Peanut Burfi

Ingredients:

Peanut-1cup

Sugat -3/4cup

cardamom Powder- a pinch

pure ghee-1tsp

Method:

1. Roast peanuts for about 15 minutes on a medium flame until you get a pleasant aroma. At this point the peanuts must be very easy to peal.
2. Powder sugar fine in the mixer/blender.
3. Peal the roasted peanuts, add (pealed) cardamom and crush them fine in a mixer/blender.
4. In a shallow bowl on the flame, take 1 teaspoon of pure ghee. Add powdered sugar and keep stirring on a medium flame.
5. When sugar powder melts completely switch off the flame and add powdered peanuts.
6. Stir this mixture and when well mixed, spread this mixture on a wooden board.
7. Roll this with chapathi roller & cut into pieces immediately.

Sesame Balls (Ell Urundai)

Ingredients:

Black sesame seeds - 1 cup

Ragi Flour-2 Cup

Jaggery - 1/2 cup

water -1/2 Cup

Cardamom powder - a pinch [Optional]

Method:

In a Pan fry the sesame(ell) till good smell comes out.

Then add water in ragi flour mix it well, make sure that batter will not be watery.

Make Dosa with that Batter.

Mix well both fried saesame(ell) and this dosa using grinder or mixie.

While grinding add jaggery as per your need.

Add a pinch of cardamom powder with that for good smell.

Then Make in to Round balls.

Rava Laddu

Ingredients:

Rava : 1cup

Sugar: 1cup(can increase or decrease based on your wish)Ghee : 3/4cup

Cardamom: 4-5

Cashew and Raisin:few

Milk :1/4 cup

Method:

First fry in ghee Cashew and Raisin,remove it and fry rava in same ghee nicely.

Powder Cardamom and Sugar coarsely.Now add this sugar &fried nuts to rava,make into round balls.

If you feel dry sprinkle some milk to get the shape.

Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for preparing the pan

1 cup sugar

3 very ripe bananas, peeled, and mashed with a fork (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces

Method:

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl, set aside. Whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a liquid measuring cup with a spout, set aside. Lightly brush a 9 by 5 by 3-inch loaf pan with butter. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or with an electric hand-held mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually pour the egg mixture into the butter while mixing until incorporated. Add the bananas (the mixture will appear to be curdled, so don't worry), and remove the bowl from the mixer.

With a rubber spatula, mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the nuts and transfer the batter to the prepared pan.

Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes.

Turn the bread out of the pan and let cool completely on the rack.

Wrap in plastic wrap. The banana bread is best if served the next day.

Chocolate Chip Cookie

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips, or chunks2

1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon fine salt

Method:

Evenly position 2 racks in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. (on convection setting if you have it.)

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone sheets. (If you only have 1 baking sheet, let it cool completely between batches.)
Put the butter in a microwave safe bowl, cover and microwave on medium power until melted. (Alternatively melt in a small saucepan.) Cool slightly. Whisk the sugars, eggs, butter and vanilla in a large bowl until smooth.
Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a wooden spoon; take care not to over mix. Stir in the chocolate chips or chunks. Scoop heaping tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared pans. Wet hands slightly and roll the dough into balls. Space the cookies about 2-inches apart on the pans.

Bake, until golden, but still soft in the center, 12 to 16 minutes, depending on how chewy or crunchy you like your cookies.

Transfer hot cookies with a spatula to a rack to cool. Serve.

Dates Cake

Ingredients:

All purpose Flour 1 cup

Dates 18 dates

Milk 3/4 cup

Egg 4nos

Sugar 3/4 cup

Oil or Butter 1/2 cup

Baking soda 1/4tsp

Method:

1. Soak dates in warm milk for 2-3hours ( i used fresh dates)
2. Grind it to fine paste with sugar.Add oil,egg and milk,mix thoroughly.
3. Mix all the dry ingredients and slowly add the above mixture and mix thoroughly.
4. Sprinkle walnuts on the top.
5. Preheat oven to 230 c and bake for 45 minutes and check with a tooth pick and if it comes out clean then the cake is done.
6. Cool it on a wire rack.

