Eggless Vanilla Muffins

I have been craving for some plain vanilla cake for a while now ... like the ones that were made in my childhood ... with eggs, vanilla, lots of cashews and cherries. Just could not make the time to make one.

A few evenings back I found a little time at hand ... and wanted to munch on something. But there was nothing at home except some biscuits and bread. Nah ... did not feel like having them. Again felt like having a slice of cake or a baked cookie.

So just got up and walked into the kitchen. Mixed up some flour with a few other things thrown in ... and I had a mix to bake!
Now what do I want ... a cake or a cookie ?
Cannot make it into a cake ... I ran out of baking powder. Cannot make it into a cookie ... it was too sticky ... had no intention of adding more maida ... means more oil ... and more baking powder ( I had just the empty bottle now ).



So decided to drop them into a muffin tray and see how they behave.
I had once seen Nigella make something like that ... mentioning that the muffin batter does not have to be too smooth ... so went ahead. Whatever will be, will be. If not anything, it will be edible at least. I mean how wrong can a sweetened mix baked well go wrong? ;-)
And that's how I got these. :-)


Need :

Maida / Apf - 1 and a half cup ( a medium sized tea cup )
Baking powder - 1 tsp ( I ran out of bp ... so do not know if a little more would have helped or not)
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Sugar - 5 to 6 tbsp ( you can grind it to a powder too ... I did not)
Salt - very little ... just a pinch
Chopped candied cherries - around 2 tbsp
Cooking oil - 3 tbsp
Cold milk - just enough to make the dough ( very little actually )
Butter - just a little ( 1 cube will do )

How to :

Pre heat oven at 100 degrees C.

Except the milk, mix everything together and knead well.

When everything has mixed properly, add a little milk to mix some more. It will turn into a sticky paste ... do not do anything other than just to bear with it.

Just make sure there are no dry lumps of maida ... the batter should not be very smooth.

Line a muffin tray. Scoop out a spoonful of mix and gently drop it into the slots in the tray.

Bake at 100 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. ( I always bake cookies and muffins at a lower temp to be on the safe side ... have not tried baking at high temp like a pro yet). :-)

Brush a little butter on the top of the muffins and bake for 5 more mins.

Remove and cool. They will harden a little after cooling.



Wonderful muffins ready in a jiffy! They were airy inside, not too chewy, not too dry. Perfect! :-)

They are best when warm ... so run them in the MW for a while before serving.

Enjoy with tea or coffee.
Since it is already very hot here, we had it with tall glasses of cold coffee. :-)



Well ... for those who have been asking me to add something new to my Travelogue, I finally got to post a very short trip and a wee bit longer trip there. :-)

TC folks !!

Whole Wheat & Jaggery Biscuits

What with so many wonderful looking cookies being made everywhere, I have decided to call these biscuits as they are not as thickish or crumbly as real cookies.

When I made and posted these, I got a mail from my regular reader D ( the shy girl is not comfortable with her her name here :-) ) asking me if she could use jaggery instead of sugar.
As I am not so rigid about cooking and exact recipes, I told her she can and asked her to go ahead and give it a try.

She did ... and wrote back that the cookies turned out very dry ... and something was wrong.

I myself had not made them with jaggery, so thought of trying them out myself first. So in the midst of packing and preparations last month ( it is another thing we never made that trip ... everything went against our plans ... sudden work load, then ill health, then the fog playing spoilsport and flights getting canceled in the last minute ... everything :-( ... all in all we rescheduled bookings and tickets thrice ! ... and still ended in a dud) , I baked them one morning and sent her the snaps.

She told me the snaps helped ... she got the idea what went wrong. I do not know if she ever made them again ... just hope she did and was successful ... else my posting recipes will be of no worth.

The one thing I have found out ( am speaking for myself ) is that when baking, you cannot use the minimum of shortening ... say butter / cooking oil, etc. and still hope to get a wonderful result.

True, baking ... or healthy baking ... does use less oil or fat ... especially if you are using it as a substitute to deep frying. But baking tends to dry stuff . So you cannot go completely minimalistic if you want that moist or perfect bake.

Well .... that's my take. Baking experts may feel differently. :-)

Here's the recipe.


Need : 1 and a half cup of whole wheat flour, a little cooking oil ... around 1 and 1/2tbsp, 1 tsp baking powder, around 5 tbsp jaggery granules, milk ... around half a medium cup ( use just enough to knead the dough ), 2-3 drops of vanilla essence.

If you want you can use powdered jaggery too ... or if you have the big sized lumps, break them down to granules.

I purposely did not melt the jaggery in the milk as I wanted bits of it in a bite. If you want to melt and use ... go ahead.

