And the winners of the giveaway are......

Thank you all for participating in the lucky draw! The winners are Comments 3 and 5: Srivalli and Vincent.

Congratulations!!

Please contact me at jz.tastytreats@gmail.com with your address and your choice for the gift card!

Buche de Noel (Yule-log) recipe and a giveaway!!

Hi All!!! Hope all my readers, friends and followers are keeping happy and healthy! After a very long and regretful break from blogging, I am back with a wonderful Yule-log creation from last year's Christmas meal. The break from blogging was not planned at all, it just got long as a combined result of a busy work schedule and no free time! But I am glad that I am back and I am excited to share this recipe and images with you all.

Also, I am excited to announce that in a week, my blog will turn 4 years old! Happy Birthday dear blog!! If you love my blog and is a regular reader, please leave me a message on this post, and I will be awarding two lucky winners a modest $15 gift card of your choice from Target/Home Goods/Michaels/Amazon as part of my blog's 4th Birthday celebrations.  I will choose the winners on Feb 12th and the winners will be chosen in a random lucky draw. Please leave your email id as part of your comment.

This recipe for the assembled  yule-log was compiled from two different websites. The raspberry chocolate sponge cake recipe was taken from  joyofbaking, but the actual recipe is by Rose Levy Beranbaum's 'Cake Bible'. The website also had a recipe for yule-log, but I wanted to make a dressed up yule-log, with the textured bark look, completed with mushrooms and beautiful holly leaves and berries.

I found what I was looking for in this post. I loved how textured the surface looked, and also since it had directions of making marzipan mushrooms, rather than meringue mushrooms, I was ecstatic!!

Let me tell you that it makes for a very light and airy dessert!!! The actual sponge cake roll was very light, and not dense at all. The cake was the "melt-in-your-mouth" kind and using raspberry whipped cream as filling finished it off perfectly. It was not an extremely sweet dessert either. In the end, it left you feeling good, and satisfied. The chocolate ganache bark would give a little bit of sweetness to the log, but since I used bittersweet dark chocolate, it didn't add a lot of sweetness! The marzipan mushrooms added a fun look to the log, and the holly leaves and berries made from fondant, added a splash of color to the ultimate christmas dessert!!! It definitely was fun and easy to make this dessert and I enjoyed every single minute of it!

Try this yule log and you will be sure to impress your guests. I baked and filled the sponge cake the day before the party. I made the ganache on the day of the party, let it cool slightly in the fridge (keep a watchful eye, if its too think, it will be hard to spread). I spread the slightly thickened ganache on the cool log, and as it set a little bit, marked the surfaces (drag the tines of the fork along the length of the log) with a fork, to create the texture. The holly leaves were made from fondant, cut out with a petal cutter, and then the edges were cut using a piping tip to make it shaped like holly leaves. The berries were made out of fondant as well. Assemble the log and sprinkle some confectioner's sugar using a sieve to resemble freshly fallen snow to complete the look.

Hope you all enjoyed the post and the tips! Don't forget to leave a comment, to be one of the two lucky winners of my blog's 4th birthday giveaway!! I hope to keep writing and to receive the support of all my readers!!

Enjoy the superbowl, and have a great week ahead!

Appetizers galore - 3 different appetizers to spice up your party!

Good morning everyone!

I would like to share with you a few appetizers that I had tried for a couple of parties around my daughter's birthday time and Christmas! I came across these recipes on allrecipes.com and kraftrecipes.com and decided to give them a try since they had very high ratings and awesome reviews! I first made them for my lil one's birthday party! Eventhough we had a whole Indian dinner planned afterwards, I had to have a lot of appetizers for our guests (I love trying out new ones!)! So I chose the 7-layer dip, bacon wrapped smokies and cheesy spinach-artichoke dip as my three new try-outs, along with others like meatballs, peanuts, chips and salsa and so on! They were simple, easy and had our guests rave about how awesome they were! I had recipe requests from our guests!

The preparation of 7-layer dip went without a hitch, eventhough mine was more like a 4-layer dip! I did the taco seasoning-refried beans layer. the cream cheese-sour cream layer, a thin salsa layer and then the cheese layer with a few sliced olives on top. It tasted superb! Pair it with Tostitos Hint of Lime chips and mmmwah! One of the top favorites especially among our vegetarian friends!

