Banana - Nutella Sandwich

 

This post would not have seen the light if not for the rainy and cloudy days we had for the past week. Cooking for this week's theme as planned earlier did not make any sense as there wasn't enough light to capture the images. This sandwich post from my drafts folder came to my rescue though it was not a part of my initial plan. 

Banana - Nutella sandwich is a mundane recipe to many folks, especially food bloggers but I wanted to record it on my blog anyway and so, here it is. The bread and the fruit have remained constant in this simple sandwich over the years in my home, though the spread used has changed from plain butter to nut butters to Nutella. The sweet chocolate-nut spread provides a yummy base for this fruit sandwich and definitely has a universal appeal unless one is staying away from the sugary spread for any reason. As the title suggests, it involves three ingredients, the bread, banana and Nutella spread and makes a quick and easy breakfast option or a lunchbox idea for kids.

I don't have the patience either to sit and make nut butters at home or bake the bread regularly even though I own a bread maker. I buy them from stores like many and so, is considering bread as one ingredient and Nutella as another though they individually are made using many ingredients. 

Ingredients:
Bread slices of your choice (I used wholewheat-honey bread.) 
Sweet chocolate-hazelnut spread / Nutella (Or any nut butter)
Banana, sliced into thin circles 

Method:
* Toast the bread slices and trim the edges, if particular about it.
* Spread the nutella on one side of the toasted slices.
* Arrange banana slices on the nutella side of a toasted bread slice. Cover it with another bread slice, with nutella side facing down.
* Repeat the steps with the remaining bread slices.

This is going to be a part of Blogging marathon #64 under the theme 'Recipes using three ingredients' and check here to find out what other marathoners are cooking today.

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Double Chocolate - Finger Millet Muffins / Eggless Ragi Muffins

 

Though ragi aka finger millet is regularly used in my home, it ends up being consumed only by the adults. My daughter who prefers her visual sense than palate to choose her food had long ago decided that ragi is not one of her favorites and my other non picky kid too has not shown any affinity to this earthy, iron rich grain. However I realized recently that ragi could be sneaked into baking and my kids have no problem finishing any of that stuff. They haven't yet figured out that they have been eating ragi and I could fool even the younger one with the chocolaty additions.

The inspiration for today's muffins came from the over ripe bananas that I had to finish off sooner, my daughter's love for chocolate and the 'whole grains' event, hosted by Kalyani. I used a banana muffin recipe that I have been using for years now as the base recipe. I substituted half of the flour with ragi based one and made suitable changes to come up with these yummy muffins. As I mentioned above, it is hard to notice the ragi flavor in these muffins and is an easy way to sneak in ragi in your kids' diet, if you are planning so.


Ingredients : (yield 6 / 7)
6 tbsp. finger millet flour / ragi flour
6 tbsp. whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup mashed banana
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. Nutella
3 tbsp. yogurt
2 tbsp. oil
6 tbsp. semi sweet chocolate chips

Method:
* Preheat the oven to 375 deg. F. Grease or line the muffin tin.
* Sieve together flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl and keep it aside.
* Combine the rest of the ingredients except the chocolate chips in another bowl and whisk well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients' bowl and stir gently to just combine. Fold in the chocolate chips.
* Fill the muffin cups with batter up to 2/3rds. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 deg. F and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes or until  a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.

This is my entry to
1. Blogging marathon #58
 
2. Srivalli's Kids' Delight event, hosted by Kalyani this month under the theme 'Cooking with Whole Grains'.

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Gulkand - Nutella Mug Cake (Eggless)

