Cheesecake with Cherry Sauce

After a long time I am posting a recipe in my blog… I have tried preparing cheesecake a long time ago and though it tasted good but still it lacked the moisture. So this time I was very careful about the preparation and thus I got a perfect cheesecake.

My hubby was very happy and even the guest at my home relished on the dessert. I have mentioned below the recipe.

Crust:

·         2 cups (475 ml) of biscuit crumbs (I used Marie Biscuits)

·         2 Tbsp sugar

·         Pinch salt

·         5 Tbsp (70 g) unsalted butter (if using salted butter, omit the pinch of salt)

Filling:

·         2 pounds cream cheese (900 g), (I used Philadelphia cheese)

·         1 1/3 cup granulated sugar (270 g)

·         2 teaspoons vanilla essence

·         4 large eggs (at room temperature)

·         2/3 cup sour cream

·         2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Before starting you have to make sure that you cover the spring form pan with an aluminum foil.  The foil have to be wrapped around in such a way that the liquid water should not go in the pan.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Powder the biscuits in a blender and mix the sugar, salt and unsalted butter in it. Mix all the ingredients properly. Brush the sides of pan with butter. Then put the biscuit mixture in the pan and press it properly so that it spreads evenly in the pan. Make sure that it covers the sides of the pan properly as this will prevent the cheese from dripping out of the pan. Now fill another square pan with water and place the spring-form pan on top of it. Place the pan in over for 10 minutes and then take it out and let it cool.

Meanwhile you can start to prepare the filling. In a large mixing bowl put the cheese and sugar and blend it properly. Mix it for 5 minutes until it becomes fluffy and smooth. Add one egg at a time and mix it properly. Slowly add the sour cream and whipping cream too. At last add the vanilla essence and mix it properly. Now pour this mixture on the springform pan slowly place it in the oven and let it cook for 45 minutes or until the mixture sets.

Once it is done remove it and let it cool for another half an hour.  Then you can set it in the refrigerator for 12 hours.

Cherry Sauce Recipe

For the cherry sauce you need to first remove the seeds from the cherries and then in a non-stick pan put some butter and then add the cherries in it. Add 1 packet of powdered gelatin and sugar according to taste. Once it is done remove it and pour it on top of the cheesecake and let it set.

Serve the cheesecake with strawberry and cherry toppings.

Butter Cookies with Jam Filling

Everyone loves Jam… So do I? Yes I do and to eat it I used to find reasons… sometimes I loved to spread it on my bread, Roti or even my cake… I really relish eating the entire biscuit leaving the center part alone and the last bite would be the one with jam… Jam cookies are very easy to prepare and if you have kids in your house then you surely need to try this out. It’s a great snack.

Ingredients:

• 150 gm plain flour / all-purpose flour
• 30 gm corn flour / corn starch
• 20 gm custard powder
• 160 gm butter, softened at room temperature
• 50 gm icing sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• A pinch of Salt
• Jam

Method: 

1.      Combine the plain flour, corn flour, custard powder , baking powder, Salt and sift through a sieve. Set aside.

2.      In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer or a hand blender to beat the butter and icing sugar until fluffy and pale. Mix in the vanilla extract.

3.      Sift in the flour mixture. Beat at low speed with an electric mixer. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Lightly knead into a dough. Wrap it up in a cling film and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

4.      Preheat oven to 180C / 356F. Line the baking tray with baking paper.

5.      Remove the dough from refrigerator. Shape it as per your choice.

6.      Take the Jam and mix it well with a spatula making it smooth

7.      Make a thumb impression in the center of the cookie dough and fill it up with Jam.

8.      Bake in preheated oven, for about 15 minutes, or until lightly brown. Remove from oven and let them sit for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack until completely cool down.

