Cinnamon Swirl Raisin Bread

Its the seventh and the final day of the blogging marathon. Time flies fast!! 7 days of 7 different breads. For the finale, I chose cinnamon swirl raisin bread.
When I was a kid, my Dad used to buy freshly baked bread specially for me. It will be warm when he brings it home. When my mom gives it to me with Kissan Jam. mmmmmm... divine. Sometimes even the normal milka bread( the one normally available in all grocery shops) mom will toast it with ghee & serve with Jam.. Yum!! Even for dinner I could have that. I was that kind of fan from that age.

And also my grandpa(mom's dad) has always had bread (specially ordered for him) for dinner, due to health reasons. I would love to soak that bread in water and have too. But my grandpa is no more with us now. Though its been 8 yrs now, no single day has gone without thinking of him. 

It is kind of nostalgic when I think of my love for bread. But there are people, who consider that bread has to be eaten when you are sick. Funny !!

Coming back to the cinnamon swirl bread, I tried to make it eggless and whole wheat. It was mainly for my health freak Hubby. He was so happy that I baked a bread at home and it is preservative free.
Original recipe is from Betty Crocker website. I halved the ingredients and made some substitutions. Since I used whole wheat flour, bread didnt rise much and it was a dense bread, but tasted good.

Ingredients

Bread dough

Whole wheat flour, 3 cups

Light Brown Sugar, 1/4 cup

Salt, 1/2 Tsp

Yeast, 1 pkt

Milk, 1/2 cup

Water, 1/2 cup

Oil, 3 Tbs

Yogurt, 1/4 cup

Raisins 1/2 cup

For filling

Vegetable oil,

Ground Cinnamon, 1.5 Tsp

Light Brown Sugar, 1/4 cup

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix 2 cup of flour, sugar, salt, yeast and set aside.
2. In a sauce pan, heat, water, milk and oil until warm and add to the flour mixture and keep kneading little by little add the rest of the flour and yogurt and knead the dough well until its smooth.
3. Place the dough in the greased bowl ,cover and let it rise for an hour.
4. To this dough add raisins and knead.
5. Then roll out the dough into a large rectangle and brush oil over it.
6. In a bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle them on the oiled surface. Roll up the rectangle and pinch to seal the seams.
7. Slightly press the sides of folded rectangle to seal and place them in a greased loaf pan such that the seams are in the bottom of the pan.
8. Brush oil on top and let it rise for another one hour.
9. Pre-heat the oven to 375 F and bake for 30-35 minutes until the loaves are golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped.
10. Remove from pan and let it cool.
11. Slice and Serve.

Check out what the other marathoners are doing here

Sending this to http://my-crowded-kitchen.blogspot.com/2012/04/fab-friday.html, I love baking, Lets Party - Breakfast, YeastSpotting

Sweet Potato Biscuits

It is already day 6 of the blogging marathon. Today's recipe is Sweet potato biscuits.  But usually if we say biscuits, it is a sweetened cookie or cracker. That too Brittannia  or Good day.. I never knew there are other kinds of Biscuits. Here in North America, Biscuits are small soft leavened bread, similar to a scone. Wow!! Am learning a lot of new things these days. This is Paula Deen's Recipe. It is made of sweet potato and is Thanksgiving special. We are months away from Thanks giving, but still I had lots of sweet potatoes, so thought to give it a try. My husband liked it though.. But not my daughter. She says if its not sweet, its not biscuit. 

It was super duper easy to make and was very quick- thats what I liked about it. But there is a debate whether to have this biscuits for breakfast or dinner , for us it is snack.. :) How do you like to have your biscuit??

Original recipe from here

Ingredients

Flour, 1 1/4 cup

Sugar, 2 Tbs

Baking powder, 4 Tsp

Salt, 1/4 Tsp

Sweet potato(cooked and Mashed), 3/4 cup

Butter, 1/4 cup (room temperature)

Milk, 2- 4 Tbs (depending on the moisture in the sweet potato)

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F.
2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. In a seperate bowl, mix sweet potatoes and butter together. To this mixture, add flour and knead to make a soft dough.
4. If the dough is not soft enough, add milk little by little, to get the desired consistency.
5. Then roll out the dough, in a floured surface about 1/2 - 3/4 " thickness and use a biscuit cutter to cut it out and place it on a greased baking tray and bake for 15- 20 minutes.
6. Ready to serve.

