A dessert courtesy a dentist....

There is a friend A, who i got introduced to a couple of years back Since then we have been hitting it off real well sending numerous sms's revolving around everything and anything under the sun. Although she's much older to me, there's something very comforting about her. She's a good cook too apart from being a dentist (and Yes, I have a never ending fear for dentists)and sends me many a pudding recipes all through the mobile phone. One such recipe is what I have on my blog today. I have made it a number of times now and its a regular at many a households. I recently acquired a bag of hershey's goodies and their unsweetened cocoa powder works best in this pudding.

This is a very simple dessert that requires no baking and involves very little ingredients. Easy to put together, this is definitely a treat. My measurements are as per A's. According to her, Britannia milk bikis works best for the sole reason that don't get over soggy and result in a soggy crust.

What you need are (adjust as per pan size):
Britannia Milk Bikis- 3 packets
Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder-4 t heaped
Fresh Cream-200 ml
Powdered Sugar-6 T (adjust as per your taste)
Cold Milk-2 cups

Make a creamy mixture using the cream, cocoa powder and the sugar.

Grease a pan. Soak the biscuits one by one in milk and arrange them forming the base of the pudding. Add the prepared mixture covering the entire base. Follow this by another layer of biscuits and then the mix until you have finished the entire biscuits and the mix. Grate chocolate for that extra choco fix. a healthy choice is what that would be. Chill this in the refrigerator for a couple of hours then slice in.

If you are impatient like me, you'd get a slice (very mushy) as you see at the top in the picture above and the other is a well-chilled slice. A scoop of vanilla icecream would compliment this but this by itself makes a yummy desseert and beware it is addictive.

Crackers for the Daring Bakers!

A more than thousand of us daring bakers would be posting our trials with lavash crackers.

Lavash crackers was picked by Shelly and Natalie for the month of September. The challenge was gluten free/Vegan. The recipe for Lavash Crackers is from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice (pp 178 - 180).

The challenge was to make lavash crackers and make a dip/spread or a salsa to go with it. I liked the freedom of choice in toppings and the dips, the only condition being it has to be vegan/gluten free.

What you need for 1 sheet pan of crackers
1 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour or gluten free flour blend
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 Tb agave syrup or sugar
1 Tb vegetable oil
1/3 to 1/2 cup + 2 Tb water, at room temperature
Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, or kosher salt for toppings

In a mixing bowl, stir together the flour, salt yeast, agave, oil, and just enough water to bring everything together into a ball. You may not need the full 1/2 cup + 2 Tb of water, but be prepared to use it all if needed.

For Non Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Sprinkle some flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes, or until the ingredients are evenly distributed. The dough should pass the windowpane test (see http://www.wikihow.com/Determine-if-Bread-Dough-Has-Been-Mixed-Long-Enough for a description of this) and register 77 degrees to 81 degrees Fahrenheit. The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), satiny to the touch, not tacky, and supple enough to stretch when pulled. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.or2. For Gluten Free Cracker Dough: The dough should be firmer than French bread dough, but not quite as firm as bagel dough (what I call medium-firm dough), and slightly tacky. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Ferment at room temperature for 90 minutes, or until the dough doubles in size. (You can also retard the dough overnight in the refrigerator immediately after kneading or mixing).

For Non Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Mist the counter lightly with spray oil and transfer the dough to the counter. Press the dough into a square with your hand and dust the top of the dough lightly with flour. Roll it out with a rolling pin into a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. You may have to stop from time to time so that the gluten can relax. At these times, lift the dough from the counter and wave it a little, and then lay it back down. Cover it with a towel or plastic wrap while it relaxes. When it is the desired thinness, let the dough relax for 5 minutes. Line a sheet pan with baking parchment. Carefully lift the sheet of dough and lay it on the parchment. If it overlaps the edge of the pan, snip off the excess with scissors. or4. For Gluten Free Cracker Dough: Lay out two sheets of parchment paper. Divide the cracker dough in half and then sandwich the dough between the two sheets of parchment. Roll out the dough until it is a paper thin sheet about 15 inches by 12 inches. Slowly peel away the top layer of parchment paper. Then set the bottom layer of parchment paper with the cracker dough on it onto a baking sheet.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Mist the top of the dough with water and sprinkle a covering of seeds or spices on the dough (such as alternating rows of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, paprika, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, kosher or pretzel salt, etc.) Be careful with spices and salt - a little goes a long way. If you want to precut the cracker, use a pizza cutter (rolling blade) and cut diamonds or rectangles in the dough. You do not need to separate the pieces, as they will snap apart after baking. If you want to make shards, bake the sheet of dough without cutting it first.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crackers begin to brown evenly across the top (the time will depend on how thinly and evenly you rolled the dough).

When the crackers are baked, remove the pan from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. You can then snap them apart or snap off shards and serve.

A crisp, light cracker topped with cumin and chilli flakes. These were served with a sour cream dip... And yes it is a Vegan Sour Cream Dip. I had the option of a huge number of vegan dips, but I have this liking for Sour Cream and found a Vegan method to make it!

What you need for the Vegan Coriander-Jalapeno Sour Cream dip: (Adapted from theveggietable.com)

250g silken tofu
2 tbsp Lime Juice
3 tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 tsp Vinegar
Salt as per taste
1/2 cup jalapeno (pickled), chopped finely
2 tbsps fresh coriander leaves minced finely

Process all the ingredients and refrigerate prior to use.

