We at times like to settle for some simple desserts on weekday nights while the exotic ones are reserved for the weekends. Though we generally avoid indulging in heavy dinners followed by rich desserts, it's sometimes nice to just sooth down and pamper ourselves after the stress and hustle-bustle of the day, with sometime really as simple, yet exotic as this Vanilla Cheesecake.

No, I wouldn't admit that it's as quick as whipping a dessert in minutes and serving them, but it's fairly simple. I developed this light, yet rich-tasting dessert for our dinner a few months ago. I know it would seem too long to post, but I held on to this post thinking it wasn't the best of the photographs I took that night to justify it here. The summers were warm and as mentioned the temperatures were at peak too. So when I brought them out of the refrigerator to photograph them, they went on a melting spree in few minutes! By the time I could get good lighting and adjustments, they almost began to leach, putting me off completely.

I like desserts which I can prepare ahead of time. That gives me time to focus on other items on my menu. I would love to experiment more with cheesecakes, probably baked ones too. I could make these for entertaining events because I can prepare them ahead of time, which is what I love. But at the moment I am yearning for a spring form pan for more to be baked!

Vanilla Cheesecake

INGREDIENTS

For the crust:

1 pack digestive biscuits
1 tbsp margarine butter

For the cheesecake:

1/4 cup silken tofu
3 cups plain soy milk (400 ml)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pack china grass/agar-agar (vanilla flavor)
1 cup sugar (avoid if your pudding mix already has sugar)

DIRECTIONS

Crush the digestive biscuits and add in the melted butter. Mix well so that it resembles bread crumbs. Cover the bottom and sides of the cake tin with a cling film if you don't have a spring form pan. Layer the biscuit crumbs on the bottom of the pan and press it down well evenly. Push it into the freezer till you prepare the cheesecake.

Bring 2 cups of the plain soy milk to a boil. Mix the china grass mix to the rest of the soy milk. Add in the sugar to it if your china grass mix has no sugar added in it. The china grass pack that I used had sugar in it, hence I didn't add any extra sugar. Once the soy milk has come to a boil, add in the china grass milk to it. Bring it to a gentle boil or until the agar-agar has completely softened into the soy milk. Turn off the flame, remove from heat and allow it to sit for a while.

Meanwhile, blend the silken tofu until very smooth. Add extra vanilla if required. Add in the warm china grass milk to it, blend again till it's one uniform mixture. Transfer this to the prepared biscuit base. Cover the top with a cling film if required and refrigerate for few hours, preferably overnight.

Before serving, melt some dark chocolate and pipe it through a zip lock bag in stands over top of the cheesecake. Top with chocolate shavings if required. It compliments well with the vanilla flavors of the cheesecake.

When I made the cheesecake, I used very little silken tofu fearing that it would give out uncooked taste in the dessert. That's why it melted away instead of holding firm shape. The silken tofu particularly added to the creamy texture. I also did not allow it to sit for hours and brought it out before it could set completely, though this did not hamper the taste in any ways. I would suggest you increase the tofu by another half a cup and allow a setting time of atleast 6 hrs.

If you are not a vegan and have tasted those exotic rich and creamy cheesecakes, then you would surely sue me for the difference! These are light, absolutely light! Most vegan cheesecakes would use Toffutti Better than Cream Cheese, but that option was far from possible for me. I can't think of getting hold of something like that here. So I have just skipped that and used pureed silken tofu instead.

The vegan cheesecake was light, dreamy and good. Hubby dear took the first bite and gave thumbs up saying it was totally yum! With common cheesecakes being rich, heavy and relatively high in calories, this one was light, low fat and healthier than it's siblings. Not to forget being vegan too, it's totally guilt free!

When I first ventured into the egg-less baking, my mom persuaded me to try bananas as a foolproof egg substitute. At that point, I was well focussed on attempting at other substitutes, especially the ones that could pair well with varied flavors. Baking with bananas did not strike my chord much. That's because bananas have a characteristic flavor of their own that can disguise other flavors in my bakes. So I refrained using them for long.

