Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:

Oats - 2 cups

Raisins - 1/2 cup

All purpose flour (maida) - 1 cup

White sugar - 1/2 cup

Dark brown sugar - 1/2 cup

Butter - 1/2 cup

Egg - one

Baking powder - 1/2 tbsp

Salt - pinch

Cinnamon powder - 1/8 tbsp

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

Procedure:

• Take a wide mixing bowl, add butter, white sugar, dark brown sugar and whip them together with the help of hand mixer to form a smooth mixture.
• Add egg, vanilla essence and continue whipping. Now add maida, baking powder, salt, cinnamon powder and mix under medium speed for 1-2 minutes.
• Then add oats, raisins and stir under low speed for not more than one minute. Just all the ingredients should mix well to get uniform dough. Do not stir for long time which may yield hard cookies.

• Preheat the oven at 350 F and grease a baking sheet.
• Now take a small portion of dough and make in to round balls. Place each ball on the greased sheet at least 1-2 inch apart.
• Now gently press each ball until they are flat enough. Transfer the tray in to oven and bake for 15-16 minutes. 

• After 15 minutes, remove from oven, cool them completely and store in an air tight container.

Cabbage Paneer Sandwich

Ingredients:

Bread - 4 slices

Cabbage - 1 cup, finely grated

Potato - 1, boiled and mashed

Paneer - 1/4 cup, finely grated

Green chillies - 2, finely chopped

Garam masala - pinch

Salt - as per taste

Finely chopped coriander leaves - 2 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Take a kadai, heat oil, add finely chopped green chillies and fry them for 1 minute.
2. Add finely grated cabbage and fry until the raw smell disappears. Probably it might take 2-3 minutes.
3. Add boiled and mashed potato, finely grated paneer and give a nice stir. Continue cooking under low flame for one more minute.
4. Add garam masala, salt, chopped coriander leaves and mix well. Switch off the flame and close the lid for 1-2 minutes until all the flavors are well incorporated.
5. Toast bread slices in a toaster or you roast on a flat pan with butter.
6. When the stuffing reaches to room temperature, add 1-2 tbsp of stuffing in between two slices, press gently and cut diagonally to get two set of triangles. Finally serve hot with tomato ketch up and enjoy.

Vegetable Puffs

Ingredients:

Puff pastry sheets (frozen) - 1 sheet (I used Pepperidge farm pastry sheets)

Mixed vegetables, finely chopped - 1 cup (I used carrot, capsicum, beans and green peas)

Potato (large) - 1, boiled & mashed

Onion (medium) - 1, finely chopped

Green chillies - 2-3, finely chopped

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Red chilly powder - 1/2 tbsp

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Salt - as per taste

Coriander leaves, finely chopped - to garnish

How to thaw Puff Pastry sheets?

Remove pastry sheet from packaging and place frozen sheet on a counter. Thaw at room temperature for at-least 40-45 minutes. 

In other way, you can also thaw by transferring the frozen sheet in to refrigerator overnight. Remove it when ready to use.

Procedure:

1. Take a kadai, heat oil, add chopped green chillies, onion and saute them until tender.
2. Add ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell disappears.
3. Add finely chopped carrot, beans and cook them. After few minutes, add chopped capsicum, green peas and continue to cook until all the veggies are done.
4. Now add boiled, roughly mashed potato, salt, red chilly powder, garam masala and stir well. Cook under very low flame for 1-2 minutes and switch off the flame. Finally garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and keep it aside until it gets cool down.
5. Preheat the oven at 400 F. Mean while grease a baking tray and set aside.
6. Sprinkle generous amount of flour on a clean counter, open pastry sheet carefully (after enough thawing). Take a rolling pin, and gently roll the sheet without applying pressure.
7. When the sheet slightly stretches, cut it with a knife in to 9 equal parts (If you want to make bigger puffs, cut in to 6 pieces).
8. Now take each piece and  roll gently until it stretches to half inch greater than the original size.
9. Place required stuffing (say 1-2 tbsp) in center of the sheet and close it by attaching both the ends of pastry sheet. You can also seal the ends by pressing with a fork as shown in picture.

  10. Finally spray some oil on the surface to get nice golden brown to the crust. This is      completely optional. You can also skip this step, if not interested.
  11. Transfer the baking tray with puffs in to preheated oven and bake for at-least 15      minutes or until they are done.
  12. Once they are done, remove out and serve warm at room temperature.

TIP: The stuffing can be of your personal choice veg or non-veg. You can also add or skip vegetables according to your taste and availability.