A fun challenge because
1. I have never cooked anything entirely Vegan
2. Freedom of choice of toppings and dips
3. Far lesser dishes to clean afterwards amongst all the DB challenges so far!

Chocolate Almond Nut Cake *Baking Partners*

My home is gearing up for the season ... the tree is up, the gifts packed, the cakes and other goods being baked, packed and sent....Among the routine baking orders, here's what my daughter and I baked to take a break.. she from her exams and me from Rachel.

From this month onwards, I am baking with the Baking Partners Group and there were three recipes in keeping with the festive season. I chose to do a Brazilian Nut Cake inspite of Brazilian Nuts being unavailable in India. I chose to use Almonds instead. Am sure there will be a mighty difference in flavour between the two nuts... but trust me this cake was different and nice...

 I halved the recipe. So here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups Brazilian nuts (about 7 oz) I used Almonds

6 OZ semisweet chocolate, chopped

¾ cup Sugar

¼ cup all purpose flour

½ tsp baking powder

¾ cup (6 oz) unsalted butter slightly softened

6 eggs separated, room temperature

¼ tsp cream of tartar

Choolate Honey Frosting

½ cup whipping cream

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, very finely chopped

6 tbs (3 oz.) unsalted butter, slightly softened but still cool

3 tbs+ 1 sp-honey

Garnish

¼ cup Brazil nuts (Almonds )chopped

Cake

Preheat oven to 350F(175C). Toast nuts in a shallow baking pan in the oven for 10 minutes. Transfer nuts into large strainer.Rub nuts against the strainer with a towel and remove most of the skin and keep aside.

Melt chocolate in double boiler or heatproof medium bowl over hot, not simmering, water over low heat, stirring occasionally until smooth, remove and set aside to cool.

Butter 9”x3” springform pan, line base with parchment paper and grease and flour the sides of the pan

Grind the nuts with 2 tbs sugar into a fine powder. Transfer into a bowl and sift flour and baking powder and mix thoroughly.

Cream butter and 6 tbs of sugar and beat until smooth and fluffy. Add one egg yolk at a time and beat till all 6 are blended and pale. Stir in the melted chocolate.

In another bowl beat egg white and cream of tartar in medium speed until it forms soft peaks. Gradually beat in the remaining 2 tbs of sugar and beat till white are stiff and shiny but not dry.

Gently fold in 1/3 of the white into the chocolate flour mixture, repeat folding in batches until batter is blended.

Transfer batter into prepared pans and bake for 40 minutes or till the tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes. Using a spatula go around the cake gently and invert onto a cake rack and allow cooling completely.

Frosting

Bring cream to a full boil in a small saucepan remove from heat and immediately add the chopped chocolate. Stir quickly till the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Cool to room temperature. Hip this at high speed till it thickens and becomes pale.Cream butter in a medium bowl until it is soft and smooth, gradually add the chocolate mixture and honey and beat well

Using a long spatula spread frosting evenly on the side and top of the cake. Fill the center with flaked almonds

Since I don't want to neglect this very dear space of mine... being a part of a group of homebakers will now be my motivation to keep this space alive. Here's a little something about the group:

Baking Partners: A new Baking Group
A group of home bakers helping each other to achieve perfection.

Baking a home made Baking a homemade bread, cake or cookies will give the best outcome. However in order to achieve the best results, a perfect recipe and right techniques are required.

We are a small group of home baker friends, who love and want to learn more about the nook and corners of baking.  We are planning to try out recipes from books/magazines and cooking shows.

  Every member gets a chance to present their choice of recipe and share important points with the rest of the group.

Main purpose of this group is to learn the techniques, critic the procedure if there are ways to improve, and to eat a delicious food.

Rules are simple, we will choose one recipe and send it out to the group by 16th of every month and the reveal date will be 15th of the next month. On that day we will blog about it. A linky tool will be open during that time and each member can link their post.

First month we are going to do a recipe, 2nd and 3rd month will be a theme and the 4th month we will be back at a recipe. By doing in between recipes, we will able to learn more.

All enthusiastic bloggers interested in baking are welcome, please email Swathi  of Zesty South Indian Kitchen  at favoriterecipes12@gmail.com.

We will appreciate the use of logo or worded link that will help to spread the word.  A bunch of thanks to Tina for designing this beautiful logo

If you   want to make it a gluten or vegan free diet, you can do those modifications also.

Do join in... Am sure it will be a lot of fun....

I know this sapce has been negelected for quite a while now.. Unforgiveable I know.. A huge thank you to all who wrote in enquiring whether I was ok.. made me feel I was missed! Here is what I have been upto!

A few months back two of my homemade desserts were chosen to be served at restaurants. A lemon blueberry yoghurt cake was served at Sandy's Fresca, Chennai and Lamingtons at Ox and Tomato, Chennai. That was a dream come true seriously and I did wish for something like this to have happened some day.. but this was lady luck truly! Gradually, as orders started trickling in, I have been baking now from home.
Last month, I was a part of the home bake sale at Crimson Chakra and it was a marathon baking of sorts. A good sale it was indeed and that was truly an encouragement from the visitors who came in. If you are keen on what I have been upto , visit my page here, TangerinesKitchen and you could also order for some of my home baked goodness. This and my work of designing sarees again displayed here at Rachel are what is taking up most of my time now. Enjoying all the work while it lasts...