WHOLE WHEAT MAWA CAKE / KHOYA CAKE / EGG-LESS MAWA CAKE/ EGG-LESS KHOYA CAKE / EGGLESS WHOLE WHEAT MAWA CAKE

Mawa cake is very popular in Parsi/Irani bakery shops in Mumbai and Pune. It is made from mawa with touch of saffron and cardamom.

It is made traditionally using all-purpose flour but here I used whole wheat flour and homemade khoya.

You can make instant khoya both on gas stove and in microwave. I mostly make it on gas top, but for dry and crumbly khoya you can make it in microwave, you can get the recipe of instant khoya by clicking on word khoya.

I prefer giving this cake to kids after warming in microwave for 30 seconds as this makes the khoya inside more soft specially during winters and trust me it tastes awesome with some warm milk.

INGREDIENTS
1 + 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup grated homemade khoya/mawa
1 cup condensed milk or powdered sugar
1/2 cup room temperature butter
1/4 cup thick curd

1 + 1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cardamon powder (elachi powder)
few strands of saffron (kesar) (optional)
1/2 cup nuts of your choice


METHOD
1. Slice almonds, cashews, pistachios. Coat it with flour. Keep aside.

2. Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder. Keep aside.

3. In bowl add butter and condensed milk. Beat till creamy and smooth using stand mixer or hand whisker.

4. Add beaten thick curd. Mix gently.

5. Add grated or crumbled mawa. Mix well.

6. Add sifted flour mix. Mix well.

7. Add milk little by little mixing batter meanwhile.

8. Flavor up with cardamom powder and saffron.

9. Mix well.

10. Your smooth and creamy batter is ready.

11. Add some chopped nuts in the batter.

12. Pour batter in greased tin. Top with sliced nuts.

13. Bake in preheated oven at 170�C for 30-35 minutes or till skewer comes out be clean.

14. Let it cool down completely before cutting.

15. Before serving warm in microwave for 30 seconds and enjoy with warm milk.

Pictorial:

1. Slice nuts, coat in flour. Keep aside.

2. Beat together condensed milk and softened butter.

3. Add thick beaten curd.

4. Add grated khoya.

5. Add sifted flour.

6. Add milk.

7. Cardamom powder and some saffron.

8. Smooth and creamy batter is ready.

9. Pour in greased tin and bake at 170�C for 30-35 minutes or till skewer comes out to be clean.

 10. Let it come down to room temperature.

11. Warm in microwave before serving for 30 seconds.

BESAN HALWA / GRAM FLOUR DESSERT / PUDDING

Besan or gram flour is one of the most common flour found in houses. It is one of the healthiest as it improves immunity in children and strengthen bones and due to high protein level it helps in growth of children.

Many of us make ladoo or burfi with besan, this time I am here with very simple, easy and quick to make halwa.

My kids cherish it with a warm glass of milk in winters. You can serve this as dessert after food.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup besan ( gram flour)
1/2 cup ghee (clarified butter)

1 cup warm milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 TSP cardamom powder

METHOD
1. Heat ghee in pan. Add besan and roast till aromatic. This will take around 10- 15 minutes. You will see ghee leaving the sides.

2. As you see ghee leaving sides add warm milk.

3. Add sugar. Mix well.

4. Add cardamom powder.

5. Cook till sugar melts completely.

6. Roast nuts in ghee or dry roast. Add in halwa.

7. Serve hot.

Pictorial:

1. Heat ghee.

2. Add besan.

3. Roast till aromatic.

4. Once it's roasted you will see ghee leaving sides.

5. Add warm milk.

6. Mix well.

7. Add sugar.

8. Some cardamom powder.

9. Cook till sugar is completely melted.

10. Dry roast nuts or roast in ghee.

11. Garnish with nuts.

12. Serve hot!

HUNG CURD SANDWICH/ VEGETABLE HUNG CURD SANDWICH

I often make hung curd sandwich both in toffee shape and in simple sandwich form and it's liked by my kids quite a lot.
This time I experimented with hung curd in altogether a different way and it turned out to be really yummy with blasted flavors in mouth.

The best part is this sandwich stays fresh and soft for longer hours which kids can enjoy at any time in school.

Do try this recipe I am sure your kids gonna fall in love with this healthy and yummy sandwich.

Serves: 10-12 pieces
INGREDIENTS
1 cup hung curd
1/3 sandwich spread or mayonnaise
1 TSP sugar
1/2 TSP salt
1 TSP tomato sauce

1 TSP oregano or mixed herbs
1/2 TSP chili flakes.
1/2 TSP black pepper ( optional)
1 small finely chopped cucumber
1 small sized finely chopped tomatoes
1 small sized finely chopped green onion or regular onion
8-10 bread slices

METHOD
Make hung curd by hanging it. To know how to make hung curd click here.

Chop tomatoes, remove it's seeds and keep aside so that excess water comes out.


Take a large bowl, add hung curd, spread, salt, pepper, sugar, oregano, chili flakes and tomato sauce.Give a good mix.

Add chopped cucumber, spring onion, De-seeded tomatoes. Mix well. Though can even add boiled corns and bell peppers. Take a taste test and adjust salt and other flavors accordingly if required.

Take bread slices, trim the edges. Spread the mix generously. Cover with another slice. If your bread is not soft and fresh, warm it little bit to make it soft. Here we don't want crispy and hard bread.

