Dried rose petals and vanilla bean panacotta recipe

Dried rose petals and vanilla bean panacotta recipe

Ordered for dried rose petals with my online grocer on impulse, the house smelled nice when it was delivered. But the problem starts when you have no idea how to use it up!.. yes , the story starts there. Posted my query in a cooking group where I got few suggestions and panacotta was one among it. Checked for recipes but nothing satisfied me, so just read few recipes and came up with one of my own. That's what earning is about , right? Anyway ..the result is here though it got a bit scratched when I was un moulding it into a plate. Never mind, will be more careful next time and i guess this can be pardoned as long as it tastes good too. 

But wait..there is a saying 'the dessert needs to be spectacular because it is served then the gourmand is no longer hungry' . In that case this is not to the mark. ;)

Coming to the recipe

Ingredients

Milk - one cup

Fresh cream- one cup

China grass/ agar agar - 5 gms dissolved  in 50 ml water

Sugar - 3-4 tbspn

Vanilla bean - half of one bean or few drops of essence.

Dried rose petals - 3 tbspn packed

Method

Keep ready 4 small bowls or ramekins smeared with a little oil.

Mix the milk, cream, the petals and scrape out the vanilla bean and warm it up

Melt the china grass in water in microwave.

Pour a little of milk cream mixture into the melted china grass and then mix well and then add this to the whole of the milk and cream mixture.

Sieve this mixture into prepared moulds and let it sit in the fridge for few hours. If you want a firm panacotta, let it rest overnight.

Slowly remove the panacotta from the sides and unmould it into a plate or scoop and eat from the mould itself. Either way you wish.

Make and enjoy 

thanks!

Chaithanya 

Hazelnut butter

I  bought hazelnuts and hazelnut oil to make home made nutella (I dont buy Nutella), I did hazelnut cupcakes too with hazelnut oil and this time I tried hazelnut butter. You can avoid hazelnut oil or use any non flavour oil to make this butter. It super easy too, hardly take 10 mins and a very healthy butter is ready as a spread!

Ingredients
Hazelnuts - 100 gms
Hazel nut oil - 1 - 2 tspn

Honey - as required

Vanilla pod - half of  pod

Method
Take a thick bottom pan and dry roast the nuts for sometime, just enough to heat it and then put it in a mixie jar or a blender or a food processor. Pulse it until it starts releasing oil. Scrape in the vanilla pod and also add the oil. Finally add honey as a sweetener. If you want exclusive hazelnut butter stop with oil , don't add vanilla or honey :). If you add cocoa or scraped chocolate nd replace honey with sugar you get nutella.

And yea 'keep refrigerated'
So try and enjoy!!

Simple vanilla sponge cake with fresh cream frosting

Have baked loads of cakes and among that loads of vanilla sponge cake, but was never as happy as I have done this cake. Some how the cake was soft and spongy than many other recipes I tried. I used whole wheat too. I got this recipe from here and I just replaced the flour with whole wheat flour and no other changes.May be you can reduce sugar to your taste.
The recipient of this cake a 3 yrs old little angel who wanted a 'blue butterfly' and when I had all the ingredients I agreed on giving it a shot.. and by God's grace it was not bad either, according to the reviews :)
I did think about how to bring about the shape of the butterfly, thought of many sized and shaped pans and finally decided to do in a rectangular pan and carve the shape out. Hmm.. may be I could do it a lot better next time :) Anyway here is the recipe for the same

Ingredients
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup butter (lightly salted)
2 cups  flour  (I used whole wheat flour )
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt


1. Beat eggs in large mixing bowl with paddle attachment for 4 minutes or  use an electric egg beater.
2. Add sugar, and continue beating for another 4-5 minutes until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and stir on low until just combined.
 3. In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients.  Add to eggs and sugar on low speed until just combined.
4. In a saucepan, heat milk and butter on low heat just until butter is melted and wait for it to be cool. Add to batter, beat just until combined.
5. Pour into two greased and floured 8" round cake pans.
6. Bake at 325 until the middle springs back when touched, or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let stand in pans for 10 minutes. Then turn out onto wire cooling racks and cool completely.

I traced the pan in a paper and tried a shape of the butter fly onto it and then cut out the shape and cut the cake accordingly. Be careful while carving the cake and I would advice you to refrigerate the cake for a while so that it becomes easier for carving

For the decoration I used 'Tropolite' cream and whipped it up adding colour until light, fluffy and stiff. Use an icing nozzle to pipe in the cream over the cake. You can use all you creative juices to have the best decorated butterfly :)

Bake and enjoy!!!