Badam Barfi | Almond Barfi

After a long gap, I got time to post a recipe here in my blog! And when it is after a long gap, it has to be a special sweet right?! So here is a very simple and absolutely delicious recipe that will make you drool over. 

It requires very few easily available ingredients and does not require ghee too. The richness of almonds will reflect in the taste of the dessert. 

Surprise hearts inside chocolate cake - For the love of baking!

I did this cake as a part of Fondbites - Bake Along group in facebook. 

With Valentine's day round the corner, I wanted to try something special and when this recipe came along my way, I immediately tried it!!

The original recipe used eggs. I have tried an eggless version and wanted a dash of pink in my cake, hence made cute vanilla-strawberry marble hearts for the surprise center. It is a double process of baking but not difficult at all. Try it out and surprise your near and dear ones, in this season of Love!

With this method, we can vary the flavor combinations according to our choice. A chocolate cake with red-velvet heart, Chocolate cake with vanilla heart or vice-versa and sky is limit for the combinations!!

Wishing you all a very sweet and lovable Valentine's Day!

Eggless M&M Cookies | Eggless Gems Biscuits

It's feeling a lot like Christmas!! 

Festive season and holidays, along with fresh home baked goodies! What more do we need to excite a kid or bring back the kid in us?!

I wanted to make some colorful cookies for my little cousins who would be coming home for their vacation. While hunting my refrigerator, I found a pack of M&Ms lying there unopened. It reminded me of a recipe that I had come across in Jeyashriskitchen.com and bookmarked long back. With pretty much simple ingredients and easy method, I tried them right away and yeah the colorful cookies are now baked to perfection and waiting to surprise my little cousins!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season :)

Check out these cookies too for this special season:

• Saffron-walnut cookies
• Custard powder cookies

Kasi Halwa | White pumpkin halwa

Wondering why a traditional sweet recipe now? Ofcourse there is no reason required to have a sweet, but I tried this recipe on Diwali day and got time to post just now!! 

Kasi halwa is made with white pumpkin and is a traditional sweet that is served along with the grand breakfast during weddings and other family functions. It is pretty simple to make, do try it out and let me know how it turned out to be :)

Recipe source: Jeyashri's Kitchen

INGREDIENTS:

• White pumpkin - 2 cups, grated
• Sugar - 3/4th cup
• Ghee - 3 tablespoons
• Cashewnuts - a few
• Cardamom powder - a pinch
• Orange food color - a pinch

METHOD:

1. Grate the pumpkin. Slightly squeeze the water that is let out from the pumpkin. Do not overdo it
2. Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a pan and fry the cashewnuts. Keep aside
3. In the same pan, fry the grated pumpkin. Cook on a low flame, till the pumpkin is cooked well (About 15 minutes). The pumpkin has to become soft
4. Add sugar and food color at this stage. After adding sugar, the mixture will again become watery. Cook on a medium flame, adding ghee in intervals, till the halwa leaves the sides of the pan
5. Add cardamom powder and mix well
6. Remove from heat, garnish with fried cashew nuts and serve warm
7. You can also refrigerate it for 2 days, after it is completely cooled

See you all soon with another interesting recipe!

Gulab Semiya Kheer (Rose vermicelli kheer)

Mild sweet dish with a tempting rose fragrance, makes Gulab Semiya Kheer a divinely delicious dish. I came across this recipe in 101 diet dishes by Nita Mehta. The original recipe is a rice kheer flavored with rose. I replaced rice with vermicelli and was delightfully satisfied with the result. I had bookmarked this recipe almost a year back but I got to try it only recently when mom got these lovely paneer roses. The roses were fresh and had a wonderful fragrance. It is a very simple recipe and if you get these paneer roses, do try it out! So if you do not prefer high calorie loaded sweets for the festive season, then this is the best dish for you!

Traditional Boondhi Laddoo (A treasure from the kitchen of my great grand mother!)

