Baked French Toast Slices

I don't like spending too much time in the kitchen for making breakfast. I always prefer recipes for breakfasts that can be prepared within 15-20 minutes. French toast has always been my favorite breakfast recipes especially on lazy Sunday mornings when we wake up late and most of the time it is a brunch or very light breakfast. If you ask my son what he'd like to have for a quick breakfast, the answer is always the same - Either it is pancakes or french toast. He usually has oatmeal or cornflakes before going to school everyday which he finds very boring. But as he is a very slow eater, I have very limited choices to give him for breakfast during school days. 

This version of baked french toast is so delicious and trust me no one can ever go wrong with this recipe.. This recipe is always a hit. It is really very simple and quick to make. Crispy outside and fluffy inside with sugar and a bit of buttery taste - these french toasts are absolutely yummy or should I say tremendously decadent. If you want, you can serve these french toast drizzled with syrup of your choice or eat it as it is. Do try these fantastic baked french toast slices and enjoy.

Ingredients:-

• 8 slices of bread
• 3 eggs
• ⅓ cup sugar
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• few drops of yellow color (optional)
• bread crumbs 
• butter

Method:-

• Cut each bread slice into three pieces.
• Grease a baking tray with butter and keep aside. 
• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
• In a wide bowl, add eggs, sugar, yellow color, vanilla essence. Beat well with a whisk.
• Add milk and beat again until the mixture is well blended.
• Dip each bread slices in the bread mixture. Do not over-soak. Just coat it completely.
• Roll in breadcrumbs.
• Place on a greased baking tray.
• Bake for 10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.
• Remove and brish the tops with melted butter.
• Flip to the other side and bake for another 5 - 10 minutes.
• Serve with drizzled syrup.

Notes:-

• You may avoid rolling the bread slices in breadcrumbs.
• You may cut the bread into half to form triangles instead of slices.
• Adjust the sugar as per required. 
• If you do not want to bake them, just grease a pan with oil or ghee, dip each bread slices in the mixture and fry on low heat on both sides till golden brown.. Do not use breadcrumbs if you are frying it in a pan. 

Happy Cooking!!!

Sending this to :- Arthy Shama's Healthy Snacking and WTML & Gayathri’s Announcement Page and Vardhini's Bake Fest # 25 

Chocolate Cupcakes

These chocolate cupcakes are a dedication to all chocolate lovers. The cupcakes are soo moist and light. The texture, the appearance and the taste of the cupcake is absolutely divine. They are really easy to make and quite addictive too. Trust me, you can't eat just one. The original recipe is of a Chocolate Cake. Once, I had leftover batter and tried making these cupcakes with them. And since then, I haven't tried it any other way. I prefer not to change anything even with it's simple appearance.

Ingredients:-

• 1 cup levelled all purpose flour (maida)
• 1 cup sugar (powdered)
• ½ cup milk
• ½ cup boiling water 
• ¼ cup refined oil
• ⅓ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 egg

Method:-

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 
• Line cupcake moulds with paper liners.
• Sieve together maida, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
• Add powdered sugar to this and mix well.
• Add egg, milk, oil and vanilla essence.
• Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
• Now add boiling water and stir well.
• The batter will be thin.
• Pour the batter in the cupcake moulds till ¾ full.
• Bake at 180 degrees Celcius for 30-35 minutes or until done.
• Cool completely on a wire rack.

Notes:-

• If you like your cupcake to be more sweet, you can add 1½ cup sugar instead of 1 cup.
• For simple icing:- double boil 100 grams milk chocolate with ¼ cup butter. Cool and use.
• If you are icing the cupcake, do not increase sugar.
• For the eggless version, just add ½ cup buttermilk instead of egg

Happy Cooking!!

Sending this to :- Vardhini's Bake Fest # 25

 

7.11.13 - +Joerg Sterner tried this Chocolate cupcakes... Thanks +Joerg Sterner for sharing your feedback... God bless.. 

Spooky Witches' Fingers - Home Baker's Challenge # 6

October is the month of Halloween and for the first time in my life I have made something creepy as this. This month's challenge for Home Bakers Challenge was announced by Nalini's Kitchen . She gave us four choices for Halloween  - chocolate glazed pumpkin cookies, spooky witch fingers, Halloween whoopie pies and ghostly cupcakes. 

