4 Weeks 4 Books : Giveaway Week # 2

To find the details about this ongoing Book giveaway at Spicebuds please check this post. This is second giveaway week and book for this week is "Slim and Scrumptious: More Than 75 Delicious, Healthy Meals Your Family Will Love" by the Nutrition Expert “Joy Bauer”. This giveaway is open till July/22 and one winner will be declared by sunday(24/july). If you are a follower of Spicebuds and want to win this book, leave a comment on this post. All the Best.

Note : This giveaway is sponsored by the team of Joy Bauer, the author of the books. She’s a Nutrition Expert on “Today Show” on NBC. In any circumstances if the sponsor back out from this giveaway spicebuds won’t be responsible in any way to send you the books.

4 Weeks 4 Books : Giveaway Week # 1

I’ve been missing from this space from last 4-5 weeks and again travelling this month, so to keep this space alive coming 4 weeks are going to be giveaway weeks here at spicebuds. I have four books to giveaway, winner will be chosen every Friday for the next four Fridays, books will be shipped only after the winner of all the 4 giveaways are chosen and will be shipped anywhere in North America. You don’t have to do many efforts to win these books, if you are a follower of spicebuds you can leave a comment and if you are not you can become one and then leave the comment. Make sure you leave your valid email-id in the comment.

I have two copies of each book :

1) Food Cures : Treat Common Health Concerns, Look Younger and Live Younger

2) Slim and Scrumptious: More Than 75 Delicious, Healthy Meals Your Family Will Love

So, in total four books. These books are by the Nutrition Expert “Joy Bauer”, so if you are interested in managing your health by choosing right food and/or looking for Healthy delicious meal for your family, it’s worth trying to win it. I can’t give you details from the inside of these books as I did got my copies but because of busy schedule couldn’t go through them and this month I’m travelling so again no chances of spending time with these books. But reviews on Amazon are good for these, to check those click on the names of the books above.

Note : This giveaway is sponsored by the team of Joy Bauer, the author of the books. She’s a Nutrition Expert on “Today Show” on NBC. In any circumstances if the sponsor back out from this giveaway spicebuds won’t be responsible in any way to send you the books.

I also wanted to thanks all those who visited my space during the past month or so & also to my new followers. Now, get ready to win these books by leaving comment on this first Giveaway Post. Book to win this week is "Food Cures : Treat Common Health Concerns, Look Younger and Live Younger".  This giveaway is open till July/15 and one winner will be declared by sunday(17/july). All the Best.

Candy Clay Roses

Back in April when I shared this cake I made for my daughters birthday, one of the fellow blogger asked me if I can share how I made the roses. Though I made this tutorial that same week but due to many things going on I couldn't post it. Sowmya sorry for the delay, but here it is. I thought the best way to share would be by pictures, so I made a pictorial but still just in case of a doubt I'm writing the simple instructions also.

I've worked with fondant earlier making 3-d butterflies for my daughters last year b'day cake and some decorations for my toddlers b'day(cake not posted)  but I'm working with candy clay for the first time. I read on web that it tastes much better when compared with fondant that was one reason I wanted to try it, it does taste better but I can't eat that much sugar. To know if it really taste better, for that the best person to ask is kids and my toddler can't get enough of it. I've used Wilton recipe from their website, please do read the notes I've given at different levels before trying the recipe :

What I used :

• 14 ounce pkg Candy Melts
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup

Note : I used off-white color candy melts & tinted as much I wanted in different colors.

Many forums I checked says that color candy melts comes in 12 oz. packs also, so make sure U have right weight of melts otherwise U have to reduce the quantity of corn syrup.

What I did :

Melt Candy Melts over the double boiler, turn the heat off add corn syrup and stir. Slowly the chocolate/mixture will start to seize & will come together like dough.

Turn out mixture onto waxed paper, using paper towel dab it to soak extra oils. Let sit at room temperature to dry.

Wrap well in plastic wrap and store at room temperature until needed. Let it hardened overnight atleast.

