Oreo Cookies Ice Cream cake

The photo does no justice to how great this icecream cake tasted. I had too much trouble shooting the pics as I made them in the small tartlet tins and the icecream started melting because there were too many hindrances. While taking the first pic I realised that the memory card was full and most of the old photos were somhow protected ,so couldn't delete them. For the second photo,all was set,  I plated the dish, started taking the photos  only to realise that no card was inserted. The card was still in the laptop when I transferred the first photo.. Ughhh!!!  But still, forget the pic, try this recipe..It is worth having.

I had bought oreo biscuits some time back to use in donuts, but i didn't get a chance to use them. This weekend we were gifted a brick of vanilla icecream and I thought of using it with the oreo biscuits. A quick search on the net led me to  Happy Home Baking  who used the same ingredients to make a single 18cm cake. I reduced it to fit into three small tartlet tins.Didn't want to make a big cake,as only we two were there.  I was afraid whether it would come easily out of the tin once frozen, but keeping the tin on warm water for few seconds made the scooping out a breeze.


I had bought Kraft Oreo cookies few weeks back . It is not available easily in local stores here, but only last week I came across them at half the price at the local grocery store. It has been launched recently in India by Cadbury  India[globally taken over by Krafts]  with the same name.

Here is the recipe  from  Happy Home Baking  with minor additions from me. I am mentioning the same quanity that she has used for her 18cm cake though I had reduced it drastically.
In the pics above since the icecream melted, you can't make out the layers of biscuit and icecream :-(, but there was a beautiful layer. If you are making it in small size, serve it just few minutes after you take it out of freezer.

Ingredients
110g oreo cookies
40g unsalted butter, melted and cool
about 1 tub of ice cream (1.5 ltr)
1 cup heavy cream
150g dark chocolate, finely chopped

Preparation

1. Line the sides of a loose bottom pan with plastic sheets. Set aside.
2. Remove the white cream portion of the Oreo Cookies and reuse it for something . :) Place the cream removed cookies in a plastic bag and crush them fine using a rolling pin.
3. Place oreo crumbs and melted butter in a bowl. Mix thoroughly with a spoon until the crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs evenly and firmly using back of spoon into the base of the prepared pan.
4. Freeze the base for at least 1 hour.
5. Soften the ice cream at room temperature. Stir it with a spoon and when it is smooth and spreadable ,place it over the oreo base till it reaches about half to one inch before the rim. 
6. Cover with a cling wrap and freeze for at least 2 hours.
7. When the ice cream layer is set, prepare the chocolate ganache. Place cream and finely chopped dark chocolates in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir till the chocolate melts completely. Let it cool.
8. Spread the chocolate ganache over the ice cream layer. Decorate as desired.I used leftover crumbs to decorate over the ganache.
9. Cover with cling wrap and freeze for at least another 6 hours before unmolding.
10. When ready to unmold, dampen a kitchen towel with hot water and wrap it around the pan and hold it there for about 10seconds. Remove the towel and unmold. After unmolding the cake, return it back into the freezer to firm up before serving.  
11. I had used tartlet tins, so I placed it on warm water for few seconds, inserted a fork to slide the base a bit. It came out easily when I tilted the tin. My final freezing time was also only 3 hours, as I had made them small.

I am sending this for the  Celebrate Sweet - Icecream Event  hosted by Reshmi and  orignially started by Nivedita

Matar Kachauri/Green Peas stuffed

This was another Kachauri that was made on Holi. The recipe is by my mother-in-law and the kachauris in the pic above is also made by her. It is another yummy recipe.You can use this stuffing for kachauris/stuffed puris or parathas. I also add some boiled potatoes to the peas stuffing and use it as stuffing for sandwiches.


Ingredients

For the dough 

2 cups wheat flour or all purpose flour
1/4 cup refined oil or ghee/clarified butter
1/2 tsp salt

  
For the Stuffing
 2 cups green peas.
2-3 green chillies chopped
1 tsp Cumin seeds [Jeera]
1 pinch asafoetida [Hing]
2 tsp oil
2 tsp roasted cumin powder
1 tsp garam masala.
Salt to taste
Oil for frying.

Preparation 
For the Dough

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead into semi-soft dough using enough water. Knead well for 5 to 7 minutes.  
2. Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and keep covered under a wet cloth. 

