.....From My Palate

Baking

Dragon Fruit Mousse Cake – Celebrating Sixteenth Birthday !

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It was a memorable week for my family, my niece turned 16 yesterday. When we chatted few days back, she asked me to bake a cake and send a video to her. Sweetheart, I am dedicating this cake post to you. Wishing you a very happy birthday and a great year ahead. Make us proud and stay happy and blessed! We all love you and always there for you.
Sixteen is really a special number. I remember my 16th birthday and more specifically remember what I wore on that day. Friends, cake, gifts, good food, lot of talking and fun makes the day memorable and beautiful. What else we want on a birthday right! Birthdays were so much fun at that age. I used to count the no of calls and cards I get on my birthdays, and single digit less can put me in depression, coz it shows I was loosing love, concern and attention. There was an honesty in friends and their messages. The amount of time they gave due to the carefree life at that time was precious. The card used to be full of colorful, hand written, funny and sometimes heartfelt messages. One of my very good friend never missed my birhday, she used to come every year either I am celebrating or not. And i still remember my other friend, who didn’t sleep all night and made a huge card for me. There are other friends too, I am not in touch with…but I really wanted to tell them, I still remember you all and thank you very much for your honest love, concern and making my birthdays really special and memorable. Thank you very much.

Gosh! It feels like I am already celebrating friendship day on this platform. I do believe, not to wait for any special occasion to vent out your feelings regarding someone or something. So, just share what I felt this very moment. But Yayy! Mother’s day is this weekend and I already had a post in the draft to celebrate this occasion. We will talk about this beautiful relationship and my experiences in the coming post.

Either you are celebrating or not but the presence of a cake itself gives a sense of jollity all around. If my metabolism started to work the way I wanted, I can and I will eat cake before and after every meal. I love to bake but the only issue is I just can’t abandon my creation at the mercy of others palate. I have a penchant for Mousse cakes these days. The moist creamy cake with a mirror glaze on top and covered with garnishes of fresh fruits, macaroons or edible flowers.

Freeze dried fruit powders are very popular and in demand these days. I tried dragon fruit powder for this cake. It gave very nice color and taste to the frosting and glaze. We can use these powders for smoothies, in baking and frosting. I will try to use the same powder in other recipes and will share soon.

One very important thing required to make a good mousse cake is a cake molds. If you don’t have one, use acetate strips to support frosting while refrigeration. It is a very simple cake as no tedious decoration is needed to looks beautiful. I used strawberry cake in this recipe and its optional. You can use any sponge cake, eggless or with eggs, in any shapes and sizes. If you are looking for good sponge cake recipe please let me know or google can help you as per your requirement. Use Agar Agar for the vegetarian option for gelatin.
Happy Mother’s Day in advance. Enjoy the best relationship gifted to a women by a supreme power.

 

 

Dragon Fruit Mousse Cake
Recipe Type: Cake / Dessert
Cuisine: International
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • Sponge Cake (I cut small circles of strawberry cake for mini individual cake)
  • 1/2 cup Sugar Syrup with Orange blossom water
  • 2 packets unflavored Gelatin Powder
  • 1/4 cup. Water
  • 2 cups Heavy Cream
  • 1 cup Powdered Sugar
  • 2 tbsp. dried Dragon Fruit Powder
  • 1 tbsp. Orange Blossom Water
  • 1 pack Strawberry flavored Jello
  • 1 tbsp. dried Dragon Fruit Powder
  • Water as needed.
  • Silvered Pistachios and fruits for garnishing
Instructions
  1. For the Mousse- Mix cream and sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.
  2. Take water in a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin over the top.
  3. Microwave the mixture for 30 seconds, until clear and dissolved.
  4. Add dragon fruit powder, gelatin mixture and orange blossom water in the cream.
  5. Fold it gently to retain volume.
  6. For the Mirror Glaze- Prepare jello according to the instructions on the pack., Add dried dragon fruit powder while mixing jello in hot water. Add ice cold water to cool the jello faster.
  7. Cut the cake rounds in halves.
  8. Place the first half cake in the mousse mold. Sprinkle tbsp. of sugar syrup all over it.
  9. Pour a layer of mousse over it.
  10. Now place the second half of the cake and pour a thick layer of mousse again..
  11. Likewise make all the mini mousse cake and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
  12. Now pour the glaze on top and further refrigerate to set overnight or until glaze is all set.
  13. For serving, run the knife along the sides of the cake and remove the cake from the mold.
  14. Garnish the sides of the cake with silvered pistachios.
  15. Decorate the top with your favorite fruits.
  16. Serve and enjoy!

