Cheesecake Cookies with Almond Crust

Am a fan of cheesecake but i always hated the crust made of Graham Crackers. This one is different. This crust has nuts (of your choice) and it gives a real bite to the crust.
So now you have a superb Cheesecake plus a nice crust too.
I got this recipe from Food Network and gave a try this Christmas and its going to be my evertime favorite too.

Ingredients
Makes 25 cookies

Crust
All Purpose Flour - 1 cup
Light Brown Sugar packed - 1/4 cup
Chopped Almonds - 1 cup
Butter - 1 stick (8 tbsp) melted

Filling
Cream Cheese - 16oz  take them out of fridge atleast 30 mins before using
Sugar - 1 cup
Eggs - 3
Vanilla Extract - 1 tspn

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the ingredients under Crust and press the into a 13*9*2 inch baking pan.
It will look like its not enough but keep spreading and pressing till it covers all the pan.
Bake it for 15 mins or until lightly browned.

Now in a new bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar till smooth. Add eggs and the Vanilla Extract and beat well.

Now pour this into the crust and spread till it covers the crust completely.
Bake them for 30 mins
(The recipe asks for baking 20 mins but mine was done by 30 mins only. Keep checking after 20 mins)
It will look all puffed up, but dont worry it will retain to the original look once its cooled.

Once its cooled completely, cut them into squares. Garnish as you love.

This will be a sure hit, so go ahead and make them

Happy Cooking Guys!!!

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze

My Next Venture for this Christmas was this Cookie that i got from Food Network. Its made of Ricotta Cheese which gave it a Cake consistency. And the Lemon Glaze was just the kick it needed. They are just perfect against each other.

Ingredients
Makes 45 Cookies

All Purpose Flour - 2 1/2 cups
Baking Powder - 1 tspn
Salt - 1 tspn
Unsalted Butter - 1 stick (8 tbsp)
Sugar - 2 cups
Eggs - 2
Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese - 15 oz
Lemon Juice - 3 tbsp
Lemon Zest - 1 lemon

Glaze
Powdered Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Lemon Juice - 3 tbsp
Lemon Zest - 1 lemon

Mix the All Purpose flour, Baking Powder and salt together and keep aside  (Dry Ingredients)

Take the butter and sugar in another bowl and combine them until fluffy using an electric mixer.
Now add the eggs one by one after mixing them well into the batter
Now add the Ricotta Cheese, Lemon Juice and the zest ad mix it well into the Batter (Wet Ingredients)

Now add 1/3rd of the Dry ingredients into the wet Ingredients and mix well. Do the same with the rest of the Dry Ingredients till its mixed well.
This is the Cookie Batter

Prehat Oven to 350 degrees F

Line the baking sheet with a Parchment paper and drop the cookie batter around 1 1/2 tbsp each.
Leave some space between each cookie as they will spread a bit.

Glaze
Take the powdered sugar in a bowl and add the zest and the lemon juice and mix well. This is our Glaze.

Rest the cookies for atleast 20 mins once they come out of the oven. Now spoon little zest onto them and let them rest for some time.

If you are planning to stack them for storing, its better to rest them atleast 2 hours after putting the glaze.

This cookie is really tasty, so please try atleast once.

Happy Baking Guys!!!

Healthy Oats and Nuts Granola Bar

 Today am making something that you have seen a lot in most of the stores under various names like Energy Bar, Protein Bar, Granola Bar, Oats bar and so it goes. So while you compare the nutritional value and price for them like me, nothing stops you from trying it at home.
I keep one pack in the car always so that whenever you are outside or coming from office and stuck in traffic and get hungry, it comes handy. I made them for Raj but I am the one eating it more.
First time when i made them i felt it might be costly but with the ingredients i bought, i was able to make 3 times. So price wise i think its with us.
Coming to the nutritional value, we know what goes in this so you can tweak them however you wish

I got this recipe from Food Network which is really catching upto me as i find myself trying their recipes a lot :-)
So if its good enough why not share them with you and persuade to try them.
I have made some changes in this recipe as the original recipe called for Coconut and i traded them with some more extra nuts

If you are someone who is concerned about the nutritional value of the food that you eat, let me assure you that this is way far better than the store brought ones. The only trade off will be the Sugar in them but it mostly comes from the Dried fruit and dates so i dont think you have to worry too much on that

Ingredients Makes 24 bars
Rolled Oats - 2 cups
Almonds - 1 cup
Cashew - 1/2 cup
Hazelnut - 1/2 cup

Wheat Germ  - 1/2 cup
Butter - 3 tbsp
Honey - 3/4 cup
Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup
Vanilla Extract- 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp

Dates - 1/2 cup
Mixed Dried Berries - 1/2 cup

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F
Chop the nuts to half or quarter size of them

Mix the Oats with Almonds, cashews and Hazelnut and spread on a baking sheet.
Bake it for 10 - 12 mins. Take care not to brown them :-)

Reduce the Temperature to 300 degree F

Butter or spray oil to a Baking dish (I used 9 * 12 inch dish ) and line with parchment paper.

