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Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn bake. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng
Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn bake. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng

Chủ Nhật, 17 tháng 3, 2013

Homemade Bagels with Jalapeno Cream Cheese spread


This is another one in the line of my attempts to recreate at home a commonly available preparation that I thought for the longest time nearly impossible or at least too difficult to create at home. The humble bagel definitely proved to me it sure is a little tricky and requires attention to detail to get the best result. I speak from experience. The first time I tried it, it got too chewy and tough. After much I though I figured out where I was going wrong. To get the right taste and texture, you have to be very mindful of how long you boil the dough, the right pinch of baking soda and finally baking it just right. Once you get it how you want it, and not to mention with the easy-to-put-together but outta this world jalapeno spread, a fresh out of the oven hot bagel with a spicy spread will be close to if not the best kind of bread you ever had.
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Thứ Ba, 19 tháng 2, 2013

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

If you have been a regular visitor to my blog you must have known by now that I have a clear obsession with chocolate and also most of my baked goodies are either chocolate based or consist of nutella. Every time I think of dessert, I think chocolate. Even when I am online looking for ideas, I type chocolate based search words... even when I am blog hopping, the category I check is chocolate baked goodies. You get the idea.
This time around when I was in the mood to bake some cookies I was again drawn towards making double choco, fudge (God help me :)). But this time I struggled hard and overcame my obsession. It was mainly because of my not-much-of-a-chocolate-fan hubs (how can you!). Baked a lemon cookie instead. I loved the results so much that from now on you will be seeing lots and lots of citrus in my baked goodies lol. These cookies are so fresh, light and flavorful that even a no dessert and only chocolate person like me ate 2 whole cookies (much to my hub's surprise) ha ha!!
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Thứ Sáu, 18 tháng 1, 2013

Baked Red Velvet Donuts!

My kitchen drawer where I keep my bake ware is almost always in a disarray. All the different shapes and sizes of pans and trays oftentimes do not play very well together when it comes to staying organized. Then to top that I just cannot resist buying a baking pan or tray that I come across and it catches my attention. The donut tray I used for this recipe was another such thing that I had to have when I saw it the other day at the store. It was a Wilton brand pan and this recipe was in fact right on the packaging itself. They make the perfect shaped donuts and whats better is that you can actually eat a few since they are baked and not deep fried. To kick it up another notch, if the donuts are the red velvet kind, what's not to like, after all who doesn't like red velvet cake. These came out really nice and soft and velvety and then with that cream cheese glaze on top, you just go 'yummm'. They are perfect  treat for the upcoming Valentine's day too.
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Chủ Nhật, 13 tháng 1, 2013

One Bowl Everyday Chocolate Cake

Yesterday afternoon as I sat on the couch watching TV and waiting for dear hubs to wake up from his catnap so we go shopping, I suddenly started craving for chocolate cake. Nothing too fancy, just something that felt like cake to eat and was not-so-calorie-laden. A simple no-icing chocolaty cake that I can whip up in a jiffy. That is when this was made - a one bowl wonder, fuss free cake with my everyday pantry ingredients. A very basic beginner recipe that you can try your hand at even if you do not consider yourself much of a baker. It is moist, chocolaty with a very nice coffee flavor to it, has less calories when compared to most other chocolate cakes and so it can be your everyday cake.I made this in my new cute mini loaf pans but you can make it in a regular 5 x 9 loaf pan too, just double the recipe. I like it just this way - plain and simple - but you can most certainly dress it up with some whipped cream and berries if you so please. This is a chocolate cake you throw together real quick. It goes with tea and friends coming over on semi-short notice. It also makes for a great breakfast on the go.
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Thứ Hai, 24 tháng 12, 2012

One Bowl Fruit Cake - my way!

