Banana bread

Ingredients

Wheat flour- 1 cup

All purpose flour- 1 cup

butter-1/2 cup

sugar-1 cup

baking powder- 1 tsp

baking soda-1 tsp

bananas (well ripened)-3

walnuts -1/2 cup chopped

eggs-2

salt-1/4 tsp
Vanilla essence-1/2 tsp
Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
Bring the butter and eggs to room temperature.
Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time to the butter, sugar mixture and beat well.
Mash the bananas seperately and add vanilla essence and sour cream to it .
In another bowl ,sift together the wheat flour, all purpose flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Add dry ingredients to the wet ones and fold in the chopped walnuts. Mix gently and pour the batter in the greased loaf pans.
Bake for 50 minutes or until the toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean.
note:
I have used equal amts of wheat and all purpose flour. You can use wheat flour alone if u are health conscious or make it the regular way with all purpose flour only.

Plum/fruit cake

Wish You all a very happy and prosperous NEW YEAR!!!!!

Back in India , during Christmas we used to receive plum cakes as gifts from our friends.Thought I would give it a try this year... Its the first time Iam baking this cake.... I followed the recipes of RP, and Mishmash and the cake turned out really great. Mishmash's recipe was classic and was very useful. Its completely their recipe and just for my own records I have blogged it.

Ingredients

All purpose flour- 1 cup

sugar- 1 cup

butter- 1 stick

dried fruits-(dates, raisins, dried cherries,plums,pears, prunes and apricots)- 1 cup

dried nuts-(almonds, cashews and walnuts) 1/2 cup

eggs-3

baking powder-1 tsp

baking soda-1/2 tsp

salt-1/4 tsp

vanilla extract -1 tsp

candied lemon and orange peels- 1tbsp

spice powder(cinnamon, nutmeg,clove and dry ginger)- 1 tsp(I used the ready made one)

Rum or Brandy- 1/2 cup or grape juice- 1/4 cup and orange juice- 1/4 cup
For caramelising

sugar-1/4 cup

water - 1tbsp + 1/2 cup

Method

Chop the dried fruits and soak them inRum /Brandy or grape and orange juice for a few hours.

Add 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tbsp water in a sauce pan and allow it to boil. Do not stir it and after a few minutes ,the sugar syrup changes to a cherry wood coloured caramel.Remove the pan from fire immediately ,keep under sink and add 1/4 cup of water to it. Be very careful as the caramel is very hot and it may splash. Let it cool completely. Add the vanilla essence to it.

Powder the sugar, chop the nuts and bring the eggs and butter to room temperature.

Sift the flour, baking powder,baking soda and salt. Add the spice powder to it and mix well.

Seperate the egg whites and yolks. Beat the whites until soft peaks are formed. keep aside .

Beat the powdered sugar and butter in a mixing bowl till light and fluffy.Now add the egg yolks to it one by one and beat well until the mixture is creamy.

Add the sifted flour and the caramel to it and mix well. Add the beaten egg whites and fold them in gently .

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the cake pans with parchment paper and butter and dust them.

Now its time to add the chopped nuts and the soaked dry fruits to the cake mixture. Fold them gently into the cake batter. Spoon them into the greased cake pans and bake them for 50 minutes to 1 hour. The cake is ready when a toothpick inserted into it comes out clean.

Cool completely before storing it.

Butter Shortbread

I always love the shortbreads and wanted to prepare this sometime. So I thought I will prepare this for cooking medley’s JFI event in which the main ingredient is Ghee and Butter. I think my entry is a bit late and I hope she will accept it.
I searched for this recipe in the net and found lots.. This is the one I picked and tried and it came out really well. My daughter loved it because I had used different shapes.

Ingredients

Butter- 1 cup(room temperature)
All purpose flour- 2 cups
Sugar- ½ cup(powdered)
Cornstarch- 1 tsp
Salt- 1 pinch

Method

Mix butter and sugar and beat it for 5 minutes till they are well mixed and the mixture is creamy.
Mix and seive flour, salt and cornstarch.
Add the flour mixture to the the butter. Fold in gently to make a dough.
Refrigerate for 15 minutes to make the dough a bit firm.
Roll out the dough into ¼ inch thick. Cut into round or whichever shape u want using a cookie cutter.

place them in the cookie sheets lined with parchment paper(I used foil because I was out of stock). Bake in a preheated oven for 12-15 minutes at 300 degrees F.Cool this and store in a airtight jar.