Notes : On wilton site it doesn't say to dab extra oil from the clay but I've added that step here. I infact used the double layer of paper towel & put the clay in it & kind a squeeze it but still I feel clay had lot of softness to it. Many forums suggested this step as most important & I feel it too. I'll suggest to repeat this step if U feel clay is too oily to touch. As in my case while working with clay I had to take several break b'coz of too soft clay or may be next time I'll try to use better quality candy melts as that can also make the difference. If anyone have any experience with this, please share it in the comment section and I'll add it in the post.

Storing Candy Clay : Wilton says it will stay fresh for several weeks, but no exact number is given, neither could I find on any forums. I made this batch on 1/april  & rest of the clay was wrapped in plastic wrap, further packed in ziploc, kept on kitchen counter away from direct sunlight. I used it on 15/may for some cupcakes, tasted it before putting decorations, it was good, so I believe it stays good for long time and in any case it contains chocolate and sugar so can't go bad easily.

Time for pictorial :

 

Click to enlarge the picture.

Steps :

1. Clay will be hard at first, knead the candy clay & tint it with the color U want.
2. pinch a small ball out of it almost double the size of white chickpea and roll it to make smooth ball.
3. shaping into tear drop : put it on any smooth surface like kitchen counter, now using your pointer finger gently roll it only on one side to get the pointed side.
4. once it's done make it stand on smooth surface.
5. make 4 more balls out of the clay, these one are the size of white chickpeas.
6. each ball will make one petal and depending upon what size of rose you want there will be no. of layers of petals. Usually for roses first layer is of one petal, second is of 3, third layer is of 5 petals & so on.
7. take one ball and using your pointer finger & thumb press it to flatten it.
8. to give you an idea how big is the flattened ball I'm showing both the pieces together.
9. cover around 3/4 length of the teardrop centre/bud we made earlier by starting at one end, covering the teardrop & coming back to the same point slightly overlap the beg. of the petal, I believe picture gives you exact idea here.
10. now the teardrop is actually looking like a bud take a moment to admire it. Repeat step 7. Starting from little before from the point where first layer petal is joined, attach this petal to the bud remember this is second layer of petals so we gonna use 3 petals to cover the bud, each one slightly overlapping the previous one.
11. add 2nd petal.
12. add 3rd petal.
13. a small rose is ready.
14. time to add 3rd layer of petals. Make a ball little bigger then the previous size.I'm using diff. color petals just to make it clear how they are wrapped/overlapped.
15. make 5 of them.
16. following the details given in step 10 add 5 more petals one by one.
17. spend as much time as much you want doing ooh!! & wow!! because you just made a rose which you can eat.....well, if u want to.... 

Important Notes / What I learned :

1. This candy clay recipe makes very soft clay when you work with it and also have lot of oil in it. So, best way to work with it, roll the dough in powder sugar and try to avoid using palm of your hands preferably work with fingers only, as they generate less heat as compared to palm.

2. Whenever clay gets too sticky or soft, leave it for a while. Before starting to work with it again, rub some powder sugar on your hands and on clay.

3. Gently keep rolling the bottom part of the flower between your finger to make it thin as after all the petals it will look little too fat & at the bottom, once U get the right size just in rolling motion only pinch the extra clay from the bottom & reuse it.

4. Give them atleast 2 days to dry to be on safer side, I usually make them a night before & let them sit on counter covered with net to dry. They dry(but still soft) and hold the position by next day but not like rock hard.

5. Do not refrigerate the decorations, once they dry keep them in air tight container till ready to use.

I enjoyed working with it as it brings two of my fav. things together Craft and Baking(well not exactly but it is used to decorate the baked stuff, so I'll count it in baking category).  

