Better way to present Recipe #1 Vanilla Panna Cotta

It seems very stylish and classy when you present a panna cotta in a champagne glass. It looks difficult but it is very very simple!! Follow these steps and you are good to go!!

Make any flavoured jelly that you prefer. I used ready to make Rex Jelly

Step 1: Place the champagne glass on a tilted surface (ice tray or egg holder) in the freezer 

Step 2 : Pour in the jelly  while the glass is in the freezer and let it set till it firm and hold shape, even if it freezes 

If you want to pour in the panna cotta then make sure it freezes cause it will not hold shape otherwise!!

Pour the mixture very carefully only till it touches the brim

Step 3 : When the jelly is set, then you can straighten the glass and pour in the panna cotta and transfer it to the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours

If you have poured panna cotta, then pour the jelly in it and transfer the glass to the refrigerator. The panna cotta after 2 to 3 hours will lose its icy texture and will be nice and bouncy

Happy Baking!!

Recipe #14 Red Velvet Brownies

This recipe is a modification of Recipe #4 Hazelnut Brownies. You can alter many such recipes to come up with a new dessert. If the recipe is fool-proof, you can modify and add and delete ingredients to try out new stuff. Simple additions can help you get a totally new but still a yummy dish!!


In this recipe, the method and ingredients remain the same, only addition is red liquid food colour.

Ingredients

·      1 cup milk

·      1 ½ tsp vinegar

·      1 cup maida (All purpose flour) + 1/4 cup maida

·      1 cup caster sugar

·      1/4th cup cocoa

·      ½ cup vegetable oil

·      1 tsp baking soda

·      1 tsp baking powder

·      3/4th tblsp red liquid food colour

Method

·  In a pan, pour milk and add vinegar and boil it until the mixture has curdled and keep it aside to cool

· In a bowl, sift maida (all purpose flour), cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and baking soda

· Add oil, red food colour and curdled milk in the bowl of sifted ingredients. Using an electric beater, beat the mixture well until everything is well incorporated

· Add the chopped hazelnuts and fold these nuts with a spatula

· Preheat the oven at 180deg c

· Pour this mixture in a square or rectangle ½ kg well greased mould (you can dust flour on the mould after greasing it in order to ensure that the brownie comes out clean after baking process)

· Bake it for 30 mins, let it sit in the mould for 15 mins and then demould it

·  The texture of the brownie will be gooey and moist and crunchy because of the hazelnuts 

·  After it cools completely, then cut the brownie into square pieces of whatever size you prefer. 

· You can serve it cold or at room temperature

Happy Baking!!


Note: The changes made in the recipe are highlighted

Feedback from a Happy baker !!

Happiness is when a happy baker gives a recipe feedback.. #happytohelp #elated #madewithlove #thankyou 

Happy baking!!

Weekly tip #3 What to do with leftover cookie dough ?

If you have excess cookie dough..or some dough is leftover ..do not dispose it off.. 

Make small balls of the cookie dough.. And  mix it with vanilla ice cream.. And mix some chocolate chips if needed.. Or else plain cookie dough mixed  with the ice cream helps make the ice cream tastier and acts like cherry on the cake!! It tansforms the regular vanilla ice cream into -Cookie dough ice cream!

Happy Baking!

Recipe #13 Vanilla Cupcakes

Finally I found a good and fool proof vanilla cupcake recipe which I can rely on…Vanilla Cupcakes is an all time favourite not only with kids but with adults too!!.. This recipe is easy to follow and so moist and yummy!.. Cupcakes serve the purpose only when they are moist in texture and iced with either chocolate ganache, butter cream or whipped cream!.. In this recipe I have iced it with whipped cream, however you can top it with any icing you like!

Makes: 10

Ingredients

100 gms unsalted butter (room temperature)

½ cup and 3/8^th cup icing sugar (or powdered sugar)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs (room temperature)

1 cup and 1/3^rd cup plain flour (maida)

½ cup milk (room temperature)

500 ml whipped cream or butter cream for icing

Keeping your ingredients at room temperature is very important so that all the ingredients can incorporate well and this prevents the mixture from splitting!

Method

-In a bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar 1 spoon at a time and continuously beating at a low speed. Add vanilla extract and 1 egg at a time, beating at a low speed each time.

-Preheat the oven at 180deg c

-Sift flour and baking powder together. On a low speed, add 1/3^rd flour and baking powder mix, add ½ quantity of milk in the egg mixture and beat it, don’t over beat the mixture. Repeat this again until flour and milk incorporated well.

-Line 10 cupcake moulds or grease them well.

-Spoon into the cupcake moulds only till 3/4^th level and bake it for 20-25 mins or until golden brown and springy to touch. Let it cool on the wire racks

-Pipe the icing only when the cupcakes have completely cooled. Decorate it will silver balls or grated chocolate..

Happy Baking!!

Recipe #12 Double Chocolate Cookies

Cookies which originated in Persia has become a popular treat!!..It is a small, flat treat which can be cookies with spices, dried fruits, nuts or chocochips..

A small description of Cookies I found on the Internet. Please read it!

Cookies are most commonly baked until crisp or just long enough that they remain soft, but some kinds of cookies are not baked at all. Cookies are made in a wide variety of styles, using an array of ingredients including sugars, spices, chocolate, butter, peanut butter, nuts, or dried fruits. The softness of the cookie may depend on how long it is baked.

