Chocolate Silk Raspberry Tart

It finally feels like spring in Minnesota! I am glad that the snow showers and the extreme cold are done with atleast for a while! Now starts the time of getting together with friends and celebrating some good times before the next strike of winter, which will be here sooner than desirable in MN :-(
I am also glad its a Friday (TGIF)! - been looking forward to this break ever since Monday ;-). I thought I would also share with you a dessert that I recently tried when we had some friends over at our home. This is one delicious, smooth, creamy and rich dessert! It's relatively easy and can be prepared ahead of time. The recipe isn't as complicated as its name "Chocolate Silk Raspberry Tart". I found the recipe on Betty Crocker website. Chocolate Silk Raspberry Tart

Ingredients: 20 creme-filled golden sandwich cookies, crushed (2 cups) 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips 2 cups whipping (heavy) cream 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened 1 cup fresh raspberries 2 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam

Directions: Heat oven to 375°F. In medium bowl, mix cookie crumbs and butter. In 9- or 10-inch springform pan, press mixture in bottom and 1 inch up side. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until set. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in 1-quart saucepan, heat chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the whipping cream over low heat, stirring frequently, until chocolate is melted. Stir in vanilla. Cool to room temperature, about 15 minutes. In large bowl with electric mixer, beat cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Beat in chocolate mixture until creamy. Set aside. In another large bowl with electric mixer, beat remaining 1 1/2 cups whipping cream on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold half of whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until blended. Fold in remaining whipped cream. Spoon into cooled baked crust. Refrigerate until set, about 4 hours. To serve, arrange raspberries around edge of tart. In small microwavable bowl, microwave jam on High 1 to 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted; lightly brush over raspberries. Remove side of pan. Cut tart into wedges. Store in refrigerator.

MY VARIATIONS: I layered the crushed cookies on the bottom only of a springform pan and baked until golden brown and set. I made the dessert the day before and refrigerated until serving. Instead of using raspberry jam, I bought a frozen bag of raspberries. Thawed it by immersing the puch in water for 10-15 minutes. Kept the thawed raspberries refrigerated. Unmolded the tart from the springform pan and just before serving, spooned the raspberries with the juice (not heavy syrup and hence not extremely sweetened) along the sides of the tart. A few sprigs of mint and some chocolate shavings completed the decor. It sure looked and tasted amazing!

VERDICT: We really enjoyed this dessert as did our guests! They gave me rave reviews! My lil girl who isn't much receptive even to desserts, enjoyed this immensely. With the cream cheese in it, it definitely tasted a lot like cheesecake which was amazing! It sure was pure creamy dreamy heaven! The slightly tart raspberries were amazing against the sweet smooth chocolate filling. The baked crushed golden cookies added a crunch and character to the tart. I am a fan, for sure! Please do try this out and I'm sure you'll looove it!

Yeast Doughnuts for Daring Baker's Challenge!

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

Yes!! I did it on time! Its been a couple of months since I've posted on the blog, and I've missed a few of the challenges as well... But I'm more than happy to be back, that too with a successful completion of the challenge! There is a reason I've highlighted the word "successful". Its because it had every reason to be the opposite when I attempted the challenge! Of course, I kind of "planned' it for the last minute.. Starting the challenge the evening before the posting date is never easy.. My little girl's school harvest festival being on the same evening didn't help much! We just went through a move (Yay! We are in our new home!!) and my baking/measuring stuff are still somewhere in the boxes.. Eyeballing 2/3 cup of flour is not fun! And the weather has gone berserk here- extremely windy, rainy and a bit cold. Doughnuts rising well..? I didn't think so! Ages old yeast also added to the chaos...

But even after everything that could've gone wrong, I completed the challenge - "successfully". The yeast didn't froth initially, but I still went ahead with making the dough. I didn't have a stand mixer, so I just mixed with a spoon and then later kneaded the dough a bit. But it came together in just a few minutes, nice, soft and smooth! I left the dough in the pre-warmed oven to help it rise a bit and left for my little one's school. But the dough didn't seem to have risen (maybe it did a bit!?) when I came back, but since there was no going back, I rolled the dough out and cut out the doughnuts.

I just wanted to test whether the doughnuts would be any good with the seemingly flat dough! But it wasn't as bad as I thought and showed some promise. So I cut out the rest of the doughnuts and let it sit in a warmed oven for about 30 minutes. I didn't have a thermometer so again, it was hard keeping the temperature constant. Anyways, the doughnuts fried beautifully to a golden brown color quickly and was crisp on the outside with a yeasty chewy inside. I was surprised at how "well-rounded" they got once they were in the oil. My only issue was many of them cracking open in the oil (which I assumed was due to the oil being heated up too much?).

