CRUNCHY COCONUT COOKIES

These coconut cookies are really crunchy, tasty and delicious; made from simple pantry ingredients which are easy on budget.

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup Self Raising Flour (Maida)
175 gm Sugar
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg
1 Cup Grated Coconut
150 gm Butter

METHOD:

Preheat oven at 180 C / 350 F for 10 minutes.
In a glass bowl, cream together butter and sugar with a hand blender, till fluffy.
Add egg in it and blend till light and fluffy.
Shift together flour, baking powder and grated coconut. Fold this mixture in the butter mixture. Refrigerate for 30-40 minutes.
Divide the dough into equal portions and make small balls. Flatten the balls and arrange them on the baking tray lined with baking paper.
Bake for 22-25 minutes till light brown.
Let cookies cool down on the cooling rack.

Serve or store it in a air-tight container.
Enjoy this delicious, crunchy, munchy coconut cookies....

NOTE: These cookies really spread while they are baking. Make sure to leave plenty of room on the tray.

APPLE CHEESE CAKE (BAKED VERSION)

This baked apple cheese cake is really yummy and easy to make. Light and flavourful baked cheese cake topped with caramelized apple wedges. Raisins added some extra flavour to it. The simplicity makes this cake so special. I only had single slice left of the cake to take the final pic. Guess how delightful this cake is!!!

INGREDIENTS:

FOR CRUST:

20 gm / 0.7 oz Butter (Softened)
120 gm / 2.1 oz Orange Wafers

FOR CHEESE CAKE:

1 Apple, Cut into 8 Wedges
113 gm / 4 oz Philadelphia Cream Cheese
70 ml Whipping Cream or Fresh Cream
2 tbsp Self Raising Flour (Maida)
40 gm / 1.4 oz + 1 tbsp Sugar
1 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
2 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
10 gm / 0.35 oz Melted Butter
1 tbsp Raisins

METHOD:

Line a square pan with parchment paper / Baking paper.
Place all orange wafers in a ziploc bag. By using your hands smas it nicely.
Add 20 gm butter and mix it thoroughly. Press firmly by using the bottom of a glass on the prepared pan with parchment paper. Refrigerate 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 beaten egg and whisk the mixture well. Pour whipped cream and mix nicely.
Add lemon juice, vanilla essence and shift flour in it. Add melted butter in this mixture and fold well.
Pour the mixture onto the pan above crust.
In the mean time, heat a pan. Arrange apple wedges on it. Sprinkle 1 tbsp sugar. Heat both sides of the wedges, so that apple glazes well. Remove from pan and place the glazed apple pieces on the top of the cake batter now. Sprinkle raisins on the top.
Put the cake pan on the oven and bake exactly for 40 minutes. Allow to cool to the room temperature and refrigerate for atleast 3 hours before serving.

Cut into bars and serve!!!!

CONDENSED MILK ORANGE CAKE

Coming to the Shhhhh... Cooking Secretly Challenge which started by Priya Suresh akka from Priya's versatile recipes. The mission of this event is to know the fellow bloggers more mutually and share the cooking ingredients and cooking experience with her. As this the first challenge of this event and my co-blogger partner is noone rather than Nirmala Gurunathan, a wonderful co-blogger friend and a foodie writer of Nirmala's Kitchen. My secret ingredients were condensed milk and flour, I used both of the ingredients here to make this mouthwatering cake. It was really very dense. It had a good flavour, but you really do need to serve with whipped cream and fruit or simply sprinkle icing sugar on the top. 

INGREDIENTS:

14 oz / 400 gm Condensed Milk
1 Cup Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
15 gm or 1/4 Cup Melted Butter
4 Eggs
1 tbsp Orange zest
1 Orange, cut into round slices and de-seeded
2 tbsp Roughly Chopped Walnuts
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 tbsp Sugar

FOR GARNISHING:

1 tbsp Icing Sugar
Few Walnuts
Few Fresh Cherries

METHOD:

Grease and floured a 9" cake pan.

Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F. In a large bowl, well combine condensed milk, flour, baking powder, melted butter, eggs, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence and orange zest. Add walnuts in it, fold again.

Pour the batter on the cake pan.

In the mean time, heat a non stick pan. Arrange round slices of orange on it. Sprinkle sugar and remaining vanilla essence on it. Heat both sides of the orange pieces, so that orange glazes well.

Place the glazed orange pieces on the top of the cake batter now.

Put the cake pan on the oven and bake for exactly 40 minutes (time may little varry from oven to oven). Let it cool down on wire rack. 

Sprinkle icing sugar on the top, garnish with with walnuts and cherries. Serve and enjoy this toothsome delicacy!!!