Slice and pack in kids school lunch box or serve in breakfast.

Notes:
1. Don't over toast bread. Keep it soft to enjoy it better.

2. If using plain mayonnaise increase the amount of salt little bit.

Pictorial:

1. In a big bowl, add hung curd and sandwich spread.

2. This is the spread I used.

3. Add chili flakes.

4. Salt, sugar, pepper, oregano and tomato sauce.

5. Mix well.

6. Add cucumber, spring onion, de-seeded tomatoes.

7. Trim the edges of the bread, of required slightly warm the bread to make it soft.

8. Cover with other slice.














9. Pack in kids school tiffin with some beetroot halwa.

CHOCOLATE FILLED COOKIE / GANACHE FILLED COOKIES / DARK FANTASY COOKIES / SURPRISE COOKIE/ CHOCOLATE COOKIES / LAVA COOKIE/ GANACHE STUFFED COOKIES

I am super happy, super proud and super excited to share this recipe. I was not sure what name or title to be given to these cookies.

My kids are great fan of Unibic choco kiss cookies which have lava chocolate inside. While eating those cookies my daughter asked me "Can you make these cookies at home?" I said,"I don't know, but will surely try"

Then just for an experiment sake I made ganache and tried these cookies and that too with whole wheat flour....and to my surprise it was a big hit among my kids and hubby!

I could not nailed the crunchy outer part that perfectly but inside part was much more delicious.

Trust me you and your kids gonna love these cookies, these are one of the best cookies I have ever experimented. 

You can try other cookies like: chocolate dipped cookies, super soft chocolate chip cookies, chocolate sandwich cookie and many more under cookies section.

Serves: 7-8 cookies
INGREDIENTS
1+ 1/4 cup chopped dark chocolate
1/2 cup cream (I used heavy whipped cream)
1 cup whole wheat flour (Atta) or all - purpose flour
1/2 cup softened butter (room temperature)

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2-3 tbsp milk ( or more depending on the flour)

METHOD
Warm cream, don't bring it to boil, put it all over the chopped chocolate, cover for 5-10 minutes. Mix well. If you see any chunks of chocolate, microwave for 30 seconds or more to get smooth ganache.  let it set overnight in fridge.

Next day before making cookies, scoop out 1 tsp of  heaped ganache and roll it round using your hands. Dust your palm and fingers with cocoa powder to avoid stickiness. Keep ganache balls back in the fridge while you prepare the dough.

For cookie dough:
1. Beat together butter and sugar till creamy and pale in colour.

2. Add flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. Mix well.

3. Add milk little by little (whole wheat flour will require more milk as compared to all purpose flour) to combine the dough. The dough should be sticky otherwise cookies will not hold shape.

4. Take large spoons of cookie dough, flatten on your palm, keep ganache balls and wrap the dough around it and roll into balls. Place on the baking sheet. Do not flatten the cookie.

5. Bake at 180�C for 10-12 minutes. Let cookies cool down for at least 10 minutes.

6. Enjoy these lava cookies....trust me these are one of the best cookies I experimented till now.


 NOTES:
1. Ganache should be hard. Little bit sticky ganache should not be a problem, if you can handle.

2. I used heavy whipping cream for making ganache which had added sugar, due to which ganache was sweet. To suppress over sweetness of cookies I added 1/3 cup of sugar. If you are using unsweetened cream increase the sugar to 1/2 cup.

3. If using all-purpose flour, add 1-2 tbsp of milk.  It's very important to have little sticky dough.

4. It's very important to have cookie dough bigger than ganache roll. Dust your palm with cocoa powder before making cookies to avoid mess.


 
5. If you get cracks will wrapping the dough, ganache will leak, but still cookies will hold the shape and taste good ;)

6. It's important to let cookies cool down to room temperature. 

7. Ganache will set if cookies will be kept for more than 2 hours, in that case warm cookies for 5-10 seconds in microwave to get lava back.

8. In winters, it will remain liquid for 2 hours and in summers it might remain liquid for more than 2 hours.

9. If you want crispy cookie then bake it at 150�C for 20 minutes.


Pictorial:









1. Take out about 1 teaspoon of ganache.

2. Using your hands roll it in a ball shape.

3. Keep it in the fridge till the time you prepare cookie dough.

4. Mix together butter and sugar.

5. Beat well till creamy and pale.

6. Add flour and cocoa powder.

7. Mix well.

8. Add milk little by little. The dough will be little sticky.

9. Dust cocoa powder on your palm. Taje large spoon of cookie dough.

10. Press it flat from all the sides and center.

11.Keep small scoop of ganache.

12. Wrap the dough around.

13. Place on baking sheet. Bake at 180�C for 10-12 minutes.

14. Wait for it to come down to room temperature.

15. I broke the cookie after 30 minutes.

16. Enjoy!!

17. Closer look!

SOME SUCCESS STORIES! 

1. All the 4 pictures above are shared by Fatema Lokhandwala.




















2. By Preeti Rani.






































3. By Sonu Nawabi Punjabi. 

4. By Ramya Simhadri.

5. By Pallavi Goyal.

6. By Poonam Triveni Thaker.

7. By Pushpanjali Khare.




















8. By Neha Binnay






















9.  By Anuja Sahgal.