>Besan Laddoo

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Although I love Indian sweets, I usually wait for a festive occasion to make them make at home- preparing sweets seems far too time-consuming and labor-intensive to do so otherwise.

These besan laddoos made in the microwave are an exception, though, and take less than 15 minutes to make, from start to finish. I first noticed the recipe on Tee’s blog, Bhaatukli, a few years back and I’ve been following her method ever since. Since this is such a fuss-free recipe, I make these laddoos every now and then without even waiting for a special occasion.

Please refer to Tee’s post for detailed instructions on making these laddoos.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup besan (chickpea flour)
• ¾ cup + 2 tsp sugar
• 8-10 Tbsp ghee
• ¼ tsp cardamom powder
• A handful of raisins

Method:
In a microwave-safe bowl, mix together the besan and ghee. Cook the mixture in the microwave for 6-8 minutes stirring and mixing every 45 seconds or so. As the besan roasts, it turns a darker shade of yellow and becomes fragrant.

When the besan is cooked and while the mixture is still hot, add the sugar, cardamom powder and a handful of raisins and mix well. Shape into small balls. Store in an airtight container.

>Poha

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This is a breakfast dish that comes together very quickly using simple pantry and kitchen staples.

Ingredients:

(For 3-4 servings)

• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• A pinch of asafoetida
• 4 green chillies, minced
• 4-5 curry leaves
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• A pinch of turmeric
• 2 potatoes, cubed
• 2 ½ cups thick poha (beaten rice)
• ½ cup coriander leaves
• 3 tsp sugar
• Juice of a lemon
• Salt to taste

Method:

Rinse the flattened rice flakes and drain off the excess water. Place in a bowl and pour over just enough boiling water to cover. Let it stand for 5-10 minutes. The rice flakes will absorb the water and swell. Make sure you’re using the thick variety of poha here- the thin kind will just fall apart. Fluff with a fork and set aside

Heat oil in a large pan and add the mustard seeds, asafoetida, chillies, curry leaves and turmeric followed by the onions. When the onions turn soft, add the potatoes and cover and cook till they’re done.

Stir in the rice flakes and mix. Cook for a couple of minutes and then add the chopped coriander leaves and sugar. Take the pan off the heat and add the lemon juice. Serve hot.

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>Pesto Palmiers

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Recently, we had a houseful of friends with us during the Thanksgiving weekend and I had an elaborate menu planned for the evening. I wanted to make something simple to serve as appetizers since I was simultaneously getting the main course ready. I always have puff pastry sheets in my freezer. They’re perfect to have on hand especially when you’re looking to feed a crowd with minimal effort. I used puff pastry to make 2 simple snacks- vegetable and cheese pinwheels and these savory pesto palmiers.

For the pinwheels, I got the filling ready ahead of time and kept it in the refrigerator till I was ready to make them.

For the palmiers, I just followed Ina Garten’s recipe. I had a small amount of store bought pesto and some sun-dried tomatoes in oil that needed to be used up so that’s what I used.

Pesto Palmiers

Ingredients:

1 sheet frozen puff pastry (from a 17.3-ounce package), thawed according to package instructions

Flour (for rolling out the puff pastry)

Pesto

Sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil

Pepper

A handful of coarsely chopped walnuts

Powdered Pecorino Romano

Method:

On a floured surface, roll the puff pastry sheet out to a rectangle and thin it out a bit.

Pulse together the sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, cheese, pepper and walnuts a couple of times to get a coarse paste.

Spread the paste as evenly as possible over the pastry sheet. Roll up the longer sides of the rectangle towards the center so they meet somewhere in the middle. Tightly wrap using plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm.

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Slice the chilled log into 1/2- inch slices and place onto a greased baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the palmiers are golden brown. Turn the palmiers over once halfway through baking process if required.

Serve hot. They taste best straight out of the oven.

>Homemade For The Holidays

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I decided to gift homemade treats this year for the holidays and spent a good part of the day yesterday making a few things.

I made different variations of chocolate bark, 2 kinds of truffles, fudge, peanut clusters and the easiest of them all- chocolate-dipped marshmallows.

* Truffles- I made a few flavored with orange zest and used toasted hazelnuts and cocoa powder as toppings. I’d made balsamic truffles earlier and they were really good.