Jungle Cake

Ingredients:

3cup all purpose flour
1teasp Baking soda
1/2teasp Salt
2cup Sugar
3Eggs, large
12tbsp Corn oil
1tbsp Rum, dark
1cup Crushed pineapple, undrained
1cup chopped walnuts
2 cup Bananas, mashed
1lbs Cream cheese
1cupButter, unsalted
3cup Powdered icing sugar
1teasp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Leave the cream cheese and butter to thaw at room temperature for 1 hour.
2. Lightly grease the sides of three 9-inch round cake pans.
3. In a large bowl, put together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt and sugar. Mix well.
4. Slightly beat the eggs.
5. Slowly add the corn oil and beaten eggs to the flour mix.
6. Mix gently until dry ingredients are moist. Use a spatula to fold carefully.
7. Fold in the rum, bananas, walnuts and pineapple. Mix well.
8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
9. Pour the batter evenly into the cake pans. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Insert a knife into the cake to find out if it is already cooked. If the knife comes out clean, then the cakes are done.
10. Remove from the cake pans and let cool in room temperature for about 1 hour. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy.
11. Slowly add in the sifted powdered sugar, and continue mixing until light and fluffy.
12. Stir in the vanilla extract and set aside.
13. After the cakes have cooled down, spread the cream frosting on top of each cake. Carefully place each cake layer on top of the other. Frost the sides and top with the remaining cream cheese frosting. Sprinkle the top with a little cocoa powder for color. Refrigerate.
14. Serve chilled.

Puffed Rice Balls

Ingredients:

Puffed Rice 4 cups

Jaggery 1/2 cup

Green Cardamom 1

Method:

Lightly bruise the cardamom.

Grate or pound the jaggery into small pieces.
Heat a deep vessel on medium flame, add jaggery, cardamom and 1/4 cup of water.

When jaggery turns to thick consistency much like honey, remove from heat and add mamra. Stir quickly and thoroughly to stick all the mamra to the jaggery syrup.

While it is still warm, take handful of mamra mixture and make ladoo out of it with both the hands. Repeat the same with the remaining mamra mixture.

Store tight and they stay good for weeks.

Poha(Aval) Puttu

Ingredients:

Aval (Poha) - 1 cup

Jaggery (vellam)- 1/2 cup

Coconut gratings - 1/4 cup

Cardamom Powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Cashew nuts – 10 Nos

Ghee – 4 teaspoon

Method :

Dry fry the poha in a kadai till it turns light brown. Cool and grind it to a fine powder.

Put this powder in a big bowl and sprinkle little warm water and mix well. If you hold the flour in your palm and press, it should be like a ball and put it back, it should fall loosely like puttu flour. Keep aside.In another vessel, put the jaggery and add ¼ cup water and bring to boil.

Allow to boil for five minutes. The syrup should not be too thick.

Add coconut gratings and the poha powder and immediately switch off the stove. Mix well.

Add cardamom powder, ghee and fried cashew nuts and once again mix well.

Gulab Jamun

Ingredients:

Khoya (unsweetened) – 2 cups

Maida – ½ cup

Cooking soda – a pinch

Sugar – 2 cups

Oil for deep frying

Cardamom powder – ½ teaspoon

Rose essence – few drops

Method:

Mix khoya, maida and cooking soda. Sprinkle water little by little and make a soft dough.

Make a small size balls.Heat oil in a kadai. Keep the flame to minimum.

When the oil is hot enough, add five to six balls and fry till it become golden brown. Remove it. Fry all the balls like this.Put the sugar in a vessel and add two cups of water and bring to boil. Allow to boil for five to seven minutes. Remove from stove.

Add rose essence and cardamom powder.

Add the fried balls to the syrup. Allow to soak for atleast one hour.

Sweet Boondi

Ingredients:

Besan flour – 2 cups (heaped)

Rice flour – two teaspoon

Cooking soda – a pinch

Oil for deep frying

Sugar – 2 cups

Water – 1 cup

Few drops of kesar colour

Cardamom Powder - 1 teaspoon

Method:

Mix flour and baking soda with little water to a smooth batter (Like dosa batter).

Heat oil in a heavy Kadai. Hold Boondi ladle with small round holes on top with one hand. With the other pour some batter all over the holes.

Tap gently till all batter has fallen into hot oil. Stir with another laddle and remove when light golden. Keep aside.

Repeat for remaining batter.

For syrup:

Put sugar and water in a vessel and boil. Add colour and boil till sticky (half string consistency) but no thread has formed. Add cardamom powder and mix.

Now add the boondi into the syrup and mix well. Spread it on a broad plate.

Sprinkle cardamom powder. When it is warm enough to touch, gently separate the Boondies by your fingers. Allow to cool. Store it in an air tight container.