Saffron Caramel Drip Cake with Peach Topping

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Hello, friends. Happy Spring!
Weather has been really crazy this year. We already had a glimpse of spring weather in February. February was really mild, with no snow storm and the highest temperature was in 70’s. I remember the day with the highest in 70’s because it was so good outside in February that we wanted to fire the grill and enjoy the sunshine. But later that week we were again home arrest due to snow storm, wind and cold.

Spring rain, an epitome of romance but since last week this glistening rain that drenched the heart with love ruining my schedules, car, clothes and most important my shoes. (I hate rain boots!) Traffic, closed bridges, mess everywhere makes me more vulnerable to depression and the only saving grace that’s brings back my sanity is my “Ginger Tea”. Keeping my tea time in mind I wanted to bake a coffee cake that goes well with my tea and compliment the season too. While browsing Vikas Khanna’s book during my “me time” his apple saffron cake tickled my fancy and pushed me to wear the apron. The recipe was eggless and that makes it just perfect during sacred navratris week.

Thanks to my pantry, all the ingredients were available but I tweaked the recipe with a peach to make it more cordial to the season. The hustle and bustle in the kitchen while baking is so gratifying and the aroma enveloping the kitchen makes it a worth while! The yogurt and apple cider vinegar in cake to replace eggs did their job really well. The saffron caramel was the star of the evening and we are still relishing it with apple and bananas.

This cake is dedicated to celebrate arrival of spring and love for peaches. The day amidst rain, mess and chaos was so rewarding in the evening with a cup of steaming ginger tea and piece of delicious cake. Even the rain outside was so calming and blissful now, when the family is around, playing board games with this delicious treat.
Thank you Vikas Khanna

 

Saffron Caramel Drip Cake with Peach Topping
Recipe Type: Baking/Cake
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • For Caramel-
  • 1 tsp. Saffron
  • 1 cup Water
  • 1/2 cup Butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
  • Peach Slices as needed
  • Cake-
  • 1 1/2 cup All- Purpose Flour
  • 3 tbsp. Cocoa Powder, unsweetened
  • 1 tsp. Baking Soda
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • Zest of 1 Orange
  • 5 tbsp. Oil
  • 1 cup Plain Yogurt
  • 1 tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
Instructions
  1. Crush saffron with sugar in mortar and pestle until well combined.
  2. Mix butter and saffron sugar until smooth.
  3. Cook the mixture in a heavy-bottom pan on medium heat.
  4. Cook it for 3-4 minutes and add peach when sugar begins to caramelize.
  5. Cook the peaches on low heat until soft.
  6. Now add cream and gently mix it.
  7. Keep it aside to cool down.
  8. Preheat oven at 350° F.
  9. Mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, sugar and orange zest.
  10. Now add oil, yogurt and vinegar. Mix it well until smooth with no lumps.
  11. Pour the batter in a greased baking pan.
  12. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
  13. Cool the pan and carefully inverted the cake on serving plate.
  14. Arrange the pear slices on the cake and drip the caramel on edges of the cake.
  15. Serve with steaming coffee or tea.

