Eggless Whole Wheat Cupcakes

One really doesnt need a reason to indulge in cupcakes. And trust me, they are soo easy to make. Once you get the basic measure right, there are endless possibilities of flavours and ingredients.
Here's a simple and healthy one that's eggless and uses almost no butter!

EGGLESS WHOLE WHEAT CUPCAKES

Ingredients :
Whole Wheat flour - 1 cup (Or refined + Wheat flour, 1/2 cup each)
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Whisked curds - 1 cup
Butter - 1 tbsp
Ripe bananas, mashed - 2 medium or 1 large
Demerara sugar, powdered - 1.5 cups (or normal sugar 1 cup)
Clove or cinnamon powder - 1/4 tsp
Almond powder/Ready to mix Badam drink powder - 2 tsps (optional)

Method :
1. Add the mashed bananas and 1/2 cup curd to a bowl and mix well. Add the sugar and butter and mix well again.
2. Sieve together flour, baking soda, spice powder into a clean bowl.
3. Fold the flour into the banana mixture, a little at a time. If batter is too thick add the remaining curds little by little till you get a dropping consistency, resembling Idli batter.
4. Spoon the batter into cupcake moulds. Bake in a pre-heated microwave (I place an oven-proof glass bowl filled with water and let run on high for 2 mins) at 180 deg C for 7-8 mins. If the toothpick test fails, bake for few minutes more.
Remove and let cool on a wire rack before de-moulding.

Papaya Banana Smoothie

Got some over-ripe fruits at home? Papaya and banana especially can look quite discouraging to consume on their own if too ripe!! But it's criminal to waste food! So here's a healthy and yummy alternative to not just use, but enjoy them!!

PAPAYA-BANANA SMOOTHIE

Ingredients :

Semi-ripe Papaya (cubed) - 1/2 (or 1 whole if small)
Ripe Banana (cubed) - 1 (I used robusta)
Honey - 3 to 4 tbsps
Thick curd - 1 cup
Milk - 2 tbsps
Clove powder - a pinch

Method :
1. Blend together the papaya and banana pieces.

2. Add the curd and milk and give it another whirl.

3. Finally add the honey and pinch of clove powder, pulse once and transfer to serving jar.

4. Serve chilled or at room temperature. Optional to add fruit chunks and/or dry fruits for added nutrition.

Eggless Banana Blueberry Cupcake

An eggless fruity chocolicious cupcake...

CHOCOLATE-FILLED BLUEBERRY BANANA CUPCAKE

Ingredients :

All purpose flour - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Softened Butter - 100 gms
Powdered sugar - 1/4 cup
Ripe banana - 1
Milk - 1/4 cup
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
Blueberries - 6 to 7
Chocolate sauce - 1/4 cup

Method :

1. In a bowl, add butter, sugar, mashed banana and a few tbsps milk. Blend well using a hand blender.

2. Keep blending adding all the milk gradually.

3. Sieve together all-purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda. Fold into the butter mixture.

4. Finally add the vanilla essence and blueberries and give a final whisk.

5. Spoon out a little batter into the  cupcake moulds. Now pour a little chocolate sauce and top off with little more batter.

6. Bake in a microwave in convection mode @ 200 deg C for about 6 minutes.

7. Remove and cool. De-mould and garnish with remaining chocolate sauce and blueberries.

Brown Bread Pudding

Finding a breakfast recipe that is quick to assemble, prepare and of course, healthy is almost an everyday challenge for most of us. A safe and popular bet is to go the Continental way with cereals, bread, eggs and fruits, though Indian food lovers would argue otherwise - but hey! Another debate for another day :)

This morning I was inspired by a pudding recipe shown on TV once, using bread, milk and fruits. Modified it a bit with what I had available and was really pleased with the delicious result - and it was wiped clean off the plates in 5 minutes :)

BROWN BREAD BREAKFAST PUDDING

Ingredients : (Serves 3)

Brown bread slices - 4 (Trim the sides if the baking dish is narrow, but do not discard)

Ripe bananas - 3

Milk - 1/2 cup

Condensed milk - 1/4 cup

Muesli / Cereals - 1/4 cup

Raisins - a few

Sliced almonds - a few

Honey - 2 tbsps

Method : 

1. In a mixer blend the bananas, milk and condensed milk, leaving no lumps.

2. In a bowl, mix the honey, some of the raisins and almond slices along with the cereals of choice.

2. In a baking dish, arrange 2 of the trimmed bread slices and pour a ladle-ful of the milk mix coating the slices evenly. It is optional to arrange fruits over this if you desire. (The more the merrier :) ) Arrange the trimmed bread edges along the sides as well.

3. Place the remaining 2 slices and again cover with the rest of the milk sauce. Top off with the honey-cereals mixture and sprinkle some more cereals over the top if you like the crust to be crunchy.

4. Bake in a microwave oven @ 170-180 deg C for 8-10 minutes.

Remove, cool for about 3-4 minutes, cut and serve as desired.

Eggless Banana Cake

I love baking (and trying to bake!!) delicious cakes and cookies for my parents...In my endeavour to look up new and interesting recipes, it's been a constant challenge for me to use alternatives for eggs(especially for my mother) in those recipes and yet get a satisfactory result.
Though the World Wide Web abounds with eggless recipes, I try to use my own measurements and experiment with what works best and not and thus understand the logic behind the ingredient...
The following recipe is one such experiment which came out delightfully soft and tasty. The use of banana, condensed milk and curd make for good binding agents that give the cake a nice texture and structure. Depending on the type and sweetness quotient of the banana you use (also because of condensed milk, which is pre-sweetened), adjust the sugar measurement to avoid over-sweetening.

Eggless Banana Cake

Ingredients :

Maida - 2 cups
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Demerara or brown sugar - 3/4 cup (If using white sugar, reduce quantity to 1/2 cup)
Cocoa Powder - 1 tsp
Curd - 1/4 cup
Condensed Milk - 1/4 cup
Softened butter - 1/4 cup
Bananas - 2 (Pureed)
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Water - 50 ml

For Topping (optional)
Dark Chocolate - 1 cup
Milk or cream - 2 tbsps

Method :

1. Sift together maida, baking powder, Salt and cocoa powder. The sifting process is very important as it opens up the flour.

2. Add the softened butter and sugar to a bowl and whisk well till sugar dissolves. Add condensed milk, vanilla essence and 25 ml water and beat till frothy.

3. Now add the curd and mix lightly with a hand whisk. Gradually add a small measure of the pureed bananas, followed by a cup of the flour mix; continue to add the two alternatively. Fold in with a light hand using a wooden ladle. Make sure to leave no lumps.

4. Preheat over to 200 degrees C. Grease a baking dish and pour the batter into it. Bake for about 30 mins or till the knife comes out clean. Remember to not over-bake as the cake firms up more upon cooling.

5. Meanwhile, prepare the chocolate sauce by heating chocolate in a double boiler along with milk to make it softer. If using cream, add it after the chocolate has melted.

5. Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Spread the chocolate sauce over the cake and decorate as desired.

Variations : - You can also add crushed walnuts or pecan nuts. raisins and chocolate chips to the batter to make the cake richer. The kitchen is your laboratory, so don't be shy of innovating :))
Suggested serving - warm the cake slightly before serving.