Anyways, despite everything, the doughnuts turned out really nice. I really didn't know how to dress up a doughnut, so a sprinkle of powdered sugar did the trick well..

I think this is a very solid recipe which would give consistent results and even after so many drawbacks, I got it right! I'm happy to be back, and that too with some handsome doughnuts!

Yeast Doughnuts:

Preparation time:

Hands on prep time - 25 minutes
Rising time - 1.5 hours total
Cooking time - 12 minutes
Yield: 20 to 25 doughnuts & 20 to 25 doughnut holes, depending on size

Ingredients

Milk 1.5 cup / 360 ml
Vegetable Shortening 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 70 gm / 2.5 oz (can substitute butter, margarine or lard) Active Dry Yeast 4.5 teaspoon (2 pkgs.) / 22.5 ml / 14 gm / ½ oz
Warm Water 1/3 cup / 80 ml (95°F to 105°F / 35°C to 41°C)
Eggs, Large, beaten 2
White Granulated Sugar ¼ cup / 60 ml / 55 gm / 2 oz
Table Salt 1.5 teaspoon / 7.5 ml / 9 gm / 1/3 oz
Nutmeg, grated 1 tsp. / 5 ml / 6 gm / ¼ oz
All Purpose Flour 4 2/3 cup / 1,120 ml / 650 gm / 23 oz + extra for dusting surface
Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil
(can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)




Directions:

1. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)

2. Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.

3. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.

4. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.

5. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.

6. Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.

7. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

8. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).

9. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.

10. Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C.

11. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).

12. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.



Bomboloni

Preparation time:
Hands on prep time - 35 minutes
Rising time - 1 1/2 hours plus overnight
Cooking time - 10 minutes
Yield: About 32 Bomboloni

Ingredients

Water, Lukewarm 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon
Active Dry Yeast 3 ¼ teaspoon (1.5 pkgs.) / 16.25 ml / 10 gm / .35 oz
Honey 1.5 Tablespoon / 22.5 ml
All Purpose Flour 3 cup / 720 ml / 420 gm / 14 ¾ oz
Milk 3 Tablespoon / 45 ml
Egg Yolk, Large 6
White Granulated Sugar 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 75 gm / 2 2/3 oz + more for rolling
Kosher (Flaked) Salt 2 teaspoon / 10 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz
Butter, Unsalted 3 Tablespoon / 45 ml / 42 gm / 1.5 oz
Canola Oil 3 cup / 720 ml / (Or any other flavorless oil used for frying)
Raspberry Jam, Seedless ¾ cup / 180 ml / 300 gm / 10.5 oz (or any flavor jam, preserves, jelly)

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, mix the water, yeast, honey and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (160 gm) of the flour. (Alternatively, whisk the ingredients by hand.) Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 1 hour.

2. Return the bowl to the mixer, fitted with a dough hook. Add the remaining 1 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons (260 gm) of flour, along with the milk, egg yolks, 1/3 cup of granulated sugar and the salt. Mix at low speed until blended, then add the butter and knead at medium speed until silky but sticky, about 5 minutes; the dough will not pull away from the side of the bowl.

3. Using an oiled spatula, scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

4. In a large saucepan, heat the canola oil to 360°F/180°C. Line a rack with paper towels. Fill a shallow bowl with 1/2 inch (12 mm)of granulated sugar. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough a scant 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick. Using a 2-inch (50 mm) round biscuit cutter, stamp out rounds. The original recipe said to not re-roll the dough, but I did and found it to be fine. Fry the rounds, 4 to 5 at a time, until they are browned, about 4 minutes (mine only took about a minute each – try to go more by sight). Be sure to keep the oil between 360°F and 375°F 180°C and 190°C. Drain the bomboloni on paper towels.

5. Roll them in the granulated sugar.

Filling Directions:

Fit a pastry bag with a plain donut tip (or a 1/4-inch (6 mm) tip) and fill with the preserves (you can also use a squeeze bottle). Poke the tip three-fourths of the way into the bomboloni and squeeze in the preserves, pulling the tip out slightly as you squeeze to fill them as much as possible. Serve warm.

Thanks for visiting me today! Have a great day!

Garden Tuna Melt from Kraft foods

Good morning everyone! Hope you all are doing fine. Last week was really hectic with last minute stuff to be taken care before my work and with lil LM starting school and all. She's going to her new school from tomorrow onwards. Hopefully everything will go alright, keeping my fingers crossed!!

