Pumpkin Bread

This is my first attempt of baking with pumpkin and it was surprisingly good. We commonly use pumpkins in India for various curries but I never imagined that flavor with a sweet tinge. I tried the recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook and it turned out amazing. The flavor is not that pumpkin-y and the spices elevate the bread to a whole new level. It is lightly sweet, dense, moist and would go perfectly with a hot cup of coffee. No wonder its one of the most popular recipes during Fall!

This recipe makes 1 loaf.

Ingredients
Sugar : 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon
Pure pumpkin puree : 1 cup
Vegetable (or any other neutral) oil : 1/3 cup
Pure vanilla extract : 1 teaspoon
Eggs : 2
All purpose flour : 1 and 1/2 cup
Baking powder : 1 teaspoon
Baking soda : 1 teaspoon
Salt : 1/2 teaspoon
Pumpkin Pie Spice : 1 tablespoon
Chopped Walnuts : 1/2 cup (optional)

Procedure
1) Heat oven to 350F and grease the loaf pan. In a mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, pumpkin puree, oil, vanilla essence, and eggs.
2) Add all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice and stir just until combined.
3) Stir in chopped walnuts (I forgot to add them to the loaf you see below) and pour into the loaf pan.
4) Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean.
Let cool completely before slicing.

Note: I like my bread to be less on the sweet side, but if you like it sweeter, add 2-3 tablespoons more sugar to the batter. Chocolate chips and raisins are also very interesting additions to this bread!

Spiced Caramel Apple Cake

I don't want to spend much time writing a post on this recipe and keep you away from the utter goodness of this cake. Just follow the three steps first:

Step 1: See picture below.

Step 2: Drool.

Step 3: Make the cake already! Its very easy to prepare and your house will smell divine when it's baking. I wish it was possible to bottle up the aroma to fight dreary days. But, that's another story.

This recipe will serve 4.

Ingredients

For caramel sauce:

Butter, at room temperature - 1/4 cup

Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup

For the cake:

Granny Smith or Golden Delicious Apples - 2 

Butter, at room temperature - 1/4 cup

All Purpose Flour - 1 and 1/3 cups

Baking Powder - 1 teaspoon

Salt - 1/4 teaspoon

Pure Vanilla Extract - 1 teaspoon

Lemon Extract - 1/2 teaspoon

Granulated Sugar - 1 cup

Nutmeg - 1/2 teaspoon

Cinnamon - 1 teaspoon

Eggs, at room temperature - 2 small, or one large

Milk - 1/2 cup

Procedure

1) Start preheating the oven at 325 F.

2) Let's prepare the caramel sauce. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter until softened and just starting to melt.

3) Add brown sugar and mix until no lumps remain.

4) Place parchment paper at the bottom and around the edges of a regular cake pan (or if not using, grease the pan).

5) Spread the butter and sugar mixture evenly on the bottom of the pan.

6) Core the apples and slice them thinly. Place the apples in the cake pan over the sugar and butter mixture. Overlap them in layers, if required, to completely cover the base of the pan.

7) In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients : flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon.

8) In a mixing bowl, add butter and sugar. Beat until creamy. Add vanilla and lemon extracts, and eggs and beat for a minute or two.

9) Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients mixture and mix gently with a spatula until no lumps remain. Do not overbeat!

10) Add half of the milk (1/4 cup) and mix until incorporated.

11) Add another 1/3rd of the dry ingredients mixture and mix. Add milk and mix again.

12) Add the remaining flour mixture and mix gently to combine.

13) Pour the batter over the apples in the cake pan and spread it out evenly.

14) Bake on the top rack of the oven for about 60 minutes (check once after 50 minutes to see if it's done. A toothpick inserted at the center of the cake should come out clean).

15) Remove the cake and place on cooling rack for 10 minutes. 

16) Place a plate on the cake pan and invert it to bring the apples and caramel layer on the top. Beautiful, isn't it?

17) This cake is best enjoyed warm and freshly baked, so add some whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and dig right in :)

As you see in the pictures, I added some sliced apples on the side for an additional crunch. This cake is not too sweet with just the right balance of the flavors coming from the caramel, cinnamon, and nutmeg. It will go equally well with a cup of coffee or with ice cream as a dessert! I'm sure there won't be any leftovers for this one, but if there are, the cake will freeze well too (i.e., for dreary days).

Easy Foccacia Recipe

Foccacia is very easy as compared to other breads, does not need much hard work with kneading or shaping and goes great with most soups and stews. It is also a great appetizer by itself with some herb olive oil! My recipe is adapted from Showmethecurry. I love their recipes!