Banana Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

Bananas (large) - 3 (preferably fully ripe)
Blueberries - 3/4 cup

All purpose flour(maida) - 1 1/2 cup  

Sugar - 3/4 cup(I used half light brown sugar and half white sugar)

Milk - 1/4 cup

Butter - 1/3 cup (at room temperature)

Vanilla essence - 1 tablespoon

Baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon
Baking powder - pinch

Salt - 1 pinch

Procedure:
1. Take a large mixing bowl, sieve maida, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
2. Take another bowl, add butter, sugar, mashed banana, vanilla essence, milk and mix well until the sugar dissolves completely.
3. Add blueberries to flour mixture and gently stir.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.
5. Now add the mixture in to muffin cups and bake them for 18-20 minutes.
6. Once the muffins are done, the inserted tooth-pick comes out clean. 

TIP: The entire trick of making best moist muffins lies in baking. Do not bake them for long time. This makes them dry and hard.

Chocolate Marble Cake

Ingredients:

All purpose flour (maida) - 1 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Butter - 1/2 cup

Eggs - 2

Milk - 1/4 cup

Cocoa powder - 1 tbsp

Salt - pinch

Baking powder - 1/2 tbsp

Vanilla essence - 1 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven at 200 degree F.
2. Take a wide mixing bowl and sieve all purpose flour, baking powder and salt together.
3. Take another mixing bowl, add butter, sugar and stir thoroughly to get a smooth mixture.
4. Add eggs and beat continuously to get uniform mixture. Add milk, vanilla essence and stir continuously for few more minutes.
5. Now take some portion of dough, add cocoa powder and mix thoroughly.
6. Take a loaf tin, grease it with butter, add alternately the plain dough and cocoa dough. Pat the loaf tin, so that the batter settles uniformly. Now take a knife and swirl it twice or thrice in the dough.
7. Bake it in the oven at 200 degree F for 30 minutes or until the inserted tooth pick comes out clean.

Egg-less Strawberry Cup Cakes

Ingredients:

For strawberry sauce:

Strawberries - 2 lbs

Sugar - 4 tbsp

Corn flour - 1 tbsp

For cup cakes:

Strawberry sauce - prepared from the ingredients listed above

All purpose flour (maida) - 1 1/2 cup

Butter - 1/2 cup

Sweetened Condensed Milk - 1/2 cup

Milk - 1/2 cup

Honey - 3 tbsp

Baking powder - 1/4 tbsp

Baking soda - 1/4 tbsp

Salt - pinch

Vanilla essence - 1 tbsp

Procedure:

Preparation of Strawberry Sauce:

1. Wash, clean and blend strawberries along with sugar to form a smooth puree.  
2. Take a small cup of water, add cornflour and stir well without forming any lumps.
3. Transfer strawberry puree in to sauce pan and boil for few minutes. After 5-6 minutes, add cornflour mixture and continue stirring until it thickens. 
4. Once the sauce turn thick, switch off the flame and cool it to room temperature.

Preparation of Cup Cakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.
2. Take a wide mixing bowl, sieve maida, baking powder, baking soda and salt together (for uniform mixing).
3. Take another wide bowl, add butter (at room temperature) and whisk it until it turn fluffy.
4. Add sweetened condensed milk and continue stirring the mixture. 
5. Continue beating the mixture by adding strawberry sauce followed by milk, vanilla essence and honey.
6. Now add the flour mixture little by little in to the sweetened strawberry mixture and stir well to form a smooth batter.
7. Now take a muffin pan, divide the batter evenly among prepared  cups so that each is two-third full. 
8. Start baking at 350 degree F for 18-20 minutes or until the inserted tooth pick comes out clean.

Traditional Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 cup

Sugar - 1/3 cup

Butter - 1/4 cup

Cooking oil - 5 tbsp

Salt - pinch

Elachi powder - 1/2 tbsp

Baking soda - pinch

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degree F.
2. Take a large mixing bowl, beat butter and oil together until a smooth mixture is formed.
3. Add sugar, baking soda, salt and elachi powder and beat until well combined. 
4. Add maida and mix well until smooth dough is obtained.
5. Take a small portion of dough and roll it until the desired thickness is obtained.
6. Shape it using cookie cutters and place them on cookie sheet with at least 1/2 inch gap between  each of them.
7. Bake them for 8-10 minutes or until they slightly change their color. 
8. Do not remove the cookies immediately, switch off the oven and let them cool for few minutes inside and serve.

TIP: Adjust the sugar level in cookies according to your taste. Do not place the cookies side by side without leaving gap while baking. During baking cookies expand in size. So it is important to maintain a minimum gap between each.