I am kind of bummed that I was not able to post regularly the last couple of weeks. I am all the more bummed that my regular readers seem to have given up on me!! I am so sorry for the infrequent posts, I hope to get it back on track now!! Hope you all will continue to visit me and drop me your cheers, I really do miss it!

This recipe is from kraftfoods.com an excellent source for quick meals and creative desserts. Check out the actual recipe here. I tweaked the recipe a little and made it in my own way according to our tastes. Please make sure that you read the tips for a crisp sandwich. All of us love tuna sandwiches and this recipe was delightful as well, with the added crunch of crisp green bell peppers. It was delicious, trust me!! This recipe is a keeper for us and I hope it will be for you too!! Its THE BEST recipe for a quick and healthy munch any time of the day!

Recipe (Makes 3-4 servings) :

Canned tuna in water - 1, drained and flaked
Mayonnaise - 7 tbsp, divided
Chopped green pepper - 1/4 cup
Dried oregano - 1/2 tsp
Bread - 8 slices
Cheese singles - 4

Method:

Mix tuna, mayo, green peppers and seasonings together.

Divide the mixture between four slices of bread.

Place a slice of cheese over the tuna mixture on each sandwich.

Top with the other four slices of bread.

Spread 1 tbsp of mayo on either side of each sandwich.

Cook in a skillet until crisp and brown on both sides. **




Tips:

1. I omitted the onions and dried basil from the actual recipe.
2. I tried browning the sandwich in a skillet and my sandwich turned out to be a bit soggy.
3. For the second sandwich I used two slices of bread toasted in a regular toaster and then omitted the mayo spread on the surface. The result was an amazing healthier, crisp and appealing tuna melt sandwich.
4. I used wheat bread for the sandwich.

Hope you all will come visit me again. Have a great day and a relaxing weekend!!

Vanilla Cheesecake with Graham-Pecan Crust

Its time for all us Daring Bakers to reveal our challenge for the month of April. Drum roll please....... The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. We were required to bake a cheesecake and were allowed great freedom and creativity. The recipe given was for a basic vanilla cheesecake on a graham cracker crust.

This is my 11th Daring Baker Challenge. I decided to stick with the basics as this was my first cheesecake ever! So I made a Vanilla Cheesecake on a Graham-Pecan crust with home-made strawberry coulis. My creative juices were not flowing this month..... AT ALL.... Somehow I was deadly afraid of the challenge this time. I am still wondering why I was so scared of this challenge since the recipe seemed pretty much straight forward, and I have gone through with tougher challenges before! I guess the anticipation of my new work at the U and leaving my lil one at the school is getting to me even before I have started. I was procrastinating my challenge completion and finally mustered up enough courage to tackle it last Friday!!

I decided to make only 1/3 rd of the recipe so that I will have to make use of one 8oz block of cream cheese and adjusted all the other measurements accordingly. The crust was made as given in the recipe, but I added 1/4 cup of pecans to the food processor along with the graham crackers (1/3rd recipe) and crumbled it. The preparation of the cheesecake batter went without incidents. I baked the cake in a tart/quiche pan with fluted sides and removable bottom. I was planning to make some swirls on top with a different colored batter containing either chocolate or strawberry puree, but honestly in the end I just forgot!!

The cheesecake was baked in a water bath at 350F. In 20 minutes, when I checked the cheesecake seemed to be pretty much well-set without much jiggle in the middle. Maybe I should have checked it even before. Eventhough I thought I screwed everything up, it seemed pretty nice and well constructed. The gradual cooling helped and did not cause any cracks or craters on the surface and it turned out real nice and uniform.

After spending a day in the fridge, it was finally ready to be devoured on Saturday. JM was anticipating the tasting of the first home-made cheesecake and so was lil LM. She wanted the sprinkles more than anything!! When I took it off the pan for serving it seemed as if the crust was soggy. I thought that water had leaked in despite the double layer of foil and a layer of cling wrap!!

Usually when I stick to the original recipe without much creative changes, I try to bring some variety to the final presentation of the dish. This time my mind once again was totally blank. I couldnt come up with anything exciting. And those ideas that I had were too time-consuming and I honestly just didnt have enough energy to go through with it. So I finished the cheesecake with a simple topping of colored sprinkles and whole strawberries on the side. The individual servings were topped with a swirl of cool whip and a cherry with a chocolate garnish on the side and a bit of strawberry coulis. The second flower shaped cheesecake serving was a cut out from the original cheesecake, using a floral cookie cutter. I originally wanted to do a praline topping with chocolate drizzle.

