Whole Wheat Date, Walnut & Coconut Squares

So I get my first DSLR! A Nikon D3200 to start with, general opinion being this is a good one for the complete beginner. Am terribly excited of course, quite intimidated too!  Hope I will learn my way around it in sometime. I have an adept-at-teaching, very ardent photographer for my teacher and guide to help me get started - but for a very short while only ! Therefore the rush to chew on his IIT brains and get a tiny bit of hands on practice before he takes off to start his career.  Thanks tons Ajay for all the guidance, help and patience with me!

While this is happening, I am also in the process of shifting my baking paraphernalia to another kitchen.  A little one again, nevertheless very happy to get the extra space - my little baking kitchen!  A lick of paint and some scrubbing and its ready to occupy.  Organizing, re-organizing, huffing and puffing down the stairs it will be for some days. Good for my expanding waist-line, should help me burn some butter and sugar - now and now on!

Here are some whole wheat date and walnut bars I made. Hubby loves both dates and walnuts and picks them up invariably when we shop. A handful of dates become his dessert quite often, I know who the culprit is when my stash of walnuts diminish from the freezer.  I had wanted to bake these Wheat Date And Walnut Squares from the KAF Whole Grain Baking book for him since long. Not too sweet, softish, relatively healthy, nothing indulgent or dessert-like really, but tasty little bites. Both the hubby and kids liked them, a tray of these with chocolate chips had to be baked too - 'dessert' with the lunch box is always welcome!

The recipe in the book is double the below, baked in a 9''x13'' pan. I have used an 8'' square tin for the recipe below.

Ingredients :

Whole wheat flour ( I use Ashirwad) - 65 grams

Butter, at room temperate - 30 grams / 2 tablespoons

Brown sugar, powdered - 1/3 cup, packed, then powdered (recipe uses 1/2 cup)

Baking soda - HALF of 1/8 teaspoon

Egg - 48 grams / 1 large

Vanilla - 1 teaspoon

Dates, pitted and chopped - 1/2 cup

Walnuts, chopped  - 1/2 cup

Dessicated coconut - 2 tablespoons

• Procedure : Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F. Line your baking tray with parchment, grease lightly. 
• Take the butter, sugar, soda and vanilla in a medium sized bowl. Beat (with a large spoon) for about a minute till the mixture is smooth. 
• Add the egg, beat till well incorporated about 30 seconds. Fold in the flour, till it almost disappears. Stir in the walnuts and dates. 
• The mixture will be very thick, almost like cookie batter. Dump it into the tray, push it to cover the pan. Wet your hands if needed to smoothen it.  Scatter the coconut on top,  press down lightly. This will make a very thin layer.
• Bake for 20-22 minutes or till a light golden on top and slightly darker around the edges. Cool the bars in the tin for 1/2 hour. Cut into squares. 

Yes, I took the pictures with the new camera. Am not telling you that Ajay helped me with the settings before he zoomed away as I took the pictures!

Chocolate Mousse Tart - A Daring Bakers Challenge

I am pie and tart-shy! The last one (and psst...the only one) I baked was an Apple Pie way back in 2011!  But when you have to bake a pie for the Daring Bakers, you got to bake one. I am glad I did not shy away from the challenge and got decent results to boot - or to eat in this case!

Rachael from pizzarossa was our lovely June 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she had us whipping up delicious pies in our kitchens! Cream pies, fruit pies, chocolate pies, even crack pies! There’s nothing like pie!

 Rachael gave us the options to bake either a Crack Pie (a rich, salty-sweet pie with a oat crust) or a French Chocolate and Caramel tart or an Italian  Crostata or a Double Crust fruit pie. Bake one of them or more! I chose to bake the French Chocolate tart, a buttery pastry with rich chocolate mousse as the filling. I loved the filling in particular, reminded me of Chocolate Pots De Creme. I did not make the caramel layer as I felt that would make it even richer and sweeter of course. 

The crust is a matter of technique, something which only practice can help improvise and learn. Considering that I baked the crust the second time in my life after 2 1/2 years, I would say it was a good enough attempt. The making of the Pâte sablée involved the fraisage technique, i.e, smearing the dough on the counter so as to help get a flaky pastry. I baked one 9'' tart and about 4 mini ones. Found that I could have baked the 9'' tart shell a little longer. The tartlet shells though were quite flaky, crumbly and buttery as well. That sure gave me a high!

The mantra, I learn is about keeping your ingredients COLD. Cold butter, ice cold water, cold tools, a cool marble counter, rolling pin. This is to help prevent the butter from melting, keeping it in bits and pieces even after the pastry is rolled out. The butter melts in the oven creating pockets in the pastry - your flaky layers. Working quickly, handling the dough gently throughout helps keep it tender.  Start with less water and add more if needed as more water can make your pastry tough.

