Nutella Bear Claws (made with Puff Pastry)

I saw the recipe for these Bear claws in Food Network magazine and they looked so tempting that I made them yesterday. The original recipe used Cookie butter (or Speculoos), but I used Nutella because my kids like it.

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Nutella Star Bread

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 9

Bake of the Day: Nutella Star Bread

Star bread has been on my to-make list ever since I saw this beautiful loaf on Nalini's blog. Finally I got to make it for Bake-a-thon. Instead of Nalini's savory bread, I made a Nutella filling star bread and the whole family absolutely loved it.

I followed the recipe from King Arthur flour. The filling for this bread can be anything from cinnamon sugar to Nutella to even garlic and cheese. Since Nutella is one of my kids favorite I wanted to try it with that, but I'm definitely going to make the savory version sometime soon.

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Nutella Pretzel Nachos

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 1/ Day 3

Theme: Bring on the Nachos

Dish: Nutella Pretzel Nachos

After 2 savory Nacho recipes, I have a quick and easy sweet nacho recipe today. Recipe is from Food Network and I knew right away that my kids will enjoy these. I wasn't wrong, they loved these nachos and even posed for the clicks.

This is a no bake recipe and all it needs is layering the ingredients and you are ready to enjoy in no time. Our favorite pretzel chips are these thin pretzel crisps, they are great to eat with some hummus and salsa and taste even better smothered in warm Nutella.

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No-Bake Nutella Cheesecake

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 2/ Day 3

Theme: Nutella Galore

Dish: No-Bake Nutella Cheesecake

Here's another lip smacking dessert using Nutella, a no-bake cheesecake. I usually plan the dishes to make for the marathon, well ahead of time. But for this week except for the muffins I made for the first day, I had nothing planned for the next 2 days. I was able to make the s'mores based on my son's tv show, but I was clueless as to what to make for today.
Clueless because there are sooooooo many dishes that can be made with Nutella and I'm sure every single one would taste amazing. I was very tempted to make Valli's Nutella mousse in chocolate cups, but was too lazy to make the chocolate part.

Then I saw this no-bake Nutella cheesecake on Pinterest and made it right away to make sure I don't change my mind :-) Original recipe used frozen whipped topping, but I didn't want to wait for the whipped topping to thaw, so I whipped fresh cream and folded it into the nutella-creamcheese mixture.

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Vegetarian S'mores with Nutella

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Nutella Galore

Dish: Vegetarian S'mores with Nutella

This is probably the most loved theme I have ever chosen. My kids are beyond excited with everything that they got to eat in the name of blogging marathon :-)

For the 2nd day, I made a quick and easy vegetarian S'mores. Traditional s'mores are made with graham crackers, roasted marshmallows and melted chocolate. But my vegetarian version is made with graham crackers, banana, nutella and whipped cream.

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Banana Nutella Swirl Muffins (Eggless recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 55: Week 2/ Day 1

Theme: Nutella Galore

Dish: Banana Nutella Muffin

We are starting a brand new week of blogging marathon today and my theme for this week is 'Recipes made with Nutella or Chocolate Hazelnut spread'. I knew right away that my kids would love whatever I make for this week since they absolutely LOVE Nutella.

For the first day, I made a moist & delicious banana muffins with nutella swirls. I can't stop myself from bananas even though I know very well that by day 4, they will start to smell very 'banana-ey' and no body in the house would really want to eat them. I try and find some interesting ways to use the overripe bananas and these muffins with Nutella swirls sounded just perfect.

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Nutella Swirl Bread

BM# 51 -- Baking Marathon: Day 6

Bake of the Day: Breads -- Hazelnut Spread Swirl Bread

This bread is very simple to make, but I messed it up 2 times before I got it almost right, the third time. This is probably the only bread that I made 3 times without giving up. I knew exactly what mistakes I made and wanted to make it right at the end.

