Mango Mousse Tarts

Mango mousse... How I do love it!! I've had multiple different versions of it in the past. Some were fluffy like whipped cream, and used as a cake filling. Others were firm, but so creamy and delicious! I've found that most recipes use mango pulp and cream for either version... I then thought, "How can I make this less of a guilty pleasure?"

I rummaged around in the fridge and spotted the container of Stonyfield Oikos yogurt sitting in there. Oikos is Stonyfield's new nonfat Greek yogurt. I know, I know. Some of you are thinking, "How on earth can nonfat yogurt taste good?" Well, throw your fears out the window! I am not the type to preach about any particular product, but this one really surpassed my expectations. It tastes rich and creamy and is not sour at all. Perfect to help satisfy my craving for mango mousse!

So, I used a ripe mango I had sitting around to make fresh mango pulp. Then, sweetened it a touch, added the yogurt and milk. The whole thing was stabilized with gelatin. I couldn't resist adding a crust flavored with almonds and amaretti cookies (Italian almond flavored cookies) to give it more of a cold tart feel. The end result was way more than satisfactory... It was totally awesome!!!



Ingredients:

Crust:

Crushed amaretti cookies - 4 tbsp (can substitute with 2 tbsp almond flour and 2 tbsp all purpose flour)
Almonds, powdered - 2 tbsp
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 tbsp
Melted butter - 1 tbsp

Filling:

Mango pulp (from fresh mangoes) - 1 cup (if using canned pulp, decrease sugar!)
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Nonfat Greek yogurt (I used Oikos) - 1/2 cup
Milk (or cream) - 1/2 cup
Gelatin - 1 packet of powdered gelatin
Water (to dissolve gelatin) - 1/4 cup

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Combine all the crust ingredients and press into 4 ramekins. The ramekins I used were 5 oz size. Bake the crust for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven and cool on a rack. The crust may seem a little soft on removal from the oven, but will harden on cooling.

3. Mix together the mango pulp, yogurt, milk or cream, and sugar in a medium bowl. Keep aside.

4. Now, mix the gelatin powder and water in a saucepan. Allow to soak for 5 minutes. Then, turn the stove on to low and stir continuously until the gelatin melts. Remove from the heat.

5. Add the gelatin mixture to the mango mixture whle stirring continuously. Continue stirring for 1-2 minutes to combine everything well and ensure that no lumps remain.

6. Pour the filling mixture into the cooled ramekins (that have the already baked crusts), dividing evenly.

7. Cover the ramekins with plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator for 4 hours to overnight for firm up.



Enjoy these as is or garnished with some freshly cut ripe mangoes and give into temptation...!

Absolutely Off the Hook Brownies

I remember the first few times I made brownies. I must have been 10 or 11 years old and I was using a box brownie mix from the grocery store. I'd already been regularly baking cakes so I felt pretty confident that I would be able to do this without a problem. I followed the box directions to mix up the batter and put it into the oven as stated on the box. Then, I checked the brownies to see if they were done at the given time. I thought it made perfect sense to test them using a toothpick as I had done for cakes. Well, the toothpick didn't come out clean when inserted into the brownies. So, I continued baking them until the toothpick finally came out clean.

If you've had any experience with brownies, you might know how they turned out. After they cooled down, those brownies could have been used as hockey pucks! Yes, that's how hard they were... I quickly learned that it's more about the baking time and not necessarily about how done they look.

On top of all this comes the eternal debate of what type of brownies you like. Fudgy or cake-like? Semisweet or dark? With nuts or without? Do you like any additional flavorings? It goes on and on.

Well, these brownies are from a tried and true recipe from the King Arthur Flour website. They are fudgy, but not gooey. They are not quite cake-like, but form a nice compromise. There's also a nice kick from some added espresso powder. No, they don't really taste like coffee, but the coffee actually intensifies the chocolate flavor. As for nuts? Not this time for me. Chocolate chips? Any way to add more chocolate is always great for me!

In a nutshell, these brownies are rich and chocolaty enough to satisfy the die-hard chocoholic. At the same time, it's hard to restrain yourself from eating just one! If you're fortunate enough to have leftovers, they actually get even better after a day or 2!

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick)
Sugar - 3/4 cup (for mildly sweet)
Eggs - 2
Dutch process cocoa powder - 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Espresso powder - 1/2 tsp (or coffee powder 1 tsp)
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
All purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet) - 1 cup

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour an 8 x 8 pan or line it with parchment paper that's lightly greased. I find it easiest to cut the parchment so that it sits flat on the bottom, but has long sides that extend beyond the height of the pan. This way, you can use the parchment to lift the brownies out.

2. Place the butter in a microwave safe medium bowl and melt in the microwave.

3. Now, add the sugar and mix into the butter. Place in the microwave and heat it for about 15 seconds to slightly melt the sugar. Whisk the mixture together well.

4. At this point, add in the salt, espresso powder, baking powder, cocoa powder and eggs. Whisk until combined.

5. Lastly, add the flour and chocolate chips. Mix until fairly well combined. Pour into prepared baking pan.

6. Bake at 350 F for 25 to 30 minutes until the edges of the brownies pull slightly from the pan. Insert a toothpick and you should get just a few moist crumbs remaining on the toothpick.

7. Now, place the pan on a cooling rack. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes (if you have the parchment paper lined as above stated) and then remove from the pan. Otherwise, cool completely in the pan. Once fully cooled (by either method), cut into pieces and enjoy!



The second picture is off to the June edition of CLICK at the Jugalbandi blog, where the theme is "stacks." Click here for more information.

Mango Cake

Have you ever finished cutting up a mango and started eating the flesh off of the seed? For me, that's one of the ultimate joys of buying mangoes. I have the immense pleasure of enjoying the flesh around the seed.

