Baking with Merry

Aparna chose the Black Forest Buns for the February month's We Knead to Bake #25, as a Valentine's day special. Whereas, the Black Forest cake is made with chocolate cake, cherry compote and kirsch and lots of cream; these Black Forest Buns are filled with chocolate sponge cake and cherry compote or jam. These buns were new to me, since I haven't heard of them nor seen it sold in any bakeries.... And so was eager to bake and taste them and viola! it tasted yummy... It's a perfect snack for kids, you could use their favorite jam instead of the cherry compote.  Now, on to Aparna's recipe: Black Forest Buns Ingredients: For the Dough: 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup milk 50 gm butter 1/4 cup sugar 1 egg (at room temperature, optional) 3/4 tsp salt 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast 3 to 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour For the Filling: 3/4 cup cherry/ strawberry jam or compote 2 1/2 to 3 cups crumbled...

We Knead To Bake!  is a bread baking group on FB, hosted by  Aparna Balasubramanian  of My Diverse Kitchen . Though I had joined this group couple of months back, I haven't baked anything to date except for pizzas. Now, baking bread is not a child's play. So, I waited until I get to bake something easy. And this month's recipe proved to be the right one to bake for an amateur like me!! Julekake (or Julekaka/ Julekaga) is a rich holiday bread flavoured with cardamom which is traditionally served at Christmas in many Scandinavian countries. It is particularly popular in Norway and Denmark. Incidentally, Julekake means “Yule Bread” in Norwegian.  This bread is more cake-like in texture and sometimes it is dusted with powdered sugar or glazed with a white sugar icing. If it is not glazed or left plain, then it is usually served warm at breakfast with butter or a goat milk cheese called geitost/ brunost.  In Norway, Julekake traditionally only a...

When Subhashini of Fondbites baked the Chicken Wreath for this week's Bake Along Challenge #52 , I seriously couldn't wait to try it out....But as it is Advent, which means abstinence from non-vegs, I gave it a try with paneer.....And now, can't wait for Christmas to try it out with chicken *winks*...... So, here it is my second special recipe for this month!!! I have tweaked the original recipe according to our taste buds.....Next week, is a big week for me!!Keeping my fingers crossed for it *smile*..... Ingredients: For the Wreath: All-purpose flour – 300 gms Instant dry yeast – 1 tablespoon Salt – 1 1/2 teaspoons Granulated white sugar – 2 tablespoons Olive oil – 2 tablespoons plus extra for basting Water – 180 ml Egg – 1, for egg wash For the Filling: Paneer – 250 gms, crumbled Onion – 1 large size, chopped Tomatoes – 2, processed into puree Ginger-Garlic paste – 1 tsp Green capsicum – 1, chopped Red capsicum - 1, chopped Frozen...

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...

Well, I am not crazy about doughnuts, but I do munch on them, given a chance. Usually, doughnuts are deep-fried, which makes them calorie laden. And so when I decided to make doughnuts, I decided to bake it. As usual, Google helped me in my search for baked doughnuts. Heidi of 101 cookbooks had baked doughnuts and followed her recipe to the core. As I said before , breads have never disappointed me. This time too it was no difference. Ingredients: Recipe Source: 101 Cookbooks For Dough Warm milk - 1 1/3 cups (divided) Yeast - 2 1/4 tsps Butter - 2 tbsps Sugar - 2/3 cup Eggs - 2 All purpose flour - 5 cups Nutmeg, grated - a pinch Salt - 1 tsp For decoration Butter, melted - 1/2 cup Sugar - 1 1/2 cups Cinnamon - 1 tbsp (optional) Method: Place 1/3 cup of warm milk in a big bowl. Stir in the yeast and set aside for 5 mins or so for the yeast to bloom. Stir melted butter and sugar and the remaining cup of warm milk in a bowl. Add this to...

Unlike cakes, breads have never disappointed me. So, this year, as a part of my NY Resolution, I have decided to concentrate more on baking with yeast. So to start off, I baked this brioche bread and it turned out quite well. Now, you can find different variations of brioche if you google for it. I choose to bake the one which had come in the latest issue of Vanitha Pachakam.   Ingredients: Recipe Source: Vanitha Pachakam (Issue:Dec 2012-Mar 2013) 1. All purpose flour - 500 gm     Sugar - 90 gm     Salt - 10 gm     Dry Yeast - 10 gm     Butter - 125 gm     Eggs - 2     Milk - 100 ml 2. Cardamom/Nutmeg powder - 4 gm 3. Golden raisins - 5 gms   Method: Mix all the ingredients listed under #1 in a large bowl and knead the dough. Add the 2nd and 3rd ingredients to the above mixture and knead well to form a smooth dough. Place the do...