For the Peas stuffing  

• 1. Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and asafoetida.When it starts spluttering add green peas,salt to taste and chopped chillies .Sauté over slow flame for 8 to 10 minutes

      
  2. Take it off stove and let it cool. Once cooled coarsely grind it in mixture-grinder.
  3. Add roasted cumin powder and garam masala and mix well. 
  4. Divide into 12 equal portions and keep aside. 
  5. Roll out each portion of the dough into a 2 inches diameter circle.Place one portion of the onion filling in the centre of the rolled dough circle and close it from all sides.
  6. Roll each filled portion into a 3" diameter circle taking care to ensure that the filling does not spill out.Repeat with the remaining dough and filling to make 11 more kachauris.
  7. Deep fry the kachauris in hot oil over a slow flame till golden brown.

Pyaaz Besan ki Kachauri/Onion and Bengal Gram Stuffed Kachauri

 

You have got to try this kachauri..It is  absolutely awesome. This is something which has made quite an impression on whoever has tried it. So much so, that the word has traveled  about it among my other relatives who haven't tasted it too. This recipe is adapted from Tarla Dalal's cookbook which was gifted to me by husband soon after marriage. I was such a novice with the Delhi food terminology that time , that I didn't know what kalonji [nigella seeds] was. I knew it by other name mangrail. For a long time I used Chironji instead of Kalonji and told this to others in office too with whom I had shared the recipe. :D

And yet again, the key here is "Fennel Seeds", big ones.The one in the pic is made of  wheat flour,so it is less crispier. You can make it with maida/All purpose flour for crispier version but it is heavy too. 

I have made it countless times, and with experience I have begun to add more fennel seeds and  Besan/Bengal gram flour for awesome taste. I use the same stuffing to make stuffed parathas too.

 

Ingredients

For the dough Ingredients
2 cups wheat flour or all purpose flour
1/4 cup refined oil or ghee/clarified butter
1/2 tsp salt

For the Stuffing

2 cups very finely chopped onions.
1 tsp nigella seeds (kalonji/mangrail)
2  heaped TBSP fennel seeds[Big Saunf]
2 Bay leaves
2-3 tsp finely chopped green chillies
3-4 heaped  TBSP Bengal Gram flour [Besan]
2 tsp Coriander powder [Dhania powder]
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
3 TBSP chopped coriander Leaves
2 TBSP oil
Salt to taste
Oil  for deep-frying

 

 

Preparation 

For the Dough

• Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead into semi-soft dough using enough water. Knead well for 5 to 7 minutes. 

• Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and keep covered under a wet cloth.                                       

For the onion stuffing 

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add the nigella seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves, green chillies and onions and sauté till the onions turn light brown in colour.
2. Add the gram flour, coriander powder, chilli powder, garam masala and salt and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes. 
3. Add the chopped coriander and mix well. Remove the bay leaves and discard. Allow the mixture to cool completely.
4. Divide into 12 equal portions and keep aside. 
5. Roll out each portion of the dough into a 2 inches diameter circle.Place one portion of the onion filling in the centre of the rolled dough circle and close it from all sides.
6. Roll each filled portion into a 2 1/2" diameter circle taking care to ensure that the filling does not spill out.
7. Gently press the centre of the kachori with your thumb.Repeat with the remaining dough and filling to make 11 more kachauris.
8. Deep fry the kachauris in hot oil over a slow flame till golden brown.The kachoris should puff up like puris. These take a long time to fry as the crust is thick and needs to be cooked in the insides also.

 

Back from "Holi"day

My blog has been inactive for almost a fortnight and you might be wondering did I change back to my old name VeryVeryLazyGirl Again. :) Well almost.. I was on a holiday in Delhi for the festival of Holi  and when I came back to Mumbai a week back, there was so much office work, that forget blogging I hardly even checked my blog stats ;-)

Holi, the festival of colours is my favourite Indian festival since childhood. It brings out the dormant wild side of me.Though I am subdued now, but it is so much fun watching people drenched in colours, singing aloud the holi songs, playing dholaks,losing their senses to bhaang.