 
Yes, you read that right. Today's 'Mug Treat' is made with gulkand, the popular rose petals' preserve from the Indian subcontinent. The gulkand I used here had travelled with me all the way from India during our last trip. Usually I refrain from carrying food items from India excepting one or two items that I cannot get hold of here locally. I had visited the Coorg area during our India trip this summer and while returning from Talakaveri, the husband spotted shops selling the locally harvested treasure - varieties of coffee, tea, honey and spices to name a few. As usual, he bought loads of stuff as if we were locals and eventually those had to be gifted to our folks back home. I bought a bottle of gulkand just because I happened to spot it and hadn't tasted it in decades. Besides the pretty lady at the counter had mentioned that they promote the local women by selling their homemade jams / preserves and chocolate and I decided to support the cause.
I thought of making a mug cake based on gulkand alone when I started the recipe but the daughter decided that she would prefer a Nutella based one. I didn't want to disappoint her and so happened to stir in just a spoonful of Nutella to fool her. However it turns out that even the tiny amount of Nutella used dominates the flavor department. The cake turned out chocolaty with hints of gulkand flavor. It was yummy though I would prefer to omit the chocolate part next time just to savor the robust flavor of gulkand.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp. all purpose flour / wheat flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
A pinch of salt
2 to 3 tsp. powdered sugar 
3 tbsp. warm milk
1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp. gulkand
1/2 to 1 tsp. Nutella
1 tbsp. oil

Method:
1. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
2. Add warm milk and apple cider vinegar to a bowl and stir. Leave it for about 10 seconds or until the mixture curdles. Add gulkand, Nutella, oil and all the dry ingredients from the step 1 to the bowl. Mix the ingredients well without any lumps. (Or you can prepare the cake batter directly in the mug.)
3. Transfer the mixture to a microwave safe, 1 cup capacity mug / cup. Bake for about 1 to 1 &1/2 minutes, depending upon the microwave strength or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. Serve immediately and enjoy.
 
This goes to blogging marathon #57 under the theme 'Mug Treats' and check here to find out what other marathoners are cooking today.

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Thursday Tea Time ~ Double-Decker Nutella Filled Scones

People who follow my blog regularly might have noticed that I have been posting baked recipes this month as part of the 'Fire up your Oven' blogging marathon. Today marks the last day of this exciting event and I have some yummy double decker Nutella scones on this day. This marathon has been a fun filled journey though I wasn't as organized as some of my fellow marathoners had been and I was yet to bake more than half of the dishes when this event started. There were some unexpected mishaps to test my patience and I had to re-think and re-plan some of the dishes but still I would call the experience exciting. And you are going to see the round up of my marathon dishes here shortly.

I have already posted lemony scones in this event and so, wasn't planning to post any more scones. However I changed my plan when I came across these double decker scones, which looked like sandwiches and I am glad that I tried them. What I found interesting about these scones is that the chilled dough disc is cut into 2 halves along the circumference and the filling is sandwiched between those 2 discs, baked and cut in to wedges, resulting in a sandwich scone. They had a buttery, bread like texture and were good at room temperature even the next day.

Ingredients:
1 egg substitute ( I used flax egg.)
1 cup + 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
3 tbsp. frozen and grated butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2.5 to 3 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. coarse sugar for sprinkling on top (Optional & I didn't use any.)
1/2 to 3/4 cup prepared filling - Jam, nut butter, Sweetened cream cheese or any preferred filling (I used Nutella.)

Method:
* If using flax egg, combine 1 tbsp. flax meal and 3 tbsp. warm water in a bowl and keep aside for five minutes.
* Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.
* Whisk flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add the grated butter and work into the dry ingredients until the mixture is unevenly crumbly, using your fingers, pastry blender or an electric mixer.
* Stir together flax egg, milk and vanilla and add to the dry ingredients. Stir gently just until combined.
* Shape the dough into 1 inch thick disc, about 6 inches in diameter. Place the disc on the prepared baking sheet and put it in the freezer for 30 minutes. There is no need to cover the disc.
(I thought cutting the disc along the circumference (in the later step) would be hard and instead shaped two 1/2 inch thick discs of about 6 inch diameter. If following this method, try to keep both the discs in the same size.)
* When 20 minutes of chilling time has passed, preheat the oven to 375 deg F.
* Divide the chilled disc in half around it's circumference using a sharp knife. (I skipped this step as I had already divided the discs into two. )  
* Spread the bottom half with the filling leaving along the edges and then place the other half of the dough on top. Press it down gently. Go generous with the filling and use as much as mentioned in the recipe. (Nutella didn't ooze out during baking in my case.)

* Place the round on the prepared baking sheet and brush it with milk. Sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired.
* Slice the disc into 6 triangular wedges or you can skip the step and slice them after baking.
 
