Oregano Dinner rolls

Friendship is such a cherished relationship, isn't it? We have our childhood friends ( langotiya yaar ), our school friends, our college friends, our work-mates, our society friends... The list goes on! Some i know even have movie-friends like a friend whom you would call to catch up a movie, and throw all the filmi- gyaan you know later on, by discussing the film as a critic :) And yes, oh yes, how can we forget our pen-pals? Something which we have lost with time! :( 

I still remember when we were kids, there used to come a monthly or bi-monthly magazine wherein there was a list of all the pen friends from across the world (I am talking about the days when computers were not a household necessity) and we could choose and write to the address given. My brother had some pen-pal girlfriend from Russia, so we used to receive postcards and personalized letters from her. I really miss those days, and i still prefer writing a handwritten card or a mail anytime to this email and whatsapp.

And then now, there are virtual friends - on Facebook, on Instagram or Twitter (though, am not yet in twitter). And me? I have some blogger friends :) The advantages of Blogging world. Past few days when i didn't post anything, it felt so good to hear some words from a few of them asking my whereabouts, that i felt connected. Though i haven't met any of these friends, or know anything about them on personal level, we are connected. Connected through our blogs which we read and follow regularly. Thank you so much all you girls (women's too :)) Kudos to the blogging world :)

Back to the post, I had already tried and posted recipe of Pav . I wanted to try the dinner rolls since a long time. Recently i bought a whole lot of dried herbs and have been using them a lot in my cooking. These dinner rolls, i added a hint of oregano and the aroma was divine. As in such we all know, that there is nothing more exciting or therapeutic than baking and that too baking bread! To add to that the aroma of oregano was fantastic! These rolls can be served with soup, or any curry, or just cut them in half and apply butter or any spread of your choice. 

Ingredients

Maida (All purpose flour) - 1 and half cups (Can be replaced with wheat flour or half and half)

Active dry yeast - 1 tsp

Lukewarm water - 1/8 cup

Egg - 1 (beaten) (Can replace with milk)

Milk - 1/2 cup

Butter - 1 n 1/2 tbsp

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Salt - 1/4 - 1/2 tsp

Oregano - 1- 1 n half tsp

Recipe:

Warm the water in microwave (not hot, just lukewarm). Add sugar and yeast to it and set it aside for 10 - 15 minutes. It will foam up which means the yeast is active.

Take the flour in a bowl. Add salt, beaten egg ( if adding), butter, and make a well in the center. Add the yeast-water mixture. Mix it all well. Now slowly add milk and knead for about 7-10 minutes to a nice smooth dough. You might require less/more milk, so add milk slowly as you knead. 

If you feel the dough is a lot sticky, then add flour or spread flour on the base and knead on it.

The dough will be nice and soft. Now grease a bowl and keep this dough covered in it to raise for about 1 n half hours or so.

You will see that the dough has raised to almost double the size. Knead it well again and add about 3/4 tsp oregano in it while kneading.Knead for about 4-5 minutes.

Grease and dust a baking tray. Now make round balls of the dough (or the shape desired) and place them in the baking tray leaving some space in between. Cover and let it rest for about an hour to raise again.

Now add the remaining oregano on top. Brush it with milk/butter or some beaten egg (if using).

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Now bake the buns for about 20 minutes or till golden brown on top.

Happy Baking :) Happy Cooking :)

Wafola : Cabbage Cake

When i sent this picture to my sister in law in US, she said "Looks like dhokla"!! Well, yes, it surely looks like one, but this is more denser. Moreover, though the name suggests it to be steamed (Waaf in Marathi means Steam), this one is baked. Hence i think it is known as a Cabbage cake.

The recipe was new to me, i had not really heard about this one! We make "Kobichya vadya" with almost similar ingredients but we steam it. The tempering and garnishing remains the same. Here, in the cookbook of "The essential Marathi cookbook", this cake is baked. The author, Ms. Kaumudi Marathe, says - "During the years of food rationing around the Second World War, when semolina and refined wheat flour were hard to come by, gram flour based snacks were a great alternative. Traditionally, wafola was cooked over an open charcoal fire but these days, a conventional oven works just fine".

