Baking Partners Challenge #6: Apple Pie

For this month's baking challenge Swathi choose pies. We had a total of four recipes both sweet and savory recipes. The recipes were suggested by Gayathri of Gayathri's Cook Spot, Tamy of 3sides of crazy and  Samantha of Samantha Menzies. I baked apple pie recipe suggested by Gayathri of Gayathri's Cook Spot  which she choose from taste.com. Thanks Gayathri for the wonderful recipe, we really enjoyed it, especially the little one's. I made little changes here and there, omitted eggs in the crust, used less butter compared to the given recipe and used brown sugar for the filling. So friends try out this simple but delicious pie which I'm sure you'll fall in love for and bake again. Enjoy!!!!

How I made It:-
Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups (260g) plain flour(Original recipe calls for 1 3/4 cups (260g) plain flour +  1/2 cup (75g) self-raising flour)
• 52 unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small pieces(Original recipe calls for 185g butter)
• 1/3 cup (75g) caster sugar
• 2 to 3 tbs milk
• Demerara or caster sugar, to sprinkle

Filling

• 4 large Granny Smith apples (Originally recipe calls for 8 count)
• Lemon Juice - 2tbsp
• Few Chopped dates(6-7count- optional, original recipe do not call for dates)
• 45g unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup (110g) brown sugar
• 1 tsp Allspice

Step 1

Sift flours and a pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl. Add butter and rub lightly into flour with your fingertips. Lift mixture high above the bowl as you rub, to incorporate air into the pastry and make it lighter. Continue until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Dissolve sugar in milk and mix well till it dissolve, pour this to the flour little by little and knead. Add bit more milk if required and knead into a smooth ball with your hands. Divide dough into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 30 minutes.

Step 2

To make the filling, peel and core the apples, and cut each into 8 pieces. Toss immediately with lemon juice in a large bowl, to prevent apples from discolouring. Place the butter and sugar in a large frypan over medium-low heat. When butter has melted, add apples and spices, then stir to coat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until apples have softened. Set aside to cool.

Step 3
Roll out the larger pastry ball on a floured workbench to a 30cm circle (about 2mm thick). Roll pastry around rolling pin, then unroll over a 22cm metal pie dish. Gently press into corners and allow excess to overhang. Place filling in base with a slotted spoon. Roll the small pastry piece to a 25cm circle. Beat an egg with milk, brushing some on rim of the base(I dint do this, since I didnt use egg at all). Top with small pastry.

Step 4

Lift the pie dish and cut excess pastry from edges with a sharp knife. Crimp edges of pastry together with your fingers. Chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 180°C, place pie dish on a baking tray. Brush top of pie with more beaten egg(I didn't do egg wash), sprinkle with demerara or caster sugar. Cut four small air vents in the centre of the pie and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Linking this to Baking Partners started by Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen
Check out the below linky tool to find what our baking partners are baking for the challenge

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins for Baking Partners # 3 and Halloween

Theme for this month's Baking Partner's Challenge was Muffins or Cupcakes with Pumpkin as star ingredient. Reshmi of Easy Cook, Priya of Cook Like Priya and Julie of Erivum Puliyumm suggested three recipes of muffins and cupcakes. I baked Pumpkin chocolate chips Muffin suggested by Reshmi from Joy of baking. They tasted way too good, very soft, moist and delicious. Kids here loved it. Try out these cupcakes to make the Halloween fun filled and interesting for your kids :-)

Ingredients Used:-

1. 1½ cups (195 grams) all purpose flour
2. 1 teaspoon baking soda
3. 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4. ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
5. ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
6. ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
7. ½ teaspoon salt
8. ½ cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
9. 1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
10. 2 large eggs
11. 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12. ¾ cup (180 ml) solid packed, canned pumpkin puree
13. 1 cup (175 grams) semisweet chocolate chips

How I made It:-

• Preheat oven to 350 degree F (177 degrees C).
• Place rack in the middle of the oven. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or spray each cup with a non stick vegetable spray.
• In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, ground spices, and salt.
• In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
• With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and pumpkin puree, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips.
• Fill the muffin cups evenly with the batter using two spoons or an ice cream scoop. Place in the oven and bake for about 18 - 20 minutes, or until firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. 
• Take out and place on a wire rack to cool.
• Makes 12 regular-sized muffins.

Note: The batter can be baked in a 9-inch (23 cm) loaf pan. Butter or spray the loaf pan with a non stick vegetable spray. Bake the loaf in a 350 degree F (177 degree C) oven for about 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Ultimate Chocolate Cream Cheese Cookies ~ Baking Partners #2

Today's recipe is Ultimate chocolate cream cheese cookies, our second assignment for Baking partners - baking group started by Swathi . We were given three recipes of cookies from which we could choose any one or bake all the three. I obviously chose Chocolate Cream Cheese cookies, as my kids love the chocolate chip cookies. This recipe was suggested by our baking partner and  friend Tina, from baked owners Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Thanks a lot Tina for this awesome recipe. It tasted delicious, rich, chewy and they literally melt in mouth.

