Gluten free Christmas Fruit Cake

My last cake was Mawa (Koya) Cheese Cake for Diwali, after one and half month Fruit cake for Christmas. I couldn’t believe myself for such a change in my life style but, Christmas can’t be celebrated without a Cake! Hence, mentally prepared myself to cheat from HFLC !! Even during a cheat day I make sure that, I won’t cross 100 grams of carb’s per day and no more gluten :-)

This is my first gluten free cake. Yes, very little flour (no more wheat based) used just to bind the dry fruits. The cake tasted pretty similar to traditional (rum soaked) plum cake with loads of dry fruits in it. Though the ingredient’s list looks longer, the baking procedure is pretty easy and I’m sure you will love the taste and I bet, you can’t stop yourself with a single bite. 

 

 

Ingredients :  ¼ cup chopped  apricot     ;      ¼ cup chopped raisins   ;   ¼ cup chopped   dates ; ¼ cup chopped almonds     ;    ¼ cup chopped prunes   ;     ¼ cup chopped  walnut  ;    ¼ cup of fresh orange juice    ;    ¼ cup of light brown sugar     ;   ½ tsp vanilla essence    ;     ½ tsp of ginger powder    ;    ½ tsp of cinnamon powder     ;    1 ½ tbsp. of coco powder    ;    ½ cup of chocolate chip    ;    a pinch of cardamom powder    ;    1 egg   ;     60 gms of butter    ;   ½ cup of sorghums flour (remove 2 tbsp of flour and add 2 tbsp. tapioca flour or corn flour )    ;   1/4  tsp of baking powder    ;     ¼ tsp of baking soda      ;   ¼ cup of sugar    ;    1 tbsp. of orange zest    ;     melted chocolate for Christmas tree decoration  ;    1 tbsp. of icing sugar for snow effect 

In a bowl add the melted butter and all the dry fruits, orange juice, orange zest, sugar and allow it to boil and remove from the heat (stove) and mix well and allow to cool at room temperature.

In a separate bowl add all dry ingredients like, flour, coco powder, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom powder, cinnamon powder, ginger powder and mix thoroughly and keep aside.

In mixing bowl beat egg with brown sugar and vanilla essence until sugar dissolved. Add the dry fruit mixture, Nuts (almond & walnut) and the flour mixture and blend till all fully combined and cake batter consistency.

Pour the batter in the greased 5½’’ cake pan and bake it in the 180◦c pre heated oven for about 30 minutes. And allow to cool to room temperature.

For Christmas tree, chocolate decoration :  using melted chocolate draw the Christmas tree and transfer to the fridge to set and place them on the cake and sprinkle the icing sugar for snow effect. 

Wishing you all Merry Christmas and wishing you a very happy & prosperous New year. 

Rabri Ice Cream

Rabri (राबड़ी) or rabadi is a North Indian dessert, made with rich (milk) cream and nuts. This is the third “cool” recipe of this summer, to beat the heat. (Previous were Walnut Caramel Ice Cream and Dates Choco Bar)

Rabri can be presented as Popsicle, in the cone, cookie cup, etc. 

Ingredient’s :    1 ½ cup of cream     ;     1 ½ cup of whole milk      ;      ½ cup of heavy cream     ;   1/2 tsp of cardamom powder        ;       1/8 cup of chopped nuts (pistachios  & Almonds)  ;    1/8 cup of sugar     ;      ½ cup of heavy cream 

Boil the whole milk and cream in a wide & thick bottom pan. Reduce flame to medium to low and allow the milk to reduce, 1/3 of its original quantity.  {Thick milk layer (Milk skin or lactoderm) forms over the top, using the spatula give a gentle whisk and continue to simmer}.

Meanwhile, soak almonds and pistachios in hot water for about 10 – 15 minutes and then remove their skins and chop finely. 

Just before removing the milk pan from heat, Add sugar, cardamom powder, chopped nuts and stir well. Allow the milk to cool to room temperature 

In meantime, beat the heavy cream (using hand mixture) till it forms soft peaks consistency and keep it the fridge.

Once, the rabri come to room temperature, add the whipped heavy cream into it and fold well. Either pour into ice cream mold or Keep it in the freezer bowl and keep it in the fridge for 4 – 6 hour.

Dry Fruit Oats Soft Cookies

Though I frequently make/bake Oats cookies as a pre workout meal for my son, never posted here!

If cookies made with flour and oats the cookies become hard and crisp, (will post that recipe later) by adding seeds and dry fruits the cookie became soft and chewy. This can be even blend with protein shake or even just with milk but, I love when it’s blended with 50-50 milk and cream. Imm……its Divine.

Ingredient :    1 ½ cup of oats     ;      1 /2 cup of all purpose flour    ;     1 tsp of baking powder     ;      1 tsp of baking soda     ;     a pinch of salt       ;      1 cup almonds ( powdered )      ;      1 cup of mixed seeds and nuts (sunflower, pumpkin and walnut powdered)          ;         10 no’s of apricots, dates and Fig  (pasted)    ;        120 gms of butter        ;        1/2 cup  light brown sugar        ;       ½ cup of sugar       ;        1 egg      ;     1 /4 cup of wheat germs (optional)     ;      1tsp of vanilla essence

Soak dates, apricot & fig for some time and grind into fine paste, keep aside.

Mix all dry ingredients (flour, oats, salt, baking powder, seeds and nuts powder, baking soda and keep aside.

