Banana Bundt Cake

 

It feels good to be back in blogosphere.Ive been down with flu and cough and literally there was no trying-out new recipes..Just we had the usual food.I missed blogging and baking.This cake was baked more than 2 months before.I like to bake bundts because it is so easy,simple and don't need frosting at all.

I took this recipe from dulcedough website and made some changes.It had a rum glaze but i skipped that.

 
Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2 1/4 cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Baking Soda- 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup softened at room temperature

Sugar - 1 cup

Eggs - 2

Ripe bananas mashed - 3

Sour cream - 2/3 cup I used homemade yogurt

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Walnuts - chopped1 cup

Semisweet chocolate chips - 1 cup I didn't add 

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350deg F.

Combine flour,baking powder,baking soda and salt.

Add the mashed bananas, sour cream, and vanilla and mix until combined.Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Gently fold in the walnuts.Pour batter into prepared bundt pan and bake for 40 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. 

Cool cake in the pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

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Strawberry Bread

I know Iam not blogging regularly.This is because my kid's summer vacation has started and we had been to my BIL's place for vacation.

This time we had great fun camping at a state park.The kids really enjoyed a lot.It was a nice experience for them being without TV,video games for 2 days.

I had made this strawberry bread more than a month ago.It was lying in my draft.Strawberries are aplenty in stores now.So I never miss to grab a box of these antioxidant-rich fruit during errands.

Recipe courtesy :Allrecipes.com

I halved the recipe to make 1 loaf and made some changes according to reviews.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour -1 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Sugar - 1 cup-- can be reduced to 3/4 th of a cup

Salt - a pinch

Cinnamon Powder - 1 1/2  tsp --I reduced it to 1/2 tsp

Strawberries - 1 cup chopped-- I added another cup to make it 2 cups.

Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup

Eggs - 2 beaten

Pecan - 1/2 cup chopped optional--I didnt add.

Method :

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter and flour a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
 
Slice strawberries, and place in medium-sized bowl. Sprinkle lightly with sugar, and set aside while preparing bread mixture.

Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda in large bowl: mix well. Blend oil and eggs into strawberries. Add strawberry mixture to flour mixture, blending until dry ingredients are just moistened. Stir in pecans.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until tester inserted comes out clean. Let cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn loaf out  and cool completely.

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Starbucks Banana Walnut Bread

 

If you love pastries from Starbucks,you would definitely love this.The other day I was searching for recipe of banana bread and I found this recipe in this blog .I never knew Starbucks actually hands out recipe cards to their customers.This recipe of Starbucks is surely a keeper.

It turned out very moist,soft and tasty.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2 cups

Baking soda - 1tsp

Salt-1/4 tsp

Sugar -1 cup.But i added only 3/4 cup and still it was sweet enough

Vegetable oil -1/2 cup

Vanilla extract - 1tsp

Buttermilk - 2 tbsp.I substituted sour cream

Banana -3 mashed

Walnuts -1/2 cup and 1/3 cup chopped

Method:

 Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. 

 

 Grease a 9x5x3 loaf pan and dust with flour.

 Blend together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

 Mix together the egg, sugar, and vegetable oil until combined.

 Add the flour mixture and when blended, add the sour cream, vanilla, and mashed bananas and mix until combined.

  Fold in ½ cup chopped walnuts and pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Top batter with remaining chopped walnuts.

  Bake for 45-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.



 Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack before removing from pan.

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Carrot and Pineapple Loaf

I usually bake  on Friday evenings or Saturday afternoons.Iam really into healthy baking these days.This loaf has no butter and is loaded with healthy carrots,walnuts and the pineapple gives a tropical touch.

Recipe source:Adapted from Blissful Baker ,Sugar Duchess originally from the book"The taste of home baking".I tweaked the recipe to make it even more healthier by substituting a part of all purpose flour with wheat flour.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 3/4 cup

Wheat flour - 3/4 cup

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Salt-1/4 tsp

Sugar-2/3 cup

Freshly ground cinnamon -1/4 tsp(1/2 tsp in the original recipe)

Freshly ground cardamom- 1/2 tsp not in the original recipe

Corn oil or vegetable oil -1/2 cup

Whole Egg - 1

Egg white- 1(i omitted this)

Grated carrot - 2 medium

Crushed pineapple - 3/4 of 8 oz can drained (After tasting a slice I felt that shoud have added the whole can)

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

toasted and chopped pecans - 1/2 cup(I substituted walnuts)

Method: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line  a 8×4 inch loaf pan with parchment paper,makes life lot more easier.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg . Add carrots, oil, pineapple, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.

4. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just combined. The batter will be very thick. Fold in walnuts.

5. Scrape batter into prepared loaf pan and bake in preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.Mine took almost 1 hour 10 minutes to bake.

Cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.

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Healthier Banana Bread

I had lots of bananas sitting on my counter top.I wanted to bake banana bread,but a healthier and guilt-free version.So when i was searching for a low fat banana bread recipe,I stumbled upon this recipe in about.com.It had no butter,and the amount of sugar used is almost half compared to other recipes and best of all whole wheat flour is substituted for half of all purpose flour.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

Baking soda - 3/4 tsp

Salt-a pinch

brown sugar-1/2 cup packed firmly

Corn/Canola oil - 1/4 cup

Vanilla essence -1 tsp

Buttermilk - 1/2 cup
(I made my own butter milk by mixing 1/2 cup of milk with 1 1/2 TBSP of lemon and allowed it to stand for 5 minutes.Then it can be used in the place of regular butter milk)

Bananas - 2 mashed

Egg - 1 at room temperature

Method: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8 1/2 inch x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in brown sugar.

In a medium bowl, combine oil, egg, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Add these ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir in mashed bananas.

Pour batter into the loaf pan and bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick placed in the center comes out clean.

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Carrot and Zucchini Muffins

This is a healthy breakfast muffin which contains loads of veggies and very less amount of fat.

Ive adapted this recipe from King Arthur's flour blog.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2 cups

Baking powder - 2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Vegetable oil - 1/4 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Cardamom powder - 1tsp(or you can use cinnamon powder)

Eggs - 2

Grated Zucchini - 1 cup

Grated Carrot - 1 cup

Chopped walnuts - 1/2 cup(optional)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 370deg F.

Line the muffin pan with liners.

In a bowl,mix the sugar,oil and eggs and beat well.Add the grated vegetables and cardamom powder.Then add the chopped walnuts.

In another bowl,mix the flour,salt,baking powder.Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold till incorporated.

Divide the mixture into the muffin liners.Bake for 17 to 20 minutes.Insert a toothpick into the muffin and if it comes out clean,remove from the oven.

Let it cool for about 10 minutes.

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Strawberry Shortcake Muffin

Ive been MIA for a while because my kid's summer vacation has started and I'm frequently hearing the "Iam SO bored, Ma"  dialogue.This summer is even more challenging, taking care of 2 kids.I barely log on to blogger.

I managed to squeeze some time to post this recipe.I love browsing the foodgawker website.Whenever Iam in need of a recipe, I browse this site as it has so many versions of the same recipe posted by many food bloggers.When I was searching for strawberry muffin recipe this one grabbed my attention.The name itself was catchy.It tasted so good.

This recipe was posted by Jennifer of Seasons and supper.Thanks Jennifer!!

I tweaked the recipe a little bit.


Ingredients:


All purpose Flour - 2 cups

Baking powder - 2 tsp

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Brown sugar - 1/4 cup

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Butter - 1/2 cup cold and cut into cubes

Egg - 1

Whole milk - 1 cup

Strawberries - 10 cut into small pieces.

Vanilla - 1tsp

Method :


Preheat the oven to 350 deg F.Line the muffin pan with liners.

Grease or line12 muffin cups with paper liners.

In large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder,salt and sugar. Cut in cold butter with a pastry blender (or two knives) until it is in small pea-size pieces.

In small bowl mix the egg, vanilla and milk. Add all at once to flour mixture. Stir with spoon until just blended. Gently mix in the diced strawberries.

Spoon into muffin cups, making sure each muffin has some strawberries and bake for about 25 minutes. Cool completely in pan before removing.

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Eggless Banana Yoghurt Muffins

Recipe Courtesy : Recipezaar

I tweaked the recipe according to my taste.I omitted the egg and added a quarter cup of applesauce instead.I used butter instead of oil.I added extra sugar to satisfy my sweet tooth.I didn't add the cinnamon powder.

Ingredients :

All purpose flour -  2 cups

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Baking Powder - 1 Tbsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Vanilla Yogurt - 8 oz(1 cup)

Applesauce - 1/4 cup

Bananas - 2 mashed

Melted Butter - 1/4 cup

Non fat milk - 2 Tbsp

Method :

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and  mix In another bowl, combine yogurt, applesauce, milk, and melted butter

Add contents of wet mixture to dry ingredients and mix- do not over mix.

