BAKED CHEESE CAKE (JAPANESE STYLE)

This is a basic baked version of a creamy classic dessert. The authentic creamy cheese cake will definitely add a taste to any dining table or Christmas party. A real rich, creamy and mouth melting cheese cake that always makes a great dinner party. It is a perfect combination of tangy and sweet with a smooth and rich texture, which is wonderful for entertaining. Just tryout, you will surely fall love in it!!!

INGREDIENTS:

FOR CRUST:

40 gm / 1.4 oz Butter (softened)
120 gm / 4.2 oz Vanilla Wafers

FOR CHEESECAKE:

226 gm / 8 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese
150 cc Whipping Cream or Fresh Cream
3 tbsp Self Raising Flour
70 gm / 2.5 oz Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tbsp Lemon Zest
1 tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice
20 gm / 0.7 oz Butter (melted)

METHOD:

Line the pan with parchment paper / baking paper.
Place vanilla wafers in a ziploc bag. By using your hands smash it nicely.
Add 40 gm butter and mix it thoroughly.
Press firmly into the pan by using the bottom of a glass and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour or until set.
Preheat oven to 180 C. Beat softened cream cheese in a bowl. Add sugar in it. Blend again.
Add 2 beaten eggs little by little and whisk the mixture well.
Pour 150 cc whipped cream / fresh cream in it. Mix nicely.
Add lemon juice , lemon zest and shift flour in it.
Lastly, add 20 gm melted butter, fold well.

Pour the mixture onto the pan above crust. Bake for 40 minutes. Allow to cool to the room temperature and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Cut the cheese cake into bars and serve. May wrap each bar with plastic wrapper and refrigerate for a week.

For original recipe Click here....

Sending to:  Cook with Comfort Event,  Lets cook Christmas party food,  Favorite Recipes: Christmas Recipes 2013,  Lets Cook for Christmas, Holiday Recipes ~ 3rd Blog Anniversary Event

DATES (KHEJUR) CAKE

A lovely light moist textured favourite is Dates Cake. This is very old-fashioned which can be a pleasant alternative to a fruited cake and a great sweet recipe for Christmas. It is very easy to make, full of nutritious and tastes just wonderful!

INGREDIENTS:

2 Cups Dates / Khejur (seedless)
1&1/2 Cup Self-Raising Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda (Soda bi Carb)
1 Cup Water
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Butter
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1&1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

METHOD:

Combine dates, sugar, butter and water in a sauce pan. Heat together and cook till it comes to the boiling point.

Add baking soda in the paste and mix well. It helps to break up dates well. Let the paste cool down for 20-30 minutes.

Whisk eggs nicely and pour it in dates mixture. Fold well by using a rubber spatula. Add vanilla essence in it. Mix again.

Preheat oven at 180 C. Add flour and baking powder to the mixture. Mix it thoroughly.
Take a square pan. Spread a parchment paper or wax paper inside the pan and grease it little.

Pour the mixture inside the baking paper. Flat the top evently by using a rubber spatula. Bake for 40 minutes.

Take out the pan from oven and let it cool normally on wire rack.

Turn the cake out upside-down onto serving plate. The cake can be kept, wrapped in foil or stored in an airtight container, for upto 5-6 days. Cut and serve in desired shapes.

Sending to:  Lets cook Christmas party food .

Sending to: Favorite Recipes: Christmas Recipes 2013

Sending to:  Let's cook for Christmas event

Sending to: "Eat Vegetables Stay Healthy" & JUSTEAT

GULAB JAMUN - SN CHALLENGE

Today I am going to post this challenged recipe as I am the part of famous SNC team. South vs North Challenge doesn't require any introduction, which is created and owned by our sweet friend Divya Pramil. I am a part of Northern Team, triedout the recipes challenged by Southern Team arround the year. 

