Little Mermaid Cake

Little Mermaid cake for my Little Princess!

CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients:-

To make 9" cake

All purpose flour- 1.25 cup

Unsweetened dutch cocoa pwdr-3 tbsp

Softened butter- 3/4 cup

Sugar- 3/4 cup

Eggs-2 nos.

Baking powder- 2 tsp

Vanilla extract-1 tsp

Boiling water-5 tbsp

Ingredients for Icing:-

Softened butter-1/2 cup

Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

Water- 2 tbsp

Icing Sugar-1/2 lb

Unsweetened dutch cocoa pwdr-2 tbsp

Procedure:-

• Preheat oven for 350 deg F.
• Beat the softened butter with sugar, add lightly beaten eggs, mix well.
• Stir in all purpose flour, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and baking powder.
• Add 5 tbsp of boiling water, mix well.
• Beat this mix in mixer for 2-3 minutes.
• Pour this mix in greased 9" cake pan.
• Bake it in oven for 30-40 mins / until a serrated knife inserted in cake comes out clean.
• Take out from oven , allow it to cool.

For Icing:-

• Melt the butter with water, remove from heat.
• Stir in cocoa pwdr, vanilla extract and icing sugar.
• Mix well until smooth.
• Apply the icing all over the cooled cake, decorate as you like.

IRISH BREAD

"Irish Bread" is a popular bread from Ireland. It is also called as "Soda Bread" as baking soda is used for leavening instead of yeast.

Ingredients:-

All-purpose flour - 3 cup

Baking powder - 1 tbsp
Sugar -1/3 cup

Salt - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Egg, lightly beaten-1 no.

Buttermilk -2 cups
Butter, melted -1/4 cup

Raisins- 1 cup

Procedure:-

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F . Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
• Mix all purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda.
• Blend egg and buttermilk together, and add all at once to the flour mixture.
• Mix just until moistened. Stir in butter and raisins. Let it sit for 15 mins.
• Pour into prepared pan.
• Bake for 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the bread comes out clean.

PITA BREAD PIZZA

My dotty is fond of pizza, sometimes suddenly she asks for it, there wont be anytime to prepare base n all, I keep these pita breads handy so that I can make pizzas for her within 10 mins. Easy for moms to make and this way atleast kids eat lot of veggies :) and one more good thing abt this is you can have it for breakfast / lunch / dinner or even as starter.

Ingredients:-

Pita Bread
Capsicum
Onion
Tomato
Olives
Shredded mozarella cheese
Marinara sauce / any pizza sauce

Procedure:-

• Preheat oven at 375 F.
• Apply sauce over pita bread, place desired qty of sliced veggies, sprinkle cheese over veggies.
• Place it in the oven for 8-10 minutes /until cheese melts.
• Serve immediately.

PUMPKIN PIE

I wish all my blog readers " A Very Happy & Prosperous New Year", May 2009 bring good health, wealth and happiness to all of us.

I made pumpkin pie for new year, my hubby was desparate to cut the pie before I offer it to my camera God! thats why u see a slit in the pie :)))

Ingredients:-

Unbaked deep dish pie crust -1 (9 ")
Sugar -3/4 cup
Ground cinnamon -1 tsp
Salt -1/2 tsp
Ground ginger -1/2 tsp
Ground cloves -1/4 tsp

Eggs -2 Nos.
Pumpkin- 1 medium sized
Evaporated Milk -12 oz can (Nestle Carnation is preffered)

Procedure:-

• Cut pumpkin into 2 halves, and pressure cook (2-whistles will be enough).
• Remove the outer skin from cooked pumpkin.
• Beat the cooked pumpkin in blender( qty shd be around 3 cups).
• Combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in small bowl.
• Beat eggs lightly in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.
• Preheat oven to 425 F.
• Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 F, bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.
• Serve immediately or refrigerate.
  

APPLE PIE

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! Hope you all had good time with your family and friends on Christmas day. I was thinking to bake something for christmas, had lots of apples so made apple pie. There are so many ways to make pie, but this is the simplest method. Apple pie is a delicious desert! kids love it for sure.

For Crust

All purpose flour -2 Cups
Salt - 1 tsp
Butter- 2/3 cup
Cold water -6 tbsp

• Mix softened butter, salt, flour with a fork until crumbly.
• Add 5 tablespoons water and mix well, adding more water if too dry.

For Filling
Apples-6 Nos.
Sugar -3/4 cup
All purpose flour - 2 tbsp
Ground cinnamon - 1 tsp
Butter- 2 tbsp

• Core, peel and slice apples.
• Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon in a bowl.
• Add apple slices and mix well.
• Take 1/2 of the pastry and roll flat with rolling pin.
• Line a 9" pie plate with the pastry.
• Fill with apple mixture, dot with butter.
• Take the remaining pastry dough and roll flat, place rolled sheet on top of apple pie mix.
• Crimp along edges creating a scalloped edging.
• Take a knife and cut slits into top pastry for steam to escape.
• Bake in a 400 oven for 50 minutes or until crust is brown.
• Let cool and serve.

