Hasty tasty cinnamon rolls!

No eggs and no yeast

Ingredients

The Dough

• All purpose flour - 1/2 cup ;more for rolling
• Whole wheat flour - 1/3 cup
• Cottage Cheese - 100 gm
• Buttermilk - 4tbsp
• Granulated Sugar - 5tbsp
• Unsalted butter - 2 tbsp, melted
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
• Baking powder - 2 tsp
• Table salt - 1/2tsp
• Baking soda - 1/4tsp

The Filling

• Unsalted butter - 1/3 tbsp, melted
• Brown SUgar - 2/3 cup
• Ground Cinnamon - 1 tsp
• Ground all spices - 1/4 tsp
• Nuts - 1/3cup

The glaze

• Confectioner's sugar - 2 tbsp
• Milk - 1 1/2 tbsp
• Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp

Preparation

Make the dough

Whisk together the cottage cheese, buttermilk, sugar, melted butter and Vanilla until smooth, about 5 minutes. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda and continue to whisk slowly until the dough clumps together. The dough will be soft and moist. 

Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it with floured hands for another 4-5minutes until smooth. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 8X6-inch rectangle. 

Pre heat the oven to 200 C/ 400F. Grease your muffin pan with butter.(you could also use your springform pan)

Making the filling

Brush the dough with melted butter, leaving a 1/4 -inch border unbuttered around the edges. In a bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and all spices. Sprinkle the mixture over the buttered area of the dough and pat gently into the surface. Sprinkle the nuts over the sugar mixture.

Starting at a long edge, roll up the dough. Pinch the seam end to seal and leave the ends open. 

With a sharp knife, cut the roll into 6-8 equal pieces. Set the pieces, cut side up, in the prepared pan. They should fill the pan however not to worry if there are small gaps. 

Bake until golden brown and firm to touch, 18-22 minutes. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the rolls to a serving plate. 

Make the glaze

In a bowl, mix confectioner's sugar, milk and vanilla to make a smooth glaze. It should have a thick but pourable consistency, you can add more milk if necessary. Drizzle the glaze over the rolls and let stand for 15 minutes before serving. 

The healthy wealthy cake!

Whole wheat Gulkand and dry fruits cake (Eggless) 

Prep time :20 minutes Bake time: 20-25 minutes Total time : 40-45 minutes

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 3/4 cup

Baking soda - 3/4 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp
Gulkand - 1/2 cup (a sweet preserve of rose petals)

Unsalted butter / Margarine - 100 g , room temperature

Yogurt - 1/3 cup

Almond extract - 1/2 tsp

Dry fruits - 1/2 cup

Brown sugar - 1/2 cup (if you desire)

Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 190C/375F
2. Grease a small cake pan and line with parchment sheet (you could use cupcake moulds too!)
3. Mix together sifted whole wheat flour, baking soda and salt 
4. In a mixing bowl, vigorously whisk together the yogurt, butter and gulkand ( if you wish to, add powdered brown sugar into this mixture and whisk)
5. To this mixture almond extract and continue to whisk 
6. Next, add sifted whole wheat flour and mix well
7. Fold in the dry fruits
8. Fill in the greased cake pan up to two thirds and sprinkle a few dry fruits on top
9. Bake for about 24-28 minutes (16-18 minutes if cupcakes) . Do the clean toothpick check and remove when done
10. Let the cupcakes cool in the moulds for about 5 minutes and then on a cooling rack and allow them to cool for about 5 minutes

Whole Wheat Banana Walnut Cupcakes

Whole Wheat Banana Walnut Cupcakes

Prep time - 15-20 minutes Bake time - 20 minutes Total time - 35 - 40 minutes

Yield : 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour - 3/4 cup

Baking soda - 3/4 tsp

Bananas - 2, ripe

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Unsalted butter / Margarine - 100 g , room temperature