Ingredients
All Purpose Flour - 2 cups
Warm Water - 1 cup
Yeast (preferably rapid rise) - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Olive Oil - 2 tablespoons
Sea Salt - 1 tsp
Rosemary - 1 tsp
Thyme - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp

Procedure
1) In a small cup or bowl, add half a cup of warm water, yeast and sugar. Let it sit for about 10 minutes till the yeast blooms.
2) In a mixing bowl, mix in the all purpose flour and salt.
3) After the yeast has bloomed, add the water to the flour and start kneading. Gradually add more water and knead for 5-6 minutes till you get a soft and pliable dough. It should not be too sticky or dry.
4) Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and knead again for a minute or two.
5) Line a baking pan with parchment paper or if not using, grease the surface of the pan with olive oil. Place the dough in the baking dish and spread it so it has uniform thickness. Cover it with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let it rest for 1.5-2 hours. 
6) Preheat oven to 400F.
7) Mix a tablespoon of olive oil with sea salt, rosemary, and thyme and gently brush the oil mixture over the dough.
8) Let the bread bake in the over for 15-20 minutes. It should be golden-brown on the top.
9) Slice into pieces and save a large one for yourself!

Note: In the picture you see the tomatoes which I have not included in the recipe, because I felt that the tomatoes prevented the bread underneath from getting fully baked and so it would be best to skip them.

Blueberry Cobbler

There's really nothing much to say about this dish. It's sweet, tart, rich, and very summery. Combine it with vanilla ice cream to make a dessert which reminds you why you are blessed to be alive and taste something so delicious. My recipe is an inspired/modifed version of this one.

Ingredients

Fresh Blueberries - 2 cups
Sugar - 1/3 cup and 2 tablespoons (divided)

Orange, Mango, or Pineapple Juice - 2 tablespoons
All Purpose Flour - 2/3 cups
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Milk - 3 tablespoons
Egg (preferably at room temperature) - 1
Butter (regular, unsalted and at room temperature) - 1/4 cup
Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp 

Procedure

1) Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2) Line a cake pan with parchment paper (or grease it with butter and a little flour). I used a regular circular cake pan and it worked great with this recipe.
3) In the baking dish, mix the berries, orange/mango/pineapple juice and add 1.5 tablespoons sugar. Give it a good mix and let it rest while you finish the next steps.
4) In another bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, and salt. If using self rising flour, skip the baking powder. If using salted butter, skip the salt.
5) Take another bowl (I'm making you use a lot of bowls but I assure you it will be worth it) and cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until its nice and silky. Sometimes the egg curdles when you add it to the butter-sugar mixture. This can be avoided by using eggs at room temperature.
6) Now add 1/4 of the flour mixture to the egg-butter mixture and mix lightly, just until incorporated. Then add a tablespoon of milk. Mix well and continue adding flour and milk alternately.
7) Pour the batter over the berry mixture and mix lightly. Let the orange juice get mixed with the batter.
8) Bake in the over for about 35 minutes. After 20-25 minutes, sprinkle the cobbler with about half a tablespoon sugar and let it bake for another 10 minutes.
9) Remove from oven when the surface is golden brown and let it cool if you have the patience. If not, dig right in!

This goes great with a dollop of Vanilla Ice Cream. Go ahead and have a second serving, you deserve it!

Cute Little Cheesecake for Two

The first time I made cheesecake, it was over-baked and over-browned on the top. When my husband took the first bite, he said "Its good. Is it a brownie?". That's hardly ever a good sign. But anyway, I blamed the recipe for the disaster. That's what happens when one scales down recipes from 16 servings to 2. And that's most often the case, because I am surely not going to use four 8 oz packages of cream cheese for just the both of us (I would never admit it, at least). So when I stumbled across a wonderful cheesecake recipe for just two people, it was immediately bookmarked. My cheesecake recipe is adapted from this awesome site. I used a Wilton Mini Springform Pan which turned out perfect for this recipe. You could also use individual ramekins if you don't like sharing. The secret ingredient here is lemon juice, which increases the sourness and departs a beautiful tangy-sweet flavor to the cheesecake. 

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crumbs - 1/4 cup

Granulated Sugar - 1 Tbsp (for the crust, we'll need some more later)

Butter - 1.5 Tbsp, melted

8 oz pack of Cream Cheese - 1, at room temperature

Granulated Sugar - 1/4 cup

Vanilla Extract - 1/4 tsp

Egg - 1

Lemon Juice - 1 Tbsp

Procedure

1) Start with preheating the oven to 350 F.

2) Mix together graham cracker crumbs, butter and granulated sugar. It should have consistency of wet sand. If it is too dry, throw in some more butter.

3) Grease the sides and base of the springform pan.

4) Cover the base and sides of the pan with aluminium foil. This will prevent water from seeping in the pan.

5) Press the graham cracker mixture at the base of the pan. Set aside.

6) In a bowl, beat together cream cheese (which should be at room temperature), sugar, and vanilla extract with electric mixture on low speed (you could also do this by hand, for a little longer). Continue beating for a minute or so, until the mixture is nice and fluffy. 

