Eggnog Cake

I love to shop at Trader Joes! Period.

I love looking at the various aisles filled with unique ingredients and each time I visit the store, I always pick up something new to try! With the store situated one block away from my house, you can see me lurking the store often.. I have even been considering blogging about my Trader Joes' finds! 

During one such trip to the store, I happened to notice a carton of Eggnog! I have never bought or tasted eggnogs before. I came home and researched about eggnogs and happened to learn that it was a famous holiday drink.. It is made with egg and milk and rich in calories. I even came across some amazing recipes with eggnog. During my next trip I got a carton of light eggnog which is far lesser in fat and calories compared to the regular eggnog. 

I had the idea of making a simple pound cake with the eggnog. But I was too lazy to whip up my own cake and I was also running out of time. So I made use of a boxed cake mix to make this delicious cake. Any boxed cake mix can be used for this recipe. Just ignore the recipe instructions in the box and you can make this cake in a matter of minute using just 3 ingredients.

Ingredients (yields two 9 inch round cakes or one large bundt cake)

Any boxed cake mix - 16 oz ( I used Betty Crocker's Carrot cake mix)

Eggs - 2

Eggnog - 1 1/2  cups

Eggnog - 1/2 cup (for drizzling over the cake)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs and the egg nog(1.5 cups) for about a minute using an electric hand mixer.
3. Slowly add the cake mix in batches and beat for about 2 minutes until well combined.
4. Grease two 9 or 10 inch cake pans or one large bundt pan or two loaf pans with cooking spray or butter.
5. Slowly add the prepared batter to the pans.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for about 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. When the cake is done, let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and transfer it to a wire rack.
8. Drizzle the remaining half cup of eggnog over the cake. 
9. The cake absorbs all the eggnog and results in a mist and rich cake.
10. Serve the cake as a dessert!

The theme for this month's Sweet Punch Baking is 'Your Choice'. This is my entry for this month's Sweet Punch!

Sending this to Let's Cook- Baked Goodies, Cooking Concepts- Holiday Baking, A 100 Day Global Food Festival, SYF and HWS Series- Cardamom,  Jingle All The Way,  Christmas Delicacy, Sinful Delights and Bake Fest

Coffee and Chocolate Pudding

Chocolate and coffee make a classic combo and they are an irresistible combination! I made this Coffee and Chocolate Pudding for this month's Sweet Punch.

The pudding turned out to be a delectable and elegant dessert to be served on any occasion - be it a grand party or a simple weeknight indulgence! It hardly takes five minutes of preparation and twenty minutes to bake and there you have an exotic dessert at the table in less than half an hour!

Ingredients

(Recipe Source: www.fairlady.com)

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup

Baking Powder - 2 teaspoons

Cocoa - 2 teaspoons (I used Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa)

Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup

Melted Butter - 2 tablespoons

Milk - 1/2 cup

Egg - 1 beaten

Salt - 1 pinch

Hazelnuts/almonds/walnuts - 50 grams chopped

For the topping

Brewed Coffee - 1 cup

Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup

Cocoa - 3 tablespoons

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C or 350F.
2. Sift together all the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, cocoa, brown sugar and salt.
3. Stir together the butter, milk, egg and nuts until well combined.
4. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together.
5. Spoon the batter into 4 rameins or mugs.
6. Sprinkle over brown sugar and cocoa and then pour over the brewed coffee. but do not stir.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
8. Dust with cocoa powder or sugar or cinnamon.
9. Serve warm with some vanilla icecream!

Sending this to Bake Fest and Winter Carnival.

Tropical Fruit Salad / Fruit Chaat

It is seven days of salad here at my place! This is the fifth salad of the week! After looking at a lot of salads ranging from veggies, to pastas, to wholegrains, I wanted to make a fruit salad for today! I chanced upon this fruit salad and I liked the Indian touch to the salad.

I made this after lunch and it was a guilt-free treat! I like the addition of fresh mint which gives a whole new flavor to the fresh fruits. The fruit chaat and the kala namak render their all-indian touch! I made this with fruts available in my pantry and the fruits can be varied according to the availability by season.