Wafolas make a perfect tea-time snack or a good breakfast dish too! What more? It is baked!!! That makes it super healthy too :) The addition of tempering on top takes the dish to a completely new level of flavours!!

Ingredients:

Green cabbage : 1 n 1/4 cup grated

Ginger - 1/2 inch piece grated or made into a paste

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt - to taste

Green chillies - 2 (The recipe said sliced, but i prefer making a paste in a mortar and pestle)

Ajwain - 1/2 tsp

Sugar - 1/4 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Asafoetida - a pinch

Besan (gram flour) - 1 cup

Soda bicarbonate - 1/4 tsp (optional)

1/8 cup yogurt + 1/4 cup warm water

To garnish:

Ghee - 1/2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp

Grated fresh coconut - to garnish

Corriander leaves - to garnish

Lime juice - to taste

Recipe:

Mix together cabbage, green chilli paste, ginger paste, salt, turmeric, ajwain and sugar in a bowl.

Heat 1 tbsp oil and add asafoetida to it. Mix this in the cabbage mixture.

Slowly add the gram flour and keep mixing it well.

Add the soda bicarbonate in the yogurt mixture and add this to the cabbage mixture stirring well.

If the mixture is too thick, add water as required to make the consistency as thin as a cake batter.

Grease a 9 inch baking tray with 1/2 tbsp oil. Put the batter in the baking tin.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Bake the wafola for about 20 minutes. Now brush a little oil on top and bake again for another 10 minutes or till the toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Now cut the cake into squares or as desired shape.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok for garnishing. Add mustard seeds and let them pop. Then add the turmeric and chilli powder. Stir well and pour over the cut square cakes. Sprinkle coconut and corriander leaves on top.

Add lime juice if and as desired.

Tastes best when served with green chutney - Corriander chutney, mint chutney but i served it with Peru chi chutney (Guava chutney). I will upload the recipe in next post!

Serve the wafolas warm, and am sure they will be relished by everyone in the family :)

Happy Cooking! :)

Pav

There are so many types of breads in this world, the list really amazes me! Each country, region or town have their own distinct version of bread. The basic ingredients remain the same, but just "a hint of this, and an addition of that" changes the whole flavour, texture and taste of the bread. One of my blogger friend from Norwegia (Sharon) has recently sent me their local bread recipe, which i am going to make soon and post it on the blog. 

I have grown up with eating Pav from mumbai in my Vada Pav's and Pav bhaji's. So when i came to Delhi, the taste of the Pav was completely different for me. Pav is Indian bread, but the concept of it was introduced to us by the Portuguese in 15th century. The early Portuguese presence in India was "Missionary-heavy" and they made bakeries and baking a priority. These missionaries trained and taught the converts in Goa, the art of baking bread. Since yeast was not readily available, they used to bake with fresh coconut Toddy.

Well, making Pav is super fun. I purposely made small buns and gave them a round shape. But you can shape them as you want. Making them small surely helped since i was making it for the first time and they turned out super soft. 

I served some as a tiffin breakfast to hubby by spreading jam and butter in between. And some, i made into mini-burgers :))


Recipe adapted from : Ammaji's kitchen

Ingredients:

Maida (All purpose flour)- 1 and half cups

Yeast - 2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Sugar - 1 tbsp plus 2 tsp

Milk - 1/4 cup ( Add more or less as needed)

Butter - 1 tbsp (melted)

Water - 1/4 cup

Recipe:

Take a bowl and grease it with oil. This bowl is to be used for raising the dough, so take a little bigger one.

Yeast: There are two types of yeast. Instant and Active dry. If you have instant yeast, there is no need to activate it. But if you have dry yeast, you have to activate it. This process is called proofing. It is always beneficial if you proof the yeast.

