Kalakand - made with condensed milk

My love for sweets is legendary at our home. I love all kinds of sweets, no matter where they are from. I am a total dessert egalitarian.

This sweet recipe I am presenting today is from India. It is a silky fudge made of milk, Indian cheese/paneer and sugar. It is soft, crumbly and creamy. One of the steps in the original preparation called for boiling down 1 liter if milk till it is 1/4th in volume. This takes a lot of patience and time both of which I do not have. Well maybe I do have the time but I definitely do not have the patience.

So this is a shortcut method which makes this delicious fudge in just 1/4th  the time. I have also read on the Internet that ricotta cheese can be substitute for paneer. Personally I have never done that and cannot attest to how authentic that would taste, especially since I have always found ricotta to have a slightly salty aftertaste to it.

 

 

 

 

Gulab Jamuns

If you are searching for a Gulab Jamun recipe that tastes just like you got it from a Mithiawala ( Indian sweet shop ) than stop right here, as this recipe is THE ONE.

This is one of the best tasting, made-from-scratch Gulab Jamun recipe ever. The combination of the milk powder to all purpose flour is just right to make soft, firm, super soaked, melt-in-your mouth Gulab Jamuns.

Just make sure to serve it warm and your guest will never believe you made these and that they are super easy to make.

Modak and Karanji

Modak and Karanji are sweet, coconut-filled, deep fried pastries commonly made in the month of September in India. They are said to be a favorite of Lord Ganesh.

Many a time, I have had modaks that are either so hard that you might just need a hammer to break into it or too chewy that you get a good jaw workout for free ! This recipe, however, makes the most amazing modaks . The cover is crispy, flaky and yet strong enough to hold the filling. And the filling has just the right amount of sweetness. Pop one of these in your mouth and you will be amazed at how the cover just dissolves to give way to the sweet coconutty goodness.

Karanji and modak are essentially the same thing assembled in different ways. It takes much longer to make modaks than karanjis because of the small size. So usually in many households, including mine, we make the customary 21 modaks and for the rest of the dough and filling, we make karanjis out of it. Karanjis are also be made during diwali or any special occasion.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

My son loves to eat a piping hot bowl of oatmeal for breakfast everyday. He never gets tired of it. So when I had just one egg left in the egg cartoon and the expiry date looming on me I decided to try these utterly delicious, chewy oatmeal cookies. Needless to say it was a big hit with friends and family.

I adapted this recipe from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich. I love the way she arranged the cookies recipes according to their textures. So this recipe was under the chewy section. I love all the different textures in this cookie, the edges are crunchy, center is soft and chewy and the raisins and walnuts also add a nice textural contrast in each bite. I will definitely be making this recipe again and again.

Shortbread Cookie

It has been 19 years since I left my secondary school ( or high school as it is known here ). I was reminded of this fact, very recently, when my old school friend visited me from Ghana. It is so hard to believe that so much time has passed by. It really doesn't feel that long to me. It is as if my body and my mind are aging differently. My body, the traitor, has to be so darn honest and make sure that I look my age ! My mind on the other hand is carefree and will always remain young, forever. Now if only my body can be more like my mind then there is nothing else left to desire for. I think you should always be only as old as you think.

So all this re-visiting the past brought to mind one of my favorite cookies called the Shortbread cookie that I immensely enjoyed in my childhood. When I saw this recipe in Tartine, I knew I had to make it and I was not disappointed. She has such a wonderful line up of recipe that would make anyone drool. Next I am going to try her croissants.

This rich, delicate cookie that instantly crumbles and melts in your mouth was loved by everyone at our home. It is not a very sweet cookie, so if this is your first time having a shortbread do not be alarmed by the lack of sweetness that is commonly associated with cookies. As a matter of fact the sweetness is enhanced by the sugar that gets sprinkled on top. I will definitely be making this recipe over and over again.

Pistachio, Cashew and Almond Chikki

Chikkis are very similar to Brittles. I call this a modified Chikki as this is not exactly how traditional chikkis are made. Usually there is no addition of baking soda in Indian Chikki recipes. I added this, inspired by the American Brittle recipes, to give our Chikkis a more melt in your mouth texture. So when you bite into this Chikki you do not have to strain your facial muscles or test the strength of your teeth. The addition of baking soda adds tiny air bubbles to the Chikki making it easier to break and easier to dissolve in your mouth.

