Muggle Diaries

Post Title: Perfect Classic Sponge Cake (Butter-less & Baking Powder or Soda..;) Ever wondered what it would feel like to have a perfect classic sponge cake without any butter at all?? no butter can still be understood, almost everyone on blog-sphere is trying to do the same,...(;P cut down on calories..eh) Ahem let me clarify i plan to do no such thing, so what makes this recipe different from the others..?? just that this one needs none at all, but no baking powder and baking soda and the cake still rises perfectly well and turns out perfectly spongy..?? Nope..!! more to come this one is: *Tried,Tested & Vouched* for I've tried and tested and can vouch for this one as many times as you ask me to..!! And that is a bet..!!  Is this for Real..?? Well a few years back even i wondered the same when i stumbled upon this recipe from my baking book:  Essentials of Baking,by Williams-Sonoma, today it is my bible for baking...

Eggless Choco - Nutty Cookies The Best Thing about them: I fall in love with these cookies each time i bake them, actually one can never stop raving enough even as the aroma waffles through the entire house as these cookies still bake in the oven, a heavenly combination of Chocolate and Nuts...Hmmnnn....!! The Worst Thing about them: I cant stop myself from eating them through the day, i don't wanna share them with one single soul..to top it..I'm drooling.. ahemm ...sorry about the gooey mess that went on the keyboard even as I'm typing this..!! Okay lets forget all about the mess and concentrate on the recipe of the cookies: Over the past year or two(i.e since i actually began baking out for just the sakes of passion of  baking) i realized that baking gives you such a high..even when i'm feeling down,low...or just feel any negativity creeping in me and i just resort to baking Believe me it just beats my stress away...and i'm all set and dolloped like chille...

A few days back i happened to post my *Tried & Tested* version of  20 min Choco Almond - Cashew Secret Center Crumbly Cookies and a very old school friend popped me a question on how about an egg-less version and  and i decided to give that a try well with slight variations of my own..;).This is an exceptionally easy one for baking beginners.These are Classic Shortbread sort of Cookies which absolutely melt in your mouth...but technically these are cookies which use Cornflour along with normal All purpose Flour while baking these.The Cocoa in it adds a much needed twist to their melt in the mouth texture apart from the fact that these are Egg less.I used a bit of yoghurt and maple syrup while experimenting with flavours and while adding to it's health value i don't think it did much harm to the cookie's texture too...;) This one's gotta be a keeper ladies..;) So Reena, here's what i got for you especially: Eggless Chocolate Crumbly Cookies*Tried & Tested*...

Absolutely delectable, pure melt in the mouth Chocolate coated crumbly cookies with Almond or Cashew surprises in their Secret Center's...;).  Sometimes they remind me of the crumbly cookies we would get along with the how cup of freshly brewed Filter Kaapi we would often get i think in Indian Coffee House,Hotel Chalukya & Grand Ashoka way back in the early 1980's in the then Garden City " Namma very Own Bangalore"...Hmmm...how i miss my childhood, where dad and mum would take me out and as they would sip on their hot Strong Filter Kaapi i would loathe my self to some Awesome Cookie's. Anyways coming back to 2011...I had a lot of cashew's and almonds lying at home and wanted to make something which would turn out real quick and perfect to the core since i was trying something like this with my lil daughter around, so i had to make it before she ran out of patience . These turned out just sooo....perfect to my ne...

Strawberries are a very common sight at my place since the time my daughter turned 11 months old...somehow it turns out to be her "fav" in fruits. I'd been bored of giving her strawberries in the same form and have long been wanting to try a new way of feeding it to her in a more nutritious form, and bingo what could have been better that strawberry muffins...she had loved the version of carrot & orange & wholewheat & oats muffins which was my last muffin recipe...so i tried something similar but with lil variations in the recipe. The great thing about this fruit is that it is great even for diabetics,apart from children..;) Often i've heard that strawberries are "Superstars" when it comes to "Anti-Oxidant" Power. As per studies a 1 Cup of Strawberries gives you a whopping 140 percent of your recommended daily allowance of vitamin C. Strawberries are also said to be packed with Flavonoids(2 in particular).called quercetin and...

Walnut Brownies have been my "Fav" since College...we'd get real yummy walnut brownies, and i'd load myself with them every time i'd go there...!! That's where my first love for brownies began....& the bhaiya there would even tempt me by asking shall i pour some hot chocolate sauce on this and i would never say no...!! "AJ" (Ajish my hubby) who has always been health conscious...would always say I've put on weight every single time he visited me from Dubai....& I'd say" Bhai Khate-peete ghar se hoon" so.. thoda tagdi tho lagoongi naah!!(for those who didn't follow that..in hindi means: well i belong to a well to do family who eats rich food and that's what is showing on me...!!(A rather lame or common excuse from those who are lazy enough not to exercise even for 15mins a day). Well all the laziness vanished out of me after my daughter was born...she is a complete disciplinarian to me every thing need to happen on ...

This one's going to Priya'sVersatile Recipies: Cooking with Seeds - Peanuts event.This is My first time ever in any Event..;P I had been feeling awfully lazy to get back to work after two days of bliss-full rest(since i had taken ill...poor hubby(psst let's call him "AJ" for short..!!) really looked after me like i was a baby... and i enjoyed all that attention) but today was back to reality day...so i had to get going...After somehow pushing through the morning.....i lazily grabbed the door of the refrigerator at about 3 in the afternoon,soon as my daughter fell asleep, thinking god knows how much small leftovers the fridge is filled with..lemme first get them and do something about it i calculated y moves,but when i opened the refrigerator...since i kind of have the habit of checking on the expiry dates of an assortment of different bottles with mayo,cheese spreads, sauces  etc, etc which are my co-sis's favorites, for take away's.(She needs to leav...

When it comes to getting your toddler to eat healthy food yet something that looks more like what all other children buy from the supermarket & eat...well "healthy carrot muffins", there couldn't be a better answer at least for the moment when i don't have too much time to cook , for kids who are naughtier & families who are naughtier.... what could be a better idea than this...?? The most important part was that each yummy cupcake contains about 1/2 a serving of veggies,without the frosting, plus healthy enough for your child to have them every day. It took off really cool & everybody ate the cupcakes as if they had never tasted something like this actually they had never tasted something like this...!! As the carrot cup cakes baked in my oven the sweet aroma of carrots filled the house, the great thing was that it took only about 20-25 mins to get them all done...hmmmm...smells heavenly...!! well try it, I'm sure you will have the same opinion...

When you think of Chocolate Cakes what could be more better than "Dark, Rich, Chocolate Cake"...well and imagine you could bake one of the best Chocolates right at home just the way it looks in most pictures or when done by experienced pastry chef's clean and just picture perfect...but the one challenge that most vegan's face when trying the recipe is how to make an eggless cake that tastes good as well..!! Well let's see for ourselves, most time i'd find my lil bro dish the most unbelievable chocolates with what was just available at home itself and what was more shocking was unlike most failures that i faced while learning to bake his recipe's made the cakes just spring up and swell so perfectly....still wonder how..;) Anyways this is what i figured was a sure shot way to have rich moist eggless dark chocolate cake...."Moist, Yummy & Chocolaty". Ingredients: All Purpose Flour (or Maida sifted well) - 4 1/2 Cups. Hershey's Cocoa Po...