Back to Basics # 1 : Life without a Microwave; and Healthy Spicy Potatoes

Sometime there are certain things we are so use to of that we take them for granted. In today's lifestyle Microwave is one such thing, in our house I won't say that we are were dependent on microwave but it sure had its importance.....its use was really limited to heating the leftovers but in the morning rush hours it always acted like an extra hand...warm the milk, quickly make the oats without baby sitting the pot on the gas stove. Other times when I felt like baking & needed butter at room temp., it was nuke it for few seconds. One thing if I really cooked in it was instant masala potatoes not that it's hard to make otherwise but as I said it's just the convenience.....couple of buttons & magic is done.

Why I'm writing all this, from last so many years we have been using MW for all the above things most of the time the apartment I lived in had a MW in it & once I had an apartment without one and after living 3 yrs. in that without MW I decided to buy one & again moving into one with MW I gave away the MW I had. Now after long time I'm back to MW free situation and I have decided it be like that, it's been more than 3 months and I would say I'm managing it quite good. Last time when I was MW free I was packing only one lunch & I was a Stay At Home Mom of a very obedient toddler, now it's two lunches(one adult & one for 3rd grader). I'm still a SAHM to a toddler but this time to not so obedient one instead the one who thinks blowing on the gas stove is just like blowing b'day candles(means two front burners are of no use to me now a days) & a 3rd grader who's first reaction was what will U do now????? how U gonna warm the milk??????  what about popcorns?????? and what not.

To answer her questions, I'm back to basics, putting my pots & pans to good use & I've always used my toaster oven for lot of stuff and now it's doing good job of warming dry curries(sukhi sabjis) also. It does take little extra time but I think it's O.k specially when we really wanted to get that MW style of living out of our house, few extra minutes & couple of extra pots to wash doesn't matter that much. Now some of you might be wondering what does she have against MW, it makes life so easy but when it's on the cost of your health it's a choice, it's not one article or one T.V program which made me decide this(that's why no links here).....it's just the simple awareness(or call me old fashioned) about the things we use, and this decision of NO MW was due from so long......it's just the convenience I was going with, as I said earlier....it's there I'll use it....so I'm using the technique of out of sight out of mind. And my daughter did declared that the stove top popcorns are the best she has ever tasted. We will keep the stove top popcorns for some other day but for today it's gonna be Spicy Baked Potatoes.

It's hit in my house not only my kids but even their friends also enjoy these, goes well in the lunch box too also they are healthy as on the name of fat all I use is couple of teaspoons of oil. Rather than calling it a recipe I would call it a procedure because you can easily substitute the spices as per your taste. Here's what I do:

What I used :

• 2 medium size potatoes
• 2 tsp. EVOO(extra virgin olive oil)
• salt as per your taste
• 1/8 tsp.(a small pinch) turmeric/haldi
• 1 tsp. coriander/dhania powder
• 1/2 tsp. cumin/jeera powder
• 1/2 tsp. paprika (it's not hot if U like hot, instead of papriks U can use red chili powder)
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. carom seeds/ajwain
• 1/4 tsp. kasuri methi /dry fenugreek leaves
• 1/4 tsp. garam masala

What I did :

1. Peel, wash and pat dry the potatoes. Cut them into bite size cubes.
2. Put them into Oven proof dish big enough to hold all the pieces in one layer.
3. Add all the ingredients to it and using your fingers or spoon mix them nicely so each & every potato cube is coated with spice mix. Arrange them so that all the pieces are touching the dish base i.e they are in one layer, which will not only ensure the even cooking but also crispy edges.
4. Bake them in pre heated oven at around 400 degree F for around 30 minutes. Stir them once, around halfway to ensure even browning.
5. When edges start to look like crispy & brown and fork easily goes in, means they are done.
6. Don't be tempted to put them into your mouth they are really hot. They taste good as is but my kids like to eat them with ketchup.

Notes :

• I usually make these in my toaster oven & it has potato setting in which it takes anywhere between 25 to 30 minutes.
• If U want to use Microwave cover the dish with plastic wrap & cook for 4-5 minutes.
• Don't over cook them as they will turn hard.
• Increase or decrease the level of spices as per your taste. The specifications I have given are as per my kids taste buds.

