Rice, Coconut, Jaggery Dumpling aka Kozhukatta for Lazarus Saturday

This nostalgic snack seems to be connected to the Eastern Church origins of Kerala christianity.  The native name in Malayalam seems to have originated from the shape and content of the snack  which is stuffed with a coconut and jaggery mix. Here 'kozhu/kozhi' is for hen and 'katta' could be for the egg shape. This is my conjecture upon finding that the Saturday before palm Sunday has no commonly used name in Roman catholicism while it is celebrated as Lazarus Saturday in Eastern Christianity. A sweet snack named lazarkia is made in Greece and Cyprus to celebrate Lazarus Saturday. That day is simply known as 'kozhukatta sani' in our families and 'sani' of course is Saturday.

In The Mix

rice powder - 1 cup

hot water - 1 cup or more

olive oil - 1 1/5 tbsp

salt to taste

grated coconut - 2 cups

jaggery/'sarkkara' - 200 grams

water - 3/4 cup

cumin powder - 1 tsp

cardamom powder - 1 1/2 tsp

ginger powder - 1/4 tsp

How To Do

Boil water in a pan and add oil and salt to taste. Remove from heat and set aside. Add rice powder in and keep stirring with a spoon until cool enough. Then knead by hand for a minute or so. Make into a loose ball shape and set aside.

Heat water and add the jaggery in. Keep stirring until all jaggery melts. Add cumin, cardamom and ginger powders. Check salt and add as needed. Once the syrup thickens, add coconut and keep stirring until all the water evaporates. The mix should stay soft and pliable.

Take dough in the shape of a small lime and flatten out with your hands. Fill with the jaggery mix and close all back together to form a ball or 'katta'. Add some oil to your hand if the dough sticks. Repeat until dough and mix are done. Be sure to ward off hands that reach for the jaggery mix if you have any hopes of yielding a decent number of these snacks. Be aware that this hand might as well be yours too:-)

                   

Steam cook for 15-20 minutes, let cool and enjoy!

THANKSGIVING 101 : Part2/3 The Preparations

                            

I went with the turkey breast again this year instead of the full bird. The absence of the roasted bird was felt on the table when the cooked breast looked more like ham than turkey. But with enough white meat for all and comparatively less effort to clean and brine, this will be the go to from now on. 

Preparations

OK, now that our shopping is all done, let us start with the preparations that one can do before the actual day of cooking and dining. The best part about organizing this is the fact that Thanksgiving (TG) is always on a Thursday. So we can start with that in mind. Starting from Sunday here are the various steps you can do to prepare ahead.

Sunday

Buy the Turkey 

Pickup or buy the whole turkey or turkey breast on the Sunday before TG. If you are ordering online, do that a week or two before so that you can pickup on the day of your choice. Bring it home and keep refrigerated. 

Buy TG groceries 

Make sure to have enough space in the fridge before you go shopping. Make use of the shopping list from my previous post. Take a list with you when you go to get the turkey. The list must include a brine mix because you will need that first.

Monday

Relax.

That is right. This is a step free day. Unless you want to switch today with Sunday.

Tuesday

Prepare the Brine 

Dissolve the brine mix into 1.5 gallon of water, boil for a few minutes and set to cool. You can add some orange peel for extra flavor while boiling. Keep refrigerated once cooled. Make sure you have at least 2 trays of ice in the freezer and tell the family not to deplete it before Wednesday.

Wednesday : (Start around 6 or 7 PM)

Make Creme Brûlée for dessert (optional)

  

Since we are not big pie fans, we opt for various desserts like creme brûlée, snicker doodle cookies or pound cake. This one is rather easy to make if you have 8 ramekins and a butane torch.  Preheat oven to 325F. Heat some water in a large pan/kettle. Now bring 1 quart heavy cream with one vanilla bean and its pulp to a boil on medium high heat and set to cool for 15 min while you whisk together 6 egg yolks and 1 cup sugar. Add the cream mix gently while stirring, pour into ramekins and place in a larger pan with hot water poured to reach half the height of ramekins. Bake at 325 for 40-45 min, take out while the middle is jiggling and set to cool in the fridge. Layer with sugar and torch the top when ready to eat.

Make Cranberry Sauce 

This is the right time to make cranberry sauce if you are planning to have it homemade. Wash & drain the cranberries, boil once with 1 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup of water. Add orange peel & 1-2 crushed cardamom. Keep it on medium heat and stir occasionally until jelly like consistency is reached. You can do the next step while this is going on.

Roast Chestnuts

My stuffing requires chestnuts so I roast 8-9 chestnuts in the air fryer after making an X on the flat side with a knife. Add these to the air fryer at 390 or oven at 425 and roast for 20 min. While chestnuts are roasting, go on to the next step.

Brine the Turkey

Line a bucket or large container with a brining bag, add half of the cold brine and some ice cubes. Then add the washed and cleaned turkey without giblets etc. and pour over the remaining brine and ice cubes, tightly close the brining bag and keep refrigerated or in the garage if it is cold enough. Make sure turkey is fully immersed with a weight on top if necessary. Keep breast meat in the net that it came in.

Finishing Up

If the chestnuts are done, keep them wrapped in aluminum foil for 5 min while you attend to the cranberry on the stove.

