How to make Christmas Fruit Cake | Easy Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe

There's something extremely gratifying about making your own cake and gifting your loved ones with yours. Usually, its days ahead of Christmas that I begin with the process of soaking fruits in booze and later bake them into a fruit cake that sits for a couple of days before being brought out to share. Each year, we have our family, parents, sister, brother-in-law and few close friends to whom the cake goes out to. Beyond celebrations, we seek joy in togetherness, sharing and the art of giving.

My dear friend Lubna is hosting a virtual Christmas party at Yummy Food this year. Ever since her invite, I was left to ponder what I could take along to the potluck, that, it should not only be apt for this celebration, but can also be enjoyed by the young and old without reservations. I scuffled through many options I had on mind - cookies, breads, gateau cakes, or petite fours? None gripped my mind stronger than one. Soon it was sorted. My heart was set on this Fruit cake, and nothing seemed more gratifying than sinking my teeth into a good Christmas Fruit Cake that's speckled with fruits and nuts, bursting with flavor from spices, and left plain without frosting. Simple, yet rich, its gloriously satisfying even with a small piece. Its a tradition to solemnly indulge in Kuswar, (the assortments served during Christmas) for someone like me who grew up in Mangalore. I'm away from home, oceans away from my family whom I miss dearly, so this fruit cake had to be it. Its a thing I delve into every single year, because, it brings back many fuzzy memories of home, family and friends in Mangalore.

I've made many fruit cakes in the past, like this, this and this, each with subtle variation in the recipe and fruits used, all decadent and boozy in nature. I was armed with a kitchen scale, measuring out by grams to the tee, in my initial years, but now a measuring cup does the job well as I can tell well if the cake will bake to perfection or not by the look of its batter. A good Fruit Cake holds a special space in my heart, it doesn't matter if the fruits are soaked over months or made in an instant like the one I have at Yummy Food's party today. Its a simple cake, but packed with flavors from spices and fruits that makes it so luxurious and indulgent. I stick by using a non-alcoholic mulled fruit drink in my recipe, so you don't have to worry if you have a young kid to cater to, but feel free to substitute with a booze or fruit juice of your choice.

So join me over on Yummy Food as we celebrate this season of reflection and celebration. We'll soon leap into the new year that brings along more hopes, positivity and strength. Come let’s bake this cake to celebrate the last leg of 2016 and welcome 2017 with arms wide open. Before you hop over, here's me wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

How to make Cinnamon Rolls with Cooked Frosting | Easy Cinnamon Rolls Recipe

With Christmas around the corner and less than 4 days to go before you can sing Hallelujah, the Lord has come, I thought I'll peep in to help you with a lovely classic breakfast for your family to wake up to this Christmas morning. Its typically Western, hearty and sweet to call your morning off to a good start, supple enough that you may want to lay your head on it and snooze again, gives you the comfort of your bestie's company, and is the festive sorts that you can set up on table for your guests to dessert on.

For the longest time, I've had aversion to cinnamon in all things sweet. Let me not even get to the whys of it, for all I know, cinnamon in my arena existed best in the legion of savories, given the exception for a good Christmas fruit cake where it favorably unites with clove, cardamom and other spices, veiled in a way that it does not hit your senses directly and ruin the flavor. But, here it comes finally, the world coveted Cinnamon rolls looming right out of my kitchen to yours. I’m close to being a convert, convincingly not a cinnamon-dessert-hater anymore. These don’t look a lot like the traditional rolls. I mean they are not enormous in size to consume your palm, certainly not the perfect looking rolls that stand flawlessly edged shoulder to shoulder giving them a clean rip, nor do they bask in the sugary coated frosting that sinks into every groove merrily.