Not that I had given up baking with eggs completely, but I was immensely happy with the results I achieved with other alternatives and that deterred me from using eggs for quite sometime.

Bananas are so common at our place that there's virtually not a single day when we go without them. This time however we had a few excess of them and over a few days, a couple of bananas had been glaring at me on the table top with their pale looks. They seemed less consumable as is and I had to either toss them to the waste bin or make something out of them. Though the tossing rarely happens. After using a pair of them in rasayana and another pair in sheera for our breakfast, I was left with another 2 of them. My husband pointed me out that it's time I should bake a Banana Bread. I was intimidated by that thought as it was the best I could do with my dying fruits.

I baked a banana bread once earlier, just a few weeks ago as an experimental effort. Back then, they turned out quite fudge-y rather than 'bread like'. But that did not ruin it's taste and flavor. It was loved by everyone. I modified my recipe this time and the bread actually turned out amazingly good. It had a perfect texture, had baked beautifully and the flavors of dark chocolate chips mingled gorgeously well with the bananas.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS

2-3 small ripe bananas
1 cup flour (160 gm)
1/4 cup oil (40 gm)
1/2 cup sugar (70 gm)
1/4 cup milk or soy milk (40 ml)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (40 gm)

DIRECTIONS

Blend milk or soy milk with bananas. Add the oil. Add in the flour, the sugar, the baking powder and soda and mix with a wooden spoon. Finally introduce the chocolate chips.

Transfer to a clean bread tin. Bake on 180 deg C for 40-45 mins, till the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool down on a rack, cut into slices and serve.

I cross my heart to say, this is by far the easiest and the most loved bread I have attempted. I mean, the ingredients are simple, there is no fuss with the recipe, it was an absolute solace to bake these. I love my bakes warm and these were no exceptions. As they baked and I took them out of the oven, I had little patience to wait for them to cool. In fact what you see here was cut warm.

The banana flavors were prominent on first of the bake. Surprisingly, they subsided and they could hardly be noticed the next day. I love my cakes when they have the moist crumb and I can tell you, these were not anything less than perfect!

After my post on Mulberry Muffins few weeks ago, I had a few mulberries at hand and I had to work on them quickly. They seem to have a very short shelf life, so I had to whisk up some thing out of them before they would decay, only to end up in the thrash bin.

I generally end up making compotes & jams from fruits that don't last long. Especially, with fruits like strawberries, mulberries, figs, they seem to work fantastic. Chopped fruits are immersed in sugar and gently heated through till they thicken. I like to season them with vanilla or some spices at times. What's best is that they store well in the freezer for long. I get to use them at my disposal as per my whims and fancies. Just thaw them and they are competent enough to make great toppings on ice creams and panna cotta and provide various fruity dessert options to try.

With a good amount of mulberries at hand, they ended up in a compote again (and probably another few desserts following them ;) ) And if you have guests coming in at the drop of a hat, then they are a great rescue with smoothies like this one. I served them with my Classic Oatmeal Cookies.

The compote and the smoothie are simple, quick and easy. Here's what we need:

Mulberry Smoothie

For the compote:

15-20 large mulberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Bruise the mulberries gently using a the back of a fork so that the juices are released. Put the mulberries, sugar and water in a pan and heat them on gentle flame till the syrup thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove and add in the vanilla essence. Allow to cool and transfer to a clean container. You may freezer this for up to a month.

For the smoothie:

1 tbsp mulberry compote
1 cup chilled soy milk
1 tbsp crushed ice

Blend mulberry compote and the chilled soy milk till they are homogeneous. The compote has vanilla and sugar, so no flavors have been added here. Transfer to a serving glass and top with crushed ice. Serve chilled.

I love the elegant purple colors bursting from mulberries. They make it look tempting. I love using soy milk since it's thicker than regular milk. I am a HUGE fan of soy milk and soy products, so I always look for excuses to use them whenever I possibly can!

If you wish to avoid the compote, just ignore the water part in the compote and blend all the ingredients (mulberries, sugar, milk and vanilla) together. The mulberries too have water content in them. Adjust sugar as per your taste. The measurements don't really matter, since it's a choice of individual tastes.

