Vanilla Cake with Butter Cream Frosting

Vanilla cake with Buttercream frosting

Ingredients:

Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda - 1 tsp

Flour - 1 + 3/4 cups

Sugar - 1 cup

Vanilla essence - 2 tsp

Butter melted or Vegetable Oil - 1/2 a cup 

Thick natural yogurt - 1 cup

Method:

• Combine curd, and sugar and mix them till no lumps are formed.
• To this mixture add in vegetable oil, Baking powder and Baking Soda
• Gently add the flour mixing gently all the time.
• Pour in the vanilla essence and mix in gently one more time.
• Grease and flour a cake tin and transfer the prepared mixture.
• Bake for 20 minutes in 350F

Frosting the cake with butter cream

1 cup butter

1 tsp Clear vanilla extract

1 lb or 4 cups of confectioner's sugar

1 or 2 tablespoons of milk (add milk depending on the heaviness of the frosting)

Combine all of them and beat them until light and fluffy.

Add a few drops of food coloring of your choice and decorate the cake.

I have decorated the cake with gum paste flowers and pink buttercream frosting.

  

Hummus

Hummus

Guatemala has Arabian influence. This city has a lot of Palestine and Arabian restaurants.  I tried  Hummus for the first time at Antigua and fell in love with it ever since.  Being a vegetarian there are few options to dine out where I live and Hummus tops the choice all the time.  I make them quite often at home and also use it as a spread to make a sandwich toast. I toast the part that has the hummus spread and it tastes heavenly and also quite filling.

Ingredients :

• Soak 1 lb of Garbanzo Beans for 5- 6 hrs
• Pressure cook them with water until soft.
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoon lemon juice
• 3 tsp cumin powder
• 2-3 pods of garlic ( optional)

Method:

Blend all the above ingredients in a food processor until smooth and creamy.

Arrange the prepared hummus in a plate and garnish with cilantro and drizzle a bit of olive oil for the effect.

Serve with warm pita bread.

Hummus can also be prepared with Tahini sauce, This one I have prepared without the Tahini.
When you want to prepare with Tahini, add in 2 tbsp of ready-made tahini when you blend all the other ingredients

Whole Wheat English Muffins

Whole Wheat English Muffins

Chocolate Fudge

Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup Hersheys chocolate powder

2 tbsp light corn syrup

2/3 cup light cream

2 tbsp unsalted butter

a pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Grease a square pan with butter and set aside.

In a sauce pan, mix in the corn syrup, salt, sugar and chocolate powder.

It is better to add the chocolate powder slowly through a sieve so that no lumps are formed.

Keep stirring all the while on medium heat.

When thick add in the butter and remove pan from stove.

Beat well till it is nice and creamy with a  wooden spoon.

Pour into greased tray and let it cool for  about five hours before you slice them up into desired shape.

Eggless Pancakes

Eggless Pancakes

I learnt this recipe from Reina Maria our maid and caretaker. She spoils my kids quite often by making these pancakes when they get back from school. Though she uses egg in her original recipe, she avoids them when she makes them for us.  Spongy and fluffy, these pancakes are to die for with butter, honey and maple syrup.

She calls them 'Paan Que Ques'.

Ingredients:

Flour - 2 cups

Vanilla essence - 2 tsp

Milk - 1.5 cups

Baking powder - 1.5 tsps

Butter or oil - 1 tpsb

Sugar - 2 tbsp

Method:

Whisk all the above ingredients nice and smooth and keep them aside.

Grease the pan with oil and on very slow heat pour the pancakes round and thick.
The heat should be at a minimum else the pancakes are going to be burnt.
They get cooked very fast. Flip them over to cook the other side.
Serve immediately topped with butter, honey and fruits of your choice.

Drizzle with pancake syrup for super extra effect and taste.

For vegan pancakes, use soy milk.

Cardamom Biscotti

I took this recipe from Isha Recipes. The original recipe was Almond Caradamom Biscotti. Though I read a lot of blogs and recipes, there are very few recipes that call out to me and force me to try them immediately. This was one of it on a beautiful Friday evening.

I was lazy to soak, blanch and roast the almonds but too eager to test out the recipe. I excluded the almonds and did a Cardamom biscotti

Cardamom Biscotti

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tbs orange zest
• 1 stick or a 1/2 a cup of melted butter
• 2 tbsp flax seed powder
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 3/4 - 1 cup sugar (depending on the sweetness, the sugar I get in Guatemala is not very sweet, so I added 1 cup)
• 2 tsp cardamom powder
  

Method:

In a bowl mix together, flour, baking powder, salt and sugar and cardamom powder.

Melt butter for 30 seconds and add it to flax seed powder, vanilla essence and orange zest.

Add butter mixture to flour mixture.

Knead them well. Shape dough to a long rectangular shape. I leveled and shaped with a flat cup at home.

Bake in 325F for 15 minutes.

Take it out. The top should be firm. Let it cool and  make diagonal cuts.

Separate them and place them again in the baking sheet and bake for 10 more minutes until golden brown and crispy.

These biscotti's taste heavenly when dunked in almond tea.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies

What we need?

Flour - 1 cup
Chocolate Chips - 1/4 cup or a handful
Sugar - 6 table spoons
Milk - 1 table spoon
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tblsp
Butter  melted - 1/4 cup


Method:

• Mix Flour and baking power using a sieve
• Mix butter, milk and sugar and beat them nice and smooth.
• Add flour mixture and the butter mixture and knead them smooth
• Add in the vanilla essence and the chocolate chips.
• Use a cookie cutter , make small cookies and bake for 15 minutes in 350F.