Millionaire's Shortbread

The passing of Independence Day here marks the beginning of festival season. When I was in school, I used to love this time, we had a lot of holidays, leading up to almost a whole month of vacations for Diwali. It's a time where family keeps meeting up. One of those festivals just passed a few days ago, called Raksha Bandhan, where a Hindu girl ties a rakhi [piece of string] to her brother and gives him sweets, in exchange for a lifelong promise of protection, and a gift [raksha means protection, bandhan means bond]. It started off as a North Indian tradition, but is practiced almost throughout


Even though nowdays it's turned into more of a fun occassion, an excuse to get gifts, somewhere in the bottom of my heart, it holds a lot of meaning. We usually just buy sweets from the local sweet shop and give to our brothers, but I wanted to make something myself this time, especially since they all have seen the blog, but haven't yet tasted much of what I make.


It is also the month of Shravan [a holy Hindu month], where people refrain from eating non-vegetarian food, even eggs. Even though I don't personally follow it, I know that family does, so I had to look for something that was eggless, delicious, and easy to mulitply and bake in large amounts. I settled on these delicious bars that I've seen around a lot, but avoided making because of the high amounts of fat it.





Millionaire's Shortbread
Adapted from SGCC and Nestlé
Makes about 24 3"x1" bars


For the crust - 
2 cups [240 g] flour
1/2 cup [75 g] cornstarch
1/2 cup [120 g] sugar - Use about 3/4 if using salted butter
1 cup [226 g/2 sticks] unsalted butter, cut in small pieces


For the caramel layer - 
You can either use straight up dulce de leche, or use the following recipe. I found that the caramel below isn't sickly sweet, and more of a goeey yet firm mixture.

1 14 oz [400 g] can sweetened condensed mik
1 1/3 stick [150 g] butter
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp [150 g] sugar
 4 tbsp corn syrup - I used honey
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla


For the chocolate layer -
200 g [7 oz] semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup [1/2 stick / 57 g] butter
1 tbsp corn syrup - I used honey

Tools used - 
Pastry blender
Candy thermometer
Pastry scraper


Instructions -


 For the shortbread crust - 

1. Preheat oven to 375 F [190 C]. Line a quarter sheet pan, or a 9"x12" cake pan, with foil or parchment, leaving a little overhang on both sides for easy removal.
2. Sift or whisk together the flour, cornstarch and sugar. Add the pieces of butter, and work them in with your fingers, a pastry blender [my favorite way], or a food processor. 
3. Work it all together until it is sand-like in texture. Don't be too afraid, this dough will take a little handling.
4. Dump the dough into the prepared pan, and pack it in together. Prick the dough all over with the tines of a fork, you don't it puffing up!
5. Bake for about 30-40 minutes [I took 35], until light golden brown all over, and not doughy to the touch.
6. Set aside to cool to room temperature while you begin preparing the caramel.

For the caramel - 

1. In a medium saucepan, mix together all the ingredients except vanilla. Constantly stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, and the mixture darkens and begins to bubble, about 237 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
2. Remove from the heat, whisk in the vanilla, and pour over the cooled shortbread crust. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

For the chocolate layer - 

1. In a double boiler, or a saucepan over low heat, melt together the chocolate and the butter. Stir in the corn syrup, and pour over the caramel, spreading to the edges.
2. Chill in a refrigerator for about half an hour to achieve cleaner cuts. Using the overhang, take the bars out of the pan. Cut into bars using a knife or my all-time favorite way for bars/brownies, a pastry scraper.

 

Lychee Mango Panna Cotta

With this blog, I've started to branch out on what I make much more, and try to steer away from making chocolate all the time, or cookies, or brownies. That's why I tried this panna cotta. I'd seen it around a lot, and the words used to describe it always intrigued me. Sweet, custardy, silky cream. Yum! And a big plus, it was one of the easiest desserts I'd ever made. It was so fast and easy. I used fresh lychees, which have been in season for a while now, and while I'd been gorging on them as is for a long time, I really wanted to use them in a dessert.

