Cornstarch ~ Tamalapaku

Showing posts with label Cornstarch. Show all posts

Jam Biscuits - Eggless

J for Jam Biscuits! When I showed my husband that I had chosen to bake these biscuits so they can form part of this A-Z series of BM #32, he was skeptical if it could beat his expectations. Though he did not say anything openly, I sensed his hesitation.

After I baked these, he couldn't have enough of them. He said they tasted just like the bakery ones he used to eat in his childhood. I couldn't agree with him more!! And the kids fought with the Dad to finish them off. They all liked Strawberry jam better.

Recipe Source here
Ingredients -

Maida / All Purpose Flour 3/4 cup
Custard Powder (I used Vanilla flavor) 3/4 cup
Corn starch / Fine Corn Flour (White) 4 Tbsp
Butter, at room temperature 1/2 cup
Sugar, Powdered 1/2 cup
Curds/Yogurt 3-4 Tbsp
Jam of your choice (I used Strawberry and Grape) as needed
Vanilla essence 1 tsp (I didn't use as the custard powder had vanilla flavor)

Method Of Preparation -

Whisk the butter and powdered sugar until it becomes frothy. (Add vanilla essence as well if using).

Add the flours and curd and knead into a smooth and soft dough.

Divide the dough into manageable portions and roll them out flat approximately 5 mm thick.

Cut out desired shapes (using a cookie cutter) and continue rolling the dough and cutting out the shapes until the dough is used up.

Arrange these cut out shapes on a foil or parchment lined cookie tray.

Use a small bottle cap or your thumb to make a small depression on the surface of the cookies. Put in a little jam of your preference to fill the depression.

Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Bake for 12-15 min or until the undersides are lightly browned.

Cool them and store in air tight containers.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 32

Preparation Time 45 min
Makes 30-35 depending on the size and shape of the cookie

Posted by Harini R on Thursday, September 12, 2013

22 comments

categories: All Purpose Flour (Maida), Baking, Blogging Marathon, Butter, Cookies, Cornstarch, Custard Powder, Dairy Products, Flours, Sugar, Sweetening Agents, Yogurt (Curd/Perugu) | |

Jalebi Or Jilebi ~ ICC August 2011

After skipping last month's challenge I was almost about to skip this month's Jalebi Challenge too, thrown by Srivalli as part of the Indian Cooking Challenge. After dilly-dallying for more than 20 days I finally made them the other day with lot of apprehensions. I set aside my resolve to abstain from eating sugary stuff just for these cuties!!

They turned out near perfect - crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. But wait a second, they lost their crispiness after a couple of hours. Maybe a little more cornstarch and from what I gather from fellow bloggers, slightly thicker consistency of the batter might make things better. That is for the next time though.

But watch out as they quickly dissolve into your mouth and disappear from the plate. My little one asked me if they were 'sweet pretzels' :). I was amused at her association of these jalebis with pretzels. Can't blame her, can I ??

Ingredients -

All Purpose Flour / Maida 1/2 cup
Cornstarch 2 Tbsp
Curds/Yogurt 1 cup
Lemon Juice 1 tsp
Hot Oil 1 Tbsp
Orange Food Color (I used saffron strands) a pinch

Oil for Deep frying about 2 cups

For Sugar Syrup -
Sugar 1 cup (I used raw sugar)
Water 1/2 cup
Lemon juice 1 tsp

Note that in many sweet shops jaggery syrup is used instead of sugar syrup taking it to another level and very filling one at that!!

Method Of Preparation -

Mix Maida, cornstarch, curds, lemon juice and hot oil into a thick lump-free batter.

Cover it and let it ferment overnight. There are people who ferment it for 24 hours too ! (I let it sit for about 14 hours or so )

Beat the batter for a couple of minutes to incorporate some air in it. Note that the batter I made was of pancake batter consistency.

Pour the batter into a piping bag, thick plastic cone with a small slit at the tip or a ketchup bottle. The slit I made was just about size of a pepper corn.

Now is the time to get the sugar syrup going. Boil the sugar and water until a single thread consistency is achieved and remove from fire. Squeeze in some lemon juice to avoid crystallization of the syrup. Make sure the syrup is always warm until the last jalebi is done.

Heat the oil in medium flame, when it is smoking hot, reduce to a low flame.

Pipe the batter in desired designs directly into the hot oil and let it cook on both sides just until they change color. It took about 4-5 seconds for each of them to get cooked .So take care to handle them before they get a chance to get burnt. (Speaking from my experience!!)

Dunk them into the syrup for about 30 seconds and remove them with a skewer or a fork to a serving dish.

Serve them warm / hot and savor the delicious Jalebis!!

