Friday, December 20, 2019

Christmas Fruit Cake | Christmas Plum Cake

Christmas Fruit Cake/Christmas Plum Cake, a delicious and super easy cake to bake on this festival season. Few years back, i shared the eggless christmas fruit cake recipe , instead of eggs, i had used buttermilk in it. Do give it a check if you're looking for eggless one.

I had been searching for Christmas plum cake recipe with eggs at the same time without the dominant egg flavor like the one we get in the Indian bakery in the name of Christmas cake/Plum cake/Kerala Plum cake and finally my search end with this recipe.

The recipe is super easy, no need to soak the nuts & fruits, alcoholic free and it can be made in a hour, what more we need, right? The basic recipe is from joyofbaking but i have tweaked a little bit with the flavoring that suits to our taste.

If you're looking for a Christmas plum cake /fruit cake recipe that the indian bakery sells during the christmas time, then you must try this recipe, even i couldn't believe how perfect they were when i had baked it for the first time. I have been baking this cake for a while now and it turns out perfect every "SINGLE" time.

Baking is not the method of preparing food when i grew up, so i highly relay on the recipe available online, but the thing is every recipe(there are few exception) available online is for whole loaf or full cake, so i couldn't bake as much as like because if it turned out good, it takes days to finish and if not, the whole thing went to trash.

Then i found the solution and invested it in mini baking dishes(because if you baked the reduced quantity in the full pan, the result won't be the same) like the loaf pan i have used here, similarly i have few other basic baking dishes in the mini size. So now, either i have halved or sometimes quartered the recipe available online and work around with the mini baking dishes i have.

If you're new in baking, don't buy all those big baking dishes impulsively unless you really need it. Start with small one first until you get confident in baking :-) A little something that i had learned while learning baking myself.

Now come to today's recipe, the dried fruits and nuts i have used in the recipe are my favorites.You can add any types of candied peel, tutti fruits and the nuts you like. Make sure to cut the nuts and dried fruits into small pieces such that it get evenly distributed in the cake. Next the spices, i have used equal amount of ginger, cinnamon & cloves, if you don't like any one of these, leave that out and add the others more.

And lastly this cake taste best from the day after baking, so give it a rest for one day to the flavor gets intensified. Now let's check out the recipe for this delicious cake. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all whose who celebrate.

Christmas Fruit Cake | Plum Cake

Preparation Time : 15 mins | Cooking Time : 35 mins | Serves : 2 mini loaf
Recipe Category: Cake | Recipe Cuisine: India

Ingredients
All purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Raisins - 1/2 cup
Dates & Dried Plums- 1/3 cup(chopped)
Orange zest - 1 tsp
Lemon zest - 1/2 tsp
Dried Nuts - 1/3 cup(i have used pecan, walnuts & almonds)
Light brown sugar - 1/2 cup
Butter - 2 tbsp
Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp
Cloves powder - 1/2 tsp
Ginger powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Water - 1/2 cup
Egg -1
Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp

Procedure

Preheat the oven at 325 F. In a sauce add the raisins, dates & plums, then add butter, spice powder (cinnamon, cloves & ginger powder) ,salt & brown sugar.

Finally add the water and put it on the flame, let it bring into boil and let is simmer for 3 mins. Switch off the flame and let it cool.

Raisins would be puffed up after boiling. Crack open the egg in a bowl, add vanilla extract and beat it smoothly.

In the fruit- sugar mixture, shift the flour and baking soda, then add the egg mixture.

Next add the nuts ,orange & lemon zest. Mix it all together until it's combined.

Butter the pan and line it with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pan and bake it for 30-40 mins or until the tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Keep it in the counter for few mins, then gently flip the cake on the wire rack on remove the parchment paper.

Let it cool completely on the wire rack. Slice and store in air tight container.

Tasty Christmas Fruit Cake/Christmas Plum Cake is ready.

Notes:

Using sharp knife to cut the cake.
I have used my mini loaf pan. The dimension is 5.75 x 3
Make sure the raisins are puffed up in the sugar syrup before adding other ingredients.
Adjust the spice level according to your side, the given quantity has mild flavor.
You can double the recipe and use the regular size loaf pan to bake.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Peanut Butter Cookies | Eggles Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies, an easy & delicious melt in mouth cookies that even beginners can try without any difficulties. During our initial days in the US, whenever we stayed at a hotel, breads & peanut butter became the savior for me.

Though the hotel menu had various other spreads for bread, i liked only the peanut butter. My love for peanut butter has started there and it's continuous till date.,even today i love peanut butter like anything and use it often in sandwiches and noodles.

If you haven't tried my peanut butter noodles yet, you must give it a try, it's such a flavorful noodle recipe that can be prepared in minutes

Ps: Final photos have been updated lately and it's made with white sugar, that's the reason for the difference in color between step by step pics and final pics.

Coming to today recipe, Long back, I had noted down this recipe from one of the Martha Stewart recipe books that i borrowed from our local library. Though her recipe has eggs, i omitted it since i'm not a fan of eggy smell in cookies and it turned out perfectly soft and delicious.If you love peanut butter like me, then give it a try and enjoy with your families.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Makes : 16
Recipe Category: Cookies | Recipe Cuisine: American

Ingredients
Peanut Butter - 1/2 cup
All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Butter - 2 tbsp
Brown sugar - 1/4 cup heaped
Vanilla essence - few drops
Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
Water or milk - 1 to 2 tbsp(if needed)

Procedure

Take the sugar and butter in a bowl, whisk it well until it becomes creamy & smooth, add few drops of vanilla essence.

Measure the peanut butter and add it into the sugar mixture an whisk it till it blends well.

Sieve the flour with baking powder and add it in the peanut butter mixture and mix well till it comes as dough like consistency, if it's too crumble, add 1 or 2 tbsp of milk or water and form the dough.Divide the cookie dough into 16 equal portion and roll into smooth ball and place it in baking tray lined with foil or parchement paper.

With the fork make a criss cross mark on the top of each cookie as shown below.

Bake it in the preheated oven at 350 F for 18 mins. Remove from the oven and cool it completely, then store it in airtight container.

Tasty and melt in mouth peanut butter cookies are ready.

Related : How to make Eggless Coconut Cookies

For more baking recipes, check out my baking collections.