Double chocolate m&m cookies

If you are a chocolate fan, then this chocolate cookie will definitely become your most favorite cookie if you taste it one time. Cookies are my favorites to make, but I bake special desserts like this only during Christmas, Easter or for some church functions, festivals, or for my niece. I think this is the first dish that made her fall in love with my cooking. Chocolate is not my hubby's  favorite flavor. So I won't make anything with chocolate unless I find a reason (still I crave for chocolate).  For the first time I made this cookie while we went to meet my niece in her dorm, after that this has became a regular code for her and me to say our love for each other ☺️Also these 'chocolate chip m&m cookies' tastes  extremely delicious and 'rich' and definitely a 'crowd pleaser' for all festivals.

Double chocolate chip m&m cookies

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2 cup

Coco powder - 2/3 cup 

Baking soda - 3/4 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Creaming wet ingredients:

Butter - 1 cup (2 stick)

White sugar - 3/4 cup

Brown sugar - 3/4 cup

Egg - 2 (large)

Vanilla extract - 2 tsp

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Others:

M&M- 3/4  cup + 1/4 cup (or lesser as per need)

Chocolate chip - 1 cup

Method:

First the wet ingredients: Melt the butter (microwave for 30 seconds). Pour it into a large mixing bowl (or kitchenaid stand mixer bowl).

Mix the butter , sugar manually by using a whisk or by using stand mixer whisk attachment or a hand mixer.

Add egg, vanilla, lemon juice and mix well till sugar is dissolved.

Next comes the dry ingredients:

Sift the flour into the mixing bowl. 

Add coco powder (I use Hershey's brand), baking soda, salt , Mix well at high speed for 1-2  minutes until everything becomes a dough.

Then add 3/4 cup M&M chocolates, chocolate chips(Hershey's or Ghirardelli brand) and mix them for 30 seconds (or just mix with hands). 

Take out this dough and wrap using a plastic wrap. Keep in fridge (upto 30 minutes or until needed). 

Baking:

Preheat the oven to 350°F .

Before baking take the dough out and keep in room temperature for 10 minutes.

Take out small balls using a cookie scoop or hands.

Roll to balls. Flatten a little and place in baking sheets.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. 

Take out carefully using a spatula and let them cool over wire racks. 

Decorate:

If desired press some M&M on freshly baked cookies (instead of adding to dough) while they are still soft or just before baking. 

Double chocolate m&m cookies is ready !

FYI:

This cookie dough should be kept in fridge for atleast 1-2 hours before baking. Dough stays safe in fridge up to a week or in freezer for longer time (say a month or more). 

This cookie dough should be rolled to small balls and flattened a bit while arranging on baking tray. Don't try scoop and drop style.

Serving suggestion:

Serve as dessert or snack.

These cookies tastes extremely delicious and intoxicating, so consume in moderation 😀

Happy Cooking !

Orange cinnamon rolls

Cinnamon bun is an easy to make recipe.  We can see this dessert in many restaurants here. Also ready-made and ready to bake versions can be bought from grocery stores. Usually this bun should be glazed with white powdered sugar.  But I wanted to try something different and I tried 'Orange cinnamon rolls' from the book 'Trisha's Table' , which I got from library.  The citrus flavor in this recipe makes the usual rolls more scrumptious. Try this and enjoy !

Orange cinnamon rolls

Steps:

This is the first recipe I tried as soon as I got a kitchenaid mixer from Santa during Christmas ☺

cinnamon sugar over the dough

before rising. In this stage, we can wrap and keep it refrigerated overnight to bake freshly the next morning.

