THE CHEF and HER KITCHEN: Christmas Recipes

Showing posts with label Christmas Recipes. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Danish Apple Cake Recipe | Easy Tea Cakes

Danish apple cake recipe with step by step photos.Tea cakes or Brownies are the most preferred ones at home rather than the cream based cakes.I have made this Danish apple cake several times and served to guests and I have even baked them in beautiful disposable loaf pans and it was loved by everyone.I have followed the recipe from one of my old books-Nita mehta cakes and bakes and must say that this recipe is a keeper and is tried and tested by me many times.The addition of walnuts and cinnamon powder complements the soft and juicy bite apple and must say that this was totally delicious.Try this quick and easy apple cake this Christmas.

Check out other Tea time bakes in my blog:

Here is how to make danish apple recipe with step by step photos:
Danish Apple Cake Recipe:
yields:8" square cake | Source: Nita Mehta
Prep time: 10 mins | Baking time: 35-40 mins | Total time: 50 mins
Cuisine: International | Category: Baking-Cakes

Ingredients:
3/4 cup(75 gms) All purpose flour
3/4 cup(75 gms) powdered Sugar
1 cup Red Apple,cored and chopped along with peel(from one big apple)
1/4 cup Walnuts
75 ml Oil
2 large Eggs
3/4 tsp Cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp Baking powder
a pinch of Baking Soda
a pinch of Salt
1 tsp Vanilla essence

for topping:
1/2 Red Apple,cut into slices along with the peel
1 tbsp Brown sugar
1/2 tsp Cinnamon powder
1 tsp melted Butter

Method:

Grease an 8"square tin with butter/oil and dust it with flour or you can line a parchment paper in the tin.
Sift flour with baking powder,baking soda,salt and cinnamon powder.

Separate egg whites and egg yolks.Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt and vanilla essence till stiff.Add sugar in batches and beat well after each addition.
Put egg yolk one at a time.Beat well.

Add oil and beat for half a minute.
Add flour gradually and fold gently with a large wooden spoon.

Fold 1 cup apples and chopped walnuts(dust the walnuts with flour before adding) into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and evenly arrange the remaining apple slices on the batter.

Mix a 1 tbsp of brown sugar with 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder and 1 tsp melted powder in a bowl and sprinkle this mixture on the arranged apples in the tin.
Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 deg C/300 deg F for 35-40 mins.Insert a skewer in the center to check the doneness of the cake.If it comes out clean,remove from oven.

Let it cool and invert on a rack and cut into pieces and serve.

You can serve a warm/cold custard sprinkled with the cinnamon powder along with the cake.

Notes:

You can bake this in two small loaf tins or 1 big loaf tin too.
Walnuts add a nice bite in the cake,so do not miss it.
The cup I used in the recipe is 1 cup = 200ml.

Technorati Tags: apple cake,tea cakes,egg based tea cakes,baking recipes,apple tea cake,christmas cake recipes,tea time snacks

Moist Carrot Cake Recipe | Classic Carrot Cake | Christmas Cakes Recipes

Christmas is nearing by and the holiday season begins in just few days. All the public places like shopping malls etc have been already decorated with the Christmas tree and looks so festive that one would feel that the holiday season has already begun.I love the feel of the festive season especially during the Christmas and New year.

Christmas is not complete without indulging on sweet treats like Plum Cake, Cookies, Ginger Bread etc.Its been a while I have posted any Cake recipe in my blog- the reason simply is that my little one keeps me on my toes all day and I hardly get any time for my self. Though I bake simple cakes occasionally but I was not able to click and post them in my blog.

Coming to today's post - Carrot Cake, I have prepared it last year for my anniversary but I could not post it and was lying in my drafts.When I was clearing off my drafts recently this Carrot cake sought my attention to get posted this year.

I have followed the recipe from Dorie Greenspan's book-"BAKING from my home to yours" and I must say this is one of the best carrot cake I have tasted.The recipe is quite simple with the easily available ingredients.I have made very few changes to the original to suit my requirements, but I mentioned a few in my notes in case if you want to follow the original recipe to the T.

Carrot Cake is usually frosted with Cream cheese and it makes the cake more delectable.But we do not prefer a frosting for our cakes and hence I made it plain and as I was doing it for an occasion I topped it with glazed carrot ribbons and icing sugar for a festive look.I must warn you that the glazed carrot ribbons topping will reduce the shelf life and hence I suggest you to either refrigerate the cake or avoid using it and instead go for cream cheese frosting.

