Hermit Bar

These are classic bar cookies. If you love strong flavor like that of raisins, you are in for a treat. This old-fashioned bar cookie is a classic soft, chewy, spicy and flecked. These are so easy to make and taste so good when accompanied by my cup of masala tea. This recipe makes approximately 24 bars. Hermits can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a week.

Ingredients

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 ¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg, at room temperature

¼ cup honey

¾ cup raisins

Method

1. Combine flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a bowl with a whisk.
2. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add egg and honey; beat until combined. Add flour mixture and raisins to form a dough.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
4. On a clean work surface, divide dough in half, and shape each piece into a 12-inch log about 1 ½ inches in diameter. Place logs on a parchment-lined baking sheet, spaced at least 3 inches apart.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degree C for 10 minutes. Bake until logs are golden but still very soft to the touch. Logs will flatten out and lengthen as they bake, and get slightly puffy in the center.
6. Let cool completely on sheet on a wire rack. Slice logs into 2-inch-wide bars.  

Homemade exclusive Hermit Bar are ready to be served. Enjoy!!

Home-made Pizza

For me and my family, no holiday is a holiday without pizza.  We love it, especially when it is home-made and the best part is the crust is homemade too.  I love to see my pizza dough rise and then topping it with my absolutely favorite veggies.  Looking the cheese melt is divine.  This recipe makes 3 large pizzas or 5 medium-small pizzas. Perfect for a perfect family!!

Ingredients

For pizza crust:

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 ½ cups warm water

1 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoon salt

3 ½ cups all purpose or flour (for healthier version replace 1 ½ cups of flour with wheat flour)

2 tablespoons oil

For Sauce:

1 table spoon olive oil

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

3 spring onions

 ½ kgs tomatoes crushed

1 packet of ready-made tomato soup powder

¼ cup fresh basil leaves

1 ½ teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly crushed black pepper

½ teaspoon oregano

For topping:

1 cup of your choice of veggies (onions, red pepper, green pepper, yellow pepper, olives, broccoli, corns, paneer, mushrooms, spinach)

2 cups shredded pizza cheese

Method

For crust:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast, sugar and salt in warm water. Let it stand for about 5 minutes till the yeast gets activated.
2. Add in oil and flour. Mix together to form a sticky dough.
3. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.
4. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top.  Cover and let it rise in a warm place until doubled for about an hour.
5. Punch it down. Divide the dough into 3 parts if making large pizza or else divide into 5 parts.
6. Roll each part into a circle. Transfer it into a well floured pan in which you want to bake your pizza.

For sauce:

1. In a pan, heat oil. Add garlic and onions, saute till transparent.
2. Add tomato puree and all the spices, along with soup powder.
3. Add 1 cup of water and let it simmer till a thick consistency is achieved for about 15-20 minutes.

For assembly of pizza:

1. Take the crust which is already in a well floured prepared pan. Top it with your pasta sauce enough to cover till corners.
2. Spread the veggies of your choice and as per taste.
3. Top it with cheese.
4. Preheat your oven at 425 degree C for 10 minutes. Bake your pizza for 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown from sides and toppings are lightly browned.

Your Home-made Pizza is ready to serve!! 

Chequered Biscuits

Nothing beats freshly baked homemade biscuits with a hop cup of tea. Chequered biscuits are normal butter biscuits, with a twist of chocolate. Its shape and style fascinates everyone from a kid to an elder. This recipe makes about 20 biscuits and is an easy egg-less recipe to impress your guests :)

Ingredients

1 1/3 sticks butter

¾ cup icing sugar

Pinch salt

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup cocoa powder

Milk, to brush 

Method

1. Cream together butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add salt, then gradually add the flour, beating well after each addition.  Mix well to form a firm dough.
3. Cut the dough in half and knead the cocoa powder into one half. Wrap both portions of dough separately in plastic wrap and leave to chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
4. Divide each piece of dough into three portions. Roll each portion of dough into a long roll and arrange these rolls on top of each other to form a chequerboard design, sealing them by brushing with milk. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 1 hour.
5. Cut the dough into 5 mm thick slices. Place on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven on 190 degree C for 10-15 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and leave to cool for a few minutes.
7. Transfer to a wire rack and leave until cold before serving.
8. Store in an airtight container.

Homemade Exclusive Biscuits are ready to serve!!

Soft Chewy Pretzels

If you like Croissants, you are going to love Pretzels. They are one of my favorite yeast rolls whether sweet or salty, they never fail to impress you as they have a crispy crust but are soft and buttery from inside. They are very interesting to make and I love making them and eating them.  Homemade pretzels never last long in our house.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 ½ cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter

4 ½ cups all purpose flour

6 cups water

1/3 cup baking soda

¼ cup milk

½ cup cinnamon sugar or vanilla sugar

Method

1.     In a large bowl, take lukewarm water.  Add sugar and salt in the water.  Sprinkle yeast over it and let it stand for 5 -7 minutes.

2.     Add butter and flour in the yeast mixture to form dough. Knead until smooth and elastic for about 5 minutes.

3.   Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let it rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.

4.      Punch down. Divide into 12 portions. Roll each into an 18-in long rope with tapered ends; twist into a pretzel shape.

5.     In a large saucepan, bring water and baking soda to a boil. Place pretzel, one at a time, into boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon; drain on paper towel.

6.      Place on greased baking sheets. Brush with milk and sprinkle cinnamon or vanilla sugar on it.

7.      Bake at 220 degree c on a pre-heated oven for 12 -14 minutes or until golden brown.

8.      Remove from pan to wire rack. Serve warm your homemade exclusive chewy soft pretzel.

Forming Pretzel

1.      Roll each piece of dough into an 18-in, rope and taper the ends. Shape rope into a circle with about 3 in. of each end overlapping.