I added a top layer of mango, partly because of presentation, and partly because I wanted to incorporate my favorite fruit in this dessert too. I used straight up puree [aamras], but a mango jelly would complement the textures very well too, and would look extremely presentable!! The panna cotta was delicious as is too, so you can keep this layer out if you want.

I used fresh lychees, you can use canned too, in fact if you want something really quick, I would suggest it, since peeling and seeding all those lychees takes a while. I sat down with a movie to peel them, and the movie was almost at its end by the time I finished!



Lychee Mango Panna Cotta
Makes 6-8 glasses

For the lychee panna cotta -

1 1/2 cup [420 g] fresh cream - I used 26%
3/4 cup [220 g] milk
1/2 cup [130 g] sugar
1 1/4 cup [350 g] lychee puree, strained [About 3 dozen lychees] - Do not forget to strain, or you'll be left with ugly bits that will completely spoil the texture.
3 tsp powdered gelatin, in 2 tbsp hot water


Instructions -

1. In a large saucpan, mix together the cream, milk and sugar, bring to a boil. Keep on heat until the sugar dissolves. Take off the heat.
2. The gelatin granules should be completely dissolved, or else you can heat the mixture until it does. Then, add it to the cream mixture, and stir well.
3. Add in the strained lychee puree, mix well to incorporate. Let it sit out for a few minutes to come to room temperature, and then pour into serving glasses. Refrigerate for abour 3 hours.

For the mango jelly

1 cup mango puree, strained
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp powdered gelatin in 2 tbsp hot water.

Instructions -

1. Heat together the strained puree and sugar until the sugar dissolves.
2. Add in the completely dissolved gelatin, and mix well.
3. Allow to cool to room temperature, and top off the serving glasses. Refrigerate for 3 hours. Serve.

 

Basbousa, or Baked Coconut Halva

Update : Picture updated Dec 2010

Basbousa is a traditional Middle Eastern dessert! My mom found the recipe a few years ago, and has been making it ever since! Everyone simply LOVES it! I'm always interested in traditional desserts around the world, and to compare the differences, and morely, the similarities! It's quite shocking sometimes! Basbousa is very similar to the Indian dessert, Halva. It can actually also be called Coconut Halva. It's a nice way to variate, without going too far away from the traditional, so that people expecting traditional dessert will also have a bite of this!

The basbousa actually really easy, and much lighter than it's Indian counterpart! It's essentially a one-bowl recipe! You just dump in all the ingredients, directly into the pan even! While it's baking, you can make the super-easy syrup, and pour it on once it's done! It's really that simple! The syrup is a real important step, don't skim on it!



Basbousa/Coconut Halva
Adapted from RecipeZaar

1 stick [1/2 cup, 113 g] butter, melted
3/4 cup [210 g] granulated sugar
1/2 cup [75 g] flour
1 1/4 cup [275 g] semolina
1 1/2 cup [150 g] coconut - make sure you use dessicated, shredded tends to absorb moisture, and make it pudding-y!
3/4 cup [220 g] milk
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp almond extract
blanched whole almons, for decoration

For the syrup -
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp [110 g] granulated sugar
1/2 cup [125 g] water
1 tbsp rose water
1 tbsp lemon juice


Instructions -

1. Preheat oven to 180 C [350 F], grease a 9x11 pan.
   
2. Mix together all the ingredients for the cake, except the blanched almonds.
3. Pour it into the pan, score into diamond shapes, and add almonds to each piece [This is the traditional way to do it, and the almonds look really good when baked]
4. Bake for 35 mins, or until the top browns.
5. While the cake is baking, prepare the syrup.
6. Boil together the sugar, water and rose syrup, if using, until no granules remains.
7. Take off the heat, and add the lemon juice.
8. Pour onto a slightly cooled cake. The syrup will pool on top, don't worry. It will all get absorbed, and give the most amazing texture.
9. Give the 'cake' a few hours to soak up all the syrup, and then cut along the scored lines.
   

What you achieve are perfect mini-desserts! Sorry I don't have a picture of a piece, this was given away! But each piece comes out seperately, with a nice firm texture. The taste is simply out of this world, not too sweet, and you can't really taste the coconut, so coconut haters, don't run away from this one. It's like a tea-time dessert, and Indians will find the taste very familiar! Try this!