How to : Knead everything together to make a dough like we make for rotis.



Take a medium sized ball of dough and roll out a thickish circle ... like a big roti. You can use dry flour to dust when rolling.

Prick with a fork all over ( this way the biscuits won't puff up ).

Cut with a cookie cutter ... or any small sized bottle cap will do.

Oil a baking tray or use a baking sheet.

Arrange the cut out biscuits on it.



Pre heat oven at 160 degrees C and bake in the same temperature for around 20 minutes.



Done! :-)




I had made a batch in a muffin tray ... the one on the top is one of them ... slightly thickish.

These biscuits were pretty good ... not to mention healthy ... but not very soft and did not crumble on breaking.
In fact, on a bite, they broke into a half ... that tough ... which I'll attribute to the jaggery.

So the next time I made them, I added a pinch of baking soda ... and it did make a difference.

These stay well for about 2 to 3 days ... maybe more ... I just never got 'round to keeping them very long. Very healthy ... these are great as a snack to munch on anytime ... or with some spicy ginger tea.

Enjoy !! :-)


A few more of my cookies / biscuits / scones
Coffee Cookies
Onion Cookies / Crackers
Whole Wheat Eggless Banana Cookies
Cakes & Rose Cookies
Fruity Scone / Cookies with Strawberry Compote

Eggless Apple & Walnut Cake

When I went through my blog recently, I saw that I have baked quite a few eggless fruit cakes. And by fruit cakes I mean I have used fresh fruits.

Baking has been a challenge for me ... always. It goes against my experimentive nature. I love to play with stuff ... go beyond rigidity. So going by exact measures, exact proportions, exact temperatures .... nah ... is not for me. And to make things worse ... I hate reading or following cook books. I just don't have the patience.

Besides, I do not like anybody telling me what to do ... even if it is a cookbook. :-)

But then ... I love to eat cakes. And to bake them too. So I started baking them. Perfected my Coffee Cake .... the family's favourite now.

Mustered the courage and baked Eggless Coffee Cake too. Successfully.

And then started with fruits. The Eggless Pineapple cake was a huge first time success. So was the Eggless Mango Cake. I baked an Eggless Banana cake too.

I was on a roll. No complex recipes ... as with all my other recipes. I loved the smell of the fruit in the cakes ... which is why I never tried to use eggs in them ... and consequently did not need any vanilla essence. Loved every one of them.

This time there were a few apples in the fridge. This was the first time I tried making an Eggless Apple Cake. Had some walnuts at hand ... so chopped them up and added to the batter. And purposely kept the apple's age old partner ... the cinnamon ... away.

If you want the complete recipe, just go to the other fruit cakes that I have mentioned here ... and substitute the used fruit with pureed apple. And use Apple juice in place of the used liquid.



But there were some minor accidents while making it ... so the results were slightly different from the usual other cakes.
No ... do not get me wrong. It tasted heavenly. But I am writing down the mistakes more for myself than for the log of the recipe.

Firstly .... I eyeballed ... as usual. But overconfidence does not always work.

Then, the cup of vegetable oil I was using slipped from my hands .... resulting in too much of oil for too little flour. So the cake turned out a little too moist.

Next, I measured the sugar only after grinding it. Baaaaaad idea .... where was my mind? The cake turned out to be toooo sweet. But a plus .... the crust was very crisp. You win some, you lose some.

And used a tablespoon for measuring the baking powder. Result .... a cracked cake. I know ... I should be the one who should be called that. :-p

And last, but not the least ... I added vanilla essence.
So what? So this.
Every bite tasted awesome! But only till you asked "Guess the flavour?".
It was somewhere between mango / chocolate ( I guess the crispy crust ) / what not ... anything but apple or vanilla.



So there folks ... am convinced that am going bonkers. So decided to give myself a break. The cake was just as awesome as the snaps are ... believe me. But I guess I was just plain lucky.

But if I try anything new again, am positive I'll ruin something far more important than the cake. ;-)

So am taking a break. I promise to return with some great but simple recipes again .... soon. Maybe by Christmas .... or early next year.

Till then ... I'll have some fun, family, friends and of course food time for myself !! :-)
Even if it is not a 'Summer holiday' .... I still feel like singing " no more cooking for a week or two ...". :-)

Take care all !! :-)

Whole Wheat Eggless Banana Cookies

( Vegans can use soy milk or plain lukewarm water.)

Am into cookie baking big time these days. Both sweet and savory.
Mostly sweet since the man of the house is starting normal routine these days.
That means going out ... mostly to office. That means carrying homemade stuff ... no outside food.
That means home made snacks.
It took me some time and brain wracking as to what snack could be taken from home that is packed in the morning and will stay good enough till evening.