Egg - 1, room temperature

Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp

Walnuts - 1/3 cup

Brown sugar - 1/2 cup

Preparation

1. Preheat your oven to 190C/375F
2. Mix together sifted whole wheat flour, baking soda and salt 
3. Mash half a banana lightly and keep aside
4. In a mixing bowl, vigorously whisk together the rest of the bananas with sugar (till it becomes a smooth thick brown liquid)
5. To this mixture add egg, vanilla extract and butter and continue to whisk 
6. Next, add whole wheat flour and mix well
7. Fold in the mashed banana and walnuts
8. Fill in the greased cup cake moulds (or you could use liners instead) upto two thirds and sprinkle a few crushed walnuts, if desired
9. Bake for about 16-18 minutes. Do the clean toothpick check and remove when done
10. Let the cupcakes cool in the moulds for about 5 minutes and then on a cooling rack and allow them to cool for about 5 minutes

Whole wheat - Egg less Ginger cookies

Whole wheat - Egg less Ginger cookies!

My mum loves ginger biscuits and is always looking for them in almost every store we visit. For her, I decided to try baking these yummy biscuits today. 


Ingredients

Whole wheat - 1 cup
Ginger powder / dry ginger - 1 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg powder - 1/4 tsp
Flax seeds powder - 1 tbsp
Butter - 1/4 cup, room temperature
Jaggery - 1/4 cup, melted
Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup
All purpose flour - 1 tsp

Preparation

1. In a large bowl, mix together whole wheat, ginger powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder and flax seeds powder
2. In another bowl mix together, butter, brown sugar and melted jaggery (This could be done on the stove to keep the liquid consistency of jaggery)
3. Now gradually, add the solids into the liquids and make a dough out of this mixture
4. Preheat your oven to 350F / 180C
5. Grease your cookie tray and line it with a parchment sheet
6. Sprinkle a little all purpose flour, roll the dough and cut desired shapes with a cookie cutter (you could also roll the mixture into small balls) and place them on the cookie tray
7. Place your cookie tray in your preheated oven and bake for 7 - 10 minutes
8. Allow the cookies to cool in the tray for 5 minutes
9. Transfer cookies to cooling rack to cool completely (about 10 minutes). The cookies should be crisp on the outside and soft on the inside with the ginger flavor the last note of the taste

Note : The biscuits might turn out less softer when jaggery is used.

Red velvet cupcakes

A dozen Red velvet cup cakes!

It is a relief to get this one right. We have read a dozen or more recipes, half a dozen attempts and now finally! A few recipes combined we have our yum dozen of red velvet cup cakes.


Yield - 1 dozen


Ingredients


Sugar - 1 cup
Vegetable oil - 100 ml (slightly less than 1/2 cup)
Egg, room temperature - 1
Buttermilk, room temperature - 1/2 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Red food coloring - 1 tbsp
Hot water - 1/4 cup
White vinegar - 1/2 tsp
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1 1/2 tbsp

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 180C 
2. In a large bowl mix together sugar and oil until well combined 
3. Beat in eggs until mixture is uniform in color 
4. Add in buttermilk, vanilla extract and food coloring 
5. Next add the hot water and distilled vinegar 
6. In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder. Mix well. 
7. Now combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients 
8. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners 
9. Pour batter a little more than half 
10. Bake to 18-20 minutes or do the clean tooth pick test (tooth pick will cause lesser damage than a fork!) 
11. Allow cupcakes sit in pan for 5 minutes 
12. Place cupcakes on a cooling rack to cool completely 

The Breakfast Cake

Ingredients

• Quick cooking oats - 1/2 cup
• All purpose flour - 1/2 cup 
• Apple and Banana - 1 each, pureed
• Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Yogurt - 1/4 cup
• Vegetable oil/ melted margarine - 1/4 cup 
• Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
• Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
• Baking Soda - 1/8 tsp
• Handful of chocolate chips
• Salt a pinch

Preparation

1. Grease a rectangular baking tray with oil and preheat the oven to 190 C/ 200F
2. Grind the oats
3. Mix all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, powdered oats and salt in a bowl and mix well with a fork. 
4. To the fresh fruit puree, add yogurt and powdered sugar to make a thick batter
5. In a large bowl add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips into wet ingredients and mix lightly with a whisk to combine all the ingredients together.
6. Finally add the oil and mix well
7. Pour the batter in the greased baking tray and bake for 25-30 minutes