Check out other festive Cakes recipes here:

Carrot Cake Recipe:

Yields one 7" Bundt Pan | Recipe Source: Dorie Greenspan

Prep time:20 mins | Cooking time 30-40 mins | Total time: 1 hr

Category:Cakes/Baking

Ingredients:

1 cup All purpose flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1 1/2 cup peeled and grated Carrots

1/2 cup chopped Walnuts or Pecans

1/4 cup plump Raisins/Cranberries

2 large Eggs

1/2 cup Oil

1 cup Sugar

for glazed carrots:

1 Carrot

2-3 tbsp Sugar

Icing sugar, to decorate

Method:

Peel and grate 3 carrots in a food processor or grater and keep it ready.

In a bowl,stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, and raisins/cranberries.
Preheat oven to 180 deg C or 350 deg F.
Grease a 7" Bundt Pan or 8" square/round pan with oil and flour the insides and tap the excess and keep it ready.

Whisk together the flour,baking powder,baking soda, cinnamon powder and salt or you can even sieve it a couple of times to get a uniform mix.

Beat sugar and oil together on medium speed in your stand mixer or by using a hand mixer in a large bowl until the mixture turns smooth.

Add eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother.

Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture,mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear.Gently mix in the carrots, walnuts and raisin/cranberry mixture.

Pour the mixture into the greased pan and bake about for 30-35 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the pan cool for 10-15 mins.Run a sharp knife around the edges and slowly invert the cake on to a rack and let it cool completely.

for glazed Carrots- Using a sharp peeler,peel the carrot into thin ribbons and keep it.In a pan add the carrot ribbons and sugar and mix it gently and cook until the sugar melts and coats all the carrots.Let it cool and decorate them over the carrot cake.Sieve icing sugar on top of the cake.

Cream Cheese Recipe:

Ingredients:

4 ounces/ 115 gms Cream cheese, at room temperature

4 tbsp unsalted Butter,at room temperature

3/4 - 1 cup Icing sugar

1 tsp Lemon juice or 1/4 tsp Lemon extract or 1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Method:

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy.
Gradually add sugar and beat until it is velvety smooth.
Beat in lemon juice/extract or vanilla essence.

To decorate:

Use an offset spatula or a spoon and frost the sides and top of the cake as you wish.You can even cut the cake into two layer and frost the center layer too.
Refrigerate the cake for 30 mins,just to set the frosting before serving.

Notes:

Dorie mentioned the addition of 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut in the recipe along with carrots.But I did not add it.
Also she mentioned lemon extract or juice for the cream cheese frosting but I mentioned vanilla essence for your convenience.
The glazed carrots are completely my creation.As I prepared this cake for a celebration wanted to decorate with something as we don't prefer the frosting always.But the addition of glazed carrots reduce the shelf life, so please keep it in mind.It is completely optional, the cake tastes good just like that or with cream cheese topping.

Technorati Tags: moist carrot cake recipe, dorie greenspan cake recipes, classic carrot cake recipe, easy cake recipes, celebration cake recipes, festival cake recipes, best carrot cake recipe, baking recipes

Tutti Frutti Cookies | Eggless Fruit Cookies | Christmas Cookies

When I started jotting down this cookie recipe, I realized that this is the first cookie recipe in my blog.It does not mean that I do not make cookies at home but to be honest I rarely bake cookies as we both are not very fond of cookies.Moreover the amount of butter that goes in them keeps me from making it quite often.I usually bake Benne biscuit and Khara biscuit which I just love to make when I have those sudden cravings for the typical Iyengar bakery goodies.

I like Tutti frutti and I love to eat them just like that or any other bakery goodies like cupcakes, dilkush and dilpasand.My dad always used to buy a pack of tutti frutti and candied cherries for me along with the other baked goodies during my childhood and I used to snack.on them happily.

I recently bought a pack of tutti frutti to prepare Christmas fruit cake and I had some left over tutti frutti which tempted me to bake these cookies. I have used my basic eggless cookie recipe and added tutti frutti for preparing these colorful cookies.They are slightly chewy and perfectly crisp just like the way we want,we are not fond of powdered texture cookies.This is also a perfect recipe to bake for Christmas to gift your family and friends.I am sure everyone would love these colorful cookies especially the kids.

