Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tags

Baked Foods, cookies

This is a simple and basic Chocolate Chip Cookie. The cookies are chewy yet fully baked and delicious. I already posted Chocolate Chunk cookies which are a little crunchy compared to these cookies.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Bake Time : 9 minutes

Makes : 36 cookies

Ingredients:

Salted butter : 1 cup/ 2 sticks at room temperature

White sugar : 1 cup

Light brown sugar : 1 cup packed

Vanilla extract : 2 teaspoons

Eggs : 2 large

All purpose flour : 3 cups

Baking Soda : 1 teaspoon

Baking powder : 1/2 teaspoon

Salt : 1 teaspoon

Chocolate chips : 2 cups

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, vanilla and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

In an another bowl, add all the dry ingredients and mix well.

Add the dry ingredients to the sugar mixture and mix to combine.

Add the chocolate chips and mix well with a spatula.

Take 2 tablespoons of dough, roll them into balls and place them on a parchment paper line cookie sheet.

Bake the cookies for 9 minutes. The cookies will be light brown. Let them sit on the sheet for 2-3 minutes before moving to the cooling rack.

Pink Herbal Tea

Tags

tea

This Herbal tea is made with Sappan wood or Pathimugam which is a popular thirst quencher in Kerala. Bark of the tree has a lot of medicinal benefits, antioxidants and once it’s brewed, it gives a beautiful pink color.

Preparation Time: 2 minutes

Cook Time : 8 minutes

Serves : 4

Ingredients:

Sappan wood/ Pathimugam : 1 tablespoons

Vattiveru : few strands

Water : 1 litre

Instructions:

Add ingredients to a saucepan and bring it to a boil.

Turn off the stove and strain the tea.

Serve immediately.

 

 

Mango Marble Cake

Tags

Baked Foods, cakes, eggless

This Mango Marble cake has the goodness of both mango and chocolate. I made muffins with this combination several years ago but didn’t bake with mango in the last few years even though I have an abundance of fresh mangoes every season.

I was walking with a couple of friends and one of the friends mentioned that she wanted to taste the Mango Chocolate combo.

I looked out for recipes and found a Mango Chocolate Marble Cake recipe on posted by friend Usha on Myspicykitchen. I made few modifications to suit my kids tastebuds and the cake turned out delicious.

Preparation Time: 15 Minutes

Baking Time : 55 minutes

Makes : 8 1/2″ loaf

Ingredients:

Butter : 5 tablespoons softened

Mango pulp : 1 cup (I used fresh pulp)

Vanilla extract : 1 teaspoon

Milk : 1/4 cup

Buttermilk : 1/4 cup

All Purpose Flour : 2 cups

Baking Powder : 1 1/2 teaspoons

Baking Soda : 1/2 teaspoon

Salt : 1/4 teaspoon

Sugar : 1 1/4 cup

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder : 1/4 cup

Warm water : 4 tablespoons

Instructions:

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, add butter, sugar and mix well. Add mango pulp, yogurt, buttermilk, vanilla and mix well.

Add all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in another bowl and whisk.

Add the dry ingredients mixture to the wet ingredients slowly and whisk to combine.

Transfer half of the batter to another bowl.

Take cocoa powder in a small bowl and add warm water. Stir well to combine.

Mix this cocoa paste to one of the batter bowls and mix well to combine.

Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.

Add a layer of mango batter then a layer of chocolate batter. Repeat this 3 times. Take a knife and draw 3 lines to make the swirls.

Bake the cake for 55-57 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake.

Let it cool for 30 minutes before taking the cake and slicing it.

 

 

Mango Salsa

Tags

30 minutes or less, Mexican Dishes, side dishes

Mango Salsa is a refreshing side dish that has a burst of sweet, spicy and sour flavours. It’s serves as a perfect side dish with any Mexican meal or seafood dishes.

Jalapeno is normally used in this dish but I used green chilli as I couldn’t find jalapeno’s.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Serves : 2-4

Ingredients:

Ripe Mango : 1 cut into small pieces

Cilantro/coriander leaves: 2 teaspoons chopped

Onion : 1 small chopped finely

Jalapeno : 1 chopped finely

Lemon juice : 1 teaspoon

Instructions:

In a bowl, add ingredients and mix to combine.

This salsa can be refrigerated for a day. Fresh salsa tastes the best.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (No Churn)

Tags

Ice creams

My daughter is a big fan of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. It’s hard to find in India so I tried making it at home. After few tries, this version came out perfect. I used both peppermint extract and fresh extract taken from mint leaves. This is a no churn simple to make ice cream.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Freeze Time : 6-8 hours

Ingredients:

Whipping Cream : 2 cups

Condensed milk : 1 3/4 cups

Peppermint Extract : 1/2 teaspoon

Fresh mint leaves : 1/2 teaspoon minced

Chopped chocolate bar : 1 cup

Green food colour : 1/2 teaspoon

Instructions:

In a bowl, add condensed milk, peppermint extract, minced leaves, chocolate chips, green food colour and mix well.

In another bowl, add whipping cream and beat till stiff peaks form.

Fold the whipping cream into the condensed milk mixture and pour into a freezer safe container.

Freeze it for 6-8 hours.

Homemade Sour Cream

Tags

dips

Sour Cream is a very important ingredient in baking and Mexican dishes. Making it at home is really easy. It tastes much better than the store bought one.