It was strange and funny that when I started photographing this, I got deviated from my focus on the smoothie and ended up with several shots of my soft toy, Gundu (that's what we call him). It was so much fun that I got involved with shooting that guy and finally while sorting out the photographs for editing, I realized I had several shots of this guy and few with my smoothie! So don't be surprised if my Mulberry smoothie has been side lined and you end up seeing more snaps of my Gundu!!! :D I just found it so cute with the teddy pushing his nose up and drinking my smoothie or looking innocently at the camera and my classic oatmeal cookies! I couldn't take my eyes off the photographs! Hope you are not wondering what this thing is doing on a food blog! Aah, isn't he so cute?

The weather God has been playing good and we have been receiving decent occasional showers of rain in the evenings. I feel much better being rescued from the scorch of heat. The summers were bad, not as bad as other parts of the country though. But it still came with potful of troubles with continued power cuts at peak hours of the day, sufficient to give a baker her nightmares!

It can't get more irritating when I have my goodies baking half way through in the oven and then the unexpected power cuts that can go on for atleast a couple of hours leave me feeling miserable and I end up with flat cakes or cookies that have to be used as alternatives or end up in thrash! I am hoping it gets better with more rains, though at the moment it's not any good.

All I want to do right now is to dive down cozily into an armchair, with a thought that I am totally carefree and have nothing much to do. Would probably just want to grab a novel, a cup of tea in one hand, cookies to sink my teeth into, melodies of the past being played on radio in the background, cool breeze kissing my cheeks, the murmurs of rain adding a zing of music to my ears... I am feeling exactly this way at the moment. Does this sound a perfect way to lazy around on your weekend or may be a nice holiday?

With the climate changing to better, the temperatures falling and with a few showers, it feels nice to see the dry, sun burnt grounds converting to patchy greens and hopefully lesser power cuts too! And with the cool breeze kissing my cheeks, it reminds me that it's time I convert my home to a baker's bliss, the time when vanilla and chocolate-y flavors waft through air and we descend gracefully into it's blissful aromas.

So I headed straight to make these simple delightful cookies for our evenings. I adapted the recipe from here, however made a couple of changes. I kept it neat with no dry fruits or nuts added to the dough. Instead I chose to frost my cookies with chocolate and finely chopped pistachios. My Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies have been appreciated in the past. These are classic American cookies and the best bet for the ones like me who dislike oats in their true nature. Recipe is quite simple and follows a standard procedure of dry into wet ingredients format.

Classic Oatmeal Cookies

INGREDIENTS

1 cup plain flour
1 1/4 cups oatmeal
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tbsp flax seed powder
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt

Decorate:

1/2 cup melted dark chocolate
Slivered pistachios

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375° F. Mix 1/2 tbsp flax seed powder into 2 tbsp water and keep in the fridge for a few hours. You will notice that the flax seed water will turn to a slimy mixture exactly like that of an egg. I have produced the best results from this mixture.

In a mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, vanilla and butter until well blended. Add the oatmeal, flax meal water and stir well.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Gradually add to the oatmeal mixture, stirring well. Scoop the dough by tablespoonfuls, spacing each about an inch apart, onto the baking tray. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

For the frosting, melt the chocolate over double boiler or in a microwave. Dip one half of the cookie into the melted chocolate. Drain excess chocolate using the edge of a spatula. Dip into a finely chopped pistachios and allow it to cool over a plate.

These are good as is without any frostings. Frosting them is purely optional. I am not good at frosting, or must I admit that I have the least patience to decorate. However, this time I thought I must leave my laziness aside and try some hand at frosting. I opted to coat them partially with molten dark chocolate and pistachios.

I have been experimenting a lot with flax seeds and honestly, off late, I have begun to dislike even the faintest taste from flax seeds. Though the smell is not so pronounced in this recipe, my taste buds seem to identify it easily, which I don't like. So the frosting made it good for me. However, do not resist to try this. If I don't like it, it doesn't mean it's gross. You may love it. My family did. In fact, they merrily enjoyed it. You may use 1 egg instead of flaxseed.