EGGFREE CHOCOLATE BROWNIE

Sharing an easy, simple, irrisistible, tasty, rich and fudgy gloriously gooey chocolate brownies, which will definitely satisfy chocolate craving. Tryout, its amazing!

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/2 Cup Self Raising Flour
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
A Pinch of Salt
400 gm / 1 tin Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tbsp Thick Yogurt
3-4 tbsp Sugar (as per taste)
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 tbsp Instant Coffee (I used Nescafe)
1/3 Cup Hot Water

METHOD:

Sift all dry ingredients in a bowl, i.e. flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix nicely.
In a large bowl, combine butter, condensed milk, sugar, vanilla extract and blend well. Add yogurt, blend again. Now add dry ingredients little by little and blend nicely, so that everything incorporated very well.
Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F. Mix coffee in hot water. Stir well. Add this coffee mix with brownie mixture. Blend again for few more seconds.
Grease a square pan with little butter and pour brownie mixture in it. Place it on central rack of the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (time varies oven to oven).
Cool it on cooling rack, cut in 16 equal small squares. 

Serve with a scoop of ice cream, or sprinkle little icing sugar on the top and serve.

SURUL POLI - SOUTH vs NORTH CHALLENGE

Most of you know that there is a event going on named 'South vs North Challenge', which is a brain child of my dear friend Divya Pramil of You Too Can Cook....there are two teams South and North. Each team challenge each other in every month. I am so happy to complete this month's challenge recipe. The challenged recipe, 'Surul Poli' is given by my dear friend Shama Nagarajan from easy2cookrecipes. Where as me challenged to my South Indian friends with 'Labongo Latika'. 

'Surul Poli' is a crispy sugar coated roll with coconut filling. This is an authentic preparation of Kaveri delta region, Thanjavur sweet. A very special dessert for festive occassions. I made little changes, but the main flavour and process is almost same. Such a tasty delicious sweet it is, my full family enjoyed it whole heartedly. Thank you so much Shama for sharing this delightful festive sweet.

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE OUTER COVERING OF THE POLI:

½ Cup All Purpose Flour (Self Raising Flour / Maida)

½ tbsp Clarified Butter (Desi Ghee)

Pinch of Salt

Water as required

½ Cup Oil for deep frying

FOR THE FILLING:

¼ Cup Roasted Chana (Pottu Kadalai)

¼ Cup Sugar

1 tsp Clarified Butter (Ghee)

2 tbsp Freshly Grated Coconut

2 tbsp Cashew nuts

3-4 Pods Cardamom

1 tbsp Raisins

4-5 Chopped Dates

FOR THE SUGAR SYRUP:

½ Cup Sugar

½ Cup Water

FOR GARNISHING:

3-4 Cherries

1 tbsp Tutti Frutti

METHOD:

Heat 1 tsp clarified butter in a pan, ghee roast grated coconut and cashew nut for 2-3 minutes or until coconut releases aroma and turns slightly brown. Mix ¼ cup sugar, ¼ cup roasted chana, coconut, cashew nuts and cardamoms in a chutney jar. Grind in a mixer into a fine powder. Set it aside.

In a large bowl, combine all purpose flour, ½ tbsp Clarified butter, pinch of salt. Knead it to make a soft smooth dough by using little water. Divide into 5 equal sized balls. Cover with a wet cloth and keep it aside for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat ½ cup water and ½ cup sugar in a saucepan. Boil till it forms string consistency. Remove from heat and set aside.

Now take a small ball from the dough and spread it like a poori (approx 3” diameter). Heat ½ cup oil in a pan, deep fry poori in oil. Drain poori on paper towel to absorb the excess oil. While it is still warm, dip it in the sugar syrup and place it immediately in the plate with dusted powder. Spread 2 tsp of grinded powder along with few raisins and chopped dates over it. Roll them immediately. Repeat the same for the remaining dough.

While serving, pour extra syrup and grinded extra powder on the top of the polis. Garnish with cherries and tutti frutti. Serve warm. You may store the remaining in an air-tight container.

Sending to: Shama's easy2cookrecipes

Sending to: Chandrani's Holiday Recipes

EGGLESS BUTTERLESS MARBLE CAKE

The idea of marbling two different coloured batter into a cake originated in 19th Century Germany. Originally the cakes were marbled with molasses and spices. The recipe replaced the traditional molasses and spice batter by marbling chocolate into the cake, which I blended with little Nescafe granules for more flavor. In the chocolate batter, may use almond extract. This is a super moist classic chocolate marble cake recipe, rich in flavor and a perfect tea-time snack which I make quite often. Swirls of Chocolate and Vanilla ensures that everyone gets their favorite flavor in every slice. Checkout this fabulous cake, it is really very impressive!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup All Purpose Flour (maida)

½ Cup Whole Wheat Flour (atta)

¾ Cup Powdered Sugar

1 Cup Plain Yogurt (curd)

½ tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1&1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

1&1/2 tbsp Cocoa Powder

2 tsp Nescafe Coffee Granules

½ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (may use vegetable oil / canola oil)

METHOD:

In a bowl, sift both flours and set aside.

