Adieu!
Dear readers,
I am discontinuing this blog.
I shall henceforth blog at http://thegrubguide.wordpress.com along with 2 friends.
But I appreciate all the support, and here’s a large:
Image courtesy: http://www.katiskupcakes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/thankyou-cupcake3.jpg
Perfectly Pinwheel.
Im generally struggling to caption each of my blog posts, but this title occurred to me while I was cooking, so im all the more excited.
If theres one thing that’s always fascinated me on the purple foodie recipes/menu its been the Nutella Pinwheel cookies. They were so attractive to order, but I got an order the other day which was one of those bulk cookie/chocolate kinds. So I thought, lets challenge myself.
But before I start, I want to boast about how perfectly well my cookies turned out. Proud cheer for me.
Lets get to business, I read the recipe, and it seemed interesting. The highlights:
Make sure the dough is the right consistency
Wire and knives are not the same thing.
To make a pinwheel design is like a craft class. Only, there’s no unlimited stock of paper/ modeling clay or whatever.
So I rolled the dough and everything about it was okay except the consistency. It was just too hard, not the rolling kinds. So my maid suggested water, as much as it was not to my satisfaction. I think it was because I hadn’t used the egg yolk. But my customer said no egg yolk. So no eggs it was.
But surprisingly, she liked those samples. What she didn’t like though, was the appearance. Which I totally agree with. It is something I really really need to work on.
So I did some more reading and almost perfected pinwheels today.
I added milk instead of the egg. So it was VERY VERY soft cookie dough. But the thing here is, you need to make sure its not too soft, because your entire point of making the pinwheel cookie will just vanish. Shaheen’s solution: refrigerate. Which I would’ve done anyway. And considering India is India, freezers just work better.
Everything went on the dot. Even the most exciting bit:
Smearing Nutella on the cookie dough and cutting the cookies. Once youre done smearing, and rolling, to ensure that it becomes less messy (and looks nicer too) to cut, I froze the rolls.
(wait for it)
Cutting!
Shaheen categorically said that knives will smear the chocolate. But I tried, for defiance sake. So typically me. And they did smear. So ugly they were.
And thanks to lack of wire, I used sewing thread. (The blog’s comments had it, don’t judge me.) Initially, what i did was just roll the dough, and slice the roll so that they are circular cookies with swirls of Nutella inside. But I was slicing it wrong.
What you’re meant to do is, take the thread, and crisscross it around the roll. ie- pull the two end to opposite sides so that the cookies automatically falls flat on the cutting board. But I pulled it towards me (upward) instead. But I did the correct way the next day.
I’ll be able to explain better with the photos.
But they’re the best I’ve perfected a recipe 
Pink but chocolate
Thank you Sarvesh!
I usually refrain from names on my blog, but I just HAD to give him credit.
Sarvesh, a classmate, wanted notes that I had to be photocopied. I left them with the photocopier below the house for him to pick up.
When he came to return them right at my doorstep, he gave me a little cute white cuboid box with colorful spots on it. It said Le 15 pattiserie. I’d heard
of the bakery. Just never checked it out. But guess what he said- they have baking classes VERY close to my house!
Anyway, getting to the point, this little cute box had the cutest of dessert that I’ve never tasted.
3 little pink chocolate macroons.
I always knew that Macroons were a lot more healthy in comparison to most another desserts because they’re made of egg whites rather than Maida. But, I never thought they’d taste so good. They just melted in my mouth the moment I bit into them. I loved even the way they were arranged in the box. (diagonally) Pity I didnt take a photo then. Greediness happened when I saw them.
I think Macroons shall be the next thing on my list, after fruit tarts, chocolate mousse and rum balls.
Oh and did i tell you about the Big Nutella Sponge?
I was taking a go at Nutella Swiss Rolls the other day and failed miserably. Miserably being an understatement. My cake was spongy enough, but not the right consistency that i could roll it up. So I halved it. and made like a cake sandwich. So there was a layer of sponge cake, then Nutella, then cake, then Nutella.. and so on.I think a maximum of 3 layers should do it. Otherwise you just won’t be able to bite it.
