The White Ramekins

food & photography

Apple Yogurt Cake {Egg Free}

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I am not a very big fan of bakes without eggs, so you wouldn’t come acrosss a recipe without eggs very often here. Not that I detest the taste of the cakes or cookies sans eggs, but candidly speaking, I just fear baking them. Fear of if it’ll rise or not, if it’ll get the desired texture which probably an egg based recipe has got. So actually, after baking so many cakes and cookies, I still feel terribly challenged, when it comes to egg-free baking. And I feel terrible too, when I can’t bake something good for my mamma and grandma {it’s very common in India for people to abstain from eggs and meat}.

And as festive season of Durga Puja and Navratras (Nine days of fasting) are around, it is a strict taboo to the eggs and meat in the house. And the quest for an egg free recipe started. It was nothing unusual, until I found this recipe at Deeba’s blog. Her beautiful blog represents the seasoned baker in her and the way she presents her recipes, is highly remarkable. Being a strong advocate of using local produce, she inspires to substitute the hard-found baking ingredients in India with the locally available ones.

I changed the recipe a bit to add some new flavors to it. I had few apples left in my fridge, which I added to the cake. Some cinnamon along with apples gave cake a wonderful flavor of an apple pie. Also, I replaced some amount of flour with almond meal to give the cake a better grainy texture. All that yogurt which went into the cake, made it very moist. It tasted and hold the shape better, the next morning.

At the end, I was extremely satisfied to have bake a cake for my sweeties.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sieved
1/2 cup almond meal
1 apple, peeled, cored and grated
1 cup yogurt
3/4 cup sugar powdered
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon powder {optional}
1/2 cup dried cranberries {optional}

Instructions

  1. Soak the cranberries in hot water for 5 minutes, pat dry.
  2. Whip yogurt, sugar, vanilla essence and cinnamon powder for 5 minutes.
  3. Add baking soda and baking powder, mix well and let stand for 3 minutes.
  4. Mix in the olive oil and grated apple.
  5. Next, slowly add the flour, almond meal and cranberries together in 4 lots, blending in well after each addition.
  6. Pour the batter into an 8 inch springform pan, greased and lined with parchment paper.
  7. Bake in a 200 C preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes, until the skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
  8. Cool the cake in pan for 30 minutes and then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.
  9. Wait for at least an hour before slicing the cake.

Strawberry & Apple Crumble

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Last weekend was about adieus and good byes. Adieu to the birds migrating to India and to strawberries, the seasonal fruits of spring. As the winters are departing and summers are approaching, those guest species of birds from the countries in the northern hemisphere return to their home.

I have been visiting this bird sanctuary, Sultanpur National Park, every year from past three years, along with my friend. An early morning visit to this birds natural home is so refreshing and soothing to my ears and eyes. We are lucky that it is just at a distance of 15 KM from my home. November to early march is the best time to go see those birds. And we didn’t want to miss our chance to say them goodbye.

And a recipe with strawberries which matched up to the theme of the weekend was this light, healthy, low on fat and refreshing Strawberry & Apple Crumble. The tart flavor of strawberries, sweetness of apples and the crunchiness of nuts and the oats make this dessert even good for your breakfast.

Ingredients

6 apples (peeled and diced)

150 gm strawberries (chopped)

juice of 1 lemon

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/2 cup chopped almonds

1/2 cup raisins

1 tsp cinnamon powder

Topping:

3 tbsp plain flour

60 gm chilled butter

45 gm oats

Instructions

  1. Toss chopped apples, strawberries, lemon juice, almonds, raisins, cinnamon powder and brown sugar in a bowl.
  2. Pour the fruit mix in 6 ramekins or in a shallow pie dish and press the fruits gently.
  3. To make crumble topping, mix flour and sugar in a separate bowl.
  4. Put in cold butter cut into pieces and work with finger tips to make a breadcrumbs like texture. Mix in the oats lightly with a spoon.
  5. Put this crumble over the fruit mixture, pressing down gently to cover the top & seal the fruit in.
  6. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for about 30 minutes.

Wholesome Hearty Apple Banana Oatmeal Muffins

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Here comes the weekend and I am filled with some extra excitement and joy, partly because the long working week has ended and partly because I get enough time to bake and shoot and of course indulge. I am sure it happens with all of us. This Saturday I got up early, as opposed to my plans to be in bed at least till eight. Even I had asked my house maid to come late for the domestic help. But the chirping of the pigeons in the balcony, and the early sunrise (as the winters are departing now) moved my lazy bums and urged me to go down and have a walk. It was partly cloudy when the sun was rising. The bright and crimson color of sun and the flowers made me invigorated.

After I was back from the half an hour jog, it was time to feed my hungry tummy. I looked around the kitchen counter and saw these lovely red apples. I didn’t want to have the boring-weekday-cereals-breakfast, so thought of making these wonderful wholesome, hearty apple banana and oatmeal muffins, the recipe of which I came across a few days back. This was the second time I was going to bake them. They were really good the very first time, so definitely they had to make en entry on my blog.

The best part of these muffins are that they contain very less amount of refined flour (almost 1/4th of the flour, rest all is whole wheat flour and the oatmeal). Definitely good for your kids. Especially, when all of us are getting conscious of minimizing our daily intake of refined flour.

The recipe yields 16 medium sized muffins. They taste so well because of the sweet and juicy apples and the aroma of bananas and cinnamon. To add some fun to it, I mixed in some milk chocolate chips, which can be avoided too.

They can be enjoyed with a glass of warm milk in breakfast or with vanilla ice cream in dessert (kids will love it a lot)

Ingredients

2 very ripe bananas

1 egg

1/4 cup oil

1/3 cup milk

150 gm sugar

2 apples (peeled and chopped)

60 gm wholewheat flour

60 gm refined flour (all purpose flour)

150 gm rolled oats (quick breakfast type)

3 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup walnuts

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1/4 cup milk/dark chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Lined muffin pan with muffin paper cups.
  2. In a bowl combine bananas, milk, oil, sugar and egg.
  3. Add dry ingredients, flour, oats, cinnamon and baking powder and whisk until well incorporated.
  4. Fold in apples, walnuts and chocolate chips.
  5. Spoon one spoon of the mixture evenly into muffin cups.
  6. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until tester comes out clean.
  7. Make sure you remove muffins immediately after they are done. Let them cool on a wire rack.