For the Pâte sablée

The deviation I made here is resting the pastry overnight after mixing, and then a one hour rest after rolling.

Ingredients:

Egg yolk - 18 grams / 1 large
Granulated or powdered sugar - 5 tablespoons/ 70 gm / 2½ oz ( I powdered granulated sugar after weighing)
All-purpose flour - 1¾ cups (420 ml) (250 gm) (8¾ oz)
pinch salt
Diced Cold butter (diced and then chilled), cut into 1/2'' cubes - 125 grams / 9 tablespoons / 4 ½ oz
Ice Cold water - 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (50 ml) ( I used 2 1/2 tablespoons)

For the caramel 

Granulated sugar - 7 tablespoons (105 ml) (100 gm) (3½ oz)
Whole cream, hot - 7 tablespoons (100ml

For the chocolate mousse

Eggs - 96 grams / 2 large
Whole milk  - 7 tablespoons / 100ml
Powdered sugar - 75 grams /1/3 cup / 2½ oz ( 50 grams gives mousse just about sweet)
Whole cream ( I used Amul, 25%) - 200 ml / 13 tablespoons
Dark chocolate, broken into pieces -  200 grams / 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons / 7 oz

Directions:

For the pastry : Cube the butter first and then chill it, so that its really cold. Chill your pastry cutter or bench scraper or knives and a large metal bowl as well.

1. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. ( If resting the pastry like I did, wait until later) Grease a 9"/24cm or 10"/26cm tart pan, ideally a fluted metal one with a removable bottom.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and sugar together with a teaspoon of the water until pale and fluffy, for about 2 minutes with a fork. Set aside.

3. Sift the flour and salt together into a mound on a work surface.

4. Scatter the diced butter over the top of the flour. Quickly toss the butter in the flour so it's all coated, then, using your fingers, rub it in until it resembles breadcrumbs. ( I used a cold metal bench scraper to do this, till I had some small flour mixture like bread crumbs and some with slightly larger pieces).  If you feel your butter going soft, try refrigerating the entire mixture in the metal bowl covered for sometime till the butter is cold again.

5. Gather the flour mixture into a mound and make a well in the center.

6. Pour the egg mixture and the rest of the water into the well. Working quickly, incorporate the wet ingredients into the flour, first with your fingertips then with a bench scraper until just mixed but not brought together.

7. Gently gather dough together into a rough ball between your palms. If it stays together, it is sufficiently moist. If it doesn't stay together, add a teaspoon more water and repeat the process.

8. Using the palm of your hand, push away from you to smear the dough across the work surface, gather it up and repeat until it comes together into a smooth, soft ball. ( I smeared the dough in parts smearing each part only once gently) You aren't kneading, you are using the smearing action to bind the elements of the dough without developing the gluten in the flour. The dough ball shouldn't spring back when pressed. At this point, I have wrapped the dough in cling film and refrigerated it overnight. After resting the dough, place it on the counter for sometime if its not malleable enough to roll. Excessive pressure while rolling will make the flaky layers disappear!

9. Lightly flour your work surface and lightly roll the dough out to about 3mm thick ( mine was rolled into a 12'' diameter circle, used scraps to make tartlets) in a circle to fit your pan. Press the dough gently into the pan, prick all over the bottom with a fork. I have covered this again airtight and refrigerated for about 1 hour.

10. Line the tart pan with baking paper and fill with dry beans or pie weights and bake until set, around 9 minutes. Remove pie weights and paper and bake another 6 minutes, until dry. Mine took longer - a total of about 20 minutes, longer would have been better. Pricking the base and baking without the weights till the crust turned golden brown around the edges seemed to work best for me. I baked the tartlet shells for 18 minutes.

11. Remove the pastry from the oven and allow to cool in the pan. Leave the oven on.

Filling

For the caramel ( I skipped this)
1. Spread the sugar evenly across the bottom of a small, heavy-based, non-coated saucepan (it needs to be metallic so you can see the color). Heat over a medium-low heat without stirring until the sugar starts to melt and becomes liquid around the edges. Once about a quarter of it has melted, gently stir continuously with a wooden spoon or heat-proof spatula until it turns a deep amber color, a few minutes depending on how high the heat is.
2. Remove from heat and very slowly and carefully pour all (100ml) of the hot cream into the caramel, stirring continuously - it will splutter and steam so be very careful as it is extremely hot. The cream needs to hot and poured very slowly, otherwise the caramel will seize. Keep stirring until it stops bubbling and is well combined then set aside to cool.

For the chocolate mousse

1. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs together with the milk and sugar.