Well, the other day, I found myself sucking on the mango seed while standing over the sink. Mango juice was dribbling down my arm and I was suddenly transported to being in India. I remember being at my Mama's house (my maternal uncle's house) when I was a child. There were a couple of mango trees literally right outside of the house. We went during mango season and were rewarded with delicious ripe mangoes right off of the tree... Who needed food when there were such delicious mangoes to eat? All of us little cousins were sitting around and slurping on mangoes with the juice dribbling down our arms without a care in the world... Somehow, time had passed, but there is little else that measures to the joy of eating a mango with the juice running down your arms. *sigh*

On the day I was mentioning, I looked into the box of mangoes and realized that a couple of them were really getting overripe. So, I thought, why not turn it into a cake? Good idea!

This cake has mango flavor, but I find that cooking mangoes can sometimes result in a less pronounced mango flavor. That being said, the cake itself is extremely moist and a real delight. The mango puree helps to keep the cake so moist. The added bonus is that the cake is also relatively lowfat.





Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup
White whole wheat flour (or all purpose) - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp, or to taste
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Mango puree, fresh or canned - 1.5 cups
Butter, softened - 4 tbsp
Eggs, room temperature - 2

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, like whipped cream. Meanwhile, sift the dry ingredients (flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom powder) together in another bowl and keep aside.

3. Now, add the eggs and combine well.

4. Once the eggs are incorporated, add 1/2 cup of the mango puree. Combine and then add about 1/2 of the dry ingredients. Again, combine, add another 1/2 cup of the mango puree. Mix in, then add the rest of the dry ingredients and incorporate. Finally, fold in the last of the mango puree.

5. Butter and flour a 10 inch bundt or tube pan. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350 F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6. Remove from oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then, remove and cool completely before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

Note: If you don't have a bundt pan, you can use a standard loaf pan, but the baking time will change.



Update: I'm sending this cake to Srivalli, of Cooking 4 all Seasons, for her Mango Mela. Click here for more information.

Kitchen Sink Cookies

Man, it's been such a long time since I wrote a real post... I think that with everything that has been going on in my life, the last thing I wanted to do was cook at all. For me, that's really saying a lot! I'm the type of person who finds cooking and baking to be extremely relaxing and therapeutic. Well, I finally started to feel a bit of motivation to bake again.

I actually made an almond cake last week, but it sort of cracked coming out of the pan and was quickly devoured, so I never took pictures. And now, I made these delicious cookies. I call them kitchen sink cookies because they contain everything but the kitchen sink! I guess I was feeling a bit gluttonous, but they turned out so good. These cookies are chock full of oats, chocolate chips, coconut, walnuts and raisins. Mmm... Just heaven in every bite!

Ingredients:

Butter - 1 cup, softened to room temperature
Brown sugar - 3/4 cup, firmly packed
Cane sugar - 1/2 cup (Feel free to use regular sugar instead. Use 3/4 cup for sweet cookies)
Eggs - 2, at room temperature
Baking Powder - 2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tbsp
Milk - 1 tbsp
White whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour) - 1 1/2 cups
All purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Rolled oats (regular or quick cooking) - 2 cups
Semisweet chocolate chips - 1 cup
Raisins - 3/4 cup
Walnuts, chopped - 3/4 cup toasted for 5 minutes at 350 F (until golden)
Sweetened shredded coconut - 3/4 cup toasted for 5-7 minutes at 350 F (until golden)


Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. Beat butter and sugars in stand mixer or using hand mixer until soft and fluffy like whipped cream.

3. Add eggs, milk, and vanilla. Beat to combine well.

4. Now, add in the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together by hand or on slow speed in stand mixer until just combined. Do not overmix or you risk getting tough cookies.

5. At this point, stir in the oats, chocolate chips, raisins, toasted walnuts, and toasted coconut gently to combine.

6. Drop onto cookie sheets by heaped tablespoons or by using a tablespoon sized scoop (My favorite tool!). Bake at 375 F for 8-10 minutes until the cookies are light golden at the edges and are just set. They will not appear fully cooked, but it's fine. This will result in chewy cookies. For crisper cookies, bake for an additional 1-2 minutes, but be careful not to burn them! Keep in mind that this batter is meant for chewy cookies...



7. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Then, remove to a cooling rack and cool fully.

Enjoy with a tall glass of milk or on their own. Kids will love these too (especially if they like chocolate and raisins).


Update: I'm sending these cookies in to Mansi, of Fun and Food. She's hosting Sugar High Fridays where the theme is Fruit and Nuts. Click here for more info!

Crazy for Cookies!

So, I've been on a bit of a baking spree for the past few days... Blame it on the upcoming holidays and having to mail things out to people! Guess it's pretty obvious that I've baked a bunch of cookies and want to share the recipes here.

Benne Biscuit:



This is one that my husband and sister-in-law were telling me about. Apparently, it's a butter biscuit that they used to love eating in Bangalore. So, I looked up a recipe and decided to try it. The results were delicious!! Original recipe can be found here. I didn't make any changes to the recipe and they came out awesome!

Eggless Chocolate Oat Cookies:



This one was a special recipe that I found to send to my cousin's kids. Her two little ones have eczema and can't have dairy or eggs. What to send? Well, I didn't have to look far for this one. Sailu's blog came to my rescue with this recipe. The cookies were slightly chewy when warm and turned crisp on cooling. They had a nice chocolatey flavor and the oats texture really shined through. Perfect treat for little ones! No changes to this recipe either. Sailu's instructions were perfect!