Peanut Butter Cup Cake

Ingredients:

¼ cup peanut butter

6 tablespoons salt-free butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1½ cups dark brown sugar

2 eggs

2 cups sieved flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup milk

Method:

Pre-heat the oven at 375 degrees. Use paper cups for lining the 18 muffin tins. In an electric mixture blend the peanut butter, salt-free butter and vanilla extract nicely. Then slowly, add the sugar and beat them for 3 minutes until the mixture become fluffy. Then add eggs one at a time and blend well.
In a separate bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder and salt. Then add flour and milk to the mixture. Make sure you make beginning and ending with the flour. Now, you may fill batter to the cups below the rim. Bake them for about 20 minutes. Let it cool in a pan for 10 minutes and then you can place them on wire racks to cool completely.

Now you need following ingredients to prepare GANACHE-

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, thickly chopped

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

For Ganache, put chocolate in a dish. Set it aside. Then take a 1-quart saucepan, mix cream, butter and corn syrup well. Stir with a wooden spoon while cooking them over medium heat. Do not boil the substance. Now discharge the cream over the chocolate and keep them stirring until they are mixed well. Let it cool for 15 minutes. Finally, dip the tops of the cupcakes into the Ganache and let excessive ganache drip down before serving them. Now you may enjoy your yummy Peanut Butter Cupcakes With Chocolate Ganache.

Plum Jam-2

Ingredients: (For 2 Kg)

3 ½ kgs of firm plums – washed, air dried, sliced
1 -1 ½ kgs sugar (i used 1 kg…we like it tart)

Method:

Cut the fruit, slice off on both sides to get two small ‘cheeks’ and then the top and the tail.

Collect the seeds and place in a heavy bottom pan with ½ cup water and boil for about 20 minutes till it becomes mushy. Cool and place on a sieve when cool and mix gently with a wooden spoon to get the pectin (about ½ cup). This should be added to the cooking jam.

Place the fruit in a heavy bottomed pan ( I used the 5 litre pressure cooker), large enough to accommodate the entire quantity of fruit on the lowest heat / flame and slow cook it, stirring every 15 minutes with a wooden spatula.

After about 45 minutes, the fruit will begin to look quite mushy and bubbles will begin to appear. Add the sugar at this stage. And the pectin extracted from the seeds.

Cook through till the jam falls in flakes. This takes about 3-3 ½ hours. Periodically check for the sweetness of the jam and adjust sugar accordingly. Be careful to stand a little far from the cooking jam as it can bubble over and scald you with the molten fruit mass. Also do not keep your face very close to the cooking vessel. Ensure you stand well away to avoid any kind of accidental burns or mishaps.

The usual proportion of plums to sugar is 1:1.5 if you want really sweet jam. But since we like it a lot tart, I added 1 kg sugar for 3 ½ kgs of fruit and I also like the fruit still pulpy. Spices like cinnamon and star anise can be added to the jam at the time of adding the sugar.

Once the cooked jam begins to flake, turn off the heat and allow to cool completely, before bottling into sterilized containers. This jam contains no preservative and can be stored in the fridge for up to a year (if it lasts that long!!). Great with bread / toast / paranthas and as a topping for desserts and tarts.

Plum jam

Ingredients:

Plums - 1kg
Sugar - 2 cups
Lemon juice - 3 tablespoons
Water - 2 cups

Method:

Wash the plums thoroughly and chop them roughly..
In a heavy bottomed pan, add the water and plums and bring to a boil.Use a wooden spoon so that it is easy to handle even if it gets hot..Allow them to cook until tender. Mash well and add the sugar. The sugar quantity can be increased or decreased depending on the tartness of the fruit. Also add the lemon juice..

Simmer for around or half an hour or until the water evaporates and the jam thickens and set well.Allow it to cool and refrigerate in glass containers.Can be stored for almost a year..
Great with bread or toast..

Laddu 2

Ingredients :

(For about 10 Laddus)
1 cup semolina
1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
2 tbsp broken cashew nut pieces
1 tbsp raisins, cut into small pieces
1 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup milk
1 tsp cardamom powder
A pick of clove powder

Method:

Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan and fry the cashew nuts and raisins. When the cashew nuts turn brown and the raisins are plump, remove from the pan and keep aside.

Add the semolina to the same pan and fry on medium heat till it is heated through. Add the grated coconut and fry over medium heat till the semolina turns light golden brown. This will take a while, keep stirring.