There we have our delicious cookies… if you don’t have icing sugar then you can make a smooth powder of the granulated sugar and mix a teaspoon of Corn Flour to it.  I am sure all of you would love to have it. Do try it and let me know your feedback. J

Chicken Lollipop

After a long time I am updating my blog … I have many recipes which I haven’t posted since long so very soon I am going to post each and every one of them… Well today my recipe is chicken lollipop… I love to have chicken lollipop but I love the one with sauce rather than just the fry. In Chennai I use to relish on this dish by visiting or ordering food from “Wangs Kitchen” but then I never thought that I can prepare this at home with just a few ingredients… It is also a populate dish in Indian Chinese Cuisine. Hence this recipe is mainly for all of them who love to have Chicken Lollipop.

Chicken Lollipops with Honey-Chili Sauce 

·         Oil for frying

Ingredients to Marinate Chicken

·         6 chicken drumsticks or wings

·         Fresh cilantro & sprig onions for garnish

·         3 cloves garlic, minced

·         1 tablespoon minced Ginger

·         1 tablespoon Red Chili paste

·         2 egg yolks, beaten

·         2 tablespoons cornstarch

·         2 tablespoons flour

·         1½ teaspoons salt

·         ½ teaspoon white pepper

·         Few drops of Red Colour

Sauce:

·         2 tablespoons water

·         1 tablespoon red chili paste

·         1 tablespoon honey

·         3 cloves garlic, minced

·         1 teaspoon minced ginger

·         2 green chillies minced

·         Spring Onions for Garnish

·         A pinch of Salt

1.      In medium-sized bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the marinade. Add the Wings or Chicken Drumsticks and gently toss to coat. Place in the refrigerator to marinate for 1 hour.

2.      In a wok, heat oil. Working in batches, fry the chicken until golden brown on all sides, about 3 to 5 minutes per batch. Remove and drain on plates lined with paper towels.

3.      In a small pan take a spoon of oil and fry ginger, garlic and green chillies. Once the raw smell goes off put the chilly sauce and salt. Once it is heated add a little water and heat it until it become thick. Take it out and mix the honey with it.

4.      Arrange the Chicken Lollipops on a plate and pour the sauce on top of it and garnish it with Spring onions and Cilantro.

Wow and your yummy chicken lollipop is ready… J

This is a very simple and easy recipe to try. I am sure you can really bring a smile to your loved ones by service this…

Dilpasand or Sweet Puffs

Hi Everyone….

Well today I was very excited that I posted the Image of my recipe without a link for the recipe. Well here I am to post the recipe… Dilpasand as it is known as is a sweet puff with lots of filling which makes you tempted towards the dish. I use to love this a lot when I was a kid… Even when I grew up I use to have it… but my main reason to prepare this now is my hubby… he loves dilpasand…. Well to be frank he got a sweet tooth which makes me to cook all sweets for him… This one is a very easy recipe… In chennai you can find it in each and every bakery but then I never knew it was so easy to prepare. Now am happy as I could prepare this at home whenever I want.

This particular recipe can be prepared either using pastry puff sheets which are available in stores or else you can prepare it at home. I prefer to prepare it at home and I keep it in a zip lock bag to use it whenever I need one but the process of making at home is bit lengthy hence many prefer to buy it from shop, the reason that I prepare it at home is because I can use less butter and make it as and when I want. I will post the recipe for puff pastry some other day with each pic for each stage of preparation depicted. I have used cake piece too because in Chennai many shops they use it in the recipe. If you want you can omit it and use the rest of the ingredients.

Well the recipe goes as follow:

Puff pastry sheets – 6

Tutti fruity (Red Colour) – 50 gms

Tutti Fruity (Green Colour) – 50 gms

Fresh Coconut Scraped – ½ cup

Sugar – ½ cup

Chocolate Cake – 2 pieces (Optional)

Cardamom powder – ¼ teaspoon

Jeera Powder – ¼ teaspoon

First you need to roll out the puff pastry sheet length wise for a long puff or a circle for a round one. I preferred it to be long so I rolled it out as a rectangle shape. Now in a bowl mix all the rest of the ingredients properly, make sure the cake pieces are powdered while it gets mixed with other ingredients. Now place the filling inside the puff pastry sheet and seal it up properly. Preheat the oven at 130 C and place the sweet puff in it and bake for 20 mins.