Try this recipe, it is delicious and I dare you to stop at one piece. I love to nibble on something sweet after lunch and this is one of my favorites, the trick, however, is to stop after one piece. I am still working on that !

Giant Ginger Cookies

These cookies are to die for ( no kidding! ). These cookies will convert even the non-ginger lover in your family. Huge, thick, moist, melt-in-your mouth are just some of the adjectives to describe this cookie. One bite and you will feel all the spices in this cookie warming your throat and belly. These spices are so appropriate for the fall and winter season, as we call them warming spices.

Carole Walters really knows how to make cookies. One of my favorite cookies from her book Great Cookies: Secrets to Sensational Sweets are these Giant Ginger Cookies. My five year old loves these cookie and even though chocolate chip cookies are his all time favorite he will take this cookie over that any day.


Anna from Cookie Madness added some cayenne to this recipe, which I tried and absolutely loved. I used all butter instead of half butter and half shortening. So to counteract the over spreading of the cookie during baking I refrigerate my dough for 30 minutes before baking. I also omitted the 1/3 cup of sparkly sugar to roll the cookie dough in before baking as I did not want to make them sweet and did not want the change in texture the crunchiness would provide. These are not your store bought ginger cookies, so hard that you need to re-count your teeth every time you bite into one. These are huge and so soft that they melt in your mouth. This is my fourth batch already this season !! Thank you so much Anna for tempting me to try out these cookies. These are now one of my most favorite cookies to make.

 

Belgium Hot Chocolate

Nothing compares to a delicious heart-warming cup of hot chocolate on a cold day. This is a staple in our home come cold wintry days. I make a batch of this and store it in the fridge. Early in the morning when I come down to start my day I warm a cup of this heavenly concoction for myself. In fact getting out of bed seems easier on the days I know I have this waiting down in the fridge for me.

I adapted this recipe from David Lebovitz's site. He has some really good recipes and this hot chocolate is one of my favorite ones. He got this recipe from Wittamer, said to be one of the best chocolate shops in Brussels. They serve this in their posh tea salon. Thank you David for sharing this with us.

I used 2 bars of Valrhona's Le Noir Amer ( 71 % cacao, each 3.5 oz / 100 gm ) and 1 bar of Lindt's Classic Milk Chocolate ( 4.4 oz / 125gm ). Serve this with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream and some choclate shavings.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

These are the most amazing, moist, melt-in-your-mouth cupcakes I have ever tasted. Thanks to NY times and Elisa Strauss for this recipe. I am crazy about everything that is cakes and cupcakes and this is going to be my number one cupcake.

The cream cheese frosting is from my favorite cupcake shop here in DC called Georgetown Cupcake. I love their red velvet cupcakes and the frosting is amazing with just the right amount of fluffiness, sweetness and tanginess from the cream cheese. However I could not duplicate their red velvet cupcake, so when this recipe came along I decided to try it out with their frosting and much to my amazement it tastes even better, if that is possible. The taste is very much similar with the hint of cocoa flavor in the cupcakes but the difference is in the textures, the NY times recipe has such a light and moist texture much more preferable than the Georgetown's moist but slightly dense texture.

Sweet Corn Cake

Rich and sinfully delicious, these sweet corn cakes are very addictive. The texture of this is more like cornbread instead of cake. I got this recipe from the book  Top Secret Restaurant Recipes. I got it for my birthday. I love cookbooks as presents.

The first time I had this corn cake was at a Chi-Chi's restaurant in Erie, Pennsylvania, one bite and I was hooked. The cornmeal, corn nibblets and sugar all come together to form a combination of a mildly sweet, soft cake perfumed with the scent of corn. I have had this in every Mexican restaurant ever since.

So when my sis-in-law sent me this book for my birthday and it had this recipe, I knew I had to try it. The results was one of the most delicious corn cake ever, just like they serve in the restaurants. Try this recipe and I assure you that you will not be disappointed. This would be a wonderful addition to our Thanksgiving table. Some have even reduced the butter required in the recipe by half. I did not do that, but will definitely try that next time in efforts to make this dish a little bit healthier.

