Mango Sorbet

Last week my brother-in-law got 2 boxes i.e. 2 dozen of Alphonso Mangoes, naturally ripened. The mangoes were so sweet with the perfect yellow colour that I decided to use them for something interesting. I thought of making some sorbet to combat the heat we have been witnessing as the summer is at its peak and we were all desperately waiting for the monsoon to hit. 

They don't say Mango is the King of all the fruits for nothing. This fruit has every  reason to be the favourite among all the fruits. Look at the colour, the texture or  the sweet taste of the fruit and anybody would fall for it. This sorbet allows you to enjoy the low fat version of a dessert and gives you a reason to smile happily in this scorching heat of Mumbai. And that the recipe is vegan, is a bonus! 

Print the Recipe

Mango Sorbet

Here's what you gonna need for Mango Sorbet:

2 large, ripe mangoes (I used Alphonsos)

2/3 cup Simple Syrup

4 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice, plus more to taste

1 tbsp dark rum

Simple Syrup

2/3 cup Sugar

2/3 cup water

Here's how you can make it:

Simple Syrup

• In a saucepan, heat sugar and water until the sugar completely dissolves. Remove it from heat and let it cool completely at room temperature.

Mango Sorbet:

• Peel the mangoes and cut the flesh away from the pit. 
• Squeeze the mango pits hard over the blender to extract as much of the pulp and juice as possible.
• Cut the flesh into chunks and put them in a blender with the cooled sugar syrup, lime juice and rum. 
• Puree the mixture until smooth. 
• Taste, then add more lime juice or rum if desired. 

A. Method using Ice Cream maker:

• Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Once sorbet is made, transfer into a freezer box, cover, and freeze.

B. Method when not using Ice Cream Maker:

• Pour the mixture into a stainless steel pan (sorbets will freeze faster in stainless steel), cover with plastic wrap, and place in the freezer. 
• When the sorbet is completely frozen (3 to 4 hours), remove from freezer and let stand at room temperature until partially thawed. 
• Transfer the partially thawed sorbet to the food processor, and process for a few minutes (this step gives the sorbet its wonderful fluffy texture.) 
• Place the sorbet back into the pan and refreeze for at least three hours, and up to several days.

Hope you would also like making this as much as I did!

Karachi Bakery Style Homemade Fruit Cookies (Eggless)

One of the best baked things I have grown up eating are Karachi Bakery's  Fruit Cookies(the famous Hyderabad based Bakery). I had gone to this bakery as a kid with my Mom and bought 2 big boxes of these cookies and regretted later that I should have brought more boxes as these are so addictive. I would simply gorge on to the cookies until I would finish the last bit of the cookies from the box. Thanks to the supply chain these cookies are now available in almost every city in India and I can buy them whenever I want. Since I had started baking at home, I decided to give the Karachi Bakery style cookies a try.

I love the colour and sweetness that tutty fruity brings to the cookies and a little bit salty taste that comes from the salt added to the dough. To make these cookies rich, some chopped cashew nuts are also added to the batter. Prepare the log, freeze it for a couple of hours and you are done. Cut and bake the cookies.

Here's what you would need to make these Fruit Cookies:

115 gms/ 1/2 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)
100 gms/ 1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
100 gms/ 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
30 gms/ 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup Tutti Fruity
2 tbsp chopped Cashew nuts

Here's how you can make it:

Preheat your oven to 160°C/ 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

• In a large bowl of your stand mixer using paddle attachment or using hand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add vanilla extract and mix it well. Scrap down the sides of the bowl as required.
• Add salt and flour and mix it well until the dough starts to come together.
• Add tutti-fruity and cashew nuts and form a soft dough. 
• Make the dough into a log shape, cover it with a cling film and freeze it for at least a couple of hours to overnight. I kept my log overnight.
• With the help of a serrated knife, cut the log into 1/2 inch wide slices. You may shape the cookies with your hands if it breaks.
• Keep the cookie slices onto the baking tray leaving few inches gap between each other and bake for about 10-12 minutes until the cookies turn brown from sides. Turn the baking tray front to back half way through the baking. Cool completely on a wire rack.

