Wholewheat mini cupcakes sweetened with jaggery syrup

That day I was feeling  low for a reason and was craving to do something new or different and that usually gives me a high. So that day I just picked up my mini cupcakes pan and kept out all the staples for cake baking. After couple of hours while I was making dinner for the family I got into mixing the batter and then this recipe evolved.  Husband dear had just got back from the office and he loved the aroma filled in our home :)

Following is the recipe

Ingredients

Whole wheat flour -1.5 cups

Eggs – 3 no.s

Butter – 2/3 cup

Jaggery syrup – ¾ cup (refer notes)

Vanilla essence – 1 tsp.

Baking powder – 1 tsp.

Method

• Take a huge mixing bowl and throw in the softened butter, crack the 3 eggs, sieve in the flour and the baking powder, pour in the jaggery syrup, drop in the vanilla essence and mix well using a whisk until all the ingredients have just come together. Yes, you read it right. That’s exactly what I did.  Don’t over whisk. 
• Once the ingredients have come together gently scoop out the batter into the cupcake moulds and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when pierced.

Note: Jaggery syrup is made by melting one kg of jaggery with one cup of water, sieve and  and measure ¾ cup from it for this recipe. You can store the remaining syrup in the refrigerator and stays good for weeks.

I used coarse chakki ground atta for this recipe.

Thanks and regards

Chaithanya

Homemade badam (mamra) milk drink

This is one of the drinks I make for kids for breakfast especially during winters… Their breakfast includes an Indian breakfast and cup of badam milk to go with it.

I believe almonds provides heat to the body and also develop immunity, now that is what I have read and heard.

And yea I never believed in the store bought ‘health drinks’

Badam milk is something made at home using soaked almonds blended with sweetened milk. Earlier I use to use the american almonds but few years back I met a mom who mentioned about mamra variety of almonds , did a bit of research on it and since then been using  mamra variety for making badam milk, it’s a bit costlier compared to the American variety but is very nutritious.

We soak mamra variety of almonds overnight and grind the almonds with milk, raw sugar and a pinch of home made turmeric powder.  I feel so happy and satisfied when I make this and kids drink this in the morning.. :)

Coming to the recipe

Ingredients

Mamra almonds - 10-1 2 no.s

Milk - 2 cups 

Sugar - 2 tsp.

Turmeric powder – a pinch 

Cardamom power – a pinch

Method

• Soak the almonds overnight and wash thoroughly the next day( I don’t peel the soaked almonds).
• Grind the almonds with little milk, sugar, turmeric powder and cardamom powder well and then later add the rest of the milk.
• Once ground strain thru a juicer sieve.
• Pour out in cups and serve! 

Note : 

• I use 'Braun' chopper to grind this quantity of almonds, have tried most of the other appliances but it never gets ground well.
• We use organic milk, raw sugar, a home made turmeric powder to make the drink healthier. 

Thank you 

Chaithanya.

Peanuts and pista chocolate (chikki? )

These days I do feel a little lazy to do the stories for my blog but nevertheless love to share the recipe for you and for me before I forget it. Anyway the story behind this  to send some small mini  treats in my kids snack box.. a chocolate treat :) Why to be only chocolate, hence stuffed some nuts into it. So following is the method, I wouldn't call it a recipe since this hardly need any measuring.

You need to have 
Cooking chocolate
Pistachios 
Cashewnuts
Pumpkin seeds
You can add the nuts of your choice too, but I primarily used peanuts ( organic peanuts :)   )

Method
All it takes is couple of minutes.
Chop the cooking chocolate evenly and melt it using a double boiler, once the chocolate is melted take it off from the boiler and then add in the nuts and mix well, You need to see a sufficient amount of chocolate floating so that it holds shape. If the nuts are too much it might not hold. . So once everything is mixed well, spread a butter paper and pour  the mixture to it, spread it well and leave it to dry. After a couple of minutes you can cut the slab in the shape of your choice and then gently remove from the butter paper.
Make sure its cooled properly and then store in a clean jar.