Gingersnaps:



These are the perfect all-American holiday cookie... A little spicy, a little sweet and crispy. They keep forever (if you can hold on to them for that long!) and are perfect for dunking in tea or hot apple cider. The following recipe is from my King Arthur Flour cookbook.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 1/3 cup
White whole wheat (or all purpose) - 1 cup
Dried ginger powder - 2 tsp
Cinnamon - 1 tsp
Cloves powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 2 tsp
Butter - 3/4 cup, softened
Sugar - 2/3 cup (1 cup for more sweet cookies)
Egg - 1 large
Molasses - 1/3 cup

Coarse sugar to roll cookies in - about 1/3 cup

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

2. Sift or whisk together the dry ingredients (flours, spices, salt, and baking soda) in a small bowl. In another larger bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and egg until light and fluffy (like whipped cream). Now, beat in the molasses until well combined. At this point, add in the dry ingredients and stir together to form a soft dough.

3. Now, take 1-2 tsp of dough for each cookie, form into a ball and roll each ball into the coarse sugar to coat. Place about 2 inches apart on the greased or lined cookie sheets.

4. Bake at 375 F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. They will appear soft when you remove them from the oven, but will harden on cooling. Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely.



Enjoy with beverage of your choice!

In honor of the events going on in the blogosphere, the first 2 cookies are going to Sharmi's cookie event as well as JZ's Santa's Holiday Challenge.

Gingersnaps are headed to the monthly mingle at Meeta's blog!

And with that, my friends, am going on vacation and will be back in 10 days or so. Hope everyone has a great rest of the year!

Baby Turns One!

My baby (I mean, my blog) is one year old already! I really cannot believe that it's been a whole year since I started my blog. Time really flies. I remember not having any idea of how to start and what to post... I started visiting blogs that I'd seen from before starting my own blog. Slowly, ideas began coming to me. I've learned so much through blogging!

I've found that I have grown tremendously as a person in this past year. I have found an outlet for something that I truly love. I am able to express myself in a completely unique way via blogging. I love cooking, baking and sharing. This blog has been a perfect vehicle for all of those things. In addition, I've learned a little bit about recipe writing and photography (OK, very little).

I am also thankful for all of the amazing souls I have "met" virtually through blogging. Dear friends who didn't know I existed a year ago have been so kind, sweet, encouraging, and supportive in good times and during rough patches. I am truly grateful for each and every interaction we've had and look forward to deepening friendships and new friendships in the coming year.

As always, I am open to any comments/suggestions as to how you think this blog could be improved or for any specific post requests. Once again, thank you all and let's get the party started!

I thought it would be best to celebrate with the fruits of the season. So, I made an apple cake to share with you all. This cake (adapted from my King Arthur Flour baking book) is perfect for snacking or can easily be dressed up for a simple, elegant dessert. Sweet apples are complemented by raisins, dried cranberries, and spices. The result is sheer bliss without much effort on your part!

Apple Cake (yields 16 pieces):

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp
Sugar - 1/4 cup (for mildly sweet; can increase to 1/3 cup for sweeter)
Brown sugar - 1/2 cup
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Salt - 3/8 tsp
Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
Allspice - 1/4 tsp
Nutmeg - 1/4 tsp
Softened butter - 4 tbsp
Crystallized ginger or fresh ginger (optional) - 1 1/2 tbsp, minced finely
Apples - 2 cups, peeled and chopped
Raisins - 1/4 cup
Dried cranberries - 1/4 cup
Egg - 1

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Line an 8 inch square baking pan with greased parchment paper or grease and flour the pan.

2. Whisk the dry ingredients (flours, salt, sugars, baking soda, and spices) together. Cut the butter into pieces and add it along with the apples, ginger, raisins, cranberries, and the egg. Beat at medium speed until well blended. Note: The batter may seem a bit thick, but it's ok!

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top and bake at 325 F for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely, slice, and serve!

We had ours plain (mine with whipped cream) with tea or coffee. So moist and flavorful with spices. Juicy bursts of raisins and cranberries throughout made it the perfect cake for the season! I think that a cream cheese frosting would be delicious on it, too. This is one that I will definitely be making again. Hope you enjoyed my celebration and here's to another wonderful year of blogging!

Update: I'm sending this in to JZ's Santa's Holiday Challenge event.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm not sure how many of you have seen Sesame Street (the kids show). Well, cookie monster is a character on the show who is obsessed with cookies. Every time he sees a cookie, he becomes a little crazy and proceeds to devour it with such enthusiasm, it's hilarious! No idea what I'm talking about? To see Cookie Monster in action, click here.

So, what does Cookie Monster have to do with this post? Well, these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies could very easily turn you into a cookie monster who wants to devour them all in one sitting!!


I have a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe that I've used for years. I don't know about you, but I am a die hard fan of the soft and chewy type of chocolate chip cookie. Just the thought of them makes me drool!! One fine day (many years ago), I decided to see what would happen to my favorite cookie recipe by adding a bit of peanut butter. Well, after some experimentation, I think I got to the right level of peanutty goodness to compliment the chocolate chips. And, viola! A new cookie favorite was born!

The recipe I've used is based on a recipe from my Pillsbury Complete Book of Baking book.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 4 1/4 cups
Baking soda - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Butter - 1 1/2 cups, softened
Brown Sugar - 1 1/2 cups, firmly packed
White Sugar - 3/4 cup (increase to 1 cup for more sweet)
Vanilla Extract - 2 tsp
Eggs - 3
Peanut Butter - 1 cup (I used creamy)
Chocolate chips - 1 (12oz) bag of semisweet or bittersweet chips

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 F.

2. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter with both sugars until light and fluffy. It will look sort of like lemon colored whipped cream at this stage.

3. Add vanilla extract, eggs, and peanut butter. Blend well to combine.

4. Now, mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Once everything is well mixed, toss the chocolate chips in and stir to combine.

5. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Note: I find this easiest to do with a tablespoon sized scoop.

6. Bake at 375 F for 8-10 minutes until barely light golden brown. They will feel soft and mushy if you try to touch them, but will firm up on cooling! If you continue to bake them until they appear firm, they will not be chewy after you've cooled them.

7. Cool on the pan for 2 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy with a glass of cold milk. :)


Seeing as how chocolate chip cookies are the quintessential American cookie, I'm sending these delectable morsels to Dhivi at Culinary Bazaar for AWED American. Hope all my friends in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving! :)

Back with Blueberry Scones!

First of all, I just want to say it feels really good to be doing something productive again! I also want to thank each and every one of you sweet girls who have been so supportive with your emails, comments and positive energy for me in what's been a difficult time. Without getting into too much detail, suffice it to say that I've been dealing with major health issues for a very long time and things were getting to be too much to handle in the past few months. My mind was just not able to function and somehow even blogging didn't seem like a release! I'm still going through a lot of procedures, tests, etc., but will definitely be blogging when time and energy permit.

So many of your comments touched me and goodness knows I've missed you all dearly! I love the unique connection that blogging allows all of us. To think that so many lovely women whom I've never had the pleasure of meeting are so encouraging and truly care about my well being has touched me in ways that I never imagined. You gals are the best!

Tired of my self-purging? Ok, ok, ok. Thanks for bearing with me! I'm getting to the recipe now. With the weather here getting colder and this awesome scone recipe in my drafts, I figured I'd give one last throwback to summer before kissing it goodbye (sigh).

I absolutely adore blueberries! I always have since childhood. So, all summer, I tend to be on the lookout for more recipes to use these gorgeous berries. This summer, I wandered onto the King Arthur Flour recipe website and found a recipe for blueberry scones that sounded awesome! (The link is here.)



These scones are almost more along the lines of drop biscuits. They're pretty easy in the sense that you just scoop the resulting dough out using a measuring cup or ice cream scoop. There's no requirement for kneading or shaping. So, you can bet I made these more than once!

They just melt in your mouth and the juicy, sweet blueberries provide a pop of flavor that is just amazing! Talk about a symphony of flavors!! Enough buildup, you say? Well, let's get to the recipe! I pretty much followed the recipe on the website, except to substitute 1/2 whole wheat flour for 1/2 of the all purpose flour.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup fresh blueberries
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup plain, lowfat yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons coarse sugar, for sprinkling on top

Recipe:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a baking sheet, or line with parchment.

2. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the butter and work it into the dry ingredients using your fingers until the butter crumbles so that some of it is like coarse crumbs and others are like peas. Mix the blueberries into this dry mix. Be careful that you don't break the blueberries while tossing!

3. Stir together the wet ingredients (eggs, yogurt, vanilla extract, and lemon zest) in another bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir very gently, just until combined. The dough will be pretty moist at this point. Don't worry! It's supposed to be moister than biscuit dough! :)

4. Use a muffin scoop or 1/4-cup measure to scoop and drop the dough onto the prepared sheet, leaving about 2" between the scones. Brush each ball of dough with a bit of milk or cream, and sprinkle with coarse sugar.

5. Bake the scones at 375 F for 20 to 24 minutes, or until lightly browned and a cake tester inserted into a scone comes out dry. Remove from the oven, remove to a cooling rack and allow to cool slightly. Serve warm with butter or jam and enjoy with tea!

Makes 12 scones.

Note: These scones reheat well, too! That is, if you have any leftovers... Just pop them in a 350 F degree preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes loosely wrapped in foil! :)

P.S. Best of luck to all those running the recipe marathon!

Baklava Buns

When Dhivi and Siri announced the start of Open Sesame II, I was only more than happy to participate in this round as well. This time, I selected box 4 and received the following riddle:

I am a flower but adorn a bouquet, I do not
I have an inbuilt perfume in my being
So strong and so intense that my oil will make your insides 'hot'
My medical impact all over the world seen.

My 'Yorubas' infusion is the 'savior' of star wars
I have been used as a barter by the fellow 'sadiqi's' during trades
One does not have to fight tooth or 'nail' for me
I am usually pink but mostly available browned in shades

I may be dry , I may overpower your tongue
But add a little for that midas touch
Come now, start thinking of that spice
Whose bite make your 'teeth' say Ouch!

After an initial incorrect guess, I got it right with 1 hint. The answer is CLOVES! Yes, the fragrant spice that can add the right pizazz to a given dish.

I tend to use cloves in either non-veg dishes, pulao/biryani, or tea for the most part. So, I sat around for days waiting for inspiration to strike. Well, days turned into weeks and suddenly it came to me... I thought why not combine the flavors of baklava with the concept of a cinnamon roll and see what happens. The result was sheer bliss! :)



For this recipe, I took a basic cinnamon roll dough recipe that I've used in the past. The dough recipe is originally from FoodNetwork.com and can be found here. I then took the flavors of baklava (nuts, cinnamon, cloves, sugar) and formed these into a filling. For the icing, I used honey and cream cheese.