Diwali and Laddoo are synonymous at my home! Yes, this is the only time in the year, when mom and grandma prepare this divine sweet. So we tend to call it Deepavali Laddoo rather than Boondhi Laddoo :) This is a traditional recipe that has been passed on from my great grand mother! Every year while making this recipe, my grandma would recall how great grandma used to prepare 200 laddoos all by herself!! I can't even imagine that. Usually we prepare around 50-75 laddoos, during Diwali, for distributing among our relatives/friends/neighbors. But this year, as I am already preparing different types of sweets, to post in the blog, grandma made only 15 laddoos. This recipe was completely prepared by her and my mom helped her in mixing and shaping the laddoos. So my contribution here was to just admire my kitchen queens prepare the sweet and happily click pictures! I am very happy to share this traditional recipe with you all! Just follow the steps and the result would be great!!

Badam-Walnut-Poha Laddoo (Easy and healthy)

Can you imagine a laddoo without ghee or sugar and yet taste delicious??!! Here it is a vegan laddoo that is low in fat but high on taste! Filled with the goodness of almonds, walnuts and flattened rice (poha/aval) and sweetened with palm sugar. An absolute healthy treat for the festive season :)

Recipe source: Swathi's Recipe

Eggless No-bake Paneer Cheesecake with Mothichoor crust and Gulab jamun topping!

Diwali is nearing and I am very happy to experiment in My Cheerful Kitchen :) Trying a fusion dessert was in my mind for a long time. Then when I came across the idea of an Indian version of cheesecake in Sweet n Savory, I immediately bookmarked it and what other ideal time than Diwali to try this out!! 

I have never tasted a cheesecake before. So this is the first time I am trying and tasting one. Usually cheesecakes have a biscuit crust, cream cheese filling and a glaze top. This Indian version uses Motichoor ladoo for the crust, paneer for the filling and topped with Gulab jamun! I am sure most of us would be left with ladoos and jamuns after Diwali and this is an interesting recipe to try out with the left over sweets! 

Celebrate Diwali in style with this delicious Indian Cheesecake!

Soft Mysore Pak - Krishna Sweets Style

Mysore Pak is a lip smacking South Indian sweet that is made with Gram flour(besan), ghee and sugar. It is very famous during weddings and festivals like Diwali. The traditional sweet is quite hard but it was the popular sweet store "Sri Krishna Sweets" that gave this dessert a soft twist! Yes the Krishna sweets version Mysore Pak is loved by all for its divine softness. I never imagined we could make it at home too! This is the first time I am trying a traditional sweet like Mysore Pak and it was a success! I found this recipe in sharmispassion.com and was happy to try out this festive season! I must accept that I have not reached the softness of Krishna sweets but still the taste matched and the sweet just melted into the mouth. Try this out for Diwali and make your guests hard to believe that it was made by you and not store bought (No offense to Sri Krishna sweets but there is no harm in trying out a small quantity at home too :) )

Short-cut Shahi Thukda with Apple Rabdi

Shahi Thukda or Double-ka-Meeta is a rich Mughalai dessert that is famous in Hyderabad. Traditionally it is prepared by deep frying bread in ghee, soaking them in sugar syrup and then served with a topping of rabdi (combination of thickened milk, sugar and saffron). I can't even imagine the amount of ghee that goes into deep frying a bread! I was delighted when I came across the idea of using rusk instead of deep-fried bread in kamalascorner.com :) I modified the recipe by including a low fat apple rabdi(inspired from Tarla Dalal). For the sugar syrup, I used left over gulab jamun syrup and hence that made my job even more easier. A very delicious recipe for the festive season that is also guilt free! 

Mini Onam Sadhya

Wish you all a very Happy Onam!!!

The moment we think about Onam, it is the colorful pookolam, boat race and the grand feast - "Onam Sadhya" that comes to our mind!

I have not had the opportunity to taste a traditional Onam sadhya, but every time I see a picture of the Sadhya, I drool :) Today I've tried to make a mini Onam Sadhya and I referred to all the recipes from chithrasfoodbook.com

Please click on the below links for the recipes. I was not able to take individual pictures, I shall try to update the recipes with pictures, when I try them next.

• Ada Pradhaman
• Cabbage Thoran
• Olan
• Kerala Rasam
• Kerala Parippu Curry
• Puli Inji

Disclaimer: The cooking method used for each recipes may not be traditional. The above picture is just for representation and it is not the way how a traditianal sadhya is served.