I would probably rechristen these as cinnamon pull apart rolls; owing to the pans I had and the amount of dough I made, they ended up this way. But they are cinnamon rolls essentially, so let's stick to that. They don’t snatch away the authenticity from the traditional ones. They smell great in and out of the oven, are near identical in their recipe, forgiving the eggs in the dough. They sat squishing in an eight inch round baking pan, my ideal dish to bake a nice chocolate cake in, but this time around they doubled up as my bread pan too, saving me gracefully from sunken cockeyed bread had I baked them in my ten inch dish instead. They nudged for space as they puffed up on their second sitting, and, by the time they were out they looked glorious in their golden crevices and sugar burnt hunches, flattering into characteristic pull apart rolls that need to be forked by the thumb and forefinger to tear them apart from their siblings. There’s a fun thing to it, to tear it apart in submission in an imperfect way and dunk it in milk over giggles and laughters with our little girl while tapping our feet to the melodies of Christmas jingles. That’s when you know you are up for a good start to a holiday season.

The frosting is purely optional. As for a daily bread, I would stay away from frosting these. They are sweet on their own and make a wonderfully perfect Sunday breakfast with a slather of some salted butter, or cream cheese and coffee by the side. But we are in a holiday season, and that calls for some adornment on the table to give it a festive ring. I have a clean, less sweeter old fashioned cooked vanilla frosting recipe that works really well for me. Since the bread is sweet by nature, a lighter frosting like this one is pleasing to our tastes. Unlike the traditional frosting where you mix milk to confectioners’ sugar till you get a desired consistency, this one is far better version that gives me a similar thick pour-able consistency, albeit far less sweeter than the original version. Give it a try, may be you'll fall for these too.

Cinnamon Rolls with Cooked Vanilla Frosting

INGREDIENTS

For Cinnamon Rolls:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup milk (I used full fat milk)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp. active dry yeast (or rapid rise)

For the Cinnamon Sugar Filling:

1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tbsp. cinnamon powder
2 tbsp. melted butter

For the Cooked Vanilla Frosting:

1 cup full fat milk
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/3 cup coconut sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Heat the milk and butter in a large sauce pan till the butter has melted into the milk. Remove from heat and add in the sugar. Stir well and allow it cool down to lukewarm. The milk should be tepid enough to activate the yeast, but not too hot, else will kill the yeast.

Transfer the warm milk to a large mixing bowl and sprinkle yeast into it. Let it sit for 10 minutes, so that the yeast can feed on the sugar and froth.

Next, add flour starting with 1/2 cup at a time and stirring well as you go. Once it forms a loose batter, add the next half cup of flour and stir well. This will help activate the gluten in the dough and yield soft supple dough, resulting in a good, fluffy bread. Continue using all of the flour and stir well with each addition till it comes together to form a sticky dough. Knead it for a minute or two till its soft and supple.

Place the dough in an oiled deep dish and cover it with a dish cloth. Let it rise in a warm place for about 2 hours. By this time the dough should double in size.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. I use the clean kitchen counter top that provides me ample space to work my dough on. Using a flour dusted rolling pin, roll the dough into a thin long rectangle. Brush it generously with melted butter. Prepare a mix of sugar and cinnamon powder and sprinkle it generously all over the dough.

Starting at the longer edge side, roll up the dough as tight as you can till forms a long log. To avoid opening up, place the seam side down. Using a cleaned knife dipped in flour, cut the log into slices of 1.5 inch each. Butter a 8x8-inch round baking tin. Place the rolls into the buttered tin, next to each other. Brush the rolls with some melted butter. Set aside to rise again for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the rolls for 25-30 minutes or until the bread is golden brown in color. If the top of the bread seems to change color sooner, while the underside still seems uncooked, cover the top with an aluminium foil and continue to bake till done.

Remove from oven and allow it to cool completely. Frost as desired.

For the frosting, combine milk and flour in a saucepan. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, for about 3-5 minutes. The mixture should thicken and come to a boil. Add in sugar and stir well. Boil till the mixture coats the back of a wooden spatula, i.e. of custard consistency. Turn off the heat. Stir in vanilla essence. Cool completely. Before serving, whisk the frosting really well and swirl using a spoon on the cinnamon rolls.