VERDICT:

JM and I are not really cheesecake people, though we do enjoy it very rarely. But I must say that both of us enjoyed this cheesecake. I thought that the recipe was really simple and quick. The cheesecake was really smooth, beautiful to look at and delicious. I could proudly say that my first cheesecake experiment went without any major hurdles. My only complaint to myself was that since I reduced the recipe by 1/3rd, I couldnt get any traditional/typical pictures of the mile-high cheesecake slice!! :-) But the reduction in the recipe made the portions that we had, really enjoyable. Eventhough the crust appeared a bit dark and I thought that it was soggy, that was not the case. It was probably a bit moist (not soggy at all), because of the pecans? Anyways, I regret that I forgot to make swirls on the cheesecake and I couldnt make any exotic combinations this time. But I am happy that we fully enjoyed our first home-made cheesecake and I would suggest this recipe to my friends!!

Hope you all enjoyed reading through my experience and comments. Check out all my previous Daring Bakers Challenges here.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

Crust:

2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs

1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted

2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cheesecake:

3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature

1 cup / 210 g sugar

3 large eggs

1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)

1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note:

The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes:

While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Some variations from the recipe creator:

** Lavender-scented cheesecake w/ blueberries - heat the cup of heavy cream in the microwave or a saucepan until hot but not boiling. Add 2 tbsp of lavender flowers and stir. Let lavender steep in the cream for about 10-15 minutes, then strain the flowers out. Add strained cream to cheesecake batter as normal. Top with fresh blueberries, or make a quick stovetop blueberry sauce (splash of orange juice, blueberries, a little bit of sugar, and a dash of cinnamon - cook until berries burst, then cool).

** Cafe au lait cheesecake with caramel - take 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and heat it in the microwave for a short amount of time until very hot. Add 1-2 tbsp. instant espresso or instant coffee; stir to dissolve. Add this to the remainder of cream and use as normal. Top cheesecake with homemade caramel sauce (I usually find one on the food network website - just make sure it has heavy cream in it. You can use store-bought in a pinch, but the flavor is just not the same since its usually just sugar and corn syrup with no dairy).

** Tropical – add about a half cup of chopped macadamias to the crust, then top the cake with a mango-raspberry-mandarin orange puree.

** Mexican Turtle - add a bar of melted dark chocolate (between 3 and 5 oz., to taste) to the batter, along with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper (about 1/8 tsp.). Top it with pecan halves and a homemade caramel sauce.

** Honey-cinnamon with port-pomegranate poached pears – replace 1/2 cup of the sugar with 1/2 cup of honey, add about a teaspoon or more (to taste) of cinnamon. Take 2 pears (any variety you like or whatever is in season), peeled and cored, and poach them in a boiling poaching liquid of port wine, pomegranate juice/seeds, a couple of "coins" of fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick, and about a 1/4 cup of sugar. Poach them until tender, then let cool. Strain the poaching liquid and simmer until reduced to a syrupy-glaze consistency, then cool. Thinly slice the cooled pears and fan them out atop the cooled cheesecake. Pour the cooled poaching syrup over the pears, then sprinkle the top with chopped walnuts and fresh pomegranate seeds.

Some variations from Jenny (from JennyBakes):

**Key lime - add zest from one lime to sugar before mixing with cream cheese. Substitute lemon juice, alcohol, and vanilla with key lime juice.
**Cheesecakelets - put in muffin tins, ramekins, or custard cups. Try baking 20-35 minutes, or until still a little jiggly, and cool as before.

Dont forget to check out the wide array of flavor combinations in the DB cheesecake factory this month!

Come back soon for more recipes from Tasty treats! Have a great day!!

Apple Coleslaw from Food & Family Magazine

It sure was fun guest-hosting the Lets go nuts event. After all your encouraging responses to the round-up, I am back with a simple recipe for all of you. I am still in California, spending the days lazing around in the hotel with lil LM, reading, sleeping, watching TV, taking short walks and eating!! JM is on a short work assignment and I had decided to follow him to escape the cold Minnesota weather, if only for a few days!! Most of the days he was gone for long hours (~12 hours at a time) and the lil one and I were sitting around, moping, in our room. On his only day off, we took a trip to San Fransisco. The weather was amazing that day, we all enjoyed the trip, took some amazing pictures and came back exhausted!! The relaxation ends this Friday when we'll be back in MN, where it will be back to the old grind. Looks like LM is also missing her home, she just wants to get back to playing with her toys and visiting one of her favorite websites, as she calls it, - "pbskids.org"!!

