Donuts

My little one loves Donuts & every time we are outside, I make it a point to buy donuts for him for snacks. Since he likes it, I decided to make donuts at home & this one I made exactly a year ago I guess! I cant tell you how good these turned out:) They were so soft & tasty, in fact better than the store brought ones. Since then I kept making donuts at home, as everyone at home loved them. A friend of mine kept asking for donuts recipe & I kept telling her look up my blog & its there. Upon doing some research in my blog, I realized that I haven't uploaded donuts recipe:( How on earth I could forget to upload them! My bad:(. Since I again made some donuts yesterday, I am uploading the recipe now. These donuts are very easy to make & can be had any time of the day.

Makes 15 donuts

Preparation time: 15 mins

Total making time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 2 tspn Yeast
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 4 Tbspn sugar
• 1/4 tspn salt
• 3 Tbspn melted Butter
• 1/4 cup warm water

For the sugar glaze

• 1/2 cup of icing sugar
• 6 Tbspn hot water
• 1/4 tspn Vanilla essence
• 1 Tbspn melted Butter

Direction:

1. Place the yeast, water and 4 tablespoon of the sugar in a bowl and set aside for 10 minutes. The mixture will start to foam (bubble), indicating that the yeast is active.
2. In a bowl add milk, melted butter, salt, eggs & mix well.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add flour make a well in the centre. Add the Milk mixture & yeast mixture in the centre & mix the dough well until a sticky dough forms.
4. Bring the dough together by kneading on a lightly floured surface.
5. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place for 45 minutes or until doubled in size.
6. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 5 minutes or until it feels smooth and elastic when pressed.
7. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until 1 cm (1 1/2 inches) thick. Use a round cutter & cut rounds. With a help of essence lid Cut a small hole in the centre of the cut rounds.  
8. Place on try lined with baking paper, cover with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place for 30 minutes or until risen.
9. Heat the oil in a heavy bottom saucepan over medium-low heat.  Cook the doughnuts few at a time for 1 minute each side or until golden. Drain briefly on paper towels.

For the sugar glaze

1. Mix warm water, Vanilla essence, melted butter to the icing sugar until its melted & sticky. If you feel the glaze is runny, add some more icing sugar until you get the right consistency.
2. Pour the glaze into a shallow bowl. Dunk the doughnuts, let any excess glaze drip off, and then transfer them to a wire rack placed on a baking sheet or over a sheet of parchment paper to rest until glaze sets
3. The donuts are ready & it tastes best when eaten fresh & warm.
4. If you have left over donuts, you can store them in a airtight container. Just microwave it for 10 seconds before you eat.
5. If you want you can add any color to the sugar glaze.

Dulce De Leche Cake

Happy Children's day & here is the treat for Children's day!

We had a special guest over for lunch on Sunday & I cooked so many things. I made 3 types of starters, Prawn Ghee roast, Prawn Pepper fry, & Chicken 65 to go with drinks. For the Main course it was Appam, Chicken Stew , Beef Fry, Chicken Biriyani & Pineapple Raita. For the dessert it was our home fav " Banoffee pie.Our guest was so happy to see & try so many different variety of food. He kept saying very good for every dish that he tasted & also said it was of 5 star standard:) Now tell me what else do I need? I was all flying in the air:).Sundays are my maid's off days & I had to manage all by myself. I had told her to cut all the vegetables that I need in the morning itself, so it was easier for me to cook. All went on well & I was able to cook all of the above, except Beef fry under 2 hours. I had made Beef fry the previous night, as it taste better as it gets older.

Since I had some left over Dulce De leche, I thought of baking a cake with it. Xmas season being around the corner, we all want to bake different kinds of goodies. This is a very nice cake to make as part of your X'mas baking. I just baked this cake this afternoon & its so moist & yummy. The flavor, texture is amazing & I loved this cake. My lill Zion also loved it & had a big slice, which is very unusual of him. The recipe is very simple just like the way I make butter cake, with just an addition of Dulce de Leche. If you have been following my blog, then you know that I have a post on how to make Dulce de leche. Just to add color & make the picture look bright, I just chopped some grapes, cranberries & garnished the cake. I also sprinkled some icing sugar to give it a Xmas feeling. This is how I made the cake. 

Serves: 15 slices

Preparation time: 15 mins

Baking time: 40- 45 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 cup +2 tbspn of Plain Flour
• 180 gms Salted Butter
• 1.5 Tspn of baking powder
• 1/4 Tin or 7 tspn of Dulce de leche sauce
• 2 Large eggs
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/4 tspn of salt
• 1 Tspn Vanilla essence

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C and place rack in centre of oven. Butter and line an 8-inch Chiffon cake pan/round cake tin/6 inch square tin. 
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In the mixing bowl beat the butter, Dulce de leche and sugar until smooth. Continue beating on high speed until light and fluffy for 3 mins. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla  and beat until incorporated.This should take about 2 mins.
4. Add the flour mixture and mix just until incorporated. Or for 1/2 minute on high speed with the electric beater. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
5. Bake for about 40 - 45 mins.
6. Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 20 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool completely.

Home made Bread

 

 

Making Bread at home is such an easy thing. You can customise it the way you want. & also add in some stuffing of your choice. Sometimes I feel lazy & I just pick up bread from the store. The store brought bread are very cheaper compared to the one made at home. But definitely the one made at home tastes better & free from any preservatives. You can also enjoy it hot.

Hot Bread reminds me of my childhood days. My Pappa used to buy fresh hot bread from Cosmos Bakery in Madikeri. Since its hot the bread would not be sliced. Once Pappas gets it home, me & my sister start digging into the centre & will make a big well in the bread:) Well in the bread also reminds me of my hostel days. Every Sunday's we used to get bread for breakfast. The Bread again used to be unsliced ones. So we would see everyone just eating the centre part & the outside will remain like an empty box:) Now coming back to the recipe, I made this more like a sub then a Loaf. I also made some small dinner rolls around 4 out of this. We had these hot bread with fried egg, Butter & Jam. Hot Bread & butter is an amazing combination:) My lill 2 year old also loved this for breakfast with butter. This is how I made them

Ingredients:

• 500 gms Bread flour or All purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• Salt- 1 1/2 tsp
• 1 cup Water
• 1.5 Tbspn Instant dry yeast
• 2 Tbsp Oil- 4 tbsp

Method:

1. Mix the yeast in the lukewarm water along with the sugar. Do not stir in, Just let it rest for about 2 mins. Now slowly stir in & rest it again until it gets very foamy.
2. Now mix all the above ingredients to a sticky dough.
3. You may need to add a few spoons of flour or water to achieve the right texture. Knead this well for about 5 to 8 mins.
4. Let the dough rise for an hour in a warm place. keep it covered with a kitchen towel.
5. Gently press the dough to release the air and divide the dough into two.
6. Shape it into two 8 - 10 inch sub & let it rest again for another 20 mins in the baking tray. Cover with a cling wrap.
7. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C and bake for 30- 35 minutes.
8. Make sure you cool it first before slicing or just dig in & have like I did:)