How to make Healthy 3 Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

The calendar on the bottom of my screen reminds me each day how fast we are getting close to the end of December. That means, we are just 2 weeks away from waving goodbye to this year (stop twitching your eyes, will you!) and, we are only 7 nights away from Christmas! 7 nights, that's just about a week. Yes, yes, just about a week I said! Sooner we bat our eyelids, that will be snapped away too. Now hope you are not smirking at me or raising your eyebrows in an oddly muddled way! If you did, then I assume you have sprung up on your toes and are heading right to your desk to grab that paper and pen to sort your Christmas shindig. So by this time around next week, I imagine the table will be laid out, and cutleries matched up, stockings set up high on the window sill where the fairy lights are twinkling in a chord, rushing through last minute gift wrapping and cookie plating, and in the reclusive spot of your home there may be a party planned with folks boisterously chiming in Merry Christmas while sipping away some eggnog.

I don't mean to scare you by any means. While we are nearly there in the last lap of the year with another 15 days to go, we are still left with the best few days of 2016 to live with. I wanted to knock your door and remind you on that. By that I mean, I wouldn't want you to burn out and hyperventilate planning the whole carte du jour for the D-day celebrations, rather take it slow and easy, plan with a breather, living the last few days of this year insanely happy, making it a memorable one.

We got the taste of our real winter snowfall yesterday that lasted a couple of hours. By end of the day, all the white snow flaked icing was one into a slushy mess. Predictions are it will continue to snow over the week, slipping into weekend. This morning we woke up to see our world swallowed by mesmerizing white everywhere. I dumped myself in layers and layers of warmers, mufflers and whatnot, yet, chill air was strong enough to render my eyes watery, feet numbed and nose tips frosted. By the time I was home, my coconut massaged hair had frozen to thick dreadlocks and my toes had lost their sense of belonging. Today was the coldest winter I've ever witnessed in my life, and this is just the beginning, an experience worth a memory, a teaser to what lies in the months ahead. Now I'm seriously thinking of a balaclava, no matter how comical I may seem.

In the run to year end celebration, I've turned on my oven to warm up our home and bake some delectable goodies. Between churning out my favorite fruit cakes that will go out to friends and colleagues, I have some healthy cookies baking on the side, that serve as an instant solace to curb the cravings of my little girl and me. While the air is heated and scents of fruits and spices waft through the kitchen, these cookies are made instantly with left over bananas, some oatmeal and chocolate chips, just 3 ingredients put together into a loose dough and baked to form soft cake like cookies. They are an instant ramification of salvaging some near dying overripe bananas that are honey sweet and boost of potassium in abundance. They are healthy, have no fat, can be customized to your will by replacing chocolate chips with nuts and raisins of choice, are gluten free, dairy-free, can be easily passed on for breakfast or on-the-go snack at odd hour with no guilt. Now that's what you need on your hand while you are raking your brain sketching out the Christmas menu. Go ahead and bake these along too.

Healthy 3 Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Cookies

Prep Time: 5 mins | Bake Time: 12 mins | Yields: 9 medium sized cookies

INGREDIENTS

1 large overripe banana
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats*
1/4 cup chocolate chips*
1 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mash the bananas in a medium bowl. Add the oats, vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Stir in well to form a loose dough.

Using an oiled spoon, drop a tablespoonful of the cookie dough to a baking tray. Flatten them down gently into a disc shape if desired.

Bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack. Serve with tea or coffee or take as an on-the-go snack.

Notes:

* Use gluten-free oats for gluten-free option
* Use vegan chocolate chips for vegan option
* Replace the chocolate chips with raisins or nuts like almonds or walnuts for a nut based option
* Vanilla extract is optional but highly recommended for more flavor. You can do without it however.

How to make Clementine Scented Almond Biscotti | Easy Orange Almond Biscotti Recipe

The mornings since a week have turned wonderfully chill. Its been cooler than any other month I have known in Bangalore the past year. It’s been a while since we’ve been going to bed tucking the quilt snugly till our necks, windows partly open to let the cold air in, and without the usual sounds of whirling fans putting us to sleep. I scuffle in hunt for my home slippers which I don’t else care for. I love walking barefoot at home. The sounds of bare feet slapping against the floor, thap thap thap. It has a thing to it. Like adding music to the silent mornings. A melodious slap. Have you ever thought so?