The bacon-wrapped smokies needed a bit more effort - wrapping each cocktail sausage with a slice of bacon. I cut each strip of bacon into three so that I could wrap three sausages with one bacon strip. The first time I made them, I did the mistake of keeping them on flat sheets for baking. Of course, the bacon fat and sugar dripped down onto the oven base (which I actually didn't notice until later), and when I tried to bake my cheesy spinach artichoke dip, it starting smoking and the fire alarm went off! Our fire alarm says "FIRE FIRE!" when its beeping and after the nerve-wracking episode of calming my lil one and her friend down, I decided I would use slow cooker for my next try, whenever it is!

It wasnt long after, when I made it again for our Christmas party! I used a slow cooker and cooked it over 4 hours or so, but the liquid that came out was too much, and so my smokies were not as coated as when I made them in the ove. So word of advice, use a pan with sides and bake the smokies to perfection, definitely use foil to line the pan! Eventhough it was a bit messy, we all enjoyed it so much, it was the star appetizer of the party!

Because of my oven mishap with the smokies, I couldnt bake the cheesy spinach artichoke dip. I microwaved it for 10 minutes or so, but was never the same as if I had baked it. And it cooled down pretty quickly, so it didn't have the pulled cheese look, when dipped into! But other than that it was also pretty tasty!

So try these out and I am sure you wont be disappointed! Please do leave your comments and/or suggestions about the blog or the post or just say hi when you drop by!

Jalapeno poppers

Hope you all had a great Christmas with your family and friends! Holiday season is the time to remember your loved ones and the blessings that you are thankful for. I am thankful for my husband, my little girl, my family, my home, and all the happiness that surrounds me! I was particularly ecstatic about Christmas this year because it was the first in our new home and I wanted it to be special! We exchanged gifts in the morning with my daughter being super excited about the gifts she got (ofcourse!!)! We sure did have a wonderful Christmas morning!

Since all our close family members are back in India, we had a great gathering with our friends! We had a such an amazing time together with them who generously showered my little girl with gifts. We had a traditional Kerala Christmas lunch with all the trimmings, I should say! But I did try out a few new appetizers which turned out awesome! We finished off our meal with traditional Christmas Fruit Cake and a Berry Black Forest trifle.

Jalapeno Poppers

I found this recipe on youtube for some wonderful jalapeno poppers and I definitely wanted to try them out. Check out the video where the presenter explains the technique beautifully. The jalapenos that I used were a bit thicker than what she used, so I had to bake them a bit longer. Other than that I would say this is a fool-proof recipe which would be well received especially among crowds who would love food with a kick to it!! Since we were entertaining and I was running around with last minute "things-to-do" we couldn't take a lot of pictures.

I made some modifications to the recipe in the amounts used and here is what I did.. You might still have some stuffing left over which I think makes for a good topping for chips!

Recipe (Makes 24 servings):

Jalapenos -12
Cream cheese - 6 oz
Mozzarella cheese - 1/2 cup
Mild cheddar cheese - 1/2 cup
Beef lil smokies - 6-8 chopped finely
Onion - 1/2 cup, chopped finely
Bacon - 2 strips, cut into small pieces

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Cut the jalapenos lengthwise into halves. Remove the seeds and membranes using a knife or a melon baller.

Cook the bacon so that they are nicely brown and crisp, drain on paper towels.

Remove the bacon grease and in the same pan, add some more oil and saute the finely chopped onions.

Once the onions are cooked, add the finely chopped sausage and cook until heated through.

In a bowl, combine the onion-sausage mix, crumbled bacon and cream cheese well.

Add the shredded mozzarella and mild cheddar cheeses and mix well.

Fill each of the jalapeno halves with the cheese-sausage-bacon mix to the height of the pepper half.

Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or longer until the peppers are cooked through.

Serve the poppers on a platter with some sour cream to cool down the heat, if any!

VERDICT: I just loved loved loved these!!! Once they are cooked through they just have the wonderful flavor of the cheeses, the peppers and the bacon, but I did come across a few raw tips of peppers which gave us (and some guests) a bit of a trouble! Nevertheless, this is a wonderful recipe which will be made again in my house soon!!


