Homemade baby food recipes

chocolate crispies

Well, with all time health eating, just like you like indulging once in a while why not your baby?

Butter – 55 gms
Golden syrup – 4 Tbsp*
Milk Chocolate – 100 gms
Cornflakes  / Riceflakes– 2 cups

1. Melt butter, golden syrup and the milk chocolate in a double boiler**
2. Stir and remove from the double boiler
3. To it add cornflakes and stir well with a wooden spoon
4. Spoon it carefully into muffin cases and leave it in the refrigerator for about an hour
5. Use up the same day or store them in airtight container for later use

* you can use honey too
** the container needs to be placed in a pan with water. The ingredients get melted with the heat of the water and not through direct heat

hope you liked and enjoyed the baby food special….till next time…happy cooking!

Homemade baby food recipes

fruity dessert

Quite wholesome and a complete meal in itself for your toddler

Milk – 1 cup
Rice / rice flour – 2 tsps
Jaggery – 1 tbsp (grated)
Fresh fruit puree – 3-4 tbsp (strain it depending on the fruit you choose… strawberry, raspberry, peach, mango etc)

1. In a non stick pan boil the milk and add rice / rice flour and cook till done (approximately 8-10 minutes)
2. Add grated jaggery and mix till completely dissolved
3. Cool and add the fruit puree.
4. Serve at room temperature

Till tomorrow….. happy cooking!

Homemade baby food recipes

Apple and Banana Pudding

Introduce fruits to your kids in various forms…raw, soups or puddings!

Banana – ½ cup (chopped)
Apple – ½ cup (peeled and chopped)
Jaggery / brown sugar – 1 and ½ tbsp
Digestive biscuit – 1 no. (crushed)
Butter / ghee – ½ tsp

1. Saute the fruits in butter till they are soft
2. And crushed or grated jaggery and mix well till it gets dissolved
3. Add the biscuit and stir for few minutes
4. Serve lukewarm

Follows tomorrow…. Fruity dessert recipe

Happy cooking!

photo credit: roygbivibgyor

Picnics, parties, school lunch break and any time snack; muffins are an all time favorite for most of us! Plain sponge, coffee, chocolate there are so many way one can bake muffins! This one is with Chocolate and Walnut. The last recipe for the walnut week. That definitely doesn’t mean no more walnuts! If I come across an interesting recipe, would definitely share!

Eggs – 2 nos
Sugar powder – 200 gms
All purpose flour (maida) – 130 gms
Cocoa powder – 4 tbsp
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Baking soda – 1 tsp
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
Butter – 160 gms
Milk – 2/3 cups
Chopped walnuts – 150 gms

1. Sieve the flour with cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda and keep it aside
2. Melt the butter with milk but do not boil
3. Beat the eggs lightly till frithy and then add sugar powder, vanilla essence and mix
4. Gradually add the flour mixture prepared earlier and the butter with milk mixture. Beat lightly
5. Finally fold in the walnuts
6. Mix gently and pour it into paper lined muffin tray
7. Top with whole walnut and bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes at 180 degree C

Till next time…happy cooking!

photo credit: avlxyz

Cakes are my weakness. More than having them, I love baking it for my friends and family . Cappuccino Walnut Gateaux is an absolute delight and sinfully delicious.

All purpose flour (Maida)– 150 gms
Sugar powder – 200 gms
Eggs – 2 nos.
Butter – 150 gms
Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Coffee liquor / Kahlua* – 1 Tbsp
Coffee powder cappuccino flavor – 1 tsp
Praline – 1 Tbsp (for caramelized nuts)

1. In a pan dry heat 2 Tbsp of sugar, 3 tbsp of walnuts (broken). Add the walnuts while the sugar melts into honey color
2. Keep stirring after adding the walnuts on a low flame
3. Grease a tray and pour the caramelized walnut and let it cool before powdering it (Praline)
4. Beat the butter in a bowl using an electric beater. Beat only in one direction till fluffy
5. Add sugar powder and continue beating in one direction till nice and fluffy
6. Add the eggs one at a time and blend in one direction
7. Add vanilla essence and beat
8. Add coffee liquor / Kahlua and coffee powder. Continue beating in one direction
9. Sieve maida or all purpose flour along with baking powder
10. Add all purpose flour to the prepared butter mixture little by little (about 2 Tbsp) and keep beating with an electric beater
11. Now add remaining flour with a spoon and mix lightly in cut and fold method with a spatula till you get a semi thick consistency
12. Grease the mould and spread the butter paper and re grease
13. Pour half of the batter in the center of the mould and sprinkle around 2 Tbsp of praline on top of it
14. Pour remaining of the batter and mix it with a spatula. This process is called spanning
15. Push the batter up on the sides so that it forms a dip in the centre. This is done to have uniformity else cakes tend to rise higher towards the center
16. Bake in a preheated oven for about 25 minutes at 180 degree C or 350 degree F or adjust according to your oven; since the timings vary from oven to oven

