Banana Bread

All of us at some point in time, have had a bunch of bananas lying around the kitchen, going brown. You keep telling yourself, I better finish those, before they go smushy... then, another day goes by...and now they just plain gross... not only are they an unappetizing brown to look at, but they are also simply PERFECT to bake with! Adapted from the original Martha Stewart Banana bread recipe, this cake-like bread, is great as a weekend (or mid week!) breakfast treat, and works great when paired with a steaming cup of tea or coffee.
So, stop feeling bad about letting the bananas go brown, and bake with them instead! :)

Ingredients: (Makes 1, 9"x4" loaf)
Dry mix:
- 1 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Soda Bicarb
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 tsp ground Nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon

Wet mix:
- 1/2 cup Butter, softened @ room temperature
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 Eggs @ room temp
- 1/4 cup plain Yoghurt+ 1/4 cup Water (buttermilk)
- 1 cup mashed Bananas + 1 tsp Vanilla

Optional additions: Chopped or slivered Almonds & Golden raisins


Method:
1.)  Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Grease and dust a 9x5" loaf pan. Sift the ingredients of the dry mix together and set aside.

2.)  Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl till light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat lightly after each addition.

3.)  Add the mashed Bananas+ Vanilla extract. Add the Buttermilk and dry mix to the bowl, alternating each addition.... i.e. little of the dry mix, followed by some of the buttermilk... repeat.

4.)  Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for about 55-60 mins or till a cake tester comes out clean.

5.)  Allow the Banana bread to cool in the pan. Run a butter knife along the edges and loosen. Turn out onto a wire rack and let it cool completely. Best stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator, in case the weather is warm.

Slice up and enjoy with a generous slather of Cream cheese & a cup of coffee! 

Coconut- Date- Sesame Fudge Bars

I recently came across a recipe for Raw Fudge Brownies, that a friend from school, Reshma, made and posted on the blog she writes for healthy eating & living. Her recipe got me all excited about using dates in desserts, since they're not only gooey and deliciously fudge- y  but packed with several key nutrients like Vitamins, Calcium, Iron,Potassium and Magnesium. They're an excellent source of fiber and help maintain top-notch digestive and cardiac health.
I had a LOT of dessicated coconut in my freezer from last weeks coconut cupcake, so I decided to experiment a little... and since I was looking to make this healthy, I added some Oat cereal and Cornflakes.
So, well, here it goes, my Date-Coconut-Sesame fudge... sticky, gooey, yummy ... and healthy :)


Ingredients:
2 cups seedless Dates (khajoor), roughly chopped
5-6 dried Apricots (optional), roughly chopped
1 cup unsweetened Dessicated coconut
1 cup breakfast Cereal - Cornflakes / Oat cereal (either or both)
1/2 cup Pine nuts / Or / roughly chopped Almonds
1/2 tsp Honey
3-4 tbsp Sesame seeds

Method:
1.) Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Toast the Cornflakes and/or Oat cereal for 5-6 mins till they're super crunchy. Alternatively, heat a non-stick pan on medium heat. Toast the cereal stirring occasionally till its crisp. Set aside in a dry bowl to Cool.

2.) Toast the Pine nuts/ or / chopped almonds. Add to the bowl with the toasted Cereal.

3.) Now, toast the dessicated coconut till it begins to turn slightly golden. Switch off heat immediately or it will brown too much.

4.) Transfer the toasted Cereal and Nuts into a mixer / food processor. Pulse till coarsely powdered. Start adding the dates, about 1/4 cup at a time, and pulse till combined after each addition. As you pulse, the stickiness of the dates will begin to bind the mixture together.

5.) Add the toasted dessicated Coconut to the date mixture 1/4 cup at a time, and pulse again till well combined. Although it binds extremely well, this mixture is surprisingly non-sticky,and pulls away from the sides of the mixer very easily.

6.) Line a baking tray/ glass casserole with grease-proof paper or aluminum foil. Turn out the mixture into the bowl. Using your fingers , apply pressure on the mixture, and flatten into the bowl to form a layer which is uniformly thick (about 1/2" thick).



7.) Cover with a lid or foil and chill in the refrigerator for about 30-45 minutes. Meanwhile, toast the Sesame seeds and cool. Brush the honey lightly, over the top of the set fudge. Lightly pat the toasted Sesame seeds onto the fudge using slight pressure from your fingers to stick.
Holding the foil, extract the fudge from the bowl. Using a sharp knife, divide into 2" x 2" squares ( or 1" x 3" rectangles).

Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Should keep well for about 7-8 days, but that's IF it lasts that long! :)

Jam-filled Fun cookies

As a kid, I was a big fan of jam cookies. My favourite part would be to open the cookies, lick off the filling and sham on eating the now, not-so-interesting shell :)
So I figured, that since some childhood favorites never change, to make Tania's (my friend and host of the BBQ party that I went to earlier this week) son a little treat to enjoy all on his own once the party was over :P, except these cookie shells with the lemon zest is equally yummy!

This recipe makes about 30 filled cookies.

Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup Sugar
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp Butter, softened
- 2 tsp grated Lime zest
- 1 Egg yolk
- 2-1/4 cups All purpose Flour
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/4 cups each of assorted Jams ( I used strawberry, black cherry & orange)




Method:

1.) Beat the butter + sugar + lime zest till fluffy. Crack an egg and separate the yolk from the egg white. Add the Egg yolk and to the mixing bowl along with the salt. Beat again on a medium speed.

