There are few things in life that can be deterred to a later date. Baking is one of them. Just last night I watched two sisters, create an amazing flourless sugarless warm chocolate pudding with figs…yeah, it was a gooey mess, and i mean that in a very, very good way. The recipe by Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley on Hemsley & Hemsley had to be replicated in my own style.
Holi does call for delicacies and desserts! Given my penchant for no-sugar added cooking and doing something out of the box, I gave the traditional gujiya a twist! Gujiyas are nothing but sweet dumplings made of maida and filled with a delightful khoya and dry fruits mixture that are popularly made in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh during the festive season. Sadly, they are deep-fried in ghee and dipped in a sugary syrup! Not something I would cook in my kitchen and yet one has to keep up with tradition! I trapped my dry fruits mix in phyllo pastry and baked it! The sweetness came from the dry fruits and the crispy crackle of the pastry, just added to the delight!
I was completely out of ideas. I knew I wanted to bake a soft, springy, light cake, but had no idea what!…it was just one of those days when you have a party at home and want to bake to destress..I finally let my colleagues at work decide the dessert. Within no time they were all of Pinterest pulling out the most amazing cakes. This one by Julia won my heart…it had two of my favourite ingredients blueberry and peaches. Sadly I didn’t get any fresh peaches and had to use fresh apricots instead…
This rich buttery but healthy pound cake has always been on my must do list. I’ve often used oats to bake with but never experimented much with flours and cake, so this was a first for me. So with gingerly steps I actually followed Martha Stewart’s recipe to a point and then well, then my second nature got the better of me. I went experimental 🙂 What emerged was a delicious, soft, dreamy, pillowy pound cake with all the goodness or barley and the richness of the cream cheese.
The sun’s hard and harsh rays are sadly forcing the strawberries into oblivion. 🙁 But I must say, this year, I’ve eaten strawberries almost right through the season and I bid adieu to my most favourite fruit with nothing less than a sugar-free pie!
There’s something about this luscious fruit with at least 200 seeds that makes people go crazy about it. It’s believed that in the yesteryears, the royals feasted on this fruit and newlyweds were entitled to strawberries with soured cream as a wedding breakfast, believing them to be an aphrodisiac. I however dig them for their nutritional value: vitamin C and K, a good dose of fibre, folic acid, manganese and potassium and they help regulate blood sugar levels. Could I ask for more?
Summer’s here. After a gap of almost two months the ACs have been switched on again. My fridge is full of fruits and cold soups. It’s time to say bye to the heavier creamier dishes. This weekend I saw myself churning up chutneys for my chat party—pani puri, bhel, sev puri and making this super light and cold version of a chiffon pie made to celebrate the oranges!
If there’s anything I love, it’s a good dessert to end my meal and a good digestif to end the day 🙂 This lemony cake was first baked 3 years ago for a New Year party in Goa. It’s tangy, minty, lemony, creamy and has just the right caremalised kick from the lemon wheels that are cooked in sugar till they are crisp and brown, and sweet and sour to taste! It’s literally an explosion in your mouth. What’s more eating your cocktail is the new trend! Get ready to bake this over the weekend
This week has been a crazy one…from making my first homemade almond milk to cooking the 8-layer box sandwich to spending my time researching on a new line of a product a friend wants to introduce into the market next year. It was R&D time all the way. And I had friends dropping in for a quick snack that ended up to be really long snack-rolled into dinner break too. To my horror my pantry wasn’t a well stocked one that evening. I had to literally pull something out of almost nothing. That’s when I remembered having seen a cheese ball on Pinterest some months ago. This Cheese Ball is a product of all the time I spent online. 🙂
I don’t know about you, but I am gearing up for a super lazy weekend, where the food cooked is simple, quick and lulls you back into lazydom 🙂 Potatoes thus are an important part of this meal. Throw in some eggs for the proteins and a quick salad for the fibre, a glass of wine stirred into some wholesome mushroom and sausages and I am set. Does that seem like too much work?
You will be surprised! This meal, and I mean all 3 dishes, will take you all of 45 minutes to put together from washing the veggies to finish. I told you it would be a lazy meal! 🙂
2016 has brought with it a whole lot of guests and entertainment. I’ve literally thrown a party every other day of the year so far! But it’s been a fun fortnight with my refrigerator always full of desserts and pastries and quick bites and materials to put together a quick snack.
Yes, it is a good idea to keep some pastry dough handy at all times. Now I come from a family that doesn’t use a microwave so yes it does get difficult to defrost the dough before it can be rolled into these french delicacies, but it’s all part of the game. But if you aren’t as crazy as I am, you can buy these and regular ready to use tart bases at any grocery store, In Mumbai ‘Camy’ or ‘Nature’s Basket’ is a good place to shop for them.