Tiramisu Cake With Eggless Mascarpone Filling And Whipped Cream Frosting

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Wow, January of 2017 has already disappeared in the past. It’s February and its a birthday month of, “love of my life”, my son. Its been 10 years since God has blessed us with this beautiful gift. These 10 years has been full of love, happiness, hugs, kisses and baking. Yes! baking, cooking and blogging, coincidently I started my blog in the very same year he was born. When people fuss about cooking and cleaning with the new born baby , I don’t know from where I get the strength and courage to start a food blog. After so many years if I try to look back how I managed to cook and blog with no help and a new born baby, everything seems to be foggy and fuzzy. But the pleasure of being a creator gives me an immense satisfaction and happiness all through this journey.

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Motherhood teaches you a lot. It really enhance your capability to love another person beyond measure to a extent that your life revolves around that small bundle of joy. Now that my son is entering in to double digits, its a big milestone for me. I am very proud looking at his transitional phase from a boy to a teenager but cannot hide my nervousness too. I am so used to of hearing mom all the time that I started missing that sound when he is not around. Though I am not ready to push him to live and learn by himself but still now a days I keep on telling him, you are 10, be independent, why you need mom for everything? That’s my duty to teach him how to fly…fly all alone!

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Good parents give their children Roots and Wings.
Roots to know where home is,
Wings to fly away and exercise what’s been taught them.
Dr. Jonas Salk

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I have no doubt in saying that my son is a huge fan of my baking. His confidence sometimes makes me feel guilty about the fact that I am not a trained baker. I am so embarrassed when he declares to the world that his mom bakes the best cakes. He likes whipped cream frosting better than butter cream frosting. I always try to customize my baking according to his taste. We don’t wait for occasions to bake a cake, all what it needs is any free time of the day in the kitchen, with lots of love and laughter.

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He has always been my little helper, my taster, my admirer and a big motivator in the kitchen. Whenever I finish making cream frosting, he is always there to lick a bowl and a whisker. This is a ritual and even I make sure to make frosting when he is around. Now that he is growing up, I sometimes fear of losing these moments with him.

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Dear Son,
I love you and will always there for you.
A very very Happy Birthday to you.
Big hug and lots of kisses!

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Tiramisu Cake With Eggless Mascarpone And Whipped Cream Frosting
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • Vanilla sponge Cake
  • For the coffee syrup–
  • 2 tbsp. Instant Coffee Powder
  • 1/2 cup Water
  • 1/3 cup Sugar
  • Espresso extract–
  • 2 tbsp. Instant Coffee Powder
  • 3 tbsp. Hot Water
  • For the filling and frosting–
  • 8 oz. Mascarpone Cheese
  • 1 cup Powdered Sugar
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
  • 2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
Instructions
  1. For the espresso extract, whisk together espresso powder and hot water.
  2. Set aside or use espresso from coffee machine.
  3. For the coffee syrup, in a small saucepan, bring the sugar and water to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the espresso extract. Set aside.
  4. For the filling, combine mascarpone, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 2 tbsp. coffee syrup just until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate
  5. For the frosting, beat the cream, 1/2 cup powderedsugar and 2 tablespoons Espresso extract until stiff. Fold 1/2 cup of filling mixture in it.
  6. To assemble the cake, place one plain cake layer on a serving plate.
  7. Using a thin skewer, poke holes in cake.
  8. Pour coffee syrup over cake, then spread half of the filling mixture.
  9. Place another cake layer; poke holes in cake.
  10. Pour coffee syrup over the second layer and spread with the remaining filling.
  11. Spread sides and top of cake with frosting.
  12. Decorate the cake according to the taste.
  13. Refrigerate before serving.

Cassata Ice Cream – Revisiting Childhood favorites

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While talking to your own children, you sometimes revisit your life in the past and unfolds your childhood temptations and favorites. While talking about healthy food and its importance, my son suddenly asked me “What was your favorite food when you were of my age”? I took a pause to think because the answer was not in any way a good example for him. I tried to ignore the subject saying we didn’t have so many options those days. The next question popped up was about my all time favorite food or dessert as a child. That was easy to answer, it was cassata and ice cream soda. Of Course! apparently the next question was “What is Cassata and Ice-cream Soda? Ice-cream soda was easy to make him understand as float but divinity of cassata was really difficult to describe and make him understand. The slice of three flavors of ice-creams layered on a cake covered with nuts was nothing less than a bliss on a plate. The flavors of three ice-creams bursting together in your mouth with crunchy nuts and spongy cake still makes me blank and the only word that comes out of my mouth is Yum! Delicious!.

