Eggless Banana Nut Muffin

Its been a long time since I baked a muffin. I have been baking this eggless version of the simple banana muffin for quite sometime now, but I got to get the pictures only this time. Flax seeds are an excellent substitute for egg in baking recipes especially turns out well with Muffins or Quick bread recipes. 
Basic recipe for this muffin is from Saffron Hut.

Ingredients:
3 large ripe bananas
1/3 cup butter, at room temperature
1 and 1/2 cup Flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 tblsp Flax seeds + 3tblsp Water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts


Method:
Preheat the Oven to 375F
Soak the Flax meal with the 3 tblsp of water, allow it to sit for 10 min.
Roast the walnuts slightly in a dry pan and then chop coarsely.
Peel and mash the bananas using the back of a fork in a small bowl.
Combine the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat till they become creamy.
Sift the Flour, baking powder and baking soda together in a separate bowl.


To the butter and sugar mixture add the flax meal mixture and vanilla extract and beat well to combine.
Now add the flour mixture in batches and mix gently to combine, until no visible streaks of flour left. Its okay if  the mixture is a little lumpy.
Fold in the mashed banana and the chopped walnuts.
Spoon the mixture into the muffin pans lined with paper cups.
Bake for 15-18 mins.


Make 12 Muffins.

Wish You all a very happy and relaxing long weekend:)

Oatmeal Raisin Coconut Cookies

Its been two months since I moved to a new place or I should say its been two months since I baked anything. But I have lots of cakes and cookies, neatly organised in my folders, waiting to be posted.They were the result of the baking marathon I ventured during the last week of december amidst all the chaeos of packing and cleaning.  I baked some cookies, cakes, brownies, and breads as if the world is going to end the next day. Since it was the holiday season, I didnt have to worry about finishing up everything as they were neatly packed and distributed to friends and collegues as soon as they have been photographed. 



These Oatmeal Raisin Coconut cookies were past of that marathon as well as my first attempt in baking the cookies. I made two batches of these following two different recipes.This is the first version. It turned out crispy and chewy , just the way I wanted. This gave me the confidence to try out the mexican wedding cookies that was posted earlier for global kadai event.

I adapted the recipe from here. I modified/added/removed some ingredients as per my taste.

Ingredients:

1 cup Softened butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp Vanilla extract

3 cups of Instant oats
11/2 cup of Flour
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup of raisins
1 cup dry unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts.


Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C
In a wide pan, slightly toast the oats, coconut and walnuts one by one and keep seperatly.
Toasting bring out the nice flavour in all the above three ingredients, but take care not to brown it.
In a small bowl beat one egg alond with the vanilla extract.

Now cream the softened butter and the sugars for 2- 3 minutes using a electric mixture.
Mix in the beaten egg mixture and beat till it becomes creamy.

Now add the flour and mix till its well combined.
Stir in the toasted oats , coconut , raisins and walnuts.

Line the cookie tray with parchment paper and spoon in the mixture.
Gently press each portion with the back of the spoon. Place them well apart.
Bake for 10  - 12mins. Mine took 12 mins. So keep an eye after 10 mins.
The cookies will be soft in the center after 10 mins, not to worry, it will become crisp as it cools down. So if the base it browned and crisp, you are good to go.

This recipe gave me 48 medium sized cookies.

Turkish Baklava

We were busy packing and moving to the new house during the new year weekend that I couldnt wish you all. So I would like to take this time to wish all my readers and blog friends 

 "A Very Happy and Fabulous New Year"

I wanted my first post of the new year to be on the sweeter side. So I decided to give the Baklava recipe posted by DK (of 'The ChefInYou) a try. I had bookmarked this as soon as it was posted, but I tried it rather quickly compared to my other favorite bookmarked ones. I have never tasted this sweet, but her pictures , the step by steps and the post in general were so tempting that got I hold of a pack of phyllo sheets immediatly the next time I went shopping. 

The recipe was very simple compared to the richness of the sweet, but handling of the phyllo sheets was a little bit dificult as it gets dried up faster.So has to keep them covered and work with them one by one.
As DK had warned in her post, the dish was very addictive and I could not restrain myself going to the refrigerator now and then. Its high in calories, but a piece of this sinfully delicious sweet is worth trying once in a while. I made my version with lightly toasted walnuts and almonds, but I think addition of pistachios would make it more favourful.
I strongly recommend this recipe as a 'must try'  one for those who can get hold of the phyllo sheets.

Recipe source - TheChefInYou
Ingredients:
2 cups  finly chopped almonds
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 tblsp cinnnamon powder
1/8th tsp clove powdr
2- 3 tblsp bread crumbs ( I missed it somehow, but better to add it )

For the syrup
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
1 stick cinnamon
1 tblsp lemon juic.

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C.
Mix all the ingredients for the filling and keep aside.
Butter a glass shallow dish with butter
Place 8-10 sheets of  phyllo one by one buttering each layer as you go.
Now spread the filling mixture evenly
Place the othe 10 sheets over the filling buttering each sheet as you go.
Using a sharp knife carefully cut the pastry into diamonds.
Place in the oven and bake for 50-60 mins.(until the top is golden brown).

