Nivedhanam

My Facebook likes have crossed 500!!!! Thanks to all who have supported me… Celebrating it with a delicious cake!!! Some recipes have a very tempting name and you want to try them, but cannot due to some reason.. That is my issue with the very light Chiffon cake as it is largely dependent on Egg whites and I was so skeptical to try it when Swathi announced it for this month’s Baking Partners which was suggested by Sara. Chiffon cakes are very light and its texture primarily comes from eggs and oil. It also has a longer shelf life compared to the regular sponge cakes as it does not use any butter. I want to thank Gayathri who shared her recipe with me for this delicious cake and it was very yummy!!!. I would do this one again but next will reduce the sugar by a table spoon.

Eclairs - from the name of the recipe when I heard from Swathi for this month’s Baking partners challenge, I thought we were going to do an eclairs toffee.. silly me.. I did not know about this very delicate French pastry. Now that I learned it, let me tell you... it is very delicate, little too sweet for me and was actually not very hard to do.. I was very skeptical initially..

On day in the morning a conversation starts between me and my daughter like this:
Me - what do you want for lunch (Yes I ask my 3 year old what she wants for school everyday)
Daughter - Pizza
Me - Pizza shops are closed in the morning
Daughter - You make it at home for me amma
Me - But it will take me at least 2 hours sweety
Daughter - No I want only Pizza for lunch
Me - Confused as to what to do!!!!
My daughter is very picky in what she wants (most moms have this complaint) and she is even more picky on the things she like. She is not going to be ok with me telling her that I will do Pizza for dinner nor can I give her a bread slice with Italian Seasoning and cheese and call it pizza. She will say this is NOT PIZZA!!! So I thought I will tell her that I will give her something similar to Pizza.... After my long thought, conversation continues
Me - Ok I will make something like Pizza
Daughter - ????? gives me a look where she questions what do u mean mom!!!
Me - It is called Quick Pizza
Daughter - How will it be
Me - It will be very yummy like pizza but I will do with bread
Daughter - Ok, but you should also do Correct Pizza for Dinner today
Me - Ok will do.. and now I rush to the kitchen to do this Quick Pizza
You can adjust the amount of salt, spices, veggies and cheese in this quick pizza. Also if you are doing this for a party, then have everything ready and do the few minutes of broil just before serving. You can broil at least 4 slices at the same in the oven.

This is the first time I am doing a tart.. I generally thought tarts are made in tart pans with pastry dough, but I was partially incorrect as I should have thought as "Most" tarts are done in a tart pan with a pastry dough. Baking Partners challenge gives me an opportunity to do recipes that I might not really try... This recipe is fairly simple and can get you many rave reviews and lots of wow!!! Most of the ingredients in here are by choice, like onions, olives, cheese, sun dried tomatoes. This recipe is one of the four recipes for this month's Baking partner's challenge announced by Swathi

Neapolitan is a tri color. Have seen the very famous Neapolitan ice creams and this cake also follows the same rule of tri color. We have 3 colors in this cake - green, pink and yellow. When Swathi chose this cake for the baking partners, I was very excited as I would get to do a very colorful cake. Made some changes from the original recipe. The original recipe was done in a loaf pan, I have made this in a 9 inch cake pan, made it Gelatin free and Eggless.

 

Some recipes give satisfaction when end result is awesome, some recipes give satisfaction at each and every step.. Most recipes with yeast are of the second category if they are successful, meaning each stage calls for a test and happiness if all is well.. Yeast froths perfectly – yaay!!!, dough kneaded to a smooth and soft dough – yaay!!!, dough rises to double or triple in one hour – yaay!!!, aroma of yeast – yaay!!!, hands are so happy to work with the smooth dough – yaay!!! and when baking, the aroma and the satisfaction – yaay!! and when people see it and say – made this at home!!!!!! – yaay!!!! Now too many yaay!!! This is one such recipe where I felt so happy at each process, but I was tensed at the stage of shaping them into various shapes!!! Some shapes look so good and some not so good!! These dinner rolls is sure to get you appreciation and are so good when served warm brushed with generous butter!!! Serve them with salted butter or hot soup!! This is such a nice challenge that Swathi has chosen for this month’s Baking partners.

For this month's baking partners, the challenge was to do the Pumpkin Chocolate Chips Muffins from the joy of baking. I made this recipe into vegan by substituting eggs and butter. It was a very soft and super moist muffin and went perfect with coffee. It was also moist the next day. I halved the original recipe and got 6 regular sized muffins.

