Banana Bread

I thank all the people who saw and liked my earlier post on Orange Chiffon Cake. Continuing my celebration of this fall winter season with baking seasonal fruits, I have now decided to make some Quick Bread. The reason why I am saying Quick Bread is because making this bread would not require yeast and hence does not need dough resting time nor will it require kneading and proofing the dough. As its name suggests, it is really 'quick' and being an Arien (born in April), I clearly do not have the patience. I want my things to happen really quick. 

With apples, bananas, strawberries in my refrigerator, it was really difficult to decide on which bread to make first. Then I see my bananas which I bought fresh and kept aside for their skin to turn brown and thin. Its now the perfect time to make a bread out of it. So its Banana Bread today. 

Banana Bread

It started like this -

Bananas ready for making bread

Hey, don't panic! I am not making bread out of stale bananas. In fact, I waited for these bananas to turn to ripen so that its just perfect for making the bread. Bananas with these dark patches are more sweet and more healthy. The more darker the patches, higher will be its immunity enhancement quality. Hence, the riper the banana the better the anti-cancer quality. However, diabetic patients should not eat these bananas as the glucose content is pretty high.

Without wasting any more time, lets get straight to making the delicious, soft and moist Banana Bread.

Here's what you gonna need to make Banana Bread - 

• 230 gms/ 1¾ cup all purpose flour
• 150 gms/ ¾ cup caster sugar/ powdered sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 75 gms/ ¾ cup roasted chopped walnuts
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 113 gms/ ½ cup butter, melted and cooled 
• 3 large/ 5 medium size ripe banana, mashed well
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Yield - one 9' x 5' loaf

Here's how you are gonna make it

Preheat your oven to 180° C/ 350° F. Grease a 9'x5' loaf tin pan or cover it with parchment paper

• In a large bowl, add all purpose flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, walnuts and mix together until combined.

• In another bowl, whisk the eggs lightly. Add mashed bananas, melted and cooled butter and vanilla extract and whisk it until combined.

 

•  Pour the wet ingredients over dry ingredients and fold with the help of a rubber spatula just until the flour mixture is combined in the wet ingredients. DO NOT OVER MIX.
• Pour the batter in the pre-lined loaf pan and bake it for 55-60 minutes until the outer crust is golden brown and a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

• Place on a wire rack to cool completely before taking out from the pan. Serve hot or at room temperature.
• Store in an air tight compartment.

Now you know what to do with these dark patchy bananas instead of throwing them in the bin.

Hope you would have also enjoyed making it as much as I did!

Cheers!

Chocolate-chip Cookies

My first connection with chocolate-chip cookies was at Subway. I like these cookies so much that I never order a subway without these cookies. I have gone alone many a times to Subway to eat a loaf and the chocolate chip cookies all by myself. Hence, when I started baking, this was the first ever cookies that I made. By far, I have made them so many times (and gifted to a lot of my friends) and never got bored of the taste. 

I remember the first time I made these cookies was in a very small Morphy Richards OTG that could bake only two cookies in one batch and I had to bake these cookies for almost half a day (9 batches! Can you believe it?). This gave me sufficient reason to buy a new oven. I grabbed this opportunity totally and got myself a great looking, gorgeous Samsung CQ138S and have been totally in love with it from the day it arrived at my home. Now, I can bake all these cookies in just two batches. Life is so much more beautiful with  yummy food and sexy gadgets.

These soft and chewy cookies need a combo of white and brown sugar. It is easy to find brown sugar these days in India, you can get Bluebird Dememera sugar at your nearest grocery store or D Mart, Hypercity. Hence, there is abosolutely no challenge in making these cookies at home.

Chocolate-chip Cookies

Here's what you gonna need to make Chocolate-chip Cookies

113 gms/½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (at room temperature)

45 gms/ ¼ cup caster (superfine) sugar

100 gms/ ½ cup light brown sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
175 gms/ 1½ cups all purpose flour 

½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt (leave the salt if you are using salted butter)
175 gms/ 1 cup chocolate chips
50 gms/ ¼ cup walnuts, roasted and chopped (optional) 

Yield - 24 cookies

Here's how you gonna make it

Preheat your oven to to 170° C/ 325° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

• In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until nice and creamy using your hand mixer.
• Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
• Add egg and beat in the batter until combined. In case you are doubling the recipe, add one egg at a time and beat.
• Add vanilla extract and you guessed it right, continue to beat.
• In another bowl, sift all purpose flour, baking soda and salt (if using unsalted butter) and stir. Add chocolate chips and walnuts and stir.
• Mix the dry ingredients in the butter and egg mixture and fold it with the help of a rubber spatula giving your hands a nice workout. Fold the dry ingredients until it is combined together with the wet ingredients.
• If the dough is very soft, keep it in the refrigerator for 30 - 40 minutes.
• With the help of an ice-cream scoop or using two spoons, scoop out the dough into the baking sheet keeping a gap of 3-4 inches between the cookies as these will spread while baking.
• Bake for about 10 -14 minutes or until the cookies edges are golden brown. Let it cool completely on wire rack.
• Store these cookies in an air tight container for few days.