I got lots of ideas for bark from this month’s issue of the Food Network Magazine. I made 3 kinds using different combinations of chocolate and toppings-

*Swirled Bark using white and dark chocolate melted separately, poured onto a baking sheet lined with foil, swirled together and then topped with toasted and coarsely chopped hazelnuts and dried apricot bits.

*Milk Chocolate Bark using milk chocolate as the base layer, a small amount of white chocolate, melted and spread on top of it, and finished off with a sprinkling of chopped up dried cranberries.

*White Chocolate Peppermint Bark- I added a tsp of mint extract to the melted white chocolate before spreading it. Then, I added crushed candy canes on top.

*Peppermint Pistachio Fudge using this Mango Power Girl recipe that is an adaptation of a Nigella Lawson recipe. I used my microwave to make the fudge. I melted 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter, 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate and 8 oz. bitter-sweet chocolate chips in the microwave and then stirred in a 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk and microwaved again for 2 minutes or so. Finally, I added ¾- 1 cup of coarsely chopped pistachios and a teaspoon of mint extract. I poured the thick fudge in my largest baking dish and cooled it for a bit before refrigerating. A few hours later, I took the fudge out of the refrigerator and cut it up into bite-sized portions.

*Chocolate-dipped marshmallows inspired by what I saw here- I used crushed candy canes, toasted hazelnuts, slivered almonds, chopped up dry mango pieces and shredded coconut as toppings.

* Peanut Clusters- I just melted some chocolate (any kind will do) and added some store- bought roasted peanuts to it. I spooned small amounts of the mixture into my mini muffin pan after lining each of the cups and kept it refrigerated for the mixture to set.

I put together a few gift bags for my neighbors. Each bag had a few pieces each of the various goodies I’d made. I used these festive take-out boxes for delivering my edible gifts.

Happy Holidays, all!

>Cranberry Ricotta Loaf

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I had a lot of cranberry sauce left over from Thanksgiving which I promptly froze till I figured out what to do with it. I pulled it out of the freezer recently when I had some leftover ricotta cheese. I decided to use both cheese and sauce in some kind of a cake. Loosely inspired by this recipe from Inside The Kaganoff Kitchen, I gathered my ingredients together and set about making the cake.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a loaf pan.

In a bowl mix together the following dry ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt

In another bowl, beat together these wet ingredients:

• 8 oz ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 4 Tbsp butter, softened
• 1 scant cup of sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Zest of a small lemon
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• A couple of splashes of milk (I did this to thin out the batter a bit)
• ½ – ¾ cup cranberry sauce (I do not have a recipe for this- this was just something my husband had made for Thanksgiving)

Combine the dry and wet ingredients (except the cranberry sauce) together. Mix well. The batter will be a relatively thick one.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. I had enough batter for a loaf pan and a small heart-shaped pan.

Place half of the batter in the loaf pan. Add a layer of cranberry sauce followed by the rest of the batter. Then add the remaining sauce in small blobs all over the surface of the batter and run a knife through it to create swirls on top.

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out relatively clean.

Cool, slice and serve.

Chocolate Banana Swirl Cake

This wonderful cake can be made with little effort. If you like bananas, this is a cake you’ll definitely love – it’s very banana-y. I didn’t bother frosting it but decided to create some swirls on the surface of the batter instead for a pretty finish. I baked this late one night and took it in to work the next day – it disappeared pretty quickly.

My cake was inspired by this recipe from Week Of Menus. I made a few changes to come up with a slightly healthier alternative.

Here’s what needs to be done:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9-inch cake pan.

In a bowl, mix together these dry ingredients-

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt

In another bowl, beat together:

• 5 Tbsp softened butter
• 2 oz melted semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed well
• ¾ cup yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp rum extract

Combine the dry and wet ingredients together. Mix well. The batter will be a relatively thick one.

Add 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter and mix again.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.

Melt 2 ounces of white chocolate. Drop small blobs of the melted chocolate all over the surface of the batter and run a toothpick through it to create beautiful swirls.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out relatively clean.

Cool, slice and serve.

Notes: I was a little disappointed that I could not taste the rum or vanilla flavors in the cake. I could not even taste the chocolate in the cake though I’d added almost 6 ounces of it in addition to the cocoa powder. The banana flavor had overpowered all of the other flavors in the cake. Next time, I’d like to try adding some coffee to the cake for a different taste.

I’m sending this over to Deeba for the Fruit in Baking edition of the Monthly Mingle event that she’s hosting.