Making this took a bit of time, but wasn't too hard if you're not too scared of yeast. Even if you are scared, it's still not going to be too hard! :) The great thing about this recipe is that the second rise of the dough is done in the fridge so that you can break it up into 2 steps. This way, you can have these for breakfast and not break much of a sweat! :)

Ingredients:

Dough:

4 egg yolks, room temperature
1 whole egg, room temperature
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Butter - 6 tbsp, melted
Buttermilk - 3/4 cup, room temperature
All purpose flour - 3 3/4- 4 cups (optional : use 1/2 wheat or white whole wheat)
Yeast - 1 packet (2 1/4 tsp)
Salt - 3/4 tsp

Filling:

Dark brown sugar - 1/2 cup, packed
White sugar - 1/4 cup (or use light brown sugar)
Ground cinnamon - 2 tsp
Ground cloves - 1 tsp (use 1/2 tsp for a mild clove flavor)
Walnuts - 2/3 cup, toasted for 10 minutes in 350 F oven, chopped, and cooled
pinch salt
Softened butter - 1 1/2 tbsp

Icing:

Cream cheese - 3 ounces, softened
Honey - 1/4 cup (adjust per taste)

Method:

1. Fit a stand mixer with whisk attachment and whisk the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter, and buttermilk. Add 2 cups of flour, yeast, and salt and whisk until moistened. Now, switch to the dough hook attachment. At this point, add all but 1 1/4 cup of flour and knead on low speed for 5 minutes. Check the dough now and see if it's sticky. If so, add flour 1/4 cup at a time and allow to combine. Knead on low speed until the dough clears the sides of the bowl, about 5 more minutes. (Note: I needed 3 3/4 cup of flour to make the dough) Place dough in an oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to double in volume in a warm place. This step takes 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Note: The dough will rise well even though the liquids have not been warmed. Just make sure everything is at room temp!

Unrisen dough

2. Meanwhile, prepare the filling by combining the sugars, cinnamon, clove, salt and nuts in a bowl. Keep aside.

3. Once the dough has risen sufficiently:

Ooh... Poofy!

Turn out the risen dough onto a floured surface. Gently shape the dough into a rectangle. Now, roll this into a rectangle that measures 18 inches by 12 inches. (Note: I made half of the amount, so my rectangle looks half the size!) Brush the rectangle with the softened butter, leaving a 1/2 inch border on the top and bottom edges. Sprinkle with the sugar/nut mixture made in step 2.


4. Once you've done this, start rolling the dough into a cylinder. Start with the end closest to you (bottom edge of the pic) and roll towards the far end (top edge of the pic). Since I made half of the amount, my rectangle was 9 x 12. You'd have the 18 inch edge at the bottom of the pic and would be rolling the same way. Now, make sure you've press the edge of the roll to seal it and place the roll seam side down on your surface:

5. Using a serrated knife, cut the cylinder into rolls about 1 1/2 inch thick. This will yield 12 rolls. Butter a 9x13 pan and arrange rolls in the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise in the refrigerator overnight (up to 16 hours).


6. The next morning, remove the rolls from the refrigerator and place in a warm place for 30 minutes- 1 hour. You want the rolls to reach room temp and to become somewhat puffy. Sorry, I forgot to take a pic of this!

7. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Then, place the baking pan on the middle rack of the oven and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until slightly browned and an instant read thermometer reads 190 F when inserted into the bun.

8. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Whisk the honey and cream cheese together until smooth and creamy. Spread over the rolls and serve warm.
So, do you like yours iced or not? The rolls were so delightful! They really had a delicate crumb and delicious texture... The filling was so fragrant and the toasted nuts just took it over the top. It was not as gooey as a cinnamon roll that you might buy at the mall, but was actually a bit lighter and the crumb melts in your mouth. Honey with the cream cheese icing was just wonderful!! Overall, this was a refreshing change from the usual cinnamon roll and makes for a decadent treat!

My dear Dhivi and Siri, I hope you guys like this as well. It's on its way to Open Sesame II at Dining Hall. Impressed with this dish? Well, then, please remember that voting starts on July 1! Thanks and enjoy!

Rockin' with Mango Scones and Okra Corn Cakes!

Are you someone who likes a sweet breakfast? Something light, flaky, and warm that doesn't take up lots of time to make? If so, you'd probably like this recipe. I was in my kitchen the other day and had a ripe mango that needed to be used up badly. After a bit of deliberation and perusal through some baking books, I settled on making scones using mango and coconut.


Let me tell you that these scones are definitely a treat for the taste buds. Be sure to use the ripest, most flavorful mangoes you can find. The flavor of mango is accented by bits of sweetened shredded coconut and perfumed with the ethereal fragrance of cardamom. Need I say more? If you don't want them for breakfast, they'd make a fabulous snack with tea!

Ingredients:

Mangoes, diced - 1 cup
Shredded sweetened coconut - 1/2 cup
All purpose flour - 1 cup
White whole wheat flour - 1 cup (you can use AP flour instead if you want)
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 3 tsp
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Yogurt - 1/3 cup
Eggs - 2, beaten
Cold butter - 6 tbsp, cut into pieces

For the top:

Melted butter - 2 tbsp
Granulated sugar - 1-2 tbsp

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, salt, cardamom, and baking powder together. Whisk lightly or sift. Add the butter pieces and break them up using a fork or your fingertips. You want to get to a consistency where you have some pieces of butter that are the size of peas and some that are like grains of sand. Don't overwork it or else your scones won't be light and flaky.

3. Mix the eggs and yogurt together in another bowl. Add to the dry ingredients along with the mangoes and coconut. Stir until it's just barely mixed together. The dough will be very sticky, but that's ok. The end result will be worth it!

4. Turn out the dough onto a very well floured surface. Sprinkle the top with flour and knead it 2-3 times to just pull the dough together. Pat it out into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Cut the dough into triangles using a sharp knife. I was able to get about 12 triangles out of this batch.

5. Place the cut scones on a baking sheet/cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops of the scones with melted butter and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

6. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until golden on top. Enjoy warm from the oven with tea!

Off these go to Arundati of Escapades who's hosting this month's WBB with the theme of mango madness. Hope she likes them as much as we did!

Not in the mood for something sweet, you say? How about something savory?