Heat the butter in a saucepan and add the Honey, Brown sugar and salt
Once its mixed, take it off heat and add the Vanilla Extract.

Mix the toasted nuts with wheat germ in a big bowl.
Now add in the heated wet mixture and mix them well.

Add the chopped dates and dried berries into this and mix well.

Now spread them into the prepared dish
Wet your hands and gently press them to form an even layer.
Bake them in 300 Degree F Oven for 20-25 mins.

Let it cool off in the baking pan itself for 2-3 hours.
After that take them out and cut them into bars of your choice of size.

It makes 24 of them if you decide to cut them to the weight of the store brought ones.

Notes:

• Please dont forget to reduce the Oven temperature in between
• Oil the measuring cup before measuring Honey and the honey will slide off easily
• Wetting your hands will help you to spread the Granola Mixture easily
• You can add your choice of nuts and Dried Berries.
• I Made it without Vanilla at first and it did come out well too, so no worries if you dont have Vanilla Extract handy
• It remains fresh for more than a week in Room temperature
• Freezing them and thawing out in room temperature will last them longer
• I pack them in Ziplocs as shown above or plastic Cling Wraps

I have tried my max to make the pictures perfect but as you see its a bit tough for me now as i have a wagging tail behind me always :-)

Isnt he cute? He is our 6 month Labrador, our sweet puppy who loves to hang out in the kitchen. So he is my new "Little Chef"

So Happy Cooking and Trying new Recipes Guys!!

Marble Cake

Yup, its time for a cake and i made a marble Cake. This is the first cake that i am making. I really love the Marble look of this cake. Even though we have had this earlier, we never thought of making it.
So i got this recipe from another cooking Blog. Its called "Cooking With Alia". I have used the exact recipe while making this

Ingredients Serves 6
Eggs - 5
Sugar - 125 gms
Salt - a pinch
Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
Baking pdr - 1 tsp
Unsalted Butter - 1 stick (8 tbsp)
Flour - 128 gms
Milk Chocolate - 125 gms
White chocolate - 125 gms (Optional)

Whisk in the eggs and sugar till you get a thick mixture which is pale in color, allmost white
It took me 30 mins for that with a speed of 3-4 in my electric mixer Uffff.
Now add the salt, Vanilla Extract and Baking pdr and whisk it well.
Now melt the butter and add it into this mixture. Mix in well
Now sift the flour into this mixture and mix it.
Now divide this into 2 portions and keep aside
Melt the chocolate in individual pans.
Mix in the milk chocolate into one portion of the batter and White chocolate into the other portion.

Take a pan and grease it with butter. layer the parchment paper and press it well.
Now add half of the White chocolate batter and spread it evenly.
Add all of the Chocolate batter and spread it evenly
Now add the remaining white chocolate batter and spread it evely

Take a butter knife and make swirls in the cake batter to get the marble effect

Now Bake it in 360 degree F for 45 mins
A toothpick or knife inserted should come out clean to ensure its done

Notes

• While mixing the flour to the batter, mix it slowly with a rubber spatula. That way the cake will remain moist and fluffy while baked. Do not overmix.
• White Chocolate is optional, if not added it will have a Vanilla Flavor
• Start checking from 35 mins onwards so that you dont burn it out
• This batter was enough for a 8 * 8 baking pan
• Let the melted butter and chocolates cool down a bit before mixing into the batter

Happy Baking Guys!!!

Drop Biscuits

Biscuits with Jam

Biscuits and Gravy is one of our favorite comfort food. There is a restaurant "Pine State Biscuits" here in Portland where we get super delicious Biscuits and gravy. They have numerous variations to do with Biscuit, but our favorite is the one with gravy.
We need cookie cutter to get round sha    ped biscuits, but you can make this drop Biscuits if you dont have a cookie cutter with you.