BROWNIE WITH WALNUT & CHOCO CHIPS & CHOCOLATE ICING

"My name says it all" turned one on 19th Dec'08, so to celebrate its b-day I made these chocolate brownies with walnut and choco chips.

Ingredients:-

Cocoa-unsweetened - 3/4 Cup
Baking soda -1/2 tsp
Melted butter-2/3 cup
Boiling water-1/2 cup
Granulated sugar -2 cups
Lightly beaten -2 eggs
All-purpose flour -1 1/3 cups

Vanilla extract -1 tsp
Salt -1/4 tsp
Coarsely chopped walnuts -1/2 cup
Semisweet chocolate chips-2 cups

Ingredients for Icing: -
Powdered sugar -2 cups

Cocoa - 4 tbsp

Heavy cream or half and half milk

Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

Procedure:-

• In a large bowl, combine cocoa and baking soda, blend in 1/3 cup melted butter.
• Add boiling water, stir until well blended.
• Stir in sugar, beaten eggs and remaining 1/3 cup butter.
• Stir in flour and salt.
• Stir nuts and the chocolate chips into chocolate brownies batter.
• Pour chocolate brownie batter into a greased 13x9x2-inch baking pan.
• Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until chocolate brownies are firm and begin to pull away from sides of pan.
• Cool before spreading icing.
• To make icing mix all the ingredients together with required quantity of heavy cream or half and half milk to get desired spreading consistency.
• Spread icing on cooled brownies and cut into squares.
• Garnish with choco-chips and chopped walnut.

BROCCOLI RAAB & WHITE BEAN CRESCENTS

Few days back, I came across this recipe in Vegetarian Times Magazine. I made one set of crescents as per recipe, it was tasting bland for my desi taste buds :) So for the next set I added a Tsp of garam masala powder to the stuffing to make these crescents spicy and Desi :P

Ingredients:-

Broccoli raab- 1 lb

Sun dried tomatoes- 3 tbsp(chopped)

Garlic - 2 cloves

Red pepper Flakes- 3/4 tsp

White balsamic vinegar- 1 tbsp

Sugar- 1 tsp

Cannellini beans- 1 cup( canned)

Pastry sheets

Oil to saute

Salt to taste

Garam masala powder- 1tsp(optional)

Sun dried tomato ~~~~~~~~~~~Broccoli raab

Procedure:-

• Chop broccoli raab finely, mince garlic.
• Heat oil, saute minced garlic,pepper flakes and cook 1 minute.
• Add broccoli raab and saute for 5 minutes.
• Stir in vinegar, sugar and salt.
• Remove from heat, stir in chopped sun dried tomatoes and cannellini beans.
• Allow it to cool.

Stuffing mixture

• Preheat oven to 375 F.
• Line baking sheet with perchment paper.
• Cut pastry sheet in desired shape and stuff the broccoli raab mixture.
• Brush the edges with water, press edges together and seal.
• Place crescents on baking sheet, bake for 20-25 minutes.
• Serve hot with/without ketchup.

BANANA WALNUT CAKE

Usually I used to bake cake by using ready mix, this time thought of making it from scratch. Its takes very less time, preparation time is hardly 10 minutes, baking time is 30 minutes. Lets get started!


To make 8" cake

Ingredients:-

All purpose flour- 1 1/4 cup
Banana (ripe & mashed)- 2 nos. medium
Softened Butter- 1/4 cup
Vanilla Extract- 1 tsp
Packed brown sugar- 1 cup
Eggs- 2 nos.
Baking Powder- 1 tsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp
Baking soda- 1/2 tsp
Milk- 3/4 cup
Chopped walnuts- 1/2 cup

Procedure:-

• In a bowl, mix softened butter, vanilla extract and packed brown sugar. Stir it until fluffy.
• Add eggs, baking soda, salt, baking powder and all purpose flour.
• Now add milk and finely mashed ripe bananas.
• Beat the mixture for about 5 minutes until it becomes soft and fluffy.
• Lastly, add chopped walnuts.
• Pour the batter to a greased and lightly floured 8" cake pan.
• Preheat oven at 350 degree F, place the pan in oven.
• Bake it for 30 minutes. Poke a knife to see whether its baked or not. If knife comes out clean, then its baked properly.
• Take out from oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes.

CHOCO-CHIP COOKIES

Its baking season in US now, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year all the festive occassions are in line. Last week when I went for Grocery, there was no space to walk near "Baking Needs" aisle, everything was on sale, people were just grabbing cart full........ me too bought few things like brown sugar, choco-chips, vanilla extract, all purpose flour etc. without thinking what to make with them. After coming home saw a cookie recipe on choco-chips packet and tried it. Trust me, cookies came out very well, yum....yum....