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Cassata is very different than ice-cream cake. Ice-cream cake is cake with a layer of ice-cream and frosting on it, whereas cassata is three layers of ice-cream on a layer of cake and covered with nuts. More ice-cream, less cake and a crunch with roasted nuts. I don’t know if I am making any sense to you but sometimes the experience is better than lots of words. So I decided to recreate a recipe for cassata with my favorite flavors of ice-creams.

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My favorite flavors are all Indian flavors of ice-cream. Keeping a color scheme in my mind I opted for Mango ice-cream, pistachios ice-cream and kulfi. The whole experience of making cassata from scratch was so therapeutic and joyful to me. I was so excited that I finished from baking a cake to making three flavors, layering and freezing in one day.

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Though, the size of my cassata is smaller than the real one but when you make it at home, having just one of anything you love is never enough. A guilty pleasure !!!

Verdict from my son– OMG! it is so delicious. It has ice-creams, cake, nuts….Gosh! Its a total treat.
Hard work all worth!! 🙂 🙂

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Cassata Ice Cream – Reliving Childhood Temptation
Recipe Type: Ice Cream / Dessert
Cuisine: Indian
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • Sponge Cake
  • 3 Flavors of Ice cream of your choice
  • (I used Mango, kukfi and Pistachios)
  • Crushed Almonds and Pistachios
  • Tutti Frutty
  • Terrine Pan or Loaf Pan
Instructions
  1. Line the preferred pan with the parchment paper hanging on both the sides.
  2. Take out the ice cream from the freezer to soften them before using.
  3. Sprinkle crushed nuts all over the pan.
  4. Fill up the bottom part with one flavor of the ice cream.
  5. Flatten it with the spatula. Cover and put it in freezer for an hour.
  6. After an hour check, if it is all set add another layer of the different flavor.
  7. Add extra tutti fruity for color and set it again in freezer.
  8. In the mean time, cut sponge cake in to a rectangular shape of a pan.
  9. Check again after an hour, pour the final layer of the different ice cream.
  10. Add extra layer of nuts on top.
  11. Now place rectangular cake over the ice cream. Press it lightly.
  12. Cover it tightly with the hanging parchment paper and aluminum foil.
  13. Freeze it overnight.
  14. To serve, put the mold in the warm water for some time.
  15. Invert on a plate, peel off the parchment paper.
  16. Add more nuts on the top. Slice and serve.

Middle Eastern Delight Kunafa With Rabdi

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Eid Mubarak, Happy Eid to all my friends in advance, who are celebrating Ramadan, the holy month of fasting and prayers. Ramadan, a month of self-purification, share, care, belief and endurance. While fasting 30 days from dawn to sunset, without consuming drop of water in summer and doing all daily chores are definitely not easy but belief in God gives the strength to endure and purpose to do it. Iftar and suhoor are the after sunset and before sunrise time when the kitchens are filled with aromas and arrays of food are served on table.

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These 30 days are the days of culinary awakening, through all the senses around the world. Iftar meals are a time of festivity and celebration with friends and family, for breaking fast together after sunset. Before iftar meal are the busiest time in the kitchen, where classic, ethnic or new recipes are bubbling out of the pot and their aromas are making the place heavenly and blissful.

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To celebrate the occasion, I am sharing one of the most amazing middle eastern dessert, eaten during Ramadan called Kunufa. It is known by different names in different places but the taste will for sure takes you to the door to heaven. The flaky crust with the creamy filling with nuts, surely a gastronomical delight that will gratify the palate and the soul.

