Easy Strawberry dessert

The holidays have come to an end and life has started on normal mode once again. An entire month of gorging on yummy goodies can disturb a lot of your body equilibrium but then life is all about enjoying what you like, within limits though. I have been procrastinating the idea of getting back to my exercise schedule which I followed very religiously till my daughter Vaanya was born. Being a Phyical therapist, I very well know how the human mind keeps the idea of exercising at bay. I have had hard days convincing my patients the benefits and joy of exercising. I guess its time to repeat those lines of advice to myself. 

Coming back to the recipe that I am sharing today, it was basically done with left over strawberries and some cream that I had from my Chocolate cloud roll. I crushed some oreos and layered the dessert in no time. Some fancy decorations and you have a yummy and impressive dessert. 

Ingredients : I am not sharing any measurements because frankly speaking I just went with whatever I had

• 3-4 oreos, crushed
• 3-4 strawberries, chopped
• Whipped cream, about 1/2 a cup
• Strawberry crush, 2-3 spoonful (I used a brand called Mala)

Procedure : 

Take plastic serving cups like the ones I have used or any other serving glass and press some crushed oreos at the bottom.

Mix the strawberry crush with the whipped cream with gentle hands and spoon some on the crushed oreos.

Sprinkle some chopped strawberries and make another layer of oreo, whipped cream and strawberries. 

Dress it up with a dollop of piped whipped cream and a wafer chocolate stick. 

My daughter, Vaanya, enjoyed her favourite flavours, strawberry and chocolate, in the dessert and finished it in no time.

Happy quick dessert relishing

Amrita

Palak Raita

Come Winter and my list of must have's spring out from my recipe diary. My little kitchen bustles with a variety of bakes with seasonal fruits and dishes with vegetables. I start the long list with one ingredient at a time and think of various ways to use it. The fruits end up in cakes, tarts etc and the vegetables get experimented in a variety of sabzi's, soups or eaten just like that, boiled and sauteed in a little butter.
My favourite way to eat spinach leaves, raw and fresh, is in this recipe of Palak Raita. The idea came from someone who shared a salad recipe on the same lines. Since then, it is a winter ritual to have this raita at least once. 
The sight of fresh bright green Spinach leaves in the vegetable patch of our house in Allahabad made me share this simple and humble recipe. Vanya, my daughter, and me have been enjoying ourselves feasting on fresh produce from the garden.
When making be careful to choose baby spinach leaves, tender and fresh. Wash them well and just roll them, a few at a time, and very finely slice them. Do not skip the roasted cumin powder as it gives a very distinct and important flavour to the humble raita. I like my raita with a little dash of sugar to balance the taste. Skip it if you do not like. 

Spinach leaves/Palak in the vegetable patch

Ingredients : No measurements here. All ingredients are as per your taste and requirement

• Curd 
• handful of baby spinach leaves
• roasted cumin seed/jeera powder
• red chilly powder
• rock salt
• sugar

Procedure : 

Wash spinach leaves well. Take care to choose the small baby leaves. Roll the leaves and slice them as fine as possible.

Beat curd with a fork and add sugar, salt and red chilly powder. If curd is thick add milk/water to thin it.

Add spinach leaves and mix.

Roast cumin seeds on a hot griddle and then grind them. Sprinkle it on curd and mix.

Garnish with some spinach leaves and with a sprinkle of red chilly and roasted cumin powder.

Happy Palak relishing

Amrita

Easy Strawberry Icecream

Vaanya, my four and a half year old daughter, is at a 'I love everything Pink' stage. Pink is not just her favourite colour but the only colour she wants everything around her to be in. Her fetish is not just limited to clothes but even food. She chooses to eat her oreo biscuits in strawberry flavour because it is pink! If she could, she would have painted the entire city pink.

Last month when we got a box of strawberries home, this simple and quick recipe was on my mind for my darling pink daughter. As I thought, the mere all natural pink colour of this ice cream made her eat spoonfuls straight from the container. The super easy recipe worked perfect and I did not have to use any artificial colour. 

Ingredients : 

• 1 cup whipped cream
• 1 cup condensed milk
• strawberries, chopped, as required

Procedure : 

Take a little less than 1/2 cup of whipping cream (to achieve 1 cup of whipped cream) and whip it to stiff peaks. 

Fold in the condensed milk and whip it again.

Fold in chopped strawberries and put the mixture in a freezer proof container and freeze for 3-4 hours. 

Scoop out and enjoy the soft serve type ice cream.