Take 1/4 cup water and warm it. It should be lukewarm and not hot. If it is too hot, the yeast will die and if it is too cold, the yeast will not raise. Add about 1 tsp sugar to it and mix well. Now, add the yeast. Mix and cover the bowl and let it sit for about 8-10 minutes. The yeast will rise a bit.

In another mixing bowl, add flour, salt, sugar and butter.

Now make a small well in between and add the yeast. Mix well and now add milk little by little. The amount of liquid added depends on the strength of the flour. So don't add everything at once.

Add slowly and start kneading the dough. Knead for about 10 minutes.

Place this in the greased bowl, cover and let it sit for about 1 n half hours to raise.

Now, take out the raised dough, spread some flour on the wooden board and knead it for another 5-7 minutes till all air comes out. 

If the dough is too sticky, add some flour and knead again.

Make equal sized balls and flatten them a little or shape according to your wish.

Grease a baking tray with some butter or oil and place the balls in the tray leaving little space in between for them to rise up.

Cover this and let it sit for another 1 n half hours to rise.

Please keep the bowls to raise at room temperature only. 

After about 1 n half hours, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Brush the raised dough balls with olive oil/normal oil or milk and bake them for about 30 minutes till the top becomes golden brown.

Remove from the oven and brush some melted butter on them.

Let them cool.

Pav is ready :)

Happy Cooking :)

Eggless Chewy Brownies

My last year's Valentine special dish was Shahi Tukda . This year i made some chewy, soft brownies that are everyone's favourite!!! Errr, did i say "everyone's"? No, not hubby's!!! Hubby dearest is not much of a chocolate fan, (I never really understand these people who don't like chocolate :)), but i wanted to bake some brownies since a long time! So, i decided to make them today and treat myself :) After all, i am my first Valentine, isn't it? 

You all must be thinking me to be a narcissist, but let me mention here - It is extremely important to love self! To pamper oneself, to take time out for oneself, to think about our own self and do what one likes to do! No, this doesn't mean being selfish, but this way we get a chance to look at our own inner being with a different perspective. The result is pure utter happiness. As is the famous saying, "You can't keep others happy unless you are happy". So at times, it is important to wear what you like to, eat what you relish and do things what makes you ,"YOU".

Well, enough of philosophy. Back to the post, hubby did eat it with vanilla ice cream :) But the brownies tasted great on it's own too. 

Ingredients:

All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 cup

Powdered Sugar - 3/4 cup 

Baking powder- 1/2 tsp

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Cocoa powder -1/2 cup

Milk - 1 1/4 cup

Oil - 1/3 cup (i used normal vegetable oil, but you can use olive oil too)

Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Almonds and/or walnuts - 1/3 cup chopped

Vinegar - 1 tsp

Dairy milk - 1 medium chopped 

Recipe:

Let all the ingredients be at room temperature.

Grease a baking tray and keep aside.

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius.

Put about 1 tsp of flour in the nuts and mix together to coat the nuts. This is so that the nuts don't sink in the cake when you mix them.

Sift together maida, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder twice.

Add powdered sugar to this mixture and mix well.

Mix together milk, vinegar, vanilla essence and oil.

Now fold in the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix everything lightly. Don't over mix.

Add the nuts and chopped dairy milk.

Transfer the batter to the baking tray and bake till a toothpick comes out clean. Takes about 30 minutes. Start checking after 25 minutes and bake more if required.

Let it cool, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting into desired shape.

The home smells of a lovely aroma... Oh, i love baking :))

Happy Cooking :))

Rum cake

I know i am late in wishing you all! A very Happy New Year to all of you. Thank you for all the support you gave reading my posts last year and i hope there is more and more of cooking and blogging this year than the last :) Not only cooking and blogging, but i have seen some tremendous talented fellow bloggers, or should i say multi-talented fellow bloggers? Some paint, some write poems, some teach and some craft...So, i wish success to all of you in whatever you do. It feels great to see immense amount of "art" and "talent" everywhere around. Keep it going.