After baking

Orange cinnamon rolls

For Dough:
Active dry yeast - 1 pack (2 1/4 tsp)
sugar - 1/4 cup + 1 tsp
lukewarm water - 1/4 cup
olive oil - 1/4 cup
orange zest - 1 tbsp
orange juice - 1/4 cup
whole milk - 1/2 cup
All purpose flour - 3 1/2 cups
salt - 1 tsp
For filling:
salted butter (softened) - 3 tbsp
light brown sugar - 1 cup
cinnamon powder - 1 1/2 tbsp
Orange glaze:
confectioner's sugar - 2 cup
orange juice - 3 tbsp

Method:
Combine yeast, 1 tsp sugar, lukewarm water together in a small bowl. Let it activate for 10 minutes. It will bubble and double in volume.
In another bowl, mix together sugar, oil, orange zest, orange juice and milk.
In an electric mixer bowl, add four and salt. Add yeast solution, orange juice mix. Fix the dough hook and set it to speed 2 and 3 and beat till it becomes a dough. It may take 5 minutes.
Or we can make this dough manually too.
Now cover that mixer bowl with an air tight plastic wrap. Let it remain in room temperature for 1 hour and see that it gets double in size.

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Coat a baking tray with cooking oil and keep aside.

Clean the kitchen counter and flour the surface. Roll the dough to a rectangle of 1/4 inch thickness. Coat the dough with butter leaving 1/4 inch border. Sprinkle brown sugar and then cinnamon powder over it.
Roll the dough to a cylindrical shape and pinch the ends together and seal completely.
Cut it into 12 equal size rolls. Place them in the baking tray. Cover it with plastic wrap again and let it rise for 30 more minutes. Now it would double in volume.
Now remove the wrap and bake for 25 to 30 minutes. It will turn mild brown and that means it is done.

In a small bowl, mix together confectioner's sugar, orange juice. Drizzle this over the cinnamon rolls , while they are still warm.
Orange cinnamon rolls is ready !

Serving suggestion:

Serve as dessert or breakfast.

Makes 12 rolls.

Peach cobbler

Last month when peaches were at their peak season (mid July- August) in our local markets we bought pounds of them. After eating a few as fresh I wanted some new ways to utilize them all, as they can stay good for a week or so. Then I looked through my bookmarks and found this delicious peach cobbler by Paula deen . When I made it the first time, hubby dear got very excited and it became his new favorite. I don't know why, but all the desserts becomes his favorite:) Then he brought home more peaches , as he wanted to host a party for our friend Raynor's family and another party for my friends. I made this dessert during two consecutive weekends and enjoyed this dessert with our friends.

Peach cobbler with almond kulfi ice cream

.

Peaches.

I have added a few strawberries too.

cook the fruits with sugar.

Flour mixture over molten butter.

Then pour the hot fruit sauce.

baked peach cobbler.

Peach cobbler with ice cream.....an yummy treat!

(I have altered Paula's recipe to suit my 9 x 13"glass baking dish)
Southern ladies call this ingredients list as cuppa , cuppa , cuppa , which means 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk. Easy way to remember, but I have added little more flour (like Paula) to get a thicker crust.

Ingredients: 
for fruit sauce:

Peaches - 3 to 4
sugar - 1 cup

water - 1/2 cup

cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

for crust:

sugar - 1 cup
butter - 1 stick (8 tbsp)
self rising flour - 1 1/2 cup
milk - 1 cup
cinnamon powder - 1/4 tsp

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (for metallic baking pan) and 325 def F (for glass baking dish). I used pyrex baking dish and it should not be heated above 325 deg.

Peel the peaches and remove the seed. Slice them thinly. If using strawberries, then chop them too. Put the sliced fruits, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water , 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder in a pan and bring to a boil. Simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Keep aside.

Put the butter in the baking dish and place in oven and let it melt.

In a separate mixing bowl , add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk, 1 1/2 cup self rising flour and mix to a fine batter.  Take out the hot baking dish and pour this flour mixture over the hot butter. DO NOT STIR.

Slowly spoon the hot fruit mixture over top, DO NOT STIR.

Sprinkle some more cinnamon powder on top.

Bake for 30 to 45 minutes. The batter will rise up and cover the fruits. Check by inserting a toothpick.

Serving suggestions:

Serve warm as dessert along with a scoop of ice cream or with whipped cream.