These cookies are best to have at tea time or any time you want a sweet kick.;)

Hope you would also enjoy making this cake as much as I did!

Happy Baking!

Nutella Fudgy Brownies

There are days when you crave for something sweet and you can't wait to whip up a cake or a batch of cup-cakes to satisfy your craving. One thing which could fulfill your craving in such situation would be having a spoonful of the rich and silky goodness of Nutella! Another thing which you can do is make these Nutella Fudgy Brownies which takes just 20 minutes in all to make, bake and take these brownies in your mouth to calm your taste buds. :)

This is one of the recipes which I made immediately once I saw it on Abby's blog here. Also, this was one of my bake items which got over within 5 minutes of coming out of my oven.

This recipe is made in one bowl using the smallest whisk you have available at home. All you need to do is dump everything in the bowl, mix and spoon it into the smallest size muffin/ cup-cake tin you have. Thats it! You are done. Isn't this the best recipe for you to start experimenting with baking? So what are we waiting for? Lets get straight to baking...

Here's what you would need to make Nutella Fudgy Brownies:

1/2 cup Nutella spread

1 large egg

5 tbsp all purpose flour

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

Here's how you will make them:

Preheat the oven to 350°F/ 180°C. Line a 6-cup cup cake pan with paper or foil liners.

• Put the Nutella, egg and vanilla extract in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth and well blended. 
• Add the flour and whisk until blended.
• Using ice-cream scoop, spoon the batter into the prepared cup-cake tins (about 3/4 full) and sprinkle evenly with the chocolate chips.
• Bake until a pick comes out with wet, gooey crumbs, about 12 minutes. 
• Set on a rack to cool completely. Serve at room temperature.

Variations:

In place of the chocolate chips, switch in the following:

Chopped toasted hazelnuts     1/4 cup

Hope you would have also enjoy making these brownies as much as I did! So, don't forget to share your experiences.

Happy Baking!

Eggless Nutella Pinwheel Cookies

I love trying different types of cookies and gifting them to people. I think, these are the best gifting option as it can be stored for a long time, not too sweet hence a win-win situation if the person you gift is not a fan of sweets. Its also a great way to incorporate chocolate and satisfy your chocolate craving anytime you want without feeling too guilty.

I got one such opportunity when my sister in law was going to Bangalore to meet her elder sister. The elder sis-in-law wanted some Delights and I decided to make something which looks beautiful like her. To make that happen, I decided to use her favourite (and mine too!) Nutella. The richness of Nutella swirled into dough of wholewheat flour and butter makes the cookies ''Divine". Hence, presenting you Eggless Nutella Pinwheel Cookies.

Before that, I have to share the story of making these cookies. I made the rolled up the nutella spread cookies dough and kept it in the freezer overnight to harden so that they are ready to bake in the next morning when my sister-in-law had to catch the flight. But, the next morning I got so late in normal house chores that I got to baking these cookies only when there was just one hour left for her to check-in for the flight. She had left for office in the morning, hence I needed to bake it, pack it and leave for the airport which was about 15 kms from my home. I was under so much pressure that I was feeling like I was participating in some Masterchef competition. 

I utilised every single second in that hour and was just on time, like a minute before she had to check-in for the flight. Phew! As they say, All's well that ends well. My cookies reached safely to Bangalore and made an awesome tea time delight for my sweet sis-in-law. 

I adapted the recipe from The Purple Foodie, a great website by a young girl Shaheen Peerbhai from aamchi Mumbai and is currently based at Paris. I looked up to her recipes and aspire to win scholarship from Le Cordon Bleu like her some day. The recipe posted by her uses an egg, I omitted the egg and used a little milk to combine the dough as some in my family don't prefer eggs. It worked great!

