The White Ramekins

food & photography

Swedish Visiting Cake

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Swedish Visiting Cake

Last week at work had been terrible, too many things to deal with. And with the week ending, knowing that it’ll be way better next week and with Christmas just round the corner, I started feeling better. It was time to see parents and meet friends after one such boring week.

Swedish Visiting Cake

Yeah, one week I was totally cut off from my friends and family, work had totally engulfed me. It was such a drag that I felt happier watching it ending. And with only a couple of minutes spent in kitchen to bake this easy yet wonderful cake from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home To Yours, I felt relaxed.

Swedish Visiting Cake

All set to go meet parents. Baking this cake in a cast iron skillet was another homely feeling which I was longing for from long. A cast iron skillet was on my wish-list and finally I had bought one. I was in dilemma to buy or not to. But eventually I did.

Swedish Visiting Cake

It came pre-seasoned and it was a breeze to start cooking in it. Made fluffier omelettes for Sunday breakfast, pan frilled chicken, wiped it, again seasoned in my oven. And then finally baked this amazingly flavored, lightly sweet tea time cake with a lovely pan crust.

Swedish Visiting Cake

This cake doesn’t have any leavening agent, so this is kind a fudgy one with beautiful zesty flavor. And when you start rubbing the orange zest into the sugar, it starts feeling amazing starting right then. Batter takes few minutes to whipped up and the cake takes another couple of minutes into the oven, with home smelling great of the aromas from citrus and vanilla. You could easy bake it for a breakfast or afternoon tea. Taste great when shared with family and friends over a cup of tea.

Swedish Visiting Cake

Ingredients

1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
Grated zest of 1 Orange
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
100 gm unsalted butter, melted and cooled
About 1/4 cup sliced almonds

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 180 degree C and butter an 8 or 9 inch cast iron pan and set aside {you could use a round cake pan as well}.
  2. In a bowl, rub the sugar with orange zest using your fingers, until the sugar is moist and aromatic.
  3. Beat in the eggs one at a time using a hand whisk. Add in vanilla extract and salt.
  4. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold the flour followed by butter into the mixture.
  5. Pour the batter into the skillet or pan. Sprinkle the sliced almonds on top followed by some sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until it is golden and little crisp on the outside.
  6. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes and then run a knife around the edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Cut slices and serve warm or at room temperature.

Raisin Cinnamon Swirl Bread

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Raisin Cinnamon Swirl Bread

While simple cakes and cookies are a real comfort and super fun to be shared and enjoyed over tea time with friends and family, breads and pastries on the other hand are more involving and therapeutic. Kneading the soft dough by hand, watching it slowly rising and yielding to the yeast power, is way more satisfying. It feels great to see when a wonderful soft crumb bread, which is still warm comes out of the oven. The entire house smelling of freshly baked bread makes your Sunday even better. And that sense of accomplishment has got no match. Baking your own bread at home has got such healing and satiating powers.

Raisin Cinnamon Swirl Bread Raisin Cinnamon Swirl Bread

The urge to bake a bread gets instigated time and again, though not as frequently as desired. But I am happy that it does at least. And I am sure the Baking Gods hear my wishes, whenever I rest my dough to let it rise patiently. A well risen dough, and you’ve conquered the battle almost! This time I chose to bake this soft, tender-crumbed, sweet milk bread with delicate swirls of cinnamon sugar and lots of raisins. Cinnamon, the spice I am truly, deeply madly in love with. And the affection grows stronger starting winters each year. The plump juicy raisins just hit the flavor at right spot. All you get is the warm mildly sweet fragrant loaf. I slathered my bread with the leftover dulce de leche from banana and dulce de leche swirl ice cream. I slathered it with mulberry jam. Had it toasted. And made french toasts as well. And I know, it’s great for Holiday season. So don’t wait, rather give yourself this treat because it is that awesome!

Raisin Cinnamon Swirl Bread Raisin Cinnamon Swirl Bread Raisin Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Recipe adapted from Baking from my home to yours

Ingredients

For the bread

1 packet active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar, plus a pinch
1 1/4 cup warm milk
50 gm butter
3/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3 3/4 to 4 cups all purpose flour

For the swirl

1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp cinnamon powder
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup moist plump raisins
3 tbsp butter, softened

