Orange Biscotti almost Eggless

Biscotti - twice baked Italian cookies, to get that extra crunch so that biscotti become hard enough to be dipped into coffee, milk or sweet wine & not crumble. But they should never be so hard to crack a tooth. It was on my "to do list" from a long time or I should say it was on His list for me to do. Past sunday for Father's day brunch I decided to surprise him with home made biscotti along with fresh home made pizza(DD's request).

Now before moving to the recipe I would like to mention that source of this recipe is the book called "the Cake mix Doctor" which I got from Champa of VersatileKitchen back in the month of may. Around that time only I also bought a cake mix box for the first time in my life, thinking that I'll try a cake with that, but whenever I bake I'm so use to of all purpose flour/maida that cake mix box kept waiting in the pantry for it's turn. Finally night before father's day I sat with this book to find out some recipe for the cake but when I saw recipe for Lemon Pecan Biscotti, I decided that's it. I had Orange supreme cake mix so I used that & I was out of almonds otherwise I would have used that so  instead I used mini choc. chips. Also I decided to go eggless with this recipe so used  two frozen bananas which were left after making eggless choc. banana cake, but while making the dough I felt it was too tight so I ended up using one egg yolk(as I had no more ripe bananas & was not sure about using milk). Finally here goes the recipe :

What U need :

• parchment paper for the pan
• 1 package(18.25 oz.) orange cake mix(I used Duncan Hines)
• 8 tablespoons(1 stick) butter, melted
• 2 large ripe bananas(might need half extra banana if bananas are med. size)
• 1 egg yolk(my bananas were toward the smaller size that's why I added egg)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts(I used mini choc. chips)

What U do :

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven, preheat to 350 degree F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper & set aside.
2. Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl & blend on low speed for 3-4 minutes. Dough should come together into a ball. Transfer it to the prepared baking sheet. With lightly floured hands, shape the dough into a rectangle about 14 inches long by 4 inches wide by 1/2 inch thick. Mound the dough so it is slightly higher in the center.
3. Bake the biscotti rectangle for around 30-35 minutes, do the toothpick test(like u do it for cakes). Remove the baking sheet from the oven & let the biscotti cool for 10 minutes. Leave the oven on.
4. Using a sharp serrated knife slice the rectangle on the diagonal into 1 inch-thick slices. You should get 14 slices. Carefully turn these slices onto their sides, on the same baking sheet. Return the baking sheet to the oven.
5. Bake for another 10 minutes. Turn the oven off, and let the biscotti remain in the oven until they are crisp, 30 to 40 min. more. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, transfer the biscotti to a rack, and allow them to cool completely,.
6. Enjoy it with your fav. drink milk, tea or coffee & store leftover biscotti in an air tight container at room temp. for up to several weeks.

receipe source : the Cake mix Doctor by Anne Byrn

Notes : though I had baked them for the minimum specified time, still mine were little overdone, but still tasted good. I did checked them little before the mentioned time but they were not done at that time so I guess for next time I'll reduce the temp. from 350 degree to may be 340 degree. so that they don't get too brown from outside so quickly.

I'm happy that I tried these, not only because everybody loved it but also because it tasted quite similar to our very own Indian cake rusk, a very popular tea snack in Delhi. We love those &  I usually get those from Indian grocery store, please don't get confused with plain rusk here, as plain rusk are not sweet & they are kind of a hard toast but cake rusk are buttery & very much similar to biscotti. Now I feel no need to buy those as this was really a easy procedure & I'm surely gonna make it on a regular basis but with different flavors.

Biscotti is off to Champa  for her weekly Bake-off & also to  Suma of Veggie Platter, who's hosting this month's Baking from the book  event started by Champa.

Dinner for breakfast.....anyone??? It's Pizza......