And then decided biscuits are the best option. So am baking cookies / biscuits these days.


These cookies are healthy .... using whole wheat flour and very little cooking oil. They turned out perfect and are great to carry along with.

I threw in a handful of dry raisins too. But while baking they puffed up like small balloons ... and I realised my mistake. The cookies were too dainty to hold their weight. Next time will run them in a blender / chopper first and then mix into the dough.

I was so fascinated with the sugar not melting in the oven heat when I made these cookies the last time that I went overboard and threw in a lot of sugar this time. Loved the crunch in every bite. :-)




Need : 1 and a half cup of whole wheat flour, 1 pureed ripe banana,
a little cooking oil ... around 1 tbsp ( only a little for the dough to stay moist), 1 tsp baking powder,
a few tbsp sugar ... around 3 tbsp ... (I did not want them to be too sweet), some more sugar to spread on the cookies, milk ... around half a medium cup ( use just enough to knead the dough ).

I forgot to add vanilla essence ... and it turned out to be a boon. The mild flavour of the banana would not have been evident otherwise.

How to : Knead everything together to make a dough like we make for rotis.

Take a medium sized ball of dough and roll out a thickish circle ... like a big roti. You can use flour to dust when rolling.

Prick with a fork all over ( this way the cookies won't puff up ).

Sprinkle some sugar all over and pat it down.

Cut with a cookie cutter ... or any small sized bottle cap will do.

Oil a baking tray or use a baking sheet. Arrange the cookies on it.

Pre heat oven at 160 degrees C and bake in the same temperature for around 20 minutes.




Done!

See you all after Diwali friends. Have a great time this festival of lights !!

Happy Diwali !! :-)

Whole Wheat Buns

The rains are here to stay. It has been drizzling steadily for the past two days ... and has been very very windy. Not to mention the cold. While the family in Delhi is complaining about the heat and humidity and the lack of rains ... we are snuggling into warm woollens and throws and blankets.

The trees outside are having tough time holding on to themselves and their branches ... the way they are being shaken and thrashed by the wind.

Inside the house, all the windows have come to life. How do these huge glass panes rattle so much ... I wonder.
Not satisfied with the ear jarring rattling, they sometimes moan and groan, making the strangest of noises ... enough to spook the living daylights out of any living being.

The whole day there is this noise ... can be easily called a lift from any Ramsay branded stuff .... while one window is rattling with tremendous urgency in one room, another starts a low moan that slowly climbs in pitch and octave ... until it turns so bone chillingly shrill that one has to leave the room.

Anyway, it was early in the weekend and I was at my wits end as to what to make for brunch nee breakfast. And finally zeroed in on aloo parathas ... the quickest breakfast I can make ... thanks to my aloo mash mix.

But as I was taking out the atta / wheat flour listlessly, I decided to try my hand at baking bread again. That put the spring in my step as I set off to try something that I usually run away from ... baking bread.

Since I was not expecting a success, I did not keep track of the exact measurements. I usually do not follow measurements for any recipe ... so realised that it was all those careful measurements that really scare me away from baking bread. So just went by my instincts this time ... and I got some real good bread! :-)

Of course, I must mention that going through the recipes of all the wonderful blogs out there has given me some good info on baking bread.

So I made these Whole Wheat Buns. :-)
Buns because I don't have any baking tray to bake a loaf ... yet. I did use yeast ... and am happy I did. The next time am going to keep the dough overnight and see what happens.
Since the weather is too cold these days, am not too sure though.


Am trying to give the measurements ... but dear baking experts ... please don't hold me against anything .

Need : 1 cup atta / whole wheat flour , a little less than 1/2 cup maida / APF, 1 small cube of butter ( I cannot give the exact proportion ... maybe the size of an Amul cheese cube ) , dry active yeast (around 1 tbsp), 1 tsp sugar and less than 1 tsp salt, warm water to make dough.

How to : Warm water. Mix the two flours in a biggish bowl .
In a cup pour in a little warm water and add the sugar and the yeast.

Cover and keep for a while till the yeast dissolves ... you can see it froth. After a while add it to the flours along with the butter and salt. Knead with more warm water into a soft dough.

Cover and keep it for a while ( I kept it for around half an hour).

Meanwhile preheat oven ( I did at 150 degrees C ). Grease a baking tray.

Make small balls out of the dough. Make two cuts across the surface.

Arrange them on the tray and bake at 180 degrees till the buns are done ( check by inserting a knife or toothpick ).

These buns were done very quickly ... but the top was still very light in colour. So I grilled them for a few minutes and got the perfect colour.