This book has a lot of good recipes and soon I will be trying the Blooming Onion recipe from Outback Steakhouse. There is also the Avocado Eggrolls from Cheesecake Factory, the Pizza Sticks and Quesadillas from Applebee's, Japanese Fried Rice from Benihana, Grilled Vegetable Sandwich from Hard Rock Cafe, Potato Cheese Soup and Strawberry Tallcake For Two from Ruby Tuesday and Hot Fudge Cake from Shoney among many other delicious recipes.

 

Churma Ladoo ( Whole Wheat Ladoo )

This is one of my favorite ladoos. It is nutritious - with wheat flour and jaggery - and very easy to make. This is a foolproof recipe and the result is a delicious tasting melt-in-your mouth ladoo.

It is that time of the year again, when we slog over our stoves making sweets and namkeens ( savouries ) to celebrate one of our most important festivals. The Festival of Light or Diwali as we say in India.

Diwali comes from the Sanskrit word Deepavali which means a row of lighted lamps. On this day we light little diyas ( earthernware oil lamps ), to signify the triumph of light over darkness, of truth over ignorance and of good over evil.

On this day families get together and distribute sweets and other home made goodies and wear new clothes and burst all kinds of firecrackers. It is quite a sight to see, flickering lights from little diyas everywhere, people all dressed up in their finery and all ages playing firecrackers together outdoors.




Churma Ladoo

Mango Pistachio Doughnuts

These yeast doughnuts are soft, fluffy, pillow-like. I was really amazed at the texture of these doughnuts. I mean I could open a doughnut shop with this recipe, it is so good.

I wanted to make something different, with an Indian twist. So I chose to incorporate the Alphonso Mango with Pistachios and the result was one of the most amazing doughnut I have ever eaten.I also replaced part of the nutmeg with cardamom powder. You can replace mango with any fruit you like. The glaze recipe may sound as if it will be too sweet, as the mango pulp is sweet to begin with, but you do need the sugar for the glaze to firm up and the sweetness will balance out in the final product. You might have some extra glaze left on your hands. The doughnuts can be glazed will still warm.These are best had the day they are made. Follow this recipe and you will be in doughnut heaven, I assure you.

Coincidentally, last month, I tried 3 different doughnut recipes but none of those recipes amazed me, so I gave up my search for the perfect doughnut, for the time being. And then this month the Daring Bakers announced that we are to make Doughnuts, you can imagine how happy I was that I could finally conquer that hill.

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up.  Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.


Mango Pistachio Doughnuts - adapted from Alton Brown's recipe

Playful Kitten with Yarn Cake

When I first saw this cake on the cover of  50 Easy Party Cakes I fell in love with it.....couldn't wait to make one for myself. So yesterday there was a birthday at our home and my son wanted a kitty cat cake so here was my chance to make this extremely cute cake....


I used the pre-made black fondant from Wilton for the kitty and tinted their white fondant pink for the yarn. I also baked the cake in their sports ball cake pan . I made the yarn using one of my son's play-doh tools. The cake is a yellow cake and on top of it I put a layer of pink buttercream frosting. Then I placed the fondant yarn on the buttercream. In the book the author, Debbie Brown, covers the cake with a fondant covering too, but I skipped that step. The fondant yarn stuck quite well on the buttercream.

These cakes take a long time to make but I am always happy to make them, maybe it is all the sugar clouds I inhale while mixing the cake and buttercream batter that gives me a sugar high or it is just the look of pure pleasure on my son's face...... they are so easy to please at this age ;o)


I tried to take photos while making it but sometimes I was so in the zone that I plain forgot. The recipe that I used for the cake and buttercream icing is from my vanilla cupcake post. I baked the cake for 35-40 minutes at 350 F. As for the buttercream, I needed just half of the recipe.



Playful Kitten with Yarn Cake

Tangle some yarn over the kitten.