Now a days I'm hardly getting any time to post anything on my blog, whatever little time I get,I try to read as many posts from my favorite blogs as many I can. My little one is no more a baby she's quite a handful as a very active toddler......who can easily figure out how to climb up the shelves, she doesn't like my kitchen stuff tucked inside the cupboards & pantry, the moment she sees kitchen floor is empty she feels it's her duty to get everything out on the floor, I guess that helps her decide which container is best to climb up on. These stories will go on & on, coming to the pizza....it's been a while now I've been baking this, I feel the recipe is very easy & no chances of going wrong. You can easily make the healthy choices when u are making it at home by choosing low fat version of cheese, controlling the quantity of cheese and mixing whole wheat flour in the dough.

What U need :

For Crusty pizza dough 

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup Luke warm water(may be little extra)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 2&1/2  to 3&1/2 cups all purpose flour( i use unbleached + substitute 1 cup with whole wheat flour)
• 1 Tblsp. corn meal 

For topping : 

• little olive oil
• tomato based pizza sauce around 1 cup
• 2 cups of toppings of your choice
• shredded mozzarella
• chili flakes

What to do :

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add it to 2 & 1/2 cups of flour along with salt and olive oil . Mix it.
2. Add remaining flour, little at a time knead it till it comes together & no more sticky. In total it should take around 6-8 minute of kneading.
3. Place it in a greased big bowl, roll it to grease the dough, cover with damp kitchen cloth or plastic wrap. Let rise in warm place, about 2 hour or so, it should be almost double by then if not wait some more time. Once rise punch dough down.
4. At this stage it's ready to be shaped & baked or you can keep it in the fridge for using it next day. But I prefer to do one more thing provided I have time on hand let it rest for another rise, covered with plastic wrap in warm place, an hour or so and after that proceed with it. I feel this extra step eliminates any yeast smell which is usually there when u bake pizza at home. Thou no body complaints at home they always love fresh home made pizza, but I feel that little smell, so I prefer double rise method.
5. When ready to make pizza make sure oven is preheated very well at 450 degree F and also if dough was in the fridge take it out at least half an hour before u shape it.
6. Brush the pizza pan with oil. Sprinkle cornmeal on to it. Roll the dough using some flour & transfer it to pan, pressing across bottom of pan. 
7. Using a fork, pierce the dough at few spots. Spread around 1/2 a cup of pizza sauce. Add toppings. Sprinkle some dry herbs like oregano & chilli flakes. Bake it in the hot oven for around 12-14min. or till sides start to get little brown.
8. Take it out sprinkle shredded cheese & bake for another few minutes till cheese starts to melt(keep an eye).

 Notes :

• As I'm using active dry yeast & I know it's fresh as I keep it in the fridge(I buy small quantities only) I don't poof it first, in case of other yeast poof it for 7-8 minutes.
• My recipe suggest 14 inch pizza pan for this but  I normally makes 2 pizzas out of this recipe, one for kids with their choice of toppings & another one for adults with more spices & toppings. And I use one 10" cast iron flat griddle(makes wonderful pizza), quality of this one is very much similar to one made using pizza stone, as I have used that too......oh, yes! when it comes to kitchen stuff specially fancy kind I love to buy it. Second pizza is usually in my standard size baking sheet(good for thin crust).
• For pizza sauce, if u notice in the top picture I used 2 kind of sauces, left is regular tomato based & on right side it's spicy green sauce(cilantro + green chillies), it does take it to whole different level.
• For toppings let your imagination run wild, few of my fav. unusual toppings are baby corn, home made meatballs or cheese balls(kofta), you can't see but top pizza has nice crunchy toasty cashew nuts & pistachios as one of the topping & last but not the least chocolate chips, favorite with DD & her friends. If u want to use choc. chips only put them toward the last few minutes of cooking as that will result in gooey warm choc. chips and not totally melted chocolate.

