Home-made Ice cream, from scratch.

Hello friends <3  We are going to witness the making of Vanilla Ice-cream, from scratch.  One of our viewers have requested for the same in our Facebook page, and this recipe is dedicated to her.  The most common ingredients used are Condensed milk and whipping cream.  I have tried recipes from Youtube videos that suggests almost equal parts of these both for this dessert.  Often, these were too sugary and I had to thrown them away to the bin.  Finally I gave a try to two parts whipping cream to one part of condensed milk and this ratio worked like a charm.
 

Yesterday we had a few guests at my home, so I had prepared a good amount of vanilla ice-cream with Dairy whipping cream.  They were not only smooth and delicately textured, but also had a rich, milky taste to them.  All the credits goes to my Almarai dairy cream which whipped like a charm.  

 

Now, off to our recipe.  I will mention cup measurements, as you guys find them easier to deal with.  My cup has 200 ml capacity, and the ingredients needed are 

• 13/4 cup or 300 grams of Almarai whipping cream
• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp Icing sugar (You can skip sugar if you are using Non-dairy/sweetened cream)
• 3/4 cup or 150 grams of Nestle condensed milk
• 1 tbsp Vanilla extract 

This recipe utilizes proper whipping of cream till stiff peaks comes, for those who are new to this cream  or find them unavailable at your place, don't worry I will drop a few links  for Dairy/Non-dairy/Instant cream.  Depending upon the availability, you  could use them in the recipe.

Whipped cream from Dairy cream

Whipped cream from Amul tetrapack

Whipped cream from Non-Dairy cream like Tropolite

Whipped cream from Commercial Powder like Bluebird

This recipe utilizes three main steps, for your conveniance I have included a video.  Please watch them after reading every step.  This could help you to understand how they are made.

STEP 1 - Chill your whipping cream and beater blades for minimum of three hours.  Pour your dairy cream to the blender.  Add in Icing sugar and vanilla.  Keep them beating, and gradually increase the speed.

STEP 2 - Whip them till they get beautiful stiff peaks.  In the video, I have shown you a close-up look of how stiff peaks looks like.  You could also go through some of my links above, that gets you step-by-step pic of how stiff peaks are achieved.

STEP3 - Add condensed milk and beat them on highest speed for not more than 5-7 seconds.  You will note that they have turned soft, transfer this mixture in a plastic container and freeze for a minimum of 6 hours.  After that, you could scoop them in and enjoy.

 I just added dark chocolate syrup (2 parts of dark chocolate with 1 part of cream and heat them on a double boiler till chocolate melts)  with a touch of sprinkles.  You could serve them plain as well, it will be very tasty. 

This is the basic version, you could also add on your own flavors like Coffee, Chocolate/Chocolate chips, Butterscotch etc.  Do try them at home and let us know how it turned out.  Good day to all <3

Whole wheat crackers

Hi friends, we often munch on cheese crackers - what if we can replicate them home-styled and healthier as well?  Yes, we can!  When I came across the texanerin site, I could hardly resist these without a try.  If you kids like cheese, they may end up liking these crackers as well.  They are whole-wheat based and can be an ideal snack box option.  

After baking, they were crunchy and had a peppery taste.  You can play with spices and bring out your own flavours as well.  So, yes do try and let us know your feedback.  

Ingredients required

• 170 gram grated Cheddar Cheese
• 50 grams unsalted Butter, melted
• 100 grams of Wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Method

Add flour, salt, pepper and cheddar cheese in a dry bowl.  

Add in melted butter and mix them well. 

Now knead this using hands into a tight dough.  Let it rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 180 degree celsius.  

Roll them to  a sheet of 1/8 inch thickness.

Cut them into thin strips vertically.  

Repeat the same horizontally.  

Using a wooden dowel, prick a hole in centre of each square, this helps in non-rising of crackers during baking.

Bake them for about 10 minutes till they turn brown around the edges.  For ultra thin crackers, make sure you roll the dough with equal thickness.