And, just in case I think of doing the classes, I’d love some company
PS- I apologize for not having many photos. I actually went too close to the macroon, so it blurred because I dont have an SLR. So I’m posting only the best of the lot and there was only one by then, because the other 2 were already polished off. [Embarassed smile emoticon, whichever that is]
The Cupcake Trio
For once, I was satisfied with my results this time when i started off in the kitchen.
Today being my official first day of starting the ‘business’, I thought I’d deliver flyers to prospective customers along with a free sample- a cupcake of their choice.
Before you get excited, mind you, there are only 18.
6 of each flavor. But since there was extra batter, 4 extra of one flavor.
Ok, Im finally done and I realized that my second batch got burnt. Slightly scorched from the top and it’s almost like a biscuit on the top layer. Quite sad, I know. So very hard cupcakes are up for grabs.
I had read Purple Foodie with a recipe of making dulce de leche. Take a can of condensed milk and keep it in boiling water for 3 hours. At first, I was like 3 entire hours? Isn’t there a shorter way? But then I said, what the hell? You’re making 3 different kind of cupcakes anyway. You’ll have more than enough time. So I started. And made the hole that the recipe said. Except, mine was too big, so it started spilling out.(Why am I always prone to such mishaps?) I had to take it off before the 3 hours, so I got half dulce de leche and half very thick, sticky, almost brown condensed milk.
I wanted to have a dulce de leche layer on the top, but that obviously didnt work out.
I shall try again tomorrow though. This time, I’m gonna use the previous recipe (the Vanilla cupcake one) and just change the ingredients.
So, I made White Chocolate Cupcakes (Which were meant to go with the dulce de leche)
Strawberry Cupcakes which I’m still wondering what to garnish with (I’m still waiting for these to cool, so I don’t know what they’re like) and
Vanilla Cupcakes with Nutella (These turned out PERFECT, the consistency is perfect and the Nutella I smeared on top looks just like it’s out of a movie.)
That was how I spent my past few hours.
Did you know that cupcakes are probably THE most simple and quick thing to make?
One important thing I learnt though is that you have to mix the liquid ingredients and solid ingredients independently before you mix the two.
Well anyway, applaud for me. I have MUCH more pictures this time.
I bow down to thee, electric mixer.
For the first time ever, I realized how important the electric mixer was.
Yesterday I was trying to cook and it went horribly wrong, I used a mixer.Today, something I made went horribly wrong and the mixer worked like magic because I didnt have the correct consistency. Actually, the recipe told me to take a precaution, and I did. But the goof up happened anyway. How do you correct that?
On request (in exchange for an assignment) Oreo & White Chocolate Cheesecake happened.
Remember I talked about foul stenches? My hands are at the moment smelling of white chocolate and more of it. Love the aroma.
I learnt today that while baking, it’s absolutely fine if you sacrifice eggs. They leave a very foul stench anyway, and you’re jacked if it lingers right till the end. (I used 2 in a recipe that said 4 thanks to previous experiences)
Today, I did a very ’not practice what I preach’ of me thing. I didnt read the recipe before I started cooking. It turned out that every stage, I needed to refrigerate my batter to let it set. It had a minimum of an hour amd at 3 stages. I was just like, I CANNOT wait that long. So I improvised, I made it all together and it’s now in the fridge ‘setting’. Its just the constant ‘refrigerate’ part of the recipe that bummed me a bit.
Something else the recipe said was that I can refrigerate for upto 3 DAYS! How lazy can a person be? 3 x 24hours?! That’s the difference I suppse. I’ll always have takers, that too before the 3 days 
What I’m scared about though, is whether it’ll be the consistency it is supposed to when it comes out. Especially because there’s flour in it and I haven’t baked it.
I made a few mistakes too. (I’m not so sure this really counts as a mistake) I used an Oreo spoon in the cheesecake batter, so now its turned this funny grey. I pray though, that who I had made it for digs taste more than appearance.
Another crazy idea I had while making the cheesecake- The Oreo cookie filling that I had gotten rid of and kept aside, I mixed that with cream and poured it on top as topping. I have a feeling though, tha
t the cream had started souring because it was foaming. I also think it was very Indian of me to do that. Not everyone recycles like that, do they?
I was at a point where I realized that I didn’t have a single photo. So I take out the camera and realize crushed Oreos just like so good. Anywhere, whatever they’re doing, wherever they are, they’re picture perfect.