*If you do not have coffee liquor you can use 1-2 tbsp rum mixed with 1 tsp of instant coffee powder

Either you can serve as it or proceed with icing

Icing

1. Split the cake (after cooling) in to 2 halves
2. Add 1 to 1.5 tsp of instant coffee powder o butter icing
3. You can also add rum / coffee liquor to the butter icing
4. Spread icing on 1st half
5. Place the 2nd half of the cake and spread the butter cream / icing on top and all sides
6. Saute walnuts in butter
7. Decorate your cake with your imagination with sauted walnuts and praline

Colorful Holi

Gujiya - Indian Sweet

When you think of gujiya your think of HOLI (the colorful festival of India) or vice versa. I have fond memories helping my mom in the kitchen making gujiya and storing them in huge containers more for our consumption than distribution Ahh…those were the days!

With the festival of holi 2 days away, I requested my mom to share her recipe with me for this blog. Here it is…

For Dough

Ghee (clarified butter) – 2 Tbsp

All purpose flour (maida) – 150 gms

For Stuffing

Fried & Powdered semolins (rawa/suji) – 125 gms

Khoya (Dried thickened milk) – 125 gms (if you get to buy ready made Khoya; in a non stick pan heat 1 litre of milk on slow heat with constant stirring till it gets thickened)

Khus-Khus  (KusKus / Poppy seeds) – 1/2 – 3/4 tsp

Combination of nuts and powdered sugar – 125 gms (nuts: almonds, cashew nuts, raisin, pinch of nutmeg powder, cashew nut powder)

1. Combine maida and ghee and add little cold water and knead. The dough should be a little hard. Cover it with a piece of wet cloth and keep aside for 2-3 hours.
2. Combine all ingredients for stuffing and keep aside.
3. Knead the dough again and make small balls.
4. Roll out small rounds like we do for pooris and place it in the gujiya mould. Fill in the stuffing on one side and close the mould hard. What you will see is a semi circle filled in with filled stuffing and ready for frying.
5. If you do not have a mould. Follow the the process of rolling out a circle, filling the stuffing on one side and covering with the other half. Only in this case with your fingers gently apply mixture of water and maida on the inner side and then press it hard so that it stick together well.
6. Please note that the semi circle should be firm with no gaps else while you fry, it will tend to break open and all your lovely stuffing would be in the oil.
7. Take enough oil for frying and heat on high flame.
8. Immerse the prepared gujiyas into the hot oil and lower the flame immediately. This is to ensure that the cooking happens on both outer and inner sides of the gujiya.
9. When nice and brown take it out and place it on an absorbent paper.
10. Store in airtight containers.

* few people also like a coating of sugar syrup over their gujiya. All you need to do is to dip the fried gujiyas in sugar syrups for few seconds and decorating with silver foil and nuts before storing them. However, I love it just the way it is ..freshly fried and just about warm 

Here’s wishing all my readers a very happy holi!

Meet Jayalakshmi.. an excellent cook and an equally efficient homemaker

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Kiwi White Forest Cake image: Priya Q

Rich whipped cream topping with green kiwis on a super soft spongy cake.  Kiwi White Forest is my favoritest (just coined to emphasize how much I love baking and eating this cake ).

Now before you attempt baking this cake or for that matter any cake, if you donot have a weighing scale / measuring cups /spoons….please do get them first. Trust me it makes a lot of difference and worth your investment.

Getting to the recipe….

For the sponge cake

Eggs – 4 nos

All purpose flour (maida) – 85 gms

Baking powder – 1.5 tsp

Cornflour – 1 tbsp

Sugar powder – 160 gms

Brandy – 1 tbsp

Vanilla Essence – 1.5 tsp

1. Sieve the flour, baking powder and cornflour all together
2. Separate the egss (whites and yolk)
3. To the yolk add sugar powder, brandy and vanilla essence. Beat with an electric beater. Add 1 tsp of water and keep beating till the mixture becomes off white in color
4. With clean blades beat egg whites till stiff and dry. When you tilt the vessel the egg white shouldn’t drop off. Its important to use clean blades to get the desired stiffness. Also ensure the vessel is dry
5. Now add 1 tbsp each of flour mixture and egg white mixture into the yolk mixture and gently fold (do not beat, use hands). Keep repeating till all the mixture is used up and the texture of the final dough is foamy
6. Grease the mould and place baking sheet. Re grease the baking sheet and pour the above prepare dough and spread it evenly
7. Immediately bake it in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 15 minutes.  I haven’t highlighted the immediately in bold for no reason. To get the perfect sponge cake you need to put the cake in the oven immediately

