Tag: Gurgaon

Nuts About Bananas…’Banana Muffins’!!

“Avoid fruit and nuts. You are what you eat.”
Jim Davis ‘Garfield’

BANANA CHOC-CHIP WALNUT MUFFINS
Makes 12
This is a recipe I have been using for ages…not sure where I got it from, but the kids seem to love these. You can omit the walnuts or chocolate chips if you like, or increase or decrease the quantity as desired.

Preheat oven to 190degC/375degF.
Line a 12 muffin regular tray or grease well.


Ingredients:
Flour – 1 cup
Wholewheat Flour – 1/2 cup
Baking powder – 1 tsp
Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
Salt – 1/4 tsp
utter – 1/4 cup + 1 tbs(60gms)
Bananas – 3 / mashed
Sugar – 1/2 cup
Egg yolks – 2 (Reserve the whites for some other use. Whites freeze well!)
Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp
Walnuts – 1/4 cup
Chocolate chips – 1/4 cup

Method :

  • Sift the flours + baking soda + baking powder + salt together 3 times. Keep aside.
  • Beat together the butter + mashed bananas + sugar + egg yolks + vanilla essence.
  • Fold in the sifted ingredients and walnuts and chocolate chips until just mixed in. DO NOT OVERMIX.
  • Bake at 190deg C for 20-25mins in a lined or well greased muffin tin.
  • Remove and cool on racks immediately to avoid the bottoms getting soggy.
Posted by Deeba @ PAB

Tailor Birds in our yard…Bird watching in Gurgaon

Digressing from baking etc…..

Couldn’t resist posting this. These are snapshots of a pair of Indian Tailor birds that sewed a nest in our front yard. The next few weeks unfolded fascinating pictures of chicks hatching out of bright red eggs. An experience worth the wait!!
Posted by Deeba @ PAB

‘Creamless in Gurgaon’…and sans baking chocolate too!

This is almost like ‘Sleepless in Seattle’. What agony is this? With the flooding in Gujarat a few months ago, and a blazing hot summer in North India prior to that, cream has all but disappeared from the market. To make matters worse, baking chocolate has done the number too. We used to get decent tetrapaks of cream from Vijaya and Amul, and I found ways and means of reaching my end product even though the cream had a low fat content (20-30%). Cadbury’s used to do baking chocolate slabs in 500gm lots ,which I had got and stacked up. Sadly, I have exhausted my supply. Nestle’s dark baking chocolate has always been hard to come by, but the few times I got it by bribing a friend, I guarded it like gold. It has great taste, and good cocoa content, but is nowhere to be found now. Guess its down to substituting again…good old cocoa plus butter!! Tried the Armenian Nut Cake yesterday due to the paucity of cream and chocolate. DH loved it, but the kids weren’t too impressed as it wasn’t sweet enough for their spoilt tastebuds! Oh well….one day, we shall overcome!!
Posted by Deeba @ PAB

Painting Cookies

I love to paint cookies, as you can see. They give me hours of endless pleasure when I am home with nothing better to do. The kids love ’em, and line up for them the minute they are served. Always a big hit at birthday parties, and on Diwali and Christmas I customise them. On Diwali I do diyas (oil lamps) and candles with silver dragees on cookies. When Christmas comes, its bells, stars, xmas trees, wreaths, gingerbreadmen,candy canes, snowflakes etc and etc. I even do hanging ones for the tree on Christmas. We put ribbon through holes on top to hang them…and its really worth the hard work and toil once they go up on the tree!

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

Baking from scratch…lessons learnt

Lemme tell you something about the what I like to do. Anything and everything creative. Baking has become my passion after years of trying things from ‘scratch’, and I find cooking helps me unwind. I like to substitute and experiment for the simple reason that a couple of years ago we didnt get very many ingredients here in India. I like all cuisines…be it Indian, Italian, Fusion Cooking,Mexican…whatever. Just like to keep it simple and not too overpowering on taste.
Half the battle is won if the presentation is good. You should see my son sniff his way to the kitchen, and check out the ingredients and ‘the look’. He then declares that he loves whatever is coming his way. As for my daughter….she just HAS to be absolutely the FIRST one to taste whatever pops out of the oven. Thank heavens for them…without them I wouldn’t have come this far! I am also crazy enough to make almost everything at home, to prevent preservatives, and ensure that the kids get fresh, healthy and delicious things to devour. I think I caught this bug from my Home Science teacher, Mrs Nair, in school in Delhi. I shall never forget those mad days in the lab in CJM!!
Posted by Deeba @ PAB
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