2. In a small heavy-based saucepan, bring all (200ml) of the cream to a boil.

3. Remove cream from heat and add the broken chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted completely and the mixture is smooth. Let cool a few minutes. I cooled it to almost room temperature.

4. Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg and milk mixture and stir gently with a spatula to obtain a smooth cream.

5. Spread the cooled caramel in the bottom of the cooked tart shell.

6. Gently pour the chocolate cream over the caramel so you don't disturb it.

7. Place the tart into the hot oven and bake for 30 minutes, until the filling has set but is still wobbly in the center. Mine took about 28 minutes, the tartlets about 18 minutes. Do not over bake or the texture of the mousse will be firm.

10. Remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. If using a tart pan with removable bottom, un mold before serving. I prefer serving this at room temperature, sliced into thin wedges.

Loved the ease and simplicity of the creamy mousse filling and the pastry dough as well. I am sure to be using both the recipes again!  Need to work on keeping the base as crisp as the sides once baked. Loved doing this challenge, thanks for pushing me to bake these Rachael!

Guess I will be baking more pies and tarts after all!

Bloggers Table - Barbeque Friday, Alila Bangalore Hotel

Alila Bangalore hosted a barbeque last week and we were invited as part of the Chef At Large Bloggers Table.  Normally invites make my kids envious, but this was one was with family, so they were excited at the prospect of attending one of them.

We braved our way through the Friday evening traffic, one long drive it was to Whitefield, a test of patience really! Tummies rumbling , ravenous, we reached Alila.  The appetite whetting aroma of the barbeque wafting down the long corridor led us where we wanted to go. Spotted familiar faces at the table in the corner next to the bar, cameras and all.  Whoever said its tough to spot a food blogger, much less a bunch on them ...at work!

My daughter wanted something to eat and not drink, but the pretty pink Raspberry drink charmed her. Sweet and slightly tart, more appealing to a kid naturally.  My son's ginger ale was appreciated, playing on the IPad with Neha's son's seemed to make it even more enjoyable!

We made a beeline to the barbeque, with separate counters and grills for the appetizers, salads and desserts. Not  particularly impressive were the  Maple Glazed Potatoes and the Pommes Persilles. The  Parprika  smoked Vegetable Brochettes were just barely seasoned almost raw vegetables – bah!!  Even the extra sprinkling of paprika we asked for did nothing to revive them.

Char Grill Corn on The Cob was really tender corn with minimal seasoning, but still good! I later realized that I entirely missed going back to taste the Grilled Summer Squash and Marinated beetroot.  And oh, how did I miss the salads?  Having kids around you kind of does it to you I guess. Have made a mental note to make it a point to at least a bite of each dish next time on a review. 

At the Tandoori station, I had a generous second helping of the Tandoori Phool, grilled cauliflower in a very flavorful marinade. Tulsi Paneer Tikka was very soft paneer but sadly not a good enough marinade to do justice to it. Grilled Tomatoes were so so, the garlic mayonnaise quite nice. I enjoyed every spoon of Vegetable Maklouba Rice, subtle yet truly aromatic and scrumptious!  Achari anything normally is not something I relish, but the Achari Tandoori Aloo was delicious indeed! The pitas were OK-ish, but then I must admit I like bread only when it is really fresh.

Not withstanding the fairly cool evening, it got uncomfortably hot without air conditioning.  The best of food doesn’t get its due if its actually uncomfortable to sit down while you eat.

The much awaited desserts were a great disappointment . I love malpua and was really looking forward to eating Mango Malpua. It was quite hard to the bite, though the taste was not bad, though we could not taste the mango in it.  I don't enjoy  grilled bananas so I gave it a skip.  The children enjoyed the grilled cupcakes with sauce and ice cream. The Barbequed Fruit Brochettes and assorted ice creams were the other desserts on the menu.  I find it disappointing in the extreme when places like this serve ice cream of very mediocre quality. Can we have these better please! 

To sum up, I can say I enjoyed a handful of the dishes, though there were lots more which left a lot to be desired.  Fellow bloggers who tasted the non-vegetarian fare seemed to have enjoyed their food, at least most of it. The dessert menu in particular could be a lot more innovative and better.  Last but not the least, air conditioning please, lest you want food to be wolfed down in a hurry to rush out for some air!

Thanks Alila for having us over! 

Fiadone - Corsican Cheesecake

Sounds crazy or not, but when I have something particular in mind, its so like me to browse for recipes till I can't browse anymore, shortlist many, get all muddled up about which of those to try, procrastinate and procrastinate. Then most of the times, try the simplest of them all. The ricotta I made recently was begging to be used up before it could no longer be called fresh. An image of Fiadone caught my eye.  Okay, lets be honest, apart from the tempting images, 'easy' sounded so good, considering my really sore back. Curiosity and Google led me to Helene's Tartelette. Look no further!

