Category Archives: Sweets

Forget love– I’d rather fall in chocolate:).

I had to rework on my site as I changed my Domain.Thanks to P and R who helped me with it. I was hoping this to work before DBC and thank god,its just up in time.This month, it’s a Gluten free challenge,a dessert of Canadian origin – a type of no bake Chocolate square. Sweet Rice flour and Sorghum flour were the two new entries to my pantry.The challenge had two parts – Making Graham Crackers and then using it to make the Nanaimo bars.I have always used store brought Graham Crackers and making them from scratch was quite a task.On the other hand the bars were pretty easy to work with. They consisted of a crumb based layer on the bottom,a total chocolaty top with a creamy vanilla custard in between.

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Preparation time:
• Graham Wafers: 30 to 45 minutes total active prep, 2 ½ hours to overnight and 45 minutes inactive prep.
• Nanaimo Bars: 30 minutes.

NANAIMO BARS

GLUTEN FREE GRAHAM WAFERS

Ingredients

1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

Ingredients:
For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups Icing Sugar

For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
Directions:

1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

Verdict: When it comes to chocolate,nothing else seems to matter.Its sinful!!!!!
The chocolate over powers any other flavor in this bar.I think the custard was a little less and I cudnt get good thick middle layer.However it is,just one small square of this bar can satisfy ones chocolate cravings!

The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate – Oprah Winfrey.

In childhood we longed to grow up but now we want to be kids.Looking back at good old days, birthday’s wasn’t jes about the gifts…. it was more about celebrating it with my loved ones and yes how can I forget the yummilicious food that Mom made all the time.She used to give me a box full of chocolates to be distributed at school and neighbourhood.No uniform day-that used to be the best thing.Oh, I just wonder where those wonder years melted away?

Regardless of however it is now,Birthdays are special. And it was a special time for me too,as it was P’s birthday.I baked the cake as per his liking.He prefers plain simple cakes to anything chocolaty.So I ended up with a Vanilla Cake with Pineapple Cream filling and whipped cream frosting.I haven’t seen him like any frosting other than Whipped cream, so it was cream all over the cake.Since it had to be a special cake I made a 10 inched three layered heart shaped cake and decorated it with Basket weave technique which I learnt while doing my Wilton course.This is one of my fav techniques and works best with buttercream frosting.I knew it was gona be challenging working with whipped cream coz of the texture,however it came out surprisingly well and was appreciated by everyone.I tripled the quantity of the mentioned recipe.

Recipe Source – Serena Bass’s Book (only for the cake)

Prep Time – 25mins

Baking time – 40min

VANILLA CAKE WITH PINEAPPLE CREAM FILLING & WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING
Ingredients:

A cup Sugar
Two tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
Three Large eggs
a Cup Heavy cream
1 1/2 cup Cake Flour
1 1/2tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 C Granulated Sugar for dusting at the top(I skipped this one as my cake was well frosted)

Method: Preheat Oven at 350F.Grease a 10 inch cake pan.Beat Vanilla Extract,Egg and Sugar until its pale and thick.Separately beat cream in a bowl until soft peaks form.Turn this onto the egg mixture.Sift Flour,Baking Powder and salt,fold these together in the batter.Scrape the batter to the prepared pan ,sprinkle sugar on top and bake for 40mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.Once done,cool the cake on rack.

For the filling & frosting:

Ingredients:

Whipped cream – 1 1/2 pint
Crushed Pineapple – 4oz
Vanilla Extract – a drop
Powdered Sugar – 5tbsp
Method: Beat the cream along with the extract until soft peaks form.Just take 1 cup of this mixture and mix in the crushed pineapple,this would be used as filling .To the remaining cream add in the sugar and beat again till you end up with peaks(when u run it thru a spatula the peaks shud stand,thats the ideal consistency).

Assemble the cake: Cut the cake into two halves(using a cake leveler is the best way to do it,if not you can also use a serrated knife).Spread the filling generously on top of one of the halves.Place the second half on top of it and frost the cake using the cream.If you are good at decorating the cake,you may use your pastry bags and nozzles to do the same.Adding food colors to the cream is also an option.

A closer look at the Basket weave technique

Verdict: It was a well crafted cake,which tasted as good as it looked. Perhaps my best attempt in frosting so far. Instead of using any techniques jes a simple layer of frosting wud be great too.

This is off too Mahimaa’s Contribute your Cakes and Cookies event.

When I logged in to check about November’s challenge the first thing I read was “no baking”,this was disappointing.After going thru the post,I wasn’t sure if I would be able to participate coz Cannoli is something that I have neither seen nor heard about.While shopping for some Baking stuffs in Sur La Table I came across these tubes and I was completely thrilled.I think this was the first time I made the challenge well in advance…..am thoroughly impressed.I still have these cute li’l tubes already made,it comes very handy when I have unexpected guests.