Now coming back to the recipe, as the title indicates, I came across this on the Food & Family Magazine. Its a very simple coleslaw recipe with apples. One of the few things lil LM loves to eat is coleslaw and with apple chunks in it, I'm sure it would be a favorite for kids and adults alike. I substituted the Miracle whip with Light mayo, and it was good to go!! We enjoyed every bit of it and I'm sure you will too...

Recipe (Makes 12 servings, 1/2 cup each) :

Miracle Whip Light Dressing - 3/4 cup
Honey - 1 tbsp
Coleslaw Blend - 1 pkg (16 oz)
Apples - 2, chopped (preferably one red and one green)

Method:

Mix the dressing and the honey in a large bowl.

Add the remaining ingredients; mix lightly.

Refrigerate for an hour.

Source : Kraft Food & Family Magazine, Spring '09.

Tips:

1. I halved the recipe and used both green and red apples (half of each).
2. Instead of Miracle Whip dressing, I used Light Mayonnaise.
3. You can also season the coleslaw with salt and pepper according to taste.

Have a great day!!

Home-made Cajun Cheeseburgers

Once again I am getting the urge to get back to active blogging - to try out new recipes, to bake and cook, to plunge into the vast world world of blog events! ;-) Last night, I decided to experiment with home-made burgers, which I hoped would be simple to make but nonetheless gourmet (atleast in its looks ;-)). I had tried Sloppy Joes for the first time this week, so I had reserved the rest of the ground beef for burgers.

I went pretty simple with the execution, cut the ground beef into three patties. Seasoned it with salt, pepper and a sprinkle of Cajun seasoning. I am not adept with grills, nor is it the time to grill in Minnesota! I decided to cook it in the pan just like I had done a steak earlier on. I also worked with store-bought hamburger buns and baked them with an egg-glaze and sesame seeds to get the brown sheen on the buns. Finally topped the patties with a slice of American cheese. Served with a side of hot baked crinkle cut french fries (bought frozen from the store), I guess my burgers made the impact that I was hoping for. After baking the french fries as per package instructions, I tossed them in the pan in which I cooked the patties, for an added flavor.

JM was really happy with the execution and my lil LM was after the fries (should have expected that!). I topped mine with a few pickled jalapeno slices and I was in burger heaven, seemed like JM was following too!!

You can add your personal touch to the burger with an endless array of toppings and seasonings some of which include onions, tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, jalapenos, bacon, ketchup, mustard, mayo and the list goes on. You can also experiment with chicken, turkey or even vegetable patties.

Recipe (Makes 3 burgers) :

Hamburger buns - 3
Ground beef - 1/2 pound
Salt and pepper - as needed
Cajun seasoning - 1/2 tsp (for a mild taste), divided between three patties
Butter - 1 tbsp
American cheese - 3 slices
Egg - 1, beaten
Sesame seeds - as needed
Seasonings and toppings - as per your taste.

Method:

Cut the ground beef into three patties.

Season both sides of the patties with salt, pepper and cajun seasoning.

Heat a tbsp of butter in a heavy skillet over medium high heat until smoking hot (almost brown).

Place the patties onto the hot skillet and allow to cook for 3 minutes.

Do not move the patties around too much so that the patties are caramelised.
Flip them over and allow to cook on the second side for 2 minutes.

Close the skillet with a lid and allow to cook for 2 more minutes.

Remove the lid and allow the patties to caramelise on either side.

Remove from heat and place a slice of cheese on top. (It will melt in the heat of the patty).

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400F.

Brush the burger buns with beaten egg.

Sprinkle the white sesame seeds on top.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 2 minutes until the top is browned.

Assemble the burger with the patty and bun and add your favourite toppings.

Enjoy warm with fries.



Tips:

1. The burger cooked the way I mentioned would be well-done.
2. If using cajun seasoning, use salt sparingly as the seasoning contains salt.
3. I had the oven preheated for the fries, so I browned the buns at 400F. The burger bun can also be browned at 350F for about 5 minutes.

Awards galore:

I cannot help but thank Uma of Essence of Andhra from the bottom of my heart because she passed ALL these wonderful awards to me and overwhelmed me with her love. She is one great blogger and an adorable person. It feels great to be once again accepted and acknowledged by someone like Uma!

