Oatmeal Cookies

If you are one who stares at the jar of oatmeal, wondering how to make yourself like it, you are in for a treat. This is by far the most convenient and tasty way of introducing oats in your diet.
These cookies are crisp and soft and nutty and crunchy all at the same time. A flavor explosion in your mouth! The huge amount of oats in each cookie, makes it a great grab and go breakfast or snack bar. Perfect for those busy mornings or when you are stuck in traffic with a growling tummy dying to get home to food!

You can load these cookies with your favorite ingredients. If you plan to eat these for breakfast or as a healthy snack, add your favorite nuts and dry fruits. If you plan to replace your dessert cravings with these, throw in some chocolate chips along with the nuts...just let your imagination go wild!

An important detail to remember - You need to use Old Fashioned Oats/ Rolled Oats for this recipe and not the instant variety. Although they are quite interchangeable, you will need the thickness of the rolled oats to get the perfect texture in this recipe.

Getting back to the recipe...

Serves: 24 medium-large size cookies
Level: Easy
Source: JoyOfBaking

Ingredients:
3 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup nuts (I used pecans)
1/2 cup dry fruit (I used raisins)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used bittersweet and white mixed together)

Method:
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 350 deg F (177 deg C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Step 2 - Mix together the plain flour, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon until they are well combined. Keep aside.

Step 3 - In a bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat well to combine.

Step 4 - Combine the flour mixture from Step 2 into the butter mixture from Step 3. Beat well till combined.

Step 5 - Stir in the nuts, oats, dry fruits and chocolate chips. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to combine all the ingredients well.

Step 6 - With a large spoon, plop fairly large blobs of batter (1/4 cup each) onto your lined baking sheet. Space the cookies about 2 inches from each other, giving them room to expand while baking. Then wet your fingers with water and roughly shape the cookies into rounds that are 1/2 an inch thick. Bake for 18 - 20 mins or until golden around the edges. Once done, transfer them to a cooling rack and let them cool completely, before transferring them to an air tight container.

Sit back with a glass of milk or some coffee and indulge!
Perfect!

Tips:
We need 2 cups of your favorite addition in this recipe. You can use all nuts or all raisins or all chocolate chips or any other ingredient for that matter. Just make your favorite combinations to enjoy these cookies.

You can use salted butter for this recipe. Just skip the additional salt.

Baking time could vary depending on the oven sizes. So do keep an eye on these.

The original recipe calls for baking for 12 - 15 mins. But I prefer my cookie bottoms a little brown and crisp. Hence the 18 - 20 min baking time.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins! (Eggless)

A lot of my blogger friends were trying out Nigella's Double Chocolate Chip muffins and I could no longer resist! They looked so easy and tempting. And noticing those sly chocolate chips staring at me every time I opened the freezer, I caved and got to it! 

I have altered the recipe a little to suit my family's tastes and also based on some viewer comments. I have also substituted the egg for flax seeds which made me feel a little healthy while I indulged. Thank god for little pleasures..:)

These muffins are a little more than just a breakfast muffin. They are a chocolate muffin studded with chocolate chips! Things may not get any better. 

You can play around with this recipe. Add any variety of chocolate chips you like. Add some walnuts or pecans for a little crunch.
The sugar quantity I have used makes fairly sweet muffins. I prefer the sweetness the milk chocolate chips give these muffins rather than sugar. But if you plan to use semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips, do add in a an extra 1/4 cup of granulated sugar.

Now let us head towards heaven!

Serves: Makes 12 - 13 muffins

Level: Easy
Adapted From: Nigella Lawson's Recipe

Ingredients:

1.75 cups all purpose flour/plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

0.5 tsp baking soda

4 tblsp cocoa powder

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

Pinch of salt

1 cup milk (I used 2%)

1/3 cup + 2 tblsp vegetable oil

(1 tblsp flax seeds + 4 tblsp water) / 1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup chocolate chips to sprinkle on top

Method:

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line a muffin pan with liners and lightly spray these with some cooking oil. 