Ingredients (for 1 serving)
Apple - 1/2
Banana - 1/2
Oranges - 1/2 ( I used one of these cuties)
Blueberries
Cranberries
Fresh lemon juice - 1/2 teaspoon (optional)
Kala namak/black salt/pink salt to taste
Fruit chaat masala - 1 pinch

Directions
Chop the fruits into bite sized pieces. Drizzle the lemon juice and mix well.
Sprinkle the kala namak and chaat powder as per your taste and garnish with fresh mint leaves.
Serve chilled!

Check out the bloggers doing the Blogging Marathon, along with me..
30 Minutes Meals:Priya Mahadavan, Pavani,
Seven Days of Salad: lla
For Ongoing 7 Events: Priya Suresh, Suma Gandlur,Harini,
Kids Friendly: Vatsala, Jay,Kamalika
Seven Days of Rice: Veena,PriyaVaasu,Padma Rekha

Sending this to Spring Giveaway event
 

Cranberry Blackberry Crumble

I was supposed to post this crumble two days back for the 'Sweet Punch' baking series, and here I am late again. Better late than never right? I had a hell lot of cranberries lying in my fridge waiting to be used in some dish. I also had some blackberries with which I usually make smoothies lying my freezer. I also used chocolate chips and walnuts in the topping. The original recipe actually called for pear, chocolate and walnuts, but I modified the ingredients and used cranberry, blackberry and walnuts. They made a delightful crumble. I never knew it was so so easy to make crumbles. They taste great with some vanilla bean ice cream!

Ingredients (makes crumble in 4 ramekins)

Cranberries - 1/2 cup
Blackberries - 1/2 cup
Light brown soft sugar - 3 tablespoons
Lemon juice - 2 spoons
Lemon zest - 1/2 teaspoon

For the crumble
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Light brown soft sugar - 1/2 cup
Butter at room temperature - 1/2 cup
Walnuts(toasted) - 1/2 cup chopped roughly

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease 4 ovenproof teacups or ramekins.  In a medium bowl, mix together the cranberries,blackberries, brown sugar, lemon zest and juice. Divide the mixture between the teacups or ramekins, spooning over any juice.

To make the crumble, place the flour and butter in a medium bowl and, with your fingertips, rub together until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, walnuts and chocolate.

Spoon the crumble over the pears and press down lightly. Place the crumbles on a baking tray and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and bubbling. Serve with a scoop of good vanilla ice-cream.

It is that simple! Thanks for choosing this recipe Divya. We really enjoyed it.

Quick and easy aval payasam

This is a different version of aval payasam I came up with recently as a result of a strange experiment. it is a little different from the regular aval payasam I make. It has a secret ingredient and it makes the payasam absolutely delicious. My husband could not identify the taste of the secret ingredient at all! We licked our bowls clean! Will definitely be making this again..

 Guess what the secret ingredient is! It is a tablespoon on Badam drink mix! All the ingredients in the badam drink mix - saffron, almonds, cardamom all rendered a delightful flavor to the payasam. Do try it next time you make payasam. I believe it could be added to any type of payasam/kheer/pudding.

Ingredients
Aval/ Flattened beaten rice/ Poha - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Milk - 2 cups ( I used low fat milk but whole milk tastes best)
Cardamom powder - 1 pinch
MTR Badam Drink mix - 1 tablespoon (Any brand can be used)
Ghee - 2 tablespoons
Cashews - few
Raisins - few

Directions
In a wide pan, heat the ghee and add the cashews and raisins. Once the cashews turn golden brown and the raisins plump up, remove them with a spoon and set aside. In the same ghee, add the aval/poha and toast for about two minutes, until the aval crisps up and turns slight golden brown.

In a heavy bottomed pan, add the milk and bring it to a boil. Add the toasted aval/poha and keep on medium heat and allow the aval to cook completely. It should blend well with the milk rather than stay as whole pieces. At this point, add the sugar. Stir well. Allow it to cook and completely dissolve. Once it starts to boil, simmer and add the badam drink mix and the cardamom powder.

Mix well and simmer until you get the desired consistency and switch off the stove. The payaam thickens once it cools, so simmer until you get a runny consistency, so that you get the thick rich payasam once cooled off. Garnish with cashews and raisins.
Serve warm or cold.

Check out my new Food Blog Events Calendar! If you would like your food blog events to be entered here please leave me a comment.

