Indianized Baklava

Baklava is one of our favorite desserts. Despite the calorific threat, the wafting aromas of rosewater and ghee, and the satisfying crunch of the crisp phyllo dough tempt us every time to eat sparingly albeit with a lot of relish. Making baklava at home has been on my to-do list (and on my husband's to-do list for me) for a long time, and this was the year when it was done!

I used palm sugar instead of regular sugar, sprinkled spices like cardamom and allspice, and used store bought phyllo sheets which simplified the process tremendously. The palm sugar reduces your guilt, and gives a rich deep flavor and color (especially to the syrup). This is not a dessert that you can mess up!

Date Bites

Here's a very simple and versatile snack option that is healthy, delicious, a complete breeze to make.

Ingredients: (makes about 15-17 balls)

1. 25-30 pitted dates
2. 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
3. 1/4 cup of almonds or nuts of your choice
4. a splash of vanilla extract

Preparation:

Throw everything together in a mixie or food processor and pulse until the dates and nuts break down and start coming together. Add a little more vanilla extract, if needed to give more moisture and to help speed the mixing process. Scoop into small bite-sized pieces and roll into a ball. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge. 

Chai Spice Cake with Honey

Office potlucks are great opportunities for experimentation - different groups of people with varied tastes, cultural backgrounds etc. offer preciously good feedback and insights. Plus, it's an excellent way to quickly disperse calories! :). It's the ideal setup for my baking experiments. 

This is a regular sheet cake made with spices that go into a typical Indian tea (chai). I also added honey to sweeten the cake and layer on top of the baked cake. It is a bigger, bolder version of this cake I tried a few years back. 

Overall, the feedback was positive. I was surprised that people wanted more spices, and one person even suggested adding grated ginger instead of the powdered version. So here's the adjusted recipe.

Paneer Tikka

In the world of Indian appetizers and finger foods, marinated, spicy, roasted paneer (and some veggies for balance) is an instant crowd pleaser. It is straightforward to prepare (just needs a bit of planning), and if you have an outdoor grill, the smokiness will enhance the flavors!

I have tried roasting them in the oven, but prefer to roast them on the stovetop where I have more control over the individual pieces.

Easy Chivda / Spicy Chex Mix

Chivda / Spicy Indian chex mix made with an assortment of deep fried treats involving rice flour, besan (chickpea flour), and corn is a very common and popular savory dish that's had with tea, just as a quick munch/snack, or on festive days. The more ingredients that go into the chex mix, the more "festive" it becomes :)

This is a very simply recipe that involves tossing some common store bought ingredients along with a few items from home. I took the easier route by making chaklis and breaking them into small pieces, and then using plain corn and rice cereals from the store to make up the volume of the chex mix. This is not really innovative, but this is the first time I tried it, and was pleased with the output!

Moong Dal Halwa / Ashoka Halwa

Halwa is a gelatinous-looking Indian sweet that's chewy and rich with ghee (clarified butter). It takes a bit of elbow grease to continuously stir a few simple ingredients until they come together into a blob that is really tasty despite its initial appearance in the pan. Halwa usually takes a lot of ghee to make sure it doesn't stick to the pan while cooking. Consequently, it commonly oozes with ghee and contributes to the overall taste. 

In this version, the moong beans takes significantly lesser amount of ghee and labor. This is a quick and tasty sweet that's sure to please! And it’s also a festive dessert on occasions like Diwali. 

No-Bake Chocolate-Orange Cheesecake

No-bake cheesecakes are the easier version of ice-cream cake, in my opinion. I tried this version as a birthday cake for my husband last year. Despite the lackluster "finish", it was appreciated and relished. I tried to skimp on the "fat", and the consistency of the filling suffered as a result. If you're going for a cheesecake, just go with the full fat versions of cheese/cream, or compromise on how the cake appears :).

Eggless Dried Fruits & Nuts Loaf

It's often difficult to make the case that a baked treat is reasonably healthy to consume without guilt. When the treat comes studded with an array of nuts and dried fruits, has no butter/oil (we will ignore the fat from the nuts for now ;)), has a relatively low quantity of refined sugar, and just enough flour to bind the nuts and fruits together, it's slightly easier to convince even the hardened skeptic.

This loaf/bread fits the bill nicely, in my opinion. It has a far greater ratio of nuts and fruits compared to sugar and flour. It is mildly sweet, and is dense with a good dose of fruits and nuts. One slice of it would make a satisfying breakfast, a mid-afternoon snack, and would even come in handy during long hikes.

Eggless Orange Cookies

Citrus based desserts have a special place in my family. I'd been wanting to try orange cookies for a really long time, and I finally made time to bake some early this year.

They burst with the aromatic flavor of orange, and are chewy and soft inside. Also, incredibly easy to make a quick batch in no time at all!

Eggless Mango Saffron Muffins with Pistachios

These cupcakes are a slight twist to a tried, tested, and much appreciated recipe for eggless mango cake.