New Year's this time was cold, foggy and windy. Coping up with the season, i thought of indulging in some warm, moist, soft Rum cake. And i must say, this one was baked to perfection!!! It turned out so well that it was finished in almost a day (Yeah, it was just the two of us, but it was "holiday-eating" season :)) This time i forgot to pre-soak the fruits well in advance, as i already had my hands full with pet-sitting, you can see it here...

Some do soak almost a month in advance, the last year (2013 Christmas Cake ) i had soaked 15 days in advance but this year, i only soaked it for 3 days before making the cake and i guess, it wasn't bad either. A day in advance is good too, but the more the better. I have mentioned this before that me and hubby usually like normal cakes (ones without icing), so this one was served just as it is. But you can add any toppings/icing of your choice if you wish.

Recipe adapted from : Anshu-My Mom's recipes

Ingredients:

To soak :

1 cup of any mixed nuts/dry fruits of your choice - I soaked raisins, orange zest, cashews, dried dark strawberries and tutti fruiti.

1/4 cup Rum 

For the cake:

Rum - 1/4 cup

Maida - 1 2/3 cup

Baking powder - 3/4 tsp

Baking soda - 1/4 tsp

Cocoa powder - 1/3 cup

Sugar - 1 1/4 cup

Egg - 1

Butter - a little less than 3/4 cup

Soaked nuts/dry fruits

Recipe:

Soak the nuts/dry fruits in rum and keep in air tight container. If soaking for days, then stir and mix it well once a day.

Grease and dust a baking pan and keep aside.

Powder the sugar in mixer/grinder.

Sieve together Maida, baking soda, baking powder and cocoa powder.

Add the powdered sugar to it. Mix well with a spatula to make sure no lumps exist.

Boil 1 cup of water and add the rum to it. Also add the soaked nuts. Mix well. Let this come to room temperature before adding anything.

Melt butter in microwave and keep aside. Do not let the butter solidify again and make sure you don't add hot/warm butter to anything. Let it come to room temperature.

Beat egg in a bowl. Add butter and beat again.

Add this to the rum mixture. 

Now slowly add the dry Maida mixture to this and mix. Do not over-mix. Gently mix till everything mixes well together.

Pour this mixture in the baking pan and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degree Celsius for about 40-45 minutes. Start checking after 40 minutes if the toothpick is coming out clean. If yes, remove from the oven and let it cool.

This cake comes out a perfect texture, colour and taste. Don't miss trying this one :) I have dusted a little powdered sugar on top (which is completely optional).

Happy Cooking! Happy Blogging! And Happy New Year once again :)

Nankhatai

Nankhatai's are basically Indian cookies or shortbreads, majorly made with Maida or All-purpose flour. They are a popular tea-time snack and serve as a nice pop-in-the-mouth sweet when you have those midnight cravings ;) They are made with ghee instead of butter and hence the aroma of these nankhatai's when they are baked is enigmatic. Nankhatai's are found in different flavours/versions and popularly available in local bakeries all over India. 

Here i am posting a recipe of Nankhatai that i saw recently on a blog which was made from Atta (Wheat flour). I decided to try them for Christmas, since i wanted to bake some cookies anyway. And they turned out absolutely great. The addition of rava made the nankhatai's more crispy and i am surely going to make them again with a little additions and twist.

Note: The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup sugar, but i would advise putting a little less than half, as mine turned out a little too sweet with 1/2 cup (For our taste). It is according to personal liking, but at first try making it with a little less than half cup. 

Recipe adapted from : My Cooking Journey

Ingredients:

Wheat flour (Atta) - 3/4 cup

Maida - 1/4 cup

Rava (Sooji) - 2 tbsp

Ghee - 1/2 cup (melted) - Might require more or less

Baking powder - 1/4 tsp

Sugar - 1/2 cup (Please read the 'note' above)

Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp

Chopped almonds and cashews to garnish (Any nuts of your choice)

Recipe:

Grind the sugar to powder in a mixer/grinder.