The nip in the air has taken over the water too. They seem to be flowing from the refrigerators above and I can barely rinse after brushing, the mint flavor in the toothpaste adding to the effect of its chillness making my mouth go nearly numb. I stepped out this morning to put my sandals on; within minutes though, I rushed back in and led myself into the closet that stores many long forgotten things. Under the hiding of my ill-fitting jeans and handful of old salwar kameez, I pulled off my good ol’ maroon winter scarf (which had its ornate prints faded out in its seclusion, I yet love it), wrapped it around my neck, crossed my hands to chest and walked my way to work. The homeless dogs had gone into hiding, probably looking for warmer shelters under the extended roofing of kirana stores. There they sat warming up against the heap of ugly gunny rugs, rolling over lazily, snugging deeper into them. Above, the leaves wavered, their sway hushed, like the pendulum of a wall clock in a slow motion. The strollers on sidewalks had many like me who tucked their arms firmly across their chest, others burrowing their fingers deep into the slots of their jeans, their shoulders stooped; while women held to their scarfs covering the faces with their eyes stealing glimpse to the world passing by, as they rode pillion on the bikes.

Behind the pads of clouds I see sun poking out. By 8 am or so, the sun is out in its full glory. It’s the kind of weather I love. Cool, bright and sunny; the gentle warmth from sun seeping tenderly into my skin. It promises me that the day will turn good. There are no resolutions this year. Only optimism. An eagerness to see what future holds for us. No matter what, hope is mightier than all. Hope for positivity and accomplishment of many unspoken promises. That brings me to craving a good cup of masala chai and these Clementine Scented Almond Biscottis I baked in the mid of last year while in US when the weather turned this way. When the skies brightened and the cold air made us snug, we dunked biscottis and drank tea. Decembers and January of Bangalore ought to be like this. The season of winters. The season when oranges appear in plenty. The season to warm up. The season to eat almonds. The season to bake. The season for a reason to bake.

So I craved these biscottis and baked them again. The original recipe calls for clementine oranges. It said mandarins or other fruit zest will work too. I tried these again replacing clementines for Indian oranges and they were zesty and flavorsome. Although these photographs come from the time I baked them with clementines, let your imagination drift away to try other flavors. During that vacation, I spent many evenings flipping pages of cookbooks I had borrowed from the nearby State library. The flipping, the photographs, the intros and side notes for the recipe had often inspired me to get on my toes and rush to bake. This recipe comes from one among them. I wish though I had noted down where it came from. I promise, the moment I figure out, I shall credit it duly. For now, I hope this biscotti brightens up your day irrespective of the weather in your country.

CLEMENTINE-SCENTED ALMOND BISCOTTI

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup / 70g caster sugar
1 large egg
Grated zest of 1 clementine / mandarin / Indian orange
2 cups / 150 g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
50g raw, whole almonds, skin on

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Place the eggs, sugar and zest in a large bowl, and beat it in a food processor or with an electric beaters until its pale and creamy. Fold in the flour, baking powder and almonds. It should be quite a wet and sticky dough at this point. Scrape the dough onto a floured surface and knead gently to bring it together. Shape the dough into a long log.

Place the dough log on the baking tray and bake for around 20 minutes. The dough should be fully cooked through before removing the logs from the oven. Allow to cool on a baking rack for 30 minutes.

Using a sharp serrated knife, slice into 0.5 cm thin slices. Place the slices on the baking tray and bake on each side, till the edges begin to brown. It took approximately 10 minutes on each side. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a baking rack. They will continue to crisp up as they cool down. Once completely cool, enjoy them dunk in milk, tea or coffee of your choice. Else, store these biscuits in an air tight container.

NOTES

- You can replace the clementines for mandarins too. Clementines and mandarins belong to family of oranges. Indian oranges will be a great substitution.
- You can try replacing oranges to lemon zest for a lemony flavor.
- You can replace the almonds for nuts of your choice. I haven't tried dry fruits yet, but I am sure they would be wonderful too.

How to make Tomato Three Cheese Thin Crust Pizza Recipe

Another month has gone by and boy, October is here! I had promised myself to get out of the cocoon and post atleast couple of more recipes before the end of September, but I failed myself again.