Saffron and cardamom are added to most Indian desserts. Although they are added together, they complement each other beautifully without overshadowing or competing for their individual flavors. However, I feel the underlying dish loses its inherent flavor in the midst of these two strong spices. Since the flavor of mango deserves to stand-out, I suggest adding a hint of either cardamom or saffron to amplify the flavor quotient of the overall dish while still preserving the inherent taste of the fruit and spice. Since I have tried the cake version of this recipe with cardamom, I added saffron and pistachios this time.

Yellow Cake with Caramel & Browned Butter Frosting

This cake was this year's "Happy Birthday" cake for my husband who didn't care what cake he got as long as it had browned butter in it (essentially ghee) and caramel. I balked as my internal calorie counter burst into flames, but finally succumbed and made this.

The cake just serves as a vehicle to deliver the delicious frosting. In terms of taste, the caramel flavor dominates, followed by the warm taste of ghee.

New York Cheesecake

The classic New York style cheesecake has a buttery, crumbly crust, and a sweet, creamy (not to mention, rich) body with subtle hints of tartness from the cream cheese and threads of lemon zest. This cake happens to be a friend's favorite, so following the ever-trusty recipe from Joy of Baking,  I tried this out for his birthday!

It is obviously a rich cake, so one small piece goes a long way!

The cake turned out fabulously, thanks to the detailed recipe with key reminders. The crust is a standard graham cracker crust. The cheesecake is topped with a sour cream topping. Although there are several key steps to follow, and it takes overnight for the cheesecake to set, it is all worth it. 

Some reminders for baking a successful cheesecake that doesn't crack:

1. Do not over beat the ingredients - especially sugar, cream cheese, and eggs
2. If possible, wrap the outside of the pan with aluminum foil. 
3. Bake in a hot-water bath (place the pan inside a bigger tray and fill the tray with about 2 inches of hot water). Else just place the pan on top of a tray while baking

Strawberry & Peanut Butter Crumb Cake

Continuing my recent experiments with crumb cakes, this one is yet another addition. One of my friends described the taste of this cake as similar to taking a bite off a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, which is pretty much sums up the cake!

The crunchy topping has peanut butter while the spongy cake has strawberries and strawberry jam.

Coconut-Lime Chocolate Cake

A fun cake with tropical flavors of coconut and lime, and for extra measure, there is chocolate to round out the lovely taste! The punch of lime ties the flavors of coconut and chocolate very nicely.

Take a mini tropical vacation at home with this treat!

Upside Down Cashew-Caramel Chocolate Cake

This is probably one of the most decadent cakes I have ever baked! Chocolate, caramel, and cashews (the mother of all fatty and tasty nuts!). When I came across a similar recipe for an upside down caramel cake, I couldn't resist trying it out with cashews and rich chocolate!

I made it for a small group of friends, and the cake disappeared in no time! No time to reflect on calories or guilt ;)

This is a must try cake! Substitute cashews with nuts of your choice.

Strawberry-Shortcake Cake (Chocolate Almond Cake)

This was a birthday cake for a dear friend's daughter who is a fan of the Strawberry Shortcake cartoon character, but loves chocolate more than anything related to actual fruits :)

Baking a chocolate cake was pretty straightforward. I used a good quality baking chocolate instead of regular cocoa powder, and made a simple whipped cream frosting with a little almond extract, instead of regular vanilla. Pardon the sub-par frosting application! The hot weather was not helping my lackluster skills.

Lemon Blackberry Cake

It was only upon finishing the last cake (an orange and blackberry loaf) that I realized that I'd not baked with blackberries as much as the other berries. Since the last experiment demonstrated the success of melding citrus with blackberries, I tried pairing the berries with my favorite lemon cake. 

I adapted the recipe based on my previous berry cake experiments, and here's the result. The lemony flavor goes great with blackberries. This cake is much more tart than the orange-blackberry one.

Orange & Blackberry Loaf

Everyone in the family is a fan of oranges. We will always resort to orange/citrus based treats any time of the day/year. Having tried some successful orange based loafs/pound cakes, I adapted the recipe slightly to incorporate olive oil and yogurt (instead of butter), and added a liberal cup of blackberries. 

Citrus and berries go well together, so it's little surprise the baked blackberries melded so well with the orange flavor!

Apple & Banana Caramel Cake

This could very well be a classic Fall dessert, but I made it during Spring with fresh red apples, bananas, and aromatic cardamom. The caramel drizzle gives the cake an additional layer of warmth.

A nice rewarding treat, for say, someone who just finished running a rea-l--l--y long distance?

Pineapple-Banana Cake

I have a weird love-hate relationship with pineapples. I hate eating the fruit as is - my throat itches, and I get goosebumps of the wrong kind. But when baked or grilled, the fruit mellows into a tasty treat! 

This is a simple, straightforward hearty cake. I like to pair pineapple with banana, because the resulting flavor is yummy, and the extra fruit makes the cake really moist and succulent. The cake can stand alone without any frosting, but, for an extra oomph, serve with pineapple puree or vanilla ice cream.