Cool them on wire rack.  Store them in air-tight container

Happy Baking  :)

Chocolate Caramel cupcakes

Chocolate is an all time favorite flavor.  Having made caramel sauce earlier, I regretted each day to let it sit idle.  That's when I came up with these Chocolate cupcakes.  These are so soft and moist that they literally melt in your mouth, even when had straight from the refrigerator. These are eggless as well.

CHOCOLATE + CREAM + CARAMEL = HEAVEN!

Need I say more <3  <3

Ingredients required

For chocolate cupcakes
Dry ingredients

• 1/2 cup All purpose flour
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking powder
• 1/2 tsp Baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

Wet ingredients

• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tbsp curd
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

others

• 1/2 tsp instant coffee powder
• 1/4 cup of hot boiling water

Topping

• Dairy whipped cream
• Salted caramel sauce

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180-degree celsius.  Take your wet and dry ingredients in two separate bowls.  Sieve dry ingredients once and give them a good stir.

Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and add in our wet ingredients.  

Whisk them gently to combine.  In a separate bowl or cup, mix hot water with coffee.  Add this hot coffee to our batter and whisk them vigorously for a minute.  

And our batter is ready!  I poured them on 11 small cupcake liners

Bake them for fifteen minutes.

TA-DA our cupcakes are ready, let them cool completely for about an hour. 

Meanwhile, I attached my nozzle to Icing bag and filled them with cream using the  spatula.

Giving them a gentle squeeze, I got a beautiful swirl on the top of each cupcake.  Note that the cupcake should not be warm if it was cream will melt right away and won't hold its shape.

After swirling, melt few teaspoons of salted caramel and using a spoon, gently drizzle on the top of iced cupcakes.  

Enjoy!

Happy Baking <3  <3

Whole Wheat tutti fruity muffins

Hi friends, I am back with yet another whole wheat delicacy.  With everyday chores and three-course meals- one more confusion gets its way when we need to pack some snacks for kids.  I always pack my kid with fruits, but she insists on getting some sweet other than fruits.  That's how these muffins happened.  I got the original recipe from file section of HBG, twisted it to my own taste and result was amazing.  Unlike other eggless bakes, which often end up fudgy, these muffins were soft, cakey textured with an awesome taste.

I made these with tutti frutti.  You can replace these with almonds, cashews or chocolate chips, whatever you got a stock of, but, believe me, kids really dig the tutti frutti.   Now, my kid takes almost two to three of them, in order to share with her friends.  It's a win-win situation for both because I know that I have packed her something healthy and she ends up having her sweet tooth cravings as well.  

Choco cashew cookies

Hi friends, this is yet another cookie, found in any corner shop Bakery.  I instantly liked the combo of flavour this cookie had to offer. The bitter taste of Cocoa powder combines well with  the sweet crunch of cashews.  We had a big pack of cashews lying on the refrigerator from our Goa visit.  So, fully recharged I tried this yummy cookie, they came out perfectly well.

Yet another special feature is that these cookies are made from whole wheat flour. I have used Aashirvaad aata.  So, this can be guilt-free cookies for both kids and adults.  Do try and let us know.

Triple Chocolate Cookies

 These Triple Chocolate cookies are an awesome treat to kids and adults.  Make them for a special occasion and be sure to earn yourself praiseworthy remarks.  They are not made with creaming method, though, whole eggs are blended with sugar till they turn pale and fluffy.  To this, our melted chocolate is folded with goodness of chopped milk chocolate and dark compound chips.

These cookies are thin crispy delight and melts away easily with an bitter after taste of Dark chocolate.  And yes since these have dark chocolate, make sure to keep an eye on them during baking, because they get burnt very easily.  My entire batch got muched away within days ;)  Serve these with an cup of milk and they are great to go.   Do try and let us know.  