Remove cranberry from heat, discard orange peel if any and refrigerate in serving container once cooled. 

Wear food grade gloves and peel the chestnuts while hot because that is the easiest way to get it out. Halve the chestnuts and keep them wrapped in the foil for Thursday. No need to refrigerate.

Take a large pan, add enough water and keep on the stove for Thursday's mashed potatoes.

Make sure you have 5 lbs. of potatoes ready. Place dry sherry and red wine bottles within easy reach for stuffing and gravy needs. Keep stuffing mix (10-16oz) and chicken broth (2 boxes of 32oz) also within reach. Set hot sausage to thaw in fridge if frozen and go to sleep.    

Banana Nut Bread - 2

Banana nut bread is really easy to make. It is a nifty appetizer too when you think about it. Who can seriously resist warm, moist slices of freshly baked BNB?  It is also a great way to reuse those bananas gone black that all of a sudden no wants to eat.  Definitely better than reserving it for H's compost can, however tempting and responsible that may be.

It's been a while since I'd made this bread and so forgot that I actually had a recipe in my blog. Off I go to the great wizard of google to ask for a recipe. The effort paid off and I landed on an even better one at the countrycook's! Both kids love baking just as much as I do. Kannan is the local (in-house) pound cake baker and molu of course is a natural at these things. She makes the greatest of crepes when she is in the mood. She loved the idea of BNB and signed on from the beginning. I just had to call out the recipe and she did everything else almost all the times we've made this recently. I didn't add the streusel on top suggested in the original recipe as that makes it a bit too sweet for us. It sure is a neat way to fancy up the bread a bit.

In The Mix

overripe bananas - 3
eggs - 2
butter - 1/3 cup melted (= 5 1/4 tbsp)
vanilla extract - 1 tsp
sugar - 1/2 cup
all purpose flour - 1 3/4 cup
baking powder - 2 3/4 tsp
salt - 1/2 tsp
cinnamon - 1 1/2 tsp
walnuts - 1/2 cup chopped or hand crushed

How To Do

Preheat oven to 325F. Spray a loaf pan (9x5) with non-stick spray.
Mash the bananas and combine with eggs, butter, sugar and vanilla. Mix well and add flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add in the walnuts and stir together.

Pour batter into the pan and bake for about 55-60 minutes. Bread should spring back when done. Insert a fork to see if it comes out clean. Cool a bit, cut a slice or two and go bananas!

Instant Ice Cream!

Almost instant that is. Can't get that greedy. It does take some time you know. And all because of spicyana. Just couldn’t resist the temptation to try out this easiest of ice cream recipe  that she had posted. The picture there can tell a thousand stories while mine is er.. it just will have to do:-)

Timing is a key factor here.  I had discovered some over ripened bananas in the fruit basket and was debating whether to toss them into H’s compost bin or try to make some banana nut bread. Then I forgot all about it in true me fashion. That is, until I chanced upon the delicious picture at spicyana’s.

Promptly cut two of the bananas and kept in the freezer for over 3 hours as I was busy with the usual household weekend stuff that needs to happen before Mondays hit. Molu is a dessert enthusiast (candy lover for the lay people) and joined forces as soon as she heard about it. Our blender is not the best so she and I had to add 2-3 tbsp of water and a tbsp. of honey to keep things moving. Ladled into a plastic bowl and kept covered in the freezer. Enjoyed delicious ice cream after just 2 hours without having to churn anything! Sprinkled some coconut flakes purely for effect if you were wondering about that white stuff.

You will need:

           2 ripe bananas cut into one inch pieces - freeze for an hour or so

           1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

           1/4 tsp instant coffee

           2-3 tbsp of water or honey for consistancy and sweetness

           almond/coconut flakes to sprinkle

Mix all together except the flakes in a blender to get the consistency of soft serve and freeze for an hour or so to set. That's it. All the remains is the eating of it!

            

I liked the ease of it so much that the remaining 2 bananas were also cut up and frozen to be used on a rainy day. You know it is not for when it rains (then I’d like hot tea and vada please) but for a hot day when no one wants to venture outside to buy ice cream.

On other news, every spring at least one bird family sets up home in our humble premises and this year was no exception. This nest had 5 eggs but I only see three of these guys there. Hope the roaming neighborhood cats will not get them when they are so helpless. Our own Zeus Lawrence knows he cannot get to them from behind the windows no matter how much he inspects.

Happy Belated Onam - The Festival Of Vegetables And Payasams!

Onam which really is a festival of flowers, normally passes us by without much ado. I have made sure that the kids know about this traditional festival and the story that gives it enduring life. That of the benevolent king 'Mahabali' who was so unfairly banned to the netherworlds only to come back once a year to see his beloved subjects. Lately however some friends of ours have graciously offered to have Onam celebrated at their place. My son calls it 'the festival of vegetables' once he realized that he will not be seeing an ounce of meat at this so called 'party'. Although that was coined out of a little no-non-veg frustration, I really like it.. We all bring a dish or two depending on what is needed. I opted to make a payasam and was going to fly by with the everyone's go-to-in-a-rush semiya payasam. But then I happened to visit the recently revamped local Kerala grocery store and noticed a palada (thick flattened rice flakes)  box on the shelves. That is how the idea of making something other than semiya came about. The recipe instructions seemed easy enough.