Let's start with the disclaimer first. This is not your traditional, fully loaded fruit cake. This recipe does not involve rum, soaking, a few more time consuming steps and is not too rich either. It can be put together in one bowl in a few simple steps, tastes absolutely fabulous and looks festive with all the holiday colors. For those of my readers that have had similar growing-up experiences as I have, this cake will surely remind you of the plain old tutti-frutti cake from the local bakery that we so enjoyed. I always thought making this cake must require a complex process and machines that only factories have. So we never even tried to make it at home. Plus the fact that ovens are not a common fixture in most kitchens in India. A part of the 'factory machines' and 'complex process' in that the tutti-frutti must require some specialized machines. But the fact that they sell the tutti-frutti mix ready-made in the stores makes this cake a very easy do. A simple twist to the basic vanilla sponge to give it a holiday twist. A fun variation to the traditional cake recipe that is so popular in my family.
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Thứ Hai, 26 tháng 11, 2012

The Best Ever Carrot Cake!

If you have never had carrot cake and the thought of carrots and cake does not paint a very appetizing picture in your mind, think again. For those of you who know and like 'gajar ka halwa', you kinda got the idea already. I was a skeptic once, a long time ago, and then like with everything else food, I had to try it for myself.
This carrot cake is such that once you make it, every single person who has tasted it (including you) will ask you when you are making it again. This cake has branding value. Yes, you might be known by this cake - you know when they say so and so's carrot cake - and you will be begged for the recipe, LOL. Its really that good!
The cake is fluffy and yet has that moist texture from the carrots. The carrots blend their identity into the overall taste and texture of the cake and together with the spices like ginger and nutmeg, give this cake its unique and unmistakable flavor. The hide and seek from the pieces of nuts definitely adds an interesting play as well.
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Thứ Ba, 16 tháng 10, 2012

Mushroom Spinach Lasagna Rollups


Lasagna is many things to many people. For some it would be a daily deal, for some, a dish that they only make when their kids ask for it, for some it is an exotic dinner they have only when they visit their local fine Italian restaurant. I simply think of it as comfort food. Super easy to put together yet super impressive in the way it sounds and looks. If you love Italian food this is definitely for you, something you will most definitely want to try. It is fancy - hey it's 'Lasagna' - loaded with fresh goodness of spinach, mushrooms, creamy ricotta - hearty and beyond good! The simple twist with this preparation is that instead of the lasagna sheets being layered, the sheets instead are rolled into a... well... rollup. This is a meal you are going to remember on how well it came out and your 'customers' can be a regular feature of your weekend brunch.
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Chủ Nhật, 7 tháng 10, 2012

Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins


I must have made at least a couple of dozen different kinds of muffins in the last couple of years. Back when I started baking, what started as a 'let me see if I can bake a muffin of my own' has now almost become a chore. Especially so since every afternoon as my hungry kindergartner gets back from school, more often than not, her demand is to have a muffin for a snack. That makes my job to keep it interesting for her by mixing it up. This recipe is another variation that is derived from one of my own previous muffin recipes from here. Needless to say it worked great and also is just in time for fall.
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Chủ Nhật, 23 tháng 9, 2012

Baked Pumpkin Donuts!


You probably guessed where I am coming from with this recipe. It is that time of the year again. Fall is here and stores are already filling up with Halloween costumes, candies and other goodies and you simply cannot celebrate fall without the humble pumpkin. Right from scary looking carved pumpkins to the amazing tasting pumpkin pies, the pumpkin is everywhere. Besides the obvious reason of having the pumpkin on US Masala, the other part of the story behind this recipe is that I found this cool donut baking tray at the mall a couple of days ago. I have been on the lookout for it for a while now and I just snatched it up when I saw it laying on the store shelf. I have been itching to use it ever since I laid my hands on it and a pumpkin based baked donuts seemed like just the right thing to make.
To be honest I was a little apprehensive on how the shape and texture would turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised when I pulled the tray out of the oven. The bright pumpkin color gets you first as soon as you look at them, then as you break one apart you feel the soft yet spongy texture and knowing that they were baked and not fried, you just can't resist biting into it. The soft texture with a burst of pumpkin and cinnamon just gets you in the mood for fall and Halloween.
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Thứ Hai, 27 tháng 8, 2012