Vegetarian/Vegan Hot 'n' Sour Soup for Cold Spring Nights

Note : This post was written almost a month back in march, 2011 but I guess I forgot to hit the publish button. It's finally spring here not that cold but this soup is perfect for any weather.

What do U do when Mother Nature Gives you not only rain in the spring but some white stuff too.....

last week when spring started on calenders, in our part of the world we saw some snow too, temperatures dropping back from 80 degree to 45 degree. We did had a very warm weekend just before the spring started but it was just for couple of days and then back to cold. Mother Nature knows what's best so rather than complaining why not go out in jackets & draw some butterflies to cheer up

and then come inside and sip this deliciously spicy and perfectly sour world famous Chinese Hot 'n' Sour soup.

As an Indian we prefer Chinese food which is made Indian style mainly known as Indo-Chinese but I always enjoy this one soup no matter where ever I eat/drink........it's the perfect balance of heat from garlic + chilli sauce & sourness from vinegar and O'course lots of veggies, which makes you go for another serving of it. I also like this soup as only work in it is of chopping veggies and I love to do that( I find cleaning & chopping veggies as a very soothing & satisfying activity). It's easy recipe no oil, no saute, only boiling  the prepared stock with your choice of veggies. Though I have my personnel choice of veggies when it comes to this soup but many a times when I make it on a night before the grocery day, we get to see many different combinations of veggies in our soup bowls and no matter what veggies goes in, it always tastes good. Color, taste & texture of this soup does need your attention when it's fresh but for me I enjoy leftovers also. Now for the recipe.....

What I used :

Vegetables :

• 2 med. sized carrots, julienned/matchstick cut
• around 1 cup of thinly sliced mushrooms(i used baby bella variety)
• around 3/4th cup of thinly shredded cabbage
• half red bell pepper thinly sliced
• around 1 cup of thinly sliced baby bok-choy(keep the shredded leaves separate)
• around 2 inch piece of ginger, julienned
• 1/2 cup mung sprouts

For stock/broth :

• 4 cups of vegetable stock(* see notes)
• 2&1/2 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic or use garlic paste
• 3 tablespoon of tomato ketchup
• 3 tablespoon of green chilli sauce
• 2 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon of rice vinegar(regular vinegar can also be used)
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper (optional)

Corn starch mixture :

• 3 tablespoon water
• 1/2 tablespoon con starch

What I did :

Take all the ingredients from stock/broth list & whisk them together. In a big pot(non reactive kind as we are using vinegar) put them to boil, turn the heat to slow after it start boiling. Let it simmer for around 10 minutes or so.

While the stock for the soup is boiling, prepare the veggies by chopping them into thinly sliced/shredded/ julienned/ matchstick cut.

After 10 minutes of stock boiling drop all the chopped veggies into it except green leaf parts of bok choy, add that during the last 3-4 minutes only. Mix everything together give it a little taste & add salt as per your taste. I suggested to add salt at this point because various sauces used above will add saltiness to the soup, so it's better to hold it in the beg.

Let soup simmer for another 10 min. or so. When ready to serve mix cornstarch & water, making sure no lumps are there and add this mixture to soup, make sure soup is hot and on the heat at this time. Once it's stirred into the soup turn the gas off & serve the soup immediately.

Notes :

• This recipe is the one which my family likes but I've read some recipes which don't use garlic but I can't imagine making any soup without garlic, specially this one.
• For making vegetable broth I boil around 5 cups of water with roughly chopped 2 carrots, 1 onion, 2-3 stalks of celery, 3-4 garlic cloves 1/2 tsp. salt, 2-3 cloves(Laung), 7-8 black peppercorns, a bayleaf for around 30 minutes or so.
• U can easily reduce or increase the heat in this recipe by changing the quantity of chilli sauce. Black peppers also give it little extra heat.
• Veggies like green beans/french beans are also good addition to this soup. Generally tofu is also used in this soup, if using add it towards the last 3-4 minutes of simmering.
• I'm not using egg in this which makes it vegetarian/vegan. For garnish usually chopped up green onions are used but I didn't had any so didn't used any.
• Also at the end usually a spoon of sesame oil is added to the soup but I don't do that. If U like just add it to it before turning the heat off.

