Happy New Year 2013

Traditional Panettone ~ The December 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge

Panettone, a traditional Italian Christmas bread was this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge… Last month I missed the Daring Bakers challenge and I somehow wanted to do this month’s and finally I managed to make it yesterday… It’s a time consuming bread and only attempt it when you don’t have much work to do…. it need several ‘rising’ and I started making this in the morning and ended up finishing it in the evening!... Please don’t panic seeing the long recipe, several rising or the amount of time consumed… It’s definitely worth the effort :)...  I did all the kneading work in my Kitchen Aid, also I soaked the fruits in rum and I only made half the recipe and baked in a 6” cake pan…

Jack Fruit Wine Recipe / Chakka Wine Recipe

May this Christmas fill your hearts with warmth, peace and joy! Have a Holy and a Blessed Christmas!

Hope all of you are ready for Christmas celebrations with family and friends..... Today’s Christmas special recipe is Jack Fruit Wine or Chakka Wine.... I got this recipe from my sister-in-law, Vimala sometime back..... since it is difficult to get Jack Fruit / Chakka here, or highly priced if available, I never got a chance to try it.... On my last vacation to Kerala there were a couple of jack fruits left over from that season at my mom’s place..... I love chakka and I ate ripe chakka to my heart content that day.... I even asked my aunt to make some Chakka curry/ puzukku too with unripened chakka… Chakka curry with kadumanga pickle is heavenly! So even after eating ripe chakka Chula/ jack fruit bulbs morning, afternoon and evening there was a lot left over..... and she was planning to make chakka halwa.... Then I thought about this wine recipe and told her will make some wine..... so we both made the wine that day and by the time I left Kerala the wine was ready..... so I took a bottle of wine from there and was waiting for the wine to age..... so here is how we made the wine....the quantity of water and sugar depends upon the chakka / jack fruit you use.... You may have to + or - water and sugar accordingly.....

Christmas Tree Cookies

It’s the time of the year I bake the most in a month.......Since my son doesn't eat Christmas Fruit Cake I baked these Christmas Tree Cookies for him and frosted it with Royal Icing using Meringue Powder.....You can find different cookie frosting ideas that I have posted earlier here.......While making the cookies if you find the dough sticky or difficult to handle, chill it a little longer or roll it between sheets of nonstick baking paper. Don’t add extra flour to the working surface as this will spoil the texture of the biscuits.

Chocolate Brownie Muffins

Hello everybody!!! I am back after a short unintended break :)... In my last post I had mentioned that we shifted our apartment, and I was busy with settling down here… in between both me and son was down with fever… now that everything is slowly getting back to normal I hope I can continue blogging regularly :).... So how are your Christmas preparations coming up? Have you baked ChristmasFruit Cake yet?? I made our Christmas cake day before yesterday and as usual I made a big batch this time too :)….

Now coming to today’s recipe, I got the recipe for these Chocolate Brownie Muffins from The Australian Women’s Weekly, one of my favorite cookbooks…. These little chocolate indulgences were very soft and moist and really delicious….. it has cocoa powder, chocolate chips, hazelnut spread and sour cream in it…. All the heavenly things in one muffin ;)…. Do try these very rich chocolate brownie muffins this holiday season and please do take care not to overcook these little indulgences when you are baking, they should be slightly moist in the middle….