Note:

Use self rising flour only or prepare one using AP flour and right proportions  of other ingredients.

Follow the instructions carefully, as each and every step is important in this recipe.

This is a very easy dessert recipe and can be prepared days ahead. Keep it refrigerated if prepared ahead.

The cobbler should rest for 15 minutes immediately after baking, to soak up the juices.

Always serve this warm to enjoy the flavor of butter and fruits.

Strawberry Ice cream

This is an eggless version of ice cream. There are many methods to prepare an ice cream , such as by boiling milk with custard powder, using eggs, using flourn etc. The packaged ice creams we buy in the stores are made by any one of the methods above.
But the No-cooking ice cream or an ice cream made with condensed milk is more famous among American households. This recipe is known for its lesser number of ingredients and the simplicity. The interesting facts are the lesser calories involved and the health benefits we get from a real fruit.

Here is a strawberry Ice cream I made for hubby and his friends. Inspired by cooks.com website.

Ingredients:

sweetened Condensed milk - 1 can (14 oz) (400 gm)
whipped topping - 8 oz container (250 gm)
strawberry - 20 number (see measurement *)
strawberry (finely chopped) - 2 tbsp

The whipped cream, condensed milk and strawberries.

Method:

All the ingredients mixed before freezing.

Wash and clean the strawberries. Remove the bracts / leaves.
Grind the fruits to get a smooth puree. Reserve 2 fruits for garnishing.

In a mixing bowl add the condensed milk and fold in the strawberry puree.
*(After pouring the condensed milk, measure the fruit puree in the same can. It should be almost 1.5 to 1.75 times that of that can).

Add the whipped topping and mix gently. Add the chopped strawberries. The fruits should be chopped finely, otherwise they taste like ice crystals.

Transfer to a container, close and keep frozen for nearly 4 hours.

Strawberry ice cream served with sliced strawberries and blue berries.

Strawberry ice cream is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Makes nearly 15 big scoops.
Place the ice cream outside for 5 minutes for easy handling.
An ice cream scoop dipped in water makes the job easy.

Approximate calorie calculation:

From fat-free condensed milk - 1300 Kcal
Whipped topping - 100 Kcal
Strawberry (8 fruits = 45) - 120 Kcal

Total calories in the whole batch = 1520 Kcal (approx)
1/15 of the above said will yield 100 Kcal. So it can be had as a safe and satisfying dessert.

Plain Vanilla cake

Nearly a month ago I wanted to make a plain vanilla cake. Though very long back I tried some method (before the blogging era) , I was not pleased with the outcome.So after a lot of googling and blog hopping, I got a solid idea and some confidence to make it from scratch. There were many recipes and I chose to try Cham's infallible Plain vanilla cake recipe and the result was amazing.

Thank you Cham!

The below recipe is from Cham of Spice club. I have halved the quantity to make one 8x8 inch cake. Click to see the original version.

Plain vanilla cake baked and allowed to cool before slicing.

Plain vanilla cake sliced and arranged.


Ingredients:  (To make one 8x8 square cake)
All purpose flour (maida) -  1 cup
sugar- 3/4 cup
egg - 3 (medium size eggs)
butter (unsalted) - 1 stick (8 tbsp / 113 gms)
Salt - 1/8 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Method:

Bring the eggs and butter to room temperature , by keeping them outside the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Grease the baking pan with 1/4 tsp butter.

Mix the dry ingredients like maida, baking soda, baking powder by sieving twice.
(This makes the cake spongy).

Add the egg, butter, sugar, vanilla essence , salt to a blender / mixie and beat till it turns fluffy.

Add the dry ingredients and beat well. we can mix the dry ingredients by using a fork / spatula also.

Pour the cake batter in to the greased pan and shake / tap it to release the air.

Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
(Test the quality of baking by inserting a skewer and see if it comes out clear).

Plain vanilla cake is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve as dessert or tea time snack. Icing is optional.