OK, so here's the story behind this bread: This Nutella swirl bread recipe is from Costco connection cookbook and the photo looked absolutely amazing and I wanted to make it for my chocolate loving son. The recipe is quite simple, dough with flour-yeast-sugar, 1 rise, then roll and spread Nutella, re-roll, cut and bake.

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Chocolate Hazelnut Quick Bread (Nutella Chocolate Quick Bread)

Bake-a-thon 2014: Day 2
Bake of the Day: Chocolate Hazelnut Quick Bread
Smart phones are so convenient to take photos of just about anything we see anytime, anywhere. I browse through food magazines at the check out lanes and click photos of interesting recipes on my phone. Doctor's office is another place where I usually end up taking lot of recipe photos on the phone.

Today's quick bread recipe was one of those I clicked from Food Network magazine in a grocery store. I think there were abut 50 quick bread recipes, both sweet and savory, and they looked very interesting -- so I made sure I saved them.

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France -- Whole wheat Crepês with Banana, Strawberry & Nutella filling

BM# 44: A-Z Cooking Series -- Around the World in 30 days
Country: F for France

Dish: Whole wheat Crepês with Banana, Strawberry & Nutella filling

Today we are going to France, Western European country that is definitely on my bucket list. One of my ex-colleague was from France and she has quite a few stories to tell about her country. Also I almost forgot to mention that I learnt French for about 5 years in school, but the most I can speak or understand is 'Bonjour'. What I learnt from my French friend is that French people love their language and don't like it being butchered by non-French speaking people (like me). I was ridiculed way too many times for my poor pronunciation and grammar.

French cuisine is known to be the finest in the world. It is very diverse and has exerted a major influence on other western cuisines. Traditionally, each region in France has its own distinctive cuisine.

I decided to make one of the most common and popular French dishes, Crepês. A crepê is a type of very thin pancake, usually made from wheat flour or buckwheat flour. Crepês are served with a variety of fillings, from the most simple with only sugar to flambeed crepe suzette or elaborate savory galettes. French sure have dishes with some fancy names.

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Banana Nutella Milkshake

Blogging Marathon# 41: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Summer Specials
Dish: Banana Nutella Milkshake

For the 3rd and final day of BM# 41, I have a very simple and delicious kid friendly drink. It is calorie rich, and hence should be taken occasionally. Both my kids loved this creamy drink.

As I was thinking about this post's introduction, I was lost for a little bit since there is not much to write about the milkshake itself, apart from the fact that it is super simple to make and tastes amazing. So instead of me writing about something, I thought why not ask my readers a question and have you share your thoughts.

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Malaysian Apam Balik (Crispy Malaysian Pancakes) -- Eggless Recipe

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: One Dish, Different Countries
Dish: Malaysia -- Apam Balik

Day 2 of BM# 38 and today I've Malaysian sweet pancakes for you. Apam Balik is a crispy thin pancake that is usually filled with sweetened peanuts. These are usually sold at specialist roadside stalls throughout Malaysia.
Watch this video to see how expertly the guy makes apam balik. I especially like the technique he uses to take them off the pan.

Traditionally these pancakes are made in brass molds since brass distributes heat evenly and the metal itself is thick and heavy, so food does not scald that easily. This post has clear pictures of the brass molds used to make Apam Balik. I don't own brass pans and have no plans of buying them, so I used a nonstick pan to do the job. After looking all those gorgeous looking pancakes, mine didn't turn out as golden and crispy in the pictures, but they tasted great.

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Basic French Macarons -- My First Attempt

French Macarons have been on my to-bake list for a very very long time. Macaron is a meringue based confection made with egg whites, almond flour and powdered sugar. I have never tasted macarons, but saw a lot of them on various blogs. I read that macarons are very temperamental and there are a lot of variables that can go wrong while making them. So even though  I was tempted to make them, I never actually tried for the fear of failure.

When I saw them for this month's Home Baker's Challenge, I thought this might be time to give them a try. Big thanks to Sri Nuggehalli @ The Brave Cook, the host for this month's challenge.

