Tomato & Goat Cheese Muffins

While cookies and cupcakes are alright, I enjoy a Pakora / Bajji so much more. And since there aren’t that many stalls that sell Indian chaat where I live, I make spicy muffins that last a week. 

Makes 10-12 Med Sized Muffins

Bowl 1

• 1 and a 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 cup Besan (Chickpea Flour)
• 3 and 1/4 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Salt

Bowl  2

• 1 and a 1/4 cup Milk
  2 large eggs

 Other Ingredients

• 6 oz unsalted Butter
• 1 Plum Tomato diced into 10 small pieces
• Fresh Basil (1/2 bunch) or Basil flakes (2-3 tbsp)
• 1 Cup Onions (Green/ Red finely chopped)Italian herbs
• Goat Cheese

I made it spicy by adding in chopped green chilies and paprika powder. You can skip these, if you’d rather have it low on the spice scale.

1. Preheat oven to 400 F
2. Grease muffin cups with non-stick butter spray
3. Mix Bowl 1 ingredients and keep aside
4. Beat Bowl 2 ingredients and keep aside
5. Heat the butter in a pan, add onions, sauté for 1-2 minutes. Then turn the stove off. After a minute, mix in the fresh basil + herbs and let it rest.
6. Pour the Flour mix into Bowl 2 alternating with the sautéed Onion mix
7. The batter will become very thick and hard to whip, I recommend using a hand whip and not an electric blender.
8. Spoon the batter and fill in the muffin trays half way.
9. Place a piece of sliced Tomato and a pinch of cheese and slightly push it into the batter (ensure that it does not touch the bottom of the tray)
10. Then fill again to the brim with more batter

Bake till sides are brown and the top just begins to crack (18 – 20 mins)
I baked it for 19 minutes and then turned the oven off. Let the muffins cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before serving.

Tastes great with Ketchup / Green Chutney

Banana-Walnut Muffin

Banana Walnut Muffins as my friend S says in her blog (which is AWESOME btw !) is a quickie. Come Sunday, we do a usual trip to the Whole Foods nearby and pick up " Organic " Fruits & Veggies (thanks to K's obsession with organic food). A week later, it's a pity to see at-least 3 out of every dozen have dark black wrinkled skin in some forbidden corner of our fairly full refrigerator.

Hence, Banana Nut Muffins or Banana Nut bread gets made every week. This week, it's the muffin. Makes for a good snack (morning/ evening)

If you can get your hands on Walnut Oil, I'd recommend using that instead of Canola. It has a subtle flavor, very nutritious and high in unsaturated fat. Store in a refrigerator to prevent from becoming rancid. It will keep up for 3 months.

Banana Walnut Muffins (Makes 12 Mini Muffins)


Bowl 1

• 1 & 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 tbsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tbsp Salt
• 3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar

Bowl 2

• 1/2 Cup Canola Oil/ Walnut Oil
• 1 large Egg
• 3 tbsp Buttermilk

Bowl 3

• 3 super ripe Bananas (cut & mashed)
• 1/2 Cup Crushed Walnuts

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. Meanwhile, grease a muffin tray with butter flavored non stick spray (Alt: Use unsalted butter and grease each cup). Fill unused cups with water to prevent warping.
2. Stir together ingredients in Bowl 1
3. Whisk together ingredients in Bowl 2
4. Add in Bowl 3 ingredients to Bowl 2 and blend.
5. Add in Bowl 1 in phases and beat well until evenly combined and slightly creamy.
6. Use a cookie scoop and fill muffin cups up to the rim.
7. Bake until muffins are golden, dry on surface and springy to touch.

In a proper full size oven, the muffins should cook in under 20 mins. In a mini oven, it might take a couple of mins extra. I usually let it bake, and wait till it turns slightly brown and turn the stove off. Let it cool on a wire rack and then serve.

Or if you are like me, you'd arrange it on a plate, set up the area for a nice looking photograph and click, before anyone can bite into it ;-)

Butterscotch Coconut Cookies

I was never a big fan of cookies. Am not one, even now. But every now and then, it's a nice thing to take to your workplace. I tried to make these, as Butterscotch and Coconut are 2 of my favorite flavors - and they turned out pretty nice!





Here's what you'll need.

Bowl 1

• 1 and 1/3 all purpose flour
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tbsp baking soda
• 1/2 tbsp salt

Bowl 2

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 Large Egg
• 1/2 tbsp Vanilla extract

Bowl 3

• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 3/4 cup coconut flakes/ powder

Use an electric blender for this recipe, as cookie doughs can get lumpy. Once again, using a Cookie Scoop is recommended!

1. Preheat the oven to 325F
2. Stir together Bowl 1 and keep aside
3. Beat together ingredients in Bowl 2 (in that order) until they fold smoothly. Pinch the batter with your thumb and index finger, the batter needs to be slightly coarse, but blended well. Finally, add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat to combine.
4. Add the Butterscotch chips & Coconut flakes and fold in using a spatula. Scrape down the sides.
5. Now, line baking trays (or pizza pans) with parchment paper.
6. Scoop lemon sized balls of the cookie batter and scoop on to the baking tray in a row, 2 inches apart. (The cookie ball lump will take the shape of a circle as it bakes. You want them to be as far apart, so that they don't touch each other upon baking)
7. Bake for 10-12 mins and cool off for 5 mins on a wire rack before serving.

This method will get you 2 dozen big flat cookies, that are semi soft on the inside with a crispy shell.

Spiced Cake with Golden Raisins

Despite the multiple cuisines that I have access to, Indian is still the hands down favorite. Come Friday, our dinner choices default to Mylai Masala or Saravana Bhavan. So when it comes to cakes and baking, why not give it an Indian twist?

I baked this cake with a number of spices including Coriander, Cayenne Pepper & Cinnamon, and glazed with Honey on top. The combination was different and quite addictive. I'd urge you to try it. It tastes brilliant with a mug of Ginger chai!


Spice Mix

• 3/4 tbsp Coriander
• 1/2 tbsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp Cayenne Pepper
• 3/4 tbsp All Spice

Other Ingredients

• 2 tbsp Baking powder
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 3/4 cup Whole Milk
• 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract + 1 tbsp unsalted butter for glaze
• 3/4 cup (6 Oz) unsalted butter
• 1 cup dark brown sugar + 2 tbsp for glaze
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large Eggs
• 1/2 cup Golden Raisins
• 1/4 cup Honey

1. Grind the spices in the Spice Mix finely. I use Cuisinart's Spice & Nut Grinder and it is my most favorite kitchen gadget ! A lovely gift from another friend S, for my wedding :-)
2. Preheat the oven to 350 F, line the bottom of a cake pan with parchment paper. Take a Tbsp of the ground spice mix and add some baking soda. Sprinkle on top the parchment paper.
3. Sift the flour, remaining spice mix, baking powder, salt and set aside
4. In a small bowl, combine the Milk and Vanilla extract and set aside
5. Beat butter until creamy. Add both sugars and beat until pale and fluffy.
6. Slowly drizzle in eggs, beat well after each addition.
7. Alternate and add the flour mix and milk to the batter, beat until just combined. Fold in the raisins.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 mins, or until brown.
9. Take it out of the oven, and let it cool on a wire rack,

For the Glaze:

1. In a small saucepan, combine 2 tbsp sugar, honey and 1 tbsp butter. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook for about 3 mins to make the glaze. Pour over the cake, smooth on top using a spatula.

Hope you like it!