Homemade Bagels with Jalapeno Cream Cheese spread

This is another one in the line of my attempts to recreate at home a commonly available preparation that I thought for the longest time nearly impossible or at least too difficult to create at home. The humble bagel definitely proved to me it sure is a little tricky and requires attention to detail to get the best result. I speak from experience. The first time I tried it, it got too chewy and tough. After much I though I figured out where I was going wrong. To get the right taste and texture, you have to be very mindful of how long you boil the dough, the right pinch of baking soda and finally baking it just right. Once you get it how you want it, and not to mention with the easy-to-put-together but outta this world jalapeno spread, a fresh out of the oven hot bagel with a spicy spread will be close to if not the best kind of bread you ever had.

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Baked Red Velvet Donuts!

My kitchen drawer where I keep my bake ware is almost always in a disarray. All the different shapes and sizes of pans and trays oftentimes do not play very well together when it comes to staying organized. Then to top that I just cannot resist buying a baking pan or tray that I come across and it catches my attention. The donut tray I used for this recipe was another such thing that I had to have when I saw it the other day at the store. It was a Wilton brand pan and this recipe was in fact right on the packaging itself. They make the perfect shaped donuts and whats better is that you can actually eat a few since they are baked and not deep fried. To kick it up another notch, if the donuts are the red velvet kind, what's not to like, after all who doesn't like red velvet cake. These came out really nice and soft and velvety and then with that cream cheese glaze on top, you just go 'yummm'. They are perfect  treat for the upcoming Valentine's day too.
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The Best Ever Carrot Cake!

If you have never had carrot cake and the thought of carrots and cake does not paint a very appetizing picture in your mind, think again. For those of you who know and like 'gajar ka halwa', you kinda got the idea already. I was a skeptic once, a long time ago, and then like with everything else food, I had to try it for myself.
This carrot cake is such that once you make it, every single person who has tasted it (including you) will ask you when you are making it again. This cake has branding value. Yes, you might be known by this cake - you know when they say so and so's carrot cake - and you will be begged for the recipe, LOL. Its really that good!
The cake is fluffy and yet has that moist texture from the carrots. The carrots blend their identity into the overall taste and texture of the cake and together with the spices like ginger and nutmeg, give this cake its unique and unmistakable flavor. The hide and seek from the pieces of nuts definitely adds an interesting play as well.

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Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

I must have made at least a couple of dozen different kinds of muffins in the last couple of years. Back when I started baking, what started as a 'let me see if I can bake a muffin of my own' has now almost become a chore. Especially so since every afternoon as my hungry kindergartner gets back from school, more often than not, her demand is to have a muffin for a snack. That makes my job to keep it interesting for her by mixing it up. This recipe is another variation that is derived from one of my own previous muffin recipes from here. Needless to say it worked great and also is just in time for fall.

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No Bake Nutella Cheesecake!

  Yup! back with yet another Nutella recipe. US Masala and Nutella have gone to such lengths that even Google recognizes my love for the decacent chocolate spread by giving me my own type-ahead - you see Nutella as an option as you start typing "US Masala" in the search box. If you are looking for a dessert that is decadent, looks like a million bucks and is rather quick to put together, this one is surely for you. It will get you rave reviews from anyone you serve it to and impressive as if you spend all day in the kitchen making it.
I have made a few fundamental changes to the recipe this is inspired from. Things like using regular soft fudge cookies instead of the recommended Oreo cookies (believe it or not, no one in my household cares much for Oreo, not even the kid), bumped up the Nutella (*smirk*) than was suggested and cut down on the whipped topping quite a bit and oh yes before I forget, completely skipped the butter. 
As you push your spoon through the garnish and then the top layer, you feel the thick lusciousness of the creamy layer underneath which all the more urges you to pick up the spoon and satisfy your senses. Make sure you find a lone corner so you don't have to share. lol.

