Chocolate cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1/2 cup (50 grams)  cocoa powder

1 cup (240 ml) boiling hot water

1 1/3 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup (113 grams) butter, room temperature

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

  1teaspoon vanilla extract

 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter the muffin cups.

2.In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.

4. Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16 - 20 minutes or until risen, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. (Do not over bake or the cupcakes will be dry.)

Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.

Crispy French fries

The original name for french fries was "potatoes, fried in the French manner"..

These crispy french fries mostly we eat at Mcdonald's and some good restaurants ,may be bit time consuming but the end result is great.

Here's the recipe-

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 Potatoes, peeled
• 1tbsp All purpose flour(maida)
• 1 tsp Corn flour
• Oil for frying
• Salt to taste -
  
  PREPERATION:
• Cut potatoes into even strips using a knife
• Soak the strips in cold water .
• Place the bowl in the fridge for nearly 1 hour(optional)
• Drain the water and take out the strips on kitchen tissue/towel.
• Leave the strips on the towel till all the excess moisture gets absorbed (nearly 10 minutes).
• take a big bowl,add white flour/corn flour , salt and little water ,mix,and toss potato strips in this  .
• Heat oil in Kadai or deep bottomed frying pan and add potato strips. Fry strips for 2-3 minutes on a high flame and take out on kitchen tissue.
• Leave them to cool.
• Again add this semi fried strips to oil and fry them for nearly 5-6 minutes on a very low flame.
• Take out on a kitchen tissue/towel.

Strawberry cupcake

Finally got time to upload mouthwatering strawberry cupcakes I made few days back.have made Strawberry cake before,and have made diff cupcakes but made strawberry cupcakes for the first time,they came out so soft and delicious,tht it got over in two days.will be making again,soon :).heres the recipe.-

Ingredients-

• 2-3 tbsp strawberry preserve/puree(I used the one available in market)
•  1/4 cup chopped small pieces of strawberries
• 1 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 ¼ tsp baking powder
 3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of butter, room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla  extract

1/4 cup milk

Recipe-
Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners; set aside.

1. In a small bowl, stir together preserve/puree and chopped fresh strawberries.
2. In a second bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder.
3. beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy, 2-3 mins.
4. Add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with milk in two additions, beating on low speed until just combined; scrape sides of bowl as needed. Fold in strawberry mixture until just combined.add vanilla extract too.
5. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups.
6.  Transfer muffin tray to oven and bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 20-23 minutes. Transfer muffin tin to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool completely in tin before icing.
7. To decorate with strawberry pieces,sprinkle caster sugar and 2 drops of lemon juice on washed and halves of strawberries for 10 mins then decorate on cupcakes with icing.

Low Fat Microwave Potato Wafers

Ingredients:

Potatoes, peeled, washed
 Oil- 1 teaspoon(optional)
 Chilli Powder -1/2 teaspoon ( you can use oregano, pepper powder/dried mint, chilli flakes etc too)
Salt to taste

Procedure 

1.Slice the potatoes with a slicer, Pat the potato slices dry.
2. Mix the oil, salt and chilli powder in a wide bowl, toss the potato slices in it. Mix gently with your hands, ensuring the slices get an even coating of the mixture.
 3.Lightly grease a microwave safe plate. Choose even sized slices and arrange them around the circumference of the plate. Do not keep any in the middle of the plate. Food kept in the middle of the plate gets cooked faster, and may cause it to burn.
4. Microwave on high for 4-5 minutes,but do keep a close watch as they may burn if u keep for long.
if it isnt crispy yet microwave for 5 more seconds til a bit brown(golden).Too much browning will give an unpleasant taste.
5. Remove the wafers from the plate, slide a knife beneath if needed.
6. Cool for about 5 minutes and allow to crisp fully. Store in an air tight container.

Basket Chaat

 Ingredients-

Small baskets(available in shops)
1onion
1tomato
1cup-nylon sev
boiled potatoes
boiled white peas
imli chutney
dhaniya chutney
chilli powder
salt
jeera powder
 blackpepper

Recipe-

1.Mash boiled potatoes,mix it with boiled white peas and add som chilli powder and salt
2.put mashed potatoes,peas in basket,add very few pieces of each ,chopped onion,tomatoes,add dhaniya chutney and imli chutney,add jeera powder,som chilli powder,blackpepper,and finally decorate with sev and som more imli chutney.

Chocolate Coconut Barfi

Ingredients-

Dessicated Coconut-1cup
Nestle Milkmaid-1 can
Cooking Chocolate-1 cup
Chocolate sauce-2tbsp
 Marie Biscuits-15

Recipe-

Melt Cooking chocolate in a double boiler.Mix it and chocolate syrup  with some milkmaid,and grinded marie biscuits, bind it to make a dough.keep ths aside.
Mix dessicated coconut and milkmaid and mak another dough.
now keep them in fridge for 15 mins.if chocolate dough is hard ,to soften it microwave it for 30 sec.
now roll chocolate dough on a plastic sheet..and coconut one on other sheet,put the coconut dough on chocolate dough and cut them in barfi shape,or any desired shape.