When I tasted the raw batter, it tasted too much of flour without much of chocolate, so that tray in my fridge has 500g of pure, sinful white chocolate in it. I made like a sauce so it wouldn’t remain lumpy, just poured almost 1/4 cup milk in a pan and put in the chocolate. To my surprise, it melted perfectly. I even tried the melting with steam technique, forgot what that was called, but it solidified anyway so I gave up.
It’s my first preparation that doesn’t need to be put in the oven, so I’m slightly excited. (Biscuit pudding doesn’t count because it never did set)
This is where I got to bed brooding over my unpredictable cheesecake.
Toodles! (till my next recipe)
The very sad replication
Hello!
Im back in action. Ive had crazy submissions this week, thus havent updated.
But, I thought I’d make the simplest thing ever today, especially because i HAD to make something to commemorate my lack of work to do.
I took a shot at Biscuit Pudding.
There’s a story behind this. There used to be this girl in my school who, for EVERY class party would get her biscuit pudding, and I kid you not, I’d almost attack it. It was the simplest thing ever but it was heaven.
I actually have fruit tarts on my agenda, which happened to be a request. I’m excited about them, very. But I had to clarify exactly how she wants them, and thats when I’ll get to work. They seem fun things to make. Never seen/heard of them.
So I set out on my mission, to make biscuit pudding and realize it was VERY simple. I was the one that screwed up though. I didnt do something SO basic. I forgot about the Vanilla essence. Yes, shoot me. It’s actually quite funny though. I was like let me add a tinge of nutmeg and cocoa into it. Nutmeg happened, but cocoa didnt. I’m SO stupid. A surge of that happened today earlier when I was given some links of other food blogs, it made me feel like shit. Their photos are so good, their language is so intriguing, I feel like they’re perfect. Everything about the blog is so perfect.
Hmm, someday.
My hands are STINKING of eggs now, a very foul stench.
I had this crazy idea the other day. I want to have a bake sale. I’ll get together a bundle of people, and we’ll bake. It seems interesting an idea. I hope it materializes.
Ok, the biscuit pudding is out, and its quite bad. Thanks to the eggs, its yellower and fluffy. I dont know how I always tend to out in less amount of eggs than the recipes says and it STILL always ends up tasting more eggy, if thats a word.
It was my fault actually. I had a mental picture of ‘that’ biscuit pudding in mind and knew my concotion wasnt anything like it. I dont think she soaked the biscuits first, because they were crunchy even you dug into it. And the top layer, oh my god. It was like a thick paste. Almost like chocolate cream. I think I’m going to make my own recipe according to what I had in mind. I think its about time I started making my own recipes.
Now, instead of brooding I’m going to actually pen down what I think could even remotely resemble that biscuit pudding. I pray I get it right.
To be honest, it’s a rather ugly looking thing- not even worth a photograph.
Toodles!
PS- To those who I promised it to, it’s not even worth it. Like seriously.
Thank God Its Sundae!
[DISCLAIMER: This is an extension a dessert write up of a for an item in entry number 2 more than a blog post]
I know, its far from Sunday, Tuesday to be precise I have an entire pile of work to do, but i just HAD to tell everyone about the dessert I just had.
(Yes, kill me for that calorie intake)
I felt like blogging about it because it was SO out of this world and different; the dessert called the blog post’s namesake.
I never realized I’d like how basic a combination it was and why I have never thought of making that combination before. (elaborated later)
Mocha (Churchgate, Bandra)
I ordered the Thank God It’s Sundae.
*An entire layer of Banana Walnut Muffin broken into mashed pieces. That, spread out onto a sundae plate, 4 scoops of Ice cream placed on top of it; alternating, vanilla and chocolate. You then have a garnish of broken marshmallow bits, green and pink with a very thin streak of chocolate sauce poured on top of it. And then came the last bit. The flat ring shaped biscuits that were used as a garnish to go on top of the ice cream scoops. To be honest, I just couldn’t make out what topping these biscuit rings had on them, but it had some sort of a not chocolate topping*
It is a little deceptive when it arrives, you feel like why is there SO much of ice cream as against the muffin, but you later realize. The entire bed of muffin mash is yet meant to reveal itself.