Tutti Frutti Cookies | Eggless Candied Fruit Cookies:

(makes 24 cookies)

Ingredients:

1 cup All purpose flour

1/2 cup(minus 2 tbsp) Unsalted Butter*

1/2 cup(minus 2 tbsp) Sugar**

1/3 heaped cup Tutti Frutti(candied fruit)

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

a pinch of Salt

Method:

Keep the butter outside until it comes down to room temperature and becomes soft.
Powder the sugar in a mixer.
Sieve the all purpose flour and keep it ready.
Take butter in a big bowl and add powdered sugar to it and beat well with a electric mixer for 3-4 mins until you get a soft and creamy mixture.
Add vanilla essence and beat again.
Sprinkle all purpose flour in batches and add tutti frutti and mix it to get a soft dough consistency.It will be slightly sticky.If your dough is very crumbly you can add 1-2 tbsp milk to mix the dough.If the dough is very sticky sprinkle some flour to mix the dough.
Divide the dough into 2 portions and make each portion into a 2" cylinder log and wrap it in butter paper. Follow the same process for the other portion.If the dough is very sticky sprinkle some flour to roll it into a log.
Freeze the packed dough for 40-45 mins or you can refrigerate the dough for 3 hrs.
Preheat the oven at 160 deg C(320 F) for 12-15 mins.

Remove the dough from freezer and remove the log from the butter paper and cut the log into 1/2" roundels using a sharp knife.If the dough crumbles while cutting into slices,slightly press the dough back to hold the shape of roundel.You can even roll the dough into 1/4" thickness and cut them into your desired shapes using cookie cutter.
Place a butter paper or cookie sheet on the baking tray and arrange these cookies leaving 2" gap in between them.

Bake them at 160 deg C for 10-12 mins until the edges turn slightly brown.Keep a close eye after 8 mins and remove them once you see the brown patches.If you like them more crispier bake for a minute more.
The cookies will be very soft to touch when you remove from oven,but it is ok they would be crisp once they cool down.
Leave them in the baking tray for 5 mins and arrange them on the cooling rack to let them cool completely.
Once they are cooled down store them in air tight container.You can store them up to 4-5 days.

Serve them as a snack with a glass of milk or dunk them in your tea/coffee and enjoy.

*If you are using unsalted butter add salt in the recipe.I added salted butter hence I skipped the salt in the recipe.
**The cookies are sweet enough for us,if you like them really sweeter then make the sugar quantity in the dough to 1/2 cup.I find it too sweet if I add 1/2 cup sugar in the recipe hence I always reduce 2 tbsp sugar which is perfect for us.

Notes:

This is a basic eggless cookie which is very versatile and you can add various roasted nuts and dry fruits or chocolate chips instead of tutti frutti in the recipe.
You can even add 1 tsp fresh orange zest in the dough to get flavorful orange cookies.
If you do not get tutti frutti you can even add chopped candied cherries in the recipe.
While mixing the dough if your dough is very crumbly you can add 1-2 tbsp milk to mix the dough.If the dough is very sticky sprinkle some flour to mix the dough.
The cookies are sweet enough for us,if you like them really sweeter then make the sugar quantity in the dough to 1/2 cup.I find it too sweet if I add 1/2cup sugar in the recipe hence I always reduce 2 tbsp sugar which is perfect for us.

Look at the texture inside,they were perfectly crisp on the outside and slightly soft and chewy in the center.Those beautiful specs of tutti frutti is just adorable in these cookies.

Check out my collection of Christmas Cakes recipes here.

VANILLA PANNACOTTA RECIPE| EGGLESS PUDDINGS

I love puddings especially the silky textured ones where as TH is not at all fond of them.As I am the only one at my house who likes those kind of puddings I always wait for an opportunity to prepare them.If I invite a bunch of friends for lunch or dinner I usually prefer to prepare these puddings as they are not only easy to make but also they can be prepared well ahead of time.

Coming to Vanilla Pannacotta, it is an Italian dessert which is prepared by simmering the cream with milk,sugar and gelatin and is rested for sometime to set to get a soft silky pudding consistency.You can have it just like that or can be served with any berry coulis which pairs really well with the Pannacotta. As I am a Vegetarian I use gelatin with agar-agar or veg gelatin in the recipe.

The process of preparing pannacotta is very similar to the Chinagrass milk sweet which we prepare at home just that half the portion of milk is replaced with cream and for extra soft texture and also we add vanilla essence or bean in the recipe for the flavor.The texture of pannacotta is very soft,creamy and luscious unlike the chinagrass pudding because of the addition of cream in the dessert.One can play with the flavors of Pannacotta by adding various fruit puree or chocolate or nuts to it,I have chosen a very basic Pannacotta with Vanilla bean which really adds flavor and taste to it.Try this simple yet rich pudding for your Christmas party and I am sure you and your guests would be flattered with such a rich and delicious pudding.

