Baking with Merry

Happy Diwali!!! Apart from my passion for baking, I love to make Indian sweets. Indian sweets are quite simple to prepare as they require minimum ingredients but you need to follow each step carefully to get the desired result. I found this recipe for Rava Kesari or simply Kesari on Spicy and Tasty blog. The recipe required very little ingredients and of course it was easy to prepare...*smiles*.....I prepared this 2 days in advance and by Diwali it was over!!! So here is my sweety Diwali treat for all my readers....Do try and enjoy!! *smiles* Ingredients: Recipe Source: Spicy and Tasty Blog Semolina/Rava - 1/2 cup Water/Milk - 1 cup Sugar - 1 cup Broken cashews - 1-2 tbsps Ghee - 2-3 tbsps Cardamom pod - 1/4 tsp Saffron - a pinch Food coloring - few drops (optional) Essence like vanilla, pineapple, rose etc - few drops (optional) Method: In a skillet heat the ghee. Roast the cashews until brown. Remove the cashews and set aside. In the same pan, roast the semolina for 2-3

This halwa recipe was an experiment which me and my mom had done....*smiles* Arrow root or kuva podi (in Malayalam) is good for small kids. My kids don't like the kurukku made out of arrow root. So, my mom decided to make a halwa out of it!!!  ( What an idea mummyji!) ....*smiles*  Ingredients: Arrow root powder - 2 1/2 cups Jaggery/Sharkara - 1/2 kg Coconut grated - 1/2 cup Cardamom - 2-3 nos Ghee - 2-3tbsps Water - accordingly Method: Mix the arrow root powder thoroughly in water so that no lumps are formed. Melt jaggery in a pan. Keep the above mixture on medium flame and stir. Then add the melted jaggery. Keep stirring the mixture till it turns to a gel form. Then add the grated coconut and stir well. Add crushed cardamoms and ghee to the mixture. Keep stirring the mixture till it leaves the sides of the pan. Serve hot or cold. Usually halwas taste good once it cools down. I would label this recipe as a "tricky recipe" like the carrot halwa, for fussy a

When it comes to eating carrots, most of the kids are quite hesistant....(The same is the case at my home too *smiles*). So, the only way to make my kids eat carrots is through this sweet dish. Ingredients: Recipe Source: http://www.indobase.com/ Carrots - 1 1/2 kg Condensed Milk - 200 gm Ghee - 2 tbsp Cardamom powder - 2 tsp Grated cashew nuts and almonds - handful Method: Wash and grate the carrots finely. Transfer the grated carrots to a pressure cooker. Cook for about 2 mins. Remove the lid of the cooker and allow the excess water to evaporate. Keep churning the carrots occassionally. Pour the condensed milk and ghee over the cooked carrots. Simmer till all are well blended. Remove from the flame. Sprinkle with grated cashewnuts, almonds and cardamom powder. Carrot Halwa is ready to serve. You can even add fried raisins along with the cashewnuts and almonds. Any Indian sweets,when served chilled tastes better.  

Ingredients: Semiya/Vermicilli - 1 cup Milk - 1 litre Sugar - 3/4 cup Salt - a pinch (optional) Cashew Nuts - 10 nos Raisins - a few Cardamom - 5 nos (crushed) Ghee - 2tbsp Method: Fry the cashew nuts and raisins in the ghee and keep it aside. Fry vermicilli in ghee till it turns golden brown. Keep it aside. Boil milk. Add the fried vermicilli to the milk and cook on low flame for 7-10mins. Add sugar, salt and the crushed cardamom and boil. Sprinkle fried cashew nuts and raisins. Serve hot or chilled. I prefer serving it chilled as it tastes more sweeter.....*smiles*  

Ever since I saw this cake recipe on Divya's Easycooking blog, I badly wanted to try it out. Finally, last weekend I baked it!!! It was too delicious; the coffee taste of the cake, the buttercream icing, everything was just mind-blowing!!The taste still lingers on my tongue...*smiles* Once a cake is baked, I'm never patient enough to wait for it to cool down. That is the reason you could see my icing flowing down...*smiles*...But no worries; just put it in the fridge for some time and it would set.... Coffee Cake Recipe Source: Divya's Easycooking Ingredients: Flour/Maida - 1 cup Baking powder - 1 tsp Brown Sugar/ White Sugar - 3/4 cup Butter, softened - 3/4 cup Instant coffee powder - 3 tbsp (acc to one's taste) Boiling water - 1 tbsp Eggs - 2 Vanilla Essence - 2 tsp Milk - 1/4 cup Method: Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and line a round cake tin. Sift together maida and baking powder twice and keep aside. Mix together coffee powder and boiling wa

I prepared this cake to celebrate my son's first term holidays!!!I did'nt want to bake a chocolate cake, but at the same time my kids should love it too....I baked this Butter Cake and to make it appealing to the kids I decorated it with some ready-made chocolate icing and gems. I had a tin of Pillsbury Chocolate Icing and some Cadbury Gemsin my shelf. So, used both to attract my kids and they loved it!!! Butter Cake Recipe Source: Divya's Easy Cooking Ingredients: Maida - 2 cups Baking powder - 2 tsp Salt - 1/4 tsp Butter - 1/2 cup Sugar - 1/2 cup Eggs - 3 Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp Milk - 1 cup Method: Sift together maida, baking powder and salt thrice. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in the eggs one by one and beat well. Mix in vanilla essence and beat well. Add flour in batches alternating with milk. Mix well till you get a smooth batter. Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease cake tin with some butter and dust flour. Pour the batter into the