Recipe source: Sanjeeta K K

Crustless Eggless Vegetable Quiche

Ingredients 

• Onion (Big size) - 1
• Finely chopped red, green and yellow bell peppers - 1 of each
• Finely chopped broccoli (Small sized) - 1
• Zucchini (Small sized) -1
• Black Olives(sliced) - 15-20
• Nuts (cashew, walnuts, pecans, almonds) - 1/2 cup
• Garlic - 2-3 cloves
• Tofu - 350g
• Cheddar cheese - 2 tbsp
• Mozzarella cheese - 2 tbsp
• Cottage cheese crushed (optional, you could use additional tofu here) - 150g
• Mixed, dried herbs (rosemary, oregano, thyme, parsley, basil) - 1 tbsp
• All purpose flour - 1 tbsp
• Corn flour - 2 tbsp
• Baking powder (optional) - 1/4 tsp
• Milk - 1 cup
• Olive oil -1 tbsp
• Salt - 2 tsp (or to taste)

Preparation

1. Soak the nuts in about 1/2 cup of milk and set them aside for an hour
2. In a small bowl, whisk all purpose flour and 1/4 cup of milk and keep aside
3. Chop the Zucchini into thin circles and keep aside
4. Grease you quiche pan and keep aside
5. In a frying pan, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil and add onions and saute til they turn translucent
6. Add the broccoli and bell peppers and toss
7. Saute for a couple of minutes, then add 2 tsp of mixed herbs and salt and mix well
8. Cover and cook for a couple of minutes
9. Remove pan from flame, add the flour + milk mixture, mix and keep aside
10. Grind the nuts soaked in milk, garlic cloves and cornflour together, then add the tofu and grind again to form a soft paste
11. Add the rest of  the milk to this paste and mix to get a batter like consistency 
12. Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F
13. Mix 1/4 of this paste into the vegetable mixture and evenly spread this mixture on to your greased pan
14. Next lay successive layers of crushed cottage cheese, cheddar cheese and zucchini 
15. Mix the olives into remaining paste mix and pour evenly. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese at the end.
16. Bake for about 30-40 minutes until the surface turns golden brown and the sides turn crisp
17. Allow the Quiche to cool on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes 
18. Cut into slices and serve (you could serve this with an acidic salad and a light soup to make a full, healthy and delicious meal out of this!)

Sugar n Spice Breakfast Rolls!

Lets spice up the breakfast routine!

Ingredients

A chocolate mud cake that will blow you away

A mud cake that that is easy to make and easy to take!

Ingredients

• Melted butter (or margarine for the cholesterol watchers) - 1 cup
• Sugar - 2 cup
• Unsweetened cocoa (Malaysian cocoa works really well, if you can get your hands on it) - 1/2 cup
• Eggs - 4 (lightly beaten)
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1/8 tsp (if you like salt in your cakes)
• All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cup
• Toasted nuts (Almonds, walnuts, pecans all work well) - 1 1/2 cup
• Baking soda (optional)
• Buttermilk (optional) - 1/4 cup

Preparation

1. Sift cocoa and all purpose flour together into a bowl
2. Preheat oven to 350 F/ 180 C
3. Grease and dust your flat baking tray (dust with all purpose flour or cocoa - I prefer cocoa) and keep aside
4. Whisk together butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt in a large mixing bowl
5. Slowly stir in the cocoa-flour mixture into the liquid mix. (you can add in the butter milk if you want to)
6. Finally add in the nuts and mix well
7. You can add a pinch of baking soda if you want your mud cake to be slightly fluffy
8. The end result should be a thick batter (regular cakes end up with a much thinner batter)
9. Pour the batter into the baking tray, spread evenly across the tray and bake in oven for 25-30 minutes (you can do the usual clean fork test here as well)
10. Leave it for 5-10 minutes in the oven to cool and then for another 10 minutes on a wire rack
11. Voila, your mud cake is ready!