Melting moments - Some what rustic this time

I have been following Masterchef Australia for quite some years now and this has opened up mind food wise. I used to get amaze and still do by the extent food knowledge contestant and Judges have. There are many long lasting impression on me of Judges, chefs, contestant and off course recipes which inspire me everyday. One of such contestant is Julia Taylor who was the finalist of season 4. She was this super competitive reserved lady who has strived to be at top all her life. Now she was here on Masterchef where she was among best of bests.  It was initially surprising for her that there are people better than her. She struggled to find herself in elimination as she knew and believed the she was just meant to be at top. But she realized, accepted and respected the this fact the competition is really tough and there are far more talented people against her. Then what we saw was real dedication, determination and hard work from Julia. I could relate to her a lot because I have also gone through this challenge in life. She made quite a few stunning dishes in the competition but what left a big impression on me was her “Melting moments” from cookies challenge. 

Melting moments are shortbread-like cookies that rely on butter for their wonderful flavor. I got hooked to these cookie because they look very cute and a very easy to make.

I have baked this cookie I don’t know how many times because they just disappear in jiffy. I have to admit more than half I must be eating alone. This time I have introduced my twist to make them very rustic like any home baker. First, I gave it more rustic look by baking it on bit higher temperature for slightly brownish color and used creamy tangy cheese cream filling with mixed fruit jam. I saved some efforts here by using a store brought jam. Fewhh!!!  So following is my version of melting moments.

180 gm Flour

180gm Butter

60 gm Custard

60 gm Powder Sugar

1 tsp Baking Powder

Pre-heat the oven at 180 ºC

Line your baking tray with baking paper

Cream butter until light and fluffy

Add custard powder and mix, and then add powder sugar

Sift flour and baking powder together and then add to the dough

Mix until a soft dough come together

Make small balls from the dough and place on baking sheet

Use a fork and press lightly on the dough balls to create impression

Bake for 10-12 mins until golden. For bit more brownish color, I cranked the temperature to 210 and baked for anothe2-3 mins

Let them cool and then remove from the tin

Cream Cheese Frosting 

½ Cup of Cream Cheese, Softened, at room temperature

 ¼ Cup Butter, Softened, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups powder sugar

2 cups powder sugar

3 Tbs of Mixed fruit Jam

Beat together the softened cream cheese and butter until creamy

Add in the vanilla extract and beat for another 30 seconds

Now start adding the powder sugar 1 cup at a time and beating in between each addition

You can make this frosting before and refrigerate. At the time of usages can give it a whisk and pipe

Before starting assembling of cookie gently warm the jam in small pan

To assemble the cookie, pip cream cheese on the flatter side of cookie and then smear a small spoon of jam over the cheese. Finally top it with another cookie, flatter side facing the filling to make the sandwich

And now enjoy!! Crunchy, creamy, tangy, fruity bits all at the same time will just melt in your mouth

I, thank Julia every time I make these

Button Buns for many reason

When we think of fresh healthy and light starter or snacks between meals, Soups and salads pops up in our mind. But tell me honestly how many of us really go for them. Not many times because a spicy samosa or some chips would easily burst the bubble. Especially if you have a guest coming over or planning a special dinner soups and salads are not considered fancy enough to grab our attention to do more around it. 

So I have a trick out of my kitty to add some zing to plane jane soup/salad. Beside making an interesting dressing adding homemade Button Buns is an easy, simple and healthy idea. These buns not only add texture and look but makes the salads bit filling too. You can serve them with some hot soup with a chiplet of butter or a scoop of cheese spread (fancy severing options, you see. Some butter and cheese is allowed.)

As these are made of whole wheat flour and no butter, it’s very good as tea time (Yet again..Yeah!!)  nibbles or small snacks for the kids.

½ Cup Whole Wheat Flour

½ Cup Plain Flour

½ Cup Cheese (shredded)

2 Tps Baking Powder

1 Tps Salt

1 Cup Milk

Preheat your oven to 200°C, line your baking tray with parchment paper.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl

Add milk gradually and make the dough

Roll the dough lightly to flatten it out 1 cm think. Cut circles using 2 cm cutter or small bottle cap to make button bun. Please make sure the shape is small and good for one bite.

Place the buns in baking tray and bake for 15 min on 250°C.

Cool and store in air tight container.

Vanilla Bean Muffin with Cheese Cream Frosting - Baked in nostalgia of Coorg

Vacations are always good and those vacations where you have had a wonderful time lingers for long time on your mind. I have been really busy with work and so many things, on my to do list for few weeks now. As I was dealing with fatigue and stress, I just remembered my vacation in Coorg couple of months back. We all had awesome time in Coorg and even here I would like to thank, our host Mr. and Mrs. Ganapathi of Coorg Classic home stay. One of the exciting thing was to visit coffee plantation and there we got to see spice garden. It was so thrilling to see black paper bunch which was still green. Cardamom, Cinnamon and various other spice are grown in this region of south India along with coffee. The most exciting bit for me was “Vanilla Pods”. Its smell so awesome and induced appetite for cake. Apologies for not posting those pics due to some technical issue with them but here is the pic of my Vanilla Pods.

So I have brought quite a few pod for baking.  I had decided to do a recipe in which the vanilla bean will be the star and did not got a chance to do.  So now when Coorg poped up in my head again I decided to put everything on hold and take comfort in baking vanilla bean muffin.

It’s a very easy recipe, actually nothing much to do then mixing everything in one go.

Vanilla bean Muffin

1  cup Flour

1/4 cup Vanilla Custard Powder

1 tsp Salt

 2 tsp Baking Powder

100 gm Butter, softened at room temperature

 3/4 cup Powder sugar

1 egg (Use ½ cup of curd, if don’t want to use egg)

1 cup milk

1 Pod of Vanilla Pod scrapped (you can use 1 tps of real vanilla essence, if don’t get the pod)

Pre-heat the oven at 180 ºC

Line your muffin mould with butter and sprinkle flour evenly.

 (You can use paper moulds as well but as I don’t have them right now I am doing without it.)

Mix and sift are the dry ingredients together.

Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until pale and fluffy.

Add the egg (or Curd) and mix for 1 minute.

Then add the dry mixture small amount at a time and alter it with addition of milk.

Add vanilla beans in the batter. Mix well and pour the batter in muffin mould.

Bake at 200 ºC for 30 minutes until golden brown on top. Let it cool in the oven then transfer on rack for further cooling.

Cream Cheese Frosting

½ Cup of Cream Cheese, Softened, at room temperature

 ¼ Cup Butter, Softened, at room temperature

1/2  teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Cups Powder Sugar

 Beat together the softened cream cheese and butter until creamy.

Add in the vanilla extract and beat for another 30 seconds.

Now start adding the powder sugar 1 cup at a time and beating in between each addition. You can make this frosting before and refrigerate. At the time of usages can give it a whisk and pipe.

I used a soft plastic bag for piping. Filled it up with frosting and pushed the cream in one of the corners and then tied a band to make my piping bag. Cut a moderated opening to pipe the icing on muffin. Start with outer edge and come circling till center. Drop some chocolate chips or colored vermicelli for fun.

You could see small beans in the muffin; they intensify of flavor and fragrance of muffins and make them shine.