The Sour Cream Chocolate muffins

This is a Nigella lawson recipe. Though a little heavy on fat contents it is a really soft and yummy cake. The best part is the taste of sour cream making it flavourful.

You Need
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup sour cream
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

How to bake

Preheat the oven
Whisk sugar , butter and eggs till fluffy.
Add sour cream.
Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.
Mix the two.
Add vanilla extract.
Line a muffin pan with paper cups.
Pour the mixture.
Bake for 18-20 min at 180* C.

THE SOYA PULAO

Pulao is one of the most versatile rice dish.. u can add or substract any ingredients. Make is as fancy and as simple as you wish. it can be eaten as a quick dinner and at the same time served to guests. it also doesnot need any accompaniment. you can eat it on it's own...
and i bet everyone has their own way of making and savouring.
i had read the use of soya on www.chefinyou.com a few weeks back and have really liked the use of soya chunks and mince.
so here is my version and way..

you need
1 cup basmati rice ( washed)
1/2 cup saya mince or chunks ( soak them in some water)
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt, red chilli powder, tumeric.( as per taste)
ghee/ butter as per taste
1 large bay leaf ( tej patta)
Following vegetables finely chopped ( add or substract as u wish)
1 onion
1 potato
3-4 French beans
1/3 cauliflower
1/4 cup peas
2 tomatoes
2-3 cloves garlic
Coriander for garnishing

How to make
Heat a heavy bottom pan with lid or pressure cooker.
Heat ghee and add bay leaf. Add cumin (jeera) till it splutters.
Add garlic , onion and potatoes. saute
Add all the vegetables and tomatoes.
Put masala.( salt turmeric and chilli powder)
Add washed rice to the pan and stir gently not breaking the rice.
Lastly add the soaked soya ( chunks or granule).
Add roughly double the amount of water. that is for a cup of rice 2 cups of water.
Cover and cook. If using pressure cooker 1 whistle should be okay.
Serve hot garnished with coriander.

PANCAKES

1&1/2 cup flour ( maida)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 tablespoon butter
4 tablespoon sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cottage cheese (paneer) or regular Amul cheese
1 cup chopped fruit ( strawberry, bannanas etc...) entirely optional

How to make

In a bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.
In another whisk eggs, butter. add milk and cheese to it.
Gently stir the wet into dry using a wooden spoon.
Stir in fruits if using.
On a warm non stick skillet drop spoon fulls making rough circles.
Cook well in both sides till golden.
Serve warm with Butter/ Honey/ Maple Syrup..:)

EGGLESS VANILLA CAKE

Every one I know argues that Eggless cakes are not so soft.. on the contrary they ARE quite soft and the extra ingidients make it yummy.. a lot of people i know advocate use of condensed milk in eggless cakes.. i have had very bad experiance with that. it not only makes cake very heavy and chewy they also loose texture.. may be i haven't found the right recipe..
This one particularily is very very yummy.. it is a versatile vanilla cake.. u can add nuts or chopped fruits to make it tastier. recipe courtsey my friend Aparna who is a great cook herself..:).. the milk powder adds taste to it and so does added milk. lemon helps it rise well.. be careful to put lemon juice right at the end so cake rises better..

You Need
2 cups Flour
1 cup Unsalted Butter
1&1/2 cup Powdered Sugar
1&1/4 cup Milk Powder
1&1/4 cup Milk
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Soda bi carb
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Method

• Preheat oven at 180* c. and dust a 9" cake pan.

• Using a hand blender or electric mixer ( if you have ) whisk the butter and sugar very well.. till it is white and frothy.

• In a seperate bowl mix well flour, milk powder,baking powder and soda .

• Add the flour mixture to the butter and add
  milk..( u can use the whole quantity of milk or use a little lesser.. check your batter doesn't get very loose..)

• Mix well add vanilla and lastly add lemon juice.

• If using fruit pcs or nuts you can add it now..
  