Grease a baking tray and keep aside.

In a mixing bowl, take the flours, rava, baking powder, powdered sugar and cardamom powder. Mix it all well.

Now slowly, add the ghee and knead it into a crumbly dough. It shouldn't be too soft or too stiff, hence add ghee little by little and knead.

Keep the dough covered for 10 minutes or wrap in a cling foil and set aside for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 degree celcius.

Make small round balls of the dough after 10 minutes (original recipe says 18, but i made 16) and flatten them a little. Line them on the greased baking tray.

Now bake them at 180 degree C for about 15 minutes. (You will come to know it's done when they change colour a bit to brown)

Let them cool (They become stiff and crunchy after they cool)

Now, isn't your home smelling of some real good aroma?

Happy Cooking :))

Fruity Sponge Cake

Very Berry Healthy : A Great Day begins with a Healthy yet Tasty breakfast, but is more good when you have a Healthy snack to munch on when you have that in-between hunger cravings! Me and hubby get those a lot! And instead of having the regular buiscuits and chips, we decided to opt for something healthier and Smarteats came right in ! 
http://smarteats.in/ 
They have some really tasty wholesome snacks which you can carry in your tiffin or the packaging comes so neat with a seal-zip bag that you can carry it anywhere just like that ! They have Diet snacks, Cookies, Granola Bars, Tangy mixtures and dried fruits/dry fruits ! The combinations are so interesting that it really doesn't get to that "Boring snack to watch my diet"!!

I decided to order the "Very Berry Strawberry" and the "Fruity Granola Bar", just to try it out! The Granola Bar which was a mixture of Oats, coconut powder, and the sweetness of apples, grapes and dehydrated peaches coated with honey, brown sugar and butter was one simple yet delicious bar! That's not exactly a meal substitute but makes up as a snack or a lunch supplement.
And the chewy dehydrated strawberries were so flavourful that i finished them off in almost 3-4 days! And not only pop them as a snack, i used them in a recipe !!!!

So here i am making a SmartEat recipe with the dried Strawberries :) As Chai-Buiscuit ( Buiscuut, as it is called :)) is a very common household evening favourite snack, our home has the Chai-Cake fever ! So baking a cake every week is mandatory :) You can add any dried fruits of your choice and make this one, the basic ingredients remains the same.

Ingredients :

Maida /All purpose flour - 1 cup

Yogurt - 1/2 cup

Butter - 1/4 cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1/4 tsp

Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup ( Add 1/4 cup more if you have a sweet tooth )

Egg - 1

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Dried strawberries - a few chopped

Tutty fruity - a few

You can also add nuts if you wish to.

Nutmeg - 1/4 tsp

Recipe :

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius for 10 minutes

Grease and dust a cake tin with butter and flour and keep aside.

Sieve together Maida, Baking powder and Baking soda.

In a bowl, Beat Butter and Powdered sugar together. Now add the egg and beat again. 

Add in the yogurt and mix it all well into a nice creamy mixture. Add vanilla essence and nutmeg powder. 

Slowly add the flour mixture and mix it well with a spatula.

Lastly, add in the dried strawberries, tuttyfruits and nuts.

Put this mixture into the baking tray and bake at 180 degrees celcius for 45-50 minutes.

Remove and set aside to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the cake tin.

Now remove from the cake tin and let it cool on a wire rack.

Soft spongy cake is ready, which tastes and smells like heaven :))

Happy Baking :)

Eggless Banana Walnut Muffins

Breakfast Blues : Every evening, i always have to sit and think what to pack in tiffin for breakfast the next day to give hubby dearest at work. The regular recipes of Upma, Poha, Idli, Dosa etc takes a toll sometimes. Yes, egg is always an option ! I would like to mention about this friend of mine who is called "Anda Iyer"... seems, eggs are his life! He can't do without them ! But it's interesting to see his egg-recipes in the forum, always a different one, and the tempting pictures too :)

With "Anda Iyer " Rajiv :)