Fiadone is a cheesecake from the island of Corsica, a French Island. Its made out of brocciu or brousse, which is whey cheese made out of goat's milk.  Helene's description of fiadone being a cross between a  flan and a cheesecake had me! I love flans though I can't say I have fallen in love with every cheesecake I have met. But then  a cheesecake is something I have wanted to bake since long, but never quite got to baking it. And now a promisng recipe so very easy, Fiadone it would be then!

Its entirely another matter that I made Fiadone thrice within a week, but thankfully I had company to help finish it! The first two attempts produced cheesecakes which ballooned in the oven - what on earth! Did I over beat the eggs or blitzing the ricotta for a smoother cake added to it? Wrote to Helene. Apparently nothing wrong with the procedure, oven hot spot may be?  Alright, I can’t sleep till this is right! Baked the cheesecake yet again in my old OTG and yes! the cake behaved itself! The texture was predictably more gritty in comparison to the cheesecake with the blitzed ricotta having a smoother texture (image below).

Not your usual cheesecake, but delicious nevertheless! So very easy to make, the ingredients, pantry staples.

The recipe is one you can’t forget in a hurry, barely 4 ingredients and hardly any steps. Here goes. The best part is you could bake this with ricotta or even well drained yogurt says Helene!

Fiadone – Corsican Cheesecake

Minimally adapted from here

Serves 6-9

Sugar – ½ cup minus 1 tablespoon (measured and powdered)
Eggs - 3 large / 144 grams
Finely grated lemon zest – 1 teaspoon

Pure vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon
Cornstarch  - 1 tablespoon

pinch of salt
Ricotta cheese or faisselle - 1 cup drained ( weighed about 225 grams)

Procedure : Line an 8x8-inch square pan with parchment paper, butter  lightly and set aside.  Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C / 375F and position a rack in the middle.  In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and the eggs until pale ( I did this on speed 4 of my hand mixer  for about  1.5 minutes, did not want to whip longer in case it ballooned again). Add the lemon zest, cornstarch, vanilla and salt and whisk until blended.  Add the drained cheese and whisk well ( I used a wire whisk). Pour into your prepared pan, place into the oven and lower the heat to 180 degrees C / 350F.  Bake for 40-45 minutes (mine baked in 35 minutes). The cake does not rise, it gets dark around the edges and a knife inserted in the middle should come out clean. Let cool for a few minutes before cutting into squares.

I must admit, though it may not be the done thing,  I loved the smooth texture  the blended ricotta  lent to  the cheesecakes that ballooned.  But rest assured, smooth or not,  set or ballooned, its unlikely that you will dislike this dessert.  Go ahead, give it a try! You have no excuse not to bake yourself a cheesecake when you crave for one, albeit not your usual kind.  And yes, let me know how you made it and how you liked it!

Thanks again Ajay for the pictures! Have been telling him, I should resume taking pictures or I am likely to forget how to take them :)

Cherry, Almond & Chocolate Chunk Muffins

'Muffins' we wrote with a flourish in the weekly  'menu' for the things I could make for the kids' school snack box. This snack went on the day of the week when they could take 'junk' food.  I know, if I were a kid, I would have probably wanted them at least 2 days a week to school. Too bad, we had no snack break at school and my mother did not bake either. 

My children would surely be excited to take muffins to school, home-made ones at that! I would be equally happy at the thought of starting my day with smell of vanilla and the sight of little fresh muffins materializing out of the oven in so little time with even lesser effort! The rewards - delighted kids who 'just can't wait for short break' and a happy mother. The simple pleasures of life often come in tiny packages - in this case some simple but versatile muffins. 

 Now I must include that a good, dependable muffin recipe is a must have in every home-baker's repertoire. Joy to make these little treats at a moment's notice with whatever you have on hand or whatever your kids fancy at the moment. Relatively healthy these are as is, you could sneak in some whole wheat or almond meal and some chopped  fresh fruit for some more goodness. I see more muffins landing in the snack boxes!

With cherries in season, I made some with fresh cherries, almond meal and dark chocolate. Yum!

Recipe adapted from Better Homes And Gardens Homemade Bread Book. This recipe appears as Best Ever Muffins in this book,  variations below.