Step 2 - Let us get the egg substitute ready. Grind 1 tblsp flax seeds. Add these to 4 tblsp water. Stir well. Keep aside for a couple of minutes. 

Step 3 - Take a medium sized bowl. Add the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, granulated sugar and a pinch of salt. Mix well with a spoon. Add the 3/4 cup of chocolate chips. Stir well again till all the chocolate chips are coated with the flour and cocoa mixture. Keep aside.

Step 4 - Take a large bowl. Add the milk, vegetable oil, egg substitute from Step 2 and vanilla extract. With a wire whisk, mix all the ingredients well for a minute.

Step 5 - Slowly start adding the dry ingredients from Step 3 into the large bowl of our wet ingredients. Lightly mix together. Do not over mix. Remember that a lumpy batter makes the best muffin.

Step 6 - Pour the batter with a spoon into the muffin cups. Fill only till it is 3/4th full. Randomly sprinkle the 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on top of the batter. Bake these muffins in the preheated oven for 18 - 20 mins. They are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out batter free.

Serve warm for breakfast or as dessert with some vanilla ice cream.

Tips:

Remember that while testing your muffins for doneness in the end, your toothpick could have some liquid chocolate stuck to it. Do not worry about this. This is just hot melted chocolate chips. You just have to make sure there is no wet batter sticking to the toothpick.
Chocolate muffins are easily burnt as the color makes it difficult to know if your muffins are burning. So keep an eye on your timer.

If you want to use the egg and not the egg substitute, add it into the wet ingredients in Step 4.

Ambyacha Cake (Mango Cake/Burfi) - Eggless

A perfect blend of Rava Cake and Chitale's Amba Burfi!

This recipe is easy and effortless. I found this gem while I was hunting for some quick mango recipes. I was in the mood to try a dish I had never tried before. This cute looking cake was immediately bookmarked by me mainly because it felt a little too simple to be true. End result - Absolutely Fantastic!
Only thing you need to remember is not to bake this cake till it browns. That would ruin the sunny yellow looks of this cake. You can also cut this cake into diamond shapes or squares and serve it as a burfi on special occasions.

Now to the recipe..

Serves: 4 to 6 people
Level: Easy
Source: RedChillies

Ingredients:
1 cup semolina (fine variety)
1 cup mango pulp (I used sweetened canned Alphonso mango pulp)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

Method: 

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 375 deg. F.

Step 2 - In a large bowl mix all ingredients with a wooden spoon or spatula till they are well combined. No need to over mix.

Step 3 - Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake for 25 to 30 mins till a toothpick entered into the center of the cake, does not have any raw batter stuck to it. Keep an eye on the cake after 20 mins as you do not want it to brown on top.

Serve warm or at room temperature.
You can store this cake in the refrigerator for a week. Whenever you are ready to indulge, just microwave it for 30 seconds and it will be warm and soft again.

Enjoy!

Rack Your Brains!
Alphonso mango is considered one of the best in terms of sweetness, richness and flavor. It is one of the most expensive kinds of mango and is grown mainly in the Konkan region of Western India.
The Alphonso Mango is named after Afonso de Albuquerque. This was an exquisite and expensive variety of mango, that he used to bring on his journeys to Goa. The locals took to calling it Aphoos in Konkani and in Maharashtra the pronunciation got further transformed to Hapoos. This variety then was taken to the Konkan region of Maharashtra, South Gujarat and other parts of India.
Read more here!

Baklava Muffins

Baklava though tempting, is not something I see myself make in the near future with weight management forever on my agenda!
I did notice that inspite of it's exotic looks, Baklava is really simple to make.
The only thing I know is that we don't need a tray of this decadent dessert sitting in our refrigerator seductively staring down at us all the time. And knowing us, we will cave almost everytime!
So I dug and dug for Baklava siblings to enjoy this dessert on those special occasions or when my dinner themes were Mediterranean or just for brunch.
To tell you the truth, you don't really need a special occassion to make these muffins of joy! They are simple, quick and awesome!