So, it was one of those days when i had Bananas at hand, but no eggs and no butter. I decided to make some Banana muffins without egg, and they turned out superrrr soft and spongy. I had made the Yogurt Cake earlier with oil,( http://cookininpajamas.blogspot.in/2013/12/yogurt-cake.html ) but i had added an egg then. This time i tried making these with only oil. I did use Olive oil, but you can use regular vegetable oil too. Olive oil of course gives it a good aroma and a rich taste ! This one is a simple-easy to make muffins recipe! Packed in tiffin for breakfast, hubby loved them with a mug of coffee :)

You can otherwise store them in an air tight container in refrigerator for about 2-3 days. Warm in a microwave just before eating. They taste as fresh as ever :))

Ingredients :

Maida ( All purpose flour ) - 3/4 cup

Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup ( Put little less if you don't like it too sweet, adjust according to taste )

Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Baking powder - 1/2 tsp

Walnuts - 1/4 cup

Olive oil - 1/4 cup ( or any other vegetable oil )

Bananas - 2 ( medium size)

Recipe :

Mash the bananas in a bowl with hand or a fork to make it into a paste.

Now add the oil and mix well.

Add the sugar and vanilla extract, Mix it all well and keep aside.

Chop the walnuts.

Sieve the Flour, Baking powder and baking soda together twice.

Now Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and mix it all well. Don't beat/whisk...Just mix everything together with a spatula.

Add 1/2 of the chopped walnuts into the batter and mix again.

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius. Line a muffin tray with muffin liners or else grease it with oil and dust with flour. 

Fill the batter till 1/2 or 3/4th into the mould ( Don't fill it to the full, as it will raise and the shape will get distorted ). 

Now Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes or till upper portion gets brown. I baked for 5 minutes more to get that fine brown colour. Check after 25 minutes with inserting a toothpick. If it comes out clean, means its done!

Let them cool on a rack for about 15-20 minutes. Then remove and let them cool completely.

These Tempting muffins are ready.... Have one right there!!!:)

If you have butter at hand, then you can try this recipe which i had made a few days back...This one is easy too, and you can replace the cashews with walnuts or any nuts of your choice but i would say, the walnuts are the USP of these muffins !!!

Banana Cashew Muffins :

Ingredients :

Bananas - 4 ( of medium size )

Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Maida ( All purpose flour ) - 1 n half cup

Melted Butter - 1/3 cup

Baking soda - 1 tsp

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Cashews - a few ( 1/4 cup )

Salt - a pinch

Recipe :

Chop the cashews.

Mash Bananas with a fork or with hand and keep aside.

Sieve the flour, baking soda and baking powder together twice.

Take butter in a bowl and add sugar and whisk till it turns creamy.

Now add the mashed bananas and vanilla essence.

Slowly add the flour mixture and mix well.

Add about 1/2 of the chopped cashews into the batter.

Preheat oven to 190 degree Celsius. Line a muffin tray with muffin liners or grease with oil/butter and dust with Maida ( All purpose flour )

Now fill the muffin moulds with batter, fill it only to half or 3/4th.

Bake for abut 20 minutes or till the toothpick inserted comes out clean. If not, bake for more time and check every 5 minutes.

Happy Baking :)

Linking this recipe to :

http://www.amummytoo.co.uk/2014/06/recipeoftheweek-21-27-june/

Cashew Muffins

I am the Baker : Baking has become a weekly affair at our home now !!! Infact, just last week when i went past a pastry shop, i had this urge to buy and eat one!!! But, the baker inside me told myself, that i might as well go home, bake some ( not to forget the freshhhh aroma of a cake baking that fills the home...Oooh...laaaa...laaaaa ) and cherish it with a cup of coffee :))) 

I am simply in love with baking... As mentioned earlier, me or hubby dearest are not much fan of icings or any toppings on cake... we like pure fresh spongy cake!!! And i had tried the chocolate, tutty-fruity, and rum-n-raisin cake before !!!( Recipes uploaded before )
This time i thought of trying my hand at muffins with cashews ( Cashews being hubby's favourite dry-nut ). I had a lot of them at home ... Yes, people generally eat a lot of dry fruits and nuts during winters to keep warm, and this time when my mother came to Delhi, she got me a whole big packet of all the raisins, almonds, figs, cashew nuts, and pistachios !!!