I would love to pass these onto,

Happy Cook of My kitchen treasures

Ivy of Kopiaste

Archy of Archy's Recipe Book

Sukanya Ramkumar of Hot n' sweet bowl

EC of Simple Indian Food

Trupti of Recipe Center
Shubha of Chutki Bhar Pyar

Enjoy your awards, girls!!

Have a great day and an awesome weekend!

A healthy breakfast - Porridge with dates and pistachios

These past few weeks had been really hectic for me with some unexpected schedules and sickness in the family! Lil LM had a cough which persisted for days and finally we had to take her to Urgent Care. She is on anibiotics right now, and so I was kind of busy taking care of a irritable 3 yr old ;-). She is doing well now, back to her old self, playing and back to preschool!

I had a few recipes as drafts but didnt get a chance to post any! Since these days were really hectic, I know how much a quick and easy recipe would help the busy. So heres a quick breakfast for all those busy people out there!! This porridge is healthy and deeeeeelicious, with pureed dates and pistachios. It is very quick to put together and makes for a great breakfast for everyone! I used chopped pitted dates which made the recipe even simpler. I halved the recipe, but added about the same amount of milk as mentioned in the recipe because I like mine a little thin. Do try these out and let me know how it turned out for you!

As you all know, the second phase of voting for Santa's Holiday Challenge is going on strong! The poll will be open until Sunday, January 25. Please vote for your favorite recipes if you have not done that already! Thanks for the overwhelming support!

Recipe (Serves 4) :

Fresh dates - scant 2 cups
Rolled oats - 2 cups
Semi-skimmed (low-fat) milk - 2 cups
Water - 1 1/4 cups
Salt - a pinch
Pistachios - unsalted, shelled, roughly chopped, 1/2 cup

Method:

Halve the dates and remove the stones and stems.

Cover with boiling water and leave to soak for 30 minutes, until soft.

Strain reserving 6 tbsp of the water.

Remove the skin from the dates and place them in the food processor with the reserved soaking liquid.

Process to a smooth puree.

Place the oats in a pan with the milk, water and a pinch of salt.

Bring to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently for 4-5 minutes until thick, creamy and thoroughly cooked, stirring frequently.

Ladle the porridge into serving bowls, top with a spoonful of the date puree and sprinkle with the roughly chopped pistachios.

Serve immediately while piping hot!

Source: Cook's Encyclopedia of Low Carb Cooking by Elaine Gardner.

Tips:

1. I halved the actual recipe to serve 2.
2. I used chopped dates available and then soaked it in boiling water for 30 minutes and then pureed it. I didnt puree it finely so that there would be tiny chunks of dates to bite into.
   

Wishing you all a great day and an awesome weekend ahead!

Crab Cakes with Lump Crab Meat

Crab cakes have always had a reputation of being a gourmet delicacy. I've never had these before, but have always wanted to make them because its said to be really delicious. I didnt taken on a particular recipe, but was inspired by quite a few and made a recipe on my own. The first time I made them, I used regular crab meat which was finely minced and so for seafood enthusiasts, there is no crab meat to bite into. Lump crab meat is a bit more expensive, but has big lumps which gives the flavor of the crab meat much better.

I am not a big seafood buff, but even I enjoyed these tender cakes. JM loved them, but wanted a little less sourness imparted by the lemon juice and mustard in it. The amounts mentioned are approximate, so please feel free to adapt the recipe to your tastes. I served the cakes with tartar sauce (dont know if mine would qualify as a traditional tartar sauce). Let me know how they turned out for you! Keep warm, and have a great day!!

Recipe (Makes 4-6 cakes):

Lump crab meat - 6 oz (1 can)
Dill chips - 5, chopped fine
Yellow mustard - 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Lime juice - 1/2 tsp
Bread crumbs - 3 tbsp
Mayonnaise - 1 1/2 tbsp
Pickled jalapenos - 2, chopped fine

Method:

Transfer the crab meat into a bowl, feel through the meat and discard any shells.

Add all the other ingredients to the crab meat and mix together until everything comes together into a ball.

Shape into cutlets/cakes.

Heat a skillet.

Drizzle a bit of oil on the skillet.

Place the cakes gently on the skillet over medium flame.

Gently flip the crab cakes over when the first side is browned.

Brown the second side and flip the cakes over until the cakes are easier to handle.

Drizzle more oil as and if needed.

Serve hot with tartar sauce.

Tips:

1. The crab cakes are very delicate and be careful while flipping them over as they might break.
2. Keep the skillet over low-medium flame so that the crab cakes loose mositure and become easier to handle.
3. I made the tartar sauce with some mayonnaise, pepper powder, salt and chopped dill pickles and jalapeno pickles.
   