These muffins have a light muffin texture and a nutty top or inside. They have a characteristic walnut and honey flavor with a hint of cinnamon in the background. By themselves, they are not as sweet, but if you eat them the way you are supposed to - with some warm honey, it tastes perfect! I will definitely try these again really soon.

Now, you can add the walnut-cinnamon filling in the middle or on top of the muffins. I personally sprinkled it a little in between the batter while assembling and a lot on top, as I loved how roasted and caramel like the topping got when these were all baked. And the aroma that spread in the kitchen while these were baking...was pure bliss!

Let us get to the baking now..

Level: Simple
Serves: 12 muffins
Source: Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a Domestic Goddess'

(honey soaked muffins)

Ingredients:
For the filling:
1/2 cups chopped walnuts
1/3 cup sugar
1.5 tsp cinnamon powder
3 tblsp butter (melted)

For the muffins:
1 cup + 7 tblsp plain flour (yes..that is how she measures it)
2 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
3 tblsp butter (melted)
1 cup + 2 tblsp buttermilk

For the topping:
1/2 cup honey (I used 1/8th cup. That was all the sweetness we needed)

Method:
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 400 Deg F. Place your muffin liners in your muffin pan and spray them lightly with some nonstick spray.

Step 2 - Let us make the filling. In a bowl, add all the filling ingredients together (chopped walnuts, sugar, cinnamon powder and butter). Mix well. Keep aside.

Step 3 - In a large bowl, take the plain flour, baking powder and baking soda together. Mix it well with a spoon. Make a well in the center to pour in the liquid ingredients. Keep aside.

Step 4 - In another medium bowl, whisk together the egg, melted butter and buttermilk. Whisk it till it all incorporates together and forms a creamy, liquidy mixture.

Step 5 - Pour this mixture into the well formed in the dry ingredients in Step 3. Mix lightly and gently with a spatula or a spoon remembering to keep it bumpy rather than smooth. Do not get your electrical appliances out for this. I cannot stress enough on how gentle you need to be here. Too much handling of the batter will result in heavy muffins.

Step 6 - Now let us get assembling. Fill in each muffin cup 1/3rd full with the batter. If your batter is too thick, spread it around so that it covers the base of the muffin cups completely. Sprinkle a little filling mixture from Step 2. Cover this with the remaining muffin batter till the muffin cups are 3/4th full. Do not overfill the muffin cups. Sprinkle the remaining filling on top of the muffin batter. Lick those cinnamonny fingers! ummmm...

Step 7 - Bake these in your preheated oven for 15 mins, by which time they should be golden-brown and ready. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out without any liquid batter on it.

Step 8 - Take the honey in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 10 - 15 seconds. Stir the honey well. This should make the honey runny (that just rhymed!).

Serve warm with some warm honey over it. The warmth in the muffins, soaks in all the sweetness from the honey! DIVINE!

Tips:
If I want to enjoy these at a later time I let the muffins cool down, put them in a box and store them in the refrigerator. When it is time to eat, I just pop them in the microwave for 30 seconds and serve. I keep the bowl of warm honey on the table, so people can adjust the sweetness of these muffins as per their own desired sweetness levels.

Walnuts:
By now, you have likely heard that a diet rich in certain types of fish helps ward off heart attacks and strokes. But if you can't stand the thought of eating fish - try WALNUTS instead!
A new study suggests that walnuts have a similar beneficial effect on cholesterol levels and C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammation marker that is strongly associated with atherosclerosis and heart diseases.
A recommended serving of walnuts is 1 ounce, which equates to 1/4 cup or 12 - 14 walnut halves.

Espresso Brownie (Box Mix recipe)

Basic Brownies...DONE!
What next?

Let us combine our favorite things..Chocolate and Coffee..
Now why won't these just ROCK!