As per the rule we are suppose to post the recipe on 15th of every month, but due to many reasons I was unable to bake or post them on the particular day. I apologize for being late dear Swathi and all my baking partners but I really missed baking along with you all and missed my dear space as well. Things have changed for me and family, as I started travelling for work, unlike before I'm cooking very less these days. But I'm glad that I could bake these cookies last weekend, which my kids absolutely loved. The shelf life of these cookies is said to be less, so I refrigerated the left overs in an air-tight container. I microwave them for few seconds say 30 secs just before I served them with a glass of milk for my little ones and it tasted just the same. So here is the recipe for Ultimate Chocolate Cream Cookies, bake them today and Enjoy!!!!

Ingredients:-

• 2 ¼ cups (255g) all purpose flour
•  ¼ cup (32g)  unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. (8g) baking soda
• ½ tsp. (3g) salt
• 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, softened slightly
•  4 oz (113g) Cream Cheese at room temperature
• 1 cup (201g) granulated sugar
• ½ cup (110g) dark brown sugar
•  2 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. (30ml) heavy cream(I used milk)
• 1 tsp. (5ml) pure vanilla extract
• 3 oz. (85g) bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
• 8 oz. (225g) of semi-sweet chocolate chips

How I made It:-

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. 
2. In a microwave safe bowl melt the bittersweet chocolate for 30 secs. Take it out and stir well, check if everything is melted and let it cool(If the chocolate is not melted fully, microwave again for 10 secs) 
3. In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. 
4. In a bowl combine the butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer beat them until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
5. Beat in the eggs, heavy cream(or milk) and vanilla until blended. At low speed, beat in the dry ingredients.  Add the melted chocolate and chocolate chips and beat just until incorporated.  Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least 15 minutes or up to 2 hours.(I kept it for 2 hrs).
6. Scoop heaping tablespoons of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them two inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes until the cookies are just set; shift the baking sheets for top to bottom and front to back half way through. 
7. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely. Serve with a cup of milk/tea/coffee.

Reine de Saba avec Glaçage au Chocolat: Chocolate Almond Cake ~ Baking Partners # 1

We the Baking Partners along with you all celebrates the 100th birthday of Julia Child with her Wonderful Cake 'Reine de Saba avec Glaçage au Chocolat' or in simple words 'Chocolate Almond Cake' as a tribute to this Culinary legend. I truly believe in her quote's "You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces -- just good food from fresh ingredients". She is recognized for bringing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef.

I'm really happy and thankful to Swathi for choosing this awesome cake as our first assignment which I absolutely loved making and my family enjoyed every tiny bit of it. To be frank when I saw the recipe header it did scare me but when I went through the recipe thoroughly along with Swathi's Inputs and notes I felt there is nothing that I've to scratch my head. When I started making it I felt it is very simple and straight forward process, as for every bake you just have to pay proper attention. But I must thank all the wonderful ladies in our baking group who poured in with the suggestions and inputs after their bakes which made it more easier for many of us. Thanks a bunch girls, you guys are truly amazing.

Coming back to this cake, I felt its more fugdy kind, dense and moist. Very less flour is used in this cake and the almond meal(powdered/pulverized almond) added give it a rich texture which can be slurped even without any Icing.  The chocolate-butter Icing complimented the cake very well, I was delighted to see such a dense cake baked without using any enhancing agents like Baking Soda/baking powder. But just a word of caution at the end the calorie count in this cake may be high as it uses some generous amount of butter, but its worth every tiny bite. Now moving on to the recipe, though my final decoration is not great, it tasted fabulous!!!!!.

Ingredients Used for an 8" Cake Pan:-

• Semi Sweet Chocolate - 4 ounce or 4 squares or113.4 grams 
• Softened Butter - ¼  lb or 1 stick softened butter or 113g
• Granulated Sugar - 2/3 cup/ 134g (add  ¼ cup mmore if you are on a sweeter side)  
• Eggs - 3(Yolks and White Separated)
• Pinch of salt
• Almond extract  - ½ tsp. 
• Cake flour - ½ cup or 57g(scooped and leveled, turned into a sifter)
• Granulated sugar -  1 tbsp
• 1/3 cup/ 65g pulverized  (ground) almonds(To pulverize almonds grind together Blanched or slivered Almonds with 1 tbsp of sugar)

Pulverized Almonds

Chocolate Icing:-

• Semisweet Baking Chocolate -  2 Oz(2 squares)/ 56.7 g 
• Rum or Coffee - 2 tbsp 
• Unsalted butter - 5 to 6 tbsp

Directions:-

• Preheat oven to 350F/ 180 C. Butter and flour the cake pan nd set aside.
• Set the chocolate and rum or coffee in a small pan, cover and place (off heat-but boiling hot) in a larger pan of almost simmering water; let melt while you proceed with the recipe. 
• Measure out the rest of the ingredients and keep handy.
• Cream the butter and sugar together for several minutes until they form a pale yellow, fluffy mixture. Beat in the egg yolks until well blended.
• Beat the egg whites and salt in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed (gradually increase the speed of your mixer and for about 5 minutes); sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed (it should have peaks not deflate ones).