On the day of the deed I woke up a little early and started on the payasam. Half way through, I realized that I have really just started. The milk has to reduce for the payasam to have the right consistency and this meant constantly stirring it on low heat for a good chunk of your life. er.. I mean of an hour:-) Guess what? My poor unsuspecting high school sophomore (10th grade) woke up unexpectedly early that day and was quickly roped in to do some slow stirring before he had much time to think. He in his usual responsible manner finished out the assigned time with aplomb despite feeling a little exploited for waking up early! From then on it was easy to assign the stirring duty to my newly minted middle schooler (6th grade) to continue on and finally the Dad, both of whom also obliged without a word. I was able to prepare the beans thoran I had also promised, while all of this was going on.  We got to the end of it much easier and at this stage the stirring was not so constantly needed either! Here is the recipe from the box top that I pretty much followed to the letter. Makes enough for 10 couples and their offspring who may or may not eat the payasam.

In the Mix
readymade ada - 200g
milk - 3 litres (i used 2% milk)
sugar - 800 gram
cardamom - 5 (crush, remove skin and powder using pestle and mortar)
ghee - 3 tsp
raisins - 3 tbsp
cashew halves - 1 tbsp (diced to smaller pieces)
water - 2 litres

How To Do
Boil 1 1/2 litres of the water in a pan. Wash and drain the ada like you would do for rice. Once the water comes to a rolling boil, remove from heat and add the ada. Cover and soak for 20  minutes.
Drain and wash with cold water like you would do for pasta so the ada won't stick. You can melt 1 tsp. of the ghee and toss it with the ada at this time.

Heat 1 litre of the milk and the remaining half litre of the water together in a thick bottomed pan. Add the ada. Cook till the ada is soft, taking care for the milk not to boil over. Keeping the pan on low flame is the safest choice. That and stirring slowly and constantly will do the trick. Now add the sugar, stir well and add the remaining milk. I wasn't sure if the pan I chose will hold all the milk. So I added in steps of half litres. Luckily the pan could hold all of it.

Now that all the stuff is together on the stove, look around for good volunteers sauntering in and out of the kitchen. Grab them and assign divided chunks of the total stirring time. About 1 hour total for this case. Maybe it would have been shorter if I had used full milk, not sure. I think 2% makes it stay at the same consistency even after cooling down so you don't have to add anything later. I also didn't see the pink color at any time. It stayed a nice beige color. Some say the pink is seen when an aluminum pan is used. I used a steel pan.

Keep stirring till you get a nice payasam like consistency. I don't really like it to be that thick. Remove from heat, add cardamom powder and 1tsp of ghee and stir together. Saute cashews and raisins in the remaining ghee, drain on paper and add to the payasam if your folks would like that. I like how the payasam looks after adding raisins and cashews. H and molu tasted the payasam and liked it. 'Nough said.

Triple Hazelnut Truffle

This is an easy dessert or shall I say, snack? After all that work they do taste like glorified milk chocolate which is perfectly fine with me. The crunch gives it a healthy snack persona:-) And beware, if you hope to taste some you might as well do that right away since there may not be any left if you wait. So here is the scoop which is actually available all over the net with a search for 'triple hazelnut truffle'. I found this recipe in a magazine while waiting - can you guess? - in the dentist's office!

In The Mix

Nutella Hazelnut Spread - 3 tbsp
Hazelnut flavored liqueur - 2 1/2 tbsp
Light colored corn syrup - 1 tbsp
Milk Chocolate - 5oz
Hazelnuts - 1/3 cup (salted, toasted)

How To Do

The 'triple' in the name comes from the three forms of hazelnut in the recipe. Since my girl and I spent most of the time hunting for the liqueur, we substituted hazelnuts with walnuts which were easily found that day. The liqueur maybe difficult to find. Frangelico is the recommended brand. Can be substituted with any fancy sounding hazelnut syrup as we did.

Once you are setup with all the ingredients, you need an expert chopper like my girl. Chop away the walnuts and chocolate to as small as you have time for. She does this job very well.

Now mix all the ingredients together and boil in a double boiler. I just boil water in a larger pan, place the ingredients in a smaller pan and place it over the boiling water. Keep on stirring while all ingredients mix together. Remove from heat and set to cool after pouring into a flat pan. You can refrigerate it to satisfy little people who cannot wait that long.

Once cooled, make them into little balls and start enjoying right away. I had some biscotti at home that I dipped into the still pliant mix and results were extremely satisfying as you can see below. Gives it a nice twist. I loved these too. But kiddos preferred the truffles. Easy activity, tremendous returns!

PW's Key Lime Pie !

It is no secret that I am a fan of Pioneer Woman. Now that she is on Food Network, I have a little fan to watch it along with me. One of the episodes featured a quick Key Lime Pie and my girl wanted to make it. We could not find a recipe on PW's blog or on Food Network site. She wanted it so bad that she recorded the already recorded show using a tablet so we could watch it in the kitchen for instructions while making it! She had also entered the ingredients in her little book so we can shop for it. Family was visiting and HAunt & HCousin happily offered to help her in this pie making quest. They had fun making it and the end result was delicious as well as good looking! We will definitely be making it again. It is the perfect summer dessert. I wanted to put down the recipe here so next time we don't need need to hunt for that video. Thanks PW for an "OMG, it is sooooo good!" recipe. This recipe is halved and can make 6-7 cups. This is mostly an eye witness account and from hearsay as I had no part in making it.

