Burger Cheese Melt

You just have to try this - for all those who love Burgers

Ingredients

Burger Patty - recipe given below

8 slices bread of choice

16 slices cheese of choice

2 onions sliced and sauteed.

Barbeque Sauce

Butter

First make the burger patty.

• 500 gms mince meat
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 bunch of corriander leaves chopped
• 1 small green chilly chopped finely
• 1 tbsp worchestershire sauce
• 1 tsp corriander powder
• 1 tsp red chilly
• salt to taste

Mix all above and keep aside for 1/2 hour for the flavours to meld together.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a frying pan.

Make patty with wet hands and cook on high flame to seal the meat.

Turn only when done on one side, co.ooking the second side on medium flame

Cook till done

Place a slice of bread on a butter grill pan, top with a slice of cheese.

Then layer with the onions and top with a burger patty

Spread some barbeque sauce over the patty and top with another slice of cheese.

Finally top with a slice of bread, buttered on the outside.

Cook in the grill pan - if you don't have a press down grill, place something heavy on the top slice of bread to keep it down.

Serve with fries and a salad

Spicy Crinkle Chocolate Cupcakes

Christmas is round the corner.  The mood was for baking something with spice.  So here is my version of Crinkle cookies in a cupcake

Ingredients

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 cup castor sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 /2 tsp cinnamon powder

1/2 tsp nutmeg powder

pinch of salt

Confectioner Sugar

Mix the cocoa powder, castor sugar and oil till it all comes together in one lump.  This can be done with a spoon.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, alongwith the vanilla extract

Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg powders and mix just to bring together.  Do not beat

Keep in a cool place for 4-6 hours.

Preheat oven to 180 C.  Take some of the chilled dough and roll it in your hands.

Roll in the confectioner Sugar till fully coated.

Bake in a muffin tray - I used a mini size - for 10-12 min.

Apple Pie Cheesecake

What happens when you cross an Apple Pie with a Cheesecake ?? You get a slice of heaven.  My two favourite desserts in one go. 

Crust:
1 1/2 cups digestive cookie crumbs
3 tablespoons castor sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup butter, melted

Apple Layer
4 apples (peeled, cored, sliced very thin)
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cheesecake Layer
8 oz. cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup sugar
  

• Preheat oven to 180 Degrees C

• In a bowl, combine the biscuit crumbs, sugar, cinnamon and melted butter. Mix well and press into a 10-inch pie plate and up the sides. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes until golden in color. Remove pie shell from oven and cool completely.  Refrigerate pie shell while making apple filling.

• In a saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter and add brown sugar, salt and cinnamon. Stir with a wooden spoon. Add apples and stir. Cook over medium to medium-high heat for 15 to 20 minutes until apples are softened and tender. Let cool for 10 minutes and pour into pie shell.  

• In a clean bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar for about 1 minute until smooth. Add egg, lemon juice and vanilla and beat for 1 minute or until fully blended. Pour over apple filling in pie shell. 

• Bake for 30 minutes until an inserted knife comes out clean. Remove pie from oven and let cool. Refrigerate for 4 hours. Let stand outside the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

CHOCOLATE FUDGE

After trying out various recipes I found online, I finally settled on this one as the best.  With most of the other recipes a cooking thermometer is needed to keep track of the temperature of the sugar and they seemed extremely cubersome.

This recipe does'nt call for anything special nor is it time consuming.  The fudge set really well and tastes good.

1/2 cup cream
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups mini marshmallows
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Line a brownie dish with parchment paper and brush with butter

Combine sugar, salt, butter, cream, and marshmallows in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan. 

Cook over medium heat, stirring, until butter and marshmallows are melted

Bring mixture to a boil stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.  The mixture will start coming away from the sides of the pan.

Add chopped chocolate and vanilla to saucepan.  Use chocolate chips [I did'nt so did not get a glossy look on the fudge]

Stir until chips are melted and combined. 

