Snow Ball / Mexican Wedding Cake

Snow Balls or Mexican Wedding Cakes Recipe:

• 2/3 cup nuts ( pecans, walnuts or cashew nuts)
• 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

How to make it?

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven.
2. Place nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, or until lightly brown and fragrant. Cool. Once the nuts have cooled completely place them, along with 2 tablespoons of the flour from the recipe, into your food processor, fitted with a metal blade, and process until they are finely ground if you like to bite the nuts in between, don't have to make it finely ground.
3. In the bowl of your mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). 
4. Add the vanilla extract. 
5. Add the remaining flour and salt and beat until combined. 
6. Add the crushed /ground nuts. Cover and refrigerate the dough for about one hour or until firm. 
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F . Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Form small balls and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 15 -17 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, place the 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar in a bowl. Take the still-hot cookies and roll them in the sugar, one at a time. Place on a wire rack to cool. Or you can simply place the confectioner's sugar in a strainer and sift the sugar over the tops of the cookies. Let cool completely before storing. 

Carrot Date Cake

Carrot Date Cake 

( Moist and Chewy Carrot Date Cake)

What you need to get started?

Flour -  1 cup
Baking Soda - 3/4 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Eggs - 2 large
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Sugar -  1/2 cup to make caramel
Canola Oil - 3/4 cup
Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
Grated Carrots -  1 cup
Chopped Dates -  1 cup
Sliced Cashew Nuts - 1/2 cup

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• First Start with the Caramel, this gives it time to cool while putting together the rest of the ingredients.
• In a saucepan, heat the 1/2 cup sugar in medium flame. Do not stir. Swirl the saucepan on and off.
• When the sugar has melted and the desired color of caramel has been achieved, add 1/4 cup hot water and set aside to cool.
• Beat the eggs and sugar until creamy and smooth.
• Add vanilla extract and oil to the above liquid mixture and mix well.
• Add the cooled caramel syrup to the above mixture and mix well again.
• Add the baking soda to the flour and sift well and add this to the liquid mixture and stir well.
• Save one spoon of dates for later, and add the chopped dates, carrots and cashew nuts to the above batter and stir well.
• Add  1/2 tablespoon of flour to the tablespoon of dates that was set aside and add to the cake mixture.
• Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 - 45 mins.

Enjoy the chewy yummy Carrot Date Cake.  :-)

Ladooooooos

Making Ladoos has never been easier! This is the easiest and the least complicated recipe I have come across. Very minimal ingredients...easy peasy it is! By the way, this was my first time making it and I thoroughly enjoyed it...

Ingredients:

Boondies:

Gram flour - 2 cup
Food color - 1 tsp
Water - 1 cup ( make a thick batter, ensure there are no lumps )
Water - 1/2 cup ( to make a thinner batter, runnier, this is what you need, flowing consistency)
Black current -  1 tablespoon
Cashewnuts chopped- 1-2 tablespoons
Ghee - 1 tbsp

Fry the Boondies, ensure that the oil is really hot, else you will get big lumps. the idea here is that the boondi should cook as soon as it falls into the oil so that they don't stick together.

Sugar Syrup:

Sugar -  1 cup
Water - 1/2 cup, let sugar dissolve, boil for about 5 mins.
Cardamom Powder - 1/4 tsp
Lemon Juice - 1/2 tsp ( add while the syrup is boiling to prevent crystallization)


Method:

1. Once the syrup is ready, switch off the flame.
2. Now add the fried boondies into the sugar syrup.
3. Close and keep for 5 minutes so that the boondies soak well in the syrup.
4. Add 2-3 tablespoons of chopped cashew nuts.
5. Add 2-3 tablespoons of black raisins.
6. Add 1 tablespoon of ghee.
7. Make round balls and enjoy !!!!

Hot Apple Crisps with Cold Vanilla Ice cream

For those of you who have tried this, by now you know what I'm talkin' about. This I had this one it at a friend's place and just wanted to come back home and try making it for myself.

For those of you who have not tried this, there are four parts to this dessert,  the fruit filling, the topping, vanilla ice cream and the caramel sauce that you pour over this ...

Preheat the over at 350 degree F.

Prepare the Fruit filling:

What you need for the fruit filling :

6 Baking Apples ( go for sweet juicy ones)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour

Peel the skin of the apple and slice them really thin.
Then mix all of the above and spread them on a baking pan, like in the pic below:

To prepare the topping:

What you need for the topping:

1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled out oats ( please use only rolled out oats, i used steel cut oats here as I didn't have                                            rolled out oats)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 stick butter ( make sure the butter is soft, then u don't have to use all ur muscle power trying to                                mix it with the other ingredients)

• Mix all of the above, it will be of crumbly texture , like the picture below

( sorry about the picture quality, my hands were all messy and I'm definitely not an expert clicking a pic holding the camera in one hand )

• Spread the topping over the fruit filling

• Bake it in the over for around 30-40 minutes, when you see the fruit filling later bubbling, that's when you know its ready, like the picture below
  
  

• Cut it into squares and serve it hot with cold vanilla ice cream and pour some caramel sauce over it and ENJOY !!!!!!