Rangoli Decorated Sugar Cookies

I recently joined a group of very creative and enthusiastic bakers called ' The Daring Bakers '. Every month you are supposed to create something new based on who is hosting that month. The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

I was so excited as I love sugar cookies as much as my five year old. Mandy requested that we use her sugar cookie recipe, which I have written below. I have also posted two different royal icing recipes; one using meringue powder ( the one I used ) and one using fresh egg whites ( recipe provided by Mandy ). The cookies are really great to decorate. They taste good and maintain their shape during baking and also are not very fragile. I rolled my cookies to 1/4 " thickness and baked for 11 minutes,and they came out great.

The theme of my cookies are Rangolis. September marks the advent of our major festivals and it continues throughout the fall season. Rangolis are generally drawn outside the main entrance of the home, but during the festival season the Rangolis become even more colorful and intricate. I thought it would be a good idea to make Rangoli cookies to give as gifts during this season. I really enjoyed making them. This is my first attempt at decorating cookies with royal icing so please bear with me. My only tip is to let the outline dry before filling in the colors. I used the Wilton Gel Icing Colors ; the Red ( no taste), Royal Blue, Kelly Green, Buttercup Yellow, Pink, Violet and Orange. The way I did it was that I first outlined the base and let it dry overnight. Next day I outlined the design and let it dry for a couple of hours and then lastly I added the color and let the whole thing dry for another 12 hours.


Rangoli Decorated Sugar Cookie

Banana Bread

I love this Banana Bread recipe; it is moist, full of banana flavour, tender, light and airy. I have had a lot of banana breads and I can confidently say this recipe is the best for me. I have been making this recipe for 10 years now and it has never failed me. I assure you even the non-banana lovers in your house will love this Banana Bread.

And I will know as bananas are not one of my favorite fruits. If it were left to me I would never buy it, but it is a very healthy fruit and I wanted my son to develop a liking to it, so usually you will find some bananas in the fruit platter on my countertop. Whenever some get left behind and are not eaten up in time, they get used up in this wonderful Banana Bread recipe. This is the only way I will eat bananas.


Recently I tried the Banana Loaf at Starbucks and while it tasted identical to this recipe ( there was some different flavoring added to it though ) the texture was nowhere near this recipe. Their loaf was dense and solid unlike the light and tender crumb this recipe produces. In fact I wonder why it is called a banana bread when it actually should be called a banana cake. Also the walnuts add a lovely texture and crunch to the bread. If you do not have any walnuts you can substitute it with almonds.

So if you have some bananas that are getting brown and needs to be used up pronto make this bread recipe and enjoy it with a nice cup of coffee or a tall glass of milk.



Banana Bread

Hayagriva ( a lentil based sweet )

This is an Indian sweet dish made up of cooked bengal gram dal, jaggery, freshly grated coconut and poppy seeds. It is very popular in the south of India especially in Mantralayam.

I love making this sweet as it is very delicious, nutritious ( when was the last time you heard of a sweet dish being nutritious too !) and very quick and easy to make. Hayagriva is very similar to the puran in Puran Poli / Holige .

Some people like their Hayagriva to be a little runny in consistency. However, I like mine in a soft, semi solid state. This depends on personal preference, so if you like it a little more runny do not evaporate a lot of the moisture out during the cooking process. Also when cooking the channa dal / split bengal gram dal , some opt to cook it in the pressure cooker. I, personally, prefer the stove top method - cook it in a saucepan with lots of water - as this allows me to control the texture of the cooked dal. I like my dal to maintain its shape and integrity and putting it in a pressure cooker can be a hit or miss in that. Again there is no hard and fast rule here, as this is not going to change the taste of the dish, just the visual appeal.



Hayagriva

Puran Poli

Puran Poli is poli (tortilla-like flatbread ) stuffed with puran ( channa dal and jaggery mixture).This is made during festivals and is a favorite amongst many. It is also called Holige or Obbattu in Karnataka. My mom makes these at home and that is where I learnt how to make these polis.

The other day it was Varalakshmi Vratham, so while my mother-in-law took care of all the puja, I took care of all the cooking. One of the dishes to be made was puran poli. Honestly, I could not wait to make this, but the process of resting the dough and pressure cooking the dal ensured that it was the last dish to be made. The puran polis came out great, soft, moist and filled with a lot of puran. I am not very fond of the ultra thin and dry polis that requires you to have a glass of water nearby whenever you are eating one. I love my polis to be plump with puran, soft, moist and fragrant with the smell of cardamom and nutmeg and this recipe produces such a poli.

