Baking Archives - Page 4 of 10

Category: Baking

18
Feb
2014

Lemon Crinkle Melts

categories: Baking, Cookies, Spring, Summer

A melt in your mouth lemon cookies.. Ooh, how I love thee. I craved them one afternoon so bad that I had to bake them PRONTO! I LOVE lemon even more than chocolate. Please don’t hate me! If there is a choice between chocolate and fruit, I most certainly always choose the latter (umm..yess.. mostly!). Chocolate vs lemon tart? Absolutely lemon tart! Chocolate donuts or strawberry filled donuts? Undoubtedly strawberry! Are we still friends? Okay, great! 🙂

These cookies were SOOO GOOD that I might have tried eating 4 in a go. Don’t try to picture that! I found this fantastic recipe on White On Rice Couple blog and they looked so gorgeous that I had to make them. I slightly reduced the quantity of butter and sugar mentioned in the recipe to suit our taste and they were perfect for us.

This recipe does not use any lemon extract and if you are worried about the lemon quotient then worry not, my friends. They are plenty lemony. I was blown away by the flavor and texture would be an understatement! If you love lemon cookies and love snickerdoodles like I do, you will find yourself stuffing yourself silly with these lovely cookies. Soft interior with slightly crisp exterior achieved by rolling the dough in confectioners sugar before baking. Delicate and bright! What’s not to love?!

Can you tell I’m obsessed? Yeah, this recipe will be definitely made again & again & again.
Enjoy!

Lemon Crinkle Melts

Recipe slightly adapted from White On Rice Couple

Yields: Around 24 cookies or more depending on size

Prep time: 10 minutes | Chill time: 30 minutes | Bake time: 9-11 minutes | Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white granulated sugar
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg (make it eggfree & use 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce)
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup confectioners sugar

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F. Line a couple cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda for at least 20 seconds. Set aside.
In a bowl of your mixer, add lemon zest, brown sugar, white sugar and mix together with hand. Add butter to the bowl and beat butter and zesty sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract, egg and lemon juice until well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again to make sure everything is incorporated.
Stir in the flour mixture until just combined, making sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to get all of the flour. Cover the bowl with cling film and let the dough chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Sift the confectioners sugar onto a large plate. Form the dough into 1 inch sized balls. Roll the balls in the confectioners sugar then place 2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets.
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies just begin to turn light golden and the tops of the cookies look matte (no longer shiny or wet looking). Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Note: To make these cookies vegan, replace butter with vegan margarine.

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14
Feb
2014

‘Breakfast For Two’ ~ Savory Pear & Apple Dutch Baby

categories: Baking, Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch, Pancakes, Sides

Good Morning & Happy Valentine’s Day ♥ Friends!

Roshni & I are back with our second installment of monthly cook-off. Keeping today’s lovey-dovey holiday in mind, the theme was a no-brainer – ‘Breakfast for Two’. So if you’ve still not thought of V-day breakfast for your sweetie then let us come to your rescue. I come bearing freshly baked savory German Pancake. Convenient without having to stand flipping pancakes on stove one by one and ready in 30 minutes! Slide it in the oven, go about your work (make coffee or arrange breakfast tray) and after 20 minutes, poof!, breakfast is served. No burnt sides too! 😉

Blogosphere is scattered with chocolates, berries and sprinkles for the occasion. Red and pink is so much in the air! I joined the bandwagon too but if you’re not into sweet stuff then this recipe is just perfect for you.

Pear, apple, some leeks and smoked Gouda… The fruit is cooked in a pan with some butter and thyme. Heavenly smell to wake up to, if you ask me! The fruit is then arranged in cast-iron skillet or baking pan. Egg and flour mixture is poured over the fruit followed by cheese. The prep requires mere 10 minutes of time and then whole business is taken care of by your beloved oven. It is baked until golden for about 20-25 minutes. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

This dutch baby is perfect as a Brunch/Brinner too and should be made on any day, not only on V-day. Make this NOW & thank me later. If you want to make a sweet dutch baby, then try this recipe of mine. And now go to Roshni‘s blog for a great ‘Breakfast For Two’ idea! Let’s check out what she has in store for us all! 🙂

