strawberry jam drops

A couple of months back on my bday,one of my friend gifted me a book which she thought was apt as now that i have started a food blog ,since then i wanted to desperately make something from it,the book is just wonderful and all about baking goodies,but somehow one or the other ingredients were not in hand and so was lazying around to make but now that,that friend of mine is moving back to india i was feeling very bad and wanted to make something from that book ,so i tried the very first recipe raspberry jam drops,yes i did mentioned the name strawberry jam drops as my title because i didnt have raspberry jam i tried making with strawberry jam,actually i dont think so it will make any difference ,any of your favourite flavoured jam will do,after all at the end it depends on your family tastes and my daughter likes starwberry jam so she was kinda happy and excited as usual when i baked these stuff.Thank you so much rashmi for this beautiful gift,it was definately the best and perfect gift for this year and i was really very touched :-)

makes approx 32-34 pieces ( i made with half the qty as given below because i was trying these for the first time )
ingredients :
125gm (1 cup) self raising flour
80 gm (1/3rd cup ) softened unsalted butter
40gm (1/3rd cup ) instant vanilla pudding mix /custard pwd ( i used vanilla custard pwd )
100 gm raspberry jam ( i used starwberry jam )
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsps milk
caster sugar
method :
Preheat the oven at 180c ,line the baking trays with baking paper or grease the tray with butter and dust it with little plain flour.Cream the butter and sugar with the electric beater until light and fluffy .Add the milk and vanilla and beat till all r mixed completely.Sift the flour and custard pwd and fold in the butter mixture and make a soft dough.Divide the dough into equal marble size balls,make an indentation with finger or end of a wooden spoon in each ball.Fill the holes with your favourite jam and bake for 15 mins or till golden brown in colour.Allow it to cool for few mins and then remove them from the baking tray.These jam cookies can be stored for a week in an airtight container.

reposting : rasmalai for monthy mingle potluck party ;)

Once ,long time back we all gal friends had a lunch potluck at my place and one of my friend mamta deshmukh was suppose to make the desserts ,and there she was serving us rasmalai which was homemade.The ras she made was with evaporated milk which was less time consuming and kinda new to me,i was so amused as i never had rasmalais which were home made,we always get it ready made from the sweet marts and so i had to learn from her  immediately and i took the recipe from her.After that i made these quite a few times and now few days back we had our first family potluck with 14 adults and 5 kids and this time i had taken desserts and just cudnt think better other than rasmalais.I made 50 pieces for the first time and i was too excited  ,it was a super hit and by god's grace it came out perfect.Everyone just loved it,even i was happy with my culinary skills this time as i was very confident and it was the best sweet dish made by me so far :P.Thank u so much dear mamta for sharing such a lovely recipe.Sending this over to sara for hosting this month's monthly mingle party treats  an event started by meeta.

approx makes 10-12 pcs
ingredients :
11/2 lts full cream milk
2 -3tbsp lemon juice/ 2-3 tsp white vinegar
1 can evaporated milk
1/4 tin sweetened condensed milk
1-2tbsp sugar ( according to your sweetness adjust the quantity )
1-2 tbsps grated unsalted pistachios
1 tsp cardomon pwd
1cup sugar & 4 cups water (for sugar syrup)
few strands of saffaron ( soaked for 5-10 mins in 1-2 tsps of milk )
4-5 drops rose essence / rose water ( gulab jul )

method :
Heat milk in a pan and bring it to boil. Add  lemon juice to the boiling milk. Stir slowly and gently until white curd forms on the surface and separates from whey, switch off the flame.Cover for 2 mins then strain this milk in a muslin cloth, the curd that is obtained is called "chenna"or paneer.Wash chenna well under cold running water and twist the cloth tightly so that all the water is strained.Keep some heavy weight on paneer for sometime so that all the extra water is removed.
Boil evaporated milk in a heavy base saucepan on a very slow flame taking care it doesnt stick to the pan,keep stirring.Add condensed milk to it and mix well. Keep stirring.Bring one boil and then reduce the heat to slow. Cook for 8-10 mins.Stir occasionally to prevent its sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add sugar and cook for 5 minutes.Switch off the heat. Let this milk (ras) cool.Add rose water after it cools down.
 Knead chenna to make a smooth dough. Make small (desired size or walnut size )balls of equal size and slightly press it of the chenna keep aside.
 Next step is to make sugar syrup. Mix sugar and water in a saucepan and bring it to boil. Add chenna balls to the syrup and cook for 12-15 minutes with lid covered and in between keep an eye and can stir. Chenna dumplings will puff up. Remove the paneer dumplings from the syrup and slip them into the evaporated milk mixture (ras ).
Sprinkle cardomon pwd.Garnish with the pistas,almonds and soaked saffaron. Refrigerate and serve chilled.