Ingredients -
All purpose flour - 162 grams / 1 1/4 cup

Almond meal - 1/2 cup (or whole wheat flour or more APF)

Baking powder - 2 1/2 teaspoons

Salt -  1/2 teaspoon

Sugar, super fine - 6-8 tablespoons (read note)

Egg, beaten - 1

Milk - 3/4 cup

Vegetable oil - 1/3 cup

Vanilla - 1 teaspoon

Add ins -
2/3 cup pitted, chopped fresh cherries

Dark chocolate chunks - 1/2 cup

Procedure: Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C / 400 degrees F. Line your muffin cups with liners (12 for this recipe).

Whisk or sieve together the flours, baking powder, salt and sugar into a large bowl. In another small bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, oil and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, dump the wet ingredients all at once in the well. Stir until just before the flour disappears. Add the cherries and chocolate. Stir till just moistened. Do not over mix.

Fill the greased liners 2/3 full. Bake for about 18-20 minutes or till risen and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Variations :

Lemon Blueberry muffins : Fold in 3/4 to 1 cup fresh blueberries or frozen berries, thawed and drained along with 1 teaspoon lemon zest.

Cheese muffins : Reduce sugar to 1/4 cup, stir in 1/2 cup grated sharp natural cheddar cheese into the dry ingredients.

Date and Orange muffins : Substitute 3/4 cup orange juice for the milk, whisk in 1 teaspoon orange peel in it. Stir in 1/2 cup finely chopped dates, 1/2 cup chopped nuts.

Fresh fruit, juice, coffee and walnuts, Nutella swirl or chocolate swirl. And of course more variations as you please.

Sugar : Add sugar according to taste and with the other add ins in mind.

PS: The pictures here are taken by Ajay, my neighbor who happens to be a very keen photographer. These are the first few  of his food photography shots. Thanks so much Ajay for the lovely pictures and all the time and effort you put into this! The chocolate chunk and mint muffins above are some this shining new baker just stepping out of IIT made for himself!

Homemade Ricotta

Say cheese and we in India are most familiar with three kinds. Mozzarella on our omnipresent pizzas. Cottage cheese without which our restaurants would be out of business! The other of course is processed cheese in slices and cubes stacked in the fridge for our white sauce and for the kids' sandwiches. The past decade or so has seen more of cheese with the culinary revolution, increasing popularity and interest in food. We can now safely say we know Parmesan, mascarpone, ricotta, quark, feta, cream cheese and Gorgonzola to name a few, at least by name. They don't sound all that much alien as they pop out of the menus and television shows all the time, we can actually pretend we know them!

The availability of exotic varieties of cheese is truly heartening with these dotting the aisles of the newer specialty supermarkets and the virtual aisles of online food stores. But truth be said, the prices kill the joy of buying them! The wallet effect apart, it would not really hurt to run to the near by store and buy a tub of fat free cream cheese for your cheese cake on the way back from work. Thankfully there are at-least some of these which are best consumed fresh - and the making of which need not be a study in itself. Home made ricotta is one of them.

Ricotta means 'twice cooked'  and is traditionally made using left over whey which is a by-product of cheese making. Below is the recipe for homemade ricotta for folk like us who have no access to cheese making by- products. Again homemade ricotta can be made using lemon juice or vinegar or buttermilk to curdle the milk, with obvious subtle difference in taste.

It was a joy to discover that ricotta is oh-so-easy-to-make with just a handful of easily available ingredients. When really fresh, it has a very soft and creamy texture. Can be made quickly subject to the availability of whole milk and cream. You could use ricotta in cheesecakes, cakes, muffins, desserts, in your savory tarts or eat just as is with a drizzle of honey and nuts. Delightful soft cheese, ridiculously easy to make, supposedly super versatile in use and very cost effective - who in their right mind will now say no to this cheese!

Adapted from here, recipe by David Lebovitz.

You will need :

Whole milk - 960 ml / 4 cups ( I used 3.5%)

Plain whole milk yogurt - 120 ml/ 1/2 cup

Heavy cream ( I have used Amul, 25%) - 60 ml / 1/4 cup (optional )

White vinegar - 1 teaspoon

Salt - 1/2 teaspoon (1 teaspoon if using the cheese for savory recipes)

Position a strainer over a large deep bowl, line with a few layers of cheese cloth. In a medium sized heavy pot, lightly whisk together the milk and cream, tip in the yogurt, vinegar and salt. Bring this to a boil ( I boiled on medium heat). It took about 5 minutes for the milk to rise and the milk to start separating around the edges. Once it comes to a boil (when it rises), boil for another 2 minutes or till the milk curdles. You can now see whey and bits of curd over the surface too. Do not boil for longer as it may make your cheese rubbery.

Pour into the lined strainer and drain for 15 minutes. Gather the cheesecloth around the cheese and squeeze gently to drain excess liquid. Guess we have to remember that you if you drain it longer it makes for a drier cheese and you only need to squeeze it gently and not actually wring it dry!