Did I ever admit that my first cake was baked in a pressure cooker? Yeah, you heard this right. Not steamed, but baked in a pressure cooker. That was when I was without any oven and it seemed like a long intense urge to bake a cake out of sheer desperation. I must have seen or heard it somewhere that one could convert the cooker to an oven and I set out to recreate the same in my kitchen that day.

For the ones who heard or secretly saw me fiddling in the kitchen with sand and pressure cooker, would surely quote me to be insane to have baked this way! Just imagine, collecting sieved fine sand from a construction site, preparing the cooker for baking, spreading sand in the base of the cooker (to provide proper circulation of heat around the vessel), covering the cake vessel (oh yeah, didn't have a proper cake tin at hand and used the vessel that came with my cooker!) neatly with foil, made a paper cone, filled it with sand, tipped the cone edge, covered the sides of the cake vessel with sand evenly using the cone, murmured a short prayer, put everything together, baked for close to 45 mins on low heat without pressure whistle... with restlessness in me while it was being baked, prayers on my lips, in trepidation, anxiety on my face while bringing that cake out, that was one hell of a job.

Equipped with basic ingredients for my first cake, that too a chocolate one, I went ahead to bake it daringly this way. It wasn't an easy task, that too risking with a pressure cooker was too daring of me, if I am to think about it today. I still wonder what made my thoughts go so whammy that day! And if you were curious to know if the cake was a disaster, I would say it wasn't disappointing for my first attempt! Though the edges were over baked and I had to scale them, the centers were otherwise good!

That was my last attempt at something as weird as this one. I have an oven now and have come a long way since then. It's been fun making cakes with varieties, though I haven't had much luck with frosting except in this one, owing to the low fat cream which we get here that never holds shape even if I were to whip it to eternity! Any help from you guys would be welcome ;)

I made this carrot cake recently and it was absolutely adorable. I was loaded with compliments on this. The recipe has been adapted from here with no changes.

Carrot Bundt Cake

INGREDIENTS

3 cups grated carrots
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup raisins
2 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

In a medium bowl, combine grated carrots and brown sugar. Set aside for 60 minutes, then stir in raisins. You will notice that during the standing time, the carrots would leave out water. Don't discard this.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour the bundt pan.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until it's light and fluffy. Gradually introduce the white sugar, oil and vanilla. Stir in the pineapple. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, stir into the wet mixture until absorbed. Finally stir in the carrot mixture and the walnuts. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.

Bake for 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until cake is done when tested with a toothpick. Cool before removing from pan. When completely cooled, you can choose to frost or leave it.

This was the first time I baked a cake in a bundt pan. I had a little trouble removing the cake from the pan despite greasing and dusting it well. Do share a few tips on removing the cake the right way from a bundt pan as I had to juggle with removing it.

I had carrot cake recently on one of our adventure trips. It was indeed so good that I could hardly wait to try them myself. I haven't tasted any other carrot cakes, except for the one on this trip. So, when I came across making the cake myself, I can only agree that it can be termed as the 'best ever carrot cake' and that's exactly what the original recipe was titled.

The cake was moist and perfectly balanced with fruits, nuts and spices. We loved the cake when served warm. I just loved that hinted sweetness from carrots and brown sugar. I left it unfrosted as most carrot cakes say that cream cheese is the best frosting and that option was just not viable. A dollop of ice cream may add that extra icing on the top!

Having grown up eating jackfruits as a teenager, it takes me down my memory lane when monsoon months from June to August often greeted us with delicacies of jackfruit, a fruit which people either love most or hate most. While I come in the range of former ones, I know few who can't stand it for it's unique taste.

It reminds me how often my dad would sit down on floor with a massive oiled knife to tear apart the pine skulled fruit, while mom peeled and stoned the fruit and my little sissy and me, as children would surround him to grab those fleshy ripe fruits off and relish them unendingly. And dad would do this task with immense love and passion. The huge jackfruit, often fetched from farms of my uncles and aunts was undoubtedly the most organic, fresh and the best ones we ever tasted.