It was divine. To be more specific, what I found most divine in the process of devouring it, was that there was a point where there was just the smashed muffin and ice cream; I LOVED that mash. Weird as it may sound, something I never thought of making, maybe because of the predominance of either crumbles/tarts/brownies or just plain cakes along with icecream. But what I liked was how gooey the mash was because muffins are anyway so crumbly. Then there were always more crushed walnuts to go with the too paste-like a texture.
I thought it would be worth a blog because of how out of the normal it was, especially with all the marshmallows and walnuts.
PS- For once I have photos!
The Introductory Post, though delayed.
So, I had started this blog to get myself to keep up something constantly since there’s no one thing Im consistent about. But what I didn’t think about is the not being able to afford ingredients. You may judge me with this, but its just that I dont live with anyone who earns. And I dont yet either. So most of the things Im going to blog about shall most probably be made of improvised ingredients.
Another thing I happen to be pondering about, is how to carry on blogging. In the sense, what if Im not cooking? Either because of lack of ingredients or just a bad day.
Before starting the blog I was wondering what criteria there is to start a blog, as in, what makes you start, how to keep it up etc. I was told you’ve got to know your subject well. I think I know desserts well. But I can always be wrong about millions of things, so I’d love getting all your inputs to anything I might be wrong about.
But my point of starting this blog was experimenting, most of all. My oven had gone for repairs once and I really wanted to make something. My main question was, can I make a dessert without baking it? Then started my hunt for recipes. I realized that recipes exist. Lots of them. People probably want to know what I make of them. So I thought it would make a better read if I shared my experiences while making things.
I don’t know if there are other bloggers who do that, share their experiences. I’d very much like to read their blogs. Or anything out of the ordinary. Here, I’d call ordinary- blogs with just recipes.
I have to confess here, that I’m no great writer. The way I put things across is very ordinary, or so I think. There are lots of other people whose blogs make a lovely read. All I hope is that I can keep posting as often as required and this lets me share the fun I have cooking with everyone.
Do let me know if there’s anything in particular you’d like me to be blogging about.
Moody you
I thought I’d make this post a sort of guide. Like the Times Food Guide type thing, but more specific.
You’ll see what I mean. I call it Moods.
(This will always be an incomplete entry. It will keep getting updated as I taste more desserts)
The *ed items are those that I havent yet tried yet. I have only gone by reviews. I shall edit the write up once I have tasted them.
Caramel
1 Caramel Walnut Tart @ Moshe’s(Colaba, Cuffe Parade & Bandra)
I have often gotten cravings for this. It’s a beautifully made pastry with walnuts and almonds I think. Best with IceCream, but not bad without either.
2 Caramel Cake @ Theobroma(Colaba & Bandra)
[DISCLAIMER: They often don't have this]
This is one of the most simple uncomplicated but heavenly cakes i’ve had. It’s your normal dutch truffle, except with caramel instead. The top layer, and middle 2 layer made of pure sinful caramel.
Chocolate
*1 Chocolate Bomb @ Little Italy’ s La Pizzeria (Phoenix Mills & Charni Road Station)
*2 Mission Impossible @ 5 Spice(Horniman Circle & Bandra)
A dessert that needs atleast 2 people to do justice to. Its a massive wedge of one of those wedding cakes you see on television. A mixture of chocolate lava and more cake.
3 Chocolate Lava @ Basilico(Apollo Bunder and Pali Hill)
A cake you can actually feel & see the lava. Yes, it has the typical excessive chocolate flavor that lingers on as an after taste. One of the few pastries that got the consistency of lava right without messing up the flavor.
4 Chocoholic @ Theobroma(Colaba Causeway and Bandra)
This is a triple layered Chocolate Mousse Cake, 1 milk chocolate, 1 white chocolate and I can’t remember what the 3rd layer was made of.
This list happens to subjective, and can go on. But I shall stop here, as I think every other dessert is underrated as against Chocolate.
Fruits
Apple Crumble @ Gaylord (Churchgate)
This is just divine. There haven’t been many Apple Crumble’s that have disappointed me as such, but this one for some reason particularly stands out.
For the Undecided
1 Maple Walnut Tart/Pie @ Ovenfresh (Dadar)
[DISCLAIMER: Often, they don't have this]
I am still trying to find a place to have this exotic dessert. If I don’t, I might just make it!
2 Thank God It’s Sundae.
For description refer to blog post under the same name between the *s.