Happy Pink ice cream relishing

Amrita

Sugar Cookies shaped as Gingerbread men

Vaanya, my four and half year old daughter, is at a stage where she is enjoying the world of fairy tales and stories. During the Durga Puja holidays, she got a scrapbook assignment from her Montessori to illustrate her favourite story. Vaanya chose to draw pictures of Goldilocks and the three bears. After the school reopened each story from the scrapbook was read in the class. 

Vaanya's classmate Alvira had chosen The story of Gingerbread Man. Alvira's mother, knowing my passion for baking requested me to bake some Gingerbread cookies for the class. The happy baker in me jumped on the chance to make these cute cookies. We decided not to go the traditional way of adding ginger and spices to the cookies and planned to keep them simple. 

These simple sugar cookies are inspired from Sayantani's blog and I have added a wee bit of cocoa powder to give them a little colour. The cookies are shaped in the Gingerbread man and are decorated with melted white chocolate. 

I was happy to see kids with their gingerbread shaped cookies merrily chomping on it. These cookies are a perfect Christmas treat.

Recipe source : A homemaker's diary

Ingredients : yields about 3 dozen cookies of medium size

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 200 gms butter, room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder

Procedure : 
Preheat oven to 170 degree Celsius.
Take butter and sugar in a bowl and beat till it gets light and fluffy.
Sieve all purpose flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
Add egg and vanilla essence to the butter-sugar mixture and mix well.
Add the flour mixture in 3-4 additions and keep mixing. 
Knead into a dough and wrap in a plastic or cling wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
Take a little of the dough and roll it to the desired thickness, preferably 1/3rd of an inch.
Cut cookies in desired shape and place them on a butter paper lined baking tray.
Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes.
Allow to cool.
Decorate the cookies with melted white chocolate piping or icing sugar mixed with little water. You may add food colour to make colourful icing.

Happy Cookie enjoying

Amrita

Chocolate Cloud Roll with Strawberry cream filling

Winter time marketing is so much fun as you get to see and buy such a fresh and colourful range of vegetables and fruits. Fresh strawberries boxes are nowadays seen with every fruit seller and with the prices now reduced to almost  half with what it started off, I decided to do a strawberry recipes marathon. 

My first thought was to simply fill a tried and tested Chocolate cloud roll recipe with whipped cream tossed with strawberries. This particular recipe has been made by me many times but has never been documented in the blog. Amongst all the baking books sitting pretty on my bookshelf, Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum is my favourite for many reasons than one. Firstly she gives scientific explanations to her bakes and her recipes are very detailed and easy to follow. Her Chocolate Cloud roll recipe is as delicate as it sounds and has a melt in mouth texture.

As Rose mentions, this is more of a flourless souffle than a cake. With no flour to give it a definite texture this cake is very very light and is just about sweet. I have usually filled the cake with a dark chocolate ganache but this time tried a whipped cream and strawberry filling. The cake can have endless fillings from a jam, chocolate ganache, coffee flavoured cream filling or just a plain whipped cream with fruits filling. 

Do not forget to follow the baking tin instruction which mentions a grease, line,  grease and then flour. This is very important as the cake otherwise will stick to your butter/parchment paper. 

Recipe source : Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum

Ingredients : I have reduced the recipe to 1/2 and baked in a 11X8 " jelly roll pan

• 3 eggs, separated
• 3 tbsp and a 1/2 tbsp powdered sugar, separate 
• 50 gms melted dark chocolate
• a pinch of cream of tartar (optional)

Strawberry cream : 

• 1/2 cup whipped cream
• 4-5 chopped strawberries

Garnish : 

• melted dark chocolate
• chopped strawberries
• icing sugar

Procedure : 

Preheat oven to 176 degree Celsius.

Grease your jelly roll pan and then line it with butter/parchment paper and then grease it again and lightly flour it. 

Take egg whites in a bowl and beat till foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat again till soft peaks form. Sprinkle 1/2 tbsp sugar and beat again till stiff peaks form. 

In another bowl beat 3 tbsp sugar and egg yolks for about 3-4 minutes till light and fluffy. Add melted chocolate and beat again till incorporated.

With a rubber spatula or a whisk, fold 1/4 of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk-chocolate mixture. Gently fold in the remaining egg white mixture.

Pour batter in the prepared tin and spread with the spatula. Bake for 15 minutes.

Take a piece of butter/parchment paper the size of the tin and sprinkle it with cocoa powder. Invert the cake on it and let it cool. Remove the parchment paper to spread the strawberry filling and roll the cake gently. 

Garnish with a dusting of icing sugar/powdered sugar, melted dark chocolate drizzle and chopped strawberries. 

Slice and serve.

Happy cake relishing

Amrita