I first saw this recipe on Food Network. Instantly impressed! Who would'nt be? But the icing bit scared me. If you are a follower of my blog, you will realise, that icing and me don't go hand in hand. I don't particularly enjoy iced desserts. I find them too sweet! Well that's just me!
But the way this recipe was shown, made it sound really simple and interesting. It started with a BOX MIX and a really super thin layer of icing.
Nothing else gets me started faster than a box-mix recipe. So many steps out of the way. Why wouldn't anyone make this?? So I got going..
End result? Bliss!

Espresso Brownies are a sure shot crowd pleaser! They are fudgy, chocolatey and oh so yummy!
The coffee in the recipe is not overpowering. It doesn't make your brownie taste like coffee! Just makes the chocolate more intense. And that can never be a bad thing! EVER!
The icing on the brownie is very sweet. But as we just apply a thin layer, it doesn't make this dessert too sweet! It just makes it even more perfect, if that is even possible..

I will end with a small note. Please do not replace espresso powder with instant coffee powder. Unfortunately, instant coffee in these amounts, make the brownies and the icing bitter. So make a trip to your grocers and get a small bottle of espresso powder. Trust me, it will be well worth it!

And as I believe in "All good things, need to be shared!"...here are Espresso Brownies for you!

Level: Easy
Serves: 10 - 12 people
Source: Food Network (Giada at Home - Giada De Laurentiis)

Ingredients:
For the base:
1 pack Brownie Mix (any brand)
Eggs, as per box instructions
Oil, as per box instructions
Water, as per box instructions
2.5 tblsp espresso powder
1 cup chocolate chips (any kind. I used semi-sweet)

For the glaze:
0.75 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp espresso powder
2 tblsp water
1 tblsp unsalted butter (at room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 350 Deg. F. Line your baking tray (I used 9 X 13 baking tray) with parchment paper and spray some oil over it.

Step 2 - Prepare the brownies as per the package instructions. Do not over mix. Stir in the chocolate chips and the espresso powder.

Step 3 - Pour the batter into the prepared pan. If the mixture is thick, spread it around the pan with a spoon or a spatula. You do not have to take much efforts to even the batter out. Just make sure it does not all clump up only in the center of the pan. The baking process will spread and even out the batter.

Step 4 - Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 mins. The best way to know if your brownies are done is when a toothpick entered in the center of the cake comes out with some fudgy crumbs for fudge brownies and clean for normal brownies. It should  not show wet ingredients on it. Other ways of knowing if your brownies are done, is when they have little cracks on the surface and they are no longer shiny, but have a matt finish to them.

Step 5 - Let the brownies cool down completely for about 30-35 mins.

Step 6 - Meanwhile let us get to the glaze. In a small bowl, add the powdered sugar, espresso powder, water, unsalted butter and vanilla extract. Whisk it together till it forms a smooth lump free paste-like batter.

Step 7 - Pour the glaze on the cooled baked brownies. Spread it around with a spoon or a spatula. You want a thin layer over the brownies.

Step 8 - Let the glaze set for 10-15 mins. Cut into pieces.

You can serve these with some vanilla ice cream or just as is!

Tips:
I used a 9 X 13 pan. As you can see, that gives us thinner brownies. That is what we prefer. As the glaze is very sweet and strong, a thin layer is perfect for us. If you want thicker and stronger brownies, use a smaller pan. Just make sure you increase the baking time a little.

I always line my baking pan with aluminum foil before placing in the parchment paper for brownies. This is not really necessary, but I like to be safe than sorry.

I used a 19.8 oz brownie mix pack. But any brand between 18 oz to 20 oz will do.
I used the Fudge Brownies package. You can use normal plain brownies too, if fudgy is not your thing.

You cannot substitute the powdered sugar with granulated sugar. The icing would be too runny and will not set properly.

Do not be impatient and pour the icing over warm brownies. Instead of a glaze, you will have coffee icing soaked brownies. Not pretty!