While its baking prepare the syrup.
Boil the ingredients for the syrup and cool till its slightly warm.
When the Pastry is out of the oven leave it for 5 mins.
Now pour the syrup all over it.

How easy was that ....
And now for the hardest part ....Wait 8 hrs for  the syrup to be soaked well. You can leave it over night on the counter, no need to refrigerate.

Enjoy a large piece of this delicious pastry for yourself first thing in the morning ...

Weekend Baking - Dates, Prunes and Walnut Bread.

Baked this beautiful bread over the Christmas weekend.
The baking saga started like this. I started browsing through my bookmarked baking recipes on friday morning which continues till sunday evening. There were rolls, buns, cakes, muffins, cookies and what not....I felt like going on a baking spree and start a baking marathon. You might ask me whats the hurry....But this is my last week with the Oven. Yes we are moving to a new house without an oven, and as the move is temperory, we do not want to invest on an oven. Iam going to miss Baking :(.
So I have planned to do as much as baking as possible, atleast try out my most favourite bookmarked recipes, take pictures and save it in my archives for future blogging. Managed to bake some cookies, a cake and this bread by sunday evening, quite satisfied with my work :)
While the cake was ok, this bread turned out great. The original recipe called for just Dates an Nuts. Since I had less quantity of dates, I throwed in some prunes and walnuts.

Recipe source:Joy of Baking
Ingredients:
1/2 cup walnuts
1 cup chopped and pitted dates
1 cup chopped and pitted prunes

1 cup boiling water
1 tsp baking soda

2 cups All purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
11/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnomon powder ( I used 1 tsp)
1 tsp  vanilla extract

1/2 cup cold butter
1 egg

Method.
Add the dates and prunes to 1 cup of boiling water, along with baking soda and allow it to cool(atleast 1 hr)
Preheat Oven to 180C. Grease and prepare a bread loaf tin for baking.

Beat the egg and vanilla essence in a seperate bowl

In a seperate bowl add the flour, sugar, cinnamon and baking powder. Mix well to combine.

Add the cold , soft butter to the flour mixture and using a electric beater or food processor, mix, till the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.

Add the fruits along with the liquid.Add the chopped walnuts .Mix well to combine

Pour the mixture to the greased bread tin and bake in the preheated oven for 50 - 60 minutes.

Dates and Walnuts Muffins

Wanted to bake something healthy and filling for our weekend trip to Paris last weekend.When I started browsing, I came across Aparna's post on Dates muffin and I was quite satisfied with the recipe as all the ingredients mentioned were in my pantry and dates sounded more healthy and the combination with walnuts suited my taste.

Muffins are easy to pack and carry too.

I had a type of whole wheat flour with the bran, so I decided to replace the all purpose flour and the wheat germ with WWF and increased the amout of oil by a tablespoon.

The result was a delicious and sweet smelling muffins. The smell of the wwf doesnt seem to bother my toddler and the muffins kept him going during that tiresome weekend.

Ingredients:

2 cup whole wheat flour

¾ cup light brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ cup dates, deseeded and chopped finely

½ cup walnuts

1 cup milk

4 tbsp oil

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Chop the the dates and walnuts into smaller pieces. Set the oven to 200C.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Put all the wet ingredients in another bowl and mix well.

Now pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and fold so that everything is just mixed.

If the batter is over-mixed, the muffins will not be soft and springy in texture.

Spoon the batter into greased muffin cups about 2/3 full.

Bake for about 15 to 2o minutes.Mine baked for 25 mins probably because of the wholewheat.Cool slightly, remove to a rack.

I made 10 as my muffin cups are slightly on the larger side.

Will bake these often from now on, probably will add some orange juice next time as suggested by Madhuram. Iam sending these muffins to her 'Whole Grain Baking - whole wheat ' event.

Eggless Dates Walnut Cake

Came across this Incredible Date cake from Shilpa's Aayi's receipes. It was very simple and since I had the right ingredients tried the recipe the same day.Can you beleive it!!! I was on a baking mood, and morever we had a trip planned that weekend and thought it would be a nice snack for us. I added lots of walnuts and cut the oil to 1/4 cup, the taste turned out excellent.

Ingredients:


2 cups chopped dates
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts


Method:
Soak the dates in warm milk for couple of hours or until soft. Remove the seeds if it has one.
Chop into pieces and grind to a smooth paste along with sugar. Add in the oil and give a quick pulse to give it good mix.
Sieve the flour and baking soda together. Add the flour little by little to the dates mixture.
Do not over mix the batter.


Butter and flour the 8 inch cake pan.Preheat the oven for 350F
Transfer the batter and bake the cake for 35 - 40 mins or until a tooth pic comes out clean.




Notes: 
You can also add an egg to the recipe and it also turns out great.
The colour of the cake pretty much depends on the colour of the dates