Ingredients:-

All purpose flour- 2 & 1/4 cup

Packed light brown sugar- 3/4 cup

Granulated sugar- 3/4 cup

Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

Baking soda- 1 tsp

Salt -1/2 tsp

Eggs- 2 nos.

Softened butter - 1 cup(1/2 Lb)

Semi-sweet chocolate chips- 2 cups

Procedure:-

• Preheat oven to 375 degree F.
• Beat butter, eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla extract together.
• Slowly add all purpose flour, salt and baking soda, stir well.
• Stir in chocolate chips.
• Drop this mix on ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly browned.
• Remove from cookie sheet after cooling slightly.
• Cookies are ready to eat!

PIZZA

Back home, I always gave home made snacks to my dotty , after coming here to US, I tried giving her Finger foods like Cheerios, crackers, cereals etc but in vein. I think her tongue is already adjusted to Indian spicy food, she doesnot like to taste these bland cheerios. She loves to eat only 2 things (outside food) here in US, number one is Chocolate Donut and number 2 is none other than PIZZZZZZZZZZZA!!! This is the first time I am trying to make pizza from the scratch, I was skeptical about pizza base, but that too turned out soft.

Ingredients:-

To make 9" pizza

All Purpose flour/ maida- 1 cup

Oil - 2 tsp

Active dry yeast- 4 gms( half sachet, it comes in 8 gms packet)

Tomato sauce-1/2 cup

Chilli sauce- 2 tbsp

Sliced green bell pepper- 1/2 cup

Sliced onion- 1/2 cup

Sliced Tomato- 1/2 cup

Pitted olive- 10-12 nos.

Shredded Mozzarella cheese- 1/2 cup

Salt to taste

Hot water -3/4 cup

Procedure:-

• Add yeast in hot water and stir it and allow it to sit for 10 minutes.
• Add a pinch of salt to flour and make dough by adding the yeast dissolved water.
• Smear oil on the surface of dough, keep it in warm place for an hour.
• After an hour, size of the dough will be doubled.
• Roll it to half inch thick by using roller pin on a flour dusted platform.
• Preheat the oven at 450 deg F.
• Place the Pizza base in baking pan and bake it for 4-5 minutes.
• Take out from oven, apply tomato sauce and chilli sauce on the base.
• Mix all the veggies in a bowl add chilli sauce and salt as per your taste.
• Place all chopped veggies, olives on the base.
• Sprinkle shredded mozarella cheese above the veggies.
• Bake it in oven at 450 deg F for 15 minutes. ( I baked it for 20 mins, so my cheese got burnt a bit, so be careful).
• Voila!!! Pizza is ready !!!!!!

Before Baking
After baking

Father's Day Spl

Last month on Mother's Day my DH got me few dresses and took me out for dinner, he made me feel special on that day. So, on Father's Day I wanted to make something special for him.Tit for Tat!!!!!! ( hehehe in a good way) . Thought of making something which both my DD n DH like. I made Pizza, Chocolate cake( got Pillsbury ready mix, baked it but icing and strawberry arrangement is my work), Strawberry smoothie and Hi-5 dessert. Everything turned out good. It was fantabulous!!!!!

VEG PUFF

Puffs!!!!!!!! mouth watering snack, it reminds me of my college days, when i used to have them regularly with frens in college canteen. There are many varities like veg puff, egg puff, capsicum puff, paneer puff depending on the ingredient. I made veg puffs, they turned out very delicious and so soft that they melted in mouth.

Ingredients:-

Pastry sheet (available in all grocery stores, Pepperridge Farm/ Daily Delight is preferrable).

Onion-1 no.

Ginger paste- 1 tsp

Boiled potato- 1 no.

Carrot- 1 no.

Capsicum- 1 no.

Beans- 8-10 nos

Cabbage chopped- 1 cup

Green chillies- 6-7 nos.

Coriander Powder-1 tsp

Garam masala- 1 tsp

Oil-1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Procedure:-

• Chop all the veggies thinly.
• Heat oil in a wok, add ginger paste, green chillies and then chopped onion, fry for 2 minutes.
• Add veggies one by one, fry till they become soft.
• Add boiled,peeled and mashed potato.
• Then add garam masala, coriander powder and salt.
• Remove from heat allow it to cool.
• Thaw the pastry sheets after removing from freezer for 30 minutes.
• Dust all purpose floor on a clean platform, keep pastry sheet on it.(in one sheet u can make 2 puffs).
• Stuff the cooked veggies inside the sheet and close the ends.
• Place them in a baking tray.
• Preheat oven @350, keep the baking tray in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.
• Keep turning the sides every 10 minutes.
• Serve hot with ketchup.