It is celebrated a bit differently in Bihar than Delhi and Mumbai. In Delhi/Mumbai, holi is played with both dry and wet colours during the day and there are no colours in the evening. In Bihar, we played with wet colours in the day and in the evening we used to dress up in new clothes and apply Abeer/Gulal [ Dry colour]  on the faces of youngsters/contemporaries  and on the feet of elders. There are so many sweet memories of those childhood days. Our nanaji would buy new clothes for us, most of times it would be of same thaan [same dress material] and we sisters would be dressed identically, and all the elders would give us 5-10 Rupees when we applied the gulal to their feet. Those were simple pleasures but are long lasting memories.
The day would be busy for women, cooking the set of delicacies Pua [Bihari way], Kachauris, Aloo- Kathal Sabji [Bihari way again!]  and Dahi Vadas ,which is made in every home in Bihar on the day of Holi.When the cooking was done, all the neighbourhood women would visit every home and pull out other women to play Holi. It is still the same. Me and my MIL were in kitchen for almost 6 hours.But then, it gives such a satisfaction to do it the traditional way :-)

I will be sharing some of  recipes here. I managed to take some photographs on that busy day for few dishes and for rest of them, I will have to cook them again soon :)

Disclaimer:The photographs have been downloaded from web. I am not taking any credit for it

Chana Dal Puri/Bengal Gram Dal stuffed Puris

It is back to the roots time. A traditional dish from the place where I hail. Dal Puri  is made in Bihar during any small or big festivities. Traditionally it is served with Rice Kheer and chutney. What makes it different from dal puris of other regions is that this is made from Bengal Gram/Chana Dal unlike Urad/Moong Dal. Having grown up on it since my childhood,it definetly scores over urad/moong dal puris for me.This is my mother's recipe,executed by me. Instead of Puris you can make parathas too with the same stuffing.                                                                            The painting that you see is the famous style of Madhubani painting which also originated from Bihar .It has gained a lot of popularity over the years and you can see them on wall paintings,sarees,lamp shades and what nots.

Ingredients[For 4 people]

For the Dough

4 cups whole wheat flour

1 tbsp Ghee/Clarified Butter or Oil 

1 tsp Salt

Water

For the Stuffing

2 cups chana dal (bengal gram)

1 Bay Leaf

1 tsp Cumin seeds

1-2 green Chilies

½ tsp Turmeric powder

2 tsp roasted cumin seeds powder

1 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp Garam Masala

1 and ½ tsp Coriander powder

1 tsp Chopped ginger

4-5 Garlc cloves chopped

2 Tbsp Coriander Leaves -Finely chopped

Salt according to taste

1 tbsp Oil

Oil for frying

Preparation

1. Wash dal and boil with turmeric and salt till its soft (but not mushy) in just enough water (2 cups) so that water gets absorbed when its done.Strain it to remove any excess water and mash them to look like the picture above.
2. To make the dough, Mix flour,salt and oil and rub them for few minutes till it is crumbly. Add water little by little to knead into a firm dough. cover it with a damp cloth and keep aside.
3. To make the stuffing:-In a pan, heat 1 tbsp oil, Add cumin seeds,bayleaf. When the cumin seed splutters add, ginger,garlic,green chillies. Fry for a minute.
4. Add mashed Dal.
5. Add roasted cumin powder,corainder powder,chilli powder and cook till the dal becomes dry. It will take few minutes.
6. Before turing off the stove,add Garam masala,corainder leaves and mix well.
7. When the stuffing cools, make small balls [lemon size] of the dough. Roll it a a small circle.
8. Make smaller balls of Dal stuffing.Place it at the centre of the rolled dough and close it from all sides. Flatten this stuffed ball and roll it into puris of small size.
9. Deep fry these puris in hot oil till golden.
10. Do it for the rest of the dough.

I am sending this to gayathri's  Walking through the memory lane event.

Chocolate Cranberry Coffee Oatmeal Cookies

This cookie has everything, name it and it is there. Chocolate chips, pecans/walnuts,cranberries,coffee.
Oats has been lying in the pantry for "I don't know how long". I have never tried making anything else from it other than eating with milk for breakfast. But, now the floodgates are opened and suddenly I have come across so many oats recipes that my pantry is soon going to be oats-free.
This is the last recipe that I had finalized to take to my family. I also baked my favorite among all cookies that I have baked till now, Chocolate Peanut Butter Filled Cookies again. 


Ingredients
(For 24 Cookies.Adapted from Poppytalk)

1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 cups  rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup pecans/walnuts, chopped
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1 tbs coffee powder


Preparation

• Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
• In a bowl, combine the 2 flours, oats, baking soda, and salt together.
• In another bowl, mix together the melted butter, vanilla, egg , brown sugar and coffee powder.
• Put the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well. Add in the cranberries, pecans/walnuts and chocolate chips and beat until combined.
• Drop  a tablespoon of dough  2 inches apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Press down on the tops slightly with the back of a spoon 
• Bake for 12 minutes.