Directions

  1. Put the yeast in a small bowl, toss in the pinch of sugar and stir in 1/4 cup of warm milk. Let rest for 3 minutes, then stir. Yeast may not have dissolved completely, but it should be soft.
  2. In a mixer, fitted with paddle attachment, combine 1 cup milk, butter and remaining 1/4 cup sugar and mix on low speed for 2 minutes.
  3. Add egg, salt and vanilla and mix for a minute. Add the yeast mixture and beat on medium speed for 1 minute more.
  4. Turn the mixer off and add 2 3/4 cup of flour. Mix on low speed, just until flour is worked into liquids. It will be a sticky mix. Switch to dough hook. Add another 1 cup of flour. Increase the mixture speed and beat for a couple of minutes. If the dough hasn’t come together and almost clean the sides of the bowl, add 1/4 cup of flour, 1 tbsp at a time. Kneed the dough for 3 minutes, until it has a smooth and buttery sheen to it.
  5. Butter a large bowl, turn the dough into the bowl and cover lightly with a plastic wrap. Put the bowl in a warm place and let the dough rise until it is doubled in size for about 1 1/2 hours.
  6. Butter a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. To make the swirl, whisk together cinnamon, sugar and cocoa powder. Put the dough on a large work surface, dusted lightly with flour and roll the dough in a rectangle about 12 x 18 inches.
  7. Gently smear 2 tbsp of butter over the surface of dough. Sprinkle over sugar and cinnamon mixture, followed by raisins.
  8. Starting from the short side of the dough, roll the dough up snugly, jelly roll fashion. Fit the dough into buttered pan, seam side down and sides tucked down under the loaf.
  9. Cover the pan loosely with wax paper and  set in a warm place and let it rise, until it comes just above the sides of the pan, about 45 minutes.
  10. When the dough has fully risen, preheat the oven at 190 degree C. Melt the remaining 1 tbsp of butter and brush it over the top of the loaf. Bake the bread for about 20 minutes. Cover loosely with foil tent and bake for another 25 minutes, until the bread is golden and it’s bottom sounds hollow, on tapping the bottom of the pan.
  11. Transfer to a cooling rack and let it cool completely before slicing up.

When Dorie Greenspan Meets David Lebovitz…

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Oats & Wholewheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich

Every few days, I get a craving for my good old chocolate chip cookie. I so want to dunk those yummy cookies in my glass full of milk and live the moments of pure joy. Simple classic flavors never let you down. And you always keep going back to them. Vanilla ice cream is another such flavor. My most favorite of all since childhood. And my second favorite these days is coffee ice cream, but more on that later. Plain vanilla ice cream without any toppings or such things, is something I can live on forever.

Oats & Wholewheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich 1

Though I had never made vanilla ice cream before (but not sure, why ??}. So this weekend, I thought to treat myself and my friends with these amazing chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. I did make some ice cream sandwiches last summer too, but the cookies were chocolate sables and the ice cream was store bought.

Oats & Wholewheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich 2

Last year when I made them, it was during peak summers {when temperature hits 45 degrees C}. Holy Cow! I had tough time handling the ever melting ice cream. God only knows, how I managed to assemble the sandwiches. I was running between the fridge and my living room, where I was taking pictures of them cuties. But it was surely worth all that hassle.

Oats & Wholewheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich 3

This year too, I had been wanting to make them again, but with homemade ice cream this time. But last year’s struggle with a scorching heat prevented me from doing that early. And I kept this procrastinated, until rains arrived. Weather is cooler these days, though some days are humid too. In fact, it’s perfect weather to enjoy these ice cream sandwiches. Ice cream wouldn’t melt faster than you might think and slip through the cookies sandwiching it. No hassle but pure joy!

Oats & Wholewheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich 5

Now the recipe had to be a really good one. And you must have easily guessed it by now, that whom I resorted to. Yes, I baked chocolate chip cookies from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking, From My Home to Yours and made the vanilla ice cream from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop.

Oats & Wholewheat Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich 4

Both the geniuses did their magic and I ended up having these amazing ice cream sandwiches. I did some tweaks to cookies recipe, replacing the plain flour by half oats and half whole wheat and reduced the butter and sugar, Dorie has mentioned. I tasted the dough, and found it too sweet for my liking so I added more whole wheat flour. And the cookies were still really scrumptious. And for the ice cream, I chose the custard version over Philadelphia style, simply because I wanted my ice cream to be richer and creamier. I halved the recipe, both for cookies and ice cream, and that yielded ten mid sized sandwiches. Good enough to treat all my friends, still leaving me with a spare one to be enjoyed later during the week.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Ingredients

1/2 cup whole milk
70 gm sugar
1 cup low fat cream
pinch of salt
1/2 vanilla bean, split
3 large egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Warm the milk, sugar, vanilla bean, salt and 1/4 cup of cream in a medium saucepan. Once the mixture is warm, cover, remove from heat and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
  2. Rewarm the vanilla-infused milk mixture. Pour the remaining 1/4 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.
  3. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
  4. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Strain the custard through a strainer and stir into the cream.Discard the used vanilla bean.
  5. Let the mixture cool for 30 minutes on room temperature. Mix in the vanilla extract.
  6. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
  7. In a large rectangular glass or ceramic pan, spread the ice cream and freeze in freezer, until set properly.

Oats Wholewheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup rolled oats, powdered in food processor
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
80 gm butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup light bown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

Instructions

  1. Cream butter and both the sugars together in medium bowl, until pale and fluffy.
  2. Beat in the vanilla and egg, incorporating well into the mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, oats, salt, baking soda together and then mix into the butter and sugar mixture.
  4. Fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, preheat the oven at 180 degree C and line two baking sheets with baking mat or parchment paper.
  6. Taking 1 tbsp of the cookie dough, roll into cookies and place on the prepared baking sheets, with 2 inches from each other. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden. Let cool completely on wire rack.
  7. For assembling,  cut out the ice cream discs using a 1 1/2 inch cookie cutter, sandwiching the ice cream between two similar sized cookies. Repeat until all the ice cream is consumed. Store in freezer, until ready to serve.