Add sugar, fried nuts and raisins , cardamom and clove powder and the milk. Keep stirring till the milk and sugar is completely mixed in.
Switch off the stove and let it sit till it is cool enough to handle. Shape the mixture into lemon sized balls.

Store in an airtight container. I kept this in the refrigerator, even though it is stored outside in India.

Orange Cream cookie

Ingredients:

1/2 cup orange-flavored drink mix (e.g. Tang)
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups vanilla baking chips
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Method:

1.Combine the flour with the baking soda and baking powder.

2.Starting with the Tang, then sugar, vanilla chips and ending with the flour mixture. Layer the ingredients in a clean glass wide mouth quart sized jar. Press each layer firmly in place before adding the next ingredient.

3.Attach a recipe card with the following instructions to the jar.Orange Cream CookiesYield 2 1/2 dozen1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).2. Empty contents into a large mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 egg slightly beaten and teaspoon vanilla extract. Mix until completely blended.3. Roll heaping tablespoonfuls into balls. Place 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet.4. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 12 to 14 minutes or until tops are very lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes on the sheet then remove cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Coconut Burfi (Thenka Mittai)

Ingredients:

Coconut – 1 cup
Sugar – 4to5 Spoons
Pori kadalai (channa) – ½ spoon
Ghee – As Required

Method:

1.Fry Coconut, Pori kadalai (channa) in Ghee till it becomes light brown in color.

2.Heat ½ cup of Water in a pan. Add ½ cup of Sugar into the Water. Stir it for some time in the medium heat till it becomes not so thick.

3.Then add the fried Coconut into that Sugar syrup and stir it frequently.

4.The Coconut and Sugar syrup mixture should not be so thick or so runny. Take it off from the stove in the intermediate state. Otherwise it’ll stick with the pan.
Spread Ghee in a plate.

5.Spread the mix in the Ghee coated plate.

Biscuite

Ingredients:

All purpose flour(Maida) - 1 cup
Chili powder - 1 tbspn
Salt - to taste
Water - 1/2 cup
Oil - 1 or 2 tspns

Method:

1.Mix All purpose flour and Salt in a mixing bowl. Add water and start kneading till it turns into firm and soft dough.

2.Make dough into round shape and apply Oil over the dough.

3.Divide the dough into lemon size balls.

4.Roll each ball into flat and round shaped sheets. Apply flour if the dough sticks while rolling.

5.Cut them into small squares using a knife and deep fry them in oil till golden brown.
Store them in air-tight container.

Laddu

Ingredients:

Gram flour (Besan)- 2 cups
Sugar- 1 cup
Cashew nuts - 15
Dry grapes - 15
Cardamom -4
Cloves - 3
Water -2 to 3 cup
Ghee - 4 spoons
Oil - to fry

Method:

1.Batter preparation: Mix Besan flour in 1 or 2 cups Water without any lumps. The batter should be little watery and not so thick.

2.For frying: Heat 2 spoons of Ghee in a pan. Add Cashew nuts, Dry grapes, Cardamom and Cloves, fry till Cashew nut turns into light brown color.

3.Sugar syrup preparation: Heat Sugar and a cup of water in a vessel. Allow to boil till Sugar is completely dissolved in water and the syrup sticks in between the fingers.

4.Making boondi: Heat Oil in pan on medium flame. Pour the batter over the perforated ladle(ladle with small round holes) and rub it with another ladle which makes the batter to fall through the ladle holes evenly. Do not over cook this. It should not be crispy. Drain this from oil and put it into the sugar syrup. Repeat the same for the whole batter. Now Boondi is ready.

5.Making ladoo: Mix well the sugar syrup, boondi, 2 spoons of Ghee. Finally add the fried items(Cashew nuts, Dry grapes, Cardamom and Cloves) and make balls in warm stage.

Milk peda

Ingredients:

Milk - 4 cups
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Lime juice - 1 tspn
Corn flour or rice flour - 2 tspns(dissolved in water without any lumps )
Food color (optional)
Ghee - to grease
Any nuts (Cashew/Almond/Pistachios)

Method:

Boil milk in a pan and stir once in a while to avoid burning the bottom.
Approximately, after 1 hour the milk would be reduced to half. Then add lime juice, sugar and rice flour dissolved in water.
Again Stir the milk for every 2 to 3 minutes. Once the milk starts to thicken, stir the mix continuously.
Once the mix is almost thickened, remove from heat and allow this to cool.
Grease your hands with little Ghee, then shape them into small balls and garnish with any nuts of your choice.