chose to make this simple Egyptian semolina cake which was suggested by Nupur  .  Known as Basbousa basically this is a simple semolina cake .


Usually when we make a cake sugar is added before the cake is baked. But here the cake is first baked with very less sugar and then sugar syrup is poured on the baked cake which is still hot. This makes the cake moist and keeps it super soft for a longer time.

Ingredients :

2 cups .....................rawa ( semolina )
1/2 cup ..................sugar
1/2 cup................... scraped coconut
2 tbsp.......................ghee
1 tsp........................baking powder
1/2 cup.......................milk
3/4  cup....................buttermilk
few drops................vanilla essence
few almonds



For Sugar Syrup :

1 cup....................sugar
1 cup.....................water
1 tbsp...................rose water

Method :


Mix all the ingredients except almonds .

Keep the mixture in fridge for 2 hours.

Now grease a cake tin and pour the mixutre in it.

Press almonds on the batter top to garnish it.

Bake in a preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes at 180 degrees.

Make sugar syrup by boiling water and sugar.

Let the mixture boil for 2 - 3 minutes and switch off the gas.

When warm add rose water to the syrup.

Cut the baked basbouse into pieces when still warm.

Pour the warm sugar syrup on the baked cake immediately.

This will ensure that all the sugar syrup is soaked properly.

This makes the cake very moist and soft.

Kunafeh - Sweet Cheese Pastry

This month for the  home-bakers-challenge a monthly baking event started by Priya Suresh and this month  hosted by Nupur we had a wide variety of Arabic desserts to choose from. Arabic sweets are very well known for their liberal use of butter and dry fruits.

I think Baklava is one of the most richest and most popular of the Arabic desserts . But few others like Kunafeh, basbousa are eqyally addictive ones and so I tried my hands at both these yummy treats.

Though I personally wanted to try baklava very badly I changed my decision due to the rich and heavy ingredients like lots of butter and dry fruits in this sinfully royal dessert. Instead I decided to try Kunafeh which is comparatively simpler and yet very addictive.

 The crispy pastry sheets with cheese and sugar syrup taste very yummy and one just can't stop eating this dessert.

Ingredients :


10 sheets ........................phyllo pastry
1/2 cup.......................molten unsalted butter
1 cup.........................mozarella cheese ( shredded )
1 cup.........................cheddar cheese ( shredded)
1/2 cup ...................sugar syrup or diluted honey
2 tbsp....................nuts ( almonds / pistachios for garnishing)




Method :


Pulse the pastry till it is shredded into small pieces.

Mix in the butter gently.

Press half of this shredded pastry in a small pan.

Spread the shredded cheese on it .

Again press the remaining half of the shredded pastry .

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or till golden brown and puffed up.

Pour the sugar syrup evenly over the pastry and let it get absorbed.

Garnish with nuts.

Spinach Fatayer

I love making variety of savory bakes and so when I saw that this month's home-bakers-challenge had sweet as well as savory bakes was very happy to  choose this yummy snack item.

Spinach Fatayer is a very easy and healthy snack . This recipe is from Middle East and was one of the dishes chosen by Rafeeda who is hosting this month's home-bakers-challenge an event started by  Priya Suresh .

These samosa  like baked snacks were very easy to prepare and made for a delcious snack for our evening tea. You can make these fatayer for your party and get sure likes from kids and adults alike. The health conscious folks will really appreciate your choice of starters.

Everyone at home thoroughly enjoyed having them and have decided to include this hassle free dish in my party menu for starters .

Ingredients  for the covering :

1 cup..................maida
2 tbsp.................oil
1/4 cup...............warm water
salt to taste



Ingredients for the filling :

1 small bunch ...................fresh spinach
1...................................onion (finely chopped )
2 to 3 tbsp....................walnuts ( roughly crushed)
1.................................green chilly ( finely chopped )
1/4 tsp........................pepper powder
1 small....................lemon ( take the juice)
salt to taste.

Method :

Mix together maida, oil and salt .

Gradually add warm water and knead a soft dough.

Cover it with a wet muslin cloth and keep aside.

In a bowl mix well all ingredients given under filling .

Now make balls out of the dough and roll a puri .






Keep a heaped spoonful of the filling on it.







Fold the circle in a triangular shape and seal the edges by pressing them.






Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes till they become golden brown.

Cheesecake Cupcakes

Cupcakes - the goodness and flavor of cakes packed in mini cute package. This is the current trend going on. Making and eating big cakes is a complete no no in today's health conscious society. Its then better to make the cakes in small size where you can enjoy them and also control the individual portion.