The changing months remind me how blessed the second part of the year has been, particularly this year with some long weekends falling back to back over the past 3 weeks. We had Ganesh Chaturthi fall on 18th Sep, the Friday, followed by Bakrid on 24th, the Thursday last week. It came as an advantage when the leave on Thursday was called off and pushed to Friday. As an unplanned holiday, we decided to make the best of a long weekend break, stayed home, sewed some teeny-weeny clothes for the little girl's barbie, napped well in the noon and baked some delicious pizzas for our dinner.

For a long time now, making pizza at home has not just been a menu of convenience and break from the usual course, but very therapeutic when made from scratch. Its a joy to watch the yeast act it's way through the dough, rise and double it up. Intimidating it may sound. But there's hardly anyway one can go wrong with a pizza flatbread if the yeast has played its part well.

Making the dough and sauce from scratch indeed calls for some pre-planning and can end up being time consuming if you are time crunched, but this is what makes the most delicious pizza, with slices that are endearing and smell of freshly baked bread, topped with molten lava of cheese to boast.

So, I've made pizzas several times at home. Combinations vary. Toppings change. Each time they evolve. Yet, every time they sing of freshness and subtlety. The flavors burst and melt with each bite. At times they are made quick, simple and unpretentious, on other occasions they can be fancy with a varirty of vegetable toppings. I decide toppings on a whim, unplanned and unprepared. But they hardly matter. When you have good cheese to camouflage, you always have sumptuous and satisfying slices on your plate and lips that curve into a smile. Don't forget, a well made crust and good cheese is the key, and you have a winning recipe.

There are several recipes available for a good pizza dough, but this recipe always works like charm for me, especially when I prefer to use whole wheat flour. It may seem unusual to use milk based bread recipe in a pizza dough, but I prefer it for the soft, supple and airy results it provides to a dough base that holds the sauce, vegetables and cheese well, yet doesn't lose its texture. The whole wheat flavor adds a healthy twist with a nice nutty backdrop to whatever toppings you want to layer on.

One of the reason why I love keeping the crust on the thinner side is that the dough doesn't require time to rise after proofing nor requires par-cooking. As the dough rests and doubles, you prepare the sauce, cook, simmer, season it and let it cool. Then you roll out the dough and let it rest on the counter while you prepare the toppings. For a recipe like this three cheese tomato pizza, all you need a good dough base and a fresh tomato basil sauce with three variety of cheeses you can get your hands on. Remember, mozzarella is a must for that gooey-stringy mess. The others are much upto your choice. I suggest you get the best fresh mozzarella possible. I chose a combination of cheeses with high, medium and low melting points. Ricotta has a low melting point, and I paired it with cheddar and mozzarella with medium to high melting points. That helps avoid this pizza disintegrate into a cheesy mess.

Tomato Basil Pizza Sauce

INGREDIENTS

8-10 pods of garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 cup tomato puree
1/4 cup tomato sauce (optional)
1/4 cup of fresh basil leaves, torn
1 tsp. dry oregano (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and Paprika to taste

DIRECTIONS

Saute finely chopped garlic in oil for 2 mins till they turn transparent. Add the tomato puree and stir well. Simmer and cook for atleast 15 minutes or till it reduces and leaves oil from the sides of the pan. Add in the tomato sauce and stir well. Cook for another 5 minutes. Add in the freshly torn basil leaves, dry oregano herbs (optional), paprika and salt to taste. Stir well. Turn off the flame and set aside to cool. Use this sauce to spread over the pizza base.

Three Cheese Tomato Thin Crust Pizza

INGREDIENTS

For the dough base:

Follow the recipe here or use a store bought thin crust pizza base

For the homemade sauce:

Homemade (recipe above) or store bought pizza sauce

For the toppings:

1 large tomato, de-seeded and sliced in rounds
1 onion, sliced
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
2 slices of cheddar cheese, torn
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
Salt and pepper to taste
Italian seasoning / Italian herbs

DIRECTIONS

Pre-heated oven at 200 deg C.

For a thin crust pizza, roll out the pizza dough as thin as possible, about ¼ inch thick. Prick all over the pizza dough using a fork. Allow it to sit on the counter for 10 mins.