NOTES:

1. Check out the video for the actual recipe.
2. If the peppers arent cooked through, they will have some heat, so make sure there aren't any raw ones.

Thanks again for visiting Tasty treats! Have a wonderful week ahead!

Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays!

Wishing all my readers, supporters, friends and family a very Merry Christmas, a wonderful holiday season and a happy and prosperous New Year 2011 !!

I will be blogging soon about some new amazing recipes that I tried out during the holidays! See you soon back at Tasty treats!

Cheers!!

Happy Holidays!!

Wishing all my friends and supporters a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year!! Cherish your times with your family and enjoy each moment of this year! And here's to wishing for another amazing, successful and joyous year -2010!!

We had a good Christmas lunch at home in the midst of an extensive snow blizzard - totally snowed in at home, so did not get to go even to church!! I will start posting the recipes soon....

Happy Holidays!! Enjoy..

Happy Birthday Tasty treats - Cheers, with a Fig & Honey Pudding!

This is a special post to celebrate a milestone with my blog - Yes, you guessed it right, Tasty treats is a year old, and so am I - I mean, a year older! I still clearly remember how this lil blog came about. Last year, this blog was kind of like a birthday gift to myself! I have always wanted to start a blog, just to share the recipes that I have tried out and enjoyed. But I was doubtful of my writing skills and I kept on pushing back the idea of starting one. My dear husband JM and my dear friend Parvathy are the ones behind the constant encouragement and support that finally convinced me to try my hand at the totally new world (to me!) of blogging.

This past year has been awesome, with nearly 150 posts and 52,500+ page views, nealy 60 events and finally hosting my own event! I got to know hundreds of very talented bloggers and chefs, some a little more personal. The initial encouragement that I received from my readers boosted my confidence and made Tasty treats a big part of my life. I couldnt be apart from my blog even for a day!! I really got a sense of belonging in the blogosphere - many of you who have ended up being much more than casual aquaintances.

Last year I had both JM's family and my family visit us from India. So it was a bit hectic towards the second half of last year, so I had to push the blog on to the back burner! But I am glad I stuck with it and I still want to continue doing this for as long as possible. Now despite having to share the computer with a 3 year old who thinks the it is as important to her as her parents and being caught up in some other personal stuff, I will definitely continue on my culinary adventures and experiments, all the while sharing the succesful ones with you all!

I really should thank all of you readers who really encouraged me to drive forward with my blog! I thank all of you who take the time to chat with me - by leaving a comment or a mail. It is such a huge inspiration, to be acknowledged and encouraged by fellow bloggers!! I know there are many of you who are faithful readers of Tasty treats, but have never said Hi, I would appreciate it if you would - its not a requisite, but it does make a difference!!

I am also happy that I got to participate in a wonderful array of events which had wonderful concepts and were beautifully executed. I am also proud that I got to be part of some exciting communities like the Daring Bakers, Foodbuzz, Great Cooks Community and Foodie Blogroll!!

I would like to celebrate the simple and humble beginnings of Tasty treats with a quick and delicious dessert. Join me in this unassuming celebration!

This dessert can be put together in minutes and tastes awesome with the decadent honey. A must have dessert for all the yoghurt and honey lovers out there!!

Greek Fig & Honey Pudding

Recipe (Serves 4):

Fresh or canned figs - 4

Greek-style strained yoghurt - 2 cups

Clear honey - 4 tbsp

Chopped pistachio nuts - 2 tbsp

Method:

Chop the figs and place in the bottom of four stemmed wine glasses or deep individual dessert bowls.

Top each glass or bowl of figs with half cup of the Greek-style yoghurt.

Chill until ready to serve.

Just before serving, drizzle a tbsp of honey over each one and sprinkle with the pistachio nuts.

Source: A Year of Desserts by Martha Day.

Once again thanks to everyone of you who offered their complete support and encouragement to me and my blog! If even atleast one person has fond remarks about Tasty treats, my effort would be justified! Hope to see you all back here all through the next year too!

Thanks for reading my post. Have a great day and awesome weekend!!!

Christmas wishes to all my friends and readers!!

Hope that you all are having a great time with your loved ones!

- JZ @ Tasty treats.