Have a great day all you happy lovers out there! ♥ ♥ ♥

Savory Pear & Apple Dutch Baby

Serves: 2 | Prep time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 20-25 minutes | Total time: 30-35 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter (salted works too)
2 Tbsp leeks, washed & thinly sliced
Half pear, peeled, cored & sliced
Half green apple, peeled, cored & sliced
few sprigs of thyme
3 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
Salt, to taste
1/4 tsp lack pepper (or more)
1/2 cup grated smoked Gouda cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 210ºC / 425ºF.
Heat a small pan on a medium heat and add 1 Tbsp of butter to it. Once butter has melted, add leek, pear, apple slices and thyme leaves to the pan and let cook on a medium heat for about 3-4 minutes stirring occasionally. Set aside.
Mix the eggs, flour, milk, salt and pepper in a blender on a medium speed until just blended, 5-10 seconds.
Add rest of the 1 Tbsp butter in to a 9-inch cast-iron skillet/baking pan and put it in the oven. Wait until the butter has melted completely and sizzling then carefully take the pan out and swirl the butter around coating the pan completely.
Spread the cooked mixture of leek, fruits and thyme to the bottom of the pan. Pour the egg mixture on top. Finally, sprinkle the cheese all over and slide it back into the oven to be baked for 20-25 minutes, until slightly browned on top. Cut the dutch baby into 4 or 6 wedges and serve immediately.

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10
Feb
2014

Browned Butter Red Velvet Brownies ~ From Scratch

categories: Baking, Brownies, Desserts

Hello! Meet the perfect Valentine’s day dessert!

Everyone loves a good brownie and when your regular brownies got a makeover, red velvet brownies were born. They become a thing of out-of-this-world! And they do not come from a box-mix! Yes, these are made 100% from scratch. So earn some extra brownie-points and make them for your Valentine!

These brownies turned out so dang awesome that they were demolished FAST. It’s only 2 of us and with some self-control we made them last 48 hours! Every single piece and each last crumb was devoured with so much happiness. 9 pieces had to be equally divided among the 2 of us, such a difficult task! It was natural that I get an extra piece which I had happily consumed anyway while photographing these beauties. I mean who could resist? 😛

These brownies were supremely moist, fudgy and soft. Browned butter gives a unique depth of flavor. I like to use both white and brown sugar for a perfect brownie. Brown sugar attributes to a caramelized flavor while white sugar contributes to a crisp, shiny top! I’m a plain brownie person so I went plain with mine but you may fold in white chocolate chips and sprinkle some on top before baking for that extra chocolate-kick.

You may decorate these in many ways. I had them plain, with some powdered sugar sprinkling, with Nutella frosting and warm brownie topped with Double Chocolate Ice-cream. You bet I was completely ruining my healthy diet those 2 days and it was absolutely worth it! Sorry to all my Instagram followers for torturing them with all that #foodporn. Now you’ve got the recipe, time to treat yourselves!

Browned Butter Red Velvet Brownies ~ from Scratch

Yields: 9 pieces | Prep time: 15 minutes | Bake time: 20 minutes | Total time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

2/3 cup butter
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 + 1/2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup buttermilk (or 3 Tbsp milk + 1 Tbsp vinegar)
Red food color
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven at 180ºC / 350ºF. Line 8×8 inch square baking pan with an aluminium foil and grease it with oil. Set aside.
Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Stir constantly until butter has reached a light brown color and little bits have formed. It will be difficult to see the color of the butter as it foams a bit, so I go by smell– it will be very fragrant.
Pour the butter in your mixing bowl(no need to cool). Add the sugars and cocoa powder and beat until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing in between each addition until almost creamy.
Add the salt, buttermilk, red food coloring and vanilla extract.
Add the flour and mix well. Batter will be of cupcake consistency.
Spread the batter in baking pan and bake for 19-22 minutes (mine were done in exactly 20 minutes) o until toothpick inserted in a center comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting into pieces. Serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar, Nutella frosting or warm with a scoop of ice-cream.

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31
Jan
2014

Red Velvet Cake Donuts ~ Valentine’s Special

categories: Baking, Desserts, Doughnuts

After being on a month long health-kick, I think it is time to introduce a little indulgence. After all, it is last day of January.Valentine’s day is just round the corner so today’s post was definitely called for. I’m giving you a gorgeous sweet something for the occasion.