Cherry Clafouti (Julia Child's recipe)

Have you watched 'Julie and Julia' ?? I feel that it is a movie that every food blogger could relate with! This recipe for this Cherry Clafouti is adapted from Julia Child! One fruit that I have tried only after coming to the US is cherry. I totally love to have cherries all by itself. I somehow reserved some cherries to make this lovely dessert for my hubby's birthday dinner. It turned out really good and we had it along with some french vanilla icecream! Divine!!

Onto the recipe..

Ingredients (Source: Julia Child)

Milk - 1 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1/3 cup
Eggs - 3
Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon
Salt - 1/8 teaspoon
Flour - 1/2 cup
Cherries, pitted - 3 cups
Sugar - 1/3 cup
Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a blender blend together the milk, 1/3 cup of sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour.

Pour a 1/4 inch layer of the batter in a buttered 7 or 8 cup lightly buttered fireproof baking dish. Place in the oven until a film of batter sets in the pan.

Remove from the heat and spread the pitted cherries over the batter. Sprinkle on the 1/3 cup of sugar. Pour on the rest of the batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for about for about 45 minutes to an hour.

The clafouti is done when puffed and brown and and a knife plunged in the center comes out clean. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm!

Check out these lovely giveaways at Chef in You and Snacksgiving

Rasmalai for Indian Cooking Challenge

I was excited to hear about April's Indian Cooking Challenge at the same time I was afraid to try Rasamalai for the first time. I have always enjoyed rasagulla and rasamalai and have never even thought of making it from scratch at home. I have seen various versions using ricotta cheese but this time I decided to make it from scratch. For the first time I made paneer at home. It was so delightful and satisfying to make your own paneer. Gives the same feeling when I bake my own bread :)
This recipe is adapted from Lavi's recipe. Thanks Valli for the challenge.

Ingredients

Milk - 3 litres or 3/4 gallon( 2 litres for making paneer and 1 litre for making Rasa/Milk syrup)
Vinegar/Lime juice- 3 tablespoons
Water-5 cups
Sugar- 16 tablespoons( 8 for Sugar Syrup and 8 for Rasa/Milk Syrup)
Saffron- 8 pieces
Pistachios-10 finely chopped
All Purpose Flour/Maida - 1 teaspoon
Cardamon-2 (crushed)

Directions
Preparation of rasamalai takes place in the following steps:

• Preparation of paneer
• Preparation of sugar syrup
• Preparation of ras/milk syrup for rasamalai

Check out the first step of preparation of paneer here.
Once the paneer is ready, add the maida/allpurpose flour and knead the paneer thoroughly. Make small sized balls. Once the balls get cooked in the sugar syrup they almost double in size. So try making small balls. 2 litres of milk should give 14 to 15 balls.

Preparation of sugar syrup

In a pressure-cooker, add three cups of water and eight tablespoons of sugar and bring it to a boil. Slowly, add the paneer ball's one by one to the sugar syrup. If the paneer is kneaded well, it should not break at this point. Pressure cook for 10 minutes in low flame or for about 2 whistles.

Once the pressure and steam is released, open the cooker. The paneer balls should have doubled in size. Slightly press each ball with a back of spoon to take out the excess sugar syrup.

Preparation of rasa/milk syrup for rasamalai
When the sugar syrup gets done, start making the milk syrup side by side. In a heavy bottomed vessel, bring one liter of milk to a boil and on medium flame allow it to reduce to half the volume. Add 8 tablespoons of sugar, cardamom powder and saffron strands and mix well.

Add the cooked paneer balls slowly to this milk mixture and cook on low flame for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow it cool.
Refrigerate and serve with crushed pistachios on top.

Badam/Almond Kheer

Badam kheer is a rich and elegant drink/dessert which is so easy to make. I have always had the MTR badam drinks, and have never ventured into trying my own version. You could adjust the amount of sweetness as per your taste when you make it yourself. It is a healthy drink as well with all the protein and good fat from the almonds and the calcium from the milk. You could use any type of milk -full-fat,2%fat or fat free. If you are planning to make a rich dessert - evaporated milk would be the optimal choice! Forget the calories!!