Banana Buttermilk Muffin-Cookies

This is second cookie/biscuit that I made this weekend. As the name suggests it is a Muffin-Cookie, the crust is like a Cookie and the inside it is soft like a muffin. It is a simple, hassle-free cookie and is less sweet.
At first bite,just after taking it out of oven I did not like both the taste and look much, but it tasted good after keeping it for some time.Final verdict- Can't make up my mind. I feel it could do with a little more of flavor, The bananas I added were not so ripe,may that was the reason for the lack of distinct flavor.

 I have adapted it from Dine and Dish ,adding some extra sugar,cinnamon and chocolate chips from my side.

Ingredients

For 30-35 small sized cookies
2 1/4 cups flour

4 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon powder

3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup softened butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup over ripe banana mashed
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 200C/400° F
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda,cinnamon powder and salt. Add softened butter and mix till crumbly
3. Slowly add buttermilk, mashed banana and vanilla and stir to moisten.
4. Add Chocolate chips and stir
5. Pat out dough on a well floured bread board until approximately 1 inch thick.
6. Using a floured biscuit cutter, cut out dough and place on a greased baking sheet.
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until a nice, light golden brown.

Achaari Baingan

Achaari Baingan/Brinjals

I love all things achaari(having pickle masala) whether it is baingan/brinjals or bhindi/ladyfingers and I am sure there are many more. Infact ,give me any dish with nigella and big fennel seeds and I am going to like it blindly.

Ingredients

Baingan/Brinjals, small 6
Mustard  oil ( (sarson)  3 tbsp
Cloves  2
Bay leaf  1
Asafoetida (hing), soaked in 1 tbsp water a pinch

For Achaar Masala

Cumin powder 1/2 tbsp
Fenugreek  powder 3/4 tsp
Fennel (moti saunf) powder 1 tbsp
Yellow mustard seed powder 3/4tsp
Nigella seeds (kalonji) 1 tsp
Fennel seeds 1 tsp
Coriander powder 1 tbsp
Carom (ajwan) seeds 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder 1 tbsp
Turmeric  powder 1/2 tsp
Dry mango powder (amchur) 1 tbsp
Ginger Garlic Paste -1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Preparation

1. Wash the brinjals and slit crosswise along the length, and keep aside. 
2. Heat the mustard oil in a pan on high heat until it starts smoking. Remove an cool. 
3. Mix the Achaar masala ingredients together in a bowl. 
4. Fill the brinjals with the achaar masala. 
5. Reheat the mustard oil; add cloves, bay leaves, asafoetida.
6. Add stuffed Brinjals, cover with a lid, and cook on low heat for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

The recipe has been modified from Headlines

Nutella Pinwheel Cookies

Confessions of a novice baker - Until recently I didn't even know about Nutella's existence. From the time I have started baking frequently , I have read almost every baker talking about their love for Nutella. I got my Nutella jar few weeks back from Arife at Andheri, Mumbai , but kept postponing making something out of it. My sister has demanded to bring lots of cookies for her, so this was a good time to make few different varieties  Yesterday, I spent quite some time finalizing the cookies recipes. The recipe is from PurpleFoodie, an accomplished blogger from Mumbai whose blog is a storehouse of information for bakers in Mumbai. Everything I learnt when I just started baking is from her blog, from where to get the ingredients to what to make.

I wanted them in small size ,so kept the width of the rolled rectangle less. If you want many layers, increase the width.

Ingredients
For 25 small sized cookies
125g / 1 stick butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 heaped cup sifted flour
¼ cup Nutella to spread

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 175C/350F.
2. Mix butter and sugar together till creamy.
3. Mix in the egg yolk and the vanilla essence. The mixture should be light and well combined.
4. Stir in the flour to form a dough.
5. Cover the dough in a cling film and refrigerate it for 15 minutes  in deep freezer to facilitate rolling and cutting as the dough is very delicate.
6. Roll out the dough into a rectangle of ¼ inch thickness between two large cling films. Once rolled,remove the upper cling film.
7. Spread the Nutella leaving 1/4 inch on all sides .
8. Roll the dough to a log starting from longest side. Put it into deep freezer for another 5-7 minutes.
9. Cut into 1/3 inch slices using a taut sewing thread between the fingers of both  hands .This would give clean slices.
10. Lay the slices 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 12-15 minutes till slightly golden at the edges. 
11. Once done, keep them on baking sheet for few minutes before transferring them on wire rack.