These muffins are so easy to bake, you can make them on regular basis changing the cashew powder to almonds or any dry fruit of your choice.

Ingredients :

(Makes 8-9 muffins )

All purpose flour( Maida) - 1 cup

Sugar - 3/4 cup ( If using powdered sugar, adjust according to taste )

Butter - 2.5 tbsp

Cashew powder - 1/4 cup ( Grind the cashews in mixer for a fine powder )

Egg - 1

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1/4 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Milk - 1/2 cup

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Recipe :

Sieve Maida, Baking powder, Baking soda and salt together. Sieve it one more time and set aside.

Beat Cashew powder and butter together in another bowl.

Now add the egg and beat again.

Now add the sugar and mix it all well.

Mix in the vanilla essence.

Add the flour mixture and milk alternatively to cashew-butter mixture. Add slowly and mix it all well, so that you get a fine smooth texture.

You can add some cashew chopped pieces in the mixture or on top ( after setting in the muffin tray ). You can even add tutty-fruity , if you like.

Grease and dust the muffin tray with butter and Maida. Now put the muffin mixture into the the tray. ( Fill it only till 1/2 or 3/4 th , as it will tend to rise up when it bakes ).

Preheat oven to 180 degrees for 15 minutes. Bake the muffins at 180 degrees for around 30-35 minutes or till you see a browning on top!!!

So, how about having them with a cuppa coffee???

Happy Baking :)

Yogurt Cake

Its New Years!!!! : What better way to celebrate New Years than to bake a cake ?? :) After all the partying and dancing, you need a quick-bake recipe, so that you don't have to spend too much time in the kitchen. But yes, start your new years with a sweet and we wish you have a great, bright sweet new year ahead :))

Lets bake a cake with ingredients that you normally have in the kitchen!!! Egg, yogurt, oil, ghee...These are always there in the kitchen...
Baking a cake with yogurt surely seems new, but trust me, the aroma is so inviting and the cake turns out so soft and spongy that i am sure it will be finished in a jiffy...

Ingredients :

Maida /All purpose flour - 1 cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1/4 tsp

Yogurt - Full cream thick yogurt - 1/2 cup

Oil - ( preferred olive oil ) - 5 tbsp or u can use 2 tbsp butter

If you don't have both, add 3 tbsp ghee.

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Egg - 1

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Tutty fruity - a few ( you can even add dry fruits of your choice if u wish)

Nutmeg - 1/4 tsp

Recipe :

Sieve together twice Maida, baking soda and baking powder and keep aside.

Grease and dust a cake tin with butter and flour respectively.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Beat oil and sugar together. Add Egg and beat it more. Now add the yogurt.

Add vanilla essence and nutmeg powder and then add the flour mixture slowly. Mix it all well with spatula.

Once the batter is ready, pour into the cake tin and bake at 180 degrees for 50 minutes. If you see the top is turning dark brown, then cover it with a foil towards the end ( after 40 minutes - only if it is turning dark ) and bake again.

Once done, remove and cool in the tin for 10 minutes.

Now remove from the tin and let it cool completely.

You can even serve this with a scoop of ice cream :)

Happy Baking!!!

Cookin in Pajamas team wishes you all a very happy New year...Keep cooking and keep eating!!! :)

Christmas Cake

"Jingle all the way" : Its the month of Santa, Christmas tree, candles, decorations with stars and lights and lots of ornaments. People even decorate the outside of their homes with snowmen, sleighs and other Christmas figures. And the age old tradition of hanging a stocking and waiting for Santa ( Saint Nicolas ) to get us the wanted gifts...