You can refrigerate these brownies for a week and freeze them for a month. Just make sure you get them to room temperature before you serve them.

Brownies Simplified!

If you are looking for that special, no fuss, complication-free brownie recipe... Look no further!
Here is one simple 'Basic Brownie' recipe for you.

Before we get into brownie variation recipes, it is nice to have a trusted basic recipe on hand.

This recipe is tried and tested, quick and has nothing overly fancy in it, to scare you away from baking these.

Great eaten by itself, these brownies taste better warm, with a dollop of vanilla ice cream or even with just a warm glass of milk.
Sizzling brownies are just a sizzler plate away when you have this easy-breezy brownie recipe.

This recipe makes a brownie which is denser than a cake, yet not too fudgy! Thats how I like it!
You can add a cup of walnuts or pecans in this batter for a nice crunch.

The coffee in the ingredients is optional and is used only to enhance the chocolate flavor. This quantity does not make it a coffee flavored brownie.

This recipe is dedicated to my sister-in-law who is a die hard fan of these beauties! Its her 'to-go' recipe whenever we have guests over.
And it has NEVER failed to impress!

So lets get baking...

Level: Easy
Serves: 6 to 8 people

Ingredients:
200 gms melted butter
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1.25 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp instant coffee powder (optional)
1/2 cup plain flour
Pinch of salt

Method:
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Line a baking dish with parchment paper or a foil and spray it with some cooking oil.

Step 2 - Crack 3 eggs in a bowl and whisk them together. Keep aside.

Step 3 - In a large bowl, add the melted butter, cocoa, coffee powder (if using) and sugar and whisk them together till they all combine.

Step 4 - Add in the eggs and the vanilla extract. Whisk together again till well combined.

Step 5 - Add in the pinch of salt and flour. Replace the whisk with a wooden spoon or spatula and mix in together till well combined. Do not over mix. If you do, the brownies will fall flat while baking and that is not what we are getting at.

Step 6 - Pour the batter into the lined baking dish and place it in the oven for 25-30 mins or till a toothpick inserted in the center of the dish comes out with some moist crumbs.

And we are done!
Chop them into large chunks when they cool down and serve warm or cold.

Happy cooking everyone!

Tips:
I know I am repeating myself here, but do not over mix the batter. We don't want the brownie to be super dense and gooey here. A normal hand whisk works much better than an electric whisk.

If you do not have granulated sugar, you can replace it with normal coarse sugar (regular sugar in India). Just remember that when you add it in the butter in Step 2, you keep whisking it till the sugar blends in.

If you plan to add in some nuts, do so at Step 5, once the flour is well incorporated. And you do not have permission to over mix even here! :)

Warm Apple Cake

A nice rainy night...sitting with blankets wrapped around you, watching a nice easy movie... enjoying the chill..:) It is at these times that we crave for some nice warm dessert..:)

When I checked the weather in the morning...I realised that such nights are going to be in fashion soon :) I saw some nice Granny Smith Apples lying in the fruit basket at home. Am not a big fan of apple pies....maybe because I dint try the best of those. So I decided to try something a little less sweet. After a lot of searching and browsing and reading...APPLE CAKE became almost a top priority for the day!

This apple cake is moist and a little dense. Tastes great with some cold vanilla ice-cream, drizzled with caramel or honey too.

A little more about baking apples...right below this recipe..:)

Level: Easy
Serves: 9 medium sized pieces

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped baking apples (I used Granny Smiths)
1.5 cups plain flour
1 tsp soda-bi-carbonate
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
3 tblsp milk (I used 2%)
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 inch cinnamon stick
3 - 4 cloves
Pinch of salt

Method:
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 350 Deg. F. Spray some oil in a 9 inch baking tray. Keep aside.

Step 2 - In a grinder, finely grind together the cinnamon stick and cloves.Sift together the plain flour, soda-bi-carbonate, cinnamon-clove powders and salt. Keep aside.

