A cup of Cappuccino for ur loved ones ..

A simple mug of cappuccino can win the hearts of your dear ones .  Cappuccino is an unavoidable drink seen in Italian breakfasts accompanied by biscuits or brioches filled in with cream,chocolate etc.  It's nothing more than a high quality espresso topped with milk foam. A good espresso machine  and a frother is all what you need. You can do this with a handmixer. yup, u heard it right. just with one spring of the electric beater.

Ingredients:

Coffee/Espresso 2-3tbsp ( depends upon how strong ur coffee is)
Milk 4 cups
Sugar 2 tbsp (depends on your taste)
Water 2 tbsp
Cocoa for dusting

Boil water,sugar and coffee powder together.

Heat milk in another bowl until it reaches the  boiling point. It should not boil; you should stop when you see bubbles appearing at the edges of the pan. Beat this while still in pan using milk frother or one spring attached to your electric hand mixer.

Take 1 tbsp or more of the coffee mixer in your coffee mug and then beat in high speed using fork or coffee beater until foamy. Pour the milk into this holding back the foam with a spoon. Top the milk with the foam. Dust some cocoa on the top.

You can top it up with whipped cream as well. Make your own variations and enjoy the drink.

Brownie Trifle

 Unlike past few years, we could see fresh and juicy strawberries  in the market early this year. Its more red, ripe and tasty too. When I asked my hubby to bring some berries so that I could freeze them for later use, he bought me some 6 to 7 trays; of which none were left for freezing... they found their own place either on top of tarts, desserts, smoothies,cake and a lot more within 2 or 3 days.. Baked a lot of them and ma cam just loved it. Clicked, clicked and clicked. You can expect many more strawberry recipes this season.

 Ingredients

Brownies 8 pieces
Cream Cheese 1 cup
Chocolate 100gms
Graham Cracker crumbs or any other biscuit crumbs
Few Strawberries/or any other fruits
Fresh cream 2 cups
Coffee 2 tsp
Water 3/4 cup
Sugar 2 tbsp

 Method:

Make syrup with 2 tsp coffee, 3/4 cup water and 2 tbsp sugar, keep aside.

Cut brownies into half horizontally and soak with 1/4 cup of coffee liquid. You can avoid soaking, if you are using moist brownies 


Melt chocolate and let it cool.

Beat cream cheese with remaining coffee until smooth. Fold in the melted chocolate to this beaten cheese.

Whip the cream with vanilla essence and keep it aside.

Layering:

Place the brownie first in individual glasses. Layer with cheese mixture, few strawberries or fruits, then graham cracker crumbs or any other biscuit crumbs and then top it up with whipped cream. Sprinkle coffee, cocoa or just garnish with a piece of brownie. You are your own master when playing with desserts. You can do it with your own imagination and play with the scratch. This recipe is inspired from Shireen Anwar; but done my variations with the recipe.

Linking this to Valentines Event by Anzz Cafe

Teenz Yummy Delights

Kid's Delight hosted by Edible Entertainment

Chocolate Mela

(Hanan's )Chocolate Spiral Buns

This one is baked by ma sissy Hanan. These were so simple and yummy buns that her kids didn't leave anything for their aunt (me)  :( They just luvd it and I did know from them that their mom baked this again .

Ingredients


(Recipe Courtesy: Zarnak Sidwa)


Flour 3 cups
Salt ½ tsp
Sugar 2 tsp
Instant yeast 1 tbsp leveled
Warm milk ½ cup
Warm water as required
Butter melted 2 ounces
Chocolate spread as required
Cinnamon powder 1 tsp
Granulated sugar extra 2 tbsp
Butter melted extra 2 tbsp


Method


Sift together flour sugar and salt in a bowl. Add instant yeast and mix.


Add Luke warm water and melted butter .Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic
.
Place dough in a greased bowl, cover and leave to rise for 1 hour until the volume doubles.


Punch down dough, roll into rectangle brush with extra butter, spread evenly with chocolate spread. Sprinkle with extra sugar and cinnamon, roll like a Swiss roll, cut into 2 cm thick slices, place on a greased baking dish, allow to rise till double in volume.

Bake at 200 degree C for 10 minutes, reduce the temperature of the oven to 180 Degree C, bake for a further 10 minutes.





