Baking with Merry

Back from my 2 months hibernation with a delicious Chocolate Banana Cake/ Banana Chocolate Cake, whichever way you like it to be called... *smiles*.... We had this cake from a hotel that we had stayed during our holidays and we, especially the kids loved it!!! Though not the exact replica of the original cake we had, this one did have some similarities somewhere. Ingredients: Recipe Source: Nigella Chocolate - 75 gms Butter, softened - 110 gms Brown Sugar/Caster Sugar - 125 gms Eggs - 2 Self-raising flour - 125 gms Baking powder - 1tsp Cocoa - 1 tbsp Bananas -4 small, peeled and mashed Method: Preheat oven to 180 C. Line a loaf tin with parchment paper. Melt the chocolate on low in a microwave oven. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in eggs one by one, beating all the time. Add the sieved flour, baking powder and cocoa, followed by the melted chocolate and mashed bananas. Stir together. Pour into the prepared loaf tin and bake i...

A rich and filling milkshake, which can be enjoyed once in a while. To make it more nutritious, I added a teaspoon of flax seed. And if you want to indulge, then add a scoop of vanilla ice-cream or cream. Ingredients: Recipe Source: My own Milk, chilled - 1 1/2 cups Peanut butter - 1 -2 tbsp Banana - 1 Sugar - 1 tbsp Flax seed - 1 tsp Method: Blend all the ingredients in a blender until smooth. Serve the milkshake either chilled or with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream or a dollop of cream. Notes: Though flax seeds have a sharp taste, adding them makes it more nutritious. So, this is completely optional depending on your taste buds.  

Milkshakes have proven to be the best hunger supressing food in my home. They are always ready by the time my son comes home from school. Lately, I have been trying out various combinations and most of them are quite fruitful!! One such is this Choco-Banana Milkshake.  Ingredients: Source: My very own Banana, large variety - 1 Bournvita - 1 tbsp Sugar - 1 tbsp Chocolate sauce - 1 tbsp Milk, chilled - 1 cup Method: Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and frothy. Transfer to a serving glass and serve with love *winks*.  

Finally, one of my bookmarked recipe sees the limelight. I had jotted this recipe from Swapna's Cuisine few months back, but had completely forgot about it. Few days back, I had a few over-ripened bananas (a usual thing in my home)  and when I was wondering as to what to do with those, I remembered about this recipe. When I checked out the ingredients in the recipe, I found I had everything, and viola the Chocolate Banana Bread got baked..... Ingredients: Recipe Source: Swapna's Cuisine All purpose flour - 230 gm Cocoa powder - 30 gm Granulated white sugar - 200 gm Baking powder - 1 tsp Baking soda - 1/4 tsp Salt - 1/4 tsp Chocolate chips - 1 cup  Egg - 1 Yoghurt - 2 tbsp Unsalted butter - 1/4 cup Bananas - 3 ripe Vanilla essence - 1 tsp Method: Preheat oven to 180 C. Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a loaf tin. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powde...

Ever since the summers have begun, milkshakes, smoothies and fresh juices have become a part of our diet.   I make them with whatever ingredients I have at home. These days I also have a bottle of chilled milk and a few cups of yogurt ready in the fridge. The other day I had few ripened bananas and dates, so decided to combine those with the chilled milk and there I got yet another milkshake *winks*........ Ingredients: Recipe Source: My Own Banana - 4, small Dates - 5-6, seed removed Milk- 2 cups, chilled Method: Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until all the ingredients are blended well. Transfer to a glass and serve immediately. Notes: You could the milkshake with a few ice-cubes. You could add sugar or honey accordingly.   

I wanted to bake a banana cake badly the other day, and so searched for one and found out this recipe from Nigella’s site.....What I liked about the recipe was it used rum instead of milk and essence....And I love cakes made of liquor; be it brandy or rum or even wine.....Well, stories apart.....On to the recipe....I have made few alterations to the original recipe......     Ingredients: Recipe Adapted from: Nigella Lawson   Butter - 100gm Castor sugar - 175 gm Salt- 1/4 tsp Eggs - 2 (at room temp) Lemon zest -1 (grated) Rum - 3-4 tbsp Ripe bananas - 3 (mashed) Lemon juice - 1 tbsp Flour - 250 gm Baking powder - 2 tsp   Method: Sift flour and baking powder together and keep aside. Butter a baking tin and it line with a parchment paper. Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the eggs and beat until the mixture become light and fluffy. Add the grated lemon zest and rum. Next, add the mashed banan...

I had few over-ripened bananas left in my fruit bowl and so I was searching for ways to put them into use. I was browsing through few blogs for a banana cake recipe, when I came across this banana muffins recipe on Sharmis Passions .....I haven't baked a muffin to date, so when I saw this extremely easy recipe, I decided to bake it.....This was my first try with muffins and I totally loved baking it...More 'cos it involved less fuss (unlike cakes!) and the entire procedure was quite simple too....And, believe me it was tasty (reminded me of Bonda which we get in Kerala) ....yum!! Ingredients: Recipe Source: Sharmi's Passions Flour - 3/4 cup Banana - 2 big sized Oil/Butter - 1/4 cup Granulated sugar - 1/4 cup + 2 tbsps Baking powder - 1/2 tsp Baking soda - 1/2 tsp Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp Walnuts/Almonds/Raisins - 2 tbsps, finely chopped Method: Sieve flour, baking powder and baking soda at least twice and keep aside. Peel the skin of the b...

For a change, this time I haven't referred any blogs or books; rather this is my own recipe....*smile*....A recipe, which I am soo used to since my chidhood....my mom and even my aunty used the same method for preparing it. I wonder if there is any other method for preparing a fruit salad!!! Ingredients: Recipe Source: My Own Milk - 500ml Sugar - 2 tbsps Custard Powder - 1tbsp Fruits - your choice (I used apple, banana, pomegranate, pineapple and grapes) Method: Prepare custard as per the instructions on the box of the custard powder. Peel and cut all the fruits (except banana and apple) into small pieces and chill for an hour. Once the custard is cool, line a bowl with the chilled fruits and pour the custard over it. Chill before serving the salad. Enjoi!!! If you guys know any other method for preparing a fruit salad, kindly share..... Now, who wouldn't love a fruit salad for dessert after lunch/dinner???  

I was browsing through my bookmarked cooking blogs, when I saw this particular dessert known as Banoffee Pie in Swapna's Cuisine. Frankly, I haven't heard about it earlier, but it looked quite interesting....Moreover, it required very little ingredients and there was no baking involved!!! I googled to know more about the dessert. According to Wikipedia, "Banoffee Pie is an English pastry-based dessert made from bananas, cream, toffee from boiled condensed milk (or dulce de leche), either on a pastry base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter." The images of this dessert on many blogs/sites were quite tempting and a treat to the eyes, which is why I decided to make it. The below method is what I followed when making the Banoffee Pie. Ingredients: Recipe Adapted from: Swapna's Cuisine Condensed Milk - 1 can (400 gms) Bananas - 3, large Whipped cream - 200ml Digestive/Marie biscuits - 200gms Butter - 100 gms Cocoa powder - to decorate Icing Sugar - 1 tbsp...