Step 3 - In a large bowl, beat together the oil, sugar and egg till it turns into a pale yellow color and you can no longer feel the rough sugar texture in the mixture. (Preferably use an electric whisk. Life would be simpler)

Step 4 - Add vanilla essence, milk and apples. Mix together with a wooden spoon or spatula till all of it comes together. Once it all comes together, quickly beat with an electric whisk for no more than a minute. We do not want to mash the apples in here. Just slightly break them down.

Step 5 - Pour the batter in the greased baking tray from step 1 and bake in the oven for 35 - 40 mins, till the top of the cake starts to crack and is a nice brown color. You need not insert a knife to check this cake, as if you poke the knife into a hot apple, you will end up with moist crumbs on the knife, which does not necessarily mean that the cake is uncooked or undercooked.

Let the cake cool down a little, then turn it out on a wire rack to cool further.

Serve warm.

Happy cooking everyone!

Tips:
You can avoid using spices in this cake and keep it plain vanilla if you prefer.

Almost any apple can be enjoyed when eaten fresh. However, not all apples are ideal for the kitchen.

The best baking apples offer a balance of sweet and tart flavors as well as flesh that doesn't break down in the oven.

Apples that can be fearlessly used for baking would be Cortland, Granny Smith, Jonagold, Jonathan, McIntosh, Newton Pippin, Rhode Island Greening, Rome Beauty and Winesap.

Hope this helps!

Orange Cake

I had some oranges at home, but unfortunately we were not in the mood for orange juice. Well this rarely happens to us!! but it just did.

I couldnt bear to see these oranges just sitting in our fridge. So I started browsing the web for recipes with orange juice. I was more interested in orange chicken kind of recipes. But the first hits I got off the web were for orange cake and orange chiffon cake...well I was aware of orange cakes being in existance, but I thought they were made with orange essence...well my bad...

This is where I stumbled upon this cute orange cake. I read the recipe, had all the ingredients on hand and just started off with it...the end result was a lovely smelling home, and many smiling friends..:)

Heres the recipe for all of you.

Level: Medium
Serves: 6 to 8 people

Inspired from: http://www.whatsforlunchhoney.net/2008/03/flavors-orange-cake.html

Ingredients:
250 gms all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
40 gms vanilla pudding powder
340 gms sugar
3 eggs
5.5 tblsp butter, at room temperature
250 mls fresh orange juice
2 tsp orange zest

Method:
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 350 Deg. F. Dust a 9 inch pan with butter and flour. Keep aside.

Step 2 - In a large bowl, sift together the all purpose flour, baking powder and vanilla pudding mix. Add the eggs, sugar, butter, orange zest and orange juice. Whip it with an electric whisk till it turns nice and fluffy.

Step 3 - Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for 50 mins. or till the top of the cake browns itself and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Serve.

To get orange zest, lightly grate an orange over the small holes of a grater. Make sure you do not grate the white portion of the orange. We need just the top orange portion. The white would make the cake bitter.

Dont get over excited with the zest. Do not over use. It smells so heavenly when you zest the orange that you would think that it wouldnt hurt to add some more..BUT IT DOES! so do avoid.

Make sure you sift the flour, baking powder and vanilla pudding mixture. Just stirring it together wont fluff the cake up well.

4 tsp baking powder is not a typo. You need that much.

The link that I have provided, shows an awesome icing over this cake. I am sure that would taste heavenly. But I personally, prefer simple cakes. No icing. Hence I did not make any.

Happy cooking everyone!

Date and Walnut Cake (Eggless)

Frankly, the most loved cake recipe I've ever come across...

With the softness dates give this cake, contrasted with the slight crunch the walnuts give..this cake wins hands down.

Today I have made this cake for 2 reasons
Firstly, as it was requested by my brother ..and hes coming down to india today...
And secondly, I came to know a couple of days back that my paternal grand dad likes this cake a lot..so this is my special surprise for him too.