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I tweaked the recipe little from the classic. Instead of using cheese, I gave it a Indian twist by filling instant Rabdi between the crust.
Take my words, it tastes delicious when serve cold. This recipe was one of my bucket list recipe that I really wanted to try and couldn’t find a better occasion to share it.
Eid Mubarak! Happy Ramadan!

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Kunafa – Middle Eastern Delicacy
Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • 1 box Kataifi , shredded Filio dough
  • 1/2 cup Butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup Ghee, melted mixed in butter
  • Orange color
  • Ghee to grease a baking pan
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • 1 1/4 cup Water
  • 1 tbsp. Lemon Juice
  • 1 tbsp. Orange Blossom Water
  • 1 tsp. Rose Water
  • 2 cups Ricotta Cheese
  • 3/4 cup Condensed Milk
  • 1 tsp. Cardamom Powder
  • 1/2 cup Pistachios Powder
  • 1/4 cup Almond, sliced
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven at 350F. Grease baking pan with ghee mixed with orange color.
  2. Cut kataifi dough in to 4 equal part and mix melted butter and ghee in it.
  3. Mix it with hands until it becomes fluffy with no lumps.
  4. Make a Cream Filling by mixing ricotta and condensed milk.
  5. Add cardamom powder and little rose water.
  6. Mix it well and put it in the refrigerator.
  7. Make Sugar Syrup with sugar and water.
  8. Bring to boil and then add lemon juice.
  9. Let it boil for 10 minutes. Keep aside to cool.
  10. Now add orange blossom water and rose water.
  11. Divide kataifi dough in two equal parts.
  12. Take a greased pan and spread the dough evenly in the center and the corners of the pan.
  13. Press it down well with the back of the spoon.
  14. Now spread almond slices all over.
  15. Then add cream filling over it and spread it evenly over the dough.
  16. Now layer pistachios powder over the cream filling.
  17. Mix tsp of orange color in the remaining Kataifi dough.
  18. Finally spread the remaining kataifi dough evenly all over, press it down gently.
  19. Add little more melted ghee if the dough is little dry.
  20. Place it in the preheated oven for almost 40 minutes.
  21. When the kunafa is golden brown in color, take it out of oven.
  22. Pour sugar syrup sides and all over, cover and keep aside to cool down.
  23. Run a knife all over to loosen the sides and turn it out in to a serving tray.
  24. Garnish it with your preference and enjoy the slice.
  25. * Increase sugar according to taste.

Irani Café – Mawa Cake

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Long time no see! It has become a custom for me to start my blog with this expression these days. How are you guys doing? Officially its summer, long bright days are making me happy and more productive. Afternoons are really warm and sunny, compelling me to stay indoors and spending more time in exploring other blogs or browsing idly for some instant entertainment. I really like such lazy afternoons, sitting with my feet up on my favorite spot of the couch with laptop and relishing my penchant for hot cuppa of ginger tea. That’s the most creative and entertaining time of the day for me. I really like spending time with myself in the age when you hardly get any moment alone with all these what’s up, facebook, snapchat, twitter and what not…. Its not that I am against technology, I like it and using it to the best but spending some time with or for myself like old school are still in my priority.

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While enjoying my own company last week, one afternoon I stumbled upon this video on you tube. Its about an old man going to a Irani bakery and bought a Mawa cake for himself. He ordered a cup of tea with it. While serving his tea a small boy broke the cup and spilled the tea. Another server came and try to hit the boy for his mistake but that old man blamed himself to save that small boy. While eating mawa cake a big piece fell on the floor by the old man. He tried hard but couldn’t reach it. He was disappointed and was really sad. But all of a sudden he realized there is another box of mawa cake on table. The owner of the café who was impressed by his kindness treated him with another box.

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The moral of the story was “Believe in the magic of kindness”. The story was really simple but it touched the heart really deep. The name of the story was Mawa Cake. After watching the video I had this irrefutable urge to bake and eat a mawa cake. Very next morning I obliged my craving and baked the Mawa Cake.