In The Mix

for custard

fresh squeezed lime juice - 1/2 cup (not diluted with water)
sugar - 1 cup (or less if you are not a sweet tooth)
butter - 1 stick
eggs - 7

for crust 
graham crackers  - 6
sugar - half of  1/3 cup (1/6th cup)
butter - half of 1/3 cup (1/6th cup)

for the whipped cream
heavy cream - 3/4 cup
powdered sugar - 1/4 cup


How To Do

Heat the lime juice in a pan. Add the sugar and butter and let that melt in. Beat the eggs and add that in and wait for the custard to become thick and heavy. Set to cool. You can refrigerate it to fasten the process if needed.

Now we go for the crust. Crush the graham crackers. HAunt did this by crushing them in a ziplock bag using a rolling pin. Mix the sugar and butter with the crushed graham crackers in bowl. The resulting mix should be slightly crunchy without any lumps.

Now we are whipped away to the whipped cream. (In the words of my little chef who is dictating the recipe while mom is furiously typing away) First add the heavy cream into a mixer along with the powdered sugar. Mix together until nice and fluffy like a long haired cat's fur:-).

Done! Finito! Well not really. Time to pick a clear glass container and add each layer to make the mini pie. First add in the crust, then the custard on top of it and lastly the cream. Cover in plastic wraps and leave in the fridge to set. When dessert time comes get these beauties out, add some lime zest (we forgot this), get a spoon and dig in!

Ruthie's Bread & Butter Pudding - from Nora Ephron's 'I Remember Nothing'

When I finished reading Nora Ephron's book, the one thing that I wanted to do was to make that bread pudding. Ephron's love for her deceased friend Ruthie got eternalized when she added Ruthie's recipe into the book.

In the Mix

large eggs - 5

egg yolks  - 4

granulated sugar - 1 cup

salt - 1/4 tsp

whole milk - 1 quart (~960ml)

heavy whipped cream aka heavy cream - 2 cups

vanilla extract - 1 tsp

brioche bread - 12 half inch thick slices, crusts removed

butter - 1 stick or less, brought to room temp

confectioners sugar - 1/cup or as needed 

How To Do

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a flat baking pan (2 quarts) with shortening or butter. Need an extra baking pan larger than this to place it in a water bath while baking. I used my turkey roasting pan which was big enough.

Gently beat/whisk the eggs, egg yolks, granulated sugar and salt until thoroughly blended. You can use home baked brioche bread if you have any. Butter one side of the bread slices and set aside.

Scald all the milk and 1 cup of heavy cream in a saucepan over high heat. Do not boil. When you tip the pan and it makes a sizzling noise, remove from heat.Add in the vanilla extract. Stir this gently into the egg mixture without beating until blended.

Overlap the bread, butter side up in the greased baking pan and pour the prepared mix over it. Not all pieces need to be submerged I guess but do make sure those pieces get poured over with some of the liquid. Set in the larger pan and add hot water to come halfway up the side of the baking dish. Bake for about 45 minutes or a sharp knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. The bread should be golden and the pudding puffed up. Can be done earlier in the day.

Before serving, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and place under a broiler for a minute or so. Or use a crème brûlée torch to brown the sugar. Serve with heavy cream. I did not brown the confectioner’s sugar and it was still yum. Adding heavy cream is optional as the dish is loaded enough!

I loved it even more after refrigerating for a few hours. Do any browning before you refrigerate. If you can imagine our household (mainly the mom and dad) forgoing dinner and walking more than usual just to enjoy a measly joint of this heavenly dish, then you know how good it is! I have a nice crème brûlée recipe from the net that I make but this is way easier and as tasty!! I had meant to take it to the office for our group meeting but just couldn’t do it in the end. Why not have a fun whole week where everyday is filled with the anticipation of devouring a piece of this dessert and achieve Nirvana instead of giving it away? Not generous I know. So sue me:-))

Yet Another Yellow Cake Recipe

As I have posted before, I am a total sucker for the holidays. Something in the air just gets to ya! Maybe it is the falling leaves sprinkled on the grass like stars of the sky, or a world in clear focus right after the October showers (if there is such a thing) or  it could be the rainbow of trees lining the streets in full boom with the myriad colors of fall. Er.. bear with me while I am trying to wax poetic  here. A body has to do what a body has to do! Now that it is out of the system I'll get down to business:-)

 

This is not a real recipe by the way. It does have some steps that are in addition to the standard box instructions and thus makes it worthwhile to post.  I get good reviews every time I remember to make it.  Came across this cake sometime back at my previous work place. From the admin (secretary) to our then CEO ."To be precise", said Thomson and Thompson:-) She was this fashionable old lady that took pride in doing things well. So when she baked the cake and brought it for us, I got the recipe from her right away. It is simple enough and when I made it after a long time  for my son's robotics team who used to meet at our home for a while, all of it was gone in no time!  This is almost like the Christmas Rum cake but with a subtler taste.

