Texas sheet cake

INGREDIENTS

CAKE

2 sticks unsalted butter, plus more, room temperature, for pan

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

ICING

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder

6 tablespoons heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 cup finely chopped toasted pecans (4 ounces)

DIRECTIONS

Cake: Preheat oven to 375/190 degrees. Lightly butter a 9-by-13-inch cake pan. Line with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on long sides. In a large heatproof bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low. Whisk in cocoa, then 1 cup water. Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally. Pour over flour mixture and stir to combine. Stir in eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla.

Pour batter into prepared pan; smooth top with an offset spatula. Bake until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 22 to 24 minutes.

Icing: In a small saucepan, bring butter, cocoa, and cream to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; whisk in vanilla and confectioners' sugar. Let stand until warm before using.

Transfer cake in pan to a wire rack; let cool 15 minutes. Pour glaze over cake. (For a more elegant presentation, remove cake from pan using parchment and place on a serving platter before glazing.) Sprinkle with pecans and let cool before serving.

Peach chaat

Peach 1 kg
Red chilli pepper 1/2 tsp
Sugar 2 tsp
Black pepper 1/2 tsp
Salt - hint
Oil 1 tbsp
Leemu 4 tsp

DHOKLA

HOMEMADE KHAMAN DHOKLA MIX

• 1 cup Besan (Chickpea flour/ Gram flour)
• 1.5 tablespoon Sooji (Semolina)
• A pinch of Hing
• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• Salt to taste

WET INGREDIENTS

• 1 teaspoon Crushed ginger and green chilies (optional)
• 1.5 teaspoon Eno (fruit Salt)
• 1/2 teaspoon Citric acid
• 2.5 tablespoon Oil
• 3/4 - 1 cup Water (may need to add less for that pouring consistency)

FOR TEMPERING

• 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
• 10-12 small Curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon Sugar (optional)
• 2-3 tablespoon Water (optional)
• 4-5 small Green Chilies
• 1 tablespoon Oil

Turri proportions

2 chhuhara,
3 badaam
3 kaaju
3 kishmish
1/2 walnut
1/2 TSP pista
1 tsp chaar maghaz
1 munakka
1/4th kashkash paste
1/4th nariyal paste
5 makhana

home sponge for custard

6 eggs, 6 dessert spoon sugar and 6 dessert spoon flour ( take 150 grams all purpose)

Beat the eggs and sugar till they are nice and fluffy

Electric  beater se

Then fold in the flour , I tbsp at a time

Add 1/2 lemon rind (if ground)


Bake at 175 for 20mins and check after 20 mins

Palak Paneer

250 grams fresh, chopped palak
1 or 2 green chilies, chopped
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped (optional)
1/2 cup water

For curry:
1 tbsp oil
1 onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 small to medium tez path
½ tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp haldi
½ tsp red chili powder
a pinch of hing
1 tsp salt, or as required
1/4 cup water

200 gm paneer, cut into cubes
1 or 2 tbsp fresh cream
1/4 tsp kasuri methi
¼ tsp garam masala powder, or to taste

2 tbsp Cornmeal (makke ka aata), optional

On low heat, add 1/4 cup water and the cubed Paneer, cover and cook till paneer gravy is prepared.
Pressure cook the palak, green chillies, along with 1/2 cup water on high heat for 3 whistles, turn the stove off, open the lid and leave the palak to cool a little. Grind it to a fine paste in a blended.
In a saucepan, heat the oil, roast the cumin seeds, tezpath, garlic and chopped onion for a few minutes. Add the haldi, chilli powder, hing and salt. On low heat add the pureed palak. Check the consistency, if it too liquid, add the cornmeal.
Add the paneer. Sprinkle garam masala, kasuri methi and add the cream. Stir.  Serve with roti or rice.

Capsicum Chicken Recipe

Capsicum Chicken Recipe
Ingredients:

Chicken – 500gms(preferably boneless will be good)
Capsicum(bell pepper) – 1 cup(chopped as cubes)
Big onions – 1 cup( chopped as cubes or as needed)
Tomato –¾ cup(chopped finely)
Tomato sauce – 2 tbsp
Soy sauce – 1 ½ tsp
Salt – as needed
Oil – 2 tbsp
To Marinate:

Curd – 1 tbsp
Chilli powder – 1½ tsp
Garam masala – 1½ tsp
Pepper powder – ½  tsp
Ginger garlic paste – 2 tbsp
Lemon Juice – 1 tsp
Salt – ¼ tsp
Method:



Wash chicken well in tap water for two to three times and completely drain the water.
Add the items given under “ to marinate” to washed chicken , mix well and sit for 30 mins in refrigerator.
steps to prepare chickenAfter 30 mins, let the chicken sit in room temperature for 15 mins before cooking.
Heat a wok , add oil,once heated sauté onions to transparent,. Then add tomatoes  and sprinkle salt over it.
Chicken recipesStir for a minute. No need to cook tomatoes fully. Now add chopped capsicum and sauté well for a minute.
Transfer it to bowl. Make sure the onions and capsicum are not soft. It should be crisp after sauting. So no need of sauting for long time.
Chicken capsicumIn the same wok, add one more tbsp of oil and add marinated chicken in it. Also add washed curry leaves.
Stir until the chicken oozes out water.Keep the flame low, sprinkle some water and close with a lid.
This water is enough to cook the chicken. Let it it cook in low flame for 7 to 10 mins.
Chicken with capsicumOpen and check the chicken is cooked. If it is done , remove the lid, stir in high flame till the chicken completely absorbs water.
Then add tomato sauce ,soy sauce and little salt. Mix well in medium flame and add sautéed onion,tomatoes and capsicum. Mix well and stir in high flame for some seconds and turn off the flame.
Add some finely chopped coriander leaves and close with a plate or lid.
Mix well before serving.

