THICK AND RICH DARK HOT CHOCOLATE

Indulging in  rich hot chocolates in a dark cold weather wrapped up in a blanket is utterly comforting.Who wouldn't love the idea of making this rich drink instead of sipping those ugly soda's  or whatever.Every part of the world has is own way of enjoying chocolate drinks.European's make it thick and creamy chocolate,American and Indian hot chocolate's are mixed with milk .It could be served in cup or in bowls .I'd like mine in a bowl with a spoon on the couch watching my fav food n/w in the dim lights.How comforting !!

Semi sweet chocolate chips 1/3 cup

dark chocolate chopped 2 ounces

brown sugar to taste

corn flour 1 tblspoon

coco powder 1/2 tablspoon

Milk 1 cup

Cinnamon 1/2 inch stick

• In a sauce pan pour the milk and add cinnamon to it.bring the milk to a boil.
• Add coco powder,chocolate chips and dark chocolate.
• Stir it well on a low flame .
• In a small bowl take 2 tblspoons of milk and mix corn flour till it dissolves.
• When chocolate is dissolved completely pour in the cornflour and stir continously till it becomes slightly thick.
• Remove it immedietly and place this pan in a water bath to stop the cooking process.
• Pour in individual cups and serve hot or warm with whipped cream or marshmallows.

 Suggestions

• Boil the chocolate mixture to desired thickness.
• Doesn't taste good at room temparature.
• Keep stirring  after mixing the cornflour inorder to avoid lumps.
• If there are any lumps filter it.

JEERA RICE

This is my first time making jeera rice .I was thrilled how aromatic , flavourful and mild this is.Preparing the same old bhagara rice&veg biryani, i felt like making something new which would be so different and doesn't need ginger garlic paste and onions,but still flavourful.This jeera and ghee rice is out of this world.It has some health benefits too.Jeera aids in digestion,peppers,cinnamon,cloves and cardamom gives a bit heat to the body in winters.Hence ,preparing this dish in winter is a good idea.

source :Friend
Serves: 2

Ingredients required:

Rice 2 cups (any type)
Cloves 3
Cardamom 2 pods
Cinnamon 1 small stick
Black peppercorns 1/2 teaspoon
Jeera 1 1/2 tblspoon or less
Ghee 1 tblspoon
Cashews(optional)

Preparation

• Wash and soak rice in required amount of water.
• Take ghee in a pan and fry all the spices except jeera for a minute .Then add jeera and fry till they splutter.
• Add  the tempered spices to the rice.
• Cook the rice till done.
• Mix in between with a thin spatula so that rice doesn't break.
• Serve hot with the curry of ur choice and raitha.

Suggestions

• Use the right amount of water or else it becomes soggy.
• Gently fold in the rice atleast twice in between so that all the spices are well incoporated.

APPLE CRISP

Source: web
Serves:5 to 6

Ingredients required:

For Crisp topping:

Oats 1 cup
All purpose flour 1/2cup
Butter 1 stick minus 1 tbspoon
Brown sugar 1 1/2 -2  cups
Cinnamon powder 1 teaspoon

For Filling
Apples green 3 med
White sugar 5 spoons
all purpose flour 1  tablespoon
cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon
Butter 1 tbspoon(use it straight from the fridge)

Preparation:
For Crisp topping:

• Coarsly grind oats and to this add cinnamon,sugar ,all purpose flour and chopped butter cubes.
• Give it a couple of pulses so that everything is combined .The mixture should be crumbly and not sticky or runny.
• keep this aside.

For the filling:

• Peel,core and thinly slice the apples.
• To this add cinnamon,all purpose flour, sugar and mix it.

Combining it together and baking:

• Take apple mixture in an ovensafe bowl and add a tablespoon of butter bits to it.
• cover the apples with the oats mixture,
• Bake it in a preheated oven at 400 F for 10 minutes and reduce the temparature to 350 F and bake for another 20 minutes or till u see golden brown on top .
• Remove and let it cool.
• Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Suggestions:

• Make sure  oats are coarsly ground or else the mixture could become soggy.
• Add butter straight from the fri
• Apple crisp is done only when u see the golden brown top .
• Make sure to add allpurpose flour in apple mixture so that the filling is gooey and not watery.

HOT CHOCOLATE--------------BAKED

Source:web
Serves:2

Ingredients Required:

Milk 10 oz
Dark chocolate 2 squares
Semisweet Chocolate chips 1/8 cup
Cocoa 1 teaspoon (optional)
Brown sugar to taste
Large Egg yolk 1

Preparation:

•  In a microwave safe bowl melt together dark chocolate and chocolate chips in a splash of milk for 30 seconds.
• In a bowl whisk together melted chocolate,coco powder ,brown sugar and milk.
• Add the egg yolk and mix it well.
• Spoon the batter  into cups.Place them in a baking pan
• Add enough  hot water to the baking pan to come halfway up the side of the cups.
• Place the pan in a preheated oven and bake this on 300 F for 15 -20 min.
• Remove and serve warm or chilled.
• Top it with ginger candy or hard butterscotch candy.