Ingredients (Makes two tall glasses)
Almonds - 1 cup
Milk - 2.5 - 3 cups
Sugar - 3 tablespoons
Saffron - 1 pinch (optional)

Directions
Soak the almonds in some hot water for about 15 minutes and peel the skin.
In a blender/mixer, grind the almonds along with the sugar and milk.
Simmer in low heat for about 5 to 10 minutes.
Garnish with the saffron threads.
Serve hot/cold.

Sending this Kheer Festival and JFI:Wedding Feasts along with the following entries
Paasi Paruppu Payasam
Aval Payasam

This can be served chill on a hot day and hence am sending this to Col-summer challenge and Twenty-20 event.

Moong Dal Halwa for Indian Cooking Challenge

For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge Srivalli chose Moong Dal Halwa. I was skeptical in the beginning as I have never ventured making halwas of any kind and have never eaten any halwa made with dal. I however gathered up the courage and prepared this delicious halwa according to Simran and Lata's recipe.

I especially loved the color of the halwa. Since I did not have kova, I tried the second recipe suggested. Here is the recipe as given by Valli.

Ingredients
Split (Yellow) Moong dhal - 1 cup
Ghee - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cups
Milk - 1/2 cup
Cashews/ raisins roasted in ghee for garnish.

Directions

Soak 1 cup moong dal overnight. Next morning, grind to a paste.

Heat a heavy Kadai, take initially only 1/2 of the ghee and heat it.

Add the dhal and stir continuously, not allowing lumps to form. This part is very tricky as the dhal cooks really fast, irrespective of the ghee.

Keep the heat at the lowest and keep stirring even after the dhal becomes thick.

Add the rest of the ghee intermittently and cook the dhal until aromatic and the ghee starts oozing out.

Meanwhile mix the sugar with water/ milk in a pan and bring to a boil. Add this slowly to the cooking dhal.

Keep the fir low at all times and break lumps if formed while adding the sugar and water/ milk mix.

Cook until the ghee surfaces.

Garnish with cashews and raisins.

Notes
Use a thick bottom pan or better nonstick pan.
Don't leave the halwa unattended. The dal can stick and it can go from just done to burnt in a second so keep stirring as much as possible. You should remember to keep stirring to prevent dhal from sticking irrespective of the ghee added.
You aren't looking for the halwa to get too thick when you turn off the heat. It was thicken as it cools.
Cook until ghee surfaces on the sides and the halwa attains a very nice shine.
Initially, it may appear that all the ghee is being used up. But as the dhal cooks the ghee separates. So the ghee measure is sufficient.
In both recipes depending on how you got the moong dal paste, you may require slightly more ghee to get the texture.

Fruit Custard

This is one of the easiest and tastiest Indian desserts you can make. It is super healthy since you could any amount of your favorite fruits in it. Gets ready in a jiffy and sounds perfect after a heavy meal. Could be made year around with any seasonal fruits available.


Ingredients
Custard powder - 3 tablespoons
Milk - 3 cups
Sugar - 1/2 cup or as desired
Diced fruits - 3 cups or more (apples, banana, oranges, kiwi, pomegranate, strawberries, mangoes etc.)

Directions
In half a cup of milk mix together the custard powder until it dissolves.
In a heavy bottomed vessel, heat the remaining milk and bring it to a boil. Add in the sugar and stir once in a while until it dissolves.
Slowly add the custard-milk mixture and stir it a little. Simmer and keep stirring for about 5 minutes until it thickens and coats the spoon.
Remove from heat and allow it to cool completely.
Add any amount of diced fruits and refrigerate.

Serve chilled! It is that simple!
Sending this to Food for seven stages of life:Desserts , Pastries and Icecreams hosted by Radhika and Sudeshna.

Also Sending this fruit custard to FIL:Fruits along with the following recipes!
Pomegranate jam/preserve
Eggless banana oatmeal muffins
Crumbly Apple Crisp
Peanut butter and banana smoothie



Watermelon Lemonade
Honeydew melon-kiwi cooler
Blackberry smoothie



Fruit cake
Blueberry muffins
Dates milkshake
Spiced Mango Bread

Gulab Jamuns for Indian Cooking Challenge

My recipe for the Recipe Advent Calendar for the year 2010!

