Banana blueberry bread

There are hundreds of different variations of banana bread one can make. Every time I have ripe bananas at home I try a new version of banana bread. This recipe is adapted from food network by Emeril Lagasse. I made some changes to suit my taste. I used blueberries instead of suggested nuts.

For me banana bread is a comfort food and I can eat any time of the day from breakfast to late night dessert.

 

What you need:

            1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup mashed ripe bananas

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Pinch of cinnamon

For Topping :

2 table spoon sugar ,

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder

I love cinnamon flavor so I normally use it as topping for breads.

How I made it :

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.Oil and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.

Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs one at a time and mix. Add mashed bananas and mix well. Add the baking soda, salt, flour, nuts and cinnamon and mix thoroughly. The dough will be sticky at this stage.

Pour the dough into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the topping mixture and bake about one hour or until the center is brown and set.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I had some bananas getting very ripe, so thought of making my usual banana bread. When I checked my ingredients I was out of butter so had to make something without butter, so my search for the recipe begin and I got the perfect recipe for which I had all the ingredients at allrecipes.com. These muffins turned out to be very soft and tasty. Though I have baked cakes before this is my first ever attempt at baking muffins. I am sure to try more variations soon....

 

What you need:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

How it's made:

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the egg, oil, yogurt and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Add bananas and chocolate chips. Fill  paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Baklava

We were invited for New year's party last year at an elderly couples house. After a nice karnatakan food we were offered dessert. Our stomach was so full with the delicious homemade food I didn't feel like eating desserts. They packed it for us. Uncle, told me he had got it baked from a Greek baker who specializes in Greek baking. Next day we tried it out and instantly fell in love with it. I had to try it out and the best part was that my husband who is not found of sweets liked it. I had no clue what this dessert was except that it was from Greek baker. I browsed the internet and figured it out that it was called Baklava. I tried it the very next day and it was an instant hit with my hubby and friends. We have baked it several times for parties, to take to India and just to eat at home.  It's one of those delicious desserts I love baking often. 
It's nutty delicious, yummyyyyy..........you can't stop at one. 

What you need:

1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough (I used half of it)
1 pound chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoon sugar

sauce:
3/4 cup water
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup honey

How it's Made:
Sauce : Make sauce earlier and cool it . I normally put it in the refrigerator once it gets cooled.
Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Until its thick and viscous.
Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Apply butter to the bottoms and sides of a 9x13 inch baking pan.
Assembly : Start it with lots of patience. The phyllo dough sheets are very thin , you need to be very gentle and patient while handling them. Unroll phyllo dough. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place one sheet of dough in baking pan, spread it gently and apply butter with a pastry brush. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered,while applying butter at every single layer. Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, apply butter, sprinkle nuts, than two sheets of phyllo dough, repeat again, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets thick.



The sheet is thin and very fragile

  
Using a sharp knife cut into square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. You can than cut it diagonally to get triangle shaped pieces. Bake for about 40-50 minutes until the top crust is golden and crisp. 

Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let it cool. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.
Store in cool place. It tastes better the next day as the layers will absorb the sauce better.

Braided puff pastry dessert

Happy Holi!!!
Got an invitation for dinner to one of my Indian friends here.
Thought of making Baklava but did not have sufficient time to do with Adwi around me. I had just 2 hours let before I would go there didn't know what to make. I was flipping through Better Homes and Garden magazine and trying to get Adwi to nap. Saw this braided dessert recipe with puff pastry, looked pretty.Thought I should try it out, since it was holi wanted to make something with Indian touch, so here is my version of it. Let your imagination wild and try whatever filling you like.

What you need :Frozen Puff Pastry sheet - 1
butter- 1 tablespoon

For the filling:
butter scotch chips- 2 Table spoon
raisins- 2 Table spoon
walnut - 2 table spoon finely chopped
almond-2 table spoon finely chopped
dates - 5 finely chopped
cinnamon powder- 1 teaspoon
cardamom- 2 pods, finely powdered
sugar- 2 teaspoon

How its made:
Line a large baking tray with parchment paper. Unfold a puff pastry sheet and place in the tray. Mix all the ingredients in the filling list  and place the filling in the centre portion. Using a sharp knife, make 3- inch long cuts at 1 inch intervals right upto the filling in pastry on each side of the filling.starting at one end alternately fold opposite strips of dough at an angle over the filling, overlapping ends  of strips in the middle. Press down gently on strips to seal. Cover with a plastic wrap and keep it aside for 20 min. Discard the wrap, brush a little melted butter over the braid and sprinkle sugar and cinnamom powder mixture over it.

Preheat oven 375 F, bake the braid for 30 min or until tops and bottoms are golden brown. Cool braid and cut into slices and serve.

Date Cake

During the initial years that I was  in US, I suffered from anemia and I was suggested to eat lots of dates.  I like eating them but when it gets mandatory it gets boring. So I had to find ways to use them. With my craziness for baking at the peak those days I wanted to try baking something,  I came across this recipe on a blog site.  I tried it and before it cooled more than half was gone. This is one recipe I  like to bake over and over again.


What you need:
Pitted Dates -18
Milk 3/4 cup
Sugar 3/4 cup
All purpose flour  1 cup
Oil 1/2 cup
Baking soda 1 tea spn

How its Made:
Blend togather dates, sugar and milk to a smooth. Add oil and mix.
Seive together flour and baking soda. Add the flour one table spoon at a time and mix.
Preheat the oven at 350F. Bake the cake in a greased loaf tray for 35-40 min. Flip it and cool it or just eat warm as I do :).

Caution : Measure and bake it at right temperature or you may end up with date halwa !!, someone out their knows what I am talking about.