Pour this fudge mix into the pan. 

Cool fudge in the pan, before cutting into squares. 

Besan Ladoo

I love Besan Ladoos.  This is my favouritest Indian sweet.  Normally avoid making it as I tend to eat lots of them.

Easy to make

1 cup besan 

3/4 cup ghee

3/4 - 1 cup powdered sugar [depends on how sweet you like it]

4 pcs small cardamom

1/2 cup chopped almonds or peanuts

some strands of Saffron

• Heat the ghee in a karahi.
• Add the besan, on medium flame, and cook till fragrant and changes colour slightly.  Be careful as this burns very suddenly.
• Turn of the heat and allow the mixture to cool
• Powder the cardamom along with the sugar.
• Soak the saffron in a teaspoon of water
• Once mix is slightly cool, add in the sugar, nuts and kesar.
• Mix thoroughly and check on the sweetness.
• Shape into small round balls and enjoy 

Mini Pies

I'm an extremely lazy blogger.
So i probably do one post a month :(

This one is just a version of the Mini Caramel Apple pie done earlier, but with different fillings.

Recipe can be found here 

So we have Apple Caramel, Chocolate Marshmallow Fluff, Strawberry Coulis

Mint Ice Cream Pie

Not really a Pie nor a cheesecake but just deliciousness on a crust.

The base is crushed mint cookies, topped with mint ice cream and chocolate chips.

 How delicious is that.  A quick note - since this is an ice cream pie it needs to be kept frozen for at least 5 hours before serving.  Leftovers, if any, also need to be kept frozen.

Ingredients & Method

Oreo originals, 1 packet

1/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp melted butter

1/2 litre vanilla ice cream, softened

1/2 cup mint syrup

1 tsp peppermint essence

few drops green food colour

1/2 cup chocolate chips

• Lightly spray a 9-inch springform pan with a little butter. 
• In a food processor pulse the entire package of cookies until fine crumbs.  Use the centre cream.  Mix in the butter and sugar.
• Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan. 
• Bake in a preheated 180 C oven for 10 min
• Stir the ice cream to break up lumps.  Do not let it melt
• Add in the mint syrup [I used Monin's Mojito], essence and food coloring. Do as much food coloring as you want until you reach the desired color you want your pie to be.
• Fold in the chocolate chips
• Freeze overnight or for at least 8 hours.

Serve directly from the freezer and return to the freezer as soon as you are finished serving. It is ice cream and will melt easily and quickly!

Pizza Bread

In continuation with the yeast experiments, the next in line was Pizza Bread.  The original recipe is from The Ivory Hut.

This is an absolutely tasty bread, full of lots of flavour.   Lots of cheese and italian spices ties it all together.

The topping combinations are endless.  As you can see I started of with Garlic and Bell Pepper, then added on jalapeno, pineapple, basil leaves

The actual bread recipe is very simple and basic.  So do play with the additions.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon yeast
• 3/4 cups warm water
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup favorite toppings, diced - minced garlic, chopped bell pepper, pineapple, jalapeno
• 1 tbsp dried pizza topping - oregano, basil, chilli flakes.
• ½ cup Cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Sprinkle yeast over warm water in a large bowl. Add in sugar and mix to dissolve.  Let it sit till foamy - around 2 minutes. Add in flour, pizza seasoning and salt. Mix using a spoon just until it comes together. 

Add in the toppings and Cheese and mix to combine well. The dough will be slightly wet. Dust with a bit more flour if it feels too wet. Let rise for about 1 hour, then put in the refrigerator to continue rising for another hour.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Flour your counter top, then pat out the dough into a rough rectangle. Sprinkle mozzarella in the centre and fold the dough to encase the cheese. Let your loaf rest while you preheat oven to 200 degrees C

Bake the bread, for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown. About 3 minutes before taking it out, lightly brush the top with olive oil and let it finish baking. Let rest on a wire rack to cool slightly before slicing.

