Cinnamon Raisin Cookies

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup raisins

 

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cream together the sugar and the butter. Mix well and then add in the eggs. Combine the flour, cinnamon and baking soda and then add to the creamed mixture. Last, stir in the milk and raisins. Drop by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10-13 minutes. Cool.

Blueberry Cake - Starbucks style

It's been ages since I blogged. Last weekend, my bro came home and asked if I could make some blueberry cake for him. Well, I asked him if he wanted muffins or cake and upon insistence set out to make some "cake". He has a sweet tooth while I don't so here's what I ended up making that finally satisfied both our taste preferences.

The ingredients I used are:

Butter - 1/2 cup
White sugar - 1/2 cup
Salt - 2 pinches or 1/4 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Eggs - 2 large/extra large (separate the yolk from the white but retain both)
All-purpose flour - 1 1/2 cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Whole milk - 1/3 cup
Fresh blueberries - 1 1/2 cup
White sugar - 1/4 cup
All-purpose flour to roll in the blueberries - 1 tbs
Brown sugar - 1/2 tsp

Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 50 mins

Its a very simple process and starts with preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In the meantime, grease and flour an 8 inch square pan or a circular one.

Now, cream butter and 1/2 cup sugar until fluffy. Add some salt and vanilla. Separate eggs and reserve the whites. Add egg yolks to the sugar mixture and beat until creamy.
            
Combine 1 1/2 cups flour and baking powder; add alternately with milk to egg yolk mixture. Coat berries with 1 tablespoon flour and add to batter. 
           
In a separate bowl, beat whites until soft peaks form.  Add 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat until stiff peaks form.  Fold egg whites into batter.  Pour into prepared pan.  Sprinkle top with remaining 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar.               
                   
Bake for 50 minutes, or until cake tests done.

You don't need to pay "Star bucks" to get that home-made taste.

 

Asparagus dry curry

Coming up next is my version of 'Aloo putt' but with a major replacement of asparagus for potatoes.

Tilapia - the American way

It's okay to pamper yourself once in a while with foods that crash all calorie count. Especially when its done with fish, there's nothing called as diet guilt.

Oven temperature - 400 degrees F
Preparation time - 15 mins
Cooking time - 20 mins

Ingredients:

4 oz lean white fish fillets ( I prefer tilapia)
Paprika (per taste)
Cooking spray
2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp finely chopped rosemary
1 medium lemon
Salt (per taste)
Pepper (1-2 tsp)
2 tbsp finely chopped parsley.
1/4 cup butter ( I use a bit lesser)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with foil and lightly coat it with some cooking spray.

Arrange fish in a single layer and lightly sprinkle paprika, salt and pepper. Lightly coat fish with some cooking spray and bake uncovered for 12-15 mins.

In the meantime in a small bowl, combine butter, thyme, rosemary, 1/4 tsp salt. grate 1/2 tsp of lemon rind and add to the butter mixture. Cut the lemon in 4 wedges and serve squeezing lemon juice over each fillet. Sprinkle evenly with the parsley and spoon equal amounts of the butter mixture on top of hot fillets.

Banana Cake

Ingredients:

Bananas- 3 large ones ripened well.
Butter – ½ cup or 1 slab (softened at room temperature)
Sugar – 1 cup (crushed)
Brown sugar – 1/5 cup (just for a touch of brown sugar taste)
All purpose flour – 1 ¾ cup
Baking powder – 1 tspn
Baking soda – ½ tspn
Egg – 2 large eggs (at room temp)
Salt - 1/4 tspn
Vanilla essence - 1 tspn

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine flour, salt, sugar, baking soda and baking powder and set aside. In a mixing bowl mash the ripened bananas well and to it add lightly beaten eggs, butter, vanilla essence and combine. Now, fold in the flour and powders and make sure you don't overmix the ingredients. Retain the "chunky" look of the cake batter. Take a 9 X 5 X 3 pan and grease it with some butter and pour over the batter. Bake until bread is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove the cake from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Yummy blueberry muffins

Baking time: 20-25 mins
Preparation time: 15 mins
Oven temperature: 400-425 degrees F.


Ingredients:

2 cups – blueberries. (Rinse them well at the nodes.)
2 ½ cups – all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
¼ cup butter (melted at room temperature) and ¼ cup veg. oil
2- 2 ½ tsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cup sugar plus 1 tsp
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp brown sugar.

Getting blueberries ready:
Step 1: In a small saucepan set over medium heat, combine one cup of blueberries with one teaspoon sugar. Bring it to a simmer. Stir frequently while cooking until berries have broken down and mixture has thickened. Notice the quantity reduces to about 1/4 cup. Remove pan from heat; set aside and let cool to room temperature.
Step 2: Sprinkle a scant tbsp of all-purpose flour over remaining the other cup of blueberries and toss to coat; set aside.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Now, in a medium bowl, whisk together sugar and eggs until mixture is pale yellow, thick and fluffy. While whisking, slowly pour in melted butter and oil and mix well. Whisk in buttermilk and vanilla until completely incorporated. Make sure you don’t whisk too long. It’s ok if you find lumps here and there. Using a spatula, gently fold in the egg mixture and the flour coated blueberries (of Step 2) into flour mixture until just incorporated. Do NOT overly mix.

Now in a standard 12 cup muffin pan, place the muffin cups/papers and start distributing the batter. Make sure the batter just fills in the cup without mounding since the next step would be to place a teaspoon of cooked berry mixture above the batter in 12 cups. You could either mix the berries with batter or have them just as topping. Sprinkle just a pinch or two of brown sugar as the final topping.
Place in oven and increase temperature to 425 degrees F. Bake muffins. Depending on how long you took to prepare the batter, it can take anywhere between 20-23 minutes for the muffins to bake. As usual, prick a toothpick into the center of muffins to test if they’re done. Ready muffins will leave no trace on the toothpick. Take them out and let cool.

Banana Cake coming up...

Thanks to my in-laws at home, I've got back to honing my culinary skills. Low sugar banana cake is my m-i-l's favorite and sometimes mine, too, the recipe of which I'll post, shortly.