In The Mix

Any yellow cake mix - 1 Box (Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines will do)
Jello Vanilla - 1 box 3 oz. (cook & serve, not the instant
canola oil - 3/4 cup
dry sherry (white not dark) - 3/4 cup
eggs - 4

How To Do

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl blend all the ingredients together. The secret to this cake is to beat, beat and beat until the mixture becomes smooth. 5 to 6 minutes appear to do the work.

I love to use the bundt cake pan for everything these days because the cake fluffs up very nicely in it. Grease the pan with shortening. I find it easier to put a tsp of butter or shortening to the pan and place it in the preheating oven. Once shortening melts I take the pan out and coat everywhere with a paper napkin. Do take care not to burn your hand though if doing this.

Pour batter into the pan and place it in the oven. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a fork inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool down for 15 minutes and enjoy!

Here is the missing piece that I managed to capture before being driven into oblivion!

Have a wonderful Christmas and a Fabulous New Year. Happy Holidays!!

Banana Nut Bread

Holidays are kicked off here at home with Halloween. I am just about now finished with my job of identifying and eliminating candy wrappers stashed in unknown locations. My girl the sweet connoisseur has found her home in this celebration of candies. This year the kiddos mixed and matched available stuff to become a fashionable bunny and Harry Potter cum Death Eater.

Bananas are one thing we keep eating and it's gotten out of hand lately since now my husband (H) has totally joined the banana bandwagon. He finds it the best kind of snack in the current state of affairs. Luckily H does not take much shine to the baby bananas that I adore. Plantains (nenthrapazham) are more his thing. This week we had a bunch too many of the regular Chiquita bananas and some of them got overripe. I cannot eat an overripe banana if my life depended on it. I like'em just ripe. Any black spots and they are off my edible food chart. H loves them in this stage but he can only do so much by himself. Enter banana nut bread! I have made it before for my cake-in-a-jar attempts but that was a while ago. Searched and found this recipe at allrecipes.com which had hundreds of reviews and several suggestions. I followed most of those and got a here-this-minute-gone-the-next kind of recipe! You can assume that I had to struggle to get even this last piece to take a picture! Kick off your holiday season with this very comforting bread. Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Happy Thanksgiving!

In The Mix
white sugar - 1 1/2 cups (add 1/2 cup more if you prefer it more sweet)
brown sugar - 2 cups
shortening - 1 cup
eggs - 3
ripe bananas - 2 mashed (over ripe gives the best results)
all purpose flour - 3 cups
buttermilk - 1 1/4 cups
baking soda - 1 1/2 tsp
baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp
vanilla extract - 1 tsp
chopped walnuts - 1/2 cup or less (optional )

How To Do
Preheat oven to 350 F.

Take the sugars and shortening in a bowl and beat for 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and beat well after each. Instead of mashing beforehand I just added the bananas at this time in small pieces and gave it a good beat to mix it all together. This won't work if the bananas are not over ripe. Then you do have to mash. Add buttermilk and vanilla and use a whisk from this point to combine. Add in flour, baking powder and soda. Stir in nuts now. I didn't because none of us like nuts in the soft texture. I liked one idea that said to sprinkle some on the top of the bread along with sugar to give it a twist. Didn't try it this time though. Pour the batter into 2 greased 9x5 inch pans. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a fork inserted into the middle returns clean.

Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes. Dump out onto a platter and try to get at least one piece before all that soft moist goodness disappears while you watch!

Cake In A Jar - Bacardi Rum Cake

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays & A Wonderful Year Ahead Everyone!


This is the last on jar cakes. I promise!

It came about because I also wanted a cake with easier ingredients to make in bulk and guess what turned up in the search? Bacardi Rum Cake! So that was the second cake that went into my jars. This site also has many helpful baking tips. I changed the glaze from the original recipe a little as it was too heavy for us.

Apparently this is a very popular cake and came out in an Ad for Bacardi Rum in the late 1970's. From the reviews it looks like different versions can be made by adding to the recipe or changing the type of the rum used.  But for this classic cake, use only the dark/gold rum. It looks best when made in the classic bundt shape as shown in the ref picture. I didn't add chopped pecans for the jar version. Hope to make the bundt version with the chopped nuts for one of our gatherings provided there is time. It is a good looking cake I think.

In The Mix

pint sized canning jars/lids - 6 (used wide mouthed for this cake)
shortening - 2 tbsp or melted as needed

classic yellow cake mix - 1 box (18.5 oz)
jell-o vanilla cook & serve - 1.5 oz (only used half of the 3 oz. package)
eggs - 4
water - 1/2 cup (did not use the cold milk)
vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
bacardi gold/dark rum - 1/2 cup

for the glaze 
butter - 1/4 cup (4 tbsp)
water - 1/2 cup
sugar - 2/3 cup
fresh orange juice - 1/2 cup (pulp removed)
bacardi gold/dark rum - 1/4 cup

How To Do
Follow steps as before for the jars.
Sterilize by boiling in water for about 15 minutes. Take out only the jars and let dry.
Spread melted shortening to cover all the inside areas making sure to leave the lip clean.
Keep the lids in the warm water till you are ready to put them onto the jars.