See the air holes? :-)
The crust was not too hard ... and I got the brown I wanted ... and the inside was so soft !




I slathered them with butter and my Mango Jam.
Delicious! :-)

Celebrating Kichu Khon with Eggless Mango Cake

Warning : Long Post :-)

Two years back, on a whim I made an account on blogspot for my ramblings ... which I still do here . And then suddenly life took me on a whirlwind tour so fast I forgot who my own self was ..... leave alone blog. Then a year later when I came back to it, I decided to turn it into a log of my adventures in the kitchen.

And today Kichu Khon completes a whole year ! :-)

Learning how to cook does not only mean heat a vessel, dunk in stuff and wait for it to cook. After numerous accidents and burnt food, after numerous burns and scalds, after destroying the cooker completely for using it without enough water ... I learnt what this adventure is all about.

I learnt that the oil has to be smoking hot before you let in those potatoes / fish. I learnt that just browning the vegetables in a fry does not mean they are cooked inside too. The water has to boil well before letting in the rice / noodles.

Iodised salt is different from plain salt ... so the amount you are using matters. Not to mention learning how to buy fish / vegetables ... and to knead atta .... the biggest challenge of all.

I had to learn the North Indian way of cooking, the Rajasthani way of cooking and for my nostalgic self the Bengali way of cooking. All the while wishing I had spent a little time everyday in the kitchen back home. But cooks consider kitchens their domain ... so had no luck ( now I consider it luck). :-)

Today I am confident in the kitchen ... can rustle up a snack from almost nothing ... and can serve a dinner for 6 ( that's the max I allow at home ... if more ... we eat out ) successfully.

When I go through my blog, I see how I have grown. And the number of dishes I have dished out amazes me .... and that is only the tip of the iceberg. Not all dishes we cook lands up in our blogs. I wonder if every woman kept a track of the number of dishes / snacks she made in her lifetime ... what would the figure come to?

Anyway ... am ranting now. One year back, with much apprehension I started off with my first post. Today I have a pretty ok kinda blog ... if not a very gorgeous one.

And I want to thank Everybody who has visited Kichu Khon and have cared to leave a line. I thank those who have stuck by me even when I had no comments ... who have encouaged me ... advised me and helped me with your suggestions. I have learnt so much from your blogs.

And for turning into such dear friends ( you know who you are .... I could not have done it without your continious support & love ). :-)
Today I can say I love my virtual world friends as much as I do my real world ones. :-)
My blog gets so many hits .... and am so happy about it. People spend so much time here ... visit so many recipes ... download snaps ... my site has even been ripped once ... (I take it as a compliment though ) .... return to the same recipes. BTW I would like to mention here that my most visited recipe is .... Kundru ki Sabzi !! :-)

I just wish they would leave a line here. It does not take much to say "I liked this" / "I did not like this". I am not about to pout or stomp my foot demanding a comment ... but I still think it is good manners.

Initially I was disheartened .... the number of comments never seemed to increase ... now I know better. So all you fellow bloggers ... don't judge the popularity of your blog by the number of comments it gets. :-)
I made an eggless Mango Cake to celebrate ... ok, ok ... I am still on the lookout for a reason to get rid of those mangoes. I have made this cake earlier with mango juice ( I used Slice ) ... but this time I have added milk.
Need : 

1 cup maida / APF, a little less than 1 cup powdered sugar, a little less than 1/2 cup cooking oil, 
a little cold milk [ ( use enough to make the batter of pouring consistency ... I prefer a batter that keeps on flowing when pouring into the baking dish .... and not fall in huge lumps .... (get the idea? ) ],

2 teaspoon baking powder, 5-6 drops of vannila essence, one meduim sized ripe mango pureed ( I used the Begunfuli / Badam variety ... they are quite fleshy ... if using a smaller variety you can use 2 or 3).


How to : Mix everything together .... you can use a hand blender too.
Add the milk after adding the mango puree. The batter should be thick but of pouring consistency. So adjust the milk accordingly.
Warm oven. Grease a baking dish with a little cooking oil / butter. Pour in the batter and bake at 130 - 160 degrees C.
The cake turned out to be dense, moist and very flavourful. I got two medium sized cakes from the above measurements.

Note : If you are preheating the oven ... check that it does not get too hot. If you have the Warm option .... use it to preheat.
I start the baking at a low temperature first ... it helps in cooking the inside of the cake ... and then increase the temp. to brown it.
Keep checking ( by inserting a wooden knitting needle / knife / chopsticks) and turning off the oven at intervals for proper and even baking and browning.