                       

• With a rubber spatula, blend the melted chocolate into the butter and sugar mixture, then stir in the ground almonds, and almond extract. Immediately stir in one-fourth ( ¼) of the beaten egg whites to lighten the batter. 

• Delicately fold in a third  (1/3rd) of the remaining whites and when partially blended, sift on one-third  ( 1/3rd) of the flour and continue folding. Alternate rapidly with more egg whites and more flour until all egg whites and flour are incorporated
• Turn the batter into the cake pan, pushing the batter up to its rim with a rubber spatula. Bake in middle level of preheated oven for 25minutes. Cake is done when it has puffed, and 2 1/2 to 3 inches around the circumference are set so that a needle plunged  into that area comes out clean; the center should move slightly if the pan is shaken, and a needle comes out oily
• Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan, and reverse cake on the rack. Allow it to cool for an hour or two, it must be thoroughly cold if it is to be iced.

• To serve, use the chocolate-butter icing recipe below, and then press a design of almonds over the icing.

How to make Icing:-

• Put a bowl filled with a tray of ice cubes and water to cover them and set aside.
• Place the chocolate and rum or coffee in a small pan, cover, and set in a larger pan of almost simmering water(heat off-but boiled water).  
• Remove pans from heat and let chocolate melt for 5 minutes or so, until perfectly smooth. Lift chocolate pan out of the hot water, and beat in the butter a tablespoon at a time. Then beat over the ice and water until chocolate mixture has cooled to spreading consistency. At once spread it over your cake with spatula or knife.
• Garnish with slivered almonds or according to your choice.

Some important Tips and Notes:-

*   Substitution for cake flour:- Add 1 tablespoon of corn flour/corn starch and then fill the rest of cup with all purpose flour(I did this instead of using cake flour)
** Reserve ¼ cup or more slivered almonds for decoration 
*** The cake is done when a cake tester inserted at the sides comes out clean where as when inserted in the center comes out with few moist crumbs.
*** Check out for the cake from 18 minutes as the baking time can vary according to different oven settings.

Baking Partners: New Baking Group Announcement

Baking Partners: A new Baking Group

A group of home bakers helping each other to achieve perfection.

Baking a home made Baking a homemade bread, cake or cookies will give the best outcome. However in order to achieve the best results, a perfect recipe and right techniques are required.

We are a small group of home baker friends, who love and want to learn more about the nook and corners of baking. We are planning to try out recipes from books/magazines and cooking shows. Every member gets a chance to present their choice of recipe and share important points with the rest of the group.

Main purpose of this group is to learn the techniques, critic the procedure if there are ways to improve, and to eat a delicious food.

Rules are simple, we will choose one recipe and send it out to the group by 16th of every month and the reveal date will be 15th of the next month. On that day we will blog about it. A linky tool will be open during that time and each member can link their post.

First month we are going to do a recipe, 2nd and 3rd month will be a theme and the 4th month

we will be back at a recipe. By doing in between recipes, we will able to learn more.

All enthusiastic bloggers interested in baking are welcome, please email Swathi at favoriterecipes12@gmail.com.

We will appreciate the use of logo or worded link that will help to spread the word. A bunch of thanks to Tina for designing this beautiful logo.

If you want to make it a gluten or vegan free diet, you can do those modifications also.

Baking Partners are

1.     Reeni (Cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice)

2.     Julie Erivum Puliyumm

3.     Tina  ( Pinay in Texas Cooking Corner)

4.     Priya (Priya's Versatile Recipes)  

5.     Suja ( Kitchen Corner Try It)

6.     Archana  ( Tangy Minds)

7.     Reshmi  ( EasY Cook)

8.     Prathibha ( Cook Ezee)   

9.     Priya R ( Cook Like Priya)

10.   Sweatha ( Tasty Curry leaf)

11.   Vidhya (  A Portion to Share)

12.   Usha Rao ( My Spicy Kitchen)

13.   Divya Prakash( Divya’s Culinary Journey)

14.   Swasthi Blank ( Swasthi The Health Freak)

15.   Sanoli Ghosh ( Sanoli’s Kitchen)

16.   Pam Capone ( Live Ranch Delux)

17.   Mirellie( Gourmet Global Creations)

18.   Reshwani( Daily Cuppa)

19.   Peachy  (Peach Kitchen)

20.   Archana( The madscientist’s Kitchen)

21.   Lorraine ( Joy’s Misadventures)

22.   Jayasri(Samyalarai)

23.   Sowmya(Nivedhanam)

24.   Anuja ( Simple Baking)

25.   Janani(www.redchillycurry.com)

26.   Ivy (Kopipaste)

27.  Janaki ( Janakidiary)

28.  Tamy (Always Eat on Good China)

       And

       29 . Swathi ( Zesty South Indian Kitchen)    Creator and Owner