Variations:- 

You can do so many variations of these cookies. Few of these variations could be - 

• All chocolate cookies - Substitute 15 gms/ 1tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder for the equal amount of flour.
• Mocha - Use coffee essence or 1 tbsp of strong black coffee instead of vanilla extract.
• Hazelnuts - Substitute whole or coarsely chopped hazelnuts for the equal amount of walnuts.
• Dried fruits - Substitute chcolate chips and walnuts for the equal amount of chopped dried fruits such as raisins, almonds, cranberries, glaced cherries etc.

Hope you will also enjoy making these cookies as much as I did!

Cheers!

Orange Chiffon Cake

It gives immense pleasure and a sense of satisfaction seeing the increasing activity on the FB page of Soniaz Delights and knowing that you have been missing new recipes. In the last month while I was away, I have also been missing baking as if a part of me is missing. Here I am, back to baking new delights...

Its fall winter, and everyone is getting into the December festive season. Its also the best time of the year to make fruit based Delights as the best of fresh fruits are available this time of the year. Hence, I have decided to try and include some fresh fruits in all of my baking this season. 

The first fruit that I am using for baking this season would be 'Orange'. The reason I picked this fruit is I have got a personal connection with the fruit. A variety of this fruit (Kinnow) is grown in our own farms in Punjab and I visited the farms and plucked the fruits by myself! I looked for many cake recipes with Orange as the main ingredient and finally decided to make an 'Orange Chiffon Cake'.

Chiffon cakes are as soft and light as a Chiffon saari (love wearing them). The cake just melts in your mouth leaving the fresh citrusy flavour lingering in your mouth for a long time. One piece is of this cake is simply not enough. The best thing about this cake is you will not get the butter taste in this cake as the recipe include flavourless oil leaving you with one flavour to enjoy...Tangy Orange. 

Without waiting further, lets get straight to the cake and how you can try it yourself.

Orange Chiffon Cake

Here's what you gonna need to make Orange Chiffon Cake

6 eggs separated + 1 egg white at room temperature (separate the eggs while they are cold and let it sit till it reaches room temperature)

180 gms/ 1½ cup + 3 tbsp (sifted) all purpose flour

45 gms/ 5 tbsp corn flour

250 gms + 50 gms/  1¼ cup + ¼ cup caster sugar or powdered sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

2 tbsp orange zest

120 ml/ ½ cup vegetable oil/ sunflower or canola oil

180 ml/ ¾ cup fresh orange juice (you may use tetra pack but freshly squeezed works better)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

½ tsp cream of tartar/ lemon juice

Here's how you gonna make it

Preheat your oven to 170° C/ 325° F. Line a 10 inch bundt pan or 2 small pans.

1 2

34

56

• In a large bowl add all the dry ingredients together i.e. all purpose flour, corn flour, sugar (250 gms), baking soda, orange zest and salt. Give these ingredients a nice stir with the help of a balloon whisk.

12

34

5

• Make a well in the center of the mixed dry ingredients and add egg yolks, orange juice, oil, vanilla extract and beat with the help of your hand mixer for about a couple of minutes until nicely combined.

12

34

5

• In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. 
• Add lemon juice and beat until the soft peaks.
• Gradually add the remaining 50 gms caster sugar and beat for 2 - 3 minutes until stiff peaks form. (see picture 3 above)
• Add the egg whites mixture in the batter kept aside in 3 - 4 installments and fold it gently.

• Pour the batter in the pre lined baking pan. Preferable use bundt pan with the hole in the center. Bake for about 50 - 60 minutes
• Once the cake is baked, invert the pan at certain height and let the cake cool completely in the pan for about 2 hours. 
• Once cooled, put a knife/ spatula in the inside of the pan and slowly remove the cake from the pan.
• Dust the top of the cake with some icing sugar and sugar.
• Store the cake in an air tight container and store at room temperature for a few days or refrigerate it for a week.

Hope you will also enjoy making it as much as I did!

Cheers!

Cappuccino Swirls

Its been a while that I have started baking and trying out different cakes. I got a request from my uncle to make some cookies and send them but the challenge was to make something eggless. I flipped through my 'The Cookie Book' by 'Catherine Atkinson' and got this recipe which immediately caught my attention. It looked awesome and tastes exactly as it looks...YUMMY!!!. I really enjoyed making these swirl cookies.

Cappuccino Swirls, melt-in-the-mouth, mocha flavored cookie drizzled with white and dark chocolate is just the thing to have with your mid morning cafe latte or with afternoon tea with your friends. 