Preheat oven to 325C.

Beat together the cake mix, jell-o vanilla, eggs, water, oil and rum on high for 2 minutes. The batter is ready!
Pour batter to a little less than half of the jar. Place on a cookie sheet to balance the jars and keep in the oven. Bake for 45-48 minutes.

While the jars are baking, prepare the glaze.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add water, sugar, orange juice and stir till all the sugar is melted. Boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add the rum. The rum could cause steam to rush out so be a tad careful here. Let sit while waiting.

Insert a skewer in the center of the jar to see if done. Turn off the oven, but keep the jars inside.

As before, take out the lids and screw tops and keep on a plate. No need for this to dry out.

Take the jars out one at a time from the oven, gently insert a skewer to make deep holes and pour 2-3 tbsp or more of the glaze into each jar. Place the lid onto the jar and screw on with reasonable tightness. Set aside for the jars to self seal. The heat and moisture will help with the sealing process. When the jars are completely cooled, press the center of the lids. If they don't move up or down, they are vacuum sealed. You will most likely hear a gentle popping sound when this happens.  If they move up and down then there is no seal and use as you would a regular cake. Once completely cooled, decorate as you please. See previous post for ideas.

The original glaze when I made it was really rich and we felt the rum content was too much for us. The glaze we used was lighter and more pleasing to us. I think the gentlemen in the family will prefer this cake and the ladies will prefer the one in the previous post. I plan to make a yellow cake mix from scratch when I try to tackle this another time. The cake apparently stores well whether sealed or not. But for the jar version, it is safer to make sure that they are sealed.

When you are ready to eat, open the lids and slide out the cake and cut into circles or just spoon out of the jars or make long cuts using a knife and slide out the pieces to enjoy!

Here is the lowdown on jar cakes compiled from the many sites and from trying out:

* buy 1 pint sized jars. these can be wide mouthed or not. the wide mouthed ones are easier to slide out of but the other looks better.

* only use shortening to grease the jars prior to baking

* any quick bread type of recipe (recipes with baking powder)  can be baked in the shortest time and the baking time is similar to that of the actual recipe.

* a regular cake recipe will take longer with the jar baking time about 15 min less than the actual baking time.

*quick bread types can be filled up to half or slightly more of the jar as they will not rise out of the jar too much at that level.

* regular cake recipes should be filled less than half of the jar to avoid overflow

* even if the cake overflows, it can be pushed back into the jar while closing the lid but this is not much fun to do.

* for each recipe you try, it is good to make one jar at first to get an idea of the amount of batter needed and the baking time.

* they are all time great gifts with a home made touch for friends, family, teachers, work.. you name it.

* it may sound like a lot to do but once you make the jars in a cake  a first time, it will not feel so and there is no parallel to it for a personalized gift

Cake In A Jar - Yogurt And Brown Sugar Cake from Cannelle et Vanille

The Manger is up and lighted.

So is the tree with the ornaments.

Even the ginger bread house is made and devoured!

The dangling roof lights from last year were never taken out and so turning those on was easy as usual:-) Hey, you do what you can to make life easier.

Now it is time to bake some gifts and goodies, mainly the cake.  Unfortunately having a crazy time at work with projects moving at the speed of light does not conduce to relaxed planning at home for the holidays. Instead you develop brain fatigue at the prospect of working through the holidays leading to inertia and apathy. OK it is not that bad only pretty close. Luckily squeals of laughter from the little ones jumping in joy at the thought of the upcoming holidays (already here) and of getting gifts from Santa and everyone else can just perk you up. Why the activities can even help to relax and restart the overworked brain! Since the fruits were not bought they didn't get macerated and the fruit cake simply cannot be made this year. That is when I remembered the cakes in a jar that we had sent out as gifts to family in the early years of our marriage. They were apparently a success unless the recipients were being polite out of love:-).

Those were the early years of food blogging. Google had not made its appearance, yet the truly initiated were already making their mark on the net. When my search for Christmas gifts yielded these pages (I am so glad I was able to find them intact again now, years later!) I was energized. Had a hard time finding the canning jars (also called mason jars) then but now I see them everywhere. In grocery stores as well as in Target. I made brownies and banana nut bread then but wanted to try something different and more Christmassy this time.

Yogurt And Brown Sugar Sponge Cake from cannelle et vanille

When one of my colleagues came back from a trip to France, we were all given the delightful French Macarons. Now, they are not the thick heavy macaroons  that we are used to but melt in your mouth angelic textured pieces of sheer delight!  cannelle et vanille was brought to my attention by the colleague as a good site for homemade french macarons with detailed instructions. The recipe index at the home page makes it very easy to navigate. The pictures are so awesome that I couldn't take my eyes off of the site for the longest time. I hope I will get to make those macarons some day (I hear Starbucks sells some in their stores) but didn't want to try this for the Christmas baking. The name of this recipe is what caught me and the 'yogurt and brown sugar cake' sans the ice cream  from there is what I made as it sounded yummy and doable. I just had to get muscavado sugar from amazon. Other than that I had all the ingredients. So made them in the jars and they were delicious and light as hoped.