Suggestions:

• These chocolate cups  are slightly hard outside and extremely rich,chocolatey and gooey inside.
• It can stay fresh upto a day in the fridge and can be reheated in the microwave  for 10 to 15 seconds.
• More sugar can be added for extra sweetness ,but i like mine bitter.

ALMOND MILK

Source :Amma
Serves:2 med cups

Ingredients requires:

Milk 14 oz
Almonds 15
Vanilla Custard powder 1/2 teaspoon(for added flavour; optional)
Sugar to taste
Saffron few strands
Cardamom powder a pinch

Preparation:

• Soak almonds for 2 hrs in hot water.Remove the skin and grind it with some milk to form a paste.
• In a thick bottomed pan add almond paste,custard powder .
• Stir well. bring to a boil.
• Add sugar and boil it on low flame for 10 minutes.
• Dissolve saffron in a tablespoon of hot milk and add to the boiling milk.Add cardamom powder.
• Remove from the stove and filter it .
• Serve warm or cold.

Suggestions:

• If u add more than a teaspoon of custard powder then the milk will become very thick.
• It is not necessary to filter the milk .

EASY LATTICE TOP APPLE PIE

 




























Source:web
Serves:6 slices

Ingredients Required

For Filling:
Granny smith apples/green apples 3
Granulated sugar 1/2 cup
Brown sugar 1 cup(or substitute with white sugar)
Cinnamon powder 1/2 teaspoon
Butter 1 table spoon
All purpose flour 1 tablespoon

For Crust:
All purpose flour 2 cups
Butter 1 stick(straight from the fridge)
Salt 1/2 teaspoon or to taste
water 4 to 5 spoons

Egg yolk and milk for brushing on top of the pie.

Preparation:
For Crust:

• In a large bowl take together salt and flour.Mix well.
• Cut the butter into bits.Now add butter to the flour.
• Add few spoons of water and mix it just to hold together.
• Don't knead the dough.It must be crumbly .
• If the dough doesn't hold together then add some water and mix it.
• Divide this into two parts and place it in the refridgerator for 15 to 20 min.
• Now dust the working surface and rolling pin with some flour .
• Take the dough and roll it out to a 12 inch round flat disk and about 5 mm thickness.
• Every once in a while lift the dough so that it doesn't stick to the surface.
• After rolling the dough to the right size fold it in half and gently lift it and place in the 9 inch pie dish.
• Slowly pressdown so that it lines  the sides and bottom of the dish.
• Using a knife or a pair of scissors trim  the edges of the dough.Place this in the fridge.
• Now roll out the second ball to a 12 inch circle .You can use this directly as a pie top or you could  make a latticetop.(Roll out the second part after preparing the flling sothat the sugars doesn't melt)

For filling:

• Peel,core and thinly slice the apples.
• Mix a tblespoon of all purpose flour,cinnamon , sugars and apples together and place it in the refridgerator.

Combining crust and Filling and baking.

• Take the pie dish from the fridge and fill with the apple mixture and butter bits.
• Cover with  rolled out dough .Trim the edges and seal the bottom and top edges.
• Make a small vent in the middle.
• For lattice top you don't need to make a vent .But it is necessary to seal the edges.
• Beat the egg yolk and milk together.Brush this on the top of the dough to get a glazing golden top.
• Place this in a preheated oven .
• Bake for 30 to 40 minutes for lattice top and 50 to 60 minutes for a covered top.
• Place a cookie sheet lined with atleast two layers of aluminium foil to collect the drippings while baking.

Basic care tobe taken while preparing:

• Use cold butter.Room temp butter makes the dough soggy.
• To get a flaky crust don't knead the dough.It must be crumbly not soft.
• Mix all purpose flour to sugar and apple slices so that the filling is gooey and not watery.
• Place a cookie sheet lined with foil inorder to collect all the juices while baking.If it falls in the oven the juices burn and emits smoke.
• Remove the pie from the oven when u see a golden color on top.
• To make the Lattice top first practice with papers or take any help.

PALA KOVA / PEDA / MILK BURFI

This is a traditional  sweet which is prepared for festivals especially for DIWALI.We can make it semi-homemade or right from scratch.But the traditional recipe calls for 1 milk , half sugar and  a pinch of baking soda(milk doesn't curdle),where mik is boiled on low flame to reduce it to half of its volume(test : milk should slightly stick to the plate).It is then cooled for a couple of minutes .We need to stir it continously with a laddle untill it is thick enough to make a ball.Canned condensed milk is used in the instant/semi-homemade recipe.

Source: web
Serves:can make atleast 15

Ingredients Required:

Milk powder  2 cups
Condensed milk  2 small cans(7 oz cans)
Butter unsalted(melted)  1 stick

Preparation:

• In a microwavesafe bowl take all the ingredients and mix them well.
• Microwave the mixture for 3-4 minutes.
• Keep stirring for every 1-2 minutes so that they don't dry out.
• Check if u could make a ball out of it.Now u are done.
• Let it cool  down for a while.
• Make small balls when it is warm.
• Garnish with nuts,saffron or silver foil .