2.) Spoon in the flour little by little and beat lightly till a dough begins to form. Resist the urge to over-beat the mixture. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface. And knead well till it forms a soft yet firm ball of dough.







3.) Divide the dough into four equal balls. Wrap each ball separately in clear plastic wrap. Flatten the ball slightly by pressing between your palms. Chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

4.) Pull out one of the 4 flattened dough balls. Line your board or counter-top with grease-proof paper. Warm the dough ever so slightly between your palms to make it more pliable.

Unwrap the dough from the plastic wrap and place it on the board. Lay the plastic wrap over the dough and gently roll out the dough till its about 3-4 mm thick.

5.) Using a cookie cutter cut out the larger circular (or any shape of your choice) shapes. Divide the round cookies into 2 sets. Using the smaller cookie cutters, cut out shapes from within the round cookies of one set.

Ensure that you have the same number of plain and cut-out cookies.


6.) Knead the scraps of dough together and roll into a ball. Wrap in the plastic wrap and pop it back into the refrigerator to chill.


7.) Arrange the cookie cut-outs on a grease-proof paper and bake in an oven preheated to 180 deg C for about 8-10 minutes. These cookies are still a little soft when fresh out of the oven, but they harden as they cool.

(Alternatively,the cookie cut-outs can be frozen at this stage to be baked at another time.)

Repeat the rolling, and cutting process with all the of the dough. Make sure that the dough is always cold yet pliable.

8.) Once you're done with cutting out all of the shapes, get started with the Jam. Heat the jam along with 5-6 tbsps of water in a non-stick saucepan. Whisk as the jam heats an make it into a liquid jelly like consistency. Switch off the heat and allow the jam to cool. The jam with thicken and become stickier as it cools.

9.) Make pairs of the solid and cut-shape cookies. Spoon some jam onto the plain round cookies and sandwich using the cut-out cookie on top. Gently press together to stick and lay on a wire rack to set completely.

These cookies will keep very well for about 10 days when stored between layers of grease-proof paper in an air-tight container. Eat up! :)

Coconut cupcakes with Citrus-Cream cheese frosting

Earlier this week, I attended a really fun BBQ party at my friend Tania's place. I knew she'd be going all out with her prep for this party and I felt like I wanted to take her a little treat... actually... I just needed an excuse to spend my day in the kitchen, with my precious oven :)
So my day was spent making cupcakes and cookies my two most favorite things to bake! Cupcakes, for the party and Jam-filled cookies for Aarav, Tania's adorable 3 year old son :)

A while ago, I was watching a baking contest on "The Ultimate recipe Showdown" on the Food Network where a contestant attempted a Pina Colada inspired cake... It had coconut, fresh pineapple and a generous proportion of alcohol... Now, I love Pina Coladas, but I wasn't about to feed a bunch of kids (including Aarav) alcohol -spiked cupcakes...!
So, I left out the booze and used cream cheese on the frosting instead...

Cream cheese is the easiest ingredient to use on a cupcake frosting. It works brilliantly with a citrus-y flavour and is naturally creamy...and was a nice compliment to the coconut in the cake.

This recipe makes about 25-28 cupcakes.

PART 01/02: THE CAKE

Wet Ingredients:
- 2 cups unsalted Butter, softened
- 1-1/2 cups Sugar
- 5 large Eggs @ room temperature
- 1-1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup Buttermilk
- 1/2 cup Coconut milk (thick)

Dry Ingredients:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (maida)
- 1 tsp Baking powder + 1/2 tsp Baking soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 cup shredded Dessicated Coconut, plus an extra half cup for decorating later



Method:

1.)  Preheat your oven to 170 deg C (325 deg F). Cream the softened butter and sugar first on medium speed and then on high till light and fluffy.
Crack the eggs into the batter. One by one into the batter. Beat the batter to mix eggs after adding each addition.
Add the Vanilla extract and beat again. Set aside the bowl.

 2.) In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set this dry mix aside.In a bowl whisk together the buttermilk and coconut milk.

Mix the flour mix and buttermilk mix into the egg batter alternating each addition. i.e. add the flour + followed by the buttermilk mix + repeat flour + repeat buttermilk + add the remainder of the flour mix.

 
3.) Line a cupcake tray with paper liners. Spoon the batter into the cups and bake in an oven preheated to 170 deg C for about 25-30 mins, or till a cake tester comes out clean.







 4.) Transfer the baked cupcakes onto a wire rack and allow them to cool and come to room temperature. Bake the rest of the cupcakes and allow them to cool completely before you frost them.

PART 02 / 02: THE FROSTING

Ingredients:

1 cup Cream cheese @ room temp

2 tbsp unsalted Butter @ room temp

Grated zest + Juice of 1 medium Lime

6-7 tbsp of Icing (superfine) Sugar ( add more if you want it sweeter)

Few drops of Green apple food colouring

Method:

Cream together the cream cheese, butter till light and fluffy. Add the lime juice,  freshly grated lime zest and the green food coloring and cream again. Chill for about 30-45 minutes before using. 

DECORATING THE CUP CAKES : 

 Using a butter-knife or a flattish spoon, slather the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes. 

Sprinkle on the dessicated coconut and decorate the cup cake with a slice of fresh green lime... Yum!

Refrigerate till its time to dig in! Enjoy greedily with your family, friends, or just all on your own :)