Home made ricotta is best served warm, refrigerated for up to 3 days. Not sure if this freezes well.

Please note: David Lebovitz recommends whole milk, heavy cream and whole milk yogurt - the higher fat percentage in all these contributes to the creamy texture. You may use low fat milk, yogurt and cream but can't expect the same texture. I have used milk at room temperature as I thought it would take longer for cold milk to boil ( Did not want risk boiling long along with the acidic ingredients, fearing tough cheese)

I actually have some ricotta in my fridge, lets see what I can do with it!

Cocoa Tuiles - Tuiles Love!

Guilty, guilty of making appearances so sporadic here! Summer vacations are just not my thing. Please say neither is it your favorite time of the year and make me feel better! I don't know if I have had enough of vacations or the kids have had enough of me, but neither of us can wait for school to re-open! Hang on, its just a week away, we keep telling each other!  And then a couple of things more not in my favor.  Out of the few recipes I managed to make in the mayhem, some recipes were not up to my expectations, some needing re-work ( exasperating I know!). Then a couple of good ones I want to share with you but turned out the pictures are terrible! I have never been proud of my photography, very honestly far from it, but this time my camera seems to be really avenging me for something! Thinking I won't have a single thing to post at this rate, am picking out a couple of recipes which I had put on hold for better pictures.  Please bear with me!

Here are some tuiles I had made sometime ago. Some super crisp, really chocolaty ones, they can be as addictive as potato chips, warns Alice Medrich! Great to munch on as is, but can you really resist playing around with these? Embellish them with nuts or drizzle them with some chocolate or use them to pipe in some coffee mascarpone / cream and berries to make desserts out of them.

As with all tuile batters, this is really easy and quick to make. You could make the batter and refrigerate it upto 3 days, make the tuiles in batches at your pace. Make sure you weigh your ingredients correctly as more flour can make your tuiles tough, more cocoa will make them bitter, less of it makes them sweet. I like them slightly sweetish with a bitter edge. I prefer trying out half the recipe first and then double it to suit my taste. 

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter, melted and still very warm - 56 grams approximately / 4 tablespoons (weigh or measure before melting)

Sugar, powdered - 100 grams / 1/2 cup (powdered after weighing)

Natural cocoa ( Nilgiris, Hersheys, Cadbury's) - 1/4 cup / 22 grams approx (sieve after measuring)

Salt - 1/4 teaspoon

Egg whites - 60 grams / 2 large

All purpose flour - 10 grams / 4 teaspoons

Method: Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F. Line your baking trays with aluminum foil, smoothing any creases, taking care not to tear it. Grease lightly but very thoroughly with melted butter.

In a small bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, cocoa and salt. Whisk in the egg whites. Add flour and mix only till combined. Let the batter rest for at-least 10 minutes or up to 3 days, covered and refrigerated.

Drop level teaspoons of batter 2 inches apart on the prepared foil. Using the back of a spoon, spread the batter evenly in 3 inch rounds or oval or other shape about 1/16 of an inch.  If using multiple trays, you could spread the batter and keep the trays in the oven one by one. If using the same pan for the next set of tuiles, make sure the pan is cool before you spread the batter.

Bake for 10 to 11 minutes. The time depends on the thickness of the cookies. Watch very carefully,  its tough to tell when they are baked and when they start burning because of the dark color! The edges will be ever so slightly darker says Alice, but it really is not easy to make this out. Rotate pans if using a large oven and multiple sheets. If the cookies are not baked thoroughly, they won't be completely crisp when they cool. A test batch must tell you the approximate baking time. I baked for about 11 minutes.

Remove the cookies sheets or pans from the oven and set them down. Keep your rolling pin / cup right beside the oven if you want to curve them or shape them into cups. You won't have time to turn, go to the table and then shape.You are supposed to slide a very thin metal spatula when the cookie is still hot and soft. Then shape it immediately into a curve or cigar and cool it on a rack. If the cookies harden before you shape, pop them back in the oven for a few seconds, they will soften, you can shape again. I normally let them cool and harden, then peel the foil from underneath the tuiles very gently taking care not to break the tuiles. After baking all of the cookies, I put one cookie at a time in the oven (the underside of the cookie facing up, so that when you pick up the cookie and shape it into a cone, you have the right side facing outward) on the sheet for 30-40 seconds till they became very soft and flexible. Then shaped them. They harden very very quickly as in a matter of 4-5 seconds, so its really important that you work very quickly.

With basic tuiles, coconut wafers and cocoa tuiles done (and loved much), you don't need to fear more tuiles appearing here...at least for some time!

No Knead, Easy & Quick Pizza - It Can't Get Easier!