Veg Footlong

Ingredients:

Foot long bread - 1

Lettuce - 2 servings

Spinach - 2 servings

Onion rings - 3

Tomato slices - 3

Olives - 3 rings

Cucumber slices - 2-3

Mayo - 1 tbsp

Shredded cheese - 1-2 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Take one half of foot long bread and spread some mayo on it.
2. Add lettuce servings followed by spinach on the bread.
3. Now add onion rings, tomato rings, olive rings, cucumber slices one by one.
4. Finally spread some shredded cheese and place the other half on it.

TIP: Make your foot long little more yummy by adding some hot or sweet sauce according to your taste.

Vegetable Burger

 

Ingredients:
Burger buns - 4
Lettuce - 2 leaves
Onion rings - 5-6
Tomato slices - 4-5
Shredded cheese - 2 tbsp
Mayo - 2 tbsp

Preparation of Patties:
Potato - 1
French beans - small bunch
Capsicum - half
Carrot (small) - 1
Green peas - hand full
Sweet corn - hand full
Onion - 1
Green chillies - 4-5
Garam masala - 1/2 tbsp
Ground Black pepper - 1/4 tbsp
Salt - as per taste 
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
Oil - 2-3 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Wash, clean and boil all vegetables (potato, capsicum, french beans, carrot, green peas and sweet corn).
2. Finely chop boiled vegetables, onion, green chillies and add garam masala, black pepper, salt, coriander leaves and mix well.
3. Press the mixture to form required size patties. 
4. Heat oil on a flat pan and place all the patties one beside the other.
5. Roast them until they turn to golden brown. Gently turn to other side and continue roasting.
6. Now take one half of burger bun, place a leaf of lettuce followed by prepared vegetable patty.
7. Apply some mayo and sprinkle some shredded cheese.
8. Add onion rings, tomato rings on cheese and cover it with other half of burger bun.

Vanilla Cake

Ingredients:

All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup (I used 1/4 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar)

Eggs - 2

Milk - 1/2 cup

Butter - 1/4 cup (at room temperature)

Baking powder - 1/4 tbsp

Salt - pinch

Vanilla extract - 1 tbsp

Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.
2. Take a large mixing bowl, add all purpose flour, baking powder, salt and mix well.
3. Take another medium sized bowl, add butter and stir continuously, crack eggs in to it and beat them.
4. Add milk, vanilla extract and stir well. Now add sugar and stir continuously until it is completely dissolved in it.
5. Add all this mixture in to large mixing bowl containing dry powders and mix well until a smooth batter is formed without any lumps.
6. Take a baking pan and apply butter on the surface and sides.
7. Now transfer all the contents in to pan and level it. 
8. Bake it for 25-30 minutes. The cake is said to be done, once the inserted tooth pick comes out clean.
9. Once the cake is done, cool it and decorate with your favorite frosting. Enjoy the taste!!! 

Bread

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 300 gm

Yeast - 10 gm

Salt - 1/2 tbsp

Sugar - 5 tbsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Water - 150 ml

Procedure:

1. Heat water for 1 min, add sugar and stir well.
2. Check the temperature of water using candy thermometer. 37 degree C is optimum for development of yeast.
3. Add yeast to the sugar solution and stir well at this temperature. Set the solution aside for 10 min (the solution turns foamy).
4. After 10-15 min, add salt and mix well. Then add maida little by little, until the whole flour is completely incorporated in to foamy mixture.
5. Knead thoroughly the flour mixture with your hand until soft and sticky mass is obtained.
6. Apply oil all over the dough by covering it with thin cloth.
7. After 20 min, you will find the fluffy dough. Once again knead it for 1 min and set aside.
8. After 1 hour you will observe almost thrice the original size of dough.
9. Knead the dough finally in the shape of a log and transfer it in to greased loaf tin.
10. Set aside until it raises 2-3 times the original size.
11. Preheat the oven to 200 degree F.
12. Once the desired size is obtained, Bake it at 200 degree F for 40 min.
13. Apply ghee or butter on the surface of the loaf to get better color to the crust. Check the doneness of the bread and bake further 5-10 min, if necessary.

Homemade Pizza

Ingredients: 

Pizza base - 1

Pizza sauce - 4-5 tbsp (readily available in store/prepared as given below)

Mushrooms - 3

Capsicum (Green & Red) - 1/3 cup

Tomato (small) - 1

Sweet corn - 4 tbsp

Onion rings - 4-5

Mozzarella cheese - 4-5 tbsp

Ground black pepper - 1/4 tbsp

Salt - 1/4 tbsp

Ingredients for Pizza sauce:

Tomato paste - 1 cup

Tomato ketchup - 2 tbsp

Onion paste - 3 tbsp

Garlic paste - 2 tbsp

Red chilly flakes - 1/2 tbsp

Black pepper - 1/2 tbsp

Salt - as per taste

Sugar - 1 tbsp

Oregano - 1 tbsp

Procedure for making pizza sauce:

Mix all the ingredients and saute it under low flame for 7-8 min until the desired consistency is attained.

