Dutch Coffee Buns............Kofieebroodje

2014 is here already ...........Hope this year brings us all lots of joy, peace and prosperity......
Back to baking too .........and look forward to bake some interesting challenges here. So, I start the year with Baking Partners challenge -  Dutch Coffee Buns...Kofieebroodje. Nothing complicated about this .....yet a soft and sweet bun straight out of the oven in few hours.....

Flaming Fruit Pudding

This is a simple and awesome dessert........A delightful variety of fruit bites tossed into a bed of vanilla custard covered with whipped cream and top it with  thick broken bits of strawberry flavored jelly.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

I made this cake a month ago - did not post it here. Love it so so much that I kept it for the 100th follower of A Portion to Share. And this goes out to Anita of Recipe with pictures......an interesting space filled with tested and tried recipes.

This is a very light and spongy cake from Joy of Baking............. so well described in the video and the post as well. I'm not repeating the recipe here ,because I have followed the JOB recipe word to word. Great cake...must try !

Cream Horns

I once saw on a TV show  a Pastry chef  making these Cream Horns........ I watched the show with such wonder...perhaps at the revelation of how its made :) And here it is ...

French Macarons

French macaron...who doesn't love it? When you make them there are only two ways to it. You either get it right or you don't. There's nothing in between..the pic here is the result of my fifth attempt !! It is a great sense of accomplishment because I have been trying this since  Jan 2012..

Chocolate - Banana Cake

Do bananas sitting over the counter stir the baker's rush?? Perhaps it does for me. There should always be 2 leftover bananas that should smile back at me from a bunch - and all I can think of at that moment is a banana cake - I guess I should start thinking out of the box.. and here I begin with a Chocolate banana cake.

Swiss Rolls !

I have always admired people who can do the Swiss Rolls. Even at the class my tutor did it with ease and I thought its wiser to leave it to experts.The bakers rush took me over yesterday and I decided to give it a shot. First, sponge cracked up as I had over baked it, which now has been stowed away for trifle someday soon. Made another sponge, waited by the oven and got it right !! 

Coconut Kheer

 There is this one person I know whose status messages on Facebook  are full of life and that spreads positive energy always.He writes about the food he wishes to eat , the food that hes eating too - every time its a unique menu,the variety is lovely and he never forgets to appreciate the guy who makes this spread for him :) He is a fantastic human being, a dear friend, a film maker by profession Vivek Sharma  who reaches out to people through his Blog.
One such update was about "Nariyal Kheer" - the name just got me plain inquisitive at the way he was raving about relishing it :)) I did my fair share of Google search - figured it out and made it my way.......

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Fresh grated coconut
2 tablespoons raw rice (soaked in water)
2 cups fresh milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup Sugar -
A pinch of powdered cardamom
Bay leaf
Cashew nuts and raisins fried in ghee

Step 1: Grind together coconut and raw rice with the salt to a very fine paste.
Step 2: Heat milk with the bay leaf .Add the paste to the milk stirring continuously with a wire whisk, as the paste could settle down easily. Whisk until it thickens to a smooth consistency.If by any chance it turns out lumpy, pour it out in a strainer to remove lumps.
Step 3: Add sugar & cardamom powder and stir well. Quantity of sugar could be increased as appropriate. Similarly, add milk if the mixture turns out too thick. Remove bay leaf & garnish with fried cashew nuts and raisins.

Diwali - the festival of lights - signifies the triumph of good over evil !! We reiterate this fact year after year - Hope this season brings peace and prosperity to all.

We did our share of prayers at home ..Happy Diwali again.............
I link this post to ......................
                               Tickling Palates - Diwali Special : sweets & savories
                                 

                               Anu's Healthy Kitchen - Diwali-festival-of-lights-event

                                  

                                         My Diwali - My Way - hosted by Khushi

                                                            
                             

Pineapple Gujiya

Diwali is here & I just couldn't resist making Gujiyas  for the occasion.

With little time on hand and lots to do ..........I made the dough first.

Ingredients :
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 tablespoons Ghee
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients ,add water & knead to a firm dough.Set aside the dough in a plastic wrap.

Now the filling.I had seen this filling once on Chef Sanjeev Kapoor's TV show - Khana Khazana.
So here are the ingredients:

• 3 Pineapple slices finely chopped
• Half a cup of fresh grated coconut
• 2 tablespoons of raisins
• 2 tablespoons of chopped almonds
• 2 tablespoons of chopped cashew nuts
• A pinch of cardamom powder
• A pinch of Salt
• 4 Table spoons of semolina (Rava)
• Oil/Ghee for frying
• Sugar - add to taste

Heat oil and add the chopped pineapples to this and fry well on high heat. Reduce heat and add grated coconut to this and mix well. Next add raisins & the nuts along with salt and cardamom powder.

Now add semolina and saute for a minute. At this point add sugar as appropriate to taste. The filling is now ready.

Knead the dough once again and roll out small rounds. Fill in with the Pineapple coconut mixture, seal the edges with water and cut out with a pastry wheel - zig zag cutter. Set aside in a pan and cover with  a wet cloth. This quantity makes about 18 Gujiyas.

Heat oil in a kadai - deep fry the gujiyas until they evenly turn golden brown. They get crisp once cooled.

That pouch in the center is what I made with the left over dough.......:)

''HAPPY DIWALI" - May this season bring pouches full of joy and happiness to all !

                                                           I link this post to.......

                                              Tickling Palates - Diwali Special Sweets

                                          

                                             

                                              Anu's Healthy Kitchen - Festival of Lights

                                          

                                                  My Diwali - My way hosted by Khushi