If you want you can cook the same even in Microwave but you have to be very careful as the heat is more in Microwave hence you should take it out in 7 mins or you need to go on checking it.

Well hope all of you will try and let me know your feedback. 

Black Forest Cake

Well to start up with I love cakes and my love for cake started when I was of the age of around 5 to 6 years, My Aunt was the one who use to bake the cake in our home. Her cake use to be very soft and delicious. Every alternate day I use to ask her to bake a cake. I use to wait patiently until she made the batter and baked it. She use to bake the cake with different flavors like banana cake, Fruit cake, nuts, orange etc…  When I grew up my love for cake was the same but with time I became crazy for Plum Cake, Chocolate Cake and Black Forest Cake. I started baking and I tried Plum Cake last Christmas, Chocolate Cake I bake every now and then as my hubby likes it and this is the first time I made Black forest Cake, but I am very happy with the outcome. In Chennai I use to have Black forest Cake from The Cake World at Anna Nagar and Primas Bakery. These were the two places where I use to be seen very often ;-). Well I dint plan to bake it but since all the items were available at home I thought why not give a try. The only difficulty that I faced was to get the cherries. After roaming around in Kuwait at last we found it out. Though it was the first time but I was very happy with the outcome as it came out very well… Well my hubby helped me out in decorating the cake and the photo courtesy goes definitely to him

Black Forest Gateau and Black Forest Cake are the English names for the German Dessert Schwarzwalder Kirschtorte literally known as Black Forest Cherry Torte. Black Forest cake was originated in Germany. Typically Black Forest consists of several layers of Chocolate Cake, with whipped Cream and cherries between each layer. Then the cake is decorated with additional whipped cream, maraschino cherries and chocolate shavings.

Well let’s get started with the ingredients:-

Cake

·        Self Raising Flour (Maida) – 2 cups

·        Egg – 4 eggs

·        Sugar - 1 ½ cups

·        Cocoa Powder – ½ cup

·        Butter (Unsalted) - ½ cup

·        Baking Soda 1 ½ tsp

·        Baking Powder 1 tsp

·        A pinch of Salt

·        Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp

·        Milk (Cold) – 1 cup

·        Coffee Powder – 1 ½ tbsps

For Filling

Cherries – 1 Tin

For Icing

Icing Sugar ½ cup

Whipping Cream – 1 pack (Almarai – Available in Kuwait)

For Decoration

Dark Chocolate – 50gms (Grated)

Preheat the Oven to 170C or 325F.

In a Bowl sieve the Self Raising Flour, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Salt, Cocoa Powder & Coffee Powder.

Place butter and sugar in a bowl and whisk it until light and fluffy. Then add 1 egg at a time and whisk it, slowly add the flour little by little.

Grease the pan and pour the batter into it. Now place the baking pan in the oven for 40 mins.

Once the Cake is done keep it on top of a wire rack to cool.

Use a large knife to Slice the Cake into 3 equal parts. Drain the Cherries and keep the syrup separately.

Whip the cream adding the sugar.

Take a slice of cake and pour the syrup of cherries and top it with pieces of cherries and then spread the whipped cream on top of it. Now place the Second slice of Cake and repeat the same process mentioned above. Once all the three slices are spread cover the entire cake using whipped cream. For decoration use the grated chocolate and cherries. Keep the Cake in refrigerator to set.

Serve it after an hour. J

I am sure you would love the outcome as I did. Will update my other recipes soon. 