I have made cheese cakes a lot of times in different flavors but never baked them. So when for home-bakers-challenge  our this month's host Siri @ thebravecook   gave this cheesecake cupcakes as one of the choices I decided to give it a try. The cakes when baked had fluffed beautifully, actually I should have taken at least one click at that time. But when they cooled down they just sunk . Though the texture of these cupcakes was amazingly soft . Topped with orange crush ( orange toppings being my personal favorite ) they tasted just out of this world.

Thanks Priya Suresh  and   Siri for this yummy challenge

Ingredients :

2 cups .......................cream cheese ( home made )
1/2 cup ........................sugar
2 ............................eggs
1 tsp......................butter
2 tbsp + 5 tbsp .....................orange crush
10 .......................plain vanilla waffers

Method : 

Place a paper cupcake liner in each of 12 muffin cups.

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees and keep ready.

In the meanwhile beat cream cheese until fluffy.

Add  sugar and butter and beat well.

Add eggs, one at a time, and again beat till very fluffy. 

In each muffin cup place a waffer at the bottom and spoon fluffy over wafers.

Bake for 30 minutes.

Let the cakes cool completely.

Top each  cupcake with a spoonful orange custard.

Granola Bars

Since long I wanted to make these granola bars and when our this month's host Sharanya suggested these bars as one of the challenges for Home Bakers Challenge an event started by Priya Suresh   this month I just had to grab the opportunity. I skipped the egg given in the original recipe and also used jaggery instead of sugar . The jaggery gave a wonderful Indian flavor to the granola bars which we all loved.

Thanks a lot Priya and Sharanya for this healthy snack.

Ingredients :

3 cups .........................oats
1/2 cup ...................  dry black currants
1/2 cup.....................dates ( chopped )
1/2 cup....................mix nuts ( almonds, walnuts etc)
1/2 cup...................honey
1/2 cup ................jaggery ( used to make chikki )
1/2 cup.................home made butter ( loni )
1 tsp + 1 tsp .........ghee

Method :

Dry roast the oats for 5 to 8 minutes and keep aside.

Beat butter till soft and add all except oatss ,ghee and jaggery.

Mix well everything  and keep aside.





Heat 1 tsp ghee in a pan and add chikki jaggery with 2 tbsp water.

When the mixture boils and becomes frothy drop 1/2 tsp of this mixture in a bowl of cold water.





The mixture should immdiately harden when tried to shape it into a ball with your fingers.

Remove the mixture from fire and pour it on the above mixture.

Add oats to this and mix well .




Grease the tray with remaing ghee.

Mix everything very well and spread it evenly on a greased tray pressing firmly with fingers.

Bake it for 20 to 25 minutes in an oven at 180 degrees.

When cold cut into desired shapes.

You have your very own homemade healthy granola bars ready.

Faluche Du Nord ( French Flat Bread )

Faluche Du Nord is a French flat bread usually eaten at breakfasts or used to make sandwiches. The bread has a white crust ( though mine doesn't have as I have used wheat flour instead of maida ).

 I have no idea whether this bread is made with wheat or no but as I have decided to reduce my maida intake , I nowadays replace it with wheat flour wherever possible. The result was good and the bread was soft though it may not have puffed up as much as it should .

This popular bread was our this month's  home-bakers-challenge  an event started by priya suresh   Thanks Priya for introducing us to this lovely bread.

Ingredients :

2 cups ............................wheat flour
1/2 cup...........................maida ( ALF )
1 n 1/2 tsp ......................active dry yeast
1/2 tsp ..........................salt
2 tbsp + 1 tsp.................groundnut oil

Method :

In a bowl mix yeast , salt and 1/4 cup warm water.

Keep it aside for 10 minutes or till it turns frothy.

Now take wheat flour , maida, 2 tbsp oil and add this yeast mixture to it.

Knead the dough very well for 8 to 10 minutes to soft elastic consistency.

Keep it in a greased bowl and rest it for 1 n 1/2 hour.

Remove the dough and roll it in a 1/4 inch thick disc.

Cut in round shapes with a round cutter.

Place the rounds on a greased baking tray and again keep to rise for 1 hour.

Brush the top of the dough with 1 tsp oil and sprinkle some wheat flour on it.

Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes .

Jewish Vegan Challah

Made this challah ( a type of Jewish Bread ) with onion soup and that was our lunch  few days back . As many must be knowing that  I am part of a group called HBC ( home-bakers-challenge)  an event started by Priya Suresh . In this event for the month of December we were given many interesting options by  Priya Ranjit  host of this month's .

 One of them was this Vegan Challah .  I have already made these lovely american-sugar-cookies  for the event and just couldn't resist trying out this Vegan Challah because it was made using Chick pea flour. This sounded very weird and interesting at the same time .