Check out what the other marathoners are doing here

Note:

Note

I did roll out the dough to cut it with the cutter but then as the remaining dough was there, I just rolled it out using hands and pressed it with fingers, that saved a lot of time. The one did with hand was rustic and very flaky.

As I was trying to take pictures of the biscuit, my son grabbed one.. captured candid..

This what happens most of the time when I try to click pictures.. Theeraatha Vizhayattu pillai..

Orange Raisin Scones

For the 5th day of the blogging marathon, I have made Orange Raisin Scones. Scones are small british quick breads. It was quick to bake and was very easy to make. It was mildly sweet and adding the orange zest gave  citrus aroma. It is perfect with tea.

Original recipe adapted from here

Ingredients

Flour, 2 cup

Sugar, 1/4 cup

Baking powder, 1 tsp

Baking soda, 1/4 tsp

Salt, 1/2 tsp

Butter, 1/2 cup (cold)

Raisins,1/2 cup

Sour cream, 1/2 cup

Eggs, 1 no.

Directions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 F
2. In a bowl mix orange zest, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Then grate the butter into this mixture and use fingers to incorporate it to the flour.
3. In a bowl whisk sour cream and eggs until its smooth.
4. Then fold in this mixture with the flour mixture and mix the raisins until they are fully incorporated in to the dough.
5. Then flatten the dough into 8- 10 inches wide diameter for about 3/4inches thickness. 
6. Cut the dough into 8 equal parts. Arrange them in the baking tray with 2 '' apart.
7. Sprinkle some sugar on top of them and bake for 15- 20 minutes until they are golden brown.
8. Let the scones cool down a little  bit and serve with a cup of tea.

Click here to see what the other marathoners are doing

Sending this to http://my-crowded-kitchen.blogspot.com/2012/04/fab-friday.html,  I love baking , Srivalli's Kids Delight- Fruits @ UK Rasoi

Stuffed Buns

Today is the day 4 of the blogging marathon. I first had an idea to bake just the plain bun. But the day i baked, I had made potato masala for lunch and there was a lot extra, so I decided to use it for stuffing the bun. It was perfect as a tea time snack and also the next day we had it for breakfast too. It was delicious, to have it with the ketchep.

Ingredients

For the bun

Milk,1/4 cup

Water,1/4 cup

Butter, 2 Tbs

Flour, 2 cups

Sugar, 2 Tbs

Salt, 1/4 Tsp

Yogurt, 2 Tbs

Yeast, 1 1/4tsp

Stuffing:

Potatoes, 2 no

Tomatoes,1 no.

Chilli powder, 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder, a pinch

Cumin seeds, 1/2 tsp

Ginger garlic paste, 1/2 tsp

Cilantro, a small bun

Salt, to taste

Directions

To prepare stuffing

1. Boil and mash potatoes
2. Heat oil and add cumin seeds, then add ginger garlic paste and cook till the raw smell is gone. Then add turmeric powder, chilli powder and cook for 1-2 min. Then mix well with mashed potatoes, add salt to taste and garnish with cilantro.

For the buns

1. In a bowl combine 1 cup of flour and yeast and set aside.
2. In a sauce pan, heat milk water, butter, salt and sugar and stir until warm and the butter is melted.
3. Add this mixture to the flour and mix well. Then add rest of the flour little by little and knead. Then add 2 tablespoon of yogurt and knead to get a soft dough. If the dough is hard, add water, little by little and keep kneading till u get the soft dough. Then let it rise for 2 hours.
4. Gently deflate the dough and turn it to the other side and rest for 30 minutes.
5. Divide the dough into 6 equal parts . Flatten them fill them with 1 Tbs of filling and roll them back to a ball and flatten them a little bit.
6. Arrange the prepared balls of dough in a greased baking tray, leaving 2" gap on each side. Let it rise for 30-45 minutes.
7. Pre- heat the oven to 375F and apply butter to the top of the bun and bake for 15-17 minutes until its done.
8. Once removed from the oven, apply rest of the butter to it.
9. Serve it warm.

Check out what the other marathoners are doing here

Lemon Blueberry Bread

Here I am with another quick bread for the third day of the Blogging marathon. It is Lemon Blueberry bread. It may sound funny but the thing is whenever I see some cooking shows of Giada or Ina Garten, I see them adding lemon zest.  Even I wanted to bake adding them and found this recipe in Joy of Baking. The bread came out soft and delicious. I really loved the lemony flavor.