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How I wish, if I can share my mawa cake with the same old man. May Kindness rules and make this world more humanly and full of love.
Amen

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Mawa Cake With A Middle Eastern Touch
Recipe Type: Baking / Cake
Cuisine: Parsi
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups Cake Flour
  • 1 1/2 cups Castor Sugar
  • 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
  • 3 Eggs
  • 1 cup Khoya, grated
  • 1 1/2 tsp. Orange Blossom Water
  • 1 tsp. Rose water
  • 1 tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 6-7 Green Cardamom, powdered
  • 1/2 cup Milk with 1/2 tsp. of crushed Saffron
  • 1/2 cup Sliced Almonds
  • Sliced Pistachios for garnishing
Instructions
  1. Pre heat oven at 375F. Grease and line the bottom of the cake pan.
  2. Mix cake flour, salt, cardamom powder and baking powder.
  3. Whisk butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
  4. Add khoya and whisk again while adding eggs one at a time.
  5. Add orange blossom water, rose water and milk. Mix it well.
  6. Now add dry mixture tbsp. at a time. Mix it well until all combined.
  7. Do not overmix.
  8. Finally add almonds and mix it.
  9. Pour it in a prepared tin.
  10. Garnish with pistachios and saffron thread.
  11. Bake it for around an hour until skewer inserted in a cake comes out clean.
  12. Cool it for 10 minutes.
  13. Serve with tea or coffee.

Kataifi – An Exotic Greek Dessert

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Happy Valentines Day!
When I was thinking of dedicating this recipe to valentine’s day, a thought flashed across my mind. Who wants to cook and serve on valentine’s day?
After lot of thinking I was really intrigued by this thought. Why Ma ke Haath Ka Khana is still special and delicious for us? With all the healthy food chains, good availability of all kinds of foods possible, restaurants doing good businesses, still home cooked food is in demand. Yes! I realized, its not food. Its the love, time, concern and feeling with the food that makes it more delicious and easy on your stomach.
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Eating out is a weekly thing now (may be twice in a week for some..) like buying grocery or doing any other chores on weekend, still on any good occasion we prefer to go out and eat. So, what’s so special about eating out now? Gosh! Am I sounding old fashioned? Believe me, I love latest fashion and I am Fashionable!. But in this case just fanthoming a thought! For once I think I belong to an old school, where anything with love, time, concern and feeling is more precious than any materialistic gift. To be true, not to everybody and definitely not all the time but for that special one, you wanted to dedicate this day and sharing your feelings with out saying a word.
(Wow, so proud of myself for delivering a dialogue from Yash Chopra’s romantic film.)
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Now coming to the recipe of the day, this is called Kataifi. Kataifi is a greek dessert made of special shredded pastry dough called Kataifi. To me its an exotic sweet related to very popular baklava in taste. This sweet is also popular in Turkey and other middle eastern countries. You can buy Kataifi from any middle eastern food specialty shops or some supermarkets with a name Kataifi Pastry. This dessert has exotic golden color, very crispy with a moist pistachios filling in the middle. Yum! delicious! are another suitable name for it.
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Kataifi
Author: Bhawana
An Exotic Greek Dessert
Ingredients
  • 1 Box Kataifi, Shredded Fillo Dough
  • 2 Stick Butter, melted
  • For Filling
  • 1 cup Pistachios, coarsely ground
  • 3/4 cup Almond, coarsely ground
  • For Sugar Syrup
  • 1 1/2 cups Sugar
  • 1 cup Water
  • 1 tbsp. Lemon Juice
  • 1 tsp. Orange Blossom water
  • 1/4 tsp. Rose Water
Instructions
  1. Boil sugar and water in a pan.
  2. Add lemon juice and continue boiling syrup for more 10 mins on low flame.
  3. Add rose water and orange blossom water and keep it aside to cool down.
  4. Mix pistachios and almond together for the filling.
  5. Tease out the Kataifi dough gently by hands.
  6. Add butter and pull apart the dough gently if there are any clumps.
  7. When the dough becomes fluffy, cover with damp cloth.
  8. Grease a ovenproof dish and preheat oven to 350 degree F.
  9. Take a section of dough, spread it in a shape of rectangle, drizzle butter all around.
  10. Place tsp of filling towards one end and fold it over into a cylindrical shape.
  11. Place them in a prepared dish, close together leaving no gaps in between.
  12. Drizzle the left over butter equally on each rolls.
  13. Bake it for 45 mins to 1 hour until golden brown in color.
  14. Pour sugar syrup all over the rolls and keep it aside until it absorbed.
  15. Garnish with pistachios and serve!