Ingredients Makes 12 Drop Biscuits
All Purpose flour - 1 cup
Baking Powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt - a small pinch
Cold Butter - 4 tbsp (1/2 stick)
ButterMilk - 1/2 cup

Mix in all purpose flour, salt and baking powder.
Now add the butter.
Break the butter into small pieces as seen here and mix it into the flour mixture using your hands slowly breaking the butter peices further.

Once its mixed well, it should look like crumbs as seen here.

Now add the butter milk and mix it into the mixture.

Preheat your oven to 400 degree F.

Meanwhile drop the biscuit mixture onto the baking sheet.
Now bake them for 16-17 mins till you get a light brown color on the top and your Biscuit is done.

 You can have the Biscuits along with Gravy, Jam or Butter and Honey.

Biscuits with Sausage Gravy

Happy Munching guys!!!

Banana Bread

My Second Baking Venture - Banana Bread
Even though i have had this many time, never thought of making it till recently when i had it from one of our friend's house.
I was not happy with the color of this bread, so i tried to make it better the next time, but it was not a super success even though the color came out good enough.
You should use overripe bananas for this.This is how mine looked.

Serves 4
Ingredients - Everything should be in room temperature
Wet Ingredients
Butter - 4 tbsp
Sugar - 1/2 cup (I used white but brown sugar gives a rich color)
Egg - 1 large
Vanilla Extract - 1/2 tsp

Banana Over Ripe - 1 1/2 (around 375 gms)

Dry Ingredients
Wheat flour - 1/4 cup
All Purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Baking Pdr - 3/4 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Optional Items
Nuts - 1/4 cup
Shredded Coconut - 1/4 cup
Chocolate Chips - 1/4 cup

Butter - for smearing the baking pan

 You can either use a spatula or whisker or hand mixer for mixing the ingredients

Mash the banana with a fork and keep aside.
Break the egg and keep it in a bowl.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl very well and keep aside

Take a bowl and whisk the butter and sugar till its creamy.
Now add in the egg and whisk it well.
Add the vanilla extract and mix in
Add in the mashed banana and mix it.
Add the dry ingredients half at a time and mix it into the wet ingredients mixture.

Now using a spoon you can add the nuts, shredded coconut and chocolate chips into this mixture.

Preheat the oven to 350 degree

Now smear your baking pan with butter on all sides and pour the mixture into this.
Slightly shake so that the mixture settles well.

Now bake the same for 45-50 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let it cool for 15 minutes and move to the serving dish.

You can bake for some more time if its not done by 50 mins. Mine was done perfectly by this time
The time required may vary based on your oven
The banana bread mixture should fill only till 2/3 rd of your baking pan.

Serve the Banana Bread slices with Butter or you can even make French Toast with it

Happy Baking Guys!!!

Chocolate Chip Cashew Cookies

My first ever cookie :-)
I have been watching the Food Network channel for a long time now. Been craving to make cookies and cakes from the time i started watching these chanels.
Sitting here now that is my new entertainment, watch watch watch cooking shows. It just makes you get up and make things happen in your kitchen. Been waiting for getting a mixer, so that i can go ahead with them
So now i got an electric mixer and this is the first recipe that i made from it. Its a simple chocolate chip cookie with cashew in it. I have added cashew in it to increase the richness and also i love cashew in my cookies.
You can substitute the chocolate chips and nuts to your wish. You can use dark or milk chocolate. Also you can add or change the nuts to your wish.

Ingredients (Makes 12 cookies)

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Unsalted Butter - 8 tbsp (1/2 cup)  it should be at Room Temperature
Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Egg - 1
Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
Chocolate Chips - 1/2 cup
Cashew chopped - 1/4 cup

Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together and keep aside (Dry Ingredients)
Beat the butter, brown sugar and the sugar using an electric mixer till its blended well.
Now add in the egg and vanilla extract and blend it till everything is mixed well.
Now add half of the dry ingredients and blend it till it is mixed. Now add the remaining of the dry ingredients and blend them well.

Preheat the oven at 350 degree F.
Line the baking tray with a parchment paper and drop the dough 1 inch apart (The cookies will expand when it cooks) and cook for 13 - 14 minutes.

Once its cooked, its edges will be crisp and the middle portion will be soft to touch (Don't worry, its cooked)

Let it cool for 5 minutes in the tray and then move it to a cooling rack and let it sit for 10 mins

Note: Store it in an air tight container once its cooled

Happy Munching!!!