The fruit is so versatile in use that it can be consumed either in raw form in cooking curries and savories or ripe in Indian sweets. Even the stony seeds are delicacies to the ones like me. Variety of dishes are made from the flesh of jackfruit, common ones like palya, huli, gashi, kadabu, dosa, idli, appam, papad, chips, etc. And even today, whenever I do get a chance, I love to hog on my amma's food. Well, I depend on her heavily for these traditional recipes.

It's a season of jackfruits and I can't get a better post than this one for this season. For the one who's not introduced to this fruit, jackfruit is a very tropical fruit commonly grown and consumed in the Western coastal belts of India.

Gujje Palya (Raw Jackfruit Stir-fry)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup raw jackfruit
3-4 whole red chilies
1/2 cup fresh grated coconut
Lemon sized tamarind
1 tsp mustard seeds

Tempering:

1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 sprig of curry leaves

DIRECTIONS

Wash and clean the jackfruit. Remove the external core skin. Pit the seeds and chop the flesh into small pieces. This can be a little tedious task if you are a first timer. My grandma is excellent at this and I have a lot to learn from her.

Pressure cook the chopped raw jackfruit pieces with salt and tamarind on 2 whistles. Meanwhile, prepare the spice paste.

Grind together fresh grated coconut, whole red chilies and a tsp of mustard seeds. The ground mustard seeds impart a tangy spice to the dish, which I love the most. Keep this ground paste aside.

Heat some oil in a wok. Add mustard seeds and a sprig of curry leaves. When they begin to splutter, add the cooked jackfruits and stir fry for a minute or two. Then add in the ground paste. Allow the liquid to evaporate a little and cook on slow flame for another 2-3 minutes. Turn off the flame and transfer to a serving bowl. Serve hot as a side dish with rice or rotis.

With my post on Date Walnut Muffins, I had promised that I would list 10 things that make me happy. Here it goes...

1. Cooking and Baking of course! (Can I dare ignore that???)
2. Every cozy moment spent with my husband :) (undoubtedly, it makes me happy!)
3. Being back to MY home after work and being warmly greeted by my hubby's smiling face (oh! what a stress buster!)
4. That each day has gone by on a positive note (yeah, it's important to me that my family and me are in their best of the days, health and happiness)
5. Good food (My 4th sense is has a strong leniency towards appealing good food. That's been more off late!)
6. Travelling to discover new places (that's an inheritance from my hubby dear!)
7. Blogging & Photography (a good blog and great food photography makes me feel real good!)
8. Watching Travel & Living and NDTV Good Times (I am hooked to it from past few years ;))
9. Walking to a book store, picking up a cookery or a painting book and just flipping through pages without any one disturbing! (Often wish, there's a couch to sneak into!)
10. Desserts (I know it's too far to position it the 10th, best for the last! I can't tell you how soothing a good dessert is to my senses!!! It indeed is! )

My dear dad turned another year older and it calls for celebration time. All I had on my mind was this celebration Eggless Black Forest Cake which is one of his favorites. Not just his, but a family favorite too.

Pastry shops were uncommon for us as kids. I can remember this shop by name, Monginis, in Mulund-Bombay, which was our hot favorites then - our only source for some real good cakes and pastries. And we would often hang out there with mom and dad for some good cakes which mom loved and for savories like samosas which were dad's favorite. Though butter cream cakes were easily available even then, fresh cream pastries have become very popular only from past few years, with cake shops and coffee houses springing up every where and with most people, especially youngsters and college-goers hanging out there often.

As we grew up to be teenagers, pastries became popular and more commonly available in cake shops and bakeries. One of the most popular cakes was undoubtedly the Black Forest cake, which I guess, there's hardly anyone who's not eaten or heard of. I am no better and must have eaten hundreds of these as a teenager and continue even today! Black Forest cake consists of layers of chocolate cake, drizzled with rum syrup, sandwiched with whipped cream and torn cherries, topped with a good dose of whipped cream, maraschino cherries and chocolate shavings. Pure decadence. Period!