 

Ingredients

All purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups

Baking powder, 1 Teaspoon

Salt, 1/4 teaspoon

Lemon Zest (grated outer skin of the lemon), 1 Tablespoon

Fresh Blueberries, 1 cup

Butter (in room temperature), 1/2 cup

Sugar, 3/4 cup

Eggs, 2 nos

Milk, 1/2 cup

Vanilla Extract, 1 Teaspoon

 

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour the loaf pan (9*5) and keep it ready.
2. In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and lemon zest and keep it aside.
3. In another bowl, with a hand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until they are fluffy and add one egg at a time and beat well, then stir in vanilla extract and add 1/3 of flour and 1/2 of milk and mix and another 1/3 of the flour and rest of the milk and then the rest of the flour and mix only till they are combined. Donot over mix.
4. Finally fold in the blueberries.
5. Pour the batter to the prepared pan and bake for 50 - 60 minutes until the bread is golden brown and the toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
6. Let the bread cool completely before slicing.

Note 

• Toss the blueberries in a tablespoon of flour before adding to the batter, to avoid them from sinking to the bottom while baking.
• Check the time of baking as it varies from oven to oven.

 

To check out what the other marathoners are doing, click here

 

Sending this to Kids Delight @ UK Rasoi

I Love Baking, Vardhini's Bake Fest  @ Sumee's Culinary Bites

 

 

Chocolate coconut Rolls

Its the day two of the blogging marathon. Yesterday spent the whole day in front of the laptop reading the other marathoners post and all the group mails. Felt really good to be a part of this lively group of people. 

Today my recipe is "Chocolate coconut Rolls". When I decided to do the marathon under bread baking I started hunting for recipes. When I came across this recipe, I thought it was so complicated but the coconut and chocolate tempted  me to try this. But then I realized it is very easy to make. As I will be baking few more breads, I tried only a very small batch but the recipe can be doubled if required. 

Ingredients

All purpose flour, 2 cups

Active dry yeast, 1 tsp

Milk, 1/2 cup,

Sugar, 2 Tbs

Butter, 2 Tbs

Egg, 1 No.

Nutella spread,  5 Tbs

Shredded coconut, 1/2 cup

Salt, 1/4 tsp
Chocolate syrup, to drizzle on top

Directions

1. In a bowl combine one cup of flour and yeast and set aside.
2. In a sauce pan, heat and stir together milk, sugar, salt, and butter until warm and the butter is melted.
3. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and mix well. Add a lightly beaten egg to this and add the other cup of flour little by little to this and keep kneading till they are all incorporated into a soft dough. If the dough is dry add a little water ( may be 1 Tbs at a time) and keep kneading till u get the soft dough.
4. Cover the kneaded dough and let it rise for 1 hour and turn it the other side and let it rise for another half an hour.
5. Roll out the dough into a rectangle of about 1/4 " thickness and spread the hazelnut spread over the dough leaving one inch in one long side of the dough. Then sprinkle coconut on top of this.
6. Then roll up the rectangle  from the long side where fillings are spread to the edge and pinch the dough to seal seams.
7. Slice the rolled dough uniformly (about 12 slices) and arrange them in the greased baking tray almost 2" apart,cover them and let it rise for 45 minutes.
8. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Let it cool and drizzle chocolate syrup on top and serve.

Reposting for Only- Cooking with chocolate @ Foodelicious

Banana Bread

First day of Blogging marathon edition 15. This is the first time I am participating in Blogging Marathon. My theme will be "Bread baking". First I wanted to start with something simple yet delicious. So first choice is Banana bread. The other reason was there were few ripe bananas sitting in the fruit basket. Quick bread was the quick choice.  It is a delicious breakfast recipe.

Original recipe from Joy of Baking

Ingredients

All-purpose flour, 1 3/4 cups

White sugar, 3/4 cups

Baking powder, 1 Teaspoon

Baking soda, 1/4 Teaspoon

Salt, 1/4 Teaspoon

Ground cinnamon, 1 Teaspoon

Eggs, 2 nos.

Unsalted butter, 1/2 cup

Ripe bananas, 3 nos.