I started writing this post with  "Baking from a Book" event in my mind, as I use this recipe form my little recipe book which comes with kitchen aid Stand mixer. But now when I checked champa's blog I realized I missed the part breakfast in the event. But I'm still forwarding it to you Champa(Bangalore Baker), if you like u can add it to your event, as in my house we are big eater when it comes to pizza. Me & my DD always enjoy leftover pizza for breakfast next day & the days when I plan little ahead it's fresh pizza for the weekend brunch. And I'm sure there must be many more like me who can not resist a slice of pizza for the breakfast. Off it goes to Bake-off event also, hosted by Champa only. Also sending it to Susan's Yeastspotting event.

Creamy Spinach Pasta

To me pasta is very versatile. It can be prepared as a complete meal in itself or as a side dish or even as a salad. Another good thing about pasta is being a one pot meal it's hit at my place. I love pasta so much that I can even eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon snack or even late night snack. I don't need lot of cheese in my pasta, but yes lots of veggies are kind of must. Pasta is regular at my place but every time with little twist depending upon what veggies I have. This one with spinach is one of my favorite. Now talking of spinach, sometime in the beginning of this month DH decided that he want spinach for at least one meal everyday. In my household we cook most of the veggies & greens but when you want to eat spinach everyday you need to think out of the box, regular palak paneer, saag they are good no doubt but I'm sure no one can eat it day after day and most importantly for eating one good thing you can not give up other good things. So, for next 7 days I will try to post one recipe with spinach each day, just to give some idea that how easy it can be to include spinach in your everyday diet, you don't have to be Popeye and eat your spinach direct from the can you can make it more tasty & visual treat for your eyes before you eat that healthy stuff.

Some of the health benefit of including spinach in your regular diet are:

1. 
   
   Excellent source of vitamin A, C & folate.
2. Flavonoid compounds in spinach function as antioxidants and as anti-cancer agents.
3. It's an excellent source of  bone-building nutrients including calcium and magnesium.
4. Promotes Gastrointestinal Health
5. The anti-inflammatory nutrients in spinach can also help with conditions in which inflammation plays a role. For example, asthma, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis are all conditions that involve inflammation.
6. Cooked spinach is an excellent source of Iron.

Now for the recipe :
What U need :

• half pound of small pasta like macaroni, shell or farfalle
• 1 8oz. box of white button mushrooms
• 1 cup of cooked chicken cut into bite size pieces
• salt
• black pepper
• red chilli flakes
• 1 Tblsp. chopped garlic
• 1 bunch of fresh spinach cleaned or 1 frozen box(10 oz. ) of spinach defrosted
• around 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 Tblsp. of evoo

What to do :

1. Boil pasta as per the packet direction, Boil it for a minute or two less than the specified time as we gonna finish cooking it in the sauce.Reserve the pasta water.
2. In the mean time while pasta is boiling, clean & roughly chop the mushrooms.
3. Heat oil in a big pan, saute garlic & mushrooms in it. If you chop the mushrooms thin it should not take more than 5 minutes. Once done sprinkle some salt & black pepper.
4. Add milk to it & let it boil, simmer cook for another 2-3 minutes.
5. Cool little bit, take it out & puree it. That's the creamy sauce for the pasta.
6. In the same pan pour little pasta water & add chopped up spinach to it, let it cook for few minutes(roughly 4-5 minutes). Don't add any salt to this as we are using pasta water which is salty.
7. Once spinach looks like cooked add boiled pasta(drained), cooked chicken & mushroom sauce to it. Sprinkle some red chilli flakes. If it's little dry add some of the pasta water. Let everything cook together for a minute or two.
8. If you like sprinkle some Parmesan or any other cheese of your choice on top of it.

Note : I puree the mushrooms into sauce as this is one thing which my DD doesn't eat no matter what recipe they are in, so disguising is the only option I'm left with. You can leave it chunky as per your taste. Also for the vegetarian version, chicken can be left out & may be another packet of mushrooms can be added sliced & sauteed for the dose of extra protein.