They are actually quite easy to make the trick is to have a very soft dough. If you make the regular roti / paratha dough, it will be very difficult to roll, your puran poli will end up as a disaster during rolling. Also ensure that you thicken the channa dal and jaggery / gur mixture by evaporating as much water as possible without burning it. Remember that the puran will thicken as it cools down, thick enough to roll out in soft round balls.

I do apologise for the lack of photos of the finished product, you see my hungry hubby was glaring at me for cooling all the hot rotis while I snapped photos.


Puran Poli

Aaji's Rava Ladoos ( Semolina Sweets )

My Grandmother makes the best Rava Ladoos ever. In India we make ladoos for festivals or any celebratory function at home. There are so many kinds of ladoos, some of the most prominent ones are the quintessential besan ladoo, the revered boondi ladoo and the festive rava ladoo.

I love them all but the rava ladoo holds a special place in my heart because this recipe has been passed down from my grandma to my amma and now to me. When we were small we spent three year at my grandparents house. This time with them made us more Indian then we ever were -  we learnt the language, the customs, the food and the festivals and also we got to meet most of our extended family. Grandma made sure that all festivals were celebrated properly and she and my aunties made all the foods and sweets.

Rava ladoo is her speciality, she makes the best ladoos I have ever had. They are moist and fragrant and they melt in your mouth. Her rava ladoos are so addictive that it is difficult to stop at just one. I love the contrast of textures offered in the slightly chewy coconut, plump raisins and nutty cashew nuts.

So if you are looking for the best tasting, moist and fragrant ladoos then this is your recipe. Your teeth will thank you as you will not have to test their strength while biting into them.


Rava Ladoo

Strawberry Shortcake

I live for desserts. Whenever we go to any new restaurant the first thing I do is to check out their dessert menu, and then I plan my meal accordingly. A while back we went to Clyde's of Reston at Reston Town Center. I have always passed that restaurant but never been inside. For some reason it always seemed full and overflowing with happy diners. But that one day as we were sitting in front of the water fountain watching all the children play we had a hankering for something sweet. We had already had a heavy brunch but that was four hours ago and it was too late for lunchtime and too early for dinner time, so we decided to get some desserts. We had two choices, the Ben & Jerry's ice cream parlor down the street or Clyde's just across the street. Since we had never been to Clyde's we decided to try it out.

Their dessert menu is sumptuous to say the least and they had Strawberry Shortcake as one of the desserts on their menu. We all ordered different desserts to try out a wide range, but we all agreed that the strawberry shortcake was the best. After a while, much to my dismay, they removed it from their menu. So now it was left up to me to re-create that wonderful dessert at home.

I tried several recipes and while good, they were still not as good as Clyde's till I got Dorie Greenspan's book Baking: From My Home to Yours. She had a recipe for Tender Shortcakes and my oh my these shortcakes were the most tender, moist and flavorful ever. I had finally found my shortcake recipe. I love her book , she has so many great recipes in it. This is one of my go to books for desserts. She has a wide range of breakfast sweets , yummy cookies, beautiful cakes, pies, tarts and all other kinds of desserts. Some of her desserts have a little bit of french influence in them. This might be because she lives part of the year in Paris hobnobbing with some of the famous pastry chefs. Yes, I envy her. I mean she does everything I dream of doing, write cookbooks, live in Paris and get to be friends with Pierre Herme !

Anyway, back to the Shortcake, it was the best. The biscuit when baked looked just like a photo out of a professional cookbook. The color was perfect golden brown and the tops were all cracked and crumbly just as the shortcake should be. One bite into it and it dissolves on the tongue. It is also too beautiful to look, the golden base holding the juicy, scarlet strawberries covered with the snow white of the cream and topped with the golden domes of the biscuit.

When buying strawberries, buy them from a farmer's market instead of your local grocery chain. The difference in taste is huge. The strawberries at the farmer's market are sweet with a hint of tartness and the ones at the grocery store are tart with a barely discernible hint of sweetness.