Eggless Pistachio Sponge Cake

I have started to have an appreciation for Sponge cakes which are very light and airy and as the name as "Spongy". This cake is easy to put together and tastes delicious.. I got this recipe from here and made some changes. I have taken pictures in 2 different light settings, so they look slightly different. Cakes usually come with a whole lot of calories and I have been looking for bakes that are lower in butter and fat. Also I have used whole wheat pastry flour instead of all purpose flour here.. Trust me it was so spongy, airy, light and delicious!!!

Almond Truffles

Here is another easy recipe which takes resting time, but preparation time is so less and also so simple.. You need only 4 ingredients and this will be a great crowd pleaser.. You could use any nuts in place of almonds, but I love the combo of almonds and chocolate… Instead of adding the almonds to boiling water, you could also soak the almonds overnight and then peel them. There are so many versions of this on the net and this is my way..

 

Baklava

Baklava is a Turkish sweet delicacy which tastes best when served at room temperature. This is a very sinful dessert and it is better to have a lot of crowd to enjoy them, as you cannot stop with one... It is fairly simple to make if you can find the pyhllo pastry and you have little patience and can handle them gently.

Badam Halwa / Almond Fudge

Badam Halwa is very popular sweet in India. It is a rich food and can grace many occasions and festivals with richness and sweet! Main Ingredients are almonds, ghee and sugar and it can be served both hot and cold.

Rajbhog - Festival Sweets

Diwali – a festival that calls for lots of celebrations. It is one of the festivals celebrated throughout India (at least most part).. Although people may have some different way of celebrating this festival.. It is all about Crackers, Sweets, Savories and Pooja.. I had bookmarked Rajbhog so long ago but never got to make it until this week as I have recently joined the Sweet Fantasy Club which is all about sweets and desserts!!! The first sweet is from Sanjeev Kapoor’s website here...  With Diwali coming, this is a great rich and yummy sweet to make. It is little more effort than rasagulla but tastes so much more rich and delicious..

Yogurt Parfait

Y was one letter that finished really late in my planning. It was done only on 25th Sep.. I did this for hubby's birthday and we all enjoyed it a lot.. I made 3 glasses and they looked so picture perfect.. Since I made this for evening, my pictures are not so perfect.. Wish I captured them in the day time.. Thanks to our BM friends on the advise of when to assemble.. This one is all to taste and preference and availability.. Yogurt Parfait is basically a layered desert with yogurt, fruits and nuts.. How many layers, how much quantity depends on you. This quantity made 3 tall servings. This is my choice for Y – International

Pistachio Cardamom Biscotti - Eggless Biscotti

Biscotti is a great Italian accompaniment to Coffee.. Biscotti means double baked and as the name suggests, it is baked twice. it will be crispy and crunchy and at the same time will melt in your mouth.. I got this recipe from here and made some changes to suit our taste. My choice for P - Baked

Channa Jalebi / Paneer Jalebi

For this month's SNC Chandrani of the North team challenged us South Team with a delicious Bengali Sweet. West Bengal is very famous for its milk sweets. This jalebi was literally mouth melting.. Little different than the regular jalebi and you can play with the shapes.. I made the standard round shape.. It was delicious and we all enjoyed it. Thanks to Divya and Chandrani for this delicious challenge. I am also sharing this for BM with Sweets from Bengal (Course wise meal from any state).

Eggless Mini Eclairs / Eggless Choux Pastry

Eclairs - from the name of the recipe when I heard from Swathi for this month’s Baking partners challenge, I thought we were going to do an eclairs toffee.. silly me.. I did not know about this very delicate French pastry. Now that I learned it, let me tell you... it is very delicate, little too sweet for me and was actually not very hard to do.. I was very skeptical initially..

Kalakand / Kalakandh

Kalakand is a Bengali sweet made with milk and paneer. I love milk sweet for their mild sweeter taste and the flavor of milk. This one has a very different texture compared to other milk sweets. I got this recipe from here and we loved it. This takes a lot of time to make, but is a serialized and simple process. For paneer, please try to use home made paneer as it has better taste and is more moist and soft.

Besan Laddu

Besan Laddu is a sweet made with gram flour. It is a very simple and quick food to make and is mouthwatering. The Ingredients for this recipe are in the many pantries. This is also a recipe which does not need much planning or preparation and can be done in less than an hour from start to finish.