• Pour in the prepared tin and bake for 40 min at 180*.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

The Chocolate Chip Cookie is perhaps America's most famous cookie. It was invented in 1930 by Ruth Wakefield, who was the owner of the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts. The story goes that one day she decided to add small chunks of a Nestle's Semisweet Yellow Label chocolate chips to her butter cookie dough. These 'chocolate chip' cookies were an instant hit with her customers and word of their popularity reached the Nestle company. Nestle must have realized that adding small chunks of their chocolate bar to cookie dough would appeal to the mass market because by 1939 Nestle had already developed, and was selling, small chocolate morsels (or chips) in a yellow bag. Nestle then went on to buy the rights to the Toll House name and to Ruth Wakefield's 'chocolate chip' cookie recipe. They called her recipe "The Famous Toll House Cookie" and printed it on the back of the Yellow bag of chocolate chips.
While i was reading all this on http://www.blogger.com/www.joyofbaking.com I was really tempted to try it and the cookies turned out quite decent actually..( despite the fact that i am not so keen on chocolate) i have used brown sugar as well but you can use regular white castor sugar. There is also a very interesting video on how to bake them on http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/

you need
11/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar ( mix 1/4 cup brown sugar with 1/2 cup white sugar)
1/2 unsalted butter
1 egg
vanilla essence
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips.. (hershey's or nestle whichever)

method
· Mix flour , baking powder and salt and seive.

· In a bowl whisk sugar & butter till it's frothy.

· Add the egg and vanilla essence.

· Add flour and mix to make a loose batter.

· Add chocolate chips and mix. if you find the batter very soft refrigerate for 1/2 hour.

Take an ice-cream scoop and drop spoonful onto an ungreased baking tray. keep some space about 2" in between two cookies so they can expand.

· And bake in a preheated oven at 190 deg for about 12-15 minutes.

· Put it on a wire rack for cooling before storing.

UP SIDE DOWN PINAPPLE CAKE

In my latest experiments to try something fancier than regular cakes i tried an upturn cake.. basically it is a cake which is baked with a fruit base and is turned upside down to show the glazed fruit slices at the bottom..

The process though seems dificult is actually quite simple.. all you need to take care is line the bottom of cake tin with aluminium foil. in case you can use spring foam like me then great if not then use a big piece of foil. one that covers sides as well. So you can just take out foil and turn the cake on a plate.

you need

For Pinapple/ Apple base

5-6 slices of pinapple/ apple

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbsp butter

2tbsp water

cherries for garnish

For the CAKE

1 1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup sugar

6 tablespoons butter

2 eggs

1/3 cup sour cream ( mix thick curd and dahi in equal parts)

Vanilla essence

1/2 tsp baking powder

METHOD

Butter an 8 inch cake tin well and line it with alluminium foil. butter the foil as well.

Preheat oven to 180 deg centi.

In a saucepan simmer butter sugar and water for the caramel to be used in base.When the sugar bubbles and turns amber ( slightly brown) pour it in the cake tin.

Arrange fruit slices in the bottom and decorate with cherries.

In a seperate bowl cream sugar and butter for cake.Mix eggs and whisk till fluffy.

Add flour, baking powder, vanilla essence and sour cream.

The batter would be slightly thick. Pour it in the cake tin and smoothen.

Bake it in the oven at 180 deg for 30 min approx or till needle comes out clean.

Cool the cake in the tin for 10-15 min.

Once cooled enuf turn it on a plate slowly. remove the foil and voila .. The bottom looks delicious with rings of fruit..

BANANA BREAD

I've recently found the joy of baking quick breads.. they are basically sweet loafs.. somewhat similar to a cake in making... they can be excellent to serve as a tea time snack as they are definately less sweet than cakes and less buttery too:)... thank god for that or while collecting recipes for this blog I would pick up 2-3 pounds while tasting.. hehe

Back to recipe.. while searching the net I found quick breads using absolutely anything.. bananas, berries, evn zuchini and pumkins: eek.. american's love pumpkins in everything pie, tarts and cakes.. tell this to an Indian and they would bolt out of the door without tasting even :)

I am here giving two recipes .. 1 using eggs and other eggless.. the result is ALMOST (i mean of course egg one has better texture) the same..:)

BANANA BREAD

YOU NEED

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 ripe large bananas, pureed (about 1-1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

METHOD
· Pre- heat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place oven rack to middle position. Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Set aside.
· In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
· In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla.
· With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients just until combined and the batter is thick and chunky.
· Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake until bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.

EGGLESS BANANA BREAD

YOU NEED
1 1/2 cup All-purpose flour
2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
5 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3 ripe bananas, pureed almost 11/2 cup

STEPS
Preheat Oven to 400F. Grease a bread/loaf pan. It is a rectangular pan .. glass or tin.. i use a glass one.
Sift the flour along with baking powder, salt, cinnamon in a bowl .
In another bowl cream the butter along with sugar and beat till light and fluffy.
Add the pureed bananas and mix.
Now add the flour mixture and stir to incorporate all together. Make sure you don’t over beat the batter. It may seem thick and chunky and you would need spoon to take out.
Pour them into the loaf pan
Bake for 45-50 min or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool and serve.