Chocolate chip cookies

Source:Nestle chocolate morsels pack
I am sending this recipe for the Cakes and cookies event conducted by Sara

Ingredients:
All purpose flour      -2 1/4 cups
Baking soda            -1 tsp
Salt                         -1 tsp
Butter                     - 1cup softened
Granulated sugar     - 3/4 cup
Brown sugar           - 3/4 cup
Vanilla extract         -1 tsp
Eggs(large)              -2
Chocolate morsels    -2 cups
Chopped nuts           - 1cup

Method:
Preheat oven to 375degree F
Combine flour,baking soda and salt in small bowl.Beat butter,granulated sugar,brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.Add eggs,one at a time,beating well after each addition.Gradually beat in flour mixture.Stir in morsels and nuts.Drop by rounded table spoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes;remove to wire racks to cool completely.


Awards

I am really thankful to Dolly from curry and beyond, Rekha from Rekha's recipe, Devi from Devi'sblog  for nominating me for this lovely Kreative blogger award.


Rules for accepting this award:


1) Thank the person giving the award

2) Copy the award to your blog

3) Place a link to their blog

4) Name 7 things people don't know about you

5) Nominate 7 bloggers

6) Place a link to those bloggers

7) Leave a comment letting those bloggers know about the award



7 things people don't know about me:
I am  a strong believer in God.
I love shopping.
Loves listening music.
I value friendships.
I love traveling .
I am missing my family a lot.
I am missing my mother's food too.


I would like to pass this award to:

adukalavishesham

aquarian

jisha's Kitchen

maduraistyle

sillynightingale

mykitchensnippets

Naadan recipies

"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

Source:Hershey's

Merry X'mas to all of you!!!!!

For Cake
Ingredients:
All purpose flour    -1 3/4 cups
Sugar                     -2 cups
Cocoa powder       -3/4 cup
Baking powder       -1 1/2tsp
Baking soda            -1 1/2 tsp
Salt                         - 1 tsp
Eggs                        -2
Milk                        - 1 cup
Vegetable oil           - 1/2 cup
Vanilla extract         - 2tsp
Boiling water           - 1cup\

Method:
- Heat oven to 350degree F.Grease and flour two 9- in .round baking pans.
- Combine dry ingredients in large bowl.Add eggs,milk,oil and vanilla;beat on medium speed   
  for 2minutes.Stir in boiling water(batter will be thin).Pour into pans.
- Bake 30-35 minutesor until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.Cool 10 minutes.Remove
  from  pans to wire racks.Cool completely.Frost with your favorite icing.

For Frosting:
Ingredients:
Powdered Sugar        - 3 cups
Butter  or margarine    -1/2 cup
Vanilla extact             -1tsp
Cocoa powder           - 2 tbsp
Milk                           -1/3 cup

Method:
Melt butter.Alternately  add powdered sugar and milk ,beating on medium speed to spreading consistency.If you want to use chocolate frosting you can add cocoa powder with this.Stir in vanilla to this mixture.For making flowers, frosting mixture should be stiff.To make it stiffer, you can add more powdered sugar ,if needed.For frosting over the cake  add more milk ,if needed.

Easy Yellow pumpkin payasam(mathanga payasam)

Ingredients:
Pumpkin                -250 gms
Jaggery                  - 1 cup
Ginger powder       - a little
Cardamom             - 2
Coconut milk          - 2 cups
Cashews                 - 2tbsp

Method:
Peel the pumpkin skin and cut in to pieces.Cook it in a cooker separately.Boil 1 cup of water along with grated jaggery to a jaggery syrup.Add the cooked pumpkin to this jaggery syrup and cook again.Add ginger powder .When it starts to thicken,add coconut milk and crushed cardamom and bring to a boiling point.Serve decorated with cashews .

Watermelon Pudding

For all watermelon lovers!!!

Source :Ruchi cookbook

Ingredients:
Watermelon juice     -1 3/4 cups
Bread crumbs          -1 cup

Sugar                      -1 cup

Egg                         -2

Milk                        -1cup

Watermelon pieces  -1 cup

Nutemg powder      -a pinch

Method:

Heat watermelon juice and sugar in a vessel.When it starts to thicken pour milk and add bread crumbs.Add the beaten eggs to this and stir it continously for sometime.Remove from fire and add the nutmeg owder.Pour this to butter greased bowl and decorate with watermelon pieces.Keep it in the refrigerator for 2 hours.Serve cold.

Wheat ladoo

Happy Diwali!!

Diwali,the festival of lights,is also a festival of sharing sweets with our friends and family.Last year  we had  great fun with our friends Uma and Saurav during Diwali time here along with lot of home made sweets.We miss them this time as they went back to India in Jul-09.