Preparation Time 40 min (excluding Fermentation Time 12-24 hrs)
Serves 5-6

Posted by Harini on Thursday, September 15, 2011

25 comments

categories: All Purpose Flour (Maida), Cornstarch, Dairy Products, Flours, Other Sweets, Sugar, Sweetening Agents, Sweets and Desserts, Yogurt (Curd/Perugu) | |

Eggless Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Baking cakes has been a very interesting experience for me. I always look forward to bake a cake. But I have never baked such an exotic cake so far. I have seen so many pineapple upside down cake recipes in the blogosphere that have teased me over the past few months. Most of them have either been with eggs or needed condensed milk if eggless. Upon searching further, I found near perfect blend of ingredients in this cake. I tweaked the recipe a little to suit my taste and mood. Here I would like to thank Champa for guiding me. I always prefer using whole wheat flour hence I tried a blend of flours.
I planned on baking this cake for my dear husband's birthday and he sure was surprised. He refused to believe that I had baked it at home :) So trust me it is a sure shot way to impress your friends, family and loved ones.
'Types of Egg Replacers in Baking' would be the theme for the fifth day of this BM #6 session 2. Here I have used Apple Cider Vinegar as an Egg substitute.

Ingredients -

*Whole Wheat Flour 1 cup (minus 2 Tbsp)
Maida / All Purpose Flour 1 cup (minus 2 Tbsp)
Cornstarch 4 Tbsp
Baking Soda 1 tsp
Sugar 1 cup
Butter , softened 1/2 cup
Yogurt/Curds 1 cup
Pineapple Juice 1/2 cup
Apple Cider Vinegar 1 Tbsp
Rose Water 1 tsp
Pineapple Slices, 7-8 (I used from a 20 oz can)
Maraschino Cherries , 5-6
For the Caramel -
Sugar 1/2 cup
Water 1/4 cup
Lemon Juice 1 tsp
Notes -
*The original recipe called for just Plain Flour / Maida and plain vinegar. I wanted to use whole wheat flour and so tried out this blend of Whole Wheat Flour, All purpose flour and Cornstarch.

*Drain the pineapple slices, collect the juice in a bowl and pat the slices dry. The same juice is used as pineapple juice in the batter.

*Also the bottled Maraschino cherries need to be washed well and patted dry. Slice the cherries into 2 pieces and keep them ready.

To make 1 cup (measures 240 ml) of cake flour - In a 1 cup measure, spoon in 2 Tbsp of cornstarch and fill the rest of the cup with Flour/ Maida.

Method Of Preparation -

Preheat the oven to 350 F. I was using a non-stick 8 inch cake pan so I reduced the temperature to 325 F.

In a bowl, sieve the flours, cornstarch and baking soda. Add the sugar to the mix and keep aside.

In another bowl add all the liquid ingredients (softened butter, yogurt, apple cider vinegar, pineapple juice and rose water). Just whisk them together. They might look a little curdled but that is okay.

Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mix and gently mix so there are no lumps. The batter shouldn't be too thick or too runny. Keep it aside.

Prepare the Caramel -

In a small saucepan mix together the sugar and water (listed under the caramel ingredients).

Let it simmer on low until it starts to turn amber in color. (About 2 min or so)

Add the lemon juice and stir until it becomes a medium dark amber. Remove form fire.

Assembling the Cake -

Grease an 8 inch cake pan and arrange the pineapple slices in any pattern desired. Since I used a circular pan, I arranged them in a circular fashion and filled the gaps with the sliced cherries.

Pour the prepared caramel on the arranged pineapple slices and cherries. Brush the caramel evenly so all the slices are smeared with the caramel.

Pour the batter on top of the caramel and tap the cake pan a couple times on the counter to release any bubbles trapped in the batter.

Place in the center rack of the oven and bake it for 40-45 min or until the top of the cake is golden brown. Also insert a toothpick in the center of the cake and the cake is done if it comes out clean .(Mine was done in 42 min)

Look at the caramel dripping..slurp!!

Let the cake cool on a wire rack for a few minutes. Run a knife along the edges of the cake and invert the cake on to the wire rack to see the magic of the upside down cake!!

Pour some leftover pineapple juice on the cake for some extra flavor! Let the cake cool before slicing it. Take another look at the cake!

My Observations -
*I thought the batter would overflow in the cake pan and so didn't use the entire batter. I baked mini cakes in 3 ramekins which my kids enjoyed having for themselves!!

*The cake didn't rise too much and there was no 'doming' of the cake. But the cake was soft and fluffy inside.

*When I first tasted the cake in the ramekin, I felt that there was an after taste of baking soda and was initially disappointed. But I read somewhere that pineapple juice needs to be poured over the cake and the cake needs to absorb the flavors and tastes best after it is totally cool (2-3 hrs at least). It was true in my case. The after taste disappeared after about 2 hrs or so and the cake vanished in 10 min :)

*When I inverted the cake on the wire rack, couple of pineapple slices got stuck to the cake pan, which I had to remove and stick it up on the cake! Apart from that this cake was a breeze to bake!!

* The gooey caramel lent some extra sweetness to the cake. So if you need a little less of it, you could try reducing sugar either in the cake batter or the caramel.

Here are some of my favorite eggless cakes so far (of course in addition to the one you just drooled over!!) -

Eggless Almond-Date Cake - Vegan

Eggless Chocolate Sponge Cake

Eggless Vanilla Cake

Eggless Whole Wheat Strawberry Cup Cake

Eggless Yellow Sponge Cake

Mixed Berry Cup Cakes(Mini)

Vegan Banana Nut Muffin

Vegan Mango Mixed Fruit Cup Cakes

Sending this cake as an entry to Celebrate Sweets - Cakes hosted by Dinnerrecipesguide and Niveditha's Kitchen.