Both creams should be chilled.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Setting Time : 14 hours

Makes : 2 cups

Ingredients:

Amul Fresh Cream : 250 ml

Cream collected from boiling Full Fat milk : 50 ml

Homemade curd : 1 teaspoon

Instructions:

Mix both creams in a bowl and heat it to lukewarm temperature.

Take curd and mix well with the creams. Close lid and keep the bowl in a warm place.

Let it set for 14 hours. Then keep it in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

The sour cream is ready to use.

 

Mango Fool

Tags

30 minutes or less, desserts

Mango Fool is a quick and easy dessert made with Mango puree and whipped cream. Fool is the best way to indulge the fruit as a dessert. It’s a traditional English dessert which is commonly made with berries, apples, mango and kiwi.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Serves : 3

Ingredients:

Chilled Mango Puree : 1/2 cup

Lemon juice : 1/2 teaspoon

Sugar : 1 tablespoon

Fresh Cream : 1/2 cup

Mango chunks : 1/4 cup to garnish

Instructions:

Take the mango puree, lemon juice, sugar and whisk well to combine.

Take fresh cream in a bowl and beat till soft peaks are formed.

Take 1/4 cup of mango puree and mix it with the fresh cream.

Take your serving serving cups, add mango puree till 1/2 of the cup, add the fresh cream mixture till 3/4 of the cup, Garnish with fresh mango pieces and serve.

 

 

Vadiyalu Pulusu

Tags

Andhra Recipes, Veg Curries

This pulusu is made with Minappappu Vadiyalu/Urad Wadia. You need a little harder vadiyalu to make this curry, if not they’ll get soggy.  I made this curry with homemade vadiyalu. You can use store bought ones too.

This pulusu is very much similar to Guddu Pulusu/ Egg gravy but a veg version.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time : 25 minutes

Serves : 5-6

Ingredients:

Vadiyalu : 3/4 cup

Onion : 2 large chopped

Green chilli : 1 slit

Turmeric : 1/2 teaspoon

Red Chilli powder : 2 teaspoons

Salt to taste

Jeera powder : 1/2 teaspoon

Coriander powder : 1/2 teaspoon

Tamarind pulp : 1 tablespoon

Jaggery : 2 tablespoons

For Tempering:

Oil : 2 tablespoons

Urad dal : 1 teaspoon

Dry red chilli : 1 broken

Jeera/cumin : 1/2 teaspoon

Mustard seeds : 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves : 1 sprig

Instructions:

Heat oil for deep frying, fry the vadiyalu till golden brown, strain and keep them aside.

Heat oil in a pan, add ingredients listed under for tempering except curry leaves and fry for 1 minute or until the seeds start to splatter.

Add curry leaves, onion, green chilli and saute until the onions turn translucent.

Add salt, red chilli powder, turmeric, fried vadiyalu and cook for 5 minutes.

Add 1 1/2 cups water, tamarind extract and bring it to a boil. Add jaggery and cook for another 3-4 minutes.

Once the curry is thickened a little, turn off the stove, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or roti.

 

 

 

 

Mocha Ice Cream

Tags

Ice creams

This Mocha Ice Cream is a perfect one for coffee lovers. It’s not overloaded with sugar so you can taste the coffee flavour. The texture of this ice cream is more of a soft serve. So, if you freeze it for longer, just leave the container out on the counter for 15 minutes before serving.

This recipe makes one quart of ice cream. I took out a cup and added Oreo cookie crumbs to it and that tasted delicious too.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Chill Time : 4-5 hours

Makes : 1 quart

Ingredients:

Cold heavy cream or whipping cream : 2 cups

Cold whole milk : 1 cup

Sugar : 1 cup

Expresso powder : 1 1/2 tablespoons

Cocoa powder : 2 tablespoons

Vanilla extract : 1 teaspoon

Instructions:

Add all the ingredients into a Blendtec blender and other blender that has ice cream option or attachment and blend according to the blender instructions. In blendtec, it takes 45 seconds.

Pour it into a freezer safe container and freeze the ice cream for 4-5 hours.

If you wish to add Oreos, crush the cookies and add them to the mixture before freezing. Top it off with some caramel syrup before serving.

If you are using a Ice cream maker, whisk all the ingredients and pour into the Ice Cream maker and freeze according to the manufactures instructions.

Serve chilled.

 

Jackfruit Pancakes

Tags

30 minutes or less, Breakfast dishes

Jackfruit is an exotic fruit grown in tropical regions and it is a native fruit in South India. It has a lot of health benefits. The raw fruit is usually used as a meat substitute and the ripen fruit is eaten raw or used to make desserts, ice creams etc.,

These Jackfruit Pancakes is made with ripen fruit pulp. They are super delicious.

Preparation Time:10 minutes

Cook Time : 3 minutes per pan cake

Makes : 4

Ingredients:

All purpose Flour : 1 cup

Sugar : 1 tablespoon

Baking powder : 1 teaspoon

Salt : 1/2 teaspoon

Jackfruit pieces : 1 cup

Milk : 1 cup

Oil : 1 tablespoon

Instructions:

Take the jackfruit pieces and milk in a blender jar and make a paste.

In a medium sized bowl, Add All Purpose Flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, mix well. Add the jackfruit paste, oil and mix to combine.

Heat a griddle or a pan, smear some butter and add a ladle of batter. Cook both sides till they are golden brown.

Serve hot with some honey or syrup.