In The Mix
pint sized canning jars/lids - 5 (used narrow mouthed for this cake)
shortening - 2 tbsp or as needed
check here for gram conversion

butter  - 170 grams/11.942 tbsp ( keep at room temp for some time before making the batter)
brown sugar - 150 grams/10.537 tbsp (to soften this, keep covered with a wet paper towel for a while)
granulated white sugar - 85 grams/5.971 tbsp
muscavado sugar - 50 grams / 3.512 tbsp
vanilla extract - 1 tsp
eggs - 2
yogurt - 180 grams/12.645 tbsp
all purpose flour - 180 grams/12.645 tbsp
baking powder - 4 grams/0.843 tsp
zest from 1 lemon

How To Do

Sterilize the jars and lids by boiling in water for about 15 minutes.
Take out the jars and let dry.

Spread melted shortening to cover the insides making sure to keep the lip clean.
Keep the lids in the warm water till you are ready to put them onto the jars.

 Preheat oven to 350C.

Beat the butter, brown sugar, white sugar and muscavado sugar together for about 2 minutes. If you find that the muscavado sugar does not completely get broken, this is just fine and even desired. Makes for a crunchy bite in the cake as the site suggests.  Add lemon zest and vanilla extract and mix well together. Add the eggs one at a time and then add the yogurt. Time to add the flour and baking powder. Both can be sifted together for a good mix.

Checkout my new digital scale. I had bought this for my HMom before she left last year and meant to get one for myself based on all the awesome reviews. Got it at last and it is all that and more. Love it.

Pour the batter to a little over half of the jars. Place on a cookie sheet to balance the jars and keep in the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Insert a skewer in the center to see if done. Turn off the oven, but keep the jars inside.

Now that the jars are ready, take out the lids and screw tops and keep on a plate. No need for this to dry out. Take the jars out one at a time from the oven, place the lid onto the jar and screw on with reasonable tightness. Set aside for the jars to self seal. The heat and moisture will help with the sealing process. When the jars are completely cooled, press the center of the lids. If they don't move up or down, they are vacuum sealed. You will most likely hear a gentle popping sound when this happens.  If the lid moves up and down, then there is no seal and just use as you would a regular cake. The sealed cakes are perfect for mailing and have been known to keep fresh and moist for up to 6 months when stored in a cool, dark place. They never last this long anyway so I have not experienced the longevity personally. Can vouch for 3-4 weeks for sure.

Once cooled, decorate to your heart's content. You can make little notes and thread on a ribbon tied to the jar. Little pieces of fabric cut as 10" squares or circles will add to the festive look. This time we printed out little index cards and punched holes on them to thread. We had greetings from the 4 of us as well as a link to the original recipe site and the name of the cake on it. Lovingly homemade yet with a nice professional touch I'd say. If that is too much, just put a little circular festive label on the top with the cake's name handwritten on it. We tasted some ourselves a few days later and the cake stayed as fresh and moist as the day it was made!

For these type of narrow jars, use a knife to slice inside and slide out the pieces.

Easy, Breezy, Healthy Dessert

Ha! I had you there for a minute. Didn't I? I knew the 'healthy dessert' will get to you if the 'easy breezy' didn't:-) And true to my word, it is easy, breezy aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnddd it is healthy. But only if you are a lover of banana like my Dad and honey like many in my family. Then we are in business. If not, why torture yourself? Just skip the post and go indulge yourself in a decadent sundae concoction since that is what you thought of when you heard 'dessert' anyway...

Every single day after a pleasant dinner, my Dad will wonder aloud at the table, "Do we have some small bananas around?" There always were a variety or two of the yummy little bananas at home and he was always a satisfied customer. I used to wonder at this habit and was not particularly fond of bananas after dinner. I do love them for other times as I have waxed high in previous posts. Don't worry. Although I feel some nostalgia trying to push through I'll keep a check on it today.

Needless to say I started to have the same craving as my Dad come dessert time. I think this goes hand in hand with the sweet tooth that I developed when having my babies. Anyway the lot fell to the omnipresent Chiquitas and once I hit on the art of slicing and eating them with a mouthful of honey, there was no looking back!

In the Mix

bananas - any variety will do. take as many as you want. 1/2 a banana is small fry if your spouse
is also a fan.
honey - enough to cover the bananas or to your tolerance

How To Do ( hey i am stickler to procedure and it does need some work:-))

Slice the bananas into little discs. Not too thin and not too thick. Gently pour the honey on top. Grab a fork. Find a comfy place to sit. Dig in!!


I think but not so sure that if you add some sugar or crystallized white sugar (kalkkand?) to this combo then it will become 'trimadhuram' or the tri-sweet 'prasadam' that you get in Hindu temples of course after going through the proper rites to make it so.

Dessert Time - Gulab Jamun

I shouldn't really be calling this a recipe. I am trying to talk here about the instant version. Who needs a recipe for that? Anyone can follow the instructions. But hey, once you made these golden balls, they are so picturesque that you just have to click and well, once you click, you post!

The Details

Buy any Gulab Jamun Mix with 3-4 step instructions from any Indian store. Follow instructions to the letter and voila! you have a good looking dessert.