Place the pizza on the pizza tray. Top with homemade tomato sauce and slather it evenly. Top with sliced tomatoes and onions. Sprinkle drained ricotta cheese, followed by cheddar and topped by generous amounts of mozzarella cheese. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200 deg C for 20-30 minutes or till the cheese melts and the edges of pizza brown. Slice into wedges and serve immediately.

How to make Avocado Brownies | Recipe for Healthy Brownies | No Butter Brownies

My weakness for brownies is not quite known to many. I love this sense of being discreet, like an affair that's quite so sincere. It first began years ago, when I joined the corporate industry to begin my career and I lived by myself for those couple of years. During those days, many weekends were spent hanging out at Corner House ice cream parlors in the heart of South Bangalore. Among the wide variety of ice creams in all permutations and combinations they had on menu or the life sized colorful posters of sugar-cherry topped neat ice cream scoops that adorned their walls, Brownie Fudge Sundaes it mostly was. It won my heart like none other could. I would go there nearly every weekend till I had had enough of it to overcome my cravings. At times I got them packed in disposable containers and took them back home. On most occasions, I would sit by the glass window and let the world pass by unnoticed as I indulged slowly scooping out the layers of nuts, chocolate fudge and vanilla ice cream that sat over the fudge soaked warm brownies. As the cold ice cream melted over the warm brownies and hot chocolate sauce, it created a pool of molten sweet puddle, soaking the brownie in it and making every bite of it gratifying and soothing to the fourth sense. It's what I call chocolate nirvana, bringing joy that makes life worth every bit.

I revive those days, much in reverence of being ignorant about what it meant to count calories or care for the waistline. More so because I cooked and ate mostly at home, so this was a sweet deal I sought comfort in for the week long slog at work and to beat the boredom of cooking and eating at home.

The harsher side is that brownies have never known to be healthy. You and I know that a good brownie needs a great deal of butter, ton of delicious sweet dark chocolate and a couple of eggs in varying degrees, depending upon how fudgy or cake-like you love your brownie to be. In sum, its pretty calorie laden that makes it so sinfully decadent.

It may sound like I am deceiving you a bit here, trying to sell you my brownies by calling them waistline-conscious, healthy and diet-friendly; yet with all the same decadence as what the classic brownies are. Believe me they are incredibly good!

If you have excess avocados lying around like I had in plenty, you've got to make these. Let loose your fears and whip together all good ingredients to make these brownies. What makes them different is that there is absolutely no butter used in them. They are nearly fat free with the avocados lending all buttery sheen and fat. And I promise, you don't entirely taste the avocados, unless you have a strong nose and taste buds that poke through it sensitively.

Although I chose to go with all purpose flour in this recipe, quite so in fear of not turning this into an inedible disastrous recipe, I feel certain that wheat flour or a combination of wheat and all purpose flour should easily substitute with no compromise to taste.

This recipe comes as a blessing for not just being healthy, but they make a great base in recipes that call for chocolate cakes and brownies. I made some brownie ice cream with these and that brushed off some guilt of being calorie conscious. They are great crumbled in trifles too, pairing beautifully in a good amount of fruity elixir. And ofcourse, if you've made these, then do not certainly forget to make some delicious Brownie Fudge Sundaes to share with your friends over a dinner party.

"Healthy" Avocado Brownies

Inspired from here

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup mashed avocado (about 1 medium avocado)
4 oz chocolate, chopped & melted (I used 1 bar of Hershey's dark chocolate)
3/4 cup organic raw cane sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp. pure maple syrup
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
2 tbsp. cacao powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and line an 8x8 baking dish (either square or round) with parchment paper. Chop and melt the dark chocolate in a microwave for 30 seconds or on a double boiler till its just melted. In a food processor, whip up all the ingredients except the flour, baking soda and walnuts till they are homogeneous. Sift the flour and baking soda into a food processor bowl and pulse until well combined. The resulting batter will be very thick. Pour this batter into the prepared baking dish and level it with the back of a knife. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or till a skewer inserted in the center comes out nearly clean. Let it rest in baking dish for 5 minutes and cool further on a cooling rack.