Eggless Whole Wheat Apple Jam muffins with caramel fudge

I always end up with lots of apples and bananas after navrathri, i m sure it must be the case with many who keep golu. Bananas atleast i freeze them to be used later in smoothies. But with apples i don't know what to do? How much can we eat, and how much can we cook? 
This time, i just shredded all the apples around a dozen of them and made into a jam, nothing fancy, just a normal homemade jam, with lots of spices. It tasted a bit like halwa too, this way you get to satiate your sweet tooth too.

Okies i still have some leftover apple jam, so decided to make them into muffins for the bake-a-thon. These muffins are not the fluffy kind, these were a little bit dense, but a nicer dense, not the cardboard-y dense. Every bite bursting with the flavors of the apple jam and the warm spices added to it. To top it more, i inserted a caramel fudge candy into each muffins to get that warm gooey caramel when you enjoy the muffins warm. These are perfect breakfast muffins, if you chuck the caramel, since i made these for kids, i thought why not? Make these for a quick evening snack to surprise your lil kings/queens at home.

Ingredients

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup apple jam

1/4 cup sugar ( i didnt add sugar at all, as i felt the sugar in the apple jam was well enough)

1/4 cup poil

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter milk
8-10 nos caramel fudge toffees

For the Apple Jam

3-4 medium sized apples

1 tsp cinnamon powder

2 pinches of nutmeg powder

2-3 cloves pounded
1/2 tsp ginger powder

4 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp butter

Method

• Wash, peel, core and shred the apples. In a sauce pan, add butter, next add the shredded apples, saute it. 
• Next add the spices and sugar and mix well. Let this cook in slow flame, until all the liquid is absorbed. Once done, cool it completely and use it in the cake. If not using immediately, store it in an air-tight container in the fridge.
• This can be used as a spread on breads/roti's, tastes delicious.

Method for the muffins

• Preheat the oven to 170 C and line the muffin tray with liners. I got around 8 medium-sized muffins for the above measurement.
• Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder. Since i have added all spices to the apples, i didn't add  any spices to the flour mix. 
• In another bowl, take the apple jam, add oil and buttermilk to it and whisk well to a smooth liquid, it won't be runny, but a smooth wet substance.  To this add the flour in batches and using a spatuala mix the contents to smooth batter. 
• Take care not to mix vigorously and mix in single direction and see to that no white flour is left in the batter. The batter would be thick, so you have to spoon the batter into the moulds. If you feel it is very thick, add 2-3 tbsp of water/milk/buttermilk to it and mix again.
• Using an ice-cream scoop, scoop the batter into the prepared muffin holes. Fill 3/4 of each hole. Stick a caramel fudge candy in the middle of the muffins. I left a little of the candy to peep out of the muffin.
• Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for about 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in middle comes out clean, in this case you might get some gooey caramel!!

• Remove the muffins from the oven, let it cool on the wire rack, serve them warm. To enjoy the gooey caramel, the muffins must be served a little warm. If they are pretty cool, you might taste chewy caramel, in that case warm the muffins and serve.
• Both the kiddos wanted some chocolate on top so i drizzled a little ganache on top and served.

Check out the other bloggers doing this Bake-a-thon   

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Eggless Whole Wheat Cardamom flavored Mango Muffins

I love gifting my friends edible gifts. I wait for opportunities, birthdays, anniversaries, 'just like that i made this'  and make them guinea pigs for many of my experiments. We celebrated a dear friend's birthday in October, i made some granola, nankhatais, her favorite fruit cake, mango muffins, ragi ladoos etc to add to her gift basket.  I frosted the mango muffins with ganache, which is her favorite frosting. 

The muffins were such a hit, kids wanted me to make it again. So, for diwali when i made mango ladoos, my son was behind me asking me bake mango muffins for him. I froze the leftover puree, so last week when i was planning the bake-a-thon bakes, i made these again and this time, ensured i click them for the blog too. 