* Bake it for about 28 minutes or until it is golden brown and a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
* Remove the scones from oven and place them on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes. Slice them into wedges and serve warm. 
* They can be frozen for longer storage. They were finished the next day I baked them and they stayed good at room temperature.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51.

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An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday Treat ~ Eggless, 4 Ingredient Nutella Mug Cake

The other day I was finishing off a Nutella mug cake when my daughter entered the kitchen. She stood quietly for a few seconds before asking me what I was doing. It must have come across as a shock seeing mom eating something without sharing it with anyone else. Actually it is not my fault. Apart from me, my son is the only one with a sweet tooth at home and he was not home when I made the mug cake. My husband would not even spare a glance towards these kind of desserts and my daughter doesn't care about Nutella. I said a mug cake and she peeked into the mug and asked whether it was a chocolate one. Though it was not an accusatory tone, I understood what she meant. She is the chocolate fanatic at home and here I was going on without asking her. I thought she may not like it as it has Nutella and told her so. She is a self proclaimed Nutella hater though she loves chocolate and I am not able to understand the reason behind her dislike until now since she has not tasted it even once. Next came the question, "Did Shreyas get it?".  "I am thinking of preparing him over the weekend as he is going to come home late", I answered her. She stood there for some more seconds watching me enjoying the treat and she couldn't take it anymore. Then came the question whether it really tastes like chocolate. Of  course it would, I told her since Nutella is but chocolate and hazelnut. Finally the temptation won and she gingerly ate a spoonful, and was beaming with joy. Next came the request for a mug cake of her own. And of course I made it in a small measurement for her, the one that is pictured above.

I love mug cakes for the fact that they are super quick to prepare and a small serving of dessert can be enjoyed without any guilt. This Nutella cake from here involves only four ingredients and is very easy to remember the recipe. This yummy microwave cake can be done in one minute or under depending upon the measurements. I have prepared this twice once using milk and once with yogurt. Both turned out good but I am partial towards the yogurt based one. The small measurement one really works if one wants to portion control.

Ingredients for one mug cake:
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup Nutella
3 tbsp. fat free milk / fat free yogurt
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Method:
* Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk it until smooth. Add it to a mug that is about 1 & 1/4 cup size.
* Microwave it for about a minute. A sharp knife or a tooth pick inserted should come out clean and the top of the cake should look done by the time. If not done, microwave for another 20 seconds. Don't be tempted to microwave longer since it will dry out. Let it cool before serving

Note:
For a small serving, halve the recipe and use a 3/4 cup sized mug. Microwave it for about 40 - 50 seconds.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51.

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An InLinkz Link-up

Eggless Nutella Brownies with Four Ingredients

When I decided to go with "Kids' Desserts" theme for the final week of blogging marathon, I went to the experts, my kids to see what would they prefer if given a choice. Actually I should admit that there were no prizes for guessing considering my daughter's love for chocolate. Her list went something like this - chocolate pudding, fudge, brownie, chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookies. :)

For the first day, I decided to go with this easy, quick nutella brownie recipe adapted from here. They are delicious and have a soft cake like texture. I have converted the recipe into an eggless one. If you don't mind using the egg, replace the flax meal in the following recipe with it.

Ingredients: (Make 6 brownies or 12 bite sized ones)
1/2 cup nutella (cocoa-hazelnut spread)
5 Tbsp all purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts / walnuts
1 Tbsp flax meal

Method:
* Add 3 Tbsp warm water and flax meal in a bowl. Whisk well and leave aside for 5 minutes.
* Heat the oven to 350 deg F. Line a muffin pan with paper cups.
* Add nutella to the flax meal bowl and whisk well. Next slowly add the flour and again whisk to incorporate the flour into the mixture.
* Spoon the batter equally, up to 3/4th level of each of the muffin cup. Sprinkle the nuts on top of each of the muffin cups equally.
* Bake for about 10 - 12 minutes or until they set.
* Cool on a wire rack and enjoy. They can be refrigerated or can be stored at room temperature for 3 days.

Check what other marathoners of BM#23 are cooking, here.

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