I use milk instead of water to knead the dough and oil instead of ghee to deep fry. The only expertise needed here I think is the art of making even sized balls prior to frying. My lack of it shows:-) The other thing is to know how hot the oil is when you start frying. If the pan and the oil are too hot the jamuns can get burned and turn an ugly dark color. Learned this the hard way. So once the oil is hot, lower the heat to medium. I like doing this in a non-stick pan as opposed to a stainless steel pan. The steel pan can heat up fast in my impatience to get the oil hot enough and my carefully shaped jamuns go to naught in an instant.

I should mention that these jamuns while totally yummy, are not exactly good for the body if not taken in moderation. We make this very rarely and that too in cases where a homemade dessert is appropriate but time is in short supply. Since it is so rarely made, I do gobble them up without guilt if I see them in the fridge after the fact. They keep well in the fridge for a few days. They can be eaten cold or microwave warmed for 20 sec or so.

It's That Time of The Year Again! Fruitcake ( from Spicyana)

I had never liked fruitcakes much and this didn't change when I tasted the fruit loaded brick of a fruitcake here too. But you can never underestimate the power of memories. The tangy taste of the fruitcakes I had with the little goblet of wine at wedding receptions apparently stayed with me. The whole memory was reawakened and became a forceful nostalgic quest for more when one of my friend's Mom made it here on a US visit and gave me a quite generous portion to take home. By the time the quest became insufferable – my logical mind could not believe that I actually wanted to make and eat this cake – her Mom had already gone back. So in a moment of courage – I am a follow the instructions on the cake mix box and make a pound cake once in a while girl - I set out on my always fruitful food blog searches for a recipe. After going through many excellent recipes, decided to try spicyana's fruitcake. I had always been fascinated by all those baked cakes.

I stayed true to the recipe with due exceptions made for what I could find and what I assumed. The Indian store I went to for shajeera said it is the same as kala jeera and so that is what I used. I made the caramel a little early in the day and it kinda hardened by the time it was to be added and I heated it up in the microwave to liquefy again. This did not seem to have affected the taste much. It was quite a success and by the time a week came around the cake was barely there! Every time I took the cake out for basting with Rum it went back in a little less:-)

The recipe is pretty much the same as at spicyana's. For some reason, I am not able to link to the single recipe but to a whole page which contains it and you will need to scroll down a bit to Dec 13 to find the recipe. I am reproducing it here with how I went about it so it is easier for me the next time. This is the second year I made it and intend to make it a regular feature of our X-mas activities. Family and friends who have tasted it love it and I myself have heavily fallen for it. Must be all that rum:-)

Dry Fruits

golden raisins - ¾ cup

black raisins - ¾ cup

dried apricots – 12 chopped

dried tart cherries - ¼ cup

orange juice (no pulp) – 1 cup

nutmeg powder – ¼ tsp

cloves – 3

honey – 2 tsp

rum – 4 tbsp (I used Bacardi Select original premium crafted rum. I am sure any rum is fine but being completely lost in that aisle, wanted to note what I finally picked)

grated orange rind – 2 tsp

Warm the orange juice, add all the dried fruits and the other ingredients together and keep for 2-3 days in an air tight container.

Caramel

sugar – 1 cup

water – 5 tbsp

butter - ½ tsp

Take 1 cup sugar in a pan and add 1 tbsp water to it. Heat till you see a color change and stir continuously from this point. Keep on stirring till all the sugar melts into a nice golden brown. Add butter and stir. Add the remaining water. Take care to add the water very slowly so it won't splash up onto you. The solution will bubble up and all that but don't worry and keep on stirring and remove from heat to cool. Try to make the cake before the caramel hardens, but if it does, then carefully microwave it or melt again.

In The Cake Mix

all purpose flour – 2 ¾ cup

baking powder – 2 tsp

confectioner's sugar – 1 cup

butter – 1 cup

eggs – 5

cinnamon – a pinch

ground kala jeera (shajeera?) - ¾ tsp

vanilla essence – 1 tsp

soaked fruits and caramel from above

Did not use 1/4 cup chopped flour coated cashew nuts as we don't prefer it in the cakes but add if you do.

How To Do

Preheat oven to 300F.

This will make two round shallow pans of cake.

Grease the cake pans with butter or shortening. I do this by keeping the pan with the butter in the oven while heating up, then taking it out and spreading the melted butter around. Did not use parchment paper and did not flour the pans. Just lazy!

Sift the flour with baking powder and all the spice powders.

Melt the butter and add sugar. Beat with an electric hand mixer for a minute.

Beat the eggs and add to the butter-sugar mix. Add vanilla essence and caramel. Beat for 4 minutes.

Add the prepared flour now little by little and mix well with a whisk.

Add soaked fruits and whisk it in or stir in with a spoon.

Pour into pans and place it in the preheated oven for 60 minutes.

Since these pans are shallow, they don't need more than 60 minutes, but a deeper pan needed about 1 hr and 15 minutes.

Cake is done when a fork inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool for 15 minutes and unmold.

Bast with rum all around and cover in foil.

Repeat rum basting once a day for as many days as you are patient up to a week.

Not sure how long it will keep as every time it gets over within a week. I have mailed them across the US and reports indicate they were in perfect shape to be enjoyed on reception.

I can't believe I am making these cakes with gusto and would like to thank spicyana's winner of a recipe for making it possible.