Strawberry Jam

Made strawberry jam today.made it in same way like mango jam,used 1 cup crushed strawberries , 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar,1/2 lemon juice.
In a heavy bottomed saucepan, mix together the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high, and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil, stirring often, until the mixture reaches 220 degrees F (105 degrees C). Transfer to hot sterile jars, leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch headspace, and seal. Process in a water bath. If the jam is going to be eaten right away, don't bother with processing, and just refrigerate

Jhal-muri

Thought to post jhal muri today,one of my fav snack in evening,though nothing can beat the jhal muri of road side or wt we buy in trains when i travel to Bihar.:D :)

It seems to be similar to bhel from Mumbai but tastes quite different,but this is easy to make too.will post ingredients soon

Trifle

Made trifle today with a nice base,smooth strawberry cheese mousse ,chocolate sauce,chocolate cake.
will post recipe soon.

English Berry and Bread Desert

• Mixed berries(strawberries,green and black grapes ,one can use blueberries too,if available)
• Sugar -- 2/3 cup
• Water -- 1/4 cup
• Stale white bread, crusts removed -- 6 to 8 slices
• Butter (melted or softened) 
•  
•  
• Method
• Clean the berries with a rinse of fresh water and drain thoroughly. If using strawberries, trim and slice into quarters.
• Add the berries, sugar and water to a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-low flame. Cook just enough to soften the berries, but not so much they lose their shape and turn mushy. Remove from heat and set aside. Adjust sugar to your taste.
• Line the bottom of a deep bowl or mold large enough to hold all the berries with a slice or two of bread to cover. Line the sides of the bowl neatly with the remaining slices of bread(apply butter neatly to them), trimming them to fit. Make sure there are no gaps between the slices.
• Pour the berries into the bread-lined bowl, reserving some of the juice. Fold any bread slices that stick up over the berries and top with some more bread slices to cover. Pour the remaining juice over the top bread slices to moisten them.
• Place a small plate on top of the pudding and put a soup can on top of the plate to weigh it down. Place in the refrigerator and chill overnight.
• Place a serving platter upside-down on the bowl and quickly flip them over. Remove the bowl, leaving the pretty pudding on the plate. Drizzle the reserved juice around the pudding. Garnish with fresh berries and mint sprigs. Serve with cream, whipped cream or clotted cream or vanilla ice cream.

Brown Bread/Bun

Made Brown bread today ,as its healthy..thought it may not be as soft as white bread,but turned out to be very soft and nice.
Recipe-
Yeast-2tsp
1/2cup-All purpose flour
3/4 cup-Wheat Flour
1tbsp-sugar
1cup-water
2tbsp-milk
1tsp-salt
2tsp-Olive Oil
 1tsp-melted Butter

1. Mix flours and salt well.
2.boil the water for few seconds,it should be jus warm,not too hot,or yeast will die.add milk.then add yeast
and sugar.
2.Leave the yeast mixture for 10 mins,till a frothy layer on above.
 3.Mix it to flour slowly.Knead it for minimum 10mins,dough should be soft,if too sticky add very little flour,adding too much flour will spoil the buns.add olive oil and keep it in pot for 1 hour ,covered with a wet muslin cloth at a warm place,I keep it in microwave(just preheat it for 1 min,and switch off and can keep inside microwave)
4.After 1 hour or more,the dough will double in size,knead it for a min again.now take small portions and shape them into round /bun.Brush them with little milk.let them rise again for 25 mins again on a greased oven tray.
5.Bake at 200 degree for 10-13 mins.brush with some melted butter and let them cool.
(I grill them for a min aftr brushing with butter ,it gives nice crust colour)

Instant Chocolate Mousse

 Since long , was thinking to make Chocolate Mousse , finally made it,what a wonderful desert to have after dinner,here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Chocolate
• 3/4 cup Cream
• 1/4 cup hot boiling water
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3 tbsp  Sugar Or as sweetness required
• 1 tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 4 tbsp Butter

Method:
Take a heavy bottomed saucepan. Combine all of the ingredients together. Keep the gas on low flame.
 Keep stirring the mixture otherwise the chocolate might stick to the bottom.
 Roughly about 7 mins the mixture should incorporate well. Switch off the gas. Again mix the batter with a spatula. Now pour the batter into the desired mold.

 keep the mousse to set for about 2hours in the fridge.Serve chilled.I didnt but one can decorate it with strawberries,dry fruits,cream,chocolate chips etc.