Quicky Sticky Biscuits

I was recently lucky enough to have a friend loan me a copy Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey , and since I've vowed to be more experimental in my baking choices, and try and make things that don't involve chocolate, the Quicky Sticky Biscuits immediately stood out to me. They involved making a biscuit - something I hadn't yet done, and making a caramel sauce - I'm still scared of caramel, though I have tried out a few caramel involving desserts.

And boy, was I glad I did. I did screw up the caramel once, as you can see, and ended a kind of toffee thing I have no idea what to do with after 2 days. I contemplated giving up and going with another recipe, but I struggled on, and ended up with a great dessert, though it looked nothing like in the picture. Despite this, I had pride in the fact that I had successfully conquered some other items on my list. =) I hope to add this book to my slowly but steadily growing collection soon, since that friend has already left town :(

Quicky Sticky Biscuits
Adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey



For the sticky pecan [walnut] sauce-

1 cup [200 g] firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup [180 g] dark corn syrup
1 1/2 sticks [175 g] unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups [120 g] chopped pecans - I used walnuts, cant find pecans here.

1. Preheat the oven to 220 C, grease a 9x13 pan and keep ready.
2. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and butter, over low heat, until the butter melts.
3. On melting, increase the heat and bring the sauce to a gentle boil, until it thickens, about 3-5 mins.
4. Stir the nuts in, and pour into the greased pan.

Mine never really thickened, probably because I took a chance with the corn syrup, using some store brand, since getting actual corn syrup here is quite a task. The first time, I waited and waited for it to thicken, ending up with this -


The second time, I just cooked it for the stipulated 5 minutes, because I knew it would just be a texture and appearance thing, not affecting the taste.





For the Biscuits -

4 cups [480 g] flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt [I didn't add, since I was using salted butter]
2 sticks [225 g] frozen butter
1 1/2 to 2 cups cold buttermilk

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture. It will not look like breadcrumbs, or how it does for a pie crust, but it will be crumbly.
3. Slowly add the buttermilk in, starting with 1 cup and adding more, till a soft dough is formed, making sure to not let it get sticky and mushy - I needed 1 1/2 cup
4. Cut the dough into 16 portions.

For the cinnamon topping -

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 stick [113 g] butter

1. Combine together the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
2. In another bowl, melt the butter.
3. Brush both sides with butter, and then coat with the cinnamon sugar topping.
4. Place in the pan, over the sauce, evenly spaced.
5. Bake for 15-17 mins, until the biscuits brown, and the sauce is bubbling up around them - Mine took longer because I was using a smaller pan, they were cramped together.
6. Cool slightly, then invert onto a large serving platter, allowing all the sauce to fall on the biscuits. If any persistent bits remain, scrape out and place on the biscuits. Serve immediately.

I really liked the biscuits, I'm now going to try many other kinds. Any recommendations would be lovely. The sauce was a bit much, I'd try reducing the sugar, or maybe reducing the actual amount of it. But this could be chalked up to the faulty corn syrup, so if anyone tries it, I'd love to hear what you feel.

Crunchy Chocolate Bars

I just bought a new book, Leiths Baking Bible at my local bookstore. I was pretty excited, since getting good cookbooks over here is quite a task!! I had to try out the book, and the crunchy chocolate bars just popped out to me! They seemed perfect, and super-easy!! And plus, it would use up the last of the super-huge box of oats I bought to make my favorite chocolate chip cookies!