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Lidisano’s Cannoli
Makes 22-24 4-inch cannoli
Prep time:
Dough – 2 hours and 10-20 minutes, including resting time, and depending on whether you do it by hand or machine.
Filling -  5-10 minutes plus chilling time (about 2 hours or more)
Frying – 1-2 minutes per cannoli
Assemble – 20 – 30 minutes

CANNOLI

Cannoli Shells

2 cups (250 grams/8.82 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying ? about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
1/2 cup (approx. 62 grams/2 ounces) toasted, chopped pistachio nuts, mini chocolate chips/grated chocolate and/or candied or plain zests, fruits etc.. for garnish
Confectioners’ sugar

Note – If you want a chocolate cannoli dough, substitute a few tablespoons of the flour (about 25%) with a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder (Dutch process) and a little more wine until you have a workable dough (Thanks to Audax).

CANNOLI FILLING
2 lbs (approx. 3.5 cups/approx. 1 kg/32 ounces) ricotta cheese, drained
1 2/3 cups cup (160 grams/6 ounces) confectioner’s sugar, (more or less, depending on how sweet you want it), sifted
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon (4 grams/0.15 ounces) pure vanilla extract or the beans from one vanilla bean
3 tablespoons (approx. 28 grams/approx. 1 ounce) finely chopped good quality chocolate of your choice
2 tablespoons (12 grams/0.42 ounces) of finely chopped, candied orange peel, or the grated zest of one small to medium orange
3 tablespoons (23 grams/0.81 ounce) toasted, finely chopped pistachios

Note – If you want chocolate ricotta filling, add a few tablespoons of dark, unsweetened cocoa powder to the above recipe, and thin it out with a few drops of warm water if too thick to pipe.

DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:
1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

2 Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8″ thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch ? small/medium; 4-inch ? medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it?s shrunk a little.

3 Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.

4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer’s directions. Heat the oil to 375?F (190 ?C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

6. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels. Place shells on cooling rack until ready to fill.

7. Repeat making and frying the shells with the remaining dough. If you are reusing the cannoli tubes, let them cool before wrapping them in the dough.

Cannoli shell preparation, cutting out the dough circles, sealing the dough around the form, frying the shells, finished shells ready to fill

Pasta Machine method:
1. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Starting at the middle setting, run one of the pieces of dough through the rollers of a pasta machine. Lightly dust the dough with flour as needed to keep it from sticking. Pass the dough through the machine repeatedly, until you reach the highest or second highest setting. The dough should be about 4 inches wide and thin enough to see your hand through

2. Continue rolling out the remaining dough. If you do not have enough cannoli tubes for all of the dough, lay the pieces of dough on sheets of plastic wrap and keep them covered until you are ready to use them.

3.Roll, cut out and fry the cannoli shells as according to the directions above.

For stacked cannoli:
1. Heat 2-inches of oil in a saucepan or deep saute  pan, to 350-375?F (176 – 190 ?C).

2. Cut out desired shapes with cutters or a sharp knife. Deep fry until golden brown and blistered on each side, about 1 – 2 minutes. Remove from oil with wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, then place on paper towels or bags until dry and grease free. If they balloon up in the hot oil, dock them lightly prior to frying. Place on cooling rack until ready to stack with filling.

DIRECTIONS FOR FILLING:
1. Line a strainer with cheesecloth. Place the ricotta in the strainer over a bowl, and cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Weight it down with a heavy can, and let the ricotta drain in the refrigerator for several hours to overnight.

2. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat ricotta until smooth and creamy. Beat in confectioner’s sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and blend until smooth. Transfer to another bowl and stir in chocolate, zest and nuts. Chill until firm.(The filling can be made up to 24 hours prior to filling the shells. Just cover and keep refrigerated).

ASSEMBLE THE CANNOLI:
1. When ready to serve..fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain or star tip, or a ziplock bag, with the ricotta cream. If using a ziplock bag, cut about 1/2 inch off one corner. Insert the tip in the cannoli shell and squeeze gently until the shell is half filled. Turn the shell and fill the other side. You can also use a teaspoon to do this, although it?s messier and will take longer.

2. Press or dip cannoli in chopped pistachios, grated chocolate/mini chocolate chips, candied fruit or zest into the cream at each end. Dust with confectioner?s sugar and/or drizzles of melted chocolate if desired.

Verdict: As I mentioned earlier,this a super duper recipe…am gona keep making them:)

We are so used to the ready made Gulab Jamun mix,the thought about making this from scratch never occurred to me.Thanks Srivalli for this one…this was indeed a wonderful challenge and i enjoyed making them.I made them twice,played a li’l with the shapes.A must try sweet!!!!

Gulab(less) Jamun from The Yum Blog
Makes: around 25 jamuns

GULAB JAMUN
Ingredients

Khova – 11/2 cups/ 1 recipe
Maida – 1 cup
Sugar -3 cups (if you want excess syrup i.e floating jamuns increase by a cup)
Water – 1 cup (increase if you?re increasing sugar)
Cooking Soda – 3 pinches
Cardamom – 4 pods
Saffron leaves – a few
Oil – 1 cup (for deep frying)

Method:

1. Combine sugar and water in a flat bottomed broad pan and simmer on a low heat until sugar dissolves. Add cardamom powder and saffron leaves and remove from fire.
2. Knead khova, maida and soda and quickly shape into balls.
3. Heat oil on a medium flame. Fry the jamuns till golden brown over a low to medium flame, keeping oil temperature uniform. Oil should not smoke.
4. Drain the jamuns and soak in the warm sugar syrup.

Serve the jamuns after half an hour.

Verdict: They are delicious,very soft and easy to make.