Roasted Acorn Squash Soup – Celebrating Fall

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Summer said goodbye and officially it’s fall. Cool misty mornings, little less sunlight and small days are really depressing. But thank God Halloween is almost there, it’s time to take out decorations from the basement and get busy in welcoming festivities that brings happiness. Last week I went out with a friend for a quick visit to a small cute farmer’s market in the downtown. From stalls of seasonal flowers, baked goods, vegetables and fruits, a cute round green and orange acorn squash caught my eye and instantly warm creamy soup was in my mind.

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Next day seasonal flu puts me down and this cute small thing keeps on waiting for me in the refrigerator. I am still fighting with the cold and bad throat but cannot fight with the craving for warm bowl of creamy soup.

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Roasted Acorn Squash Soup
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • 2 Acorn Squash, halved and seeded
  • I Shallot, diced
  • 1 carrot, cubed
  • I green Apple, cubed
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • Few fresh Sage
  • 1/2 tsp. Cumin Powder
  • 1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
  • 2 pinch of Cinnamon Powder
  • Pinch of Nutmeg Powder
  • 2 cups Vegetable Stock
  • 2 tbsp. Olive Oil
  • 2 tbsp Coconut Milk
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven at 400 degrees F.
  2. Season squash with salt and peeper.
  3. Put garlic (in a foil pouch) and squash into a baking dish with the cut side down.
  4. Bake until the flesh of the squash is soft, about 30-40 minutes.
  5. Let it cool until squash can be handled. Scoop flesh into a bowl and set aside.
  6. Heat oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Cook garlic, shallot, carrot, and apple until soft, 5 to 7 minutes.
  7. Add squash, cumin powder, cayenne powder, cinnamon and nutmeg powder. Mix it well.
  8. Now pour vegetable stock into the pot.
  9. Add fresh sage leaves and simmer it for 20 minutes.
  10. Puree the mixture with a stick blender.
  11. Stir coconut milk and season with salt and pepper.
  12. Cook more for 2 minutes. Serve with garnish of your choice.

Dry Fruit Biscuit/Cookies

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I don’t like baking cookies, not that I don’t like cookies in fact I am the official (“Me want cookie!”, “Me eat cookie!”), cookie monster of our home. And the reason for my aversion for baking cookies is, that most of them goes straight in to my much needed workouts tummy. Yeah! its strange that even the youngest one in our family does not go around the cookie jar as much as “ME”. My Love affair with cookies are not new, I still remember going to the bakery with my parents, and the first thing that grabbed my attention was nicely lined up round and square pieces of these buttery delights with different toppings and making them more desirable. Though its really hard for me to say any of them my favorite, as I love all of them equally but still i used to like flower shaped biscuit (yeah! back home we call them biscuit) with red jelly topping in the middle and coconut biscuit that looks like macaroons (or may be they were macaroons who knew then..:-)).

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I always like the idea of serving different types of cookies lined up in the tray for guests, but irony is even now, when ever they are needed my cookie jars are always empty. So I really request my friends and family to visit us either on the day I bake cookies or on the day I get my groceries from store, so that I can serve few of them to our guests and feel better while eating rest of them in privacy. :-))
Today we are talking about Nuts Cookies, these are kind of icebox cookies without eggs and with lots of nuts. We can add cardamom powder and saffron to enhance the Indian ethnic taste to our palate.