Dates and Walnut Cake

My blog views have crossed 100000... Yayy!!!! Thanks to all for your support and celebrating it with a delicious and healthy cake... Dates and Walnut Cake is a quick and healthier cake. The original recipe called for date palm jaggery. I used brown sugar and white sugar. If you can lay your hands on date palm jaggery, please use it. It is healthier option. I got this recipe from here and we loved it.

Munthiri Maamudi (peerkangai gravy dish)

Some dishes are so interesting that you want to do them right away.. I always buy peerkangay and make thuvayal from it and when I saw this recipe in a TV show, I could not resist making it. It has a very interesting and distinct taste and goes very well with pulao or roti. The name mentioned in the cooking show was little different than what I have put here, but I loved this new derived name, so I kept it.

Groundnut Sundal / Kadalai Sundal

Sundal is a very popular evening snack which is quick and easy. It can be prepared in less than 30 minutes from start to finish. This is a variety of Sundal. This is also a festive snack prepared during Navarathri festival.

Eggless Apple Walnut Bread–Very healthy Quick Bread

I get very excited to do dishes that are healthy. Generally sweet bakes have loads of butter, sugar and white flour in it. I try to make them healthy and tasty.. In my house people do not appreciate Oats much, but I try to tweak it and hide it in baked goodies and reveal the secret that the dish has oats after its gets the "Tasty and yummy" certificate... I guess lot of us to try to feed healthy stuff by hiding them in the dish... This bread was a very easy winner in getting the "Tasty and yummy" certificate and wins my "very healthy and easy" certificate and it is a win-win. A healthy quick bread which has no processed ingredients. I got this recipe from here. This stays well (when un cut) for at least 2 days in the fridge. I reheat it for 15 – 20 seconds in the microwave and serve them. It also makes a perfect lunchbox dish. It is a good idea to plastic wrap it if storing it in the fridge.

Spicy Roasted Cashew

Love the flavored nuts we get the shops. I saw this recipe and really loved it for its simplicity. I wanted to make it my own way and add some Indian spices to the roasted cashew. All the spices and the salt is as per taste. You could add the spices you like or you have on hand. It is so tempting and tasty that you can stop with a few!!! You can also do this with other nuts. This will make a perfect snack or party appetizer!!!

Shahi Paneer–Paneer in Cashew based Sauce

Shahi Paneer is a rich and creamy side dish that tastes best when served hot. This is a great accompany to Naan, Chapatti, Roti or rice dishes. Shahi means royal and this dish comes with lot of richness and creaminess. Richness can be reduced if milk is substituted for cream. I have used cashews for the gravy, but you could also use almonds or a combination of almonds and cashew.

Kaju Roll / Cashew Roll

Kaju Roll is sweet made out of cashew. It has its rich texture, taste and is not very sweet. You can store this in an airtight container for up to 10 days. This does not need any specific topping or garnish and is served mostly as is. My daughter was very excited to see me do this and she named this as surprise sweet as she is the only one who knows that there is a different color inside:) I am sharing this for this month's Blogging Marathon

Chickpea Halwa / Channa Dal Halwa

The word halwa can make some people drool.. It is smooth, silky and is sinfully delicious with loads of ghee and sugar.. This halwa is no exception. This is the first time I making it and it tasted so awesome. It can be called the cousin of badam halwa for its consistency and taste. Thanks to Kirti for choosing this delicious recipe for the SNC Challenge which is the brain child of Divya. This recipe is from kirti’s mom.

"Perfectly Chocolate" Eggless Chocolate Cake

I get excited to do cakes and cakes that call for very little fat. This is a delicious chocolate cake with no butter and no eggs.. Gayathri chose this delicious and very famous Hershey’s chocolate cake for this month’s Eggless Baking Group. It is a very easy cake to do. I halved the recipe and got a 9 inch round single layer cake. It is very interesting and new to me of adding boiling water to the cake batter and I searched the internet as to how that helps. Here are some of the answers I got – from webfoodpros – “ Cocoa powder consists of a small amount of cocoa butter and the boiling water helps separate the cocoa butter out of the cocoa mass and emulsify it into the batter.“ Kingarthur’s website says  - “boiling water added to cocoa will help bloom the chocolate and impart more flavor“.  The cake was very moist and very delicate and I was so happy with the intense chocolate flavor. The next time I do this, I would do lesser sugar