Home made honey nut bar

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 2/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut (available at Whole Foods or natural food markets)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup crisp rice cereal

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with heavy duty aluminum foil.
2. Spread the oats, walnuts and almonds onto prepared baking sheet. Place in the oven and toast for 7 minutes. Add coconut and toss well, then place back in the oven to cook about 6-8 minutes more. Keep an eye on it towards the end; you want the coconut to turn golden but not burn.
3. In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract and salt in a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir with a whisk until the brown sugar is completely dissolved. Turn off heat and set aside.
4. Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce heat to 300 degrees. Combine the the oat mixture, honey mixture and rice cereal in a large bowl and toss well. (Reserve aluminum foil.)
5. Use the reserved foil to line a 9 x 13-inch baking dish, then spray foil with nonstick cooking spray. Turn granola bar mixture out into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly, being careful not to press down too hard. Bake for 20 minutes (be sure heat is reduced to 300 degrees). Remove from the oven and cool completely, about 1-1½ hours. Use the foil overhang to transfer bars to cutting board, then use a large knife to cut into rectangles. Store in a single layer in an airtight container for up to a week (do not stack the bars or they will stick together and fall apart).
6. *You can swap in your favorite nuts and seeds as long as you keep the proportions of dry to wet ingredients the same. You can also toss in some dried fruit. On occasion, I’ll sprinkle some chocolate chips over top for the kids (you can't mix them in or they'll melt).
7. **Be sure your oven is fully preheated before toasting nuts; the initial blast of heat to preheat the oven can burn them.

Croissants by Laura Vitale

Prep time: 45 mins
Cook time: 25 mins

Ingredients:4 cups of All Purpose Flour
1-1/4 cups of Milk
1/4 cup of Granulated Sugar
2 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature
1 Tbsp of Instant Yeast
1-1/2 tsp of Salt

For the Butter Layer:
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter, cold

Process,

1) In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook, add all the ingredients for the dough and knead on medium speed for a few minutes or until the dough comes together, if the dough looks a touch too sticky (like it looks more like batter than dough) add 1 Tbsp of flour at a time until it looks just right (refer to the video to see exactly what it should look like).

2) Place the dough on a floured surface, knead it together for a minute and form it into a disk, transfer the dough into a lightly floured bowl, lightly sprinkle the top with flour, cover with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge for a minimum of 6 hours or overnight (the dough won’t rise much so don’t panic, that's how it’s supposed to look).

3) Slice the butter into thin strips and place them in the center of a piece of parchment paper, place another piece of parchment paper on top of the butter and using a rolling pin, roll the butter into a 7” square piece trimming the edges and placing those little bits on top of the square and adhering them in the butter square with the rolling pin. Place the butter in the fridge.

4) Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, roll it out to a 10-1/2” square, brush of any excess butter from the surface of the dough and place the cold square of butter (if the butter is too soft, stick it in the fridge a bit longer) in the center but on the opposite side as the dough (one of the corners of the butter should line up with one of the flat sides of the dough) fold in each corner to enclose the butter (brushing off any excess flour as you go) then sprinkle a touch of flour on the very top and using your rolling pin, roll it out to 8” wide by a 24” long rectangle, fold in thirds (like a letter) making sure to brush off any excess flour, place it on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

5) Repeat the rolling out (into a 8x24” rectangle) and folding it in thirds method 2 more times making sure to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes in between (wrapped in plastic wrap). In total, you should have have rolled and chilled 3 times, on the last time, place the dough in the fridge overnight.

6) Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it out in a 8x44” rectangle, if your kitchen is too warm, you might find that the dough starts resisting the stretching out part and shrink, if that happens, fold the dough into thirds, place it in the fridge for 15 minutes at a time and roll it out little by little.

7) Using a ruler or tape measure, measure the length of your rectangle so you can make sure it’s the right size, trim the edges so you have a perfectly straight edge, and using the ruler as a guide, mark a spot every 6 inches (you should have 7 markings total) do the same thing at the bottom of dough so you get the right size. 

8) Brush off any excess flour, cut out each square and then cut that square in half on a diagonal. 

9) Lay each little triangle in front of you, brush off any excess flour from top and bottom, stretch it out at the largest side (at this point the pointed end isn't centered and it needs to be) stretch it just a bit to make sure the pointed end is centered. 

10) Starting at the widest part of the triangle, roll it into a crescent shape pinching the ends together (they will come apart but this helps keep their shape), continue with the remaining croissants.

11) Place the croissants on your parchment paper lined baking sheets and place them somewhere slightly warm (around 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit) and allow them to proof for about an hour or so (they won’t double in size but they will puff up just a little)

12) Meanwhile, line a couple large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Whisk together an egg with some milk for the egg wash.

13) When ready to bake, arrange your oven racks on your lower and upper third of your oven, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush the tops of the croissants with the egg wash and bake the for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

14) Serve warm with your favorite accompaniment and enjoy!

Post By: Laura Vitale