Here's what you gonna need to make these Eggless Nutella Pinwheel Cookies:

125g / 1 stick butter, softened
½ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 heaped cup sifted flour (I replaced 1/2 heaped cup with wholewheat flour)
3 - 4 tbsp nutella (a little more won't harm anyone, I would love some more)
2-3 tablespoon, toasted, chopped hazelnuts

Here's how you can make it:

Preheat your oven to 180°C/ 350°F. Line two baking trays with parchment paper or grease it with some butter.

• In the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large bowl using you hand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add in vanilla extract and give it a good mix. Scrap down the sides as needed.
• Sift in the flour and mix it until the dough is all combined together. Make a ball of the dough using your hands, wrap it with some cling film/ plastic wrap and keep it in the refrigerator for about half an hour to firm it up a little. This will facilitate rolling out the dough nicely.
• Sprinkle some flour on your work surface and roll out the dough into a rectangle of ¼ inch thickness. Rotate the dough with your hands while rolling.
• Spread a good amount of Nutella on the top surface and make sure to leave one finger space on all four sides. 
• Sprinkle over the chopped hazelnuts and roll up the dough.
• Freeze the roll for about 2 hours or upto over night before cutting the slices. I used dough cutter to cut the slices. This can be done with the help of a sharp knife as well.

                          

                                              Before                                                  After

• Place the slices on a pre-lined baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes until the cookies are slightly brown at the edges. Rotate the sheet around half way through the baking. Shaheen suggests baking time will vary depending on how thick or thin you have cut them. Hence, look for the colour as a good indication. 

Now you are ready to enjoy these wonderful cookies.

Hope you would also enjoy making this cake as much as I did! Don't forget to share your experiences by way of comment on the blog or on FB! I would love to hear from you guys!

Happy Baking!

Not just a Banana Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache | #BundtAMonth

I am pretty excited for this particular post as this is my first participation in any group event. I have been trying for a long time to do this but something (may be fear deep inside) was pushing me back all through. But this month, I wanted to overcome my fear and wanted to just go ahead and participate in the group baking event this month. I was surfing on the internet and came to know about this month's BundtAMonth bake event and I immediately decided to be a part of it.

I love Bundt Cakes and loved the idea of baking a Bundt every month based on a theme. The theme of this month is Tropical Fruits. I was pleased when I got to know about this month's theme as I really love baking with fruits. Having already baked an Orange Marmalade Cake before, I decided to go for bananas this time and bake a Banana Bundt Cake. I love bananas in the cake as the ripened banana makes the cake very moist. I had a recipe for Banana Bundt Cake by Jamie from My Baking Addiction which I had pinned long time back on my list of 'Things to Bake'. With the tropical theme on BundtAMonth, I decided to give it a try once the bananas were perfectly ripened for the cake.

This is NOT JUST ANOTHER Banana Bundt Cake, there are many things done differently for this cake. What caught my eye is the fact that the cake is baked at a very low temperature of 135°C/275°F for about 1 hour 40 minutes! You will love the smell of the cake while it bakes in the oven and even hours after the cake is baked. The cake is then transferred to the freezer for a good one hour as soon as it is brought out of the oven. This is not something you do for other cakes. Do you??? To top it all, the cake gets a frosting with chocolate ganache to go with bananas for a combination made in heaven. All these efforts pay off when you taste the cake, so wonderfully moist and soft and full of flavour.

Without taking much of your time, lets get straight to the baking.

Here's what you would need to make Banana Bundt Cake with Chocolate Ganache:

For Banana Bundt Cake:
1½ cup ripened bananas (mashed with a fork)

2 tbsp lemon juice
3 cup/ 390 gms all-purpose flour
1½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup/ 170 gms unsalted butter, at room temperature (ignore salt if using salted butter)
2 cup/ 400 gms granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsps pure vanilla extract
1½ cup/ 360 ml. buttermilk (refer Note Below)

For Chocolate Ganache:

125 gms dark chocolate
½ cup/ 120 ml. low fat cream (I used Amul)

Note - To make Buttermilk at home, mix 1½ tbsp lemon juice/vinegar to 1½ cups of milk and keep it untouched for 10 minutes. You have the perfect buttermilk for the recipe.