Dhivi and Siri had started dining hall and I was intrigued by their International Food League event. So, I cracked open my account to receive the following riddle:

I have a crown yet I am not the king
You cut my crown and feet off with a fling

I carry lots of eggs, yet I nothing but a veggie
Even with all that I am thin and long not pudgy

I am green and I am gooey
If u don't pay attention, I will make your dish go mushy and chewy

I do good to your health and to you brain
Which is what your elders told you without refrain
Now its up to you to think and guess
To who I am ...Cos I am good too and no less

Luckily, I managed to guess okra correctly on the first guess! My next task was to come up with a dish using okra. What have I cooked up this time, you ask with bated breath? Yes, that was my idea of a lame joke. Haa haa.

The dish is Okra Corn Cakes. I was browsing recipes on the net and saw a lot of Southern style recipes using okra, mostly fried. Eventually, I saw a few that were more along the lines of corn cakes using okra. After a lot of serious Indianization and modifications, this is what I came up with:

Without any further ado, let me get to the recipe... :)

Ingredients:

Okra - 1 cup, sliced finely
Onion, chopped - 1 small
Green chillies - 6-8, chopped, or to taste
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 2 tsp, or to taste
Salt - to taste
Egg - 1, slightly beaten
Water - as needed
Cornmeal - 1/2 cup
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Salt - to taste
Baking powder - 1 tsp

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan for shallow frying on medium-high heat.

2. In a large bowl, mix okra, onion, chillies, salt, chilli powder, cumin powder, and egg. Add the flour, cornmeal, and baking powder. Stir together. Now, slowly add water and mix until you get the consistency of a pancake batter to bhaji batter thickness.

3. Drop the batter by spoonfuls (I used a small ice cream scoop) into the hot oil and shallow fry until golden brown. It takes about 2 minutes per side or so. Drain on paper towels and serve warm with ketchup, chutney, or a sauce of your choice. Enjoy!

These delicious bites of brain food are on their way to Open Sesame at International Food League.

I'm also sending them in to Mansi who's hosting this month's monthly mingle themed appetizers. Monthly mingle was started by Meeta of What's for Lunch, Honey?


Just to make my day perfect, Madhavi of Vegetarian Medley passed on the rocking girl blogger award to me! Thank you so so so so much, Madhavi!!! I am totally thrilled and ecstatic to have received this from you, dear! I know that a lot of you have already received this award, but would like to extend it to Cham, Uma, Sagari, Pravs, Namratha, Dhivi,and Siri. Congrats and enjoy it! :)

Have a wonderful weekend, all!

Cardamom Cranberry Tea Bread

Alright, so this is really last minute even for me!! This is my entry for think spice - cardamom, hosted by Easycrafts. I actually had this in my drafts and hadn't been able to get around to posting it until now.

This bread is a yeast bread that I would say is similar in texture to challah, but not as rich. I added dried cranberries for a sweet-tangy bite to the bread. We actually loved the taste of the cranberries augmented by the tantalizing aroma of cardamom! This is great with tea, buttered or not. Tastes wonderful warm and leftovers make killer french toast!!

If you're one of the people who's intimidated to use yeast, you really shouldn't be at all! Just be a little careful and soon you'll be confident. I'm still working on it and was pleasantly surprised at how good this came out! This recipe might seem like it has a lot of steps, but the only thing required is a bit of patience. It's truly not that complicated.

I used 3/4 cup of dried cranberries and we found ourselves wanting a bit more, so if you're like us, you'll probably want to increase the amount to 1 cup. I wrote the recipe as I made it, but will probably increase the amount of cranberries next time! :)

Cardamom-Cranberry Tea Bread

Ingredients:

Yeast - 1 package (2 1/4 tsp)
Warm water - 3/4 c (120-130 F)
Warm milk - 3/4 cup (120-130 F)
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Butter - 1/4 cup, softened
Egg - 1 (optional, but adds richness)
Cardamom powder - 1 1/2 tsp, freshly ground preferred
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Dried cranberries - 3/4 cup
White whole wheat flour (or bread flour) - 2 cups
Bread flour - 2 to 2 1/2 cups
Granulated sugar to sprinkle over the top - 1 tbsp, optional
Egg wash - 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp of water, optional

Method:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the white whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups of bread flour, salt, sugar, cardamom and yeast. Use paddle attachment to mix well.

2. Now, add the warm milk, warm water, and egg. Beat until smooth. Switch to a dough hook and let the mixer knead the dough, adding 1/2 to 1 cup of bread flour as needed until the dough is smooth and elastic. Don't worry if it's a little sticky. Just make sure not to add to much flour and make the dough too dry which would result in a coarsely textured loaf!!


3. Oil a bowl and place the kneaded dough in the bowl. Alternatively, you can leave the dough in the bowl of the mixer itself, but just oil the bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and/or plastic wrap and leave it in a warm place until it's doubled in bulk, about 1 1/4 hrs. I find that my oven which has a pilot light on works best for this.

4. Now, remove the dough from the bowl and place on a floured work surface. Fold the dough gently over itself a few times to deflate it. Pour the cranberries on the work surface and knead them into the dough by hand. Cover the dough and allow it to rest for 10-15 minutes before shaping. Preheat the oven to 375 F.

5. At this point, I chose to make a braided loaf the easy way. You could just as well shape it into a loaf and bake it if you don't feel like braiding! For the braid, I divided the dough into 3 roughly equal pieces and braided the pieces like you braid your hair. Pinch the ends to seal them and tuck them underneath the surface.

6. Again, cover the dough and allow it to rise in a warm place until doubled in size. This takes about 45 minutes. I find that my kitchen counter works pretty well at this point.