The below recipe is the most common recipe for eggless sponge cake and the same recipe can be got from many websites. I reduced the butter to half instead of 120 gm which I thought was a little too much and since I had no cola at hand, I used milk instead. It does make a difference. Cola adds fizz and air to the cake while milk made it denser than it should have been. The cake turned a little dry too, but that didn't matter much as the soaking moistened it well. Never the less,the cake was still spongy and good. Here's what we need.

Eggless Black Forest Cake

INGREDIENTS

For the chocolate cake:

2 1/4 cups plain flour (240 gm)
1 can condensed milk (400 gm)
1/4 cup melted butter (60 gm)
2 cups aerated cola (200 ml)
1/2 cup cocoa powder (40 gm)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

For the frosting:

2 cups dark chocolate, grated (200 gm)
1 cup fresh cream powder (100 gm)
1 cup cold water (100 ml)

For the filling:

1 cup maraschino cherries, pitted and chopped

To be mixed into a soaking syrup:

2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp rum (optional)
1/2 cup water

DIRECTIONS

Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and soda. In another bowl, mix condensed milk, cola and melted butter and whisk well.

Add the wet ingredients in to the dry ones, whisk well till combined. Transfer to a baking tray and bake for 40 minutes at 180 deg C. Once done, remove aside to cool.

In a bowl, mix the rum and sugar with water. Whip the cream powder with ice cold water till soft peaks are formed. Allow the cake to cool, slice to halves horizontally. Drizzle the sugary rum syrup evenly all over the cake so that it absorbs well. Spread the whipped cream on one half, spread the chopped cherries and top it with the second slice. Frost the cake top and sides with whipped fresh cream. Decorate with whole cherries and grated chocolate shavings. Refrigerate at least for a few hours before serving.

My dad's a staunch vegetarian, which means no eggs included. I've made egg-less chocolate cakes earlier, so making another one wasn't any challenge. Suma was of great help for me to hunt maraschino cherries :) Thanks Suma. However, the biggest challenge for me was to frost the cake with fresh cream. I haven't had much success with whipping the 25% low fat cream available here. I was working with whipped cream powder as frosting for the first time and Divya's blog gave me the confidence that it wouldn't let me down, though I admit I was a little apprehensive how the final cake would turn up. However, I am glad it turned out good and there was hardly any difference noticed.

The cake turned out great. It worked beautiful as a birthday treat. We had a small celebration at home and it was enjoyed by all. The cake requires some maturation time as I assembled it on the d-day, but the syrup was yet to be absorbed well. The cake had absorbed the moist syrup, matured well and tasted much better the next day.

Happy Birthday to the man in my life who taught us to be independent, self motivated and living everyday to the fullest. To take life with a pinch of salt, a little spice, a little bitterness and loads of sweetness, the bitter-sweet way! He's a man who gives us strength, boosts our spirits and is always with us in highs and lows of life. Thanks dad for being there always. :)

Happy Birthday Dear Dad!

We love our indulgences in dates and do often to curb our hunger, almost on a daily basis. It's one of those ingredients that goes into our cereal bowl without a second thought! Known for it's health benefits and natural sugars, it pairs well in a few fabulous desserts and is healthy too.

I initially intended to bake a good Date and Walnut Bread. But having run out of good quantity of the dates at hand required to bake the bread, I settled to make these muffins instead. I was skeptical how these muffins would turn out, since it's practically my first attempt at using dates as a replacer for eggs.

To enhance flavors, I used freshly-ground-at-home cinnamon powder. I haven't come across any store selling cinnamon powder here, so I have a few cinnamon sticks ground to powder for these occasions. Though cinnamon is so commonly used in our everyday cooking, it is not my taste in desserts. Saying this however, I have found them to do pretty well with a few fruity cakes which calls for all spices. Apart from this, I haven't exploited them much in desserts.

The muffins came out to be fantastic. Just perfect. These may not require any toppings, but would do justice if opted for. I topped a few of the muffins with a good helping of chocolate-y nutella which went superb as a frost. I got 6 large muffins from these. I also added in walnuts for that added edgy crunch.