A general theory of cookies may be formulated this way. Despite its descent from cakes and other sweetened breads, the cookie in almost all its forms has abandoned water as a medium for cohesion. Water in cakes serves to make the base (in the case of cakes called "batter") as thin as possible, which allows the bubbles – responsible for a cake's fluffiness – to better form. In the cookie, the agent of cohesion has become some form of oil. Oils, whether they be in the form of butter, egg yolks, vegetable oils, or lard, are much more viscous than water and evaporate freely at a much higher temperature than water. Thus a cake made with butter or eggs instead of water is far denser after removal from the oven.

Oils in baked cakes do not behave as soda tends to in the finished result. Rather than evaporating and thickening the mixture, they remain, saturating the bubbles of escaped gases from what little water there might have been in the eggs, if added, and the carbon dioxide  released by heating the baking powder. This saturation produces the most texturally attractive feature of the cookie, and indeed all fried foods: crispness saturated with moisture (namely oil) that does not sink into it.

Makes: 18

Ingredients

·      1/4^th cup unsalted butter

·      170 grams semi sweet cooking chocolate (Finely chopped)

·      ½ cup and 1/8^th cup of light brown sugar (Finely ground)

·      2 medium eggs (room temperature)

·      1 tsp vanilla essence

·      1/8^th cup cocoa powder

·      3/4^th cup all-purpose flour (maida)

·      3/4^th tsp baking powder

·      500 ml boiling water

Method

-In a medium saucepan, add the boiling water and on top of that place a bigger pan. Add butter and chocolate and melt the mixture slowly on this double boiler. Remove it from heat when melted and let it stand for 5 minutes

-Till then, in a large bowl, combine brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract and using an electric beater, on low speed beat until well blended. Now check whether the chocolate has cooled down (put a finger in the mixture and if not very hot then its ready). Pour in the chocolate mixture in the egg mixture and beat it on low speed until combined.

-Add cocoa powder, flour and baking powder and beat it on a low speed. When well blended, the mixture will be a little runny – like a cake batter. So now, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 2 hours

-Preheat the oven at 180deg c

-When you remove it from the refrigerator, it would have set and you will have to use a well-greased tablespoon to scoop out cookie dough balls and bake it on a tray covered with butter paper. Keep a distance of 5 inches between the cookies because as they cook they tend to spread

-Bake it for 15 mins and while baking you will see small cracks appearing on the cookies, which means they are ready.

-Once you remove the cookies from the oven, place it on a wire rack to cool and serve as it is or warm it a little

Happy Baking!!

Weekly tip #2 If you don't have a food weighing scale, then what?

If you don't have a food weighing scale, conversions become difficult and you cannot achieve the accuracy that you actually want.

Image source : http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/clip/scale.html

Converting grams into teaspoon or tablespoon is the best way to solve this problem

- 1 tablespoon = 5 grams
- 8 teaspoon = 15 grams

These denominations shall help you solve this very common problem which I also used to face in my early days of baking!!

Happy Baking!

Recipe #11 Marshmallows

Marshmallow has become a favourite snack. It has a pillowy texture and it just melts in your mouth.

A marshmallow when skewered at the end of a stick and held over the fire, creating crisp and caramelized skin which conceals a gooey, molten layer of goodness!..

This recipe requires a little more effort but I can guarantee you, it will taste better than those market marshmallows!

Makes : 30 pieces

Ingredients

·      50 gms icing sugar

·      50 gms corn flour

·      30 gms gelatin

·      450 gms granulated sugar

·      1 tblsp liquid glucose

·      2 large egg whites (I used 2 ½ medium sized)- depends on the size of the egg

·      1 tsp vanilla extract

·      350 ml water

Method

-In a bowl, mix the icing sugar with corn flour and keep it aside.

- Dissolve the gelatin in 150 ml hot water. Use a spoon to stir it properly. Use a big pan

-Line a 20 cm x 30 cm squre mould with baking paper (butter paper) and dust 3/4^th of the icing sugar mix

-Place the sugar and liquid glucose in a heavy bottomed pan (so that it does not catch on the bottom of the pan), add 200 ml water. Using a wooden spoon stir the sugar and cook it on low heat until the sugar melts, once completely melted turn up the heat and let the mixture boil until the mixture reaches 125deg c or it becomes very thick and is bubbling

-While the sugar is boiling, use an electric mixture and beat the egg whites until firm

-When the sugar boils and reaches the right temperature, pour it in the gelatin mix, be careful it will be very hot and bubble up. Now the sugar mix will become lumpy, so put in back on heat and on low heat melt the sugar thoroughly with a wooden spoon

-Once the sugar mixture has melted, then using an electric beater, beat the eggs again and continuously pour in the sugar very slowly, then add vanilla extract and continue whisking, the mixture will turn shiny and glossy. Beat it for 10 minutes, the mixture will get tough but be patient

-Now pour the mixture in the mould and using a warm knife flatten the top and put it in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours

-When it has dried and it feels pillowy, use a warm knife and cut it into small squares and dust the rest of the icing sugar mix on the sticky parts of the marshmallow

-You can store these yummy marshmallows for a week

Happy Baking!!