Well I made a huge cake today..for 8 to 10 people..as noone would let me take the entire cake safely out of my in laws house. So had to leave some for them too..:)

Level: Medium
Serves: 8 to 10 people

Ingredients:
200 gms seedless dates, finely chopped
80 gms walnuts, roughly chopped
140 gms all purpose flour/maida
100 gms white butter, room temperature
200 gms condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp soda-bi-carbonate
1 tsp baking powder
Water, if required

Method:
Step 1 - Chop the dates and soak them in water with 1/2 tsp of soda-bi-carbonate. The level of water should be enough to just soak all the dates. Keep this aside for a minimum of 4 hours. I usually keep it overnight. Makes the dates really soft.

Step 2 - Sieve maida, baking powder and soda-bi-carbonate together. Keep aside. Dont avoid this step..Believe it or not..it makes a difference

Step 3 - Take a large vessel, and beat the white butter prefereably with a whisk for 5 mins. Add in condensed milk and vanilla essense. Whisk all together again.

Step 4 - Add in all purpose flour, soaked dates and whisk it again together. At this stage if you think this mixture is too thick to whisk..add in some water. But dont make the mixture watery..just enough water till its possible to whisk it all together. 

Step 5 - Lightly mix in walnuts and mix it with a spoon. Do not use a whisk here..it crushes the walnuts in the mixture.

Step 6 - Smear the cake tin with some butter and sprinkle some all purpose flour in it.

Step 7 - Pour the cake batter and bake in a 200 deg C oven for 40-45 mins., till the top is brown and some cracks form on the top crust.

Tastes best when it is had warm with some cold vanilla ice cream.

Rack your brains:

Dates are valuable as medicine for their tonic effect.

It is easily digested and they are very useful for supplying energy and repairing waste.

The nicotinic content in dates is an excellent remedy for intestinal disturbances.

The date is a laxative food. It is highly beneficial in the treatment of constipation as the roughage provided by it stimulates sluggish bowels.

Walnuts are one of the best plant sources of protein.

They are rich in fiber, vitamin B, magnesium and antioxidants such as vitamin E.

Walnuts have been shown to aid in the lowering of LDL cholestrol (the bad cholestrol) and the C-Reactive Protein.

Rava Cake (Semolina Cake)

Finally I start my own food blog..have been planning it from quite sometime..but something or the other just kept coming up...and on quite a few occassions I was just a bit worried about how this would all turn out..Then I just decided one day that I am going to just go for it..and heres my first post for all of you..:)

Was suggested by my husband to start with this Rava Cake/Semolina Cake..which is his favorite..:)

So heres a sweet start to my blog.

This is a great option when you arnt in the mood for those lovely iced cake..great for grandmoms and granddads who dont eat cakes with eggs on their birthdays..:)

Level: Easy

Serves: 6 -8 people
Source: My Mahim chi Ajji (Vasanti Parulekar)

Ingredients:

1.5 cups semolina/rava

1.5 cups sugar

1 cup plain yogurt

1 cup plain milk

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp soda-bi-carbonate

1 tsp vanilla essence
a pinch of salt
a pinch of saffron (optional)
1/2 tsp cardamom powder (optional)

Nuts for decoration (optional)

Method:

Step 1 - Mix the sugar and yogurt thoroughly, preferably with an electric whisk till the sugar has completely dissolved.

Step 2 - Then add all the other ingredients and whisk again till its mixed well.

Step 3 - Let the batter stand covered for an hour. This softens the semolina.

Step 4 - Smear the cake tin with some ghee/clarified butter and sprinkle some maida/all purpose flour on it, so that the cake comes out of the cake tin smoothly.

Step 5 - Preheat the oven at 200 deg C. When the oven is ready, bake for around 25-30 mins. The top of the cake must be golden brown.

Let it rest till the base of the tin cools down and then invert it on a serving plate.

You can have this cake plain (room temperature) sprinkled with some powdered sugar or warm it and have it with some vanilla ice cream.

Heaven !

Hope you try this one..and do let me know how it turned out.