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Dry Fruit Biscuit/Cookies
Author: Bhawana
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
  • 2 tbsp. Custard Powder
  • 3/4 cup chopped Dry fruits
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
  • 2 sticks of Butter, softened
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • Sliced Nuts for garnishing
Instructions
  1. Cream butter and sugar. Add dry fruits and vanilla essence. Mix it well.
  2. Sift all purpose flour and custard powder.
  3. Mix flour into butter mixture slowly without over-mixing it.
  4. Make a soft dough out of it.
  5. Use little milk or extra flour if needed for the soft dough.
  6. Shape the dough in to logs and tightly wrap it in a wax paper.
  7. Refrigerate the logs for an hour until firm.
  8. Preheat oven at 350 °F.
  9. Cut logs in to 1/4-inch thick slices. Garnish them with sliced nuts.
  10. Bake for 12-15 mins until cookies are little brown from the edges.
  11. Cool them for 10 mins.
  12. Enjoy freshly baked biscuit/cookies with tea or coffee.

Baklava – Nutty Sweet Multilayer Pastry

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I have a Cooking Bucket List, Yes! It is long and I wanted to make each item in the list in my lifetime. When I accomplish any recipe in the list as per my satisfaction, its a proud moment for me and very motivating for my tiny cooking repertoire. Well, in a time of “no sugar-no oil” healthy food (pun intended if you find one) fulfilling cooking bucket list is a big dream. Putting check sign on any particular dish gives me immense pleasure and few extra pounds on my waist.
I wanted to share one of that happy day for me with you guys and my trophy for the day is Baklava- Nuts Filled Flaky Multilayered Pastry sweetened with rose flavored Sugar Syrup.

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Baklava is a Middle-Eastern dessert, famous all around world for its flaky, nutty, sweet and rich taste. Home made baklava tastes so good, its fresh, pastry is more flaky and crunchy and sweetness according to taste. It was in my list for really long, i have no idea why i didn’t try it before…its really easy and delicious.
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Baklava
Author: Bhawana
Nutty Sweet Multilayer Pastry
Ingredients
  • 1 box Phyllo Pastry Dough
  • 1 cup Walnuts
  • 1 cup Almonds
  • 1 cup Butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup crushed Pistachios for garnishing
  • Sugar Syrup
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 1 cup Water
  • 1 tbsp. Lemon Juice
  • (I used 1/2 tsp. Rose Water and 1 tsp. of Orange Blossom Water for extra flavor)
Instructions
  1. haw phyllo sheets according to package instructions.
  2. Mix nuts and pulse them in food processor until coarsely ground.
  3. Boil sugar and water in a pan for sugar syrup.
  4. Add lemon juice and continue boiling syrup for more 10-12 minutes.
  5. Add rose water or orange blossom water for extra flavor.
  6. Preheat oven at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
  7. Take a deep baking dish and butter the bottom and sides.
  8. Trim phyllo sheets to fit in to the baking dish.
  9. Place a phyllo sheet in a dish, butter it all over with a brush.
  10. Repeat the same process until you stack 15 sheets at the bottom of the dish.
  11. Spread half of the nut mixture over phyllo sheets.
  12. Add five more phyllo sheets brushing butter in between each sheets.
  13. Spread rest of the nut mixture over phyllo sheets
  14. Again, repeat stacking 15 more layers of buttered phyllo sheets.
  15. Cut Pastry diagonally in to diamond shapes.
  16. Pour rest of the melted butter over the phyllo sheets.
  17. Bake for 50-55 minutes until the top of the baklava are golden brown.
  18. Pour the sugar syrup on hot Baklava.
  19. Garnish with Pistachios.
  20. Set aside for few hours or preferably overnight.
  21. Enjoy the goodness of your hard-work.