Today morning I thought of preparing atleast one easy sweet dish like payasam.But then I realized that there was not a single drop of milk in the fridge.Neither were there any fruits.Usually we do our grocery shopping on Friday evenings but yesterday we were not able to go out due to rains.While preparing wheat puttu for breakfast,I suddenly thought of making wheat ladoo which is really an easy one and it came out good as well.Given below is the recepie.If you have wheat puttu powder, no need of roasting the wheat.else roast the wheat on low flame.

Ingredients:

Wheat flour          -1 1/2 cup
Sugar                   -1 cup
Ghee                   -1/4cup
Cashew,Raisins   -3 tbsp
Coconut grated   -1/4 cup

Method:

Heat a thick pan.If you are using wheat puttu powder,directly pour ghee,wheat flour,powdered sugar,  cashews and raisins to the pan and roast it in low flame.Else first roast the wheat flour for some time on low flame and then add the other ingredients.If you have grated coconut the use that too to get a good flavour.When all other ingredients blend well with wheat flour,turn off heat and make ladoo balls from it.Now your wheat ladoo is ready to taste !!

Mango mousse Pie

This is a very easy recipe.All you need are some mangoes,heavy cream,gelatin,sugar and graham cracker crust (I had mentioned how to make a graham cracker crust in the previous post).If its not a mango season, you can use tin mango which we usually gets in any Indian store.
Ingredients:
Mango                     -2 cups sliced
Heavy cream            -1 cup chilled
Gelatin(unflavoured)  -1 tbsp
Sugar                        -1/4 cups
Cold water                -1/4 cup   
Graham crust             -1
Powdered sugar         - 3tbsp

Method:
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in a sauce pan.Let it stand one minute to soften.Stir over low heat until gelatin is dissolved(about 1 minute).Remove from heat.Place,mango slices,sugar and gelatin mixture in a blender.Whirl to puree.Pour into a blowl.Chill for an hour.Beat the cream and powdered sugar in a bowl.Stir the cream to the mango puree and pour into crust.Refrigetrate for 2 hours before serving.

Graham cracker crust

Ingredients:
Graham crackers  -30
Butter                   -7 tbsp
Sugar                    -1/4 cup

Method:
Crush the graham crackers using a blender or food processor.Melt the butter .Stir together,the graham cracker ,sugar and butter using spoon.Press it to the pie pan.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in a preheated 350 F oven.
Tips:
For a golden crust of pie ,brush a beaten egg white on the crust before baking.

Apple Pie

Ingredients:

For the filling
Apple                        - 2big ones
Sugar                        - 12 gm
Cinnamon powder     - 1/4 tsp(optional)
Water as required
For the crust

Maida                      - 110 gm

Butter                      -  55  gm

Sugar                      -  25  gm

Milk                        -  2    tbp

Egg (optional)         - 1

Salt                        - a pinch

Method:
For  the filling
 In a preheated thick bottom pan,cook apple pieces,sugar and cinnamon powder in medium  heat till it   forms a pulp consistency.
For the crust
Mix together maida,sugar,butter and a pinch of salt.Pour milk as requried to make the dough.Roll it into a ball and brush some oil over it.Keep it in the refrigerator for an hour.

Take a round baking pan.Roll the dough out into a round inorder to fit the bottom of the pan.The rolled out dough should be large enough so that it extends a bit over the edges of the pan.If you dont have a pan you can use a foil paper.Smear water or egg whites over the edges .Fill the rolled out dough with apple filling.Cover it with the rest of the dough rolled out into a round.The covering dough edges  should merge with the bottom dough edges.We can trim the edges with fingers.Brush the pie top with egg whites and sprinkle with sugar(optional).Make 3-4 cuttings on the top of the pie..Preheat the oven to 450F or 220C.Bake for 10 min.Continue to bake at 375 F (190c)for 15-20 minutes.Serve with vanilla ice cream.

The orange Lady (Orange Pudding)

Ingredients:

  Milk                             -1 1/2 cups

 Orange Juice                 -1/2 cup

 Yolk                             - 2 eggs

 Sugar                            -1/2 cup

 Cornstartch                   - 3 tbsp

 Gelatin                          -1 tbsp( unflavoured)

 Orange essence             -1/4 tsp

 Orange rind grated         -1 tbsp

 (the skin of orange)

 

Preparation:

  Beat the egg yolks slightly , add sugar.

Cook in a heavy saucepan,the beated egg mixture together with milk and orange rind,stirring constantly.Add  corn startch and gelatin( as per the package instructions) slowly  and  cook until the mixture thickens sufficiently to coat the spoon.Remove from fire and add orange juice and orange essence .Allow it to cool.Decorate with orange slices.Chill atleast for an hour and  serve.