Procedure for making pizza:

1. Preheat the oven at 425 degree F.
2. Chop mushrooms as fine slices. Similarly chop tomato and capsicum.
3. Take a pizza base and apply a layer of pizza sauce on it.
4. Now add all the stuff which you prepared one by one, like mushrooms, capsicum pieces, tomato pieces, onion rings, sweet corn.
5. Add shredded mozzarella cheese all over the pizza base above the vegetable stuff.
6. Then sprinkle salt and black pepper on it.
7. Cook this in oven for 10 min.
8. After switch-offing the oven, wait for 2-3 min and serve it hot.

TIP: You can add any vegetables of your choice for topping the pizza. Be careful while removing the pizza from oven. The oven will be very hot, so do not touch directly.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:
All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 cup
Sugar (white) - 1/2 cup
Sugar (brown) - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 2
Cocoa powder - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Butter - 1/4 tbsp
Vegetable Oil - 3tbsp
Baking powder - 1 tbsp
Instant coffee powder - 1tbsp
Honey - 2 tbsp
Salt - pinch
Vanilla essence - 1 tbsp
Dried cherries - 10
Raisins - 10
Cashews - 10
Almonds - 6

Procedure:
1.   Preheat the oven to 300 degree F. 
2.   Take a mixing bowl, add butter,oil,  sugar, separately beated egg mixture, vanilla essence and stir it to get a smooth mixture.
5.    Add milk, honey, maida, baking powder, cocoa powder, salt and beat the mixture to form a smooth batter.
6.   Now add raisins, nuts in to the prepared batter and mix well.
7.   Add the whole mixture in to butter coated cake bowl or muffin tin and bake it at 300 degree F for 25 min.
8.    Once the inserted tooth-pick comes out clean, the cakes are done.

Fruit Cake

Ingredients:
All purpose flour (Maida) - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Honey - 3 tbsp
Instant coffee powder - 1 tbsp
Cardamom - 1
Cloves - 2
Anise - half inch piece
Cinnamon - half inch piece
Baking powder - 1/2 tbsp
Salt - pinch
Almonds - 10
Cashews - 10
Walnuts - 10
Dry dates - 3
Kismis - 10
Currants - 10
Dried apricots - 4
Dried plums - 4
Dried cranberries - 10
Dried black berries - 10
Dried blue berries - 10
Dried cherries - 10
Eggs - 1
Milk -1/4 cup
Butter - 2 tbsp
Brandy/Rum - 15-20 ml

Procedure:

1. Chopped dry fruits, raisins and other dried fruits are macerated overnight in brandy/rum.
2. Take all the spices (cardamom, cloves, anise, cinnamon), grind them in to fine powder and set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 250 degree F. 
4. Take a mixing bowl, add butter, sugar, egg and mix it to get a smooth mixture.
5. Add milk,honey, maida, baking powder, instant coffee powder, 1/4 tbsp mixed spice powder, salt and beat the mixture to form a smooth batter.
6. Now add the macerated fruit bits in to the prepared batter and mix well.
7. Add the whole mixture in to butter coated cake bowl and bake it at 250 degree F for 1 hour.
8. Once the inserted tooth-pick comes out clean, the cake is done.

TIP: Brandy/Rum can be substituted with orange juice. It can also be prepared directly without macerating overnight.

Apple nut muffins

Ingredients:

Apple (peeled and finely grated) - 1 cup

All purpose flour(maida) - 1 1/4 cup  

Sugar - 1 cup

Milk - 3/4 cup

Butter - 1/4 cup

Chopped walnuts - 1/2 cup

Egg(beaten) - 1

Vanilla essence - 1 tablespoon

Baking soda - 1 teaspoon

Honey - 1 tablespoon

Coffee powder - 1 tablespoon

Salt - 1 pinch

Procedure:
1. Take a large mixing bowl, add maida, sugar, baking powder, coffee powder, salt and mix well.
2. Take another bowl, beat egg & add milk,honey, grated apple, vanilla essence, chopped walnuts and mix well.
3. Add apple mixture to flour mixture until it is completely incorporated and moistened.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.
5. Now add the mixture in to muffin cups and bake them for 15-20 minutes.
6. Once the muffins are done, the inserted tooth-pick comes out clean. 


TIP- Even banana nut muffins are prepared in the same procedure by using mashed banana mixture in place of apple mixture. Similarly, roasted almonds can also be used in place of walnuts.