So planned to give it a try and I was really surprised with the resulting bread. The challah was perfectly soft very tasty.

 This Challah is the perfect entry for today's vegan-thursdays  where few of us bloggers post a Vegan recipe on the first and last thursday of the month .

 Original Recipe From : thesweetlifeonline

Ingredients :

1/2 cup.................. besan ( gram flour ) + 1/2 cup water
4 cups..................maida ( all purpose flour )
1/4 cup .................sugar
1 cup.....................water
1 n 1/2 tsp ..............dry active yeast
1/4 cup...................ground nut oil
salt

Method :


In a bowl mix yeast, 1 tsp sugar and 1 cup warm water and let it rest for 10 minutes.

The yeast mixture will rise and become foamy.

If the mixture doesn't rise means the yeast is not active and you will have to start again with new yeast.

Meanwhile in a blender blend besan and water till very frothy.

Add oil to it and continue to blend.

Now add the foamy yeast mixture and blend well.

Take this in a big bowl and gradully add maida to this mixture.

Continue kneading till all the maida is over.

Now knead for 8 to 10 more minutes till the dough is soft and non - sticky.

You may add some more maida to get the right texture. ( I had to use 2 to 3 extra spoons)

Oil the dough and keep it in a greased big bowl and let it rise for one hour .

Use a very big bowl and the dough rises considerably.

After one hour punch the dough and again let it rise for 30 minutes.

Now make three equal parts of the dough and roll them into 12 inch long strands.
Lay them straight and make a braid shape with these three strands.


Lift this braided dough and keep it in greased tin .

Brush the surface with milk and let the dough rise again for 45 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven for half an hour or till the surface is firm and golden in color.

Serve with jam , chutney or even with a warm soup like I did.

American Sugar Cookies ( for HBC )

The month of December brings joy and festive mood and so we at HBC ( home-bakers-challenge)  an event by Priya Suresh  also have many Baked Christmas Goodies to choose from for our this month's challenge. Priya Ranjit  our host for the month of December gave us such a wide choice that I am tempted to try as many of them as possible. These traditional sugar cookies are the first from that list. Thanks Priya Suresh and Priya Ranjit for this yummy treat.

Ingredients :

1 n 1/2 cup................maida

1/2 cup .....................butter

1/2 cup.......................sugar

1...............................egg

3 to 4 drops.............vanilla

1 tsp.......................baking powder

1/4 tsp...................salt

50 gm ...................chocolate 

few silver balls 

Method :

Cream together butter and sugar till very fluffy .

Add egg and vanilla and further mix for 2 more minutes.

In a grinder add maida, salt and baking powder and just pulse for a minute.

This ensures uniform mixing of baking powder in the maida.

Now add maida little at a time to butter egg mixture.

Knead a dough and chill it for 4 hours or more . ( mine was in fridge for almost 8 hours)

Take out the chilled dough and roll it with a rolling pin.

Cut the cookies in desired shapes .

Brush the cookies with milk.

Sprinkle some sugar over the cookies . ( I did not do this )

Bake them in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.

Cool them completely and then decorate.

Instead of sprinkling sugar before baking you can decorate it after baking the way you want.

I melted  the chocolate over a double boiler.

And spread this evenly on the cookies and sprinkle some silver balls on them.

Pumpkin Oats Mummy Cupcakes ( for Home Bakers)

Hi everybody,

All of us know that October is celebrated as a Halloween month in many parts of the world  . So undoubtedly our this month's challenge for Home Bakers were some spooky and scary dishes like Mummy Cupcakes, Spooky Witch Finger Cookies and Pumpkin Cookies .

 I made the cup cakes for this event which is started by Priya Suresh  and hosted for this month by Nalini Suresh .

 Though I would have loved to try Witch Fingers I didn't get enough time to make them, but if possible planning to make them in future. The cupcakes were soft , moist and fun to have.....

Ingredients :

1 cup ................Pumpkin puree
1 cup.................oats
1 cup................wheat flour
1/2 cup .............any vegetable oil
3/4 cup..............sugar
1 tsp..................baking powder
1/4 tsp................baking soda
1/4 cup...............milk


Method  for Cupcakes :

Mix all the dry ingredients very well in a bowl.

Mix all the wet ingredients also very well in a separate bowl.

Now add the dry mixture in bowl with wet ingredients and fold gently till just mixed.

Spoon out in greased cupcake moulds.

Bake at 180 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes in a preheated oven.

Icing :

1 cup .....................fresh cream ( I used Rich brand )
1/3 cup.................icing sugar
few.......................choco chips


Method :

Whip the cream and sugar till very stiff.

Put it in a plastic bag and cut a small slit at the bottom of the bag.

Now carefully pipe out the ribbon shapes horizontally on the cupcakes.