This month SNC completed 1 year, so this is the 'month of celebration' where Divya suggested to cook any of the 24 challenged recipes. All over India, people are in festive mood, our main festival 'Diwali' is knocking the door. This is the special time for all Indians for some special treats. Thus, I choosen the recipe "GULAB JAMUN", challenged by Pallavi Purani. This is a very famous traditional Indian sweet and really a very toothsome dessert as we all love it..."Yeh dil mange more....", thanks Pallavi for this awesome dish.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup Powdered Milk
1&1/2 tbsp Semolina (sooji/rava)
3 tbsp Wheat Flour / All Purpose Flour (maida)
1/3 tsp Baking Powder
4 tbsp Clarified Butter (ghee)
1/2 Cup Cream
Oil / Clarified Butter To Fry

FOR SYRUP:

1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Water
1/4 tsp Saffron (kesar/zaffran)
5-6 Cardamom Pods (lightly crushed)

METHOD:

Sift milk powder, wheat flour, semolina and baking powder in a bowl. Add clarified butter in it and mix thoroughly. Knead it nicely by adding cream to make a soft smooth dough.

Bring the dough together and with a palm greased with ghee make a ball and place in a bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it sit for 30 minutes.

On the other side, to make sugar syrup, bring the sugar and water to boil. Add saffron and cardamoms in it. Let sugar dissolves completely and boil it for 8-10 minutes on medium flame.

Make small balls out of the dough. Mean while you can fry the rolled jamuns. Heat sufficient oil on full flame in a pan . Once it smokes, reduce the flame to medium. After the smoke disappears, add one dough ball first. If it turns black instantly, you must reduce the flame to low-medium. We are looking for an inviting brown color on the dough balls. Be sure to constantly rolling the balls in the oil so that they get an even color, don't dump the jamuns so many in oil.

Remove jamuns from oil by using a slotted spoon when gulab jamuns are evenly golden and browned and add them directly into the sugar syrup. Keep the jamuns in the sugar syrup for atleast 3-4 hours before serving, which will make the jamuns soft and sweet from inside.

Warm in the microoven, serve gulab jamun hot with topped with little cream or pistachios. But I personally love to have warm gulab jamun topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.

A FESTIVAL FULL OF SWEET CHILDHOOD MEMORIES,

SKY FULL OF FIREWORKS,

MOUTH FULL OF SWEETS,

HOUSE FULL OF DIYAS AND HEART FULL OF JOY

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY DIWALI!!!!

Sending to Priya Suresh akka SN Challenge

Sending to Festival Treats, Diwali Bash 2013

CHERRY POUND CAKE

Here is a rich classic pound cake with the pretty surprise of chopped cherries, a very popular French Pound Cake. There is something tremendously comforting about pound cake. It's dense, buttery, supremely moist and baked perfectly. Some creative liberties have been taken here with the addition of vanilla essence and chopped cherries. Lets come to the recipe...

INGREDIENTS:
150 gm / 1&1/2 Cups Cake Flour
150 gm Granulated Regular Sugar
3 Large Eggs
3 tbsp Butter Milk
1&1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Baking Powder
185 gm / 14 tbsp Salted Butter (at room temperature)
3/4 Cup Chopped Cherries

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350 F / 180 C. Whisk eggs, milk and vanilla extract with a wire whisk. Mix all in together.

Grease a loaf pan and then sprinkle little flour on the inner surface of the pan. Place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of the loaf pan. Spray with cooking oil.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and baking powder. Mix with a electric blender for 30 seconds. Add butter and half of the egg mixture in it. Mix in low speed for 30 seconds. Again blend it with electric hand blender for 1 minute on medium speed. Add remaining egg mixture little by little and mix well with the wire whisk. 

Add chopped cherries in it. Fold nicely. 

Pour mixture to loaf pan and bake it for 50-55 minutes, till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Cool it for 15-30 minutes on a wire rack. 

Cut into slices and serve. You may keep it in air-tight container and refrigerate for a week.