When Srivalli announced the challenge for the month as Gulab jamuns I was pretty excited, since it is one of my favorite sweets and I have never tried it from scratch. Srivalli suggested three ways to make the jamuns. I chose Indo's way and the gulab jamuns turned out great- soft and juicy.


Ingredients (from Indo)

4 litres whole milk
1/2 kg maida (all purpose flour)
1 tbsp curd (yogurt)
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups ghee
2 litres of sugar
1/2 lemon

Method
To Make Khova
1. In a wide mouthed heavy bottom pan add the milk and heat it in a medium flame. (add a couple of stainless steel spoons into the milk to avoid burning)
2. Reduce the milk for 3-4 hours till the milk solidifies and becomes thick.
3. Whip together yogurt and baking soda
4. To the khova add the flour and yogurt mixture and knead till it forms a pliant dough. (make sure not to add too much flour, just enough flour to make the khova pliant)
4. Make 3/4 inch diameter balls and set aside


Prepare sugar syrup
1. In a pan add the sugar and just enough water to cover the sugar. Heat till it comes to a boil.
2.Squeeze the half of the lemon (this is to avoid sugar crystals). Set aside.

Deep frying
1. Heat the ghee and deep fry the balls, adding a few at a time till golden brown.
2. Cool the balls and soak them in the sugar syrup.
3. Let sit for a few hours.


These yummy gulab jamuns are off to Srivalli's Indian Cooking Challenge

Crumbly Apple Crisp

This is another recipe I tried from Alisa's blog for Tried and Tasted. It came out perfect. The streusel on top came out crispy and crumbly and the apple base was soft and melted in the mouth. I will definitely be trying this recipe with other fruits. I halved Alisa's recipe since I had only two apples. It makes a great dessert and I guess it should taste great with some vanilla icecream.

Ingredients (Makes 6 to 8 servings)

Large apples - 2
All-Purpose Flour - 1/2 cup
Margarine - 1/4 cup
Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup
Quick-Cooking Rolled Oats - 3/4 cup
Cinnamon - 1 teaspoon
Nutmeg - 1/4 teaspoon
Pure Maple Syrup - 2 tablespoons

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, nutmeg and half teaspoon of cinnamon. Add the margarine and combine with a fork to get a coarse mixture.

Slice the apples thinly and mix them along with 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon left and arrange the apple slices evenly on the baking dish. Top the apple slices evenly with the oats-flour mixture, so as to cover all the apples. Drizzle with the maple syrup. This helps to seal the streusel topping with the apples.

Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, until the topping turns crisp.

Serve warm or cold!

My other entry for Tried and Tasted - Watermelon Lemonade

Sending this to FIL:Fruits

Paasi paruppu Payasam/ Moong dal payasam

This is one kinda payasam prepared usually during festivals. I made this for the first time on our anniversary. It is a variation from the normal payasams and other desserts. It tastes great both hot and cold. This payasam was featured in our hostel menu every Saturday. Makes me nostalgic!! Now moving on to the recipe.

Ingredients

Moong dal / Paasi paruppu - 1 cup

Jaggery (Powdered) - 1 cup

Milk - 1/2 cup

Cardamom powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Cashews - 8 to 10

Raisins - few

Ghee - 2 teaspoons

Coconut grated - 1 tablespoon (optional)

Directions

Fry the cashews and raisins in the ghee until the cashews turn golden brown and the raisins plump up. Set them aside.

In the same pan, add a little more ghee and fry the moong dal until it turns slight brown. Take care it does not burn. You can even dry roast the dal without the ghee. 

In a heavy bottomed vessel, melt the jaggery . Add little water if necessary. Once it comes to a boil, remove the scum formed on top.

In a pressure cooker or a heavy bottomed vessel, add the dal, milk and water if needed and cook for about three whistles. Once done, mash the dal well. You can mash it into a smooth paste or if you like some of it to bite into, mash slightly. Add the melted jaggery to it and stir. Simmer for about two minutes, until everything combines together. Add a little milk if you want a thinner consistency.

Finnaly garnish with the fried cashews and raisins. You can also add a tablespoon of grated coconut while garnishing.

Serve warm or cold. 

Sending this to MLLA :12th helping hosted by Annarasa and started by Susan