• I used baby bok choy in this, not a typical veggie for this soup but it's my new fav. veggie & we liked it in the soup.

UPDATE (Feb/04/2013)  : this yummy soup is on it's way to Sayantani's blog  to beat some winter chills. She's is having a giveaway sponsered by Cuponation.in at her blog.

ICC World Cup 2011 Game Day Menu : Bhaturas & a Cake to Share

Apr-02-2011.......A date marked in Indian History, India won Cricket World Cup 2011 after 28 long years, there's nothing one can compare with the festivities which took place after Dhoni(Indian team captain) hit the ball for the winner sixer. India became the first nation to win a ICC World Cup on home soil. I really missed being in India at that time. Congrats to all the Indians all over the world.

The date 2nd April was marked in our calender long time back, not that we had any kind of future forecasting for India winning World Cup but it was on this date 9 yrs. back I got to hold my little precious daughter in my hand for the first time, Yes! I became MOM. So it's being her birthday she got to choose the game day menu and she made the perfect choice of classic Punjabi dish Chole Bhature, not only my or my family's favourite but I believe it's on every Indians list of fav. food.

Unlike it's cousin Poori(another famous deep fried bread from India) which is made with whole wheat flour, Bhatura is made using White flour/Maida/All purpose flour. It is little crispy on the outside soft,fluffy & spongy on the inside and have a little chewy texture(as it gets colder) because of Maida. It's a very easy recipe only thing is you need to plan ahead of time as the dough needs to ferment. There are quick versions too....one of my husband's colleague shared their quick fix for bhaturas is regular Tacos, fry them & they are ready. Another friend of mine uses yeast that brings down the ferment time from 8 hrs. to 2 hrs. of rising time only. I have also heard of using ready made pizza dough for it. But as a Delhite who has eaten tastiest bhaturas in the town for most of her life I prefer to either plan it or instead make poori alloo and leave Chole Bhature for some other day. If U are wondering why I said poori alloo(potatoes) & not poori chole because that too need planning ahead of time because I use dry chickpeas & not canned version. So for me planning ahead is not a problem because when I'm going to soak dry chickpeas for Chole part at that time only I can make dough for Bhaturas.

For Chole's(chana masala) recipe U can click here I posted last year, for new readers just to let U know that you really don't need any store bought chana masala just few regular masalas from your spice box & you can whip this delicious Chana Masala . Now for Bhaturas...................

UPDATE on July/14/2015 : On my quest to add more multigrains & millet flours to our everyday meals, without compromising on the taste, today I tried a different version of these Bhaturas.  I used equal part Unbleached all Purpose Flour + Whole Wheat Flour + Millet Flour(I used Bob's RedMill Brand). Rest of the recipe is pretty much same except that I didn't measured the water as U might need more or less as we have changed the flours. Taste & Look wise no body noticed any difference, everyone enjoyed it as ususal but with less guilty. So these Multigrain Bhaturas are family approved(kids + adults) :). 

What I used : (this recipe yielded me 14 med. size(around 4"x6") bhaturas.

• 3 cup Maida/All purpose flour ( I use unbleached variety)
• 1/4 of tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup yogurt/dahi (preferably sour dahi/curd)
• 3 tablespoon oil
• salt (i used 1 & 1/2 tsp.)
• water as needed(roughly 1 cup)
• oil for deep frying the bhaturas

What I did :

1. Mix salt & baking soda in the flour. Add oil & yogurt and rub it into the flour.
2. Adding only little water at a time knead it into a soft dough.
3. Once it's not sticky any more, rub oil on your palms & roll the dough ball in it & place it in a greased bowl. Cover with wet kitchen towel & let it sit at some warm place for 8-10 hours for ferment(* see notes below). I usually do it overnight as I always make it for breakfast/brunch.
4. When the dough is ready(after ferment), rub little oil on your hands and divide the dough into 12 or 14 equal size balls(little bigger than ping pong ball), keep them covered with a wet kitchen towel. Using rolling pin roll them into flat oval disc(* see notes) and deep fry it on med. heat till you get little brown spots on both the sides(make sure rest of the stuff like chole & salad etc. is ready to go before you start frying ).