One Bite Doughnuts

   Hi friends, so, how's summer going in your place?  Telangana is burning like an pre-heated oven.  That said, local newspapers are giving us various tips to stay hydrated.  Obviously, my refrigerator is filled with water bottles and juices.  Still, we can't get hold of that sweet tooth, can we?  :)  That's where these One Bite Doughnuts / Mini Doughnuts comes to the rescue.

    All the craziness started when I first baked these for my daughter's birthday, everyone loved it for its cutey look,  yummy taste and since it is an baked version, it gave an healthy uplift as well.

I made these along with my daughter as an summer project.  She enjoyed colouring the glaze and played with sprinkles.  I would recommend these, as they are not only non-greasy food, but can also tackle sweet carvings on an small portions.  Please do try and let us know.

White chocolate cups with beet cream

   We are always in for chocolate treats.  My freezer will never be out of chocolate/compounds.  This gives me an ample time, to experiment or to cook throughout the year.  Beets are always favoured with chocolates through cakes, and I wanted to bring out their partnership in yet another way.  Hence, these treats.

This dessert cups, have an amazing way of bringing out the creamy texture from beets.  An bite into this, I could bring out the beet flavour as well as delecious cream finishing on an sour note.  Even kids, who dislike beets, will give an special attention to these cups.  What better way to bring out the veggies, on the dessert table?   :)

Shrikand cookies

Cookies are always an essential bites at home.  They lift up every occasion and cheers us all.  Following Zebra cookies, here comes Shrikand cookies, made by hung curd.  This fusion cookie starts with rich flavour and ends on an sour note. 

Their speciality is their cake-like crumbly texture, appealing to crowd of all age.   I had them garnished with cardamon, almonds and saffron to coincide with traditional shrikand.  Here, everybody enjoyed the bite and are  having an good time :)  Hope you guys try and let us know.  

Zebra cookies

   I was completely fascinated, when I found these cookies from the book, "100 BEST DELECIOUS CHOCOLATE".  The entire concept was fun, and reminded me of an long gap from my last baked cookie.  These striped cookies were very easy and required an total whisk with each and every ingredient.  You need chocolate buttons though, I did pipe few, a day before and that came in handy with the presentation and saved an lot of time.

I made these with milk chocolate, dark chocolate is also preferable.   This zebra cookies are very kid friendly and can be tagged as an party food too.  Dough can be kneaded in advance, because more the refrigeration, more the flavours enhance within these.  Fresh out of the oven, they had an crisp edges with an chewy middle.  With an ongoing monsoon, these cookies did an good pair with hot tea. Do try and let us know.   

New year Pretzels - NeujahrsPretzel

    As the name implies, this Pretzel is one of the special dishes in New years menu and is consumed across Europe, with Germany as special mention.  This Pretzel is unique, as it is not eaten as plain, but with an sugary glaze followed by nuts and cherries.  They are also believed to lead luck and prosperity throughout the year.

I made an eggless version of the suggested recipe, and glammed up with icing sugar glaze, followed by sprinklers.  They were very delecious, when had warm and kids friendly too.  All thanks to Swathi and Swetha for suggesting this wonderful recipe.  

You can also dust them with icing sugar instead of glaze and decorate with nuts/cherries.  So, let us now follow the recipe of this eggless new year pretzels.  

Choco cake bars

    Well, wondering what to do with left-over cake and frosting after an grand baking session?  Well, this might be the answer for all ;)  With an glossy chocolate finish, this choco cake bars, will excite anybody and create an new demand with the left-overs  :)

Yes, after the Rainbow ruffle cake, I had some left-over cake (remember? I had cut the dome part) and the frosting too.  Initially I freezed them both for later use.  Now, when I wanted to make an dessert out of them, all I could think was of some cake pops.

But, with presence of ice-cream sticks all over my place, I could end up with this choco cake bars, ie an cakey version of chocobar.  Initially, cake crumbs were mixed with frosting and shaped over the ice-cream sticks.  This was layered with whipped cream and another layer of hot dark chocolate.  Final touch of rainbow sprinklers were added to glam up.