Vanilla Chocolate Biscuits

Made These Vanilla Chocolate Biscuits yesterday.:)

Ingredients:

For the biscuits:
Maida - 1 cup
Powdered Sugar - 1/4 cup
Butter, softened - 125 gms
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Vanilla flavoured custar

For  cream-
· Butter, softened - 25 gms
 Powdered sugar - 1/4 cup
· Cocoa Powder - 2 tsp
· Custard powder - 1/2 tsp
• 
  
  1. Mix custard powder and maida, keep aside. Cream butter and sugar until creamy, add vanilla essence to it.
  
  2. Now add custard powder, maida to butter sugar mixture and mix well to form smooth dough.Chill the dough for 30mins.
  
  3. The dough would be firm by this time. Now pinch off equal bits and roll them into balls and press it lightly with the fork dipped in flour to get the marks on top. Repeat this for the entire dough and place them in the baking tray.
  
  4. Chill the biscuits until preheating time. Preheat the oven to 170 deg C for 10mins. Now bake the biscuits for 15-17mins. Allow them to cool completely.
  
  5. Now add the ingredients under buttercream and beat well until creamy. Sandwich the cream between 2 biscuits and enjoy your yoyo biscuits. Store it in airtight container.
  
  

Diwali Special :)

There are numerous desserts one can make using Marie Biscuits,so thought  to make this one this diwali.Marie Biscuit Chocolate Rolls :).here's the recipe-

Ingredients-

Nestle Milkmaid

Chocolate sauce/choco powder

desiccated coconut powder

Marie biscuits(powdered)

Recipe-
1.Grind Marie biscuits .add milkmaid and chocolate sauce.make  dough.
make one more dough with desiccated coconut powder,and milkmaid.
2.Roll out both doughs separately on a plastic sheets..then put the white dough on the chocolate one,and slowly roll it.
3.after rolling,keep it in Fridge for 25-30 min,after it sets,
slice with a knife into 1/2″ thickness pieces and serve.can store the rolls in fridge.

Stuffed Bread Loaf

Made stuffed bread loaf today:).will be posting recipe soon.

Mini Pizza with homemade pizza sauce

Coconut Cookies

Ingredients :

• 125 gm butter, softened
• 1/3 cup icing sugar or 3/4cup crushed sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup AP flour
• 1 tbsp. cornflour
• 1 cup desiccated coconut plus extra for rolling

Method :

• Heat oven to 180° C.
• Sift flour and corn flour together in a bowl.
• In a mixing bowl, beat butter and icing sugar until creamy.
• Add vanilla and beat for few seconds.
• Add flour mixture & coconut to the butter mixture and mix until it forms a soft dough.
• Divide the mixture into 18 equal parts and shape into balls.
• Now roll these balls in extra coconut to coat.
• Place cookies on paper lined cookie sheets and press to slightly flatten.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crisp and golden brown at 170 degree C.
• Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Veg Kababs

Ingredients :

 1 Boiled potato

1/2 cup grated Carrot
1/2 cup chopped cabbage
1/2cup chopped capsicum
 1/2 cup bread(small pieces)
 salt to taste
pepper
chilli powder
a bit jeera powder
small cubes of paneer
all purpose flour -1 big tbsp
corn flour
1/2 cup water

Recipe:

1.Mix boiled potato and all vegetable and spices. give them shape.and stick it with toothpick
2.put a small  slice of capsicum on one side and one small cube of paneer on other side of the kabab,in toothpick.or can also put them in between kabab.
3.Mix flour,corn flour a pinch of salt and water,dip the kababs in this mix.and roast them or grill or also can fry it.and its done :).

Spiral Pasta

Ingredients:-

2 bowl spiral pasta
1 cup grated cheese

 water to boil

For red pasta sauce-

Ingredients : 

4 large tomatoes
4 to 5 black peppercorns
1 small onions
1 tsp garlic, chopped

2 tsp tomato sauce/ketchup (optional)

1 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp olive oil or oil
salt to taste

For white sauce-

2 tbsp white flour
1 and 1/2 cup warm milk
salt to taste
butter
1/2 cup cheese

 

oregano

 

Recipe:

1.Boil spiral pasta for 15-20 mins,in a tsp of salt and oil for 15-20 mins..till soft.

2.for red sauce.make puree of tomatoes,heat the butter,add onions ,pepper corns,saute

.Add the tomato pulp and allow it to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the sauce reduces a little. 

Add the tomato puree, ketchup, sugar and salt and simmer for some more time

then add oregano .mix.

3.for white sauce put some butter in a microwave bowl ,microwave for 1 min.add flour,warm milk,cheese  and a pinch of salt and oregano and microwave it for 6mins,mix it in between so tht ther wont b lumps.

4.drain the water of boiled pasta,drain it with some cold water.so tht pasta wont be too soft and wont break.

5.now in a big microwave bowl,put some pasta ,then a layer  of white sauce,then some pasta and then red sauce then some pasta then repeat the same till the bowl is filled,then add lots of grated cheese.cook at convection mode for 20 mins at 180-190 temp.

garnish with some oregano and sauce.

 

Butter Cookies with mango jam

Same recipe as posted earlier,just filled Mango jam i made again,at the center.