How to prepare Caramel Sauce

You can prepare this while the apple crisp is getting ready in the oven.

1 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup half and half 

4 tbsp butter

salt - a pinch

1 tbsp vanilla extract

Mix together brown sugar, half and half, butter and salt and cook for 5-6 minutes . Gently whisk while cooking, then add vanilla extract and continue to cook, until you get it in a thicker consistency. This is how it looks...

ENJOY UR APPLE CRISP ;-)

Carrot and Cashew nut cake

This is a super moist and tasty cake. If you are not a big fan of  the usual plum cake, this is definitely the one. I made a few of them during Christmas and gave it to a few neighbors and friends and I was so glad to find a cake tin to gift this in and I also had a cake pan that makes cakes that fits well into these " gift tins".

Here are a few pics...

Ingredients you need to get started

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup
Baking Soda - 3/4 tsp
Baking Powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Vegetable/Canola Oil - 3/4 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Egg - 2 large
Vanilla Extract - 1 teaspoon
Grated Carrot - 1 cup
Chopped Cashew nuts - 1 cup

Caramel

Sugar - 3/4 cup
Hot water - 1/4 cup


Method:

1) First prepare the caramel and keep it aside to cool. For this, heat sugar in a dry pan on medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally. Make sure you don't use a spoon to stir the sugar.

2) Make the caramel dark, make sure it does not burn. Add hot water to the caramel and switch off the flame. The caramel dissolves well. Keep it aside to cool.

3)Prepare the cake pan, by lining it with a parchment paper, use the parchment paper so that the sides of the cake don't get hard. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F/ 180 degree C.

4) Prepare the dry ingredients. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Keep it aside.[ I do this in a medium sized bowl. I like to use the largest bowl I have for the wet ingredients for two reasons, one, so that the liquid won't splash out if you are using a hand blender and two, because you will eventually be adding the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients bowl ].

5)Beat the eggs and the sugar well, then add oil to this and beat till you get a creamy consistency.

6)Add the cooled caramel and vanilla essence to the above mixture and mix well.

7) Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir, not too much but just until everything is mixed well.

8) Add a teaspoon of flour to the grated carrots and chopped cashews and add it into the mixture and give a quix stir with the spatula.

9) Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, till the cake rises well, but make sure you don't over cook it else it will lose the moisture and cake will be dry. When the cake is cooled, enjoy it, its a very moist cake and tastes so good !

Let me show you a pic of the same recipe cake which I made with a lighter caramel. So, you can decide if you want a lighter one or a darker one, both are really really good.

Also, I made this cake in all different sizes of cake pans, here are a few pics...

They make such beautiful gifts too...

HAPPY BAKING, ENJOY THE CAKE AND GIVE IT TO SOMEONE YOU LOVE !

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

No Bake Oreo Ice Cream Cheese Cake

I saw this on youtube and it looked super easy and of course, one could never go wrong with  oreos whipped cream and cream cheese . Best part.... IT'S NO BAKE !!! YAY !!!

What you need to get started:


Whole cookies - 12-15   (crush them to powder form, I used the white part and the cream part and  
                                        crushed them in a food processor)
Melted Butter  - 2 table spoon
Whipping cream  - 250 ml
Cream Cheese - 100 grams
Vanilla extract - 1/4 table spoon
Oreo Bits - 4-5( broken to small bits, not crushed)
Confectioner's sugar - 3 table spoon.


Method:

1) Crush the Oreo cookies , 7-8

 2) Add 2 table spoons of melted butter and mix well.

 3) Pat the mixture onto the bottom of a 5" spring form pan

4) Beat the whipping cream well , 3-5 minutes, till you get a creamy consistency, you get the whipped cream.
Before you start working with the whipping cream to make the whipped cream, make sure the whipping cream is really cold, makes it easier to work with and I left the bowl in the freezer. Just to make it easier to work with.

 5) Mix the cream cheese, vanilla extract and confectioners' sugar well in another bowl and add bits of oreo cookies to the mixture and stir with a spatula.

 6) Mix the Whipped cream and the cream cheese mixture

 7) Spread it evenly on top of the crushed oreos in the spring pan.

 8) Arrange pieces of oreo cookies on the mixture.

Freeze to get an ice cream consistency or refrigerate to get a cheese cake consistency.

This recipe is definitely a keeper. Made it for the first time the day before yesterday, made two of it, passed on one of it to a friend of mine and she told me her son wanted it even for breakfast !

 I'm definitely making more again... my  kids loved them... and of course I couldn't resist too. Every time I make some high calorie stuff yummy stuff and  feel guilty to make it again, because I know most of it will go to mommy, I  come out of guilt thinking , after all its for the kids I'm making it :-) What a nice mom I am  !