Linking this to Valentines Event by Anzz Cafe

Teenz Yummy Delights

Kid's Delight hosted by Edible Entertainment

Chocolate Mela

Flourless, Chewy & Moist Brownies & an Award

'                 are made for women' ... aahaa.. not diamonds; but chocolates. Chocolates are defenitely invented for women or rather for me.. :) A single bar of chocolate can satisfy my craving for sweets. It is said that you don't have to teach a woman how to sink her teeth into them. Valentines Day is in the air and what more you crave for than something chocolatyy. This brownie is healthy.. healthy in the sense as no white flour is added; but ya.. lots of butter and egg; of course. So as per the host of the show(Sharmeen), all you health concious people need to run 5kms at the least after having a piece of it... :)  & others like me grab the whole of it and sit as if no big deal !! ;)

Ingredients:

Almond Flour 175g
Butter 225g
Chocolate 225g
Cocoa powder 2 tbsp
Egg 3
Salt a pinch
Caster sugar 175g
Vanilla essence 1 tsp
Coffee 1 1/2 tbsp

Method:

1. Melt Butter and chocolate in pan.

2.Beat eggs and caster sugar untill well incorporated. Add in the melted chocolate when it is still hot. Beat fast till the chocolate blends with the beaten egg.

3.Mix in the almond flour, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla essence with the beater or spatula .


4. Bake this in a preheated oven 170 C for 30-35 minutes. The texture of these brownies are moist and gooey. Checking with an inserter won't get it right.


5.Cool it on a rack for about 30 minutes. Reverse it on a plate, remove the wax paper and then, reverse it again using another plate. Cut it down and serve it hot or cold.

Thannk u Hema for this wonderful appreciation. 

Linking this to Valentines Event by Anzz Cafe

Teenz Yummy Delights

Kid's Delight hosted by Edible Entertainment

Chocolate Mela

Wholewheat Tart with Strawberry Cheese Filling

I'm absolutely loving this climate prevailing in UAE currently.Cold mornings, shorter days and lengthy nights is something that we Desert people could ever dream of. . The effects of the changing weather could be seen with everyone I came across.We wait whole year for these few days of winter. We have not experienced such cold in the last two to three years. 17 degrees, of course, is another chilly summer morning to my friends there in UK, but we Mediterraneans  make use of every bit of this winter. I wake up early in the morning these days for a hot cup of chocolate or mocha and my kids are ready to eat anything that come out of ma oven; and for them, I've tried to turn these Mini Tartlets to healthy by using wholewheat flour alongwhith white flour. & strawberry cheese filling on the top is an amazing duo to pair it up with.

Ingredients:


For Tart :

Wholewheat flour 6 oz
White Flour 2 oz
Butter 4oz
Caster Sugar 2 tbsp
Cold Water 3-4 tbsp



Method:


In a separate bowl, sift or whisk together both the flours and salt. Keep it aside.

Place the butter in your mixer and beat until softened.

 Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

 Add the flour mixture all at once and mix in required water until it forms a ball. (Do not over mix or the pastry will be hard when baked.)


 Flatten the pastry into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 20 minutes or until firm.


 On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry into a big circle of about 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. To prevent the pastry from sticking to the counter and to ensure uniform thickness, keep lifting up and turning the pastry a quarter turn as you roll (always roll from the center of the pastry outwards to get uniform thickness).

To make sure it is the right size, take your tart pans, flip it over, and place it on the rolled out pastry. Cut the pastry leaving an inch more than the size of the pan.


Take these cut pieces and place it onto the top of tart pans. Never pull pastry or you will get shrinkage (shrinkage is caused by too much pulling of the pastry when placing it in the pan). Gently lay in pan and with a small floured piece of pastry, lightly press pastry into bottom and up sides of pan. Roll your rolling pin over top of pan to get rid of excess pastry. Prick bottom of dough with a fork(this will prevent the dough from puffing up as it bakes). Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes to chill the butter and to rest the gluten.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line unbaked pastry shell with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Fill tart pan with pie weights, rice or beans, making sure the weights are to the top of the pan and evenly distributed over the entire surface. Bake crust for 20 to25 minutesuntil crust is dry and lightly golden brown. Remove weights and cool crust on wire rack before filling.

For Strawberry Cheese Filling:


Strawberries 12
Cheese 8 oz
Lemon juice 2 tsp
Sugar 2 tbsp
Apricot Jam/glaze

Method:


Microwave strawberry for 2-3mts (depends upon your microwave) until it melts completely.Let it cool.

Beat Cream Cheese at room temperature along with sugar and lemon juice. Mix in the strawberry puree. Now, fill tarts with these and top it up with strawberries. If you want to glaze it, do it with apricot glaze.

Apricot glaze:


Apricot Glaze:  Heat the apricot jam or preserves and water (if using) in a small saucepan over medium heat until liquid (melted). Remove from heat and strain the jam through a fine strainer to remove any fruit lumps.   Let cool until it is only slightly warm.Variation: If glazing strawberries, raspberries or any other red fruit you can make a red currant glaze. Gently whisk 1/2 cup (125 grams) of red currant jelly over medium heat until melted. Let cool slightly and then lightly glaze the fruit using a pastry brush.

I've tried one Fruit Tart recipe adapted from Joy of Baking

Linking this to Valentine Special Event hosted by Anzz Cafe

Valentines Day Event hosted by Teenz' Yummy Delights