Gingerdoodle Cookies

Ginger is one among my favorite spices. A warm cup of ginger tea with some goodday biscuits is what I always crave on a chilly evening. It is memories of those days that made me make these ginger spiced cookies to go with our tea. The molasses adds a very unique flavor to these cookies and pairs perfectly with the spices added. Ginger is a very strong spice and if ginger tea or anything with a strong ginger flavor is not your thing then these cookies are not for you. But to me these were the perfect accompaniment for our evening tea.

~*What U Need*~ Unsalted butter - 1/4 cup, softened Granulated sugar - 1/4 cup Brown sugar - 1/4 cup, packed Egg - 1/2, beat an egg and use half of it Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp Molasses - 2 tbsp Cinnamon - 1/4 tsp Cloves - 1/16 tsp Nutmeg - 1/16 tsp Ground ginger - 1/4 tsp Salt - 1/4 tsp All purpose flour - 1 cup Baking soda - 1/2 tsp Granulated sugar - 2 tbsp, for rolling How I Made it: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients and set aside. Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Stir in egg, vanilla and molasses. Beat for 2 mins. Stir in remaining ingredients and mix until dry ingredients are just combined. Roll 1 tbsp of dough into a ball and coat in granulated sugar. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes or until outside looks cooked but inside is still soft and gooey. Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to cooling rack. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Serve with some milk!!!

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

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Whole wheat bread with molasses | Molasses whole wheat bread

Last week was one of the most happiest days of my life. My sweet lil pappu turned '2'. It was extra special for us cos this is the fist time that we celebrated it together. Yes, Mr.A missed pappu's first birthday and so he was all high this time. And so I took that extra effort to make it special for him too.

I just can't believe that my chubby-cheeks is all grown up and naughty than ever. He is such a beauty to look at and he imitates everything that we say and you will need a thousand eyes to take in his face gestures and reactions. I can go on and on about my munchkins but lets keep that for another post. Since his birthday was on a weekday, we kept it simple by having a smash cake followed by a temple visit and then a baby's day out. We planned a small party with a few close friends on the same Friday and that took a toll on me. Lots of planning, loads of shopping and tons of prepping and not to forget the sleepless nights, planning a birthday party is really a backbreaking job... The weekend was spent in time to recover with hours of sleeping and having leftovers for lunch and dinner. I will do a detailed post on how I planned the party with pictures of pappu's cakes.

Coming back to routine life is really taking time for me. I have been idle for the past three days and kitchen visits are more for snacking. Baking is sure gonna take a backseat atleast for this month as the whole family is in a sugar coma after all that cakes, cupcakes and more cakes. I am thinking about more of bread baking and you are sure gonna see some in this space in the coming weeks. So lets talk bread, or wheat bread or 100% whole wheat bread. Its been my long time wish to try a 100% whole wheat bread and this recipe is a keeper. The whole wheat flour makes this bread wholesome and healthy and the molasses adds a subtle sweetness. This bread is perfect for sandwiches and makes great toasts too...

Adapted from Bread Machine manual by Breadman Pro ~*What U Need*~ Water - 1 1/4 cups (luke warm) Sugar - 1 tbsp Olive Oil - 2 1/2 tbsp Molasses - 2 1/2 tbsp Salt - 1 1/2 tsp Whole Wheat Flour - 3 3/4 cups Vital Wheat gluten - 2 1/2 tbsp Instant dry yeast - 2 tsp How I Made it: In a saucepan, add the water and sugar, sprinkle the yeast and set aside for 10 mins. In your stand mixer, add the yeast water, olive oil, molasses and salt. Mix well. Add the whole wheat flour, vital wheat gluten and knead till it comes together. Knead for 5-6 mins till it becomes smooth and elastic. Place in an oiled bowl and place it in a warm place to double about 1 - 1.5 hours. Once doubled, punch down and roll into a loaf and place in an oiled 9x5 inch loaf pan for second rise. After 30 -45 mins it would have doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bake for 20 minutes. Turn down the temperature to 325 F and bake for additional 15 - 20 minutes or until nicely browned and sounds hollow when tapped. Cool completely on the wire rack.

Enjoy with nutella or jam or use in sandwiches.

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

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100% Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Finally i cracked the code to a 100% whole wheat banana bread... Yes I made a banana bread that was full on wheat flour and zero on white flour. A banana bread that was moist, soft and not so crumbly... A banana bread with the right amount of sweetness and perfect for breakfast... And more of all, it is my own recipe. I didn't copy it from anywhere nor did I use any recipe for reference. The key here is using brown heavily speckled bananas, molasses and buttermilk. You know we need the right amount of wet ingredients to give the bread some moistness. And then use brown sugar, it adds more moisture and keeps your bread soft, moist and light.

The recipe is simple. Mix the wet ingreients, set aside. Mix the dry ingredients, set aside. Gently fold the wet into the dry. Tada and you have your batter. If you feel that your batter is two dry, then add a couple more tablespoons of buttermilk and mix gently. I used the Aashirvad atta that you get in Indian stores and I am not sure how the whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat flour would work on this recipe. Whatever you use, be sure that the batter is not too thick or too runny. However you have a point to note, the bread stays nice and soft and moist for two days but then it starts leaving off its moisture.

~*What U Need*~ Whole wheat flour - 1 3/4 cups Brown Sugar - 1/4 cup Molasses - 2 tbsp Baking powder - 1/2 tsp Baking soda - 1/2 tsp Vegetable oil - 1/3 cup Eggs - 2 Bananas, over ripe - 2, medium/ 1 cup Buttermilk - 1/4 cup+ 2 tbsp Walnuts - 1/2 cup, chopped Salt - 1/4 tsp How I Made it: Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, soda salt, and nuts thoroughly. Mix oil and eggs together. Mix in bananas and molasses. Add the buttermilk and mix well. Add dry ingredients to banana mixture. Stir until just smooth. Pour into loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes.

Slice and serve with milk!!!

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

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Whole Wheat Molasses Bread | Eggless & Butterless

Life gets a new meaning when you have friends around you. And when you are in another land, friends and neighbours are life. I am glad that I have a sweet heart Indian family who lives next door. And weekends usually start with a movie or card night or atleast non-stop chatting. And then there is the occasional potluck filled with loads of food and lots of laughing. Life is not that monotonous when you have people around to share. ^Touchwood^

I love experimenting breads with new textures. And this is one of that kind. Cornmeal adds a nice texture to the bread, the buttermilk the needed moistness and the molasses adds to the texture and flavor. Slather it with some butter or marmalade and you have a healthy breakfast on hand. The best thing about this bread is that it stays moist even the next day and isn't that an added advantage when it comes to homemade breads.

Prep time: 10 mins; Cooking time: 30 mins; Serves - 2-3 Adapted from here ~*What U Need*~ Whole wheat flour - 1 1/4 cups Cornmeal - 1/4 cup Salt - 1/2 tsp Baking soda - 1/2 tsp Molasses - 1/4 cup Buttermilk - 1/2 + 1/3 cup How I Made it: Preheat the oven to 325. Butter two min loaf pans. Mix together the dry ingredients. Stir the molasses into the buttermilk. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients, mixing just till combined, then pour into the loaf pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean, about 30-35 mins. Cool on a rack for about 15 minutes before removing from the pan.

Serve with marmalade or butter!!!

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

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