Pineapple Cobbler

I came to know if this dessert through my friend Manju, its such an easy peasy dessert and is marriage made in heave when you have it hot with some cold Vanilla Ice Cream !!! It is so yummilicious

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
! cup of sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter
1 can ( 20 oz) pineapple chunks in juice


1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2) In a bowl mix flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk and vanilla extract and stir well.
3) When the mixture forms a smooth batter, stir in melted butter.
4)Spread some butter evenly on a 9:13 inch baking dish and scatter the pineapple chunks evenly over the batter.
5) Bake until the pineapple has fallen to the bottom of the pan and the top is puffed and golden.

The bottom and the sides will be crunchy and brown, like the one you see below.

Creamy Caramel Flan Pudding

Wish I had a better pic of this awesome pudding. This is one of the most easiest desserts to make and anyone who loves the taste of caramel will love it . I like to make the caramel a little dark, because I enjoy the bitter taste. If you don't like it bitter, make sure not to darken the caramel while making it.


Here's what you need

Sugar 3/4 Cup
Egg - 4
Milk - 1 3/4 cup
Sweetened condensed milk  - 1 can
Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon
Salt - a pinch.


Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degree f.

To make the caramel:

1. Heat the saucepan at medium heat and add the sugar with 1 tablespoon water. While making the caramel, DO NOT stir with a spoon, only hold the handle of the sauce pan and swirl it around.
2. You can switch off when you get the desired color . Remember, the darker it is, the more bitter it taste, so keep that in mind.
3. Very carefully, after its take off the stove, pour 1/4 cup of cold water into the saucepan and swirl ( Keep your face away from the pan as you do it, to avoid accidents ). Pour the caramel into the baking dish .

• Beat the eggs, milk, condensed milk , vanilla extract and salt until it all blends well and pour over the baking dish with the caramel.
• Take a bigger baking tray, fill 1" water hot water and place this tray of pudding to be baked into the bigger tray,
• Bake at 350 degree F for 30-35 minutes. It may  slightly wobble when you take it out of the oven.
• Let it cool to room temperature and then keep it in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours. 

Chocolate Banana Cake with Almonds and Chocolate sauce topping

Hmmmm..... this is soooooo good and melts in your mouth.

Here's the recipe. I found the recipe online, I made small changed to it as I like the topping with a smoother consistency. Also, I added milk chocolate with whole almonds to make the sauce just for an extra crunch.

Here's the recipe:

Dry Ingredients

1 3/4 cups of flour
3/4 cup of cocoa powder ( sift it)
2 cups of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt


Wet Ingredients

2 large eggs
1 cup ( 2 medium )brown bananas
1/2 cup milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla


Preheat oven to 350 degree F.
Beat the wet ingredients with a hand blender and with  whisk, whisk the dry ingredients together until mixed well.
Bring together the wet and dry ingredients and mix well.
The batter will be thin.
Pour it into your cake pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or a little more. You know its cooked when you insert a skewer in the centre of the cake and it comes out clean or when the edges start coming off from the side of the cake pan.


Chocolate sauce

Boil 3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream or  a little more if you like a  more runny consistency.
Take it off from the stove. Add to it 8 oz of your favorite chocolate milk or dark and 1 table spoon of butter. ( I added 3 oz of chocolate with whole almonds and 5 oz of milk chocolate).
When the cake is cooled after about an hour, pour the chocolate sauce over it.

Enjoy this hot or cold, anytime of the day !!!

Kesari

Kesari !!! I love anything sweet ! I finished most of it by myself. Luckily my husband doesn't have a sweet tooth and my kiddos don't care much for anything sweet other than cakes and chocolates. So, that made it just me and kesari ...

This is one of the most simplest indian sweets to make. you cannot go wrong.


Rava ( Sooji) -  1 cup
Milk  - 3 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Melted Ghee  - 2 table spoon
Cardamom powder - a pinch
Saffrom  -3-4 strands
Cashew nuts/Almonds - 10 ( if its cashew nuts add them whole and fry in ghee, if its almonds, grate them and add)
Raisins - 10

1. Heat Ghee in a skillet. Fry the cashew nuts, raisins and move aside. In the same pan. Fry the rava, keep stirring, till its slowly starts getting crispy.
2. In a deep pan, boil the milk, add the sugar and saffron.
3. As it starts to boil, add the rava slowly into it, siring very well.
4. Switch off.
5. Add the Cashews, raisins . I added almond shavings and raisins. Don't compromise on the ghee as it is the ghee that gives it a real good taste.

S'mores

S'mores.........Kids love this( and adults love it even more ;)  )

So this is usually done during camp fire... we did it on our BBQ grill last weekend... Wish I could keep eating 'em without thinking about health and weight.... they are so good.

Just arrange 'em on the foil tray and place over the BBQ grill till the Marshmallows and chocolate start melting. Once it melts... don't waste time, just keep throwing them into your mouth before the kids get 'em all.

Looking at the pics you will understand neither me nor the kiddos had any patience to wait for the marshmallow to melt...