7. Once the dough has risen sufficiently, remove the cover. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with granulated sugar, if desired. Bake at 375 F for 40-45 minutes, or until an internal read thermometer reads 190 F. Cover loosely with aluminum foil after 25 minutes if the top seems to brown too quickly.

Enjoy with tea and use leftovers for French toast or bread pudding!

Bread with a spot of tea!

You make my day, Muffin!

You can imagine my pleasant surprise when I logged on to see this award waiting for me at Uma's blog! Thank you so much for feeling that I am worthy of receiving this award, Uma. You definitely make my day with your sweet comments on my blog, dear. Now comes the difficult task of deciding on who to pass it on to!

After much soul searching, I've finally decided to pass the award on to:

Pravs of Simply Spicy
Cham of Spice Club
Revathi of En Ulagam
Dhivya of Dhivya's Cuisine (best of luck with the pregnancy!)
Lavi of Home Cook's Recipes
Indosungod of Daily Musings
Sra of When My Soup Came Alive

Congratulations to you ladies and thanks to you and every one else who takes the time to read on comment on my recipes. It means so much to hear your feedback!

So, you want to celebrate?? I think something sweet would be appropriate. AFAM is coming up, you say? I've got just the thing... Raspberry Almond Muffins!

These muffins came about pretty much on a whim. I've never been the biggest fan of raspberries simply because the seeds annoy me. But, I was in the grocery store and saw these gorgeous, ruby red berries that seemed to call to me and couldn't resist buying them. Once I came home, I pondered what to do with them. I finally decided on muffins.


I used a combo of AP flour and oats in this muffin. It's actually fairly healthy considering the addition of 2 cups of raspberries and the minimal sugar used. I used 1/2 cup of brown sugar which resulted in very mildly sweet muffins. This was totally fine with me, but I can see people with a moderate sweet tooth needing more along the lines of 3/4 to 1 cup (very sweet bakery type taste) of brown sugar. My husband has a pronounced sweet tooth and these were not sweet enough for him, so just keep that in mind. Hey, it just meant more for me! :)

Enough dilly-dally, right? Off to the recipe!

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 1/3 cup
Oats - 1 cup
Brown sugar, packed - 1/2 cup for very mild sweetness (increase to 3/4 cup or so for sweeter)
Baking powder - 1 tbsp
Nutmeg - 3/4 tsp
Lemon zest - 2 tsp
Almond extract - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Egg, beaten - 1
Milk - 1 cup
Vegetable oil - 1/4 cup
Raspberries - 2 cups (2 4.4 oz packs), coated with 2 tbsp of AP flour

Optional:

Slivered almonds - 2 tbsp
Granulated sugar - 1-2 tbsp

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425 F. Line muffin tin with paper liners or grease them.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, oats, sugar, salt, baking powder, lemon zest, and nutmeg. In another bowl, whisk the egg, milk, extract and oil together. Pour into the dry ingredients. Fold the mixture together gently so as not to overwork the batter. Then, fold in the berries coated with flour. Note: Coating with flour prevents the berries from sinking to the bottom of the muffins. Gently folding the berries in will prevent them from breaking up. This batter might seem a bit runny, but everything turns out fine once they're baked!

3. Divide batter evenly between muffin cups. Sprinkle some almond slivers on top and granulated sugar, if desired.

4. Bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Serve warm with or without butter!

These delicious beauties are off to Ammalu's Kitchen for AFAM. AFAM was originated by Maheshwari of Beyond the Usual.

Cocoa Brownies

I know I've been missing for a little while. Unfortunately, I've been sick for the a few days and have not had any energy to bother with anything! Am doing a little better now and have been wanting to post this brownie recipe (modified from an Alton Brown recipe found here) for a while now.

These brownies are truly a decadent delight! They use cocoa powder and have a texture that's similar to flourless chocolate cake. So, if you're looking for chewy, fudgy brownies, this is not your recipe. The end product here will be cake-like with an intense chocolate flavor. Try them and you'll be in love!

Mansi, this is the recipe for the brownies I sent you, if you were wondering! :)

Ingredients:

Butter and flour - to prepare baking pan
Eggs - 4 large
Sugar - 1 cup
Brown sugar - 1 cup
Melted butter - 8 ounces (2 sticks)
Cocoa powder - 1 cup
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
Instant coffee powder - 1 tsp
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 300 F. Butter and flour 8 inch square baking pan, line with parchment paper (if desired) and keep aside.

2. Attach the whisk attachment in a stand mixer. Beat the eggs at medium speed until light yellow and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Don't overbeat the eggs or you could wind up with a mess!

3. Add the sugars and whisk to combine. Once combined, add all of the other ingredients and whisk again for about 2-3 minutes until well combined.

4. Pour batter into prepared 8 inch square baking pan and bake at 300 F for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

5. Cool on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes, then turn out of the pan and cool completely. Cut into squares and enjoy!

Yield: about 16 brownies.



Note: Wait until the brownies have cooled to cut them, or else the cut edges won't be as sharp. I know it's hard, but try to have some patience... Or just stand next to them and start eating pieces from a corner like I did!

Spring Vegetable Frittata and Whole Wheat Biscuits

It's been ages since I made a frittata. If you're not familiar with them, frittatas are like crustless quiches. Basically, they're composed of eggs and whatever you want to add to flavor them. They're started in a pan and baked in the oven to finish. The end result is an egg dish that looks like a pie and can be served hot, warm, or room temperature.

This time, I decided to load up my frittata with veggies. I used a combination of onions, asparagus, zucchini, spinach, and roasted red peppers. It turned out to be very light on the eggs, which was fine with me. I used only 4 eggs to make this dish, but if you'd prefer to have more eggs to balance the veggies, you could go up to even 6 eggs.