BUTTER SPONGE CAKE

This buttery moist sponge cake is very easy to make, absolutely delicious and perfect for afternoon tea. Butter sponge cake relies on beaten eggs to make it light and feather. I love the taste, it is simply awesome!

INGREDIENTS:
225 gm Self-Raising-Flour + For Dusting
250 gm Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
4 Eggs
200 gm Butter + For Greasing
50 ml Olive oil

METHOD:
Preheat oven at 180 C / 350 F. Grease an aluminium cake mould with little butter and dust with little flour. Break eggs in a bowl. Add vanilla essence in it. Beat well with electric beater for 10 minutes continuously. Set it aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter, olive oil and sugar together with a electric hand blender for 3 minutes, or till it fluffy.

Add flour into creamed mixture, also add 1/2 of the beaten egg mixture in it. Mix well by using cut and fold method. Add remaining egg mixture and milk in it. Fold very nicely.

Pour mixture into greased cake tin.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the middle springs back when touched or a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from heat now and let the cake stand for 15 minutes to cool.

Demould and cut into desired pieces and serve. You may store it in air-tight container upto 4 days and refrigerate for a week.

PAASI PARUPPU PAYASAM / PAYATHAM PARUPPU PAYASAM / MOONG DAL KHEER

May lord Krishna

Show you the way in your life

As he has shown the way to
Arjuna in kurukshetra
May lord Krishna bless you on your way.

HAPPY JANMASHTAMI TO ALL....

I am very happy to take part of this interesting SNC event. A great going event started and organished by our sweet friend Divya Pramil from YOU TOO CAN COOK - INDIAN FOOD RECIPES. This is a monthly event where two teams, Southern and Northern team have to challenge each other with their authentic and regional dishes.

This month North team got a challenge to prepare Paasi Paruppu Payasam / Moong Dal Kheer from Divya Pramil and South team is challenged with Kesar Pista Kulfi by Shruti.

'Paruppu Payasam' is an easy payasam of specially Tamil Nadu, which is made with moong dal or chana dal. Here I added raw rice to it, that is purely optional. It is a jaggery based sweet. Getting the right consistency is difficult part, as it should not be too thick nor too runny. Milk adds richness and enhances the taste. Thanks Divya for this delicious kheer, we relished your recipe dear.

INGREDIENTS (FOR 6 SERVINGS):

100 gm / 1 Cup Split Green Gram Lentil (yellow moong dal)

25 gm / ½ Cup Raw Rice (pacharisi)

250 gms  Jaggery / Achu Vellam

10-15 Cashew Nuts (slitted)

5-6 Almonds (chopped)

1 tbsp Raisins

4 Pods Cardamom

2 tbsp Grated Coconut

1 Cup Milk

2 tbsp Clarified Butter / Ghee

METHOD:

Wash moong dal and raw rice in water and set aside.

Grind grated coconut and cardamom pods. Keep it aside.

In a pressure cooker add moong dal and raw rice with 300 ml water. Pressure cook for 10 minutes on low heat. Open the lid after the pressure drops.  Mash well the cooked dal and rice.

Pour milk in it.

Mix well and place the pan on heat again. Cook for several minutes on low heat. This consistency is very perfect, so extra water in not necessary here. (But if you think your dal is thick even after adding milk, add little water in it)

Pour jiggery in it and stir nicely. Check the sweetness, add more jaggery if necessary. 

Add coconut – cardamom powder here, keep stirring for another 2 minutes on medium heat.

In another pan / tadka pan, add clarified butter (ghee). When it starts to melt, add cashew nuts, almonds and raisins. Fry for 2 minutes on minimam heat, don't fry on high heat, nuts will burn quickly.

Add nuts as well as clarified butter in payasam. Fold nicely and remove from heat. (when it will cool down, the payasam will be thicken. If so, add little more milk or water and re-heat a little and stir well)

Garnish with few nuts and raisins on the top. Serve as a mouth watery dessert. 

Sending to Divya's "SNC Challenge"