Mango Ginger Cardamom Mini Bundt Cakes


It poured all day yesterday and not just your average rain but the kind that you hear loud and clear even when all locked up inside the house over the sound of the movie playing on TV. It is surely daunting at first, scary even with the occasional loud thunder but then you start to enjoy it. Hubs decided it was perfect weather for some backyard grilling. First we decided to grill some corn-on-the-cob followed by our favorite veggie pizza. When I went looking for my pizza stone in the drawer where I keep all my baking trays and pans, that is when I saw my mini bundt cake pan sitting idle stacked away and hidden under several other trays. If you noticed recently I have made a few mango based drinks from which I had some mango puree left over. That's when this dish was decided. The cakes turned out perfect with the exotic flavor of Alphonso mangoes and a hint of ginger to kick it up a notch.
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Thứ Năm, 16 tháng 8, 2012

Olive Garden style Bread sticks


When eating out, even when I am ordering an entree that costs me twenty bucks a pop, more than waiting for my order to show up, I anxiously look forward to those tasty baskets of warm and fresh baked rolls or bread sticks. And more often than not I am sure to ask for a second helping. Yes, I am a total bread lover. Love all kinds. Love eating 'em as well as making 'em. Guess our bodies are programmed to like carbs.
Seeing the overwhelming response to the pizza hut bread sticks, I got reminded of some of the other kinds of bread I have eaten at restaurants. On popular demand here is a recipe for Olive Garden style bread sticks. And trust me I got reminded of a few others, so stay tuned :)
This one is the the easiest breads I have baked so far. The recipe is simple and almost effortless and the result is a soft flaky bread stick with a thin crusty shell that garnished with seasoning is a snack unto itself, yes feel free to sit with a knife and some butter if you must.
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Thứ Ba, 7 tháng 8, 2012

Oatmeal Lace Cookies


Yes I know, you have baked a cookie before or atleast had one. But if you haven't held one of these in your hands, you don't know what I am talking about. They say you taste food with your eyes first and these cookies are a definite treat to the eyes. When hubs picked one of these up, he turned it around a couple of times, gave it a good look and went "hmm... they look like lace", and I hadn't told him what they were named. I just smiled "they do, don't they?". They are not all about looks either. They are addictive and I am talking like potato chip addictive. You just cannot stop at one. When you bite into it you wonder how it is so thin and crispy yet manages to be delightfully chewy at the same time... and yes absolute fun to make too.
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Thứ Năm, 5 tháng 7, 2012

Veggie Pizza muffins!


he story behind these muffins is basically about how you sometimes get a crazy idea and the idea just makes you get up from the chair and go try it out. Well sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. You get to hear about the times that it does :)
In retrospect, here's what I think went through my head - I feel like baking muffins, I am not a big fan of sweet ones so they have to be savory, any old flavoring? Been there, done that - how about infuse pizza flavors in a savory muffin - get up from the chair.
Yes they turned out great. Ideal for a late afternoon snack. Just dip in some marinara on the side and off you go.

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Thứ Hai, 7 tháng 5, 2012

Nutella filled baked donut Muffins



ow many times have you picked up a donut and set it down? Did I touch a nerve there? If I did, then read-on. I don't claim these to be the healthiest things around but they are perfect when you have a serious craving for those fried beauties. You get the same donut taste without all the frying. Being smaller they also give you portion control, be cautioned though that you will be tempted to pick up a few. These are delicious little treats, baked scrummy soft fluffy doughnut muffins coated with cinnamon sugar and filled with Nutella, how can you argue with that! Hot out of the oven, you blow on them till they cool down just enough and then chomp away... yes you can close your eyes too when you eat, it adds to the pleasure. We shamelessly finished the batch and don't even have any regrets.
They are very quick and ridiculously easy to put together. They also make for a great breakfast muffin and your kids will just love them.
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Thứ Bảy, 28 tháng 4, 2012