Ingredients
All Purpose Flour - 3/4 cup
Baking Soda - 1/2 tea spoon
Ground Cinnamon - 1/2 tea spoon
Ground Cloves - 1/8 tea spoon
Ground Ginger - 1/4 tea spoon
Freshly Ground Nutmeg - 1/8 tea spoon
Salt - 1/4 tea spoon
Vegetable Oil - 4 table spoons
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Egg Replacer - 1 1/2 tea spoons
Warm Water - 3 table spoons
Vanilla Extract - 1/2 tea spoon
Pumpkin Puree - 6 table spoons
Semisweet Chocolate Chips - 1/2 cup

Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line 6 cup cake liners on the muffin trays and lightly spray cooking oil spray. Set aside
Sift together flour, baking soda, ground spices and salt.
In a small bowl, mix together egg replacer and warm water and beat well until gooey and set aside.
In another bowl, mix together oil, pumpkin puree and sugar and beat well until the sugar is well dissolved and the mixture is shiny
Add the egg replacer and vanilla and mix until combined
Now add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold it gently. Once the dry is all incorporated, add the chocolate chips and fold it well
Scoop them evenly onto the muffin cups and tap them gently to release any air bubbles
Bake in the oven for around 18 - 22 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Make sure that you do not prick a chocolate chip as that will be gooey. The toothpick should not have any batter attached to it.
Allow it to cool on the cooling rack for 30 minutes and enjoy!!!
Be careful when handling the muffins, they are too soft and delicate!!


Sending this to Bake Fest#12, Vardhini's page, Know Your Sweetness - Sugar, Jagurti's page, Kid's delight, One Ingredient - Pumpkin, Nupur's What is With my Cuppa, Christmas Food Fair

My blog views crossed 10000. yayayyyyy!!!!!! Celebrating with a sweet!!! Oreo Cookies, ah so many kids favorite.. I bet there are many adults also in that list.. This is one such cookie which has lot of products from it, like I have seen an Oreo Cookie Ice-cream, Oreo Cookie Cheesecake, Oreo Cookie stuffed chocolate etc.. Oreo Cookies is so famous and to do them at home is not easy as the first thing that people relate to is the fabulous taste. This recipe however made that challenge much easier and yes the taste was awesome and it was so heavenly to eat and the fresh chocolate smell all over the house.. It was yummmm!!! I am so happy to be part of Baking Partners group and is very interesting to try these varieties!!. I added a few drops of color to the filling as my daughter loves pink cream in her cream biscuit!!. Original recipe had eggs and I have used flax seed powder to make a substitute.

Ingredients
Butter - 6 table spoons (softened)
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar - 1/3 cup
Salt - 1/2 tea spoon
Baking Powder - 1/4 tea spoon + 1/8 tea spoon
Baking Soda - 1/4 tea spoon
Vanilla - 1 1/2 tea spoons
Flax Seed Powder - 2 table spoons
Warm Water - 6 table spoons
Cocoa Powder - 1 cup
All Purpose Flour - 3/4 cup
For Filling
Butter - 4 table spoons (softened)
Powdered Sugar - 1 cup
Vanilla - 1 tea spoon
Salt - A pinch
Milk - If needed

Method
Mix together flax seed powder and warm water and set aside for 5 minutes. Now whisk vigorously until it becomes gooey. Set aside.
In a mixer, cream butter and both sugars together
Once creamy, add salt, baking powder, baking soda and vanilla until combined
Add the flax seed mixture and mix until combined
Sieve together flour and cocoa and add it to the wet ingredients all in once and mix until most of the dry is hydrated
Now turn on the mixer and mix until uniform
Knead to form a smooth ball. At this stage you could either proceed or refrigerate up to a week
If refrigerating, bring it back to room temperature before rolling
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
Line the cookie sheet with Parchment paper and set aside
Sift cocoa powder on counter and roll the dough with hand initially and then finish it off with a rolling pin to 1/8th inch thickness. Do not start with the rolling pin as it might stick a lot. Do some with hand and finish it with rolling pin
Using a 2" round cookie cutter, cut the cookies and transfer to the cookie sheet with the help of a metal spatula
Knead the remaining dough and work it all the way until most of the dough is used up.
You need not leave much gap between the cookies as they will not spread
Take a small 1 inch size dough and add 1/2 tea spoon warm water to it and mix vigorously until it becomes like a frosting
Take a toothpick and dip inside the frosting and design on top of the cookies. I wrote letters to form the name of my blog and also my daughter's name. My daughter was so excited to arrange the letters to get her name!!!. It was fun

Bake the cookie in the preheated oven for 15 - 18 minutes until they are firm to touch. Mine took about 17 minutes. It is a good practice to rotate the pan half way through (say about at 8 minutes) to ensure even cooking
Remove from oven and move the cookies with the parchment to a cooling rack and allow it to cool completely
For the filling - add all the ingredients to a mixer and beat until combined and comes to a frosting consistency. You may add milk to bring to the desired consistency.
Once the cookies are cooled completely, flip half the cookies upside down and add about a tea spoon of the frosting and close it with the remaining half of the cookies
Apply even pressure to ensure that the frosting is evenly spread and take care not to squeeze them out
Refrigerate for at least a few hours to give time for the frosting to set and serve



Sending this to Vaishali's Kid's Delight - Chocolate, Srivalli Page, Pari's Show me your Dessert, Vardhini's Bake Fest hosted by Archana this month, Fair Foods Event, Jagruti's I'm well stuffed, International celebration, Jagruti's page,  Dish it out hosted by Foodomania, Srivalli's giveaway, Spice n Sugar Tales - Cooking made easy with Chocolates