In a mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar until to form a creamy texture and add egg, vanilla essence and blend further 2 – 4 min.  

Keep the mixer/blender running at med speed; slowly add the dry mixture and the fruits paste till all well combined. With the help of ice cream scoop, place it on the baking tray.

Transfer the baking tray into a pre heated oven and bake at 180°C for about 20 - 25 min.

Fudgy Brownies

After posting consecutive Bread Recipes, My taste bud demands the Chocolates.  As a result, Fudgy Brownies.

Brownies, falls between  cake and Cookies can be made either soft or hard and Like Fudge, can be made in different variation (using fruits, nuts, chocolate chunks etc) also  used for Ice-cream topping.

I do not know the origin of Brownies but I know, it’s quite popular in US. It’s my favorite too. Since, I like the bitterness of Chocolate, I prefer to use bitter (sweet) chocolate but semisweet also can be used.

Is there any Indian sweet, that closely match the Brownie?  (Answer at the end of this post)

Let’s take our ingredients………..  100 g of  Butter (unsalted)  butter, cut into pieces  ;  1 Cup  (125 g) all-purpose flour  (spooned and leveled)  ;  ¼  (30 g) cup unsweetened cocoa powder  ;  ½  teaspoon baking powder  ;  ½  teaspoon salt  ;   225 gms of  semisweet  or bitter sweet chocolate, chopped  ;   1 ¼  (250 g) cups sugar  ;   3 large eggs  ;  ½ cup of mixed nuts (broken)

Lets get in to Action!

In a bowl, whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

Put chopped chocolate and butter into a double boiler  and stir gently until the chocolate completely melted and smooth. Remove bowl from pan and allow it to cool.  (Chocolate can be melted in the microwave oven too, its bit easy and less mess)

Add sugar and mix well. Later, add eggs and mix to combine. Add flour mixture to it and mix until moistened (do not over mix) set aside.

Meanwhile, Grease a baking pan and place a parchment paper, leaving an extra length to overhang on the two sides of the pan. (Extra length helps you later, to remove the baked brownies easily away from the pan)

Transfer batter to the prepared baking pan and smooth top. Bake it in the Preheat oven until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. (May take about 50 to 60 minutes)

Allow the pan to cool for a while and with the help of paper overhang, lift brownies out of pan; once, completely cooled, slice them to the desired size and shape by dampened serrated knife.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature and consume within two days.

Bitter Chocolate brownies are a Perfect combination with Coffee; my husband says. But, I like with Vanilla Ice Cream. It’s my son favorite post swim workout snake. Let me know your favorite combination.

Ha ! for my PURE Veggie friends, it can be done Egg less version too.  I got the following Egg Substitutes from here. But, not tried yet. if you tried, please let me know.

Silken Tofu/ Tofu  :  ( 1/4 cup blended silken tofu = 1 egg )  Process in a blender until completely smooth and creamy, leaving no graininess

Applesauce  :  (1/3 cup applesauce = 1 egg or ¼ cup Applesauce + 1 tsp Baking Powder )

Soy Yogurt/Plain Yogurt  :  ( ¼ cup Yogurt= 1 EGG )

Bananas :  (½ pureed Banana, about  1/4 cup = 1 egg)

Flax seeds : (1 tbsp ground Flax seeds +3 tbsp Water =1 egg)  Grind the flax seeds in a coffee grinder, and mix with water. Allow it to rest till it becomes gelatinous.

Answer to the Quiz : I have no idea! I couldn’t think of any. not even a close match!

Chocolate Fudge

After Posting, my very first post “whole wheat Pizza”,  thought of simple and quick sweet Recipe. So, Fudge is my only choice.  As a chocolate lover, (my Favorite is the Dark chocolate.  I just love the harness and bitterness of it) want to make chocolate fudge.

Fudge falls under Confectionery category hence, its sugar based. Fudge can be made in different variations also can be solid and liquid. (Hot Fudge is usually in liquid form)

Fudge is basically made of Sugar and dairy products. We can add nuts or Fruits, not only to taste better; also it’s a best way to add nuts to my son’s diet.   Okay…..Do you any Indian Fudge ?  (Answer at the end of this post)

Chocolate fudge just takes about 20 -25 min to make and needs following:

Dark chocolate-300 gms (70 % Coco) ;  Milk chocolate – 150 gms ;  Condense milk -1 can (395gms) ; Butter – 25 gms ; Walnuts -1/4 cup

Once, you have the above ingredients (direct from supermarket nature) are on your kitchen, lets act……….

Put the chopped chocolate, condensed milk, butter  in a heavy-based pan on a low heat, and stir to melt.

Crush the walnuts in to irregular size and add the nuts to the melted chocolate and condensed milk and stir well to mix.

Pour this mixture into a foil tray (around 9’’ square), smoothing / level the top.

Let the fudge cool, and refrigerate until set. Then cut in to desired shape and size. Keep in the Fridge or freezer. That’s it.  No need to thaw just eats straight away.

Try the Fudge with black coffee, especially after a nap in the noon – Oh its divine!  (I know, coffee mug is missing in the Photograph) 

Hope, you try this simple recipe and let me know if you like it.

Answer to the Quiz : Milk Sweets. (Any milk sweet that made up with just sugar and Milk product that can be called Fudge) Did you ever tried Milkgova with Chocolate chips ? If not, it’s worth trying.