Here's how you can make it:

For Banana Bundt Cake:

Preheat you oven to 135°C/275°F. Grease a 12 cup bundt pan with some butter.

• Mix lemon juice in mashed bananas and mix it well. Keep it aside.
• In a bowl, sift together all purpose flour, salt and baking soda and whisk it all together.
• In a separate large bowl (if using hand mixer like me) or in the bowl of your stand mixer using paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrap down the sides of the bowl as needed. After adding all the eggs, the mixture will turn very soft, smooth and light lemon in colour.
• Add vanilla extract and beat it all together until nice and combined.
• Add the flour mixture (in three additions) alternatively with buttermilk (in two additions), starting and ending with flour mixture. Fold the mixture after each addition until dry ingredients are completely incorporated into the wet ingredients. 
• Add the mashed bananas in the mixture and give it a good mix until the bananas are completely incorporated into the mixture.
• Pour the mixture in the bundt pan and bake it for about 1 hour 40 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
• Take the cake out of the oven and keep it in the freezer (with the cake pan) for about an hour.
• Bring the cake out of the freezer and let it cool on a wire rack for about 3 hours to overnight. Invert the cake and prepare the chocolate ganache

For Chocolate Ganache:

Melt the chocolate. Add the cream. Give it a good mix until both the ingredients are well combined. Immediately pour it over the cake. Finish it with banana slice toppings.

Hope you would also enjoy making this cake as much as I did! Don't forget to share your experiences by way of comment on the blog or on FB! I would love to hear from you guys!

Happy Baking!

The Best Eggless Chocolate Truffle Cake Ever!!!

I love to try different cake recipes especially if the recipe does not include eggs in them. Well, for some, its hard to like an eggless cake but being from a family where not everybody eats eggs, eggless recipes are always welcome! I found one such recipe when I was browsing though the net and I immediately knew I had to give this recipe a try.

Fortunately, I did not have to wait for a long time as I had my newly wed cousin visiting me last week. I thought this was a perfect opportunity to bake him this Chocolate Cake in celebration.

I have not named this cake as Best for no reason. I have tried and tasted a lot of Eggless Chocolate Cake recipe, but this was simply amazing! So soft, so moist and so easy to make. This cake uses unsweetened cocoa powder which is so easily available anywhere and gives an intense dark flavour that satisfies any cocoa lover. This cake also uses some lemon juice which reacts with cocoa powder and gives this cake a texture like a red velvet cake.

Enough of bragging about this cake. Now, lets get straight to how you can also replicate this at your home.

Here's what you would need to make this Best Eggless Chocolate Cake:-

For Chocolate Cake:

• 195 gms (1½ cup) all purpose flour
• 25 gms (¼ cup) unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Cadbury's)
• 200 gms (1 cup) caster sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 75 gms (1/3 cup) vegetable oil (You can use any flavourless oil or melted butter. I used vegetable oil.)
• 240 ml (1 cup) warm water
• 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

For Chocolate Ganache Frosting:

• 250 gms semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 200 gms low fat cream (I used Amul Cream)
• 2 tbsp butter

For sugar syrup

• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 2 tbsp dark rum (optional)

Some chocolate shavings for decoration 

Serves - 8 people

Here's how you can make it:-

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F. Line an 8 inch round cake pan with baking parchment paper.