Yield - 18 cookies

Here's what you gonna need to make Cappuccino Swirls

2 tsp instant coffee powder

2 tsp boiling water

1¼ cup (150 gms) all ourpose flour

½ cup (115 gms) corn flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 cup (225 gms) unsalted butter (at room temperature)

¼ cup (50 gms) golden caster sugar

For the decoration

50 gms white chcolate

25 gms dark chocolate

Here's how you gonna make it

• Preheat your oven to 375° F or 190° C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Put coffee powder in a cup and add boiling water and mix until the coffee dissolves completely. Set aside to cool completely.
• In a bowl, sift together all purpose flour, corn starch and cocoa powder and mix it well.
• In another bowl, beat butter and sugar with the help of your hand mixer until nice and creamy.
• Add coffee and dry ingredients and fold it until combined.
• Transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with plain nozzle.
• Pipe 18 swirls on the baking sheet already lined with parchment paper keeping a gap of few inches with each other.
• Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until firmed but not browned.
• Let the cookies cool in the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Decoration

• Melt white and dark chocolate in separate heatproof bowls in microwave or double boiler.
• Place the cooled cookies close together on a parchment paper. Using a teaspoon, drizzle white chocolate over the cookies moving your hands speedily from left to right and create small lines (see photo above).
• Once all the white chocolate is used, repeat the process with dark chocolate so that dark chocolate is at an angle to the white chocolate.
• Leave until the chocolate is set. Store in an air tight container for a few days.

Hope you will also enjoy making it as much as I did!

Cheers.

Nan Khatai - Indian cookies

I have been eating homemade Nan khatais (cookies) made by my Mom since I was a little kid. Now, its my turn to make them and send it as a gift to my Mom. These cookies can  be made all round the year and works as a perfect gift for anybody. The best thing about these cookies is that the ingredients would be available at any time in your kitchen.

NAN KHATAI - INDIAN COOKIES

Preparation Time - 5 minutes

Dough Resting Time - 15 minutes

Baking Time - 20 - 25 minutes

Yield - 18 cookies

Here's what you gonna need for making Nan Khatai

1 stick (100 gms) unsalted butter (at room temperature)

½ cup (60 gms) powdered sugar/ caster sugar

¼ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp nutmeg powder

¼ tsp cardamom powder

1 cup (130 gms) all purpose flour

1/8 tsp salt (leave the salt if you are using salted butter)

Here's what you gonna make it

Preheat your oven to 300° F or 150 ° C

• In a bowl, sift all purpose flour, baking powder and salt and mix it well.
• In another bowl, with the help of hand mixer, whisk butter until soft. 
• Add sugar and whisk until nice and creamy.
• Add nutmeg powder and cardamom powder into butter mixture and fold them well. 
• Fold the dry ingredients in small portions into the butter mixture and make a soft dough.
• Let the dough rest in refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
• Make small balls without any cracks and keep it in the baking sheet lined with parchment paper keeping a gap of about 2 inches with each other.
• Bake the nan khatai for about 20 - 25 minutes until you see the sides of the cookies turn lightly brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. 

These are best served the day you make them. You can also store them in an air tight container at room temperature for about a week.

Happy Baking!

Cheers

Pancakes

Here I am, back to blogging after a break during which I went to Bali and Gili Travangan islands with my hubby. The island is a beautiful place with turquoise blue water, white sand beaches, great villa hotels and restaurants by the beach, breath taking views and amazing food right beside the sea. The place is a paradise for surfers, deep sea divers and sea food lovers. Although, I am none of these, I still enjoyed my time while walking in the ocean (yeah, literally) and feeding hundreds of fishes standing right beside them on the ocean bed, doing water sports, catching turtles and the list goes on and on leaving me with the great memories to cherish until I go there again.

One thing that caught my attention wherever I went for lunch or dinner, the island serves amazing pan cakes for dessert. The pan cakes were so delicious that I decided to try them as soon as I reach home after holidays. 

With this note, I am back to baking and keeping my promise of making pan cakes...

Here's what you gonna need for making Pan Cakes:

1 cup (130 gms) all purpose flour
1 ½ cup tsp baking powder
1¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp (28 gms) castor sugar
1 large egg (at room temperature)
1 cup (240 ml.) milk
2 tbsp (28 gms) unsalted butter (melted and cooled to room temperature)

Here's how you gonna make it

• In one bowl, mix all the dry ingredients i.e. all purpose flour, baking powder, sugar and salt and mix it together.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the egg lightly and mix milk and unsalted butter. Whisk it well.
• In case you are using salted butter which is mainly available in India, you can leave the salt as the butter already contains it.
• Make a well in the center of the bowl containing the dry ingredients and pour the entire egg mixture and fold it lightly till it combines. Do not over mix the batter as it will harden the pan cakes.
• Do not worry if the batter has some lumps, it will go away when you cook the pan cakes.
• Heat a saucepan and grease the surface lightly with butter.
• Once the pan is well heated, pour some batter on the pan with the help of a ladel. The pan cake size can vary as per your wish. Mine were about 4 inch wide. Remember to keep a gap of an inch atleast between two pan cakes.
• The time to turn the pan cake will be when the top of the pan cakes starts to get bubbles (may be 2-3 minutes), turn it over and cook until it turns slightly brown (another 1-2 minutes).
• Repeat the process with the remaining batter, greasing the pan with butter between each batch.
• Do not stack the pan cakes before you serve, else the bottom ones will get soggy if kept stacked for too long time while they are hot.
• Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Variations

• You can add some frozen blueberries on the top surface before turning the pan cake over to get blueberry pancakes.

See you soon with some more Delights.

Cheers.