7) Add the egg and beat for another 30 seconds on low speed.

8) Add lemon juice and mix together gently with a spatula.

9) Fill a cake pan with hot water enough water to go up to about half the height of the springform pan. This will be your water bath. Trust me, for a crack-free amazing looking moist cheesecake, you need this.

10) Pour the mixture in the springform pan. Place the pan carefully in the water bath.

11) Bake for about 40 minutes (keeping a watch in between), or until the cheesecake is firm around the edges, but wobbly in the center. No toothpick inserting, please!

12) Remove and let it cool until it comes to room temperature. It will start leaving the sides of the pan.

  

13) After the cheesecake has cooled completely, refrigerate it for at least an hour. 

14) Serve it as-is or garnish it with berries or cocoa powder. I added sliced strawberries and also drizzled some chocolate sauce. You could optionally make raspberry or blueberry sauce by heating the preserves, and bringing it to room temperature to pour it over the cheesecake.

15) Enjoy! And don't forget to tell me how it was :) 

Garlic-Cilantro Pull-Apart Rolls

I love following food blogs. My Google Reader has 30+ blogs subscribed to. There are so many talented people out there and being a new blogger, I feel like a tiny speck in the blogosphere. But I hope to learn and be able to contribute some great recipes.

Out of so many recipes that I read everyday, there are many that don't fit into the "categories" of what I can try. For instance, they contain red meat (which we don't eat), or fancy ingredients, or something that requires equipment that I don't posses (ice cream machine, for example). Or some are just way too much work and I don't have the strength or patience to do all that (Swedish Princess Cake, anyone?). However, there are many recipes that I instantly fall in love with and "bookmark" them to try out later. Garlic Cilantro Pull Apart Rolls was one of those. It was delicious, filling, and pretty easy to make. These would go very well with Italian Vegetable Soup and Herb Olive Oil, which I will post soon.

My recipe is an adaptation of Divya's whose inspiration was Pratibha.

Ingredients

For the Rolls

All purpose flour or Maida - 1.5 cup
Whole wheat Flour or Atta - 0.5 cup
Lukewarm Water - 1 cup (divided)
Sugar - 2 tsp
Salt - 2 tsp, or to taste
Active Dry Yeast - 1.5 tsp
Butter - 2 tsp, melted

Olive Oil - 2 tsp

For the Garlic-Cilantro Mixture

Garlic Cloves - 4 

Cilantro - 0.5 cup, roughly chopped

Green Chillies - 3-4, depending on your taste

Butter - 2 tbsp, at room temperature

Procedure

1) Take half a cup of lukewarm (not hot!) water (or microwave regular water for 30 seconds), add sugar, 1 tsp salt and mix well. Then add yeast and let the water sit for about 10 minutes, until the yeast starts to bloom. If your yeast has not bloomed, maybe its too old and you need to toss it out and get another one.

2) In the meanwhile, mix together whole wheat and all purpose flour in a large mixing bowl. Throw in 1 tsp salt and mix again. 

3) Add the yeast-water mixture and start kneading, gradually adding 1 tbsp water as required. You may or may not need the whole cup. The dough should be sticky (but not too much). Add water if it is too dry, and little flour if it is too sticky.

4) Once you have reached the desired consistency, add the olive oil and knead again.

5) Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and put in a dark, warm spot in your kitchen (such as inside the oven). Walk away for 45 minutes to an hour. You may need more time if the temperature is less as the yeast may take some time to unleash its action.

6) Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

7) Throw together garlic cloves, chopped cilantro and chillies in your food processor and grind them to a paste. Remove and mix with 2 tbsp butter. Set aside.

8)  Peek under the kitchen towel and be happy to see how quickly and how much your dough has risen. Ideally it should be almost doubled in size. Puncture it and knead again, for a minute or two. 

9) Divide dough into two large balls. Flour your rolling surface and start rolling. You don't need to make a perfect circle. Oblong shape is fine too. Don't roll too much, it should not be thin.

10) Take half of the garlic-cilantro-butter mixture and apply evenly. In the meanwhile, please excude the poor quality of my pictures.

11)  Start rolling from one end and go all the way till it is all nicely wrapped up. Divide this into four smaller rolls by cutting with a knife.

12) Do the same for the other dough ball. 

13) Grease your baking pan (I used a circular one) and place the rolls in it. Be careful not to place it too much near the edges, if you want a nice uniformly baked rolls. At this point you may choose to apply a coat of egg wash or milk to the top of the rolls, to make them nice and shiny.

14) Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. 

15) Remove from the oven and apply a coat of butter (because you are worth it).

16) Be flattered by all the compliments.

We enjoyed these for dinner with soup on a cold day. They were filling, warm, and delicious. We devoured two left over rolls the next morning with tea, and they tasted even better! I am already looking forward to making the next batch...YUM :)