Note: Please Use only butter for this recipe. Do not use margarine or anything else in substitution for butter.

Pumpkin Raisin Muffins

I was thinking of trying a recipe with pumpkin for From My Rasoi hosted by meeta. I tried for the pumpkins but I could n’t find any in the local stores or markets last week. So I went in for canned pumpkins.

Some History and facts about pumpkin( which I collected from the net)

References to pumpkins date back many centuries. The name pumpkin originated from the Greek word for "large melon" which is "pepon." "Pepon" was changed by the French into "pompon." The English changed "pompon" to "Pumpion." American colonists changed "pumpion" into "pumpkin."
Pumpkins are 90 percent water. Pumpkins contain potassium and Vitamin A. Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites. Native Americans flattened strips of pumpkins, dried them and made mats.
Pumpkin Seed is an herbal medicine used for bladder irritation, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), problems with urinating, and kidney stones.
DID YOU KNOW:
A pumpkin is really a squash?
It is! It's a member of the Cucurbita family which includes squash and cucumbers.
That pumpkins are grown all over the world?
Six of the seven continents can grow pumpkins including Alaska! Antarctica is the only continent that they won't grow in.
That the "pumpkin capital" of the world is Morton, Illinois?
This self proclaimed pumpkin capital is where you'll find the home of the Libby corporation's pumpkin industry.

I have baked cakes and muffins from the ready to do mixes which is available in the grocery stores. But I haven’t tried home made regular cakes or muffins.This is my first try of baking a muffin.. I was thinking to do that for a long time…So now I searched for pumpkin muffin recipes. The one which was simple and the one which I liked was this. I was happy with the result except that sugar was a bit less . I added ¾ cup acc to the recipe but 1 cup would be perfect.
I made 2 alterations to the original recipe. The original recipe had 1 tsp baking powder+ ½ tsp of baking soda and ¾ cup of milk. But as I didn’t have baking soda with me I added 2 tsp of baking powder itself. I wanted to add buttermilk and so I added ½ cup of buttermilk and ¼ cup milk. The muffins turned out great and I loved the raisins in it.
This is my entry to Meeta’s From My Rasoi and Nanditha’s weekend Breakfast Blogging.

Ingredients

Pumpkin(pureed) fresh or canned- 1 cup
All purpose flour- 1 ½ cups
Sugar- 1 cup
Butter- ¼ cup
Eggs-2
Salt- 1/8 tsp
Milk- ¼ cup
Buttermilk- ½ cup
Baking powder-1 ½ tsp
Baking soda- ½ tsp
Raisins- ½ cup
Vanilla essence-1/2 tsp

Method

Pre heat the oven to 400 F. Grease the muffin pan with oil.
Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl till they are mixed well. Then add the eggs one by one and beat them well.
Sift flour, baking soda , baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Fold in gently. Then add the pumpkin puree, milk and buttermilk and fold in gently again. Add the raisins and vanilla.

Fill in the muffin pan 2/3 full and bake in for 12 to 14 minutes or until it turns golden brown.(U can check it by inserting a sharp knife. When the knife comes out clean the muffins are done).Remove from the oven and let them cool a few minutes in the pan before removing.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I don’t do that much of baking ,though I wish to. This cake is done using readymade cake mix. It is a very easy and quick to make
Cake. It tastes delicious too….

Ingredients

Betty crocker super moist cake mix(french vanilla)- 1 pkt
Pineapple slices- 1 tin
Cherries(fresh or tinned)- a few
I have used fresh ones . but the tinned ones are better
Eggs- 3
Oil- ¼ cup
Water- 1 ¼ cup
Butter- 1 tsp

Method

Prepare the cake batter as per the directions in the cake mix packet using eggs, oil and water.
In a cake pan smear butter and then arrange the pineapple rounds and cherries.
Pour the cake batter until ½ of the pan. Leave space for the cake to rise.
Bake the cake in a 350 degrees preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes.
When cool place a plate on the cake pan and turn it upside down.