Garlic pull apart bread


f you have known me at all over the last almost two years, you would know that among the few things that I totally love in any form, bread is definitely high up in the list. This bread was on my radar for a while just waiting for the right moment. So when I ran into the perfect recipe I just got to making it. Most of us love garlic bread. Yes I know you wait for those rolls to show up when dining out in an Italian restaurant. Those half-dozen that show up just after you've placed your order and just when you are munching on the last one, knowing well that your food is about to show up, you think twice whether you should ask for more, decide to hold back but ask for another set anyway. If that sounds familiar, you will love this bread. The added charm is that they are not just any garlic bread. Of course the intense garlic flavor with a hint of fine parmesan over a crusty yet soft bread is all there, but add to that the fact that they are a mosaic of randomly set rolls all neatly shaped up into a bundt. But wait there's more. When you see the bundt and as you admire the mosaic, just as you wonder on how to dig into it, you almost involuntarily grab a piece and pull on it and voila that's when you realize why this bread has 'pull-apart' in its name. Looks even better with a piece missing, doesn't it.
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Thứ Sáu, 20 tháng 4, 2012

4 Ingredient Nutella Brownie


rownies are not disliked by very many. People may pass on a cookie when offered one but you will definitely see them stop and give it a thought if you offered them a brownie. They may not take it sometimes for whatever their reason but I can promise you they definitely wanted to. So how do you one-up a brownie - simple - add Nutella to it. As soon as I saw this recipe there was no stopping me, especially unless you noticed already, it is really simple and straight-forward - heck even the title said there were only four ingredients. The proof was in the pudding as they say. Took me literally two minutes to mix it up and another ten to bake it - ready in under fifteen. And perfect they were - teeny bite-sized brownie with the classic crust and the ever familiar gooey chewy texture. For kicks I used my little tart pans but of course you can use your regular muffin tray.
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Thứ Bảy, 7 tháng 4, 2012

Cinnamon Rolls/Buns!

alfway through my pregnancy when I was carrying my little princess there was brief period of about a week when cinnamon roll was the only thing I would eat. We bought a whole big pack from our local Sam's club. The craving was gone in a few days but cinnamon rolls were stuck in my mind.
Cinnamon rolls need no introduction; sticky, sweet, sinful and utterly delicious. But the best thing about making your own is the irresistible aroma of the fresh rolls baking in the oven. The straight out of the oven, warm, soft and glazed rolls are heavenly you just want to dig into them and gobble them up... irresistible! On the day you feel like indulging, make these beauties.
I made them a few times since, made them again last week. Whenever I make them, the wonderful smell reminds me of my pregnancy days and then I see my little princess making a mess of herself eating them up. There is no better feeling. That makes this one special for me.
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Thứ Tư, 28 tháng 3, 2012

Tandoori vegetable paneer pizza ~ all homemade!

love Italian food. Love eating it and love cooking it. Love the different layers, flavors complex yet simple, exotic yet rustic - flavors that have stood the test of time - just like Indian food. You can sense the rich culture and the legacy from the food. When there is a mention of Italian food the first thing that comes to mind is of course the ever-popular Pizza. You guessed it, I love Pizza... a lot. Regardless of crust or toppings - pan, hand-tossed, deep dish, Brooklyn style, thin-crust even the bread and bagel pizza :). A soft chewy bread loaded with veggies and other toppings with a generous helping of cheese! Just can't stop raving. Coming to the US, I had my first ever pizza at Pizza Hut a few years ago... and boy.. I was completely hooked :-) India - at the time - was still coming of age as far as Italian food was concerned so I'd had pizza a couple of times, but this was different. Ahh the good old days.. we used to order delivery, be total couch potatoes and sit in front of the TV for hours watching the 24 hour marathons of Law and Order.

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