Pistachio and White Chocolate Burfi

This weekend was all about food and Mumbai. My brother in law and his wife were here in Bombay/Mumbai and wanted a taste of Mumbai life. Animesh and I have been here now for almost 3 years but there are still so many popular hangouts that we have not visited.Cafe Leopold  and Candies being few of them. You may have read or heard about Cafe Leopold  in the novel ShantaRam and also because it was the first

target of the 26/11 terrorists attacks . Cafe Leopold was not a place for us teetotalers so it would be unfair to judge it.The food was average. Late midnight on Friday, we stopped at Bachelors at the marine drive. It is a road side stall which is open entire night and has the best chocolate shakes and their menu include Ferroro Rocher chocolate shakes too!

On Saturday, me and my sis-in-law went to Candies for lunch and were wowed by its ambience. Such a green and spacious budget restaurant was totally unexpected in Mumbai. The food was good, salad was great. And even though I was full,I wanted to taste the desserts to compare with what I make, to know how much scope of improvement I had. I bought two mini cupcakes in lemon and chocolate flavor. I would be immodest ,but I found mine better . The ones at Candies were dry and nothing great. But , it is a place worth many revisits.

Sunday was even more foodilicious. We had  pav bhaji and chikoo shakes at Amar Juice Centre, golgappes and chaats at juhu beach, Kulhad tea  at Tea Centre ,Churchgate and finally the foodie weekend ended with  pizzas at the Pizzeria, Marine Drive. 

Now coming to the recipe :)  I had no idea about the Pistachio day on Feb 26 until my friend asked me what I had planned for it. I only needed a reason to make something new, but the weekend was going to be busy eating out , so I made these on Monday. These are easy to make but it was hard work for me, as the first recipe I tried did not come out pretty and was a bit sticky. My pistachhio burfi's were bottle green color  instead of bright green.  

I was not satisfied with the color and I couldn't have shared this recipe with others to make.

So, I tried another recipe, which involved blanching the pistachio first and then peeling it to give it a vibrant colour. I had almost used all the pistachios that I had for the first recipe, and there was only half cup left for the 2nd one. The colour would have been even more vibrant if all the pistachios were green.The ones I used had mostly yellows. I was happy with the 2nd recipe, but I had to do something to the first one to remove the stickiness and make it appealing. I had a brainwave to use white chocolate to cover it ,which would harden after freezing and voila!! The new dessert has been invented. Can I patent this !!! :-)  

And I knew I had made a great sweet dish when the first words my husband uttered was "Wow!! This tastesl like a premium dessert ! 

So, my suggestion to everyone who is going to make this- Though you can simply make it without the white chocolate, go for the white chocolate cover to make this extra special!

For 12 small burfis

Ingredients

1 cup  + 5 tbsp shelled pistachhio

1/3  cup+ 2 tbsp  sugar

1/4 cup water

Ghee/Clarified Butter 1 tbsp

2 Cardamom powdered

White chocolate - 4oz

Preparation

1. Blanch the pistachios in boiling water for 2-3 minutes
2. Drain the water and remove peels.  
3. Chop 5 tbsp blanched pistachio and keep aside.
4. Grind 1 cup pistachios to a paste without adding any water
5. Heat water and sugar to make a sugar syrup till it reduces to 1 and half Tbsp syrup.  
6. Add the pistachios,cardamom powder and ghee/clarified butter and start stirring continuously till you see the mixture forms into a soft ball.
7. Spread it onto a greased plate and smoothen the top.
8. Cut it into desired shapes when cooled for burfis
9. For White chocolate cover. 

• Melt white chocolate and mix till it smoothenes. 
• Cut parchment papers double the size of the burfis. Put a layer of chopped pistachios on it. Cover it with melted chocolate and smoothen the top using a spatula.
• On one half of the parchment paper,place the burfis. Cover it with second half and freeze for 30 mins till the chocolate hardens.
• Remove the parchment paper once the chocolate is set

You can check this video on youtube to see the consistency required. I don't understand the language but the way they make gives you an idea how to go ahead.Recipe Video