 Each and every bite was like amazing, the moistened cake with soft cream and cracking chocolate had compensated each other very well.  My man was, like initially startled to find them, when he opened the refrigerator.  Later, I explained him, that it was glamed up cake balls, and he happily reached out to pick one.  :) 

Chocolate rocks , an sweet come-back :)

Hi guys :)  Happy children's day :)  So, this sweet/dessert is for those tiny-tots.  You don't require any fancy tools for making these.  They are very simple and can be made by juniors themselves as well :)  So, why not make this interesting project for them?  Well, the best part of candy-making is that you can always monitor what goes in.  Here these chocolate rocks, are an combination of dark chocolate and almonds, making them healthier option not only for kids, but  for adults,as well.

These crispies can be served with tea.  I have made them using Morde branded dark compound, (I bought them  at Q-mart, Hyderabad) which is used in making  home-made chocolates. If not dark compound, you can use your favourite dark or milk chocolates as well.  And almonds can be replaced by an mixture of dry nuts or any of your favourite.  You can store them in air-tight container, and keep them refrigerated. 

Rainbow cupcakes

    CUPCAKES.......those wonderful, tiny delights topped by an gorgeous swirl is my all-time-inspiration. I love to experiment with cupcakes, but running almost an nuclear family, restricts me to bake  twice an month.  And with not-so-cream loving hubby, I had to opt for an minimal or no-creamed cupcakes.  So, once when I came through sour rainbow strips in an super-market, I really knew what to make from them.... :D  :D  Do check out my other cupcakes collection.... Dairy cupcakes, Butterfly choco cupcakes, Orange cupcakes, Panda cupcakes  Vanilla cupcakes with white chocolate icing. 

Rainbow-themed cupcakes, which can also be smeared by blue coloured buttercream, topped with white buttercream swirls with rainbow crossing over, is an perfect party food and would please any kid with an summer boredom :)  I avoided blue buttercream, and replaced it with an blueish cake batter, thus my icing-usage was reduced, an fact to satisfy my hubby's soul :D

Eggless vanilla cupcakes with white chocolate icing

I can realize a lot of excitement whirling up my head as I pen down this post...yes, an array of emotions... I must suggest... An long gap filled with back and forth travelling has made my online status inactive for an longer period, especially my survival without facebook  for months together :P  :P  So, I strongly wanted to start my post with an delecious dessert (in order to compromise my absence, I may assume :P ) Am likely to pen down my adventures with upcoming posts, please pardon me since I running out of time in this post..

These are delecious super-yummy eggless vanilla cupcakes with white chocolate icing, dedicating to my CCC group.  The white chocolate icing, is adapted from the book '100 Best Delecious Chocolate'.  The best part of this dessert is that they are completely egg-free,  drawing attention of strict vegetarians too!! The smooth silky white chocolate icing over the top is an highlight, suggesting this to be an kid-pleaser as well...  Since I had an star-shaped tip 33,  I kind of enjoyed myself playing around with piping the icing.

BOUNTY BAR/ COCONUT BAR - (Without chocolate mould)

  Ever since I have started my blog, many requested me to post some chocolate recipes.  Am sooo sorry that I was not able to post this earlier :(  Very idea for posting this bar struck me, when I was searching for some offline content.  Yes, they were for CCC Challenge.  It was then, that I stumbled upon my chocolate recipes notebook.  I used to treasure them a lot, because saving them from Varsha's clutches is really, really an hard deal :)  And yes, like all you wished, I am planning to pen down more and more of chocolates :)

Bounty chocolates are regular chocolates stuffed with moist coconut filling.  Every bite is heavenly as we can relish the goodness of both chocolate and coconut.  These are sure to delight all-ages.  Shama liked them a lot and Varsha is also growing fond of them.  You can surprise the kids or allot them for party.  New Year is also approaching, by the way, why dont you guys give them a try?