Its no secret that I love Peter Reinhart's Napoletana Pizza Crust, but I still keep looking out for and trying out new recipes. A good dependable recipe and a good pizza for all the times you need one. Peter Reinhart's recipe when you have the luxury of planning well ahead, flexibility to make pizza anytime over the next 3 days.  How about one when you need pizza in a real hurry without any prior planning?

Ever since I have discovered how easy it is to make pizza from scratch at home, ordering pizza in is something I can't digest. Good money spent on not-so-good stuff.  If I had my way and some cheese at home, I will have good pizza ready in, say, an hour and a half, sauce, dough and all? My kids wanted to order pizza one day and yours truly all but kicked my legs and cried, imploring not to do so. The trade off - my 11-year-old budding foodie would get to make the dough. The young food enthusiast these days has been contemplating gastronomy as one of his future choice of academic options! Food love, one trait he has inherited from me!

The deal I suppose was good enough for him to be content with eating dal-roti-subzi for the moment. The next day saw us all set to make pizza, the sauce ready to go on it, the elusive cheese reassuringly sitting in the fridge. A pizza from this no-knead flatbread was the plan. Sure made my son happy as he made it successfully!

Tough for a kid or a beginner to fail when the dough is as simple as gathering all ingredients in a bowl and beating 20 strokes with a wooden spoon. The sticky dough goes directly on your pizza pan,  prepare the toppings while it rises .The sauce can preferably be made before you make the dough as it also needs to cool. Rest the dough for 30-40 minutes and bake. No fuss, no knead, quick and easy!

The reliability of old tried and tested recipes always tempt me to play around, this time the playing around restricted to simply dividing the dough into 3 parts and baking it with sauce and toppings in a very hot oven. Really simple but also works really well! 

I tried this with a potato, onion, garlic and EVOO topping too which was OK-ish, but the classic tomato sauce and cheese will always be a favorite!

Watch me make this pizza. Also check my video about yeast below. 

The recipe below makes 3 8-9'' pizzas, depending on the thickness of the crust.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 210 grams/ 1.5 cups approximately

Salt - 3/4 teaspoon

Garlic powder - 1/4 teaspoon (optional)

Instant yeast - 1 teaspoon (Use 1 1/8 teaspoon if using active dried yeast)

Olive oil - 1 1 /2 tablespoons

Lukewarm water - 3/4 cup / 180 ml

More extra virgin olive oil for greasing the pans
Homemade Pizza Sauce
Toppings of your choice.

Procedure : Generously grease 3 9'' round or square pans or two large sheet pans with extra virgin olive oil. Enough oil (say about a teaspoon per pan ) will give your pizza a golden and crisp crust, easy release too. Keep aside.

Sift together the flour, salt and garlic powder. Keep aside. Take the water, oil and yeast in a medium sized bowl, tip in the flour mixture. (If using active dried yeast, mix it with lukewarm water, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, allow to stand till frothy, 5-10 minutes, add the oil and the rest of the ingredients) With a wooden spoon, stir to bring it all together, then beat 20 strokes. The dough will be sticky. Divide it into three equal portions, you must eyeball correctly or weigh for uniformity in baking time and thickness of the crust of each pizza. Dump each portion on one pan. With greased hands, push the dough on the pan to make a 9'' round (about 5 mm aprox). (or smaller ones for a thicker pizza. I like mine with a thin crust). Try to keep the thickness uniform throughout (one of mine got a bit thicker in the middle). Keep in a warm place (cover if possible, taking care that the lid does not touch the crust or the area immediately around it) for about 25-30 minutes (may be 40-45 minutes when its not hot) or till the dough is puffy, not necessarily double.

Pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees C (or higher if you can set in your oven) in the meantime. Spread the sauce and the vegetables on it and bake for 13-15 minutes (couple of minutes longer for a thicker crust) or till golden brown around the edges (watch carefully towards the end as you don't want it to burn or turn into a cracker) Remove from the oven carefully, top with more sauce and cheese, bake another 2 minutes till or the cheese melts. Remove, allow the cheese to set for a minute, slice and serve immediately.

Not a bad crust for a super easy, tasty and quick pizza, what do you think? Way better than the one you will get in 30 minutes! So next time you need pizza on a whim, you may not really want to reach out for the phone...head to the kitchen instead!

The pizza is yeast-spotted!