I have already professed my love for donut pan to you before. Ooh, how much I adore it. I want to bake everything into donut now, yes, obsessed is the word! But come on, how cute are these baked donuts?! You’re definitely going to have hard time deciding, eat them for breakfast or dessert! Or may be have them for both 😉

These baked donuts are smothered with cream cheese frosting. Purr..fection! They are soft, tender and fluffy. They come together quickly and uses just a bowl. Baking is done in 8 minutes flat! Takes about 20-25 minutes start to finish. Of course, you will need to wait for donuts to cool completely before applying the frosting. I know which is quite difficult! So you may make them a day in advance, frost them and sprinkle sanding sugar just before serving. No more waiting, problem solved!

I made a small batch of 6 which is perfect if you’re still dieting. They are not obnoxiously fattening. I counted calories to be sure and each donut has 210 calories with frosting. Not so bad, right? Perfect for a cheat day with minimal cheating which means, yes, go ahead and have two!

So make them for Valentine’s or make them now. Bake them as donuts or as cupcakes. Just make them! 🙂

Red Velvet Cake Donuts

Yields: 6 | Prep time: 15 minutes | Bake time: 8 minutes | Total time: About 25 minutes

Ingredients:

For donuts:

2/3 cup + 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
3 Tbsp oil
5 Tbsp yogurt/buttermilk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Red food coloring
1/4 tsp apple cider vinegar

For cream cheese frosting:

3 Tbsp plain cream cheese, at room temperature (I used plain spreadable cream cheese)
3 Tbsp icing sugar, sifted
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
Splash of milk, only if needed
Red sanding sugar, to decorate

Directions:

For donuts: Preheat oven at 180ºC / 350ºF. Spray the 6-count donut pan with oil. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a another mixing bowl, whisk together egg and sugar till nicely incorporated. Whisk in oil, yogurt/buttermilk and vanilla extract. Slowly mix in dry ingredients to wet ingredients with the help on spoon or rubber spatula. Mix until just combined. Do not over-mix.
Add red food coloring as required stirring minimally. Finish with whisking in vinegar to the batter. Divide the batter equally and fill the mold no more than 3/4th. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool in pan on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. Then carefully turn out doughnuts directly onto rack to cool.
Cream cheese frosting: In a small mixing bowl, whisk together cream cheese, sifted icing sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. If the consistency is too thick, add a dash of milk. Spread the frosting on completely cooled donuts. Sprinkle with red sanding sugar just before serving as the colors will bleed. Doughnuts will keep in an airtight container for 2-3 days stored in a refrigerator.

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24
Jan
2014

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies ~ Eggfree & Vegan

categories: Baking, Cookies, Desserts, Summer

A classic whole wheat chocolate chip cookie with a glass of milk! Match indeed made in heaven!

Imagine to be able to have a healthier version of the buttery classic. After receiving rave reviews about Inside Out Chocolate Chip M&M Cookies (Thank you all!), I decided to recreate them into a classic chocolate chip version. I used olive oil instead of butter this time around and skipped milk completely. The result was amazing. I am not claiming these cookies to be skinny or low-fat. They are still 120 calorie each (assuming you get exactly 30 cookies) but you won’t miss the evil fat here, trust me! Come on, olive oil is a good fat and so is whole wheat!

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies - 4

If you’re crispy cookie person then flatten the cookie dough a bit more as per your liking and let them bake for an extra minute or so. When baked thick and puffy, these cookies are soft and equally chocolicious. These cookies are also great as ice cream sandwiches. You won’t be able to stop at just one, I know you guys too well! ?

Enjoy & have a gorgeous weekend!

Eeeep… I am off to a road trip and shall share more once I am back! ?

Whole wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies ~ Eggfree & Vegan

Yields: Around 30 cookies | Prep time: 15 minutes | Chill time: 30-60 minutes | Bake time: 14-15 minutes

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp flaxseed powder + 9 Tbsp water
1/2 cup olive oil (coconut oil or unsalted butter can be substituted)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup date syrup
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 + 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 + 1/4 cup mix of dark & milk chocolate chips

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together flax seed powder and water. Set aside for 10 minutes.
In a medium bowl, sift together whole wheat flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk olive oil and sugar together til completely incorporated. Whisk in date syrup, vanilla extract and flax seed mixture.
Stir in dry ingredients to the wet ingredients to form a dough. Fold in chocolate chips. Chill the dough in refrigerator for about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 160ºC/325ºF. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper. Take about 2 Tbsp of dough, form it into a ball between your palms and flatten them with fingers or a fork. The cookies won’t spread much while baking so flatten how much ever thickness you like. Bake them for 14-15 minutes. Let them cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them on cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies will stay fresh for 1 week at room temperature stored in an airtight container.

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