And if you see that the cake is done yet has not browned well ... keep it in grill mode for around 2 mins ... and then switch off the oven. Do not leave it even for a while when on grill ... it burns very quickly.
Go by your instincts and by what you see. You will get that perfect cake. :-) 


Here's a slice for everybody who has visited Kichu Khon. :-) Enjoy !!

Updated on the 26th: Am sending this cake to Srivalli's Mango Mela! :-)

Eggless Coffee Cake

I bake this Coffee Cake very often as it is an absolute favourite. And I hardly ever deviate from the original recipe ... though while making it for SIL's family I did reduce the number of eggs on her insistence. The result was not at all different ... and I in fact got a very good cake.
Since then this recipe has been a favourite in the family.




I have never tried baking it eggless though. I wanted to bake a cake for our trip last weekend to Karpe Wadi ( post in my Travelogue ) ... just to munch on during the drive. But since I turn a veggie on certain days of the week ... and it turned out one of those days fell on the weekend ... I tried baking an eggless cake this time.

The result is here for all to see. Am so happy with this ... am now going to try eggless baking with different other stuff too.


This turned out to be the moistest & softest coffee cake I have ever baked. After the cake was done I noticed the top hadn't browned so well ... but did not want to bake further.

So just grilled it for around 3 minutes on low ... and got the perfect crispiness on the top crust. :-)
Maybe this won't go down well with purists ... but the grilling gave it that perfect crusty top.
Perfect!! :-)



Need : 2 cups maida / refined flour, a little more than 1/2 cup cooking oil, 1/2 cup milk, 3 teaspoon baking powder, 1&1/2 cup sugar, 1 pinch salt, 6-8 drops of vannila essence, coffee powder (don't use the fine powder ... the granules are better) .

How to : Grind the sugar into a powder first. Mix everything together ( I do not follow any steps ... just add everything and blend well).

Just make sure there are no lumps. And the mixture should be of pouring consistency .... so add more milk if you find it turning thickish ..... don't worry about measurements ... (see my experimentive self speaking? );-)

Pre heat oven. Bake at 150-180 degrees C. Remove from oven only when the cake has cooled.


A bite anyone? :-)

Eggless Banana Cake

I have always envied expert bakers. And after I started blogging ... and realised baking is not my forte ... I envy them even more. But then there are expert bakers who are great human beings ... who do not hesitate to encourage others. And among them is one who I admire much when it comes to baking ... Sunshinemom of TONGUETICKLERS.

So when I thought of baking something other than my usual cake, I thought of picking up something from her blog. Of course, this time it was easy deciding on .... considering the two wee little bananas sitting on my table ... already forsaken for their dark colour.

So I chose to bake her Banana Nut Loaf ... only I will call mine a cake .... for the simple reason that it does not look like a loaf ... and it definitely does not look like anything that she had baked so perfectly.
And also it is sans the nuts.

She was sweet enough to reply to my numerous queries ... and also added advice and tips too. On her tip that "the darker the bananas, the flavourful the cake" ... I let the bananas sit for one more day. I followed her recipe .... except a mistake from my part .... like the adding of cooking oil mistakenly.

The cake turned out to be greatly flavourful and perfect to taste. It did rise a lot ... but fell flat later ... which I will attribute to the heaviness of the bananas ... which I had hand mashed. Of course Sunshinemom assured me that banana cakes/breads tend to be dense.

The recipe for this cake is here.


Thanks a whole bunch Sunshinemom !! :-)


On an update --- Our little Quasimodo ( well ... it has to have a name ) is growing up fast.

I won't be able click any more snaps as it can see now ... the eyes have opened ... and gets very flustered at our presence.

So many people have left nice words for it ... I wish I could pass them on ... and advise for me ... that has left me a little worried ... to be honest , I'll be glad to see the back of it 'soon as possible.

Till then am leaving it alone. :-)

Pineapple Cake

Another successful experiment ! :-)

I had some pineapple stowed away in the freezer a fortnight back and completely forgot all about it. When I finally took a look at it, it was stone frozen. I was in the process of making my Coffee Cake .... the one I make very frequently. So decided it will be a Pineapple cake instead.

The recipe is here.
I just ran the frozen pineapple in the mixer so that it got just crushed. The small irregular pieces in every bite made it taste even more awesome!

Since the amount of Pineapple was very less ( I had around 1 cupful of crushed Pineapple ), I halved the proportions of everything needed for the cake. And added less than the usual amount of milk ... as the Pineapple would release moisture.

This turned out to be the softest cake I have ever baked ... it almost melted in the mouth. :-) 

Enjoyed a slice with my evening cuppa of my favourite Darjeeling tea. :-)