Frittata: (Serves 6-8)



Ingredients:

Eggs - 4
Onion - 1 medium, chopped
Garlic - 3 cloves, grated
Asparagus - 5-6 spears, cut into 1 inch long pieces
Zucchini - 1 medium, cut into medium dice
Frozen spinach - 1 10 oz package, defrosted and squeezed dry (You could use fresh, if you have it)
Roasted red pepper - 1, coarsely chopped
Salt - to taste
Parmesan cheese - 2 tbsp
Milk - 2 tbsp
Crushed red pepper flakes - to taste
Olive oil

Method:

1. Beat the eggs with milk, Parmesan cheese, salt to taste, and black pepper. Keep aside. Preheat the oven to 425 F

2. Heat oil in a 10 inch skillet. When hot, add the onions and crushed red pepper flakes. Fry until the onions turn translucent.

3. Now, add the asparagus, zucchini, garlic, and a little salt. Fry until the veggies are crisp-tender.

4. Add the frozen spinach and roasted red peppers. Toss for a few seconds.

5. At this stage, add the egg mixture. Stir gently to combine. Allow the whole thing to start to firm up a little around the edges.

6. Now, place the pan in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until the eggs are fully cooked and the frittata is solid. You can check for doneness with a toothpick, if you're not sure. The toothpick will come out dry (i.e., no uncooked egg) when it's done.

7. Remove from the oven. Carefully run a spatula around the edges and the bottom of the frittata, being careful not to break it. Gently slide it out onto a serving dish. You could just serve it out of the pan, if you want.

I garnished it with just a little bit of shredded Parmesan, but that's totally optional. Cut into wedges and serve!

Frittata slice!

I served these with whole wheat biscuits, since my husband loves biscuits. The recipe is my modification from one I originally saw on Lisa's blog here. I used garlic and Parmesan to flavor these and boy, were they a hit!!

I love these because they're wheat and they use olive oil instead of butter and/or shortening. You wind up with biscuits that are soft and fluffy as clouds. Truly wonderful!!

Whole Wheat Biscuits:

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Whole wheat flour - 3/4 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 1 tbsp
Olive oil - 5 tbsp
Milk - 1 cup
Parmesan Cheese - 2 tbsp
Garlic - 2 cloves, grated
Black pepper powder - 2 tsp, optional

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F

2. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flours, salt, baking powder).

3. Now, add the olive oil, milk, cheese, and garlic.

4. Stir until just combined. Do not over-stir or the biscuits will be tough!

5. Drop onto a greased baking sheet in 1/4 cup amounts. Sprinkle black pepper on top, if desired.

6. Bake at 450 F for 10-12 minutes until light golden.

Makes about 12 biscuits.


The final resulting breakfast:

Breakfast of Champions!

I am sending these over to my dear girl Mansi, over at Fun and Food. She's hosting this month's WBB, with the theme of balanced breakfasts. I hope she is satisfied with the balance of protein, veggies, and whole grain in this breakfast! :)

Spiced Oatmeal Muffins

I was rummaging through my fridge when I realized that I had a container of buttermilk that was a little old, but not quite expired. After I checked to make sure it was ok, I wanted to find a way to use it up quickly! Plus, I was sort of in the mood to bake something. So, I rummaged through this new baking book I got (The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion) and found a recipe for oatmeal muffins. Mind you, I still can't bring myself to eat oatmeal on its own, but that's another story!

Anyway, the recipe sounded really easy and healthy (oats, buttermilk, raisins, brown sugar). So, I thought, why not add some spices to the basic mixture and jazz it up a bit? My initial thought was to try to add a mix of spices that would resemble Indian tea masala. Masala chai meets oatmeal. Neat idea, huh? I thought so, but that's my twisted mind at work!

It turned out to not have as much of a spiced kick as I wanted, but was still delightful. The spices wound up more in the background and were subtle, combined with the flavor of the oats (without any sliminess!), juicy pop of raisins, and sweetness of brown sugar. Not only are these muffins really satisfying, they make a great start to the day! (Just keep in mind that the oats need to be soaked overnight.) I'm giving you the spice measurements that I used, but feel free to tweak them to your taste. :)


So, they're off to Suganya who's hosting WBB healthy eats this month! Without any further ado, let's get to the recipe, shall we?

This recipe yields 12 muffins.

Ingredients:

Quick cooking or rolled oats - 1 cup
Buttermilk - 2 cups
Brown sugar - 1/2 cup, packed (you could cut back a bit for less sweetness)
Butter - 4 tbsp, melted (1 tsp per muffin!)
Egg - 1, lightly beaten
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 3/4 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
All purpose flour - 1 1 /2 cups
Raisins - 1/2 cup

Optional spices:

Allspice, ground - 1/4 tsp
Nutmeg, ground - 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon, ground - 1/2 tsp
Ginger, ground - 1/2 tsp
Clove, ground - 1/4 tsp
Cardamom, ground - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Soak oats in buttermilk overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 425 F.

3. In a large bowl, combine the oat and buttermilk mixture, butter, egg, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

4. In another bowl, stir the raisins and spices (if using) into the flour. Pour into the large bowl used in the previous step and combine quickly and gently. Overworking will result in tough muffins!

5. Line muffin cups with paper liners or grease them.

6. Divide batter evenly between the cups and bake at 425 F for 20 minutes, until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack for 5 minutes. Then, remove from pans and allow to finish cooling.

Enjoy warm! They really don't need anything on them!

For a real treat, take the leftover muffins, cut them in half, and warm them in a hot oven until the edges become slightly crispy. Enjoy with or without butter. Delicious!! Alternatively, you could toast them (cut side down) on a slightly buttered griddle for the same effect. Try it. You'll be glad that you did! :)