Vanilla Extract, 1 Teaspoon

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and prepare the 9*5 inch loaf pan  by greasing and dusting the flour and set it aside.
2. Mash the bananas well. Melt the butter also lightly beat the eggs and keep them ready.
3. In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients together. (Flour, Sugar, Baking powder, Baking soda,salt and ground cinnamon).
4. In another bowl, add the mashed bananas, melted butter, eggs and vanilla extract and mix them together.
5. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and mix them till they form a homogenous mixture. But donot over mix the dough.
6. Place the dough in the prepared loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes till the bread is golden brown and the tooth pick inserted in the centre should come out clean.
7. Let the bread cool down before removing from the pan.
8. Let the bread rest overnight and then slice and serve.

Check out the  Blogging marathon page for the other marathoners doing BM# 15

"Lets Party " Event Announcement

"Lets Party" is a monthly event started by Surabhi Nayak of My Cook Book. Thanks to her for giving me an opportunity to host the event for this month.

This month's theme will be Breakfast.  It runs from 15th April to 15th May.

From Wikipedia

Breakfast (literally meaning "breaking the fast" of the night) is the first meal taken after rising from a night's sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day's work.^[1] Among English speakers, "breakfast" can be used to refer to this meal, or, less commonly, to refer to a meal composed of traditional breakfast foods (eggs, oatmeal, sausages, etc.) served at any time of day.

Breakfast foods vary widely from place to place, but often include a carbohydrate such as grains or cereals, fruit and/or vegetable, a protein food and a beverage such as tea, coffee or fruit juice. Coffee, tea, juice, breakfast cereals, pancakes, sausages, bacon, sweet breads, fresh fruit, vegetables, eggs, mushrooms, black pudding, baked beans, muffins, crumpets and toast with butter or margarine and/or jam or marmalade are common examples of breakfast foods, though a large range of preparations and ingredients are associated with breakfast globally.^[2]

Nutritional experts have referred to breakfast as the most important meal of the day, citing studies that find that people who skip breakfast are disproportionately likely to have problems with concentration, metabolism, and weight.

 

Rules for the Event:

1. The theme for "Lets Party" will be Breakfast. 
2. Vegetarian & Non-Vegetarian dishes are allowed.(No Beef/Pork).
3. Recipes must be linked to this event announcement page and to Surabhi's page.
4. Please post your link below and usage of the logo is mandatory.
5. As many entries are allowed.Archives are welcome only if re-posted and linked back to the announcement page(only 1).
6. Must be a follower at blog.
7. There are three awards to be given Top Contributor Award, Best Recipe Award, Participation Award.
8. If u are having any problems linking up,just send me my email c.divyaprakash@gmail.com 

• Sub: Let's Party -"Breakfast"
• Your Name:
• Recipe Name:
• Recipe URL:
• Recipe Photo:

Non-Bloggers can also send me an email with the details as below:

• Sub: Let's Party - "Breakfast"
• Your Name:
• Recipe Name:
• Email Address:
• Recipe Photo:
• Recipe in .doc format or .pdf format

We welcome you to take part in this party with all your Breakfast ideas.

Ravai Payasam (Sooji Kheer)

It is first day of Chithirai!! Tamil New year!!

When we were kids, Mom used to make Pongal n other delicacies and the night before, we used to arrange fruits,grains,jewels,money in front of the mirror and the day of the new year the first thing we see in the morning is the reflection of all this in the mirror. It is suppose to bring all good luck and prosperity for the whole year. Festival means lot of food, new dress,pooja and lots of happiness. Always as a kid I was looking for all festivals to celebrate.. Now my little daughter Thaara is just like me. She loves festivals. She was all excited when we arranged everything in front of the mirror last night. She even tried to put her own kolam in the balcony.So festivals are fun!! :) 

தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு வாழ்த்துக்கள்!! 

Today we had planned a lot to cook, but Hubby had to leave early to work. So immediately I made this kheer as I wanted to start the day/ new year sweet. Once he is back in the evening, with items planned will do the pooja. This is such a simple dish but very yummy, easy to make too.

