Eggless Fresh Orange Cake with Sugar Glaze

What do you make when you have lot of oranges at home ??? I made Fresh Orange Cake yesterday because I had lot of oranges at home. It turned yummy yummy ..... Yes , "Egg less Fresh Orange Cake with Sugar Glaze" is another addition to my Bake n Cake recipe category. 

Sugar glaze on top makes this orange flavored cake more delicious and catchy. You can drench the cake with thin or thick sugar glaze as per your choice. Specially mix of sweet(sugar) and sour(orange) taste makes this cake yummy. Try it at home and let me know your comments please :-)

Serve along with Tea or you can have just like that !!

Ingredients :

200 grams of all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch of  salt

50 grams of sugar

70 ml of sweetened condensed milk

100 ml unsalted melted butter

100-150 ml of freshly squeezed orange juice

Another easy way of measuring the ingredients if you don't want them in grams and ml.. here we go 
flour - 1 cup , sugar- 1/4 cup , condensed milk - 1/4 cup , butter - 1/3 cup , orange juice - 1/3 to 1/2 cup

for sugar glaze: 

[this makes thin glaze , you can increase the quantity of sugar if you want thick glaze on top]

3 tbsp of sugar 

3 tsp of orange juice

How To Prepare ?

• Grind the sugar into a fine powder for the batter and glaze separately and keep it aside.
• Preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
• Mix flour, baking soda , baking powder and salt well and keep it ready. You can even sift these dry ingredients.This is very important as salt, baking powder and soda should evenly get combined with the flour.
• In a large mixing bowl first mix powdered sugar and melted butter till it becomes puffy.
  
• Now add condensed milk and mix nicely.
  
• Add flour mixture little by little along with orange juice and mix nicely.Pour only 100 ml of orange juice initially and prepare the batter. If you feel batter is very thick at the end , you can add more orange juice.Mix the ingredients really well so that no lumps are formed. In the whole process you can use your hands or whisk whichever you feel comfortable .
  
   
• Grease the baking loaf pan with butter on sides and bottom and dust with little flour. Hold the loaf pan up side down and tap once so that all the excessive flour flies off.
• Now pour the cake batter into the loaf pan.Pat it once on surface so that batter gets even inside the pan. All set to go into the oven.
  
  
  
• Bake it at 180 Degree C for about 25 mins and check.How To Check ? Insert a tooth pick /knife in the middle of the cake, if it comes out clean we are all done.
• If not yet done , keep it for 5/10 more mins and check again .Repeat the process until cake bakes completely.It took only 30 mins for me.
  
• After you remove from oven , keep it for 2-3 mins , and close a loaf pan with plate and flip it. Slowly lift the cake and keep it on a cooling rack and let it cool.
  
• After it cools down completely, pour the sugar glaze on top and let it set for 15-20 mins. Once it is set , chop it into a shape of your choice and enjoy with tea/ coffee.
  
  
  
  

   Sugar Glaze preparation:

• Whisk powdered sugar and orange juice together to form a smooth paste .You can add orange juice little by little and prepare thin/thick glaze which has pouring consistency. isn't it simple?
   
  
  
  

Tips/Notes/Variation

• Poke holes in the top of the cake using tooth pick.Using brush,you can spread the glaze evenly over the top and sides instead of pouring all over.
• This recipe makes medium sweet cake. You can increase the quantity of sugar if you want to prepare the cake more sweeter.
• For this recipe I used 3 medium size oranges.

Egg Less White Chocolate Blondies

I know most of us like brownies and blondies.Main ingredients used in the preparation of basic blondies are all purpose flour,vanilla, baking powder,brown sugar and eggs. Brown sugar adds a amazing taste to these blondies.

Here is a quick and easy version of egg less white chocolate blondies recipe just for you guys.I have tried this recipe using minimal ingredients.Its so yummy and delicious,worth putting effort and making it at home.!! Try it and let me know the feedback please !!

First time when I tried blondie I used jaggery as a substitute for brown sugar, added cranberry along with white chocolate. Blondies turned out very tasty!!.

Do you know what is the difference between blondies and brownies? check out this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blondie_(confection).

Ingredients :

all purpose flour-1 cup (around 150 gms)
brown sugar-1/4 cup
sugar-1/4 cup
salt- 1/4 tsp
Baking powder-3/4 tsp
Baking soda-1/4 tsp
unsalted butter-1/4 cup
yogurt-1/4 cup
milk-1/2 cup to 3/4 cup
white chocolate chips / chopped white chocolate-1/3 cup

How To Prepare?

• Preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
• Mix chopped white chocolate with one tsp of flour and keep it side
  
  
  
  
• Grind sugar and  brown sugar together into fine powder.
• Mix powdered sugar, flour, salt,baking soda and baking powder well and keep it ready.
  
• In a large mixing bowl , mix butter,yogurt and milk well. Initially add only 1/2 cup of milk. Later add more milk if required.
  
• Add flour little by little and prepare a batter. If you feel your batter is very thick add little more milk and mix it again.
  
• Add chocolate chips and mix gently.
  
  
  
  
• Grease the baking loaf pan/tray with butter on sides and bottom and dust with little flour. Hold the loaf pan up side down and tap once so that all the excessive flour flies off.
• Now pour the blondie batter into the loaf pan/tray.Pat it once on surface so that batter gets even inside the pan.                                             

                                   

• Bake it at 180 degree C for about 35-40 mins. Insert a tooth pick in the middle and check , if it comes out clean we are done. After one hour you flip it from the pan.Let it cool for 5-6 hours and then cut into squares. Don't rush to cut before it cools down completely.

Note: 

• As I mentioned before, you can add cranberries along with white chocolate. Cranberries goes well with white chocolate. It depends your taste, my family liked white chocolate blondies without cranberries!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Eggless Spiced BuckWheat Flour Sugar Cookies

Bored of eating same atta/oats/all purpose flour cookies??. Well I have one new recipe for you guys. Buckwheat flour cookies!!. Initially I was thinking Buckwheat is one of the varieties of wheat. No, that's not correct. Buckwheat is neither related to wheat nor a grain. It is actually a fruit seed. Buckwheat is very nutritious. It is a very good source of manganese ,copper,magnesium, fiber and phosphorus.
Want to know more about Buckwheat?

These cookies are very healthy and have very different taste.Green cardamom adds a special  flavor to the cookie, black pepper spices up my recipe and brown sugar plays a magical role here. 

Serve these cookies with Tea or Coffee!!

Ingredients :

1 cup buckwheat flour (around 100 gms)

1/2 cup salted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar(for grinding) + 2 tsp brown sugar(for topping)
2-3 tsp all purpose flour

4 green cardamom
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp finely chopped cashews

2 teaspoon of cold milk if required
1/2  tsp baking powder

How to Prepare?

• Preheat the oven to 180 degree C
• Cut the butter into small cubes and keep it aside.
• Prepare the spice powder ...Grind cardamom and black pepper into fine powder.
• Mix buckwheat flour, all purpose flour, salt, baking powder and prepared spice powder well in a bowl and keep it ready.
  
• Grind brown sugar into fine powder.
• In a mixing bowl , combine powdered brown sugar and butter. Use fingers to mix it well until butter melts and blends well with the sugar.
  
  
  
  
• Now add flour mixture little by little and prepare a soft dough. I have used 2 tsp all purpose flour in this recipe, because it binds the ingredients well and supports the dough. If you feel your dough is not well combined at the end, add one more tsp of maida/all purpose flour and mix well.If you feel your mixture very dry then add 1-2 tsp of milk and make it soft.
  
• Refrigerate the dough for about 15 mins.
• Meanwhile chop the cashew nuts and keep it ready.

•  Now dust the board/area with little flour where you will flatten the dough .Flat the dough into 1/2 inch thickness evenly. (As we are going to cut the cookies into square shape ,we will have to make one big square/oval when we flatten it)
  
• Now sprinkle  2 tsp of brown sugar (not powdered) on top  and chopped cashews and run a chapathi roller only once so that toppings get set nicely on top. After that Using knife cut into cookies of square shape. 

                         

                     Note: you can remove sides and make the regular cookie
                     shape that is round 

• Slowly remove the cookies using knife or hand and place on the baking sheet .
• Bake in a preheated oven for 15 mins at 180 degree C only. You should bake until bottom side and edge of cookie starts changing the color. Dough itself is light brown in color, so after you bake it will be on the darker side unlike other cookies.After 15 mins , turn one cookie and check the color. ( Please do not turn all the cookies) If its not yet done , keep it for 5 more mins and check again. It varies from oven to oven . In my oven it took only 15 mins. 
  
  
  
  
• Remove cookies from the oven and store it in a airtight container after it cools down. 

Note: 

• Regarding my measurement , you can choose a cup of any size. I usually take a cup of small size when I  try any recipe for the first time :-).

If you like the recipe , Please share it with your friends and family !! 