Focaccia

So continues my adventure with yeast.  I found fresh yeast, in one of the supermarts, and have been using that.  Its been a boon.

Focaccia is a really simple bread.  Easy to throw together and make.

Make this for a quick dinner with soup or chicken.  

Torn and dunked in olive oil and balsamic, absolutely yumm

Ingredients - for the dough

1. 2 cups – Flour 
2. 1 ¼ tsp dry yeast 
3. 1 tsp sugar
4. 1 tsp salt
5. 3/4 cup buttermilk [this was a recommendation from a friend]
6. ¼ cup warm water
7. 2 Tbsp olive oil

Ingredients for Topping

1. salt
2. jalapeno
3. basil leaves
4. oregano & basil,  dried

• In a large bowl, put the yeast, sugar and dissolve in warm water.
• Let this be for 15 min in a warm place till it doubles and is frothy - Please ensure the water is just the right temperature- not too hot because that will kill the yeast and not too cool because the yeast won’t prove. Approximately 40 C is good.  Proper proving of the yeast is vital to good bread making
• Once the yeast has bloomed, add 1/2 cup of flour and mix well.   
• Add in the balance flour & salt.   
• Add in the buttermilk.  The mixture will be sticky.  
• Normally Focaccia dough is really wet so you might prefer to make it with a mixer.
• Mix in the Olive oil and knead for another 10 minutes till you have a soft and manageable dough now.  
• Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and rest till double.  
• Remove from the bowl once the dough is doubled and gently knock out the air.
• I used an heavy bottom oven tray and just hand fitted the dough into it.   
• Cover with a damp kitchen towel  and leave to rise again.
• Using your fingertips make little dimples on the surface of the bread.  
• Drizzle with Olive oil and sprinkle some salt, oregano and dried basil on top.
• I also added some jalepeno. 
• Bake in a preheated 200 C oven, for 20 minute
• Serve with Olive oil and balsamic vinegar, fresh out of the oven.

Toppings can be varied to suit yourself

Chocolate Mousse

I don't seem to have posted my chocolate mousse recipe.  Wonder why ?

     225 gms dark chocolate

     1 tsp coffee dissolved in 1/4 cup water

     1 tbsp butter

      3 eggs separated

       Separate the egg white and yolks.

       Beat egg whites till stiff

       Using a double boiler melt the chocolate.

       Add in the butter and coffee and mix well

        Remove from heat and mix in the egg yolks.

       Once incorporated fold in the egg whites, taking care not to deflate them.

        Pour into individual servings and keep to chill and set

Chocolate Fudge Sauce

This one for my daughter.  For all the late night cravings of hot chocolate fudge - sadly we found out just yesterday, late at night, that Nirulas has closed all its branches in Gurgaon.  So no complaints now ..... there's lots of fudge sauce and ice cream in the fridge, go ahead and make your own Sundae.

Recipe follows....

115 gms butter

180 gms chocolate

1 tin condensed milk

Melt the butter on medium heat.

Add in the chopped chocolate or chips and mix till smooth.

Mix in the condensed milk and combine well.

Once cooled stored in the refrigerator.

Cherry Mojito

Summer and its beautiful fruit bounty.  Great cherries, mangoes, watermelon, melons of all types, peaches........ all fresh

I am a great Mojito fan in summer - it combines my favourite elements of lime and mint.  Experiment with fresh fruits and Mojito and you have a winner on your hand.  

 

• 6 lemon wedges
• 2 springs mint leaves
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 15 ml lemon juice
• 15 ml MOJITO mint flavour
• 30 ml white rum
• Top with sprite n mint sprig

1. Muddle the lemon wedges, mint leaves, sugar and some cherries to release juices n flavours.
2. Add the mint flavour and white rum
3. Top with lots of crushed ice and serve topped with a cherry and a few mint leaves.