Date Walnut Muffins

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup pitted dates, chopped
1 cup hot milk
1/4 cup oil
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup minus 1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp heap of walnuts

Frosting:

1 tsp Hazelnut spread Nutella
1/2 tsp broken walnuts

DIRECTIONS

Place dates and hot milk in bowl and allow it to stand for 10 mins so that the dates soften. Pulse this in a mixer till the dates coarsely combine with milk. I like those few fruity pieces coming through in my muffins as I bite into them. Add the oil and vanilla. Stir well again.

Preheat oven to 180ºC. Grease 6 cups of a muffin pan.

Sieve the flour in another bowl. Add in sugar, baking powder, soda and cinnamon into it. Mix them well.

Make a well into the dry ingredients. Pour in the wet ingredients and mix till they just combine. Finally add in walnuts. Spoon mixture into muffin pan, bake for 20 minutes until done.

I topped them with a frosting of Nutella which was spread with a butter knife. They made a fantastic topping. Opt for any other alternative of your choice.

The dates have an inherent sweetness, so test the sweetness to your taste before baking. The next time I make these I would like to try them with bananas. Another alternative should be brown sugar which may go very well in these. These are just my assumptions. I will post them here when I try them.

The sweetness of dates and milk came through well. It was mild and mellowed, just went perfect for the warm weather of the day. These freshly baked warm muffins with nutella frosting is my take this week with a warm cuppa homemade almond milk.

My Russian friend blogger, Natalya from Natalya Cooking has shown a kind gesture by sharing this Sweet Friends award with me and I am glad to accept it. Natalya has some great recipes with her blog translated into 3 languages: French, English and Russian, so that it can cater all masses. Take a peep. Thanks a lot Natalya. That was kind of you. The award comes attached with rules:

List 10 things that make you happy. (I would like to keep that for my next post ;))
Pass the award onto other blogs and let them know you have done so. I would like to recognize two bloggers here. Both are fabulous and talented with great recipes to share with all. Keep up the good job guys!

Saswati
Nitya

Note: I will be editing a few of my old posts with new photographs. So do check them out and drop your feedback. You may like to visit this one for now:

Homemade Pizza Dough
Onion Chutney

May is the month for summers in India and summers have set in well in most parts of our country. While many parts of the country have been crippling in scorching heat, we are lucky to have an envious weather even in the month of May. Though mornings and mid-days do face the summer scorch, we have been fortunate enough to receive occasionally scant, pleasant showers in the evenings. But, this does not stop us from dwelling on juices, cool drinks and ice creams on almost everyday basis to soothe ourselves from the heat in the day.

Since my previous stint with Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream, I haven't posted any ice cream recipes. In fact, I haven't made much at home apart from a couple of flavors. Every time I make, it's gone much before I can capture it for this space! ;) With temperatures at peak this summer season, I have been whipping more ice creams, experimenting with different flavors that I hadn't done in the past.

I recently made this Caramelized Peanut Butter Ice Cream which turned out fabulous. We relished it thoroughly and I thought it's a must share recipe, coz I made it fat free, the gelato way. I made this ice cream from scratch, but I believe using a Peanut bar or Indian Chikki would be a cheat version of this Ice Cream. I haven't tried that yet, so if you have tried, do let me know how it turns out to be.

Caramelized Peanut Butter Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS

400 ml milk
1 tbsp corn flour
150 g damerara sugar
100 g roasted peanuts
1 tsp of vanilla essence
A pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS

Add the corn flour to the milk and heat it through till the milk thickens. Stir continuously. Once the milk becomes thick, remove from flame and keep aside to cool.

Roast the peanuts. Remove their skins. Grind them to powder in a mixer and keep aside.

Next caramelize the sugar. Heat the sugar on a medium low flame with a tsp of water and swirl around gently so that the sugar doesn't burn. Once the sugar has melted keep a close watch on it. Let it brown and caramelize. Turn off the flame and add the roasted, powdered peanuts and salt and mix well. Allow to cool.