Santa's Holiday Challenge is still going on strong. Dont forget to send in your qualifying entries to jz.tastytreats@gmail.com on or before Dec 31, 2008.

Date-Nut Bread

Welcome back to Tasty treats! I know I was not actively blogging over the past few weeks. I am sorry for the inactivity on my blog and I would like to thank everyone who extended their support and wishes to me over the last few weeks. Eventhough I am not posting on the blog, I still do try out recipes occasionally and am reserving them for sharing with all of you later on. One of the recipe I tried recently is the Date-Nut bread which I made after weeks of drooling, on coming across the recipe! ;-) Just like expected the bread was fantatsic, with lots of dates and nuts in each mouthful. It sure was soft, moist and flavorful. We had it with a bit of chocolate syrup drizzled over the slices and it was simply out-of-the-world! Yum-yum!!! Do try this out and you wont be disappointed! Dont forget to let me know your thoughts and suggestions!

Recipe (Makes 1 loaf):

Chopped pitted dates - 1 1/2 cups
Butter or margarine - 6 tbsp, cut up
Boiling water - 1 1/4 cups
All-purpose flour - 2 cups
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Egg - 1 large, lightly beaten
Walnuts - 1 cup, coarsely chopped



Method:

In a medium bowl, combine dates and butter, stir in the boiling water and let stand until cool.

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Grease a 9" by 5" metal loaf pan.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Stir egg into the date mixture.

Now, stir the date-egg mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened.

Stir in the walnuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Cool loaf in the pan on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Remove the bread from the pan and cool completely on wire rack.

Source: Great Baking from Good Housekeeping.


Tips:

1. I used about 1 cup (8 oz) of chopped pitted dates.
2. Instead of walnuts I used about 1/2 cup of slivered almonds with a few sliced almonds on top.
3. I baked the bread for about 1 hour 10 minutes. It is advisable to check the doneness around the 1 hour mark.
4. Variations of the recipe include prune bread (using 1 1/2 cups of coarsely chopped pitted prunes instead of dates) and fig bread (using 1 1/2 cups of coarsely chopped dried figs instead of dates).

Hope you all are having a great time, and see you all real soon!!

Baked Buffalo Wings

Buffalo wings are probably the most popular appetizers in the US. I fell in love with them the first time I tasted them. Eventhough the idea of chewing between the bones to get a tiny morsel of meat was not that appealing to me, I was convinced by JM that they infact are the tastiest pieces! The red hot sauce that was slathered on the wings were my absolute favourite! I started using them on anything anywhere! Nowadays, my frenzy has quieted down a bit, but my love for buffalo wings havent. So I made some last weekend, where the wings were baked rather than fried, to get the crispy cooked texture and then tossed in some hot wing sauce to make the delectable buffalo hot wings! Served with a side of celery sticks and blue cheese, and I sure was on cloud nine!

This is a simple recipe, but, since I have only baked the wings (which actually produced crispy outside similar to that of fried ones) and hadnt used melted butter along with the sauce, it is much less in fat content. The recipe was found on the hot sauce bottle itself, whereas the other recipes that I came across either involved frying the chicken or using butter. The only thing is that you need to have a bit of planning since the wings have to be baked nearly an hour. But theres no prep work involved and is super easy. If you have a to feed a crowd, this is it! You will know for sure that these wings would be the highlight of the party! Enjoy!!

Recipe (Makes 6-8 servings) :

Chicken wings - 2 1/2 lbs
Red hot sauce - 3/4 cup
Celery stalks - 4-5, cut into sticks(optional)
Blue cheese dressing - optional

Method:

Bake wings at 425 F for one hour, until cooked and crispy.

Toss wings in the hot buffalo wing sauce.

If desired, serve with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing.

Source: Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce.

Tips:

1. For quicker wings, deep-fry the chicken wings for 12 minutes at 400 F. (Dont!, bake :-))
2. I made about 1 1/2 lbs wings which were baked for about 45 minutes. It doesnt have to be baked that long, so if you do, bake for about 30-35 minutes. I used up about 1/2 cup of buffalo wing sauce.