I was really excited to make these unique and creative spooky witch fingers. They were quite simple, easy and delicious to make for such a realistic and impressive outcome. These spooky witch fingers, according to my husband were hilarious but a little more horrid at the same time. My son loved these frightful cookies especially when I was taking the pics - the whole dramatic blood and all.

On this note, I hope everyone has a scary (but safe) Halloween this year!

Ingredients:-

• 2 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 cup butter (at room temperature)
• 1 cup icing sugar 
• ¾ cup whole almonds
• 1 egg  
• 1 tsp almond extract 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract  
• 1 tsp baking powder  
• 1 tsp salt 

Method:-  

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.  
• Line your cookie sheet with a parchment paper. 
• Combine butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl and beat well.
• Gradually add flour, baking pdr, and salt. Beat well to form a soft dough.
• Wrap in a cling film and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes.
• Remove dough from refrigerator and scoop 1 heaped teaspoon at a time.
• Roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie. 
• Press one almond into one end of each cookie to give the appearance of a long fingernail. 
• Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance. 
• Arrange the shaped cookies on the baking sheets.  
• Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes or until the cookies are slightly golden in color.

Notes:-

• For the eggless version use the same dough for Thumbprint Cookies  just omit the strawberry crush. 
• If the almonds keep falling after you've baked them, Just add little jam and stick the almonds back to the fingers.

Happy Baking!!
 
Sending this to :- Sharanya's Let's Celebrate Halloween Event 

 5.11.13 - +Joerg Sterner  tried the spooky witches fingers I made for October Home baker's challenge... Thanks Joerg for sharing your feedback... God bless..  

Eggless Strawberry Nutella Thumbprint Cookies - Home Baker's Challenge # 3

Hey Friends.. I'm back after a month of blogging break.. My Father-in-law passed away on the 9^th of last month.. Just before the arrival of the auspicious month of Ramadan.. May Almighty bless his soul and grant him Jannah…

Last month's challenge for Home Bakers Challenge was announced by Viji of Viruntha Unna Vaanga . She chose cookies for this month's challenge with two choices – Eggless Strawberry Nutella Thumbprint Cookies, Peanut Butter Cookies, Pinwheel cookies and Shortbread sandwich cookies. Out of these, I chose to bake the Strawberry Nutella thumbprint cookies. It was a huge hit with the kids. I’m really sorry for the late post dear but I didn't want to miss this post. Hence posting it now.

Ingredients:-

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 7 tbsp sugar
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 3 tbsp strawberry crush
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• ½ tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• nutella for filling 

Method:-

• Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
• In another bowl, cream the softened butter and sugar using a hand whisk or electric blender for about 4 minutes.
• Add the vanilla essence and strawberry crush to the bowl and combine well with the butter mixture using a whisk.  
• Fold in the flour mixture with the butter mixture gently to form dough. The dough will be soft and a little sticky but not loose. Do not over mix. You might need to oil your hands and bring the dough together. 
• Once combined, cover the dough with plastic cling film and refrigerate for ½-1 hour.   
• Preheat the oven to 350 F/175 C. 
• Line your cookie sheet with a parchment paper. 
• Take out the refrigerated dough, lightly oil your palms and make small balls with it. (You can use 1 Tbsp or ice cream scoop for even measurement). Put the balls on the cookies sheet and press down slightly to flatten out.  
• With the help of your thumb or back of a tea-spoon make a small hole in the middle of the cookies where you’ll fill the nutella after baking.   
•  Bake the cookies in the oven for about 8-12 minutes or until the bottom starts turning brown. Do not bake them beyond 12 minutes. These will continue to cook after you take them out of the oven.
• Take out the cookie sheet from the oven and using the teaspoon again press out the hole in the cookies. You will not able to do this after the cookies have cooled. 
•  Once cookies have cooled, fill in the nutella in the little holes in the cookies.    

Notes:-

• You may replace the nutella with your choice of filling like melted jam or melted chocó chips. 
• Do refrigerate the dough to work easily.  
• Every oven is different, hence the time of baking may vary from appliance to appliance.

Happy Baking!!

Sending this entry to :- Birthday Special Event