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Hazelnut Cupcakes with Hazelnut-Chocolate Frosting (Eggless Recipe)

I think the biggest advantage of buying cookbooks instead of fiction books is once I read a novel and know the story I'm done with it and it just sits there collecting dust. Whereas a good cookbook can be used again and again. This is purely my opinion, I'm sure you might be reading the same novel again and again, I'm not judging you :-)

So point of the matter is if you are in the market to buy a book for a food blogger, it is a great idea to buy a good cookbook. With so many books available, it is also a good idea to keep the interests of the said blogger in mind. For example, Amazon shipped us a 'Paleo Diet' cookbook by mistake and asked us to keep it if we wanted it. I would have jumped up in joy if it was vegetarian/ vegan/ baking related. Paleo diet is completely foreign to me, so we sent it back. Knowing the interests is key.

My sister definitely knew my interest in baking and she recently bought me 'Betty Crocker's - The Big book of Cupcakes' cookbook. I like to bake cupcakes more than regular size cakes. They are easy to decorate and so much more easier to eat. Portion control is also easy :-)

This past weekend was my sister's birthday and she wanted a nutty cupcake like this Pistachio-Rosewater cupcake. I found these hazelnut cupcakes in the book she gifted me. The recipe is basically spiced up vanilla cupcake with chopped hazelnuts and topped with hazelnut-chocolate frosting. Original recipe had egg in it, so I used my basic vegan vanilla cupcake recipe and added the spices to jazz them up. Here's how I made these cupcakes.

Ingredients: (Makes 12 cupcakes)

All purpose Flour - 1¼cups
Cornstarch - 2tbsp
Baking Powder - ¾tsp
Baking Soda - ½tsp
Salt - ½tsp
Soy Milk - 1cup
Apple cider Vinegar - 1tsp
Canola Oil - 1/3 cup
Sugar - ¾cup
Vanilla extract - 1tsp
Ground Cinnamon - 1tsp
Ground Nutmeg - ½tsp
Hazelnuts - ¾cup, toasted and skin removed

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350°F and line muffin pan with cupcake liners.
• Whisk soy milk and vinegar in a measuring cup and set aside for a few minutes to curdle.
• Beat together the soy milk mixture, oil, sugar, vanilla in a large bowl. Sift in the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon and nutmeg and mix until no big lumps remain.
• Stir in the chopped hazelnuts.
• Fill cupcake liners 2/3rds of the way full and bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
• Transfer to a cooling rack and let them cool completely before frosting.

Hazelnut-Chocolate Frosting: This is a super simple frosting with semi-sweet chocolate chips and Nutella (or other chocolate-hazelnut spread).
Ingredients:
Semisweet Chocolate Chips - ¾cup
Butter - ¼cup
Nutella or other hazelnut spread with cocoa - 2tbsp
Whipping Cream (heavy cream) - 3½tbsp

Method:

• In a small saucepan, combine all the ingredients and heat over low heat, about 10~15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until chips are melted and mixture is smooth.
• Cool until the frosting thickens. To speed up the cooling process, refrigerate the mixture for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened. 
• Once the cupcakes are cooled completely, frost the cupcakes. Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts.

Sending these over to Valli's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge'.

Update December 2013: Sending these cupcakes over to Valli's Cake Mela.

Kolacky Cookies

I'm in a baking spree for the past couple of days. I made Chatti Pathiri, the Indian version of Turkish Baklava, yesterday for Indian Cooking Challenge and today I made these melt in your mouth European Kolacky Cookies for this week's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge'.
I bought some cherry pie filling a while back when I was making this Black Forest Cake. I had some leftover in the fridge that needed to be used up. I saved the wrapper from the container (Solo brand) because it had 2 recipes using the pie filling. These Kolacky cookies caught my eye because it had very few ingredients and seemed easy enough to make.

The filling for these cookies can be just about anything. Any flavored pie filling or jam or fruit preserves would work. Even chocolate-hazelnut spread would be great. I made a batch with cherry pie filling and the other with Nutella. I was worried that the filling would melt and ooze out after baking, but they held up pretty good and there was no melting whatsoever.

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Eggless Stuffed French Toast Roll Ups

Blogging Marathon# 30: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Get it Rolled
Dish: Eggless Stuffed French Toast Roll Ups

Final day of Blogging marathon and today's dish was the toughest of all to select. I usually make a note of all the dishes that I want to make for the theme right after Valli announces the themes. But this week under the theme 'Get it Rolled' I had the first two dishes cooked and done (Summer Rolls & Chana Dal Kebabs) long back, but the third dish was eluding me.

I probably went through 10 different things to make--mentally, but some seemed too elaborate (no time for that) or involved deep frying (it's too hot to deep fry) or I didn't have the ingredients to make a dish. As I was quickly exhausting all my options, one morning I woke up and wanted to make French toast for breakfast and remembered seeing French Toast roll ups on Pinterest. I made them eggless following Hari Chandana's recipe from here.

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Banana Nutella Nut Milkshake

I wrote about my son's love for chocolate a lot of times. His mom is obsessed with everything related to cooking and eating and he is obsessed with everything chocolate. The other day when he had to pick between vanilla and strawberry ice creams, he told me very seriously that he doesn't like vanilla. I couldn't help myself from laughing out loud because I wasn't sure if he knew why he didn't like vanilla. My guess is he thinks he shouldn't like vanilla because he loves chocolate :-)

Well anyway, chocolate actually makes him eat bananas, because he eats bananas drizzled with chocolate syrup. Not the best way to eat a fruit, but I'm happy he's at least trying it. I believe in baby steps and I'm sure one day he'll get better at trying and tasting different foods.

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Chocolate Lassi

Blogging Marathon# 25: Week 3/ Day 2
Theme: Cooking with Alphabets - A, L, F
Dish: L for Lassi

Today's dish was a no brainer for me, when I thought of what to make under letter 'L', all I could think was "Lassi". Lassi is a popular and traditional Punjabi yogurt based drink that is made by blending yogurt and water with Indian spices. Lassi can be savory or sweet.

My son loves the sweet and delicious Mango lassi and we order it every time we are at an Indian restaurant. For today I wanted to make a lassi that is slightly different. Well ok, the main reason I wanted to use something strongly flavored like chocolate was because the homemade yogurt I was using had a slightly burnt taste to it (while boiling milk for the yogurt, I burnt it at the bottom making the whole yogurt get that smoky burnt flavor). No other mild flavors like mango or strawberry can disguise that taste, so I took the chocolate route.

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Nutella & Strawberry Jam Bread Pudding

Today is the day after Christmas, last day of our 3 day long weekend and I woke up really late this morning. If it was like any other weekend I would have skipped breakfast and went straight to lunch, but as I said it is the last day of our 3 day looong weekend and I wanted to make something special for breakfast.

I had this bread pudding in my mind, but I wanted to make it without the croissants and make it (very very) little healthy. I had whole grain white bread on hand and I used this recipe with nutella and strawberry jam to make the bread pudding. 

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Nutella Cookies, Scottish Shortbread Cookies & Mexican Wedding Cookies

I'm back for the 11th edition of Blogging Marathon. I can't believe another year has almost come to an end and kudos to Valli for taking time and organizing these BMs. With the holiday season right upon us, I chose  "Holiday Specials" theme for the marathon. So for the next 7 days, I will posting some dishes made for holidays or made on holidays (including weekends).

This is my 500th Post and I'm celebrating with some homemade cookies.

 

I made cookies for this years's holiday gift-giving. I tend to stay away from cookies that require rolling & cutting and prefer slicing and baking cookies (psst.. if you really want to know why..... 'cos I'm a little lazy). So when I saw these slice & bake icebox cookies in Vegetarian Times magazine, I decided to give them a try and glad I did as they were easy to make and turned out pretty good.

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