Garlic Chicken

Today I am going to post the recipe for Garlic Chicken… I love this recipe a lot and even my hubby…  While in Chennai I use to go out to restaurants to relish on this particular dish but never did I ever think that  I would make this one day at home…  I loved cooking but I dint have time to do so in Chennai but here in Kuwait I have so much of time to try different recipes… Well I was supposed to post this recipe a long time ago as my dearest friend – Jensy asked me to do so… So here I am jensy to give you the recipe…  One thing that I like about Kuwait is that we get all sorts of vegetables over here… especially fresh spring onions which I like to add to all of my recipes as a final garnish…  Let’s have a look at the recipe… J

Ingredients:

Boneless Chicken – ½ kg

Spring onion  - 2 stalks

Soya Sauce – 1 tablespoon

Chicken Stock – ½ cup or 1 cube

Onion – 2 medium

Red Chilli paste – 2 tablespoons

Garlic – 20 cloves

Corn flour – 2 tablespoon

Tomato ketchup – 2 tablespoon

Oil – 1 ½  tablespoon

Salt  to taste

First clean the chicken and cut into medium size pieces. Finely chop the Spring Onions. Take an onion and cut it into 4 pieces and then slice it again in the center thus you will get big pieces of onions. Chop the garlic into small pieces.

Chilli paste: for chilli paste take 10 red chillies and put them in half a cup of hot water. Leave it for around 15 minutes then put it in grinder and make a paste of it or you can even buy chilli paste from the store.

Take a pan pour the oil. Put the garlic into it and fry it. The colour of the Garlic should become light brown then add the onions and sauté it well. Once the onion turns to light pink put the chicken pieces into it. Now add salt according to taste. Mix it well. Add tomato ketchup, red chilli paste and mix it well. Let it cook for some time. Add soya sauce. Meanwhile in a bowl mix the corn flour with the chicken stalk. Mix the chicken stock and corn flour mix with the chicken. Cook the chicken until it’s done or till the sauce starts to thicken. Finally garnish the Garlic Chicken with Spring onion and serve it hot with Chapathi , Naan or any other Indian bread.

Pinwheel Cookies

After a long time I am posting a recipe again… it doesn’t mean that I was not cooking all these days but I was very lazy to type it and post it… L  Anyhow I am here once again with my recipes and this time I am going to post the recipe for Pinwheel Cookies…  I tried these cookies as the colour and the taste attracted me to try it out… My neighbor’s kids loved it so much that every day the younger one asks me for chocolate cookies…  but before trying the recipe I would like to tell you that you need to have patience to try out this recipe… it take long time for the cookies to bind hence it would take two days for the process to be over and you can have your cookies… The recipe is mentioned below :

Butter –

Sugar – 1 cup

Salt – a pinch

All purpose Flour (Maida) – 3 cups

Baking powder – 1 tablespoon

Egg yolks – 2

Vanilla essence – 2 teaspoons

Instant Espresso powder – 1 tsp

Cocoa Powder – 3 tablespoons

Bitter chocolate – 50 grams

Milk – ½ cup

Sift the flour, salt and baking soda. In a mixer  cream the butter on medium speed until smooth. Add the sugar and mix it well. Add the egg , milk and vanilla and mix it properly.  Now divide the dough in two portions.

In one portion you can add crushed almonds or cashew and mix it properly or you can leave it as it is so that you get the taste of vanilla. Once mixed properly keep it aside.

For the second portion of dough first melt the bitter chocolate. Add the instant espresso powder and cocoa powder in it and mix it with the dough.

Keep both the dough in refrigerator for half an hour. Now take it out and roll out the 1^st portion of the dough (Vanilla) into a rectangle shape on a waxed paper. Do the same with the second portion of dough (Chocolate)

Now carefully place the chocolate dough on top of the vanilla dough.  Peel off the waxed paper. Now press the dough and roll the dough like a swiss roll and now wrap the roll in a cling film and keep it refrigerated for 12 hours.

Once its done take off the cling film and with a sharp knife slice the roll into thin slices.  Heat the oven to 180C for 15 to 20 minutes. The cookies will expand a bit… Do try it out and let me know your feedback