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Jalepeño Popper Dip

hat does one do when one is in the middle of a very interesting book and has this sudden urge of having something to munch on. No its not that I got distracted, its more like the way popcorn makes a movie better. For me that urge more specifically translates to some spicy dip with some chips? These cravings often show up uninvited especially when it is still not dinner time and its been a little bit since you had lunch, say around 5'ish in the evening. Ring a bell anyone?
Now dip'n chip! Hmmm... but what kind, my mind went almost half thinking about it. Something inside me suggested I seriously continue reading, it was too much work to get up an look for food, moreover I wouldn't find anything ready to eat in the refrigerator anyway (yeah I tend to not stock up on read-to-eat stuff). Yes I did finally get up, opened my good old refrigerator and scanned it through. I was right, there was nothing in there that I could pop the top of, peel the plastic cover and dip right in. Yeah I don't always feel like cooking..lol.. The book was still calling me back. It was then I discovered a jar of pickled jalapeños, some cream cheese... this can work I went... in fact I might've even said it out loud, quickly consulted my dear friend 'Google', typed jalepeno cheese dip and ta-da... found this recipe. I improvised according to the ingredients available that time in my refrigerator and pantry (I had no cheese except some low fat string cheese, no canned chillies, no fresh jalepenos and so on). The result was a spicy, cheesy delicious, addictive and still a very healthy dip! I had to click and post it - so here it is.

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Tiramisu for Him! (an eggless recipe)

ubby's birthday is a very special occassion for me; the day he came to this world to be mine. The special day was last week. Like every year I wanted to make something special for him. Something sweet, something he totally loves and something that is exotic enough so it expressed my feelings by way of food. He has a sweet tooth so it had to be sweet. What would be fabulous and romantic at the same time, as I sat there thinking, only one sight kept coming over and over in my head, yes you guessed it, Tiramisu!

Tiramisu literally means 'Pick me up' in Italian. Isn't the name enough, do you need a dessert to sound any more romantic. But thats not all, as you dip into it, you feel the creaminess as you cut through the layers of cream and the soft texture of the coffee soaked lady fingers. It just feels exotic and you cannot resist taking that first bite. Thats when you taste the sweet exotic creaminess combined with the slight bready texture that completely melts in your mouth. Your fork is ready to go again and before you know it your plate it clean and you are wondering 'should I get some more?'

For me the added bonus besides the fact that hubby totally admires this was that this is probably the only the sweet preparation I make that my little princess never says no to when asked it she wanted some. She can have a big piece of it every few hours. The first time I attempted Tiramisu was actually more due to need than want. A few months back, it was my little princess' birthday. I was planning on baking a cake. The oven was not looking its best so I decided I'd put it on the cleaning cycle before baking. Murphy's law at its best - after a couple of hours of 'cleaning' the oven died completely - the repair tech later told me the heat fried the control chip or something, hey I'm no expert on these things but I do know enough to believe that when an oven has a cleaning cycle, it should 'clean' rather then fry itself. Anyways... back to the story, now tasked with making a cake with the minor inconvenience of not having an oven, thus came the idea of making Tiramisu that looked like a cake.

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Lemon Cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting

If you have been a regular visitor to my blog you must have known by now that I have a clear obsession with chocolate and also most of my baked goodies are either chocolate based or consist of nutella. Every time I think of dessert, I think chocolate. Even when I am online looking for ideas, I type chocolate based search words... even when I am blog hopping, the category I check is chocolate baked goodies. You get the idea.

This time around when I was in the mood to bake some cupcakes I was again drawn towards making some black forest cupcakes or nutella cupcakes (God help me :)). But this time I struggled hard and overcame my obsession. It was mainly because of my not-much-of-a-chocolate-fan hubby (how can you!). Baked a lemon cupcake instead. I loved the results so much that from now on you will be seeing lots and lots of citrus in my baked goodies lol :) These cupcakes are so fresh, light and flavorful that even a no dessert and only chocolate person like me ate one whole cupcake with all the frosting (much to my hubby's surprise) ha ha!!

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Dark chocolate nutella Truffles

Some wise man once said "there are four basic food groups; milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate and chocolate truffles". I couldn't agree more. If you have been reading my posts, you probably already know that I am a chocolate fanatic!! Among all its different forms of, dark chocolate truffles are my absolute weakness :) After having the store-bought ones a few times, I decided to try making these at home. As hubby and I like our chocolate with little coffee I add coffee in it. Also Nutella is something I absolutely adore so I added that too in my truffles and the result was a silky, smooth, decadent, sinful, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate delight... mmm!

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