Calorie calculation: (from main ingredients)
AP flour 1 cup = 400 kcal.
Sugar 3/4 cup = (1 tbsp = 45) = 45 x 12 = 540 Kcal
butter 1 stick = 100 x 8 tbsp = 800 Kcal
egg 3 = 70 x 3 = 210 Kcal

Total calories (approx) in this plain vanilla cake = 1950 kcal

(data courtesy : Livestrong.com)

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Small 6 inch cake recipe

For a 6 x2 inch round cake: 

unsalted butter 5 tbsp, softened

sugar 1/2 cup

large egg 

vanilla extract 1 tbsp

all-purpose flour 3/4 cup +2tbsp

corn starch 2 tbsp

salt 1/8 tsp

baking powder 3/4 tsp

curd (plain yogurt) or milk - 4 tbsp

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.

Sift together flour, corn starch, salt, baking powder. Keep aside.

In a mixing bowl put butter, sugar - beat for 2 min using an electric beater.

Add milk, egg, vanilla, beat together for 2 mins.

Add the flour. Beat for 1 minute.

Prepare a baking pan by applying butter a coating and coat with 1 tsp four.

Bake for 30-35 mins. 

Banana Walnut cake

Hi friends!

Happy to meet you all after a gap.Thanks for all your encouraging comments and mails that keep me going. Sorry, I missed many of your delicious posts and trying to catch up now:) The summer and the vacations made me quite busy and tired. The heat is horrible here, but couldn't stop us from roaming around and swimming (Don't imagine me with a lot of swimming skills, I am a learner for a long time).Moreover I tried a lot of recipes and waiting to share them with you all.

Let's start with something sweet. Here is a version of a very moist, spongy banana walnut cake. I got the recipe from this website. It is a very successful one and the best cake I have ever tasted. Try and let me know:)

Cake batter prepared without any lumps.

The Banana walnut cake is baked.

Banana walnut cake sliced and served.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2 1/2 cup
Baking soda - 1 tbsp
salt - 1/8 tsp
butter - 1/2 cup (8 tbsp or 1 stick)
(don't use oil here, as I am calculating the moisture from butter too. Otherwise we may need to add some water also)
White sugar - 1 cup
Brown sugar - 3/4 cup
egg - 2
Ripe banana - 4 (long ones)
butter milk - 2/3 cup
(2/3 cup milk + 1 tsp vinegar can be substituted here)
walnut (chopped)- 1/2 cup
vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F (175 deg C). Grease two (8"x8" square) cake pans with 1/4 tsp butter (each).

Chop the walnuts into small pieces and mix a tsp of all purpose flour with it.

Add the egg, butter, both sugars,salt,vanilla essence, buttermilk to a mixer / blender and beat till it turns fluffy.

Pour it to a broad mixing bowl.

Then put the bananas in the mixer and slightly mash them (two or three pulse is enough). Add it to the mixing bowl. Mix well.

Now sift the flour with baking soda twice (to make the cake fluffy) and put it in the mixing bowl. Beat and mix the batter very well using a fork or whisk (not a blender, as the bananas will get over mushy).
In between, if you see some lumps, then leave the batter for a 5 minutes and then start beating. This helps in soaking and a smooth batter without any lumps.

Stir in half the chopped nuts.

Pour the prepared batter in the pans for two inches height and spread the walnuts over the batter. Bake the cake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Insert a skewer to check if the cake is completely baked.

Take out and place on a damp towel to cool (This generates much steam and makes the cake moist). Then carefully remove from the pan and cool completely (for an hour or more).

Then slice and serve with or without frosting.

Tips:

Don't open the oven for the first 35 minutes.
The cake will be fluffy as soon as we take out of the oven, but after a few minutes it will loose the bump in the top.Don't panic, this will not affect the texture of the cake.
Always use the well ripened (skin turned black) banana for making a cake.
We can freeze and store the bananas that turn black and of no further use. Remove the skin and store them in zip lock covers in freezer. Just bring them to room temperature and blend in the liquid that oozes out also.
Cream cheese frosting is the usual one.