Lemon and Mint Lassi Cupcakes

The temperatures have started rising , the dreaded summer is on it's way and drinking lassi is one sure way to beat the heat .Lassi is an indian smoothie made with yoghurt or buttermilk  . It can be flavoured with fruits and spices and I love all of those but my fav is the lemon and mint lassi coz nothing is refreshing as that and I wanted to incorporate this into my cupcake , I wanted to make something light and refreshing and I achieved  that .The cupcakes were really light and fluffy and the topping was tangy and sweet and very refreshing so here goes.......

INGREDIENTS

100 gms butter
1 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
grated zest of one whole lemon
juice of half a lemon
1and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1and 3/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup cold milk
3 egg whites

for the frosting

150 gms cream cheese
50 gms greek yoghurt / labneh
1/4 cup whipping cream
50 gms icing sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint leaves

METHOD

Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy
Add in the lemon juice ,zest and vanilla essence and beat well
Sift the dry ingredients and add this to the mixture alternately with the cold milk
Beat the egg whites till stiff and slowly fold into the mixture ( you get a nice light and fluffy batter )
Line  muffin mould and bake in a preheated 180 c oven for about 15-20 min .
Beat the cream cheese , yoghurt and the whipping cream till stiff .
Fold in the lemon zest and mint leaves .
Frost the cupcakes and enjoy .

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cookies

Blogging is real hardwork and it does take a lot of  patience and time . I am saying this because I had made a batch of this cookie dough and froze half of it and baked the other half . I was too lazy to take pics of the cookies and didn't bother with it as I had another batch left in the freezer . I have to tell you guys one thing , my hubby and my two kids are BIG TIME cookie lovers , they are all over by the time it is out of the oven . So the first batch was gone and I wanted to put this in the blog so I baked the next batch and left it out to cool and boy , what a mistake that was , it was all over by the time I came to take the pics and I saw my daughter having the last piece , I didnt think of anything else I just snatched it out of her mouth and finally got a pic , even though it is half eaten . By the way the cookies were wonderful , it was chewy and gooey so here goes ....

INGREDIENTS

200 gms butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1 egg
50 gms dark chocolate melted
1 tbsp smooth peanut butter
1 cup of peanut and chocolate swirled chips


METHOD

Cream the butter and the sugars till light and fluffy
Add the egg and vanilla essence and beat well
Add the melted chocolate and the peanut butter
Sift the dry ingredients and add them in .
Now stir in the chips .
Chill the dough in the fridge for about 15-20 min.
Roll the dough into discs and bake in a preheated 180 c oven for about 20-24 min
Cool on wire rack if there is any left to cool ;) .

Fondant Shirt and Tie Cake

This is something I made for my hubby for his b'day and this was the most easiest one to do and also it looked almost like the real thing . Again used fondant here ( I am very fond of fondant ) coz piping really scares me , to get a clean , smooth look to cakes fondant is the way to go .

The cake is a tiramisu cake , vanilla cake soaked in a light cofee syrup and topped with mascarapone and whipped cream frosting  and white chocolate ganache .

Fish in Spicy Coconut Gravy

This is a typical curry you can find in kerela household , it is very common to make this as this goes well with rice , rotis and appams  . It is traditionally cooked in a claypot and it is  very easy to make and the best thing is the aroma of this curry is sooo.... good that it will make your mouth water so here goes , if you haven't tried it please do so .........

INGREDIENTS

500 gms king fish
3-4 cloves garlic minced
1 inch pc ginger minced
2 green chillies chopped
6-8 curry leaves
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 medium onion chopped
2 medium tomatoes chopped
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp fennel seed powder
1 and 1/2 tbsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
1 cup hot water
1/2 cup hot water + 3 tbsp coconut milk powder

METHOD

Heat a tbsp of oil in pan and add the mustard seeds .
When they start to splutter add the curry leaves and the fenugreek seeds.
Add the onions and cook for a few min.
Add the ginger ,garlic and the green chillies
Add the spice powders and add about 2 tbsp of water just to cook the spices .
Add the tomatoes and cook on low heat till it turns into a paste.
Add salt to taste
Add a cup of hot water and bring it to a boil and then add in the fish
Now turn down the heat and cook till the fish is done .
Mix the hot water and the coconut milk powder and add it and simmer it till it becomes thick and creamy , it takes about 5 min .


NOTE

This can be made with prawns and chicken as well and it all tastes good .

Fondant Shopping Bag Cake

I had made this cake for my li'l girl's b'day ( who is not so li'l anymore ) , she loves to shop , window shopping does not exist in her vocabulary , she thinks the only purpose to go to malls is if we want to buy something .So I decided to make her a shopping bag cake which she and her friends seemed to like .

The cake again is the easy peasy chocolate cake which my kids never seem to tire of though I am quite bored of making it . Again marshmallow fondant here . I made a large rectangle cake and cut them in half and stacked them together and covered it with fondant .

Strawberry Milk Cupcakes

What a wonderful and hectic weekend I have had . It was cricket world cup fever in my house  and over every other Indian's house and after about 28 years of waiting our wonderful team made us proud and brought the cup back home . It was an incredible moment when the team won it and wowoowowo what a win that was , Kudos to the Indian team for giving us such a fine game .
Coming back to today's post , I had a wonderful time with my school buddies and had made these cupcakes for them and was very glad that they loved it , it is a simple recipe and quick to make too . This recipe is just another adaptation of my vanilla cupcake recipe so here goes.......

INGREDIENTS

100 gms unsalted butter room temp
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup strawberry milk
1/2 cup milk ( fat , low-fat , anything will do )

for the frosting 

1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cream cheese
2 tbsp or more icing sugar
pink food coloring

fresh strawberries for garnish

METHOD

Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy
Add the eggs and the vanilla, beat it well
Sift the dry ingredients together and fold it in the mixture
Now add both the milk and mix it well
Pour into greased and lined muffin moulds and bake in a preheated 180 c oven for about 20 -25 min or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean .
For the frosting , beat the cream , icing sugar , cheese and pink food coloring till stiff .
Pipe swirls onto cooled cupcakes and garnish with fresh strawberries .