Baking with Merry

When it comes to eating fruits, I am very fussy!!! There are few fruits which I really don't like and would never ever taste no matter how healthy or nutritious they are!! One among such fruits, is the passion fruit..... The seeds of passion fruit are never appealing to my eyes and so I just don't like it..... Last week when JJ went to Kerala, he got some passion fruits from home and was wondering what to do with it as I didn't want to waste it too!!! I remember seeing few passion fruit recipes on Swapna's Cuisine .... And, I went ahead with the Passion Fruit Panna Cotta without giving a second thought as we are panna cotta lovers. Ingredients: Recipe Source: Swapna's Cuisine For the Passion Fruit Jelly Water - 2 tbsp Gelatin - 1 or 1/2 tbsp Passion fruit - 4 or 1/4 cup strained pulp Caster sugar - 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp Water - 1 1/4 cups For the Panna Cotta Water - 2 tbsps Gelatin powder - 2 tsp or 1 tsp Cream - 2 cups Icing sugar - 1/3 ...

Cream biscuits are never my stuff, then and now!! I never really liked them, though I still love plain biscuits!!! Some days, I really don't get time to make breakfast.... On such days, I would end up having biscuits for my breakfast, while the rest of the family members munch on breakfast cereals *winks*.... I prefer having my biscuits dipped in hot coffee or tea..... Same with cookies too.... Particularly, the butter cookies!! They are just irresistible!! But my kids love cream biscuits, especially the Oreo cookies, Bourbon, Dream Cream and so on..... So when I saw Fondbites Bake Along #34 recipe for Orange Cream Biscuits, I knew I had to try it out..... And more so as this was my first biscuit baking..... I was skeptical if the kids would enjoy the orange flavor but luckily there was no fuss! Ingredients: Recipe Source: Fondbites For the Cookies Unsalted butter - 115 gm Caster sugar - 115 gm Egg yolk - 1 Honey - 2 tsp Orange ze...

Now-a-days, the ads on TV influences kids a lot and they would just like that demand whatever they feel to have, right then! With my kids, it would be a biscuit, a noodle/pasta, a juice or even a pizza.... It was one such demand that led me to bake a pizza at home. The first time I baked, I used a Maida based base with lots of cheese, but my kids preferred less cheesy!! So, the second time I baked, I used wheat flour for the base to make it more healthy and of course less cheesy!! So here are the recipes for both.... However, the toppings for the pizzas are left to you....    Let's go for the healthy one first!!! Whole Wheat Pizza Base Ingredients: Recipe Source: Sharmis Passions Wheat Flour/Atta - 1 1/4 cups Yeast - 1 tsp Water - 1/4 cup and 1/4 cup Sugar - 1 tsp Salt - 1/2 tsp Olive oil - 1 1/2 tbsp Method: Preheat oven to 200 C. In 1/4 cup warm water, add yeast and keep it aside to bloom. In a mixing bowl, add the bloomed...

To keep myself motivated to bake, I joined a group on FB - Fondbites, Bake Along hosted by Subhashini Ramsingh, who is based in Chennai. She conducts professional baking and cake decorating classes in Chennai. Her classes are worth attending, though I haven't (but wish to in the future)..... Now, to start off, I decided to bake her Scottish Oatcake #19....... A very simple, healthy and less- caloric recipe, loved by adults, but not by the kids ;)...... A good in-between snack for weight watchers! Ingredients: Recipe Source: Fondbites, Bake Along Oatmeal - 1 1/2 cups Wheat flour - 6 tbsps Cornflour - 2 tbsps Brown sugar - 1 tbsp Salt- 1/4 tsp Baking powder - 1/4 tsp Olive Oil - 1 tbsp Hot water - 1/2 cup Method: Preheat oven to 200 C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside. Process the oats in a mixer on high for about a minute or so until it is powdered well. Add the powdered oatmeal, wheat flour, cornflour, sugar, salt an...

The Mango season is here and is about to finish.... And I wanted to make something with them before they disappear from the market..... Previously, I had made a verrine , a milkshake  and baked a  cake , but never a pudding.... So when I saw this pudding recipe on Sharmis Passions , I knew this was it!!! I used Banganapalli mangoes..... Ingredients: Recipe Source: Sharmis Passions Mangoes - 2 medium Mango - 1/4 cup chopped Sago - 1/3 cup Sugar - 3 tbsp Milk - 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup Condensed milk - 1/4 cup Method: Soak sago in water (till immesing level) for an hour. Rinse it to remove excess starch. Boil water and add sago to it. Cook sago till it is soft and transparent. Keep stirring otherwise it will stick to the bottom. Once cooked, drain the water and wash again in running water. Drain water completely and set aside. In a mixer, add mangoes , sugar and 1/4 cup milk and blend it to a smooth paste. In a bowl, ...

"As slow as a snail"----That describes me! Wonder why?? Well, this is my 100th post and it took me almost 3 years to reach my century !!! But then, "Slow and steady wins the race".....  right ?? Though there isn't any race to win here!! *winks*..... This blog was started to share my hobby- baking..... And here I am writing my 100th post!! Happy to write so many posts and thanks to all my readers for constantly visiting my blog, though I do miss your comments!! For the 100th post, I wanted to bake something special. Something plain yet delicious with less fuss and mess!! And for that, I decided to go through the books I have, for a change and in the process wipe the dust off too... . *winks*..... After a detailed search, I found this recipe for a tea cake from Dorie Greenspan's Baking- From my home to yours ..... A perfect finding!!! Just what I was looking for!!! Though, not kids-friendly, this cake sure was tasty and a perfect one for the  tea...

Well, this cake wasn't planned... it  just happened!! My kids kept on nagging me for another cake after the previous one and so just baked a simple one from my book, for the sake of it!!! This was actually a muffin recipe and since my kids don't like muffins, I converted it to a cake!  Ingredients: Recipe Source: Oops, sorry ... don't remember !! Plain flour - 1 1/2 cups Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup Baking powder - 2 tsp Salt - a pinch Vanilla essence - 2 tsp Sugar - 3/4 cup Milk - 1 cup Instant coffee powder - 2 tbsps Egg - 1 Melted butter - 1/2 cup Cocoa powder - 2 tsp Olive oil - 2 tbsps Water -1 tsp Method: Preheat oven to 180C. Stir the cocoa with olive oil in a small bowl and add 1 tsp of water to make it into a paste. Keep aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, vanilla essence, sugar and a pinch of salt. Crack the egg into a medium sized bowl and add milk and coffee granules. Whisk for 2-3 mins ti...