The White Ramekins

food & photography

Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

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Somethings can’t be reasoned for, parent’s love and care for you is one such thing. Even after spending all these years away from them, I still feel the need for their warmth and love. I would miss my mother bringing hot and comforting bowl of soup when I am down with cold. Those unsaid words of my father, Sonny, I’ll fix you, all expressed by his warm and caring eyes would act like some kind of magic wand which would get you the assurance of security and stability, which no other thing on earth would ever get you.

Whole life changes for you, but this remains constant.  When I am home, me and my father wake up early to catch on with each other over morning chit chat, which usually stretches up to  noon. Meanwhile, he would be ready with his big bowl of fresh fruits and salad. He tries to make up for all the vitamins and minerals in one single meal, which I had lost during two weeks {he’s very well aware of my laziness about peeling and cutting fruits and vegetables, especially when it is for me alone}.

And by the time we finish our course of good healthy salad, mother gets the yummy food ready, which would normally comprise of subji, chapati and and cool glass of buttermilk. That simple and sober taste can’t be replaced by anything. Then a quick afternoon nap, we would be ready to chat over teatime which would again extend in to dinner time. And this repeats for the other day too.

The excitement of meeting them and chatting with them for long hours on weekends keeps me going through two maddening weeks at work.   I was called up on work this Saturday {some urgent client deliverable}, so I baked some cookies on Friday night, boxed them and took them home for my parents, little nieces and nephew. This time I took the recipe from one of the cookbooks which I have on my tiny bookshelf and changed it to have little more healthfulness and wholesomeness. For which I replaced some plain flour with some whole wheat flour and some rolled oats. They came out so delicious they didn’t last long {despite I promised myself one cookie a day, which was obviously not kept…hehe}.

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
225 gm semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted

Instructions

  1. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and keep aside.
  2. Put butter and sugars into the bowl of an electric mixer; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy.
  3. Reduce speed to low. Add egg and vanilla; mix until combined.
  4. Mix in banana. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined.
  5. Stir in oats, chocolate chips, and walnuts.
  6. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing about 2 inches apart.
  7. Bake cookies on 180 degree Celsius preheated oven for 12-13 minutes.
  8. Cool on wire rack and store in an airtight container.

Plum Cake

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Stone fruits have taken my attention lately, probably they are almost out of season or they will last a couple of weeks. They were on my checklist ever since they appeared first time in this season. But I am not sure, why I hadn’t tried anything yet except for this cherry cake. There was one thing or the other which would pop up to be picked up first and the poor stone fruit would make way for them.

But last week, when I went to my parents, my brother brought home a whole big carton of these red juicy sweet sour plums, and that was it. It caught my attention and the verdict was out. This time, no other thing. It had to be those plums only. Now that when I had decided, I had to look for a good recipe too. I looked through my tiny bookshelf, if I could found something there. There was a recipe for an apricot frangipane tart which enticed me initially, but then I hesitated a bit because of all that butter that would go into the tart shell and the almond filling. Whereas, I was looking for something which could be a decent tea time snack. And I saved that tart for some other day, when I would crave for something decadent and wholesome.

And then leaving the bookshelf behind, I moved onto searching through the web. Tons of thanks to this beautiful blog by Beatrice of la tartine gourmande. This was exactly I was looking for. I was impressed by the simplicity and the lightness of this cake, which it got probably because of less sugar and the less butter. A perfect snack for a perfect tea time.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup sugar {powdered}
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
60 gm butter
zest of 3 lemons
8-10 plums thinly sliced
3 tbsp demerara sugar

Instructions

  1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, powdered sugar and salt in a bowl and keep aside.
  2. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and buttermilk. Mix in the melted butter and lemon zest.
  3. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir until combined.
  4. Spoon the batter into an 11 inch quiche pan and scatter plum slices on the top.
  5. Sprinkle with demerara sugar and bake in 200 degree Celsius preheated oven for around 20 to 25 minutes until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Tiramisu Verrines

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Zipping past through a very busy last week, between working late hours in office, friends visiting from US over the weekend and then rushing back home on Sunday afternoon, I somehow managed to take sometime for baking and feeding this constantly growing hunger of mine to write up this food journal. All I had to do was to timeline and prioritize the tasks. Tiramisu had been on my mind, ever since I made the luscious mascarpone at home. But I was waiting for some special moment, and what else it could be, while dear friends meeting up after almost two years. And the excitement was to meet their four months old lad. This was another reason to do this stuff well in advance, so that I could save on time to spend with the little one {did I mention that I love kids}.

I baked my ladyfingers and made Mascarpone two days in advance. And on Friday morning, before leaving for work, I whipped up the ingredients and layered them up in wide mouth water glasses and piled them up in refrigerator to set. I decided to make Tiramisu in verrines rather than a big round cake, all because the ladyfingers didn’t shape up like the ones you get from store {they were flatened a bit, as I didn’t have proper molds}. But trust me, they tasted nonetheless delicious. I was hesitating a bit in adding raw eggs to Mascarpone, so I used the store brought vanilla custard powder instead.

Lady Fingers/Savoiardi/Biscuit a la cuillere

Ingredients

3 eggs, separated
6 tbsp cornstarch
6 tbsp plain flour
80 gm superfine sugar

Instructions

  1. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites with 3/4th of the sugar until firm peaks form.
  2. In separate bowl, beat egg yolks with remaining sugar until it resembles a pale yellow light mix.
  3. Mix the egg yolks to egg whites, very gently.
  4. Sift over the flour and cornstarch and fold in gently with a wooden spatula, without losing the airiness of the mix.
  5. Pour the mix in a piping bag with 2″ circular nozzle and pipe on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  6. Let stand for 2 minutes and bake for 15 minutes in a 180 degree C/350 degree F preheated oven.
  7. Remove them from the oven and let them cool a little before placing them on a cooling rack.

Tiramisu

Ingredients

200 gm mascarpone, at room temperature {homemade recipe here}
1 1/2 cup cold milk
4 tsp vanilla custard powder
80 gm powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup prepared strong dark coffee, at room temperature
3 tbsp whipped cream
unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting
10-15 ladyfingers {recipe above}

Instructions

  1. Mix the custard powder with milk and 1/3 of the sugar and simmer it for 2/3 minutes {follow package directions}, let cool and come to room temperature.
  2. In a separate bowl, beat the mascarpone with remaining sugar, vanilla essence and  custard till it becomes light and airy, almost doubles up in volume.
  3. Fold in whipped cream gently.
  4. Take one ladyfinger, quickly dip it in coffee and cover the bottom of glass with it. Add more cookies to glass, if desired.
  5. Spoon the mascarpone mix into the glass, dust over cocoa powder.
  6. Repeat the layers of ladyfingers soaked in coffee, mascarpone.
  7. Cover the glasses with cling wrap and let them sit in refrigerator for atleast 5 hours {preferably overnight}.
  8. Dust with more cocoa powder while serving.