Leave the middle of the cup cake blank.

Put two dots of cream in the middle and top them with choco chips for the eyes.

Also linking it to :

Halloween event  

lets-cook-with-pumpkin

Spinach and Cheese Muffins ( For Home Bakers )

This month for the Home Bakers Challenge there were some sweet as well as savoury bakes chosen by the host of the month Shama Nagarajan and so I decided to go for the savory ones, because  I usually like baking something spicy which can be had for breakfast or as a snack .

 So I made these simple and delicious muffins which were so soft and cheesy that every one really hogged on them .

 It just took me little more than half an hour to complete the full recipe i.e. from washing and cutting the spinach to gathering all the ingredients and mixing and baking.

And so I was mighty pleased as a lot of time was saved . I just love such time saving dishes which are delicious yet full of nutrients. I surely am going to make these muffins regularly .

Thanks priya  annd  Shama  for this lovely recipe.

Ingredients :

1 n 1/ 2 cup.....................whole wheat flour
3 tbsp............................melted home made butter ( loni )
1 tsp..............................baking powder
1/4 tsp...........................baking soda
1...................................egg
1/2 cup..........................finely chopped spinach leaves
3 cubes...........................brittania cheese
1 cup..............................milk
salt to taste


Method :

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and keep the greased muffin tray ready.

In a mixer , mix the whole wheat flour, salt, baking  powder and baking soda well for 10 seconds.

Remove the flour and in the same mixer , mix butter , milk and egg for 2 to 3 mintues.

Chop the cheese cubes to small pieces.

Now take the milk egg mixture in big bowl and  add the cheese cubes and spinach to it.

Mix well with a wooden spoon .

Now add the flour, salt mixture and gently fold with spoon till all is just mixed properly.

Now fill half the muffin mould with the batter ( keep some space to rice).

Bake in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

Insert a toothpick , if it comes out clean the muffing are ready.

Also sending this to  :

back-2-school-event

Rainbow Swirl Classic Bread ( For HBC - 4)

According to the hindu calendar the month of Shravan has started and with it all our festivals begin in full glory. It is during this time that  the rains get romantic.  It normally doesn't rain heavily in this month . The sun too plays hide and seek and many times it rains even when the sun is shining .And then suddenly we see a rainbow in the sky. A multicoloured rainbow , a nature's bridge to the sky......

But do you know that this month that very rainbow appeared in my kitchen and after a lot of aahs and oohs we ate it too. Wondering what I am writing suddenly after being so sensible till now ??  Thinking that I have lost my senses ?? . No , I really had a rainbow and thoroughly enjoyed eating it , though initially I didn't feel at all like putting such a beautiful thing in my mouth to finish it off .

Ok Guys ,  no more suspense !!! This is all about the home-bakers-challenge  started by  priya suresh  and this month's host for HBC - Manjula  . For  4th month's challenge Manjula chose this lovely Rainbow Cake .  It was breath taking and simply amazing. Thanks a lot Priya and Manjula for this colourful challenge.

Ingredients :

3 n 1/2 cups .....................All purpose flour ( maida)
1 cup..............................warm water
1 tbsp............................dry yeast
1 tsp............................sugar
1/2 tsp ........................salt
1 tbsp........................home made butter ( loni)
1 tsp each..........................colour of your choice ( I used yellow, green, pink n blue)

Method :

Add warm water to yeast and sugar and let it rest for 15 minutes.
When the mixture becomes foamy add 2 cups maida and mix well.
Again let the dough rest for 30 minutes so that it rises to double.
Now add the remaining maida little at a time and knead really really well with your hands.
The dough should be very elastic and sticky.
Add 1 tbsp butter and again knead it.
Put it in a bowl and plastic wrap it and keep aside for 2 hours to rise.
After 2 hours punch and knead the dough to let the air out.
Divide the dough in as many parts as the colours you are having.
Add the colours and knead the dough well so that the colour mixes well with the dough.
There should be no white part seen in the coloured dough.
Wash your hands after addition of each colour so that the colours don't mix with each other.
Now put them in separate bowls , plastic wrap them and again keep them aside for 1 hour to rise.

Now dust the kitchen platform with flour and roll a same size rectange of each colour.
Keep these rectanges one upon the other and make a tight roll .
Put this roll in the greased bread making tin . plastic wrap and set aside for 1/2 an hour.
Brush the top of the roll with milk ( this gives the crust a shiny look)
Now preheat the oven at 180 degrees and bake the bread for 30 minutes or till the outer crust is hard.
If you press it , it should spring back.
So friends start baking to get a rainbow in your kitchen, before the monsoon ends.....

Also sending it to :

  bake-fest   @  desifiesta