• In a large bowl, sift all purpose flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisk it all together.
• Make a well in the center of your flour mixture and add warm water, lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix it all together with a rubber spatula.
• Add vegetable oil/ melted butter and mix it until all the ingredients come together.
• Pour the batter into your cake pan and bake it for about 30 minutes until a tooth pick inserted in the center come out clean. The cake will spring back when lightly pressed.
• Remove from the oven and let it cool completely.
• Once the cake is cooled completely, serve it with some icing sugar sprinkled on top of it. If you would like to frost the cake like me, keep the cake in the freezer for an hour to chill completely before you cut and frost the cake. This helps to reduce crumbs while slicing the cake.

For Chocolate Ganache Frosting:-

• Melt chocolate and butter in microwave until completely melted. Add low fat cream and mix until the cream is completely mixed into the chocolate. Let the ganache cool to room temperature slightly.

For simple syrup:- 

• Put water and sugar in a saucepan and let it simmer until the sugar completely dissolves. Once cooled to the room temperature, you can add dark rum (optional).

Assembling:-

• Using a long serrated knife, cut the cake in two layers. Keep the cake right side up.
• Soak the bottom layer of the cake with simple syrup and cover the layer with some chocolate ganache. Smooth out the surface using an offset spatula. You can also add some chocolate shaving.
• Place the top layer of the cake on the base layer. Again, soak the top layer of the cake with simple syrup and pour a big dollop of chocolate ganache on top and sides of the cake. Smooth out the top and sides of the cake with the help of your offset spatula. 
• Clean the offset spatula and mark the tip of your offset spatula from the edge of the cake towards the centre in one single stroke. Repeat the process to cover the entire cake.
• Decore the sides and top of the cake with some chocolate shavings.

Hope you enjoy the cake as much as I did!

Don't forget to share your experience by way of your comments here below or on FB!

Happy Baking!

Triple Chocolate Cookies

I love Chocolate, I love Cookies and I so love the cookies which has not a single, nor double but triple chocolates in them! These cookies are simply irresistible as these are soft textured cookies and perfect to dunk in a glass of cold milk or even with a cup of strong cup of coffee. These cookies go one step ahead from the delicious Chocolate Chip cookies as they have melted chocolate, cocoa powder and chocolate chips, all in one. These cookies are beautifully cracked, crunchy around the edges, soft and chewy in the middle, and full of deep, caramelized and chocolate flavor.

These cookies make a perfect option for gifting, as it would be very hard to find someone who would not love these cookies. Make these cookies once, I guarantee, you will make these cookies again.

Here's what you would need to make Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies:-

• 226 gms (1 cup/ 2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 250 gms (1¼ cup) brown sugar
• 100 gms (½ cup) granulated white sugar/ caster sugar
• 70 gms (2/3 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 200 gms (1 cup) melted semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 325 gms (2½ cup) all purpose flour 
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp cinnamon powder
• 165 gms (1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips
• 160 gms (2/3 cup) caster sugar, for rolling

Here how you can make it:-

• Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper/ grease with butter.

• In a large bowl, sift flour, baking soda and cinnamon powder and mix it to come together.

• In the bowl of your stand mixer (or with hand mixer), cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Sift cocoa powder and beat it until incorporated.

• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla extract and melted chocolate and beat until well incorporated. 

• Mix 1 to 2 tbsp of flour from your flour mixture and mix it in chocolate chips so that the chips gets completely coated in flour (this process prevents chocolate chips from sinking to the bottom of the mixture). 
• Add the flour mixture and mix it with the rubber spatula (only if using hand mixer like me, else mix using your stand mixer). Add the chocolate chips and mix until all the ingredients starts to come together.

• Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop out the dough to form dough balls and roll them in caster sugar kept for rolling. Place the dough balls on the baking tray lined with parchment paper keeping a gap of few inches. Flatten the cookies with by gently pressing with your hands.
• Bake the cookies for 11 to 13 minutes depending on your oven. The cookies are done when they are set in the center. Let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking tray before transferring them on to wire rack to cool completely. 

Enjoy these cookies!

Hope you also enjoyed these cookies as much as I did!

Don't forget to share your experiences by way of comments here below or on FB! :)

Happy baking!