Bloggers Table - Azure, Vivanta By Taj

There have been quite some meets happening at the Bloggers Table, Chef At Large, but I have had no luck being part of these these save for the first one at Blue Terrain, Novotel. Content at the moment that the kids are busy and happy, happier to have them out of my hair, but engaged elsewhere for sometime! But they are  back home too soon, back in my hair in no time! My sister took pity on me and offered to have my little monsters over for the weekend. Hard to say if the kids were more excited about it or me! A gentle nudge by Natasha Ali around the same time made me realize the Bangalore Table was to be hosted at Azure, Vivanta by Taj, Yeshwantpur the same Friday.  Happy coincidence as sister happens to live close by! Novena of  Edelman Private Limited, assured a decent spread of grub and drinks for me, a vegetarian and complete teetotaler. After dropping the kids off, hubby and I looked forward to what  was described as a Mediterranean Sojourn at Azure.

 The evening started with drinks at Shimmer, the bar. True to its name, Shimmer has a ceiling replete with dazzling suspended lights, a cheerful sight.  Oliveto, Watermelon And Basil Bramble and Rosemary Delight were made with flair, and anyone who wished to was given a chance to play bartender as well! A virgin version of Rosemary Delight for me. Am not much of a rosemary person, much less of a herbs in my drink person, so a couple of sips and I was done. 

The bar feels quite cramped though with narrow-ish spaces between the bar stools and the seating arrangement. Was quite late, an hour or more spent at the bar and we were all ravenous. Any more delay and I would have probably forgotten my manners and asked for my meal to be served!

We rapidly moved to Azure upstairs, a huge table laid for us bloggers and the press. Pleasant ambiance with a live counter nearby. The meal and the wait for it started with loads of cheerful banter - food, blogs, food obsession and photographing everything you eat. What else do you expect from a bunch of obsessed foodies meeting over a meal?

I opted to skip the soup as I find it takes a lot of precious space in my tummy and quite a bit of my appetite too! Though I would not have cared much for  the Lemony horse gram soup, I could have tried the Spanish Potato soup.

The first to appear on the table, the bread, was soft and served with soft butter, nice! The salad I had ordered, Plum Tomato Confit artichoke with cured buffalo mozzarella and French dressing was a burst of flavors, married so well, it hit the right spot! On any other day, I would not mind making a complete meal of one so good!  The Greek Salad was OK-ish and nothing to write home about. The salad did not reach Neha Mathur and we had to request for another, but it unfortunately did not reach the table at all!

 I loved the falafel, crispy and delicious! The dips that came along, tahini, Baba Ghanoush and hummus were disappointing though, missing critical flavor. The pitas were soft, though not particularly tasteful. The same was true with the aubergines which came along, no zing!

The talk and laughter though went on and on, one of those times when you enjoy like-minded company more, the food less!

The famished bunch that we were, we rapidly headed for the main course. My choice was Burrata with asparagus and vegetable mousseline. This, I belatedly gathered is an Italian cheese made with mozzarella and cream. Burrata arrived and how!! A colossal  portion of cheese no less, mozzarella on the outside and cream within. I love cheese, but then in considerably smaller portions as part of my salad or as a topping on some crusty bread. Burrata certainly aroused a lot of curiosity and the platter went around the table, everyone seemed to share my feelings about it. Rather sad, as such good cheese did not get its due, thanks to the size! May be it's just not my kind of a main course. I wished I had ordered the seemingly predictable Tortellini stuffed with cheese.

Swati saw my stuck-with-cheese predicament and shared her Tajine ( slow cooked vegetable stew with couscous) with me, a spoonful and sigh, another let down! As I was still hungry for my carbs, I requested for some rice which came along with another main course. This  was good, perfectly cooked aromatic rice, subtly flavored, with plenty of pine nuts, though a little less fat would have made it taste even better. I ate it with  some red bell pepper dip,  it helped take the focus off the grease!

I had already taken a sneak peak into the dessert menu and knew what I would order. Baklava! I have never tasted this legendary Middle Eastern dessert, layers of phyllo and nuts. I don't know if this is how baklava tastes, but it certainly did not have me swooning and digging in with all the gusto of a die-hard dessert lover.

Warm chocolate fallen cake with coffee ice cream beckoned to me loud from hubby's dessert platter and was it good! I got to try this at home sometime soon! The ice cream was mediocre, the flavor of coffee evident and quite nice, but the sandy-ness of it left a lot lacking in terms of texture. I would have much appreciated another Mediterranean dessert in lieu of the omnipresent sorbet.

My carnivore friends did not seem to be particularly impressed with their meal either, sad again!

So, the average meal was rounded off with the warm chocolate cake, the saving grace. It was quite late,  we had a long drive ahead with our poor man Friday at the wheels for the evening. Could not help but think, shouldn't a hotel the stature and reputation of Taj have infinitely higher standards? The menu had limited options, the serving sizes were decent though. Service could have been much faster and efficient. We would have loved it if the meal were as memorable as Taj is in our memories.

Thanks Taj for hosting our Table!