Stir in bananas (you can also add chopped nuts or other fruits if you want) Place batter in muffin tins.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

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Very Vanilla Muffins

What would you do if you bought a tub of Vanilla Yogurt by mistake and you don't like flavoured yogurt at all??Bake Vanilla muffins!!I found this recipe in Recipezaar.

This recipe has vanilla yogurt and vanilla essence as the main ingredient.The aroma of the vanilla  filled the  whole house while baking...It was spongy,light and smelled divine..I added extra sugar to the muffins and sprinkled little bit of sugar on top of each muffin.It gave a lovely brown colour to the muffin tops.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 3/4 cup

Sugar - 1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp for sprinkling on top.

Melted Butter - 1/2 cup

Egg - 1 beaten

Vanilla flavored yogurt - 1 cup(can also use plain yogurt and increase the amount of vanilla essence)

Vanilla essence - 1 Tbsp

Baking Powder - 2 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda-1/4  tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Method:

Preheat oven to 400º. Line 12 muffin pan cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, 1/3 cup of the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a medium bowl, stir together egg, yogurt and vanilla, pour over dry ingredients. Add melted butter and stir just to blend (do not over mix). Quickly spoon batter into paper liners, filling each muffin cup to the top. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tbsp of sugar.

Bake muffins about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins to wire rack and let cool 10-15 minutes before serving.

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Oatmeal ,Banana,walnut and raisin Muffins

I have not tried baking anything with oats before.I rarely eat oatmeal for breakfast cuz I don't like the pasty texture until I bought the coach's oats.Unlike other oats this doesn't get pasty but retains the chewy texture and can be cooked in 5 minutes.Since they are steel cut,I cooked them before using them in muffins because I want them to be soft and not teeth breaking.

These muffins were perfect for breakfast.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup

Coach's Oats - 1 cup (boiled in 1 cup of milk for 4 minutes and cooled completely)

Brown sugar - 1/2 cup

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Bananas - 3 mashed

Egg - 1 beaten

Melted Butter - 1/2 c

Walnuts - 1/2 c chopped

Raisin - 1/4 cup

Method :

Preheat the oven to 350 def F.Line the muffin pan with liners.

Sift together,all purpose flour,baking soda,baking powder and salt.In another bowl add the beaten egg,melted butter,cooked oats and brown sugar and mix well.

Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix till they are incorporated.Add the chopped walnuts and raisins.

Fill in the paper liners up to 3/4 Th of the liners.

Bake for about 24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.

Allow  to cool for 5 minutes in the rack.

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Rise and Shine Muffins/Mocha chocolate chip muffins

Coffee + Chocolate,always a winning combination.These muffins surely will surely recharge you  in the morning.This is one of my favorite breakfast muffins.
It was perfect with a cup of coffee.
Ive used Medaglia D'Oro Instant Espresso coffee/powder .

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1/4  teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons instant coffee dissolved in 2 TB boiling water

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 large egg

1 3/4 cups  all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2  teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk

Method:

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Grease /line a muffin pan with liners.

2. In large bowl, beat on medium speed: butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla, dissolved coffee powder,  until blended.

3. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with milk, beating just until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

4. Divide batter among muffin-pan cups. Bake 25-30 minutes or until centers spring back when lightly pressed.Serve warm with a hot cup of coffee

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Rava/Sooji Khichadi/Semolina Khichadi

Rava/Sooji Kichadi is my favorite for dinner or even breakfast..I remember the first time I tried making this when I was about 14 or 15..It came out as a lumpy mass :) though it tasted good.

I definitely do believe that getting the right texture of Rava Upma/Khichadi is indeed an art!!Perfection comes only out of Practice.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Sooji/Rava - 1 cup

Ghee - 1 Tbsp

Oil - 4tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Split Urad dal  - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

A cup of mixed vegetables like carrot,beans,peas,potato finely chopped

Onion - 1 big

Tomato - 1

A sprig of curry leaves

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Water - 2  1/2 cups

To be ground into  a paste:

Garlic cloves - 2

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp

Cloves - 2

Cinnamon - 2 inch piece

Green chillies - 3

Method:

Heat the ghee in a kadai.Roast the sooji until it becomes slightly brown in color.Keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan.Add the mustard seeds.When they splutter add the urad dal.when the dal becomes brown add the finely chopped onion and the curry leaves.When they become translucent,add the ground paste and fry till the raw smell goes off.Add all the veggies one by one and then the tomato.When the vegetables are almost cooked,add the roasted sooji,turmeric powder and required amount of salt.