Ravai Payasam/ Sooji kheer/ Semolina Pudding 

Ingredients:

Ravai/ Semolina/ Sooji, 1/2 cup

Milk, 2 cup

Condensed milk, 1/2 cup

Sugar, 1/2 cup

Cardamom, 4-5 nos

Saffron strands, 6-7

Ghee, 2 Teaspoons

Raisins & Cashewnuts

Directions 

• Take a table spoon of sugar and powder cardamom with it.
• In a tea spoon of ghee, fry cashew nuts and raisins. Set aside.
• Soak saffron in warm milk for few minutes.
• In a sauce pan, add a teaspoon of ghee and roast rava till the raw smell is gone and it changes color lightly.
• Then add milk to this rava and stir constantly to avoid forming any lumps and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes.
• As per the desired consistency, check payasam and add water and simmer for few minutes.
• Add condensed milk to this and mix well. Add rest of the sugar and mix well.
•  Finally, add the powdered sugar, soaked saffron and mix well and Garnish with fried cashews and raisins.

Based on your personal preference, payasam can  be served either hot or cold.

Sending this to Anyone can cook series 47 @ Taste of pearl city

Fabulous Friday @ My crowded Kitchen

Whole wheat & Ragi Chocolate cake (Sugarless)

This is the first time, I am taking part in Blog Hop. I was  paired with Renuka of  Pinch of Salt for this. It was so nice to get to know her and her blog. Renuka has a wonderful blog with lots of interesting recipes and healthy recipes. When I came across this Whole wheat Ragi chocolate cake, I was immediately hooked to it. It was sugarless, made with wheat flour and Ragi Flour (Finger millet) and also it was chocolate cake, what more you need??  This cake came out perfectly well and no one could tell its made of ragi. Lots of goodness in this delicious cake. I am  so glad that I tried this recipe.

The original recipe is here

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour, 1 cup

Ragi flour (Finger millet flour), 1/2 cup

Baking soda, 1 1/4 teaspoon

Cocoa powder, 3 tablespoon

Yogurt, 3/4 cup

Vegetable oil, 1/2 cup

Jaggery(chopped/grated)  1/2 cup

Honey, 1/2 cup
Milk, 1/4 cup

Vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the flour pan and dust it with flour.
• In a bowl,sift both the flours, cocoa and baking soda together.
• In another bowl, mix jaggery, and yogurt together and stir until its completely dissolved. Then add oil, vanilla extract & mix well.
• Add the dry ingredients to this mixture and mix well. Finally add milk and stir well until  the cake batter is smooth. 
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until done.( the tooth pick inserted in the center has to come out clean).
• Let the cake cool, remove it from the cake pan decorate as desired and enjoy it. 

I didn't want to add any frosting to this as the cake itself was yum and also my hubby doesnt prefer frosting. I just drizzled some chocolate syrup on top and some sprinkles for decoration( It was my daugthers idea). 

Note:

• Cake is not very sweet. So adjust the sweetness as per the personal taste. 
• Baking time varies as per the size of the pan and also the oven. So check yours and bake accordingly. I used a 8 inch round pan, it took only 25 minutes. 

Renuka mailed me some tips

• Dry roasting the ragi flour a little bit improves the cake 
texture.
• If the cake batter turned out a little dry, try adding 1/4 cup of ice cold water. This makes the cake moist. If you add warm water it will be sticky again.

Re-posting this for Only -Chocolate @ Foodelicious

Spinach Moong dhal

This is a very simple dhal, I make almost once a week. I use frozen spinach (too lazy to clean the fresh one). It tastes absolutely delicious when served with warm rice and ghee. Fried potato makes a great combination for this. This dhal can be served with roti too.

Ingredients

Moong dhal                      - 1/2 cup  

Spinach(frozen&chopped) - 1 cup

Tomato                           - 1 no.

Garlic                              - 5-6 cloves
Oil                                  - 2 teaspoon

Chopped Onion                - 1/4 cup

Cumin seeds                     - 1/2 teaspoon

Mustard seeds                   - 1/4 teaspoon

Asafoetida                        - a pinch

turmeric powder               - 1/4 teaspoon

Chilli powder                    - 1/2 teaspoon

Salt to taste.

Directions

1. In pressure cooker, cook moong dal with tomato and garlic.
2. In microwave, cook spinach for 5 minutes.
3. Then in sauce pan, add oil and then mustard seeds & cumin seeds, once they splutter add onions.Cook till the onion turns golden brown.
4. Then add asafoetida, turmeric powder, chillipowder cook till raw smell is gone.
5. Then add spinach and cook for 2-3 min.
6. Then add cooked moong dhal to this. Add water as per the required consistency. Then simmer for 10- 15 min in low flame.
7. Dhal is ready.