Serve it hot with Chole/Chana Masala and some red onions sprinkled with salt & lemon juice and last but not the least Punjabi Mango pickle.

Notes :

In cold weather some time it's difficult to get the dough fermented so I usually make it not only night before but almost 24. hrs. before I'm gonna use it. As heat from the cooking keeps my kitchen warm during the day & it helps the dough also and in the night I keep it in the oven. However this time I only left it overnight(around 11-12 hrs.), it was soft to touch but in volume it didn't rise a lot but still bhaturas came out really good.

You can shape them round but because of the elasticity in the dough it's somehow more easy if U make them in Oval shape. Even back in Delhi also I remember the best bhaturas were almost always Oval shaped as Halwais(professional who makes Indian sweets & also savoury snack/munchies & breakfast kind of stuff) don't roll them using rolling pin instead they smack the dough ball between their hands & that motion of smacking against the hand & slightly pulling them gives them kind of oval shape. So as far I'm concerned in my 11 years of cooking, for this reason I guess I never even thought of making round bhatura, though I roll it.

Now for those who have never eaten bhatura here's another look but from inside, can U see the slightly crispy top outside layer, the thin little brown kind of :

and another one to show U how spongy it is from inside, see the holes, the kind U get when U pull any soft white bread:

and if you are familiar to these yummy breads then I'm sure these photos can assure you that you gonna get the best bhaturas right in your kitchen.

We finished our meal with big glass of Lassi (Punjabi yogurt drink) & I was screaming and jumping at that time because that was the time to celebrate India's victory. And here's the picture of B'day cake we had on that day, DD had given me a full drawing of what kind of a cake she wanted but I believe I need lot of practice before I can do that but she was happy with what I made.

I tried my hand for the first time on candy clay. I started working on it only the night before, should have tried that atleast a week before as the figure she wanted on her cake couldn't be done because the clay was getting too soft too quickly but it was fun to work with it so changed the plan & made the roses instead. I guess somehwere in my heart I knew India gonna win or I should say like any other Indian I also wanted Indian team to win so I decided to go with pink for my daughter & blue for our team & B'day girl was happy.

Eggless Baking : Chocolate Applesauce Muffin for breakfast on a very Crucial Day

Importance of today's Cricket Match(march/30/2011) : it's a crucial match, SEMI-FINAL for WORLD CUP & played between two Cricket Crazy Nations India and Pakistan, lots of emotions and politics goes in this. Lots of pressure on both the team all important leaders including Prime Ministers of both countries are watching it.

Last Match Day(March/24/2011) : scene from my house explained here in my previous post.

Today (March/25/2011) : my day started at little before 6 A.M.....he's again missing from the bed, I can hear some voices coming from the other part of the house, but this time I'm lazily staying in the bed for a while & finally decided to come out & here goes our conversation....

me : what's the score

he : 77 for ?? balls(he did told me exact balls but i don't remember it now when I'm typing it after 45 minutes), run rate is very good 7.??(again I forgot)

me : kaun khel raha hai???(which team is playing)....do u want chai(tea)???

he : India, aab chup ho ja yaar bara sahi match chal raha hai.....(Please be quite now honey, it's very good match going on, (remember in the last post he called me honey...well in hindi the way we talk, yaar would come in the category of honey only)

after sometime....

me : in Delhi roads must be quite right now...my brother told me in many neighbourhoods large T.V screens have been installed & it's kind of a holiday.