The Gift basket i made for my friend's birthday

The recipe is my fool-proof vanilla cake recipe, which i have tweaked a bit and have used mango puree for the liquid. The canned puree, adds such a gorgeous color, i know it might not be natural, but then if you are using canned goods once in blue moon, it is fine. I m waiting for the mango season to make these again with alphonso or the sidhri variety. These are great afterschool treats and a wonderful way to make your kids enjoy fruits, if they run a mile, hearing the name

Ingredients

1.5 cups of Whole Wheat flour

1 cup mango puree, i used canned

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

7-8 cardamom pods, cover removed and pounded well

2-3 cloves pounded 

1/3 cup - 1/2 cup butter milk 

1/2 cup oil

Frosting

1/4 cup cream cheese

2 tbsp butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup whipping cream

2-3 tbsp icing sugar

Method

Take cream cheese, butter and whipping cream together in a bowl, whip together for 3-4 minutes, add icing sugar and whip for another minute. The frosting should be thick and holding by this time. Keep it refreigerated until use.

Method for the muffins

• Preheat the oven to 170C, line a muffin tray with liners. I got around 10 muffins. Depending on how you fill the muffin tray, you might get around 10-12 normal-sized muffins.
• In a large bowl, sift together whole wheat flour, baking powder and baking soda. To this add pounded cardamom and clove powder. 
• In another bowl, take mango puree, sugar, add oil and butter milk to it and using a electric beater beat together to form a uniform liquid.  you can also whisk it with your hands, i prefered electric beater.

• Take the dry flour mixture and add it to the liquid in 3 batches. While adding mix it together using a spatuala. Take care not to mix vigorously. Mix in one direction, see to that there is no traces of flour in the batter.
• Using a ice-cream scoop or a ladle, scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tray. Fill 3/4 th of the each muffin hole. I usually grease the ladle or the ice-cream scoop with little oil, so the batter won't stick to it.
• Bake the muffins in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle of muffins comes out clean.

• Once done, remove the muffins from the oven, transfer it to a wire rack, let it cool completely. If serving without frosting, serve it warm. 

• If planning to frost, fill the frosting in a piping bag, using any nozzle, pipe some cream on top and enjoy the muffins. 

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Eggless Whole Wheat mocha muffins

Its December 2018, a month many eagerly await, for Christmas, for the holidays, for the New year. December is the month, we BM-ers do a Bake-a-thon,an event by Srivalli. Where we post 3 days in a week, any recipe that is baked.

This year, i have taken a back seat with respect to baking, or atleast in the later part of the year, i restricted making any sweet bakes. Though kids would love to enjoy sweet bakes, it is me and my hubby, we didnt want to sabotage our clean eating, as both of us are under quanitified eating. But Bake-a-thon is something i couldn't resist. It is just 13 days and what is holidays without delicious bakes??? I haven't chosen any theme so far, but for week 1, i will be posting 3 muffin recipes. 

First on the list is this delicous mocha muffins. Originally these were made for a e-magazine, but that didnt happen, so i thought of using them for bake-a-thon. There is no better ingredient than chocolate to start the series with!!! Chocoalte and coffee two of my favorites, though i don't drink coffee these days, i do love the aroma in bakes. 

These muffins are loaded with chunks of lindt dark chocoalte. Do go with chocolate chunks than chips, you would love the texture when you bite into the muffins. We at home prefer dark chocoalte to milk chocolate, if you are not a big fan of dark chocoalte, please go ahead and use milk chocolate. Enjoy these muffins warm with your evening cup, great snack for road trips and picnics. They also make a great gift for your food loving friend and family. Do make these and share the joy, cheer and the calories this festive season

Ingredients

225 grams Whole wheat flour

20 grams cocoa powder

1 tsp baking  powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

250 grams of condensed milk

1/2 cup strong black coffee 100 grams oil

100 grams chopped dark chocolate, I used Lindt

Method

• Preheat the oven 170c, prepare  a Muffin pan and lay them with muffins liners.
• In  large bowl sift together flour, cocoa baking powder, baking soda together. I normally use a balloon whisk to mix the ingredients together.
• In a microwave safe mug, heat 1/2 cup water and add 2 tbsp instant coffee powder to it, mix well a;nd set aside to cool down.
• In another bowl, take condensed milk, add oil and coffee to it, whisk well to combine.

• To this now add the dry ingredients and using a  spatula mix the dry into wet. Take care not to mix vigorously.
• Divide the batter into the muffin pan.i used an ice cream scoop, dropped around 1 scoop in each muffin cup. I got around 12 muffins.
• Bake the muffins in the preheated oven around 35-40minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. 

• Remove the muffins from the oven let it sit for 5 minutes then remove it on to a wire rack to cool. Serve the warm along with coffee for a yumm snack.

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Whole Wheat Walnut Shortbreads

I m still going with my cookie baking, the almond shortbreads i baked last week are over and my lil one asked me bake some more cookies.I remembered this walnut shortbreads post needed some decent pictures, and got it done this week.