Vanilla Bean Pannacotta Recipe:

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 cup(250 ml) Fresh full fat Cream(I used Amul)

1 cup(250 ml) Full cream Milk

1/2 cup Sugar

1 Vanilla Bean or 2 tsp Vanilla extract

5gms(2 tsp) Agar-Agar/China grass (or 1 tsp Gelatine)

2-3 tbsp Water

Method:

Slightly grease the molds with oil or immerse them in cold water and keep the molds ready which you would like to serve the pudding in.
If you are using china grass sheets, cut them into tiny pieces and soak them in 1/3 cup water for half an hour.If you are using gelatine or agar agar powder just mix the powder in 2 tbsp HOT water.
In a thick pot add milk and cream together and bring the mixture to a boil on low flame.
Add sugar to it and also scraped Vanilla pod to the mixture and mix well until the sugar dissolves.
Cut the scraped vanilla pod into 2-3 pieces and throw it in the pot.
Meanwhile if you are using china grass,remove the extra water and keep enough water(2-3 tbsp) and boil the china grass mixture by mixing it continuously until the china grass melts and blends into the water.
Remove the vanilla cream mixture and strain the mixture into a bowl and discard the vanilla beans.
Add the strained melted china grass(agar-agar or gelatine) mixture and mix well immediately.
Pour the mixture into the prepared molds and let them come to a room temperature.
Cover it with cling wrap and keep it refrigerated for a minimum of 5-6 hrs or you can even keep it overnight.

Serve them cold or you can even unmold the pudding and serve it with any berry coulis like strawberry/raspberry/blueberry coulis or even Pomegranate sauce or chocolate sauce.

To prepare berry coulis, you need to blend a cup of berries(any berry like strawberry/raspberry/blueberry/blackberry) to a smooth puree and strain to remove the seeds from them.Add 1 tbsp of Sugar(the sugar quantity depends on the sweetness of berries) and 1/2 tsp lemon juice and simmer for 2-3 minutes and keep the mixture warm.

Notes:

It is a basic thumb rule to use 5gms of China grass for half liter of milk and hence I used the same measurements even for Pannacotta and I got really soft,silky and smooth dessert.
You can increase the amount of cream by another half cup( 1 and 1/2 cups in total) and reduce the milk to 1/2 cup in the recipe.I always prefer 1:1 portion as I feel that itself is rich enough for us.You can replace the milk with the cream totally in the recipe if you wish.
Do not add melted china grass mixture to the cream mixture when it is boiling,this might curdle the mixture.It is always advised to add it only after it is removed from the stove.Always strain the china grass mixture as they contain small particles of undissolved china grass in it.
I strongly recommend the vanilla bean instead of vanilla essence in the recipe as it gives an amazing flavor to the pudding.I love the look of vanilla bean specs in the pudding.
As I did not have any berries in hand when I prepared this pudding I could not serve with coulis.Hence I served with a kiwi syrup(ready made) and sprinkled some pomegranate kernels to add color.
If you do not have berries in hand you can even dilute berry fruit jams(like strawberry/raspberry/blueberry) with 2-3 tbsp of water and simmer it for a minute or two and use it as coulis to serve with pannacotta.

Check out the silky soft and smooth texture Pannacotta.I would say that this a heaven in a cup kind of dessert.You will not stop yourself until you finish that bowl and even crave for more.This is a perfect dessert for any party or for a romantic dinner,so try it and enjoy!!

Check out other Eggless Puddings recipes here and also my collection of Christmas Cakes recipes here.

Christmas Cakes Recipes | Top 20 Christmas Recipes 2012

December is a month full of joy and is colorful with the Christmas celebrations all over the world.It is a visual treat at this time of the year to see the various colorful decorations and well lit lights in all the public places, especially the malls.

I have compiled a small list of cakes which might be helpful to bake during this festive season to make the Christmas more merrier.I have also given few eggless options for those who would want to make them and a few decorated perfect party cake recipes which might be helpful in case you are having a Christmas party and also few which are apt for gifting to your loved ones this Christmas.I thought I would share few desserts/pudding recipes which would be helpful if you are having a Christmas party.These are quick and easy dessert recipes which you can make prior to the event.

CAKES With EGGS