he(no talking) : picked up the phone, called his Dad.....sharing some cricket talk

me(no talking) : started working on my post.....I tried to open multiple pages &

he : kya yaar(honey) what r u doing it's slowing down my match here(we r watching it on Internet)....can't U work on one page only.....

after some time he went to do his brush & OMG!! Pakistan took 3rd Indian wicket(Kohli)....run rate is also 5.57 & another sad news Yuvraj got out on his first ball :-((.....I ran towards him almost screaming, came back quickly........now comes Dhoni & that reminds me of a movie I saw last month "HATRICK" it's a bollywood movie(it's interesting movie to see, if you haven't seen) showing how cricket plays an important role in different peoples life and commentator is also talking if it's gonna be a HATRICK ball....means 3 players out in 3 continuous balls...but thank god...NO it's not....

he was out of the room when 2 above players got out.....

he : kya yaar I just went out aur do wickets chale gaye(I was out for a minute & 2 players out what??)

me : U sit here & U r not moving out of this area.....Oh Yes! we Indians do have lot of superstitions when it comes to CRICKET.

After few minutes he went to the kitchen to make tea for himself.....& I hear Pakistani team cheering....No..No...NO, not because my husband is making tea for himself....but because....

me: OMG!!!! sachin gaya

he : are nahi yaar(no), catch miss ho gayi....sachin is saved 3rd time....

me : U come back, right now....sit on this chair, don't go anywhere(remember superstitions).....I'll make tea, U want it with ginger...

SCORE : 185/4 (time : 7:37 A.M EST U.S.A)

Just in case if U guys are thinking that don't they have anything else to do...so for the records, I'm usually not this crazy or in fact not crazy at all for sports but it's India Vs Pakistan....U can't miss this.....this time hubby dear is lucky as he had some odd hour(midnight) official stuff going on with his companies international offices and again some meetings lined up in the morning so he's working from home & it was all set on Monday only so no guessing work for me.....I told Kiddo to buy lunch from school, for snack she's taking home made applesauce.

For breakfast I made some Eggless, Low fat, whole wheat applesauce cupcakes/muffins yesterday only, and yes  chocolate flavour.....they are good at their own, use of applesauce & vinegar make them soft from inside but I suggest having them with some tea/coffee or milk as they are low in fat and also half of the flour is whole wheat, which makes them little dry. It's a healthy & tasty treat, perfect for breakfast.

What I used :

Dry Ingredients :

• 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup atta(wholewheat flour)
• 4 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon powder
• pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients :

• 2 tablespoon unsalted butter (at room temperature)
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce(recipe here but now I pressure cook, one whistle on low)
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup regular sugar
• 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoon of milk

 Other Ingredients

• 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar(regular kind can be used)
• 1 tsp. vanilla

quick Info : India done with their turn.....target set for other team :261 runs, fingers crossed as this is not a very high target for the opposite team......time for break....hubby dear is lucky today as India's turn got over just 5 minutes before his meeting start....

What I did for muffins :

1. Sift together all the dry ingredients.
2. In another bowl mix all the wet ingredients
3. Add dry ingredients to wet in 3-4 parts, mixing thoroughly making sure no lumps are there, I prefer to use whisk her(manual to electronic mixer).
4. Add vinegar & vanilla.Mix.
5. Fill in the prepared pans. Bake at 350 degree.
6. This batter should yield U 12 regular size muffins, but I could not decide which pan to bake them in as I wanted mini muffins but batter was more then I needed for them, so here's what I baked from this batter:  12 mini muffins, baked for 14 minutes . 6 regular size muffins, baked for 17 minutes. 1 small 4 inch round cake, baked for 24 minutes.
7. Once they were cool I brushed them with melted butter & decked up with come sprinkles.

Note : If U are new to baking I really suggest sticking with one kind of pan at a time in the oven as different pans mean different timings & that mean opening the oven again & again, which is not a good thing, but luckily all the muffins/cake came out good.