The bars tasted soo good. I halved the recipe, and wished I hadn't. They got over within hours!!! And the best part was, the recipe took like just 5 minutes to prepare, before going into the oven!! It looked so good going into the oven -








Crunchy Chocolate Bars
Adapted from Leiths Baking Bible


2 sticks [225 g, 8 oz.] butter
3/4 cup [140 g, 5 oz.] light brown sugar
1 cup [140 g, 5 oz.] self-raising flour - I substituted using 1 c A.P flour + 1 tsp. b. powder + 1/4 tsp b. soda
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 cup [85 g, 3 oz] porridge oats
3/4 cup [85 g, 3 oz] crushed corn flakes

To finish -
140 g, 5 oz milk chocolate, chopped into small pieces


Instructions -

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F [180 C]. Grease and line a 11 x 7 inch tin lined with parchment. [ I didn't use]
   
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together, until pale and fluffy.
3. In a small bowl, sift together the flour and cocoa.
4. Add to the butter mixture.
5. Then add the oats and corn flakes. Mix well.
6. The batter will be very dry.
7. Press into the prepared tin [a potato masher will help], and bake for about 20 mins.
8. The mixture should still be a little soft when in the oven.
9. Mark into 16 bars while still hot, then allow to cool completely in the tin.
10. Melt the chocolate in a using a bain marie [I melted in the microwave]
11. Spread over the bars. When the chocolate has set, cut the bars into pieces.

Chocolate Ice Cream Cupcakes for My First Blog Event :)

Ice cream cupcakes.. Why didn't we meet sooner. This is such an amazing combination.
I was blog browsing a few days ago, and came across Yummy In My Tummy's post. Yummy in the tummy was the name I had first wanted for my blog, but every combination of the above words was taken:(
Of all the blogs with the above name, this is the only active one. And it is a great blog :)
I saw the ice cream cupcakes post, and immediately felt the need to make these and take part in the 2nd Annual Ice Cream Cupcakes Roundup hosted by Scoopalicious and Cupcake Project for myself too. I saw the due date - 31st May, and knew I had to hurry up and make these. Got them done just in time :) Whew! [Luckily, the time difference works in my favor].

Update - Please vote for my cupcake at Cupcake Project or Scoopalicious. You stand to win an an 8-pack of homemade cupcake birthday cards just for voting :-)

After the recent mango overload, I've been missing chocolate. And for a blogger who claims chocolate to be her first love, it doesn't seem right that there's only one post about chocolate as of now. So of course, I made chocolate cupcakes from another favorite book of mine, David Lebovitz's The Great Book of Chocolate :-) I added Baskin Robbin's Gold Medal Ribbon Ice Cream in the center, and topped off with Chocolate Caramel Ganache. It was pure heaven :) I also drizzled Hershey's Dulce De Leche Caramel Topping. You must try this, NOW! :)




Black-Bottom Cupcakes [I only used the chocolate cupcake part]
Adapted from The Great Book of Chocolate
Yield : 12 cupcakes


1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all purpose flour
1 cup (210 grams) light brown sugar [I used regular castor sugar]
1/3 cup (30 grams) natural unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch processed)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (240 ml) water
1/3 cup (80 ml) unflavored vegetable oil (I used safflower)
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate [I prefer chopped chocolate because I can control the size, you can use chips too]

This is a very easy recipe to prepare.

1. Preheat oven to 180 C [350 F]
   
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and the salt.
3. In a smaller bowl, mix the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla.
4. Mix, and pour into muffin pan.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until the cupcakes feel springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean [Mine were done in 20 mins, so make sure you check them].

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
These cupcakes can be stored in the refrigerator for about 3 - 4 days.

The weird thing about this recipe is that it contains no eggs, but it still tastes the same. A nice alternative for vegetarians/vegans.

The instructions in the project mention filling the cupcake pan about half full. But since I was going for 'sandwich style' instead, I filled as usual. In hindsight, I probably should have listened to them, because -



I had to cut great chunks out of the middle to ensure the cupcakes wouldn't become ginormous. I then returned them to the pan, and added the caramel/chocolate [I used two flavors] ice cream. The pan lends the much needed support, since the wrappers are off.



After this step, I covered the cupcakes with the chocolate caramel ganache -


And there you go...

Since its so hot over here, I had the hardest time trying to click a picture without the ice-cream melting all over. Don't let the appearance deceive you, because these are the most gratifying things EVER! :)

I also tried a few cupcakes in the way it was meant to be made, according to the hosts. Since I hadn't accommodated for the added height, I cut the tops off, and also made a hole for added ice cream deliciousness :)



And then, the ice cream -

I topped this off with ganache after the ice cream had set a little, but I forgot to click a picture :(