Once cooled, grind the caramelized peanuts to a paste in a heavy duty grinder along with the vanilla and 1/4th of the thickened milk. Once the peanuts have released butter and are thoroughly fine, add in the remaining of the thickened milk and pulse again.

Chill thoroughly, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. In case you do not have an ice cream maker, then try this. Transfer to freezer proof air-tight container. Freeze for an hour or two until the edges have started setting in to ice. Remove and pulse again. Freeze again. Repeat for another 2-3 attempts to break the forming ice. Serve!

To frost the cone, melt some dark chocolate in a double-boiler. Dip the mouth (open end) of the cone into the melted chocolate and invert it. Allow the chocolate to drip down naturally. Before the chocolate sets, coat the chocolate with some crushed peanuts. Allow to set (may be in a fridge if u like). Scoop out the ice cream and serve a nice dollop on the frosted cone. Top it with chocolate chips.

The best part of this recipe is that I haven't used any cream. Being made with milk alone it's a guilt free indulgence. The corn flour worked wonders, making it creamier and giving it a good texture that an ice-cream needed. Without an ice-cream maker at hand, I was immensely glad with the final result. Not being too high on sweetness, it tasted great with bold flavors of peanut butter hinted mildly by caramel and vanilla flavors. I am sure to try various other flavors with ice creams this summer.

So if you are being severely reprimanded by the scorch of the day and if it's only cool treats like ice creams that helps you beat the heat, then you must give this a try!

I doubt if there's any one out there who dislikes Okra or Lady's finger or our very own Bhindi. I haven't met many, sorry any! It's a vegetable that is universally known, commonly accepted with grace and love in many cuisines worldwide. And in Indian homes, it makes a prominence with no compromises. Be it in South India or North India, it's a common vegetable you'll find in most Indian homes.

Both, DH and I are fond of Okra and we make it a point to buy it often, almost on every grocery shopping, at least once a week. Variations with Okra may be limited, but this vegetable surely has a distinctive flavor of it's own that makes it require minimal dressing.

This raita is a take from my mother's kitchen. Not often does she make this as she prefers a good subzi over this one. But this yogurt based dish was often whipped by her at parties where they made an elegant match for many other accompaniments, be it with rotis and parathas or flavored rice. The yogurt lover that I am, you can imagine the crave I have, which I can not resist when these are served.

Bhindi Raita

INGREDIENTS

200 gm Okra or bhindi
1 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
1 cup yogurt
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp chili powder

Temper:

1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard
A few sprigs of curry leaves

DIRECTIONS

Wash and clean the okra. Allow it to dry on a kitchen towel. Ensure it's completely dry, else it make turn a little slimy while cooking. Chop the okra to small round pieces. Set them aside.

In a pan, heat a tbsp of oil. Add the chopped okra in the hot oil. Do not add any water during the cooking process. Add salt and sauté for few minutes till they soften. They may look slimy, but will reduce once removed from heat. Remove from heat when they look a little crispy. Let them cool.

Prepare the dressing. Take some yogurt in another bowl. Add a tbsp of water to make it a little thin if you like. That's how I like mine. Add in the salt, cumin and chili powder to taste. Whisk it. Add the fried okra to this spiced yogurt.

Make a tadka or to temper, heat a tsp of oil, add in the mustard and curry leaves. As it begins to splutter, remove from heat and add them to the okra in yogurt. Sprinkle a little chili powder on top and serve.

Ensure that the fried okra is cooled before adding into the yogurt. Else, it may turn the yogurt sour, unless you plan to serve it immediately. You may serve this at room temperature or even chill it.

The tempering can be changed. Use cumin seeds instead of mustard. Garnish with coriander leaves or add a dash of chili powder before serving.

I made this for our dinner the other day and we just loved it. The fried okra in mildly spiced yogurt has subtle and simple flavors with the tarka that adds all the glamor to this dish.

For all the mother's out there... Happy Mother's Day! A special Mother's Day wish to the lady of my life, my beloved amma. Happy Mother's Day Amma!