Rest of the ingredients

Cherry syrup / sugar water – 1/4 cup

Rum – 1 tbsp

Kiwis – 3-4 nos

Rich whip topping – 200 gms

Sugar powder – 2 tbsp

1. Upturn the mould and take out the cake
2. Cut the cake horizontally from the center with a serrated knife
3. Keep the top half of the cake aside
4. Mix the cherry syrup (from the cherry tin) and rum and put it in a sprayer
5. Spray the base of the cake on all sides liberally
6. Peel the kiwis and cut them in slice
7. Beat the rich whip topping stiff (the cream should not move and should form peaks). Add sugar powder and beat again.
8. Spread the cream over the base of the cake and line it with chopped kiwis
9. Spray the 2nd or the top half of the cake with the sugar syrup mixture and place it on top of the base with kiwis
10. Cover the whole cake liberally with the whipped cream on all sides
11. Clean the plate with a tissue paper off any cream
12. With an icing bag decorate your cake to your taste. I used the star nozzle for this cake (as you see in the picture)
13. Decorate with more sliced Kiwis
14. Cool in a refrigerator for atleast 15 minutes before using

Till next time…happy baking!

image : Priya Q

Indians love their halwas, be it be carrot halwa, kesari / suji halwa or aate ka halwa (made from wholewheat flour). This one just melts in your mouth as your devour it. The best one I have ever had is at the Gurudwara (religious place for the Sikhs) where aate ka halwa is distributed to the devotees as khada prasad. No matter how many time I tried, I must admit I never even was close to the one we get at Gurudwaras! But, it is still doable…so do try it out

Whole wheat flour – 1 cup

Sugar – 1.5 to 2 cups (as sweet as you want!..i generally take 1.5 cups)

Water – 2 cups

Clarified butter / ghee – 1 tbsp

1. Heat ghee in a thick bottomed vessel and add the flour
2. Boil water alongwith sugar
3. Fry at low heat till the flour starts turning slight brown and you can smell its aroma
4. Carefully add the boiled water to above and stir. Please be careful of your hand since the flour starts jumping up!
5. Keep stirring till the cooked halwa leaves the sides of the vessel and almost become one mass. Keep adding teaspoons of ghee if required in between the stirring
6. Serve hot!

Till next time….happy cooking!

photo credit: *saxon*

The measurement are for a 1/2 – 1 kg cake

Initial Spread : This is the basic spread to beging with any icing on the cake

• Cream 200 gms of butter
• Add 3 tbsp of icing sugar (heaped) little by little and cream well

Butter Icing (for piping)

• Keep adding icing sugar to the Initial spread (above) little by little while beating well.
• Stop once the butter looses its shine and form peals

Hard Butter Icing

• To Butter icing keep adding icing sugar till the time the icing forms a ball and leaves the sides of the bowl
• Approximately 600 gms of icing sugar will be required for 200 gms butter

Parchment Icing

Gelatine – 1 tsp

Water – 1 Tbsp

Icing sugar – 125 gms

• Dissolve gelatine in water and melt it over fire.
• Add icing sugar little by little and knead to a fine ball

Glaze Icing

Sugar – 225 gms

Hot water – 2-3 tbsp

• Beat water with icing sugar till it coats the spoon

Royal Icing

Egg white – 1 no

Icing sugar – 225 gms

Lemon juice – 1tsp

• Beat egg whites lightly then gradually beat in half of the icing sugar.
• Beat until smooth and white.
• Continue till it forms soft peals

Fondant Icing

Gelatine – 1 and 1/4 tbsp

Liquid glucose – 1 and 1/2 tbsp

Water – 1/8 cup

Glycerine – 1 tsp

Icing sugar – 3 and 1/2 cups

• Soak gelatine
• Warm liquid glucose amd soaked gelatine in a double boiler
• Make a well in the icing sugar and pour the above the mixture into it
• Knead well into a pliable dough

photo credit: a little tu

Something that really excites all, kids or adult is a warm freshly baked chocolate chip cookie. The buttery crumbly texture as you bite into thick chunks of chocolate, the feeling is absolutely divine! Check it out!

Butter – 120 gms

Sugar Powder – 135 gms

Egg – 1 no. (beaten)

All purpuse flour (Maida) – 180 gms

Baking soda – 1/2 tsp

Chocolate chips – 150 gms (dark / white depending on your choice)

Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

• Beat butter until smooth. Now add sugar powder gradually and keep beating.
• Add the beaten egg with vanilla essence.
• Sieve the flour and baking soda once
• Add sieved flour to the butter mixture gradually and mix
• Add chocolate chips
• The dough that you get should be of slightly thick consistency.
• Form balls and flatten slightly
• Put them on a greased tray leaving gaps between each dough mix
• Bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degree C for 15 minutes
• Cool and serve

Till next time…happy baking!