My brother who stays in US, always decorates his home with Christmas tree and lighting his backyard and home with candles and lights..Here is how he welcomed Christmas this year... It looks terrific, doesn't it?

Christmas celebrations are in full swing in India just as abroad. We see a lot of people hosting Christmas parties, markets selling Santa's red and white caps and even Christmas trees. This year, we got the tiny Santas and candy cane and some ornaments ( just to decorate my cake :))

And so not to forget, It is also the month to bake cakes, cookies and biscottis :)
Its such a pleasant feeling when your kitchen has aroma of the freshly baked super spongy cake...This year i wanted to try my hand at baking the Christmas plum cake, and hence i soaked in the dry fruits almost 15 days before in rum. I have added Cherries, different coloured tutty-fruity, cashews, raisins and black raisins. You can add any dry fruits of your choice like walnuts, almonds, prunes, dates, orange zest etc. but raisins are a must!!! After all it's rum and raisin cake :) For people, who like it without alcohol, you can just boil the dry fruits with water and little sugar for 5 minutes at the time of baking the cake. If you don't like rum, you can even soak the fruits in beer or red wine or a mixture of wine, rum and beer. Anything tastes just great.
Here is how my soaked fruits looked like :

Every day is an occasion : The cake turned out so yummy that it was finished by hubby and his friends ( who had come over for Christmas) within hours! I feel i shouldn't wait for Christmas to bake and eat this one...Any day is a celebration and i am surely going to bake this one again :)

Recipe adapted from : Swapna Mickey

Ingredients :

Mixed dry fruits : 350 gms ( i used cherries, different coloured tutty-fruity, cashews, raisins, and black raisins )
Rum - 1/2 cup ( Can also add brandy, wine or beer )
Butter - 3 tbsp ( heaped )
Ghee - 3 tbsp ( heaped )
Powdered sugar - 150 gms
Eggs - 2
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp ( to caramelize )
All purpose flour/ Maida - 120 gms
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Spice powder - 1/2 tsp ( i used my chai masala powder - Recipe uploaded earlier - You can also use mix of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg powder )
Milk - 1/8 cup
Lime juice - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp

Recipe :

Soak the chopped dry fruits in Rum as early as you can/want. I did it for 15 days, but some even do it for months or a year in advance.( the more u soak, the tastier it is). Soak it in a clean , dry glass bottle or air tight container. Make sure you stir the fruits once a day. Soak them for minimum 1 week in advance.

On the day of baking the cake, transfer these dry fruits into a steamer and steam them for 5 minutes. I did it in idli maker in microwave for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and allow the fruits to cool.

The most important thing to make a plum cake is to caramelize the sugar. It is not that tough at all ! Just take 2 tbsp sugar in a pan and heat it stirring continuously till it becomes dark brown. Meanwhile, boil 1/2 cup of water and keep. Now add this hot water to the sugar. Keep stirring till it becomes thick. Keep it aside.

Add 2 tbsp sugar to 1 tbsp lemon juice and keep aside.

Sieve together ( preferably twice ) maida, baking soda, baking powder and spice powder. Toss in the steamed and cooled dry fruits into this flour, so that the dry fruits are coated properly. This is just to avoid the dry fruits from falling to the bottom of the cake when baking.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees for minimum 15 minutes.

Beat Butter, Ghee and sugar together till light and fluffy. Add eggs one by one and keep beating. Now add the vanilla essence and caramel syrup and mix well. Now add the flour-dry fruit mixture and milk alternatively, finishing with the flour mixture. Mix it all well with a spatula. Lastly, add the lemon juice mixture.

Grease and Dust the cake tin with butter and flour respectively. Add in the cake mixture and bake the cake at 180 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes. Check after an hour if it's done and add more time if required.

Let it cool for 10 minutes in the tin after removing from the oven on a wire rack. Now remove from the cake tin and let it cool completely.

Store in an air tight container. You can also pour in rum on top while serving or inject rum inside the cake with a syringe :) Tastes yummm....

Happy Baking :)))