2.      Twist ends where they overlap.

3.      Flip the twisted ends over the circle; place ends around edge and pinch under.

Done Enjoy!!

Luxury carrot cake

The best part of baking a carrot cake is that while its baking, it will tempt you and your neighbors with it’s warm aroma.  The aroma of cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg gives it a spicy flavor which will not miss to tease your taste buds.  The cream cheese frosting will moisten this light and springy cake. The zests of lemon will further help to upbring the flavor of this strong flavored cake. Having it with my cup of hot espresso is simply heavenly for me.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups plain flour

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¾ cup dark brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 ¾ cups carrots peeled and grated

1 can crushed pineapple, well drained (optional)

½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

For the cream cheese icing

¾ cup cream cheese

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon or orange

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 cup icing sugar

Method

1.      Mix all the dry ingredients, i.e., flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and brown sugar, together with a whisk.

2.      In a separate bowl, lightly whisk together oil and eggs.

3.      Then gradually stir into the dry ingredients in oil and eggs mixture. Stir well but don’t over mix it.

4.      Add the carrots, pineapple and walnut (if adding).

5.      Preheat the oven at 180 degree c for about 10 minutes. And prepare your cake tin by lining it with waxed paper.

6.      Pour the cake mixture in the prepared cake tin. Bake for 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

7.      Remove from oven and allow it to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning it out on a wire rack. Leave until completely cool.

To make icing

1.      Beat together cream cheese, lemon zest, few drops of lemon juice and vanilla extract.

2.      Sift the icing sugar and stir in the cream cheese mixture.

When cake is cold, spread the cream cheese icing over the top and serve your homemade exclusive Luxury Carrot Cake with a cup of espresso!!

Very Berry Pie

Very Berry pie is my version of an egg-less pie which is very easy and less time consuming. The magic of home baked fresh crust along with ice-cream and ripe berries is simply irresistible.  The best part is that you can use any fruit you like. This can be accompanied with a cup of your evening espresso or tea just to make it a fancy evening meal. You can bake the crust before hand and it will just take a couple of minutes to assemble the pie together. Tastes best when served fresh.

Ingredients

For the crust

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ sticks (10 tablespoons) very cold (frozen is fine) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon –size pieces

2 ½ tablespoons very cold (frozen is even better) vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces

About ¼ cup ice water

For the filling and topping

1 ½ cup of vanilla ice cream

1 can of an assortment of berries

½ cup red currant jelly mixed with 1 teaspoon water, for glazing

Method

For the crust

1.    Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade; pulse just to combine the ingredients.

2.    Put butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening are cut into the flour. Don’t overdo the mixing.

3.    Pulsing the machine on and off, add little water at a time, to get dough that will stick together when pinched. Scrap the dough out of the work bowl and onto a surface and gather it together in a ball shape.

4.    Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling.

5.    Roll the dough out on a floured surface. Once rolled, fit the dough into the pie plate and using a pair of scissors, cut the excess dough so that it hangs over the edge to a 1/2 –inch to make a decorative edge.

6.    Refrigerate the crust while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees c.

7.    Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil, fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust and fill with dried beans or rice. Bake the crust for 30-35 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

8.    Transfer the pie plate to a rack and let it cool down to room temperature before filling.

For assembly of pie

1.    Smooth the vanilla ice-cream by giving it a couple of strong turns with a spoon.

2.    Put enough of the ice cream into the tart crust so that it comes almost to the rim. Smooth the surface with a spoon.

3.    Carefully lay the berries on the cream.

4.    In a pan, mix the jelly and water and bring it to a boiling point and remove it from the stove. Let it cool a bit and dab each berry with a spot of jelly.

5.    Serve cool your Homemade Exclusive Very Berry Pie!

Done, enjoy!

Cake Doughnuts

Doughnuts!! For me, as a child, Doughnuts were a fancy sweet snack. I used to think that making doughnuts is a very tough job and a very time consuming job but that was only until I was unaware of this recipe. Now making doughnuts is a child's play and trust me on this, if I can do it, you can do it too. It is one of the most basic recipes which I'll be sharing with you people. The best part about this recipe is that you don't need to wait for your doughnut dough to rise with the help of yeast because you don't need yeast in this recipe so it saves your time and is a hassle free recipe. The crust is really crispy and yet it's soft from inside. Cake Doughnuts are at their best when fresh and they only get better the next day.

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 large eggs, room temperature
2/3 cups granulated white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
2 cups (240 grams) confectioners sugar (powdered or icing sugar), sifted

Method

1. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and freshly ground nutmeg.

2. In another bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and pale yellow (takes about five minutes) then beat in vanilla extract.

3. Alternately, start adding the flour mixture, which should be added in three additions along with the milk and melted butter,which should be added in two additions, beginning with flour and also ending with the flour. The batter will be quite soft. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes or until batter is firm to roll.

4. Then place the dough on a floured surface, and with a lightly floured rolling pin,roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Cut the dough into 3 inch rounds, using a lightly floured doughnut cutter or cookie cutter and with a smaller cookie cutter, cut out the center hole.

5. Heat the oil and carefully place the doughnuts into the hot oil, about 2 to 3 at a time depending on the size of your saucepan. Fry each side until golden brown, about a minute per side.

6. Carefully remove the doughnuts from the hot oil. Place on a baking sheet lined with clean paper towels.

7. After the doughnuts have cooled about a minutes or two, you can roll them in granulated white sugar. Or let cool completely and then dust with powdered sugar or dip in the chocolate glaze.



Done, Enjoy!