I got around 2 dozen cookies, both the kiddos are happily munching, inspite the fact the walnuts were tasting a bit old and i was worried whether they would make faces for the taste. But, they are too busy enjoying the shortbreads, they didnt give a damn about the walnuts. 

The first time i made these, i used all purpose flour and crisco, this time i have used whole wheat flour and butter, it came out perfect, again these shortbreads, make a perfect gift for this festive season. Do make and share the joy and also the calories.

Recipe source : Joy of Baking

Ingredients

1 cup walnuts toasted and coarsely chopped

2  cups whole wheat flour

2 tbsp milk (optional)
1/4tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter

 2/3 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon Powder

Method

• Preheat oven to 170C. Line a cookie tray with parchment paper. Toast the walnuts, either in the microwave for 90 seconds, stirring after every 30 seconds or on the stove-top. Let it cool, pulse it roughly in the processor, this way you won't have huge pieces of walnuts, which is a big no-no for my kids. 
• In a medium sized bowl place the flour, cinnamon powder and salt, whisk to combine. In another bowl, using your electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).

• Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then add the flour mixture, mixing only until incorporated.  Stir in the chopped Walnuts. After adding the walnuts,  my dough became a little crumbly, so added 2 tbsp of milk to get it to dough consistency.
• Divide the dough in half, shape each half in to logs and wrap them in plastic  and refrigerate until firm (at least one hour). 

• Remove one half of the dough from the refrigerator, using a sharp serrated knife, cut thick rounds and place them on the baking sheet.The shape might little off, just adjust them in your palms to get a round shape. 
• Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets and refrigerate for 10 minutes to firm up the cookie dough. Repeat the same with rest of the dough and refrigerate until use.

• Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until the shortbread's are a deep brown color. This ensures a crunchy and crumbly cookie. Remove cookies from oven and cool on a wire rack.  

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Rava Idly/Semolina Idly/Semolina cake with veggies - Instant Sooji Idly

I cannot imagine a south-indian house-hold running with idly/dosa. Almost every one of them will have a dabba of idly/dosa batter for emergencies in their fridge. I too have idly/dosa batter always in my fridge, every sunday it is a ritual to soak rice and dal for grinding batter. In my mom's place it is my dad's duty to grind idly batter, though recent days amma is managing it all alone, but still appa monitors the grinder😀

So, what will we do when we run out of our primary breakfast source, we improvise and still try to make our soft and fluffy idlies, appear on the table. Instant rava idly/Sooji idly is a blessing in those times, mix and steam, you can add a variety of veggies to it, make it colorful by adding veggie/spinach paste.

Rava idly happens atleast once in 15 days at home, mainly for kiddo's breakfast box. Elder one loves to have it with podi, whereas my lil one is happy with sambar or some pickle mixed with yogurt, yeah, he is one of kind in our house. A quickie recipe for lunchboxes or even for a weekend breakfast, do try and let me know how you liked it.

Ingredients
2 cups of Rawa/Sooji/Semolina
2 cups of Sour Yoghurt,Whisked
1 tsp of Eno Fruit Salt or 1/2 tsp baking soda
Salt to taste

For Seasoning
2 tsp oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 onion, finely sliced
1 carrot, grated
1 capsicum, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp sambar powder (or you can add 2 green chilies too)

1/2 tsp Ginger juliennes

2 sprigs Curry leaves

hing a pinch

Method

• Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan and roast the Semolina, until it gives out a nice aroma, Watch the flame. Mix the roasted semolina with the yoghurt and salt. 
• If the batter is too thick you can add little more yoghurt or Water.  I normally use Thick Buttermilk instead of Yoghurt. 
• Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, add onion, curry leaves, hing and ginger and saute for a minute. Then add the veggies and saute for 3-4 minutes.
• Next add sambar powder and cover and cook for 5 minutes until the rawness escapes. Once done, remove and add this to the rava batter, Mix well. 
• Next add the fruit salt or baking soda  to the batter and mix well. Let it sit for 5 minutes. 

• Grease the Idly plates and Pour the batter into the moulds and steam cook for 10 minutes in a slow flame.
• When done, Take it out of the steamer, Give it a minute to cool and then unmould. Enjoy with any Spicy Chutney.
• We Enjoyed it with some Ivy gourd chutney and tiffen sambar.

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