cheese toast sandwhich

This is one of my personal favourites as i like cheese very much and this is my mom's recipe,infact we all siblings luv cheese very much and i still remember  years back my mom use to buy the amul cubes which we get in india ,she used to grate them and make this toast sandwhich ,we use to luv those cubes very much and while grating i use to tell my mom to make only plain cheese sandwhich without any vegetables even that tastes yum with little black pepper pwd  in it ,this is perfect breakfast for kids also,my daughter too loves it .Now that im here ,outside india i have used store bought shredded cheese which is quite handy though i still miss the taste of those amul cubes :),after toasting them in sandwhich maker ,it becomes crisp from outside but creamy and mouth melting from inside,thats what i like about it.Wish i could take the pictures of inside of the sandwhich part, after these two clicks my camera battery was over,but atleast i managed to take these pics,it was showing low battery sign that time but i wanted to somehow take few pics  of them and damn.... these low battery things :( and by the time i charged my camera it was very obvious ........

 Approx : makes 4 sandwhiches
ingredients :
1-11/2 cup shredded  cheese ( i used mozerella )
1 small finely chopped onion
1 small finely chopped tomato
2 tbsp finely chopped capsicum
salt to taste
black pepper pwd to taste
kala namak ( black salt ) to taste
8 any sandwhich size bread slices
salt to taste
butter
green corrainder chutney
method :
Mix cheese,onion,tomato,capsicum,salt,pepper and kala namak together and keep aside.Take 2 bread slices and spread chutney on one side  of the bread and butter on the other side,spread around 2-3 tbsp of cheese filling between the two breads  on the chutney side and the butter side should be on top.Preheat the sandwhich maker,place the cheese sandwhich and  toast till crisp from outer side and cheese is melted in between,make the same with the remaining breads and fillings..Serve hot with tomato ketchup.
pls note : if you dont have the sandwhich maker,you can try toasting it on a preheated nonstick tawa/griddle on a medium flame also.

chocochip-walnut and banana bread

This is my second attempt for banana bread, first time i made ,it was a couple of months back but it was a disaster though the taste was fine but the appearance and texture was not good and so i was little upset but few days back when i saw malika of veg bowl's post on chocochip banana bread i was quite happy and excited as now i had an easy and a perfect eggless banana bread  recipe on hand and i thought of giving it a try,i sticked to the recipe as this time i didnt  want any disaster and was super excited with the results,it was perfect ! thanx MD for sharing this wonderful recipe ,it was a big hit  and soon im gonna make it again :).I had very few choco chips on hand and so i added little walnuts in it,also i love the combo of walnuts and banana,though my clicks are not so good and cannot be compared to MD's but the taste was just great :P

ingredients :
3 small riped bananas
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup oil ( i used olive oil )
1/2 cup sugar ( i used raw sugar )
1 tsp baking pwd
1/4 tsp soda bicarb
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup chocochips ( i used 2 tbsp chocochips + 2 tbsp chopped walnuts )
1/2 tsp cinnamon pwd ( optional )
method :
Mash the bananas,add milk and oil and mix together.Preheat the oven at 180 c.Grease the loaf tin.Add flour,sugar,cinnanamon,baking pwd and soda,mix all togther.Fold in the choco chips and walnuts and gently mix it.Pour the batter into the loaf tin and bake for 40-45 mins ( pls keep an eye on time and the baked goodie as all ovens differ ) or till brown in colour,keep checking in between,insert a fork or a skewer to check if its done.Cool down for a while,remove the loaf from the tin and cut into slices or any desired shape and njoy.I like my banana bread toasted with butter ;).