Baked Gulab Jamuns

Sorry no pictures for this one

Ingredients:

• Instant Gulab Jamun mix (MTR or Gits)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 4 coarsely grounded cardamom seeds
• 1 tablespoon sliced pistachio
• 2 tsp oil

Directions:

Syrup:

• In a large pan, add water, sugar, and ground cardamom seeds and bring it to a boil.
• Let the syrup boil for a minute then remove it from the heat.
• Stir the syrup until the sugar is dissolved.
• Set the syrup aside.

Gulab Jamun:

• In a bowl, make a the dough of the Gulab Jamun mix. Add some extra oil to it.

• Let the dough sit for a few minutes. Knead the dough. Grease your hands with butter before working with the dough.

• Divide the dough into about small equal portions and roll them into round balls.

• Place the small round balls on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

• The thing with baking jamuns is that they have to be lighter in colour than the fried ones. If too dark baked, then they will not absorb the sugar syrup.

• Let the gulab jamuns cool off for a few minutes before placing in the hot syrup.

• The gulab jamuns should sit in the hot syrup for at least 20 minutes prior to serving.

I made 2 batches of baked jamuns the other day as an experiment.. the first batch came out all nice and the second got a bit dark brown and did not absorb any syrup. The recipe is a trial an error thing, and i tried it because I did not want to stand in the kitchen near the hot oil, frying jamuns!

Tips to keep in mind to make baked jamuns work:
1. the jamuns should be very light brown baked.
2. the sugar syrup has more water than the sugar syrup used for fried jamuns.

Masala naan bread sticks

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour
• 2 tsp yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 cup oil

Directions:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in a food processor/dough machine
2. Warm the cup of water to dissolve all the yeast.
3. Add the water and oil to the dry ingredients slowly and make a dough in the processor or by hand. I used 1/4 cup oil, should have used all the 1/2 cup.
4. keep the dough in an oiled and covered container in a warm place for an hour or till it doubles in size.
5. Knead the dough again and keep for half an hour.
6. Shape the douhg into oblong naan or sticks and bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or till brown spots start appearing.
7. Let it cool on rack. Serve sticks with tomato soup and naan with any gravy dish like Butter paneer.!!

I made sticks coz i was too tired to roll out the naans. The sticks became a bit hard, so i need to use more oil butter next time! But they still go very well with soups! Have to try the vanilla fudge next!

Spiced Apple Ginger Bread!

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups sweet apples - shredded or chopped finely
• 1 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 small egg
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (optional)
  

Directions

1. Cream the butter (at room temp) with the sugar, then combine with the oil, eggs, and vanilla and set aside.
2. Sift the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, soda, and salt. I did not have nutmeg,so i used some cloves and cardamom.
3. Add dry ingredients to oil mixture gradually. Finally add the apples and nuts.
4. Grease pan, or line it with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pan, and bake at 350 deg F for about 35-40 mins (check after 30 mins) till its brown on the outside, and the toothpick comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool for 5 minutes in the pan after switching off the oven, then let it cool completely on a wire rack.

The bread came out quite good!..Motivation to try lotsa baked goods!

Blueberry Muffins!

Ingredients

Bottom:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil or butter.
  
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 tsp lemon peel or lemon juice.
  

Top:

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F . Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. If using butter, then cream butter and sugar, then add egg and milk. Mix in with flour mixture. Add the lemon juice. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Enjoy!
I actually had to use Baking soda instead of baking powder, courtesy my hubby. Grocery shopping does not come very naturally to men:). Some online research solved the problem and i replaced milk with yogurt to get the desired effect.

The second time around I changed a few things to make them a bit healthy. I used half all purpose flour and half whole wheat flour. And i reduced the butter and sugar to half the original quantity and added 1/3 cup honey. And i didnt put the crumb topping so it looked more like a cup cake.