I am sending this to "Eat Healthy Protein Rich" event at Sangeeth's Art of Cooking Indian Food. See you all on Monday! Have a great weekend! :-)

Betty Crocker's Crescent rolls & Strawberry Preserves

The last Daring Bakers challenge had left me with a craving for Danish pastries, but thinking of the effort and the calories, I had decided to leave it alone for a few more weeks. The croissants that I came across on several blogs were haunting me in my dreams, and finally I decided to make something that atleast remotely resembled these pastries, atleast in their shapes - crescent rolls. From the day I saw this recipe on Betty Crocker's cookbook, I wanted to make them, but was too lazy and impatient when I saw the dough - rising step. But after completing the Danish Braid challenge, this wait seemed like nothing, and yes, it was a cake-walk! I made only half the recipe and everything turned out perfectly!! JM and I actually ate it as the evening snack and dinner, with homemade Strawberry jam. It sure was yummy!! With just a wee little butter in the whole recipe, we didnt cringe as we ate, and enjoyed it immensely. This recipe can be used to make dinner rolls, crescent rolls and cloverleaf rolls. The crescent rolls are given as the variation of the basic dinner roll recipe. It sure made a tasty set of rolls, please do try them, they were perfect!! Yumm!

Recipe (Makes 32 rolls) :

All-purpose flour - 3 1/2 - 3 3/4 cups
Butter or margarine - 1/4 cup (4 tbsp)
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Quick active dry or regular yeast - 1 package or 2 1/4 tsp
Water - 1/2 cup, very warm (120 - 130 F)
Milk - 1/2 cup, very warm (120 - 130 F)
Egg - 1 large
Butter or margarine - melted, if desired



Method:

In a large bowl, stir 2 cups of flour, the sugar, 1/4 cup of butter, salt and yeast until well-mixed.

Add warm water, warm milk and egg.

Beat for a minute with an electric mixer on low-speed, followed by 1 minute on medium speed, both times scraping bowl frequently.

Stir in enough remaining dough to make dough easy to handle.

Place dough on lightly floured surface.

Knead for about 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and springy.

Grease a large bowl with shortening.

Place dough in bowl, turning dough to grease all sides.

Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for an hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

The dough is ready when indentation remains when touched.

At this stage the dough can be used to make any of the specified rolls.

For making crescent rolls:


Grease cookie sheet with shortening or cooking spray.

Push the fist into the dough to deflate and cut the dough in half.

Roll each half into a 12" circle on a floured surface.

Spread with softened butter.

Cut each circle into 16 wedges.

Roll up each wedge beginning at the rounded end (broad end).

Plcae rolls on the cookie sheet, with points underneath and curve the edges slightly.

Brush with butter (I didnt) and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

Let rise in a warm place about 30 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size.

Heat oven to 375 F.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve warm or cool.

Tips:

1. I did not brush the shaped rolls with melted butter.
2. I only made half the recipe to yield 16 rolls.
3. If using self-rising flour, omit salt.
4. For the dough to rise, I usually switch on the oven at 200F or so for a minute or two, switch it off, and place the dough in the oven to rise.
5. I had actually stuffed a single roll with jam, as you can see in the picture below, to see how it would turn out. Experiment with more stuffings.

I am sending these crescent rolls to the "Bread baking day - Small Breads" event at Aparna's My Diverse Kitchen. The event was started by started by Zorra at 1x umrühren bitte.

I am also sending these Crescent rolls to the "Healthy Cooking" event over at Mansi's Fun and Food. I feel that these rolls are very healthy because it has a very low fat and sugar content. It is a leavened bread and is baked so that no additional fat is introduced. The recipe actually mentioned smearing the rolls again with butter before baking. I actually omitted that step and still the rolls turned out perfectly browned. The rolls can be eaten on their own because they taste great!! It would also go well with soups, salads or preserves!!

Source: Betty Crocker Cookbook : everything you need to know to cook today.

We had the rolls with home-made strawberry preserves. The preserve was made from a recipe on Sunita's blog. Here's a pictorial step-by-step instructions on the process. We had gone strawberry picking two weeks before and I used up our hand-picked berries by making this Strawberry Preserves. I am sending this Home-made Strawberry Preserve to "Eating with the seasons" event at Maninas : Food Matters.

Through and over the weekend, I am glad some of my fellow bloggers remembered me, because I again have several awards to share. Veda of Iyengar's kitchen passed me the "Blogging with a purpose" award. Srilekha of Me and My Kitchen and Hetal of Isha's kitchen passed me the "Yum-Yum Blog" award. Thanks a trillion for remembering me, you guys! I really appreciate your gesture. I would like to pass these onto,

Asha of Foodies Hope
Ranji of Ranji's Kitchen Corner
Roopa of My Kitchen Treats
Rachel of Tangerine's Kitchen
Cham of Spice-club

Enjoy your awards!! And come back to Tasty treats for more recipes through the week.