Beat the yogurt nicely in a large bowl by using a whisk / wooden or metal spatula, so that there should not any lump in yogurt.

Add sugar in it. Whisk again for a minute and give a rest for 5 minutes, so that sugar dissolves in yogurt well.

Mix baking powder and baking soda in it. Beat for 30 seconds and leave it for another 5 minutes, until you see small bubbles on the surface of the mixture.

Add oil, mix well until well combined. Now add flour in 3 batches, gently fold the mixture by using a spatula (or even a wooden spoon). Remove ½ of the batter onto another bowl and set it aside.

Preheat oven to 350 F / 175 C. Coat an 8” round cake pan (you may use loaf pan too) with little oil and a light dusting of flour.

In one bowl of batter, add vanilla essence and fold well. Add cocoa powder and coffee granules in the other bowl of batter and whisk nicely till everything incorporated well. Set both bowls aside.

Drop ½ of the cocoa-coffee batter onto the prepared pan and pour vanilla batter on the top of it. Again drop rest of the cocoa-coffee batter on the top of vanilla batter.

Drag a knife or a skewer through the batter, swirling the chocolate-coffee through the vanilla batter.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of the cake and comes out clean, means it is done.

Remove marble cake from the oven and allow it to cool completely. Cut in desired shape, serve and enjoy!!!

Sending to:  Holiday Recipes ~ 3rd Blog Anniversary Event

AAM-RAS

Today, I come here with a flavourful mango delicacy. I know most of my friends love this delicious dessert. The alphonso mango is very luscious, sweet and usually used for this preparation. 'Aam' means the king of all fruits, mango and 'ras' means juice. But it looks different than a juice and is a mouthwatering and popular dessert item in all over the India.

INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups Mango Pulp
1/2 Cup Sugar or as per sweetness of mango
1/2 Cup Milk / coconut milk
1/4 tsp Cardamom powder
A pinch of Saffron (optional)
Few Pistachios, raisins and Cashewnuts for garnishing

METHOD:
Combine mango pulp, sugar, milk, saffron and cardamom powder in a jar and blend altogether for 60 to 90 seconds.

Pour in ramekins and decorate with pistachios, raisins and cashewnuts.

Place in refregerator for 1-2 hours before serving.

Serve as a dessert or may serve with hot puris too.

Recipe source & acknowledgement: www.sanjeevkapoor.com
Sending to:  Chandrani's Holiday Recipes 



CHENNA PODA (RICOTTA CHEESE CAKE FROM ORISSA)

The Bright Sun Has Lighted

The Sky The Flavors of Pongal / Lohri / Bhogali

Is In the Air Soak Yourself

In Hearty Music & Rejoice

HAPPY MAKAR SANKRANTI TO ALL....:)

It's the begining of a festive week for several communities in India and every Indian wants to celebrate this festival in very traditional way with lots of mouth melting sweets. 'Chenna Poda' (burnt cheese) is the quintessential cottage cheese dessert from the state of Orissa in Eastern India. It is made of well kneaded ricotta cheese or chenna, sugar, cashew nuts and raisins; baked for several hours in earthen fire untill it browns. The burnt smell is amazing and it is very delicious in taste. It must be cooled down for hours before serving. Lord Jagannath, the lord of this universe's favorite dessert is to be said Chenna Poda. So friends, don't waste your time, tryout and relish this mouth melting Oriya dessert.

INGREDIENTS:

2&1/2 Cups Fresh Warm Chenna  / Ricotta Cheese / Fresh Paneer (hung chenna)

1&1/4 Cups Granulated Sugar

2 tsp Clarified Butter (ghee)

½ tsp Cardamom Powder

2 tbsp Rice Flour

Some Cashewnuts (chopped)

Some Raisins

METHOD:

Mash the chenna nicely by using your palms, this process will make the chenna soft.

Add Sugar little by little and mix it thoroughly.

Put clarified butter (desi ghee), rice flour and cardamom powder and mix well again. Now chenna mixture is ready.

Preheat oven to 200’C. Place a baking paper in a baking pan, grease with clarified butter (ghee) and pour the whole mixture into the pan.

Top with cashew nuts and raisins. Press lightly by using your palms. Now it is ready to insert in oven.

Bake for 40 minutes. Cool down completely.

Cut into desired shape and serve. 

Sending to: Holiday Recipes ~ 3rd Blog Anniversary Event