Mexican Chocolate Date Truffles (Vegan Energy Balls)

After doing the detox diet, I have been trying to avoid processed foods and refined sugar in our diets. But sometimes it is difficult to stop those afternoon sweet cravings. Instead of reaching to those chocolate candy, here are a much healthy and nutritious alternate -- these Mexican Chocolate Date truffles.

These little energy balls are made with medjool dates, nuts and cacao powder. They are no-bake, no-cook and are perfect when you are short on time. I used mixed nuts with almonds, cashews, pistachios and peanuts, but you can use any one nut or your favorite combination of nuts.

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Easy Granola (with Almonds)

Here's an easy peasy recipe to make Granola. I say easy because it requires a very few pantry ingredients that are mixed together and then baked off until golden. Recipe is from a cookbook that I recently bought, Clean Slate.

This cookbook emphasizes on eating clean, whole and unprocessed foods. Original recipe for this was made with rolled barley flakes and rolled spelt flakes. I went shopping looking for these ingredients but I couldn't find them, so I made the granola with them and with just rolled oats.

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Curry flavored Roasted Mixed Nuts

Roasted nuts are my husband's favorite go-to snack. He is the snacker in the house, grabs a handful every time he walks into the kitchen. I don't like snacking, I'm more of a 'eat a full meal and wait for the next meal' kind of a gal. Even when I snack, it has to be in a proper bowl, I don't do handfuls, I only have bowlfuls :-)

Anyway, my husband has been asking me to make roasted nuts for a long time and I finally made him these curry flavored roasted mixed nuts. Recipe courtesy Ellie Kreiger's Food Network show.

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Granola with Cinnamon and Nuts

I always stop my husband from buying granola or granola bars and promise him that I will make them at home for him. But never get around doing that and he keeps asking me for them. After procrastinating for as long as I can, I finally made him this Cinnamon-Nut Granola from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain baking cