Molten Lava Cake

This was our valentines day treat...I know the day is gone long back and I had been planning for this post since then...and finally its here..A delicious molten lava cake. My search for something that was not too much of work, perfect for two and done in few minutes ended here.

Semi-sweet chocolate chip-1/4cup
Butter-2 tbsp
Powdered Sugar-1/2 cup
Egg-1
All purpose Flour-3 tbsp
Vanilla Extract-1 tsp
Raspberries, Ice cream,Powdered Sugar to indulge.

Method of Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Grease 2 ramekins with non stick spray/butter. Place the ramekins on baking sheet and set aside.
3. In a medium microwave safe bowl melt chocolate chips and butter for about 1 and 1/2 minutes  until smooth.Stir every 30 seconds to avoid burning.
4. Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.Then add egg and whisk until smooth.
5. Stir in flour and vanilla extract and mix until no lumps remain.
6. Distribute the batter equally into two ramekins and bake them for 12 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and let them rest in bowl for 1 more minute.
8. Then invert into a plate and dust with powdered sugar and serve with a dollop of ice cream.

Chocolate Raspberry Sandwich Cookies

   Sometimes you just want to kill the evening when you have a super excited son and a completely drained mommy. Those are the times when I want him to sit with something instead of frog hopping or running. I offered him a lot of options like reading, painting and all he did was suggest me frog hopping and running...offcourse with a smile that I cant say No to..Then I finally decided to tell him I will give cookies if you go and play..oh come on you guys do that too...right... So after 5 minutes of playing he came running for the cookies. Now to fight with a 3 year old over cookies is something you rarely want to do...because they always win it...No matter what.:(..So finally there I was searching for a simple recipe with less work.

    That when I found this recipe and thought of keeping my son busy with it. So we started with the work. Mixing and rolling was done by me and half of the cutting as my son got quite bored after doing one set. He was much interested playing with all purpose flour as a powder.So at the end I had a completely white faced son..:), quite bit of white floor and these delicious cookies.

Raspberry Jam:

Raspberry-1 cup
Sugar-1 cup
Lemon juice-1/2 tsp

Method of preparation:
1. Wash the raspberries and pat them dry.
2. Add the sugar to raspberries and crush them little and set aside for 15 minutes.
3. Heat a pan and add this mixture to it. Mash the raspberries little more and cook the mixture till it boils and then add the lemon juice and mix till it becomes thick. It wont take much time.
4. Turn off the heat when its done and transfer it to a clean bottle.

Chocolate Cookies:

All Pourpose Flour -3/4 cup

Cocoa Powder-1/2 cup
Butter-6 tbsp(at room temp)
Salt a pinch
Brown Sugar-3/4 cup+ 1 tbsp
Egg-1 large
Vanilla-1 tsp

Method of Preparation:
1. In a bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.Beat in the egg and vanilla on low speed.
3. Add in the dry ingredients and mix well. Roll the dough into two balls and set aside in the refrigerator to chill for about 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 350F. Take a ball of dough and place it between two parcment papers. Now slightly press the dough and using a rolling pin roll it to 1/4 inch thick.
5. Using a cookie cutter cut out shapes. Do dip the cutter in flour to prevent sticking of the dough to cutter.
6. Place the cut out cookies on baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 mins. Let cool on a wire rack.
7. Once cooled transfer them to an airtight container. Five minutes before serving sandwich the jam between two cookies.

Notes:
1. When the dough becomes soft and difficult to handle keep it back in the refrigerator.

Rava Kesari

There was a time when we wanted to indulge in something sweet and dint have anything in hand. It was at that movement I realised about this sweet and rich dish. There was no second thought and I just whipped it up and we enjoyed it to the last spoon.
Rava kesari is a sweet made of rava, milk,sugar and ghee. Its very delicious and quite easy to prepare.

Rava- 1/2 cup
Milk-1 nd 1/2 cup
Sugar- 1 cup
Ghee-3 tbsp
Cardamom powder-a pinch
Cashews-2 tbsp
Raisins-2 tbsp
Orange food color-a pinch(optional)

Method of preparation:
1. Heat a pan on low and add about 1 and 1/2 tbsp of ghee into it.Add the cashews and raisins and fry them till golden brown. Drain and set aside.
2.  Now add the rava into it and roast it till it gives a nice aroma and has light golden color to it.
3. Heat the milk in another pan and once it gets boiled pour it into the rava and give a nice mix. Let the rava get cooked in the milk.
4. Once the rava is cooked add the sugar into it and mix well. This will end up into a runny mixture. Continue cooking and mixing and slowly the mixture starts to thicken.
5. Add the food color(if using) and give a good stir so that it mixes up well.
6. Then add the remaining ghee little at a time and mix to form almost a lump. The mixture shouldn't stick to bottom.
7. Now add the cardamom powder along with fried cashews and raisins and mix. Turn off the heat and serve warm.

Notes:
1. Cook on low flame to reduce the risk of burning milk or kesari.
2. Add sugar only after the rava is cooked completely.
3. You can add any nuts in there, though traditionally its just cashews and raisins.

Mocha Cupcakes

2012 was a beautiful year with happiness,sorrows, fights, love and lots of memories to hold with while continuing the journey to 2013. When I was a kid I always thought that the year went the way how you started it..As the age went on I was thinking that its the resolution that you make that makes the year beautiful and then now I feel that life will go on...you have to decide the right and wrong..Whatever the case,  you will feel all the emotions in these 12 months..you like it or not..So this time I dint plan anything just thought of going with the flow..:)
Hope everyone around has a good start and your life goes as sweet and soft like this cake which is from here..

All-purpose flour-1 nd 1/3 cup
Unsweetened cocoa powder-1/3 cup
Baking powder-1 tsp
Baking soda- 1/2 tsp
Salt-1/4 tsp
Whole milk-1/2 cup
Strong brewed coffee-1/2 cup
Espresso powder-1 nd 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract-1 tsp
Unsalted butter-1/2 cup(at room temperature)
Granulated sugar-1/2 cup
Light brown sugar-1/2 cup
Egg-1 no (at room temperature)

Method of Preparation:
1. Mix the espresso powder into the brewed coffee until dissolved; set aside to cool to room temperature.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
3. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Beat the butter and both sugars together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
5. Then add egg and beat until combined.
6. In a cup, combine the milk, brewed coffee mixture and vanilla. Slowly add the flour mixture, alternating with the coffee mixture, ending with the flour mixture.
7. Divide the batter evenly between the 12 liners. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting cupcakes.

Espresso Buttercream Frosting(enough for 12 cupcakes)

Unsalted butter-1 cup(at room temperature)
Powdered sugar-2 nd 1/2 cups
Vanilla extract-1 nd 1/2 tsp
Espresso powder-3/4 tsp
Cocoa powder- to dust

Method of Preparation:
1. Mix the espresso powder into the vanilla until dissolved; set aside.
2. Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, stopping once to scrape the sides of the bowl.
3. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the powdered sugar a little at a time, waiting until it is mostly incorporated before adding more.
4. Once all of the powdered sugar has been added, scrape the sides of the bowl and increase the speed to medium-high and whip until fluffy, about a minute or two.
5.  Add the espresso and vanilla mixture and continue to mix at medium-high until it is completely incorporated, scraping the sides as necessary.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

As the climate goes cold and the winds start to blow the life outside house is just terrible in Grand Rapids...esp with a 2 year old..So weekends are time when you can do nothing much with those dark gray  days...Its been kind of custom to have parties, get together, fun during this period..Its just food, fun and clean up...Tough I am sure the last one is not enjoyed by any housewife's :)...Lets not go to the whole two weeks back story  the gist of the it is I had made these cookies from here for one of the parties and it was a hit there. When these cookies came out of the oven my son started munching them..when I told him that we are taking it for a party the instant reply was..."Amma kichunna ithu.."(This is for Kichu) and he stuck with this words until he had gobbled a few of the cookies..
  Chocolate Crinkle Cookies are really easy to prepare. You make the dough which has lots of chocolate in it. Then you roll this on powdered sugar which gives it a snow covered look and finally when baked you get to see beautiful cracks on them revealing the chocolate..So by this you should have guessed that these cookies are for chocolate lovers mainly..but I should say that my husband being a not so big fan of chocolate too ate a few of them. That shows how addictive these are. Do try them for this holiday season...They are perfect for this time or for that matter any time..

All Purpose Flour-3/4 cup
Baking Powder-1/4 tsp
Salt-1/8 tsp
Butter-2 tbsp
Bitter Sweet Chocolate-4 ounce
Granulated Sugar-1/4 cup
Egg-1 large
Vanilla Extract-1 tsp
Icing Sugar to roll- about 1/2 cup

Method of Preparation:
1. Melt the chocolate and butter by keeping it in a heat proof bowl over a  simmering  pan of water.Once done remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. Beat  egg and sugar in another bowl until it is thick pale and fluffy.It should fall like soft ribbon once the beater is lifted.
3. Beat the vanilla into it and then add the chocolate mixture and beat till it is well mixed. Add cooled chocolate mixture and mix till its incorporated.
4. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture till it is incorporated.
5. The dough will be soft so place it in the refrigerator closed  with a lid till it turns firm to form ball.
6. Preheat oven to 325 F and place the oven rack in the middle. Now take the Icing sugar/powdered sugar in a bowl, scoop a small amount of dough(about 1 inch), shape it to ball and then roll it in the sugar. See that the ball is coated well with sugar with no chocolate portion visible.
7. Place them on the parchment lined baking sheet with little gap to spread(about 2 cm) and bake for 8 to 10 mins. Do not over bake them. The sugar coating should not turn brown. The outer should be firm while taking it and the center will be soft.
8. Place them on wire rack to cool. These cookies taste awesome while hot and are great on the day it is baked. It stays good for 2 to 3 days.I don't know more as the cookies never lasted more than that.

 Notes:
1. The dough will be soft, so you need to refrigerate till it turns hard. You can keep the dough overnight.
2. The dough will be very firm and you need to scrape it with spoon, dont worry when you roll it turns moist.
3. The cookie is soft an fudgy like brownies, don't bake it more which will make the cookies dry.
4. Coat the dough balls completely in sugar which will result in look of  beautiful snow covered cookies.
5. You can use semi sweet chocolate instead of bitter sweet ones.
6. As the cookies are kept the sugar coating changes to slight yellow.