Healthy Tea Biscuits

These homemade khara(spicy)biscuits are healthy because I have not used baking soda/ powder in this recipe. Instead of maida/all purpose flour mixture of wheat flour & maida is used. I have mixed two spices(cumin seeds and black pepper) while preparing the dough.These two spices are commonly used in Indian cooking.I bet, you will enjoy the aroma of pepper and jeera/cumin while you bake the biscuit itself !!

My intent was to match the taste of tea biscuits I used to have during my childhood days.My father used to bring pepper biscuits from one of the popular bakeries of udupi ie "Sudarshan Bekary". To be frank I couldn't match the taste though my biscuits are super hit in my family.I think I should ask owner of the bakery for a recipe during my next visit to Udupi ... lol :-)

Serve these biscuits along with tea :-)

Ingredients:

Wheat flour /atta/wheizen mehl type 1050 - 1/3 cup (around 50 gms)
All purpose flour/ maida- 2/3 cup(around 100 gms)
[so entire flour to be used in the recipe = 1 cup]
salted butter - 1/2 cup
powdered sugar - 1/4 cup ( you can powder the normal sugar available in your kitchen)
cold milk - 2-3 tsp (if required)
black pepper - 3/4 tsp
whole jeera/cumin seeds - 2 tsp
salt ( if required)

How to Prepare ?

• Preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
• Cut the butter into small cubes and keep it aside. 
• Grind the sugar and pepper into a fine powder and keep it aside.
• In a big mixing bowl ,Using your fingers mix  butter and powdered sugar pepper mixture well.
• Now add salt if required. Adjust accordingly if you are using slated butter. Add cumin seeds and mix well for a minute.
  
• Add flour little by little and mix it well and prepare the dough. Now if you feel your dough is too dry add 1-2 tsp of milk and make it soft.Don't add the milk in one go , add the milk only as much as you need to get a desired consistency of the dough.
  
• Now dust the board/area with little flour.Pinch out small portions of dough and prepare small balls.
  
• Using bottom of the glass or wooden block gently press each ball to form a 1/2 inch thick disc.
  
  
  
• slowly remove the biscuits and place on the baking sheet/tray .
  
• Bake in a preheated oven for 15 mins at 180 degree C. You should bake until  biscuit turn light brown. After 15 mins check, if its not done bake it for 5-10 mins more. With the repeated checks bake until biscuits are light brown in color.

                                

• Remove biscuits from the oven and store it in a airtight container after it cools down. 
  

Tips/Alternate:

• Baking tray takes more time than Baking sheet.
•  You can grind the jeera to a fine/coarse powder and instead of adding whole seeds.
•  You can grind the black pepper to a coarse powder separately instead of making fine powder out of it as mentioned in the recipe.
• If the dough is not very soft, then you will get n number of slits automatically around the discs when you press balls gently using wooden block. I love these slits .. It gives a good look to the biscuits. If your dough is very soft then you will not get these slits instead you get a fine discs that look good too.
• You can increase/ decrease the amount of jeera & pepper according your taste.

Mixed Dry Fruit and Nut Eggless Cookies

These are colorful cookies with mixed dry fruits and nuts on top. Baked mixed dry fruits and nuts add special flavor and taste to the cookies.It is worth making at home as it is very tasty and delicious. I am sure you will enjoy every byte of it .

Try the recipe and enjoy with tea/coffee..:-)

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour ( I took around 100 gms , you can make 18-20 medium size cookies)
1/2 cup salted butter cubes ( butter with 0.1% salt in it)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
10-12 tsp of mixed dry fruits ( you can mix any dry fruits of your choice. I used cashews, pecan, tutti frutti, raisins and cranberries)
2 tsp of cold milk ( if required)

How To Prepare?

• Grind the sugar into a fine powder.
• Add baking powder to the flour. Mix well and keep it aside.
• In large mixing bowl, mix butter and powdered sugar nicely.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Add the flour little by little to the sugar butter mixture and prepare a soft dough.If you feel the mixture is very dry add 2 tsp of cold milk while preparing the dough.
  
  
  
  
  
• Chop all the dry fruits and keep it ready.
  
• Preheat the oven to 180 degree C.
• Now pinch out small portions of dough and make balls out of it.
  
• Using a wooden block or bottom of the tumbler press the balls gently to form a small discs.
  
  
  
  
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• Spread dry fruits and nut on top of each disc. Press gently using a fork or spoon on top so that nuts set well.
  
• Bake the disks at 180 degree C in preheated oven for about 20 -25 mins. It should turn golden brown color.
• To be on the safer side, check after 15 mins and if its not done keep it for 5-10 mins more. (Look at the below pic , when I checked after 15 mins ,only bottom part was light brown in color)
  
  
    Fresh cookies out from the oven .. Isn't it looking delicious ??