Meanwhile in another pan heat 2 1/2 cups of water and switch it off when it starts boiling.Keep the boiling water ready.

Pour the boiling water into the sooji and vegetable mixture and stir briskly so that no lumps are formed.Simmer and cover with  a lid.Switch off the stove when the sooji is cooked and garnish with coriander leaves.

Drizzle a little bit of ghee on the top.

Serve hot.

This is my entry to shama's FIRST COOKED FOOD EVENT --AUG'09

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Rava Pongal with Thakkali Kuzhambu/Sooji Pongal with Tomato Gravy

I like this Rava Pongal better than the usual Pongal.This is made up of Rava/Sooji with Moongdal.Instead of the usual Gothsu combination for Pongal,I tried Tomato kozhambu..The combo was very tasty..Both the dishes are very easy to make.

Recipe Courtesy - Chitvish of Indusladies

Ingredients for Rava Pongal:

Rava/Sooji - 1 cup

Split Moong Dal/Payatham Paruppu-1/2 cup

Jeera/Cumin Seeds - 1tsp

Pepper corns - 1tsp

Coarsely grind the pepper and jeera.

Ghee -2tbsp

Ginger grated - 2 tsp

A sprig of curry leaves

Method:

Dry roast the moongdhal till a nice aroma comes.Soak in boiling water for 30 minutes.

Pressure cook the Dal in 3 cups of water for about 4 whistles.The Dal must be slightly mushy.Drain a cup of water from the cooked moongdhal.Add another cup of water to it.So altogether we have 2 cups of water.

Boil water in a pan.Simultaneously in a pressure pan heat 2 tbsp of ghee.Add the grated ginger,coarsely ground pepper and jeera,curry leaves and then the rava..Roast the rava till it becomes slightly brown.Add the hot water to it and required amount of  salt and the cooked moongdhal and stir briskly so that no lumps are formed.Close the lid of the pressure pan and simmer for about 8 minutes.Turn down the heat.

Open and top with a little bit of ghee.

Ingredients for Tomato Kuzhambu:

Onions - 2

Tomatoes - 3

Tamarind - size of a small marble

Green chillies - 3

Sambar powder - 2tsp

Mustard seeds -1 tsp

Coconut paste - 3 tsp or 1/2 can of coconut milk

A sprig of curry leaves.

Chopped coriander leaves

Salt to taste

Method:

Soak the tamarind in water and extract about a cup.

In boiling water  drop the tomatoes and after  5 minutes immerse in cold water.Remove the skin and crush them roughly.

In a pan heat 2tbsp of oil.Add the mustard seeds.When they splutter add the curry leaves,finely chopped onions.When the onions are slightly brown add the chopped green chillies.

Add the tomatoes and fry till the raw smell goes off.Now add the tamarind extract and sambar powder.Add required amount of salt.

When its starts boiling ,simmer and then add the coconut paste(or coconut milk) and allow them to boil for about 5 minutes.

Turn off the heat and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Rava Pongal.

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Banana Walnut Bread

I like banana bread.I usually buy bananas and wait for them to brown so that i could make bread or muffins.

They are very easy to make and this recipe doesn't need even a mixer.



Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cup

Sugar- 3/4 cup(or 1 cup if u want it to be sweeter)

Ripe bananas - 3 mashed

vanilla essence - 1 tsp

baking soda - 1/2 tsp

melted butter - 1/3 cup

egg - 1 beaten

walnuts - 1/2 cup

a pinch of salt

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.Prepare the loaf pan(4*8 inch)by buttering all sides and dusting them with flour.

In a baking sheet place the walnuts and put it in the oven for 5 minutes.

Take out the toasted walnuts,chop them and keep them aside.

In a mixing bowl add the mashed bananas,melted butter and sugar.Mix them well.

Then add vanilla essence,a pinch of salt and the beaten egg.These are wet ingredients.

Sift the allpurpose flour with the baking soda and add them to the wet ingredients.

Just mix enough so that the all purpose flour gets incorporated well with the banana mixture.Don't overmix.

Bake it in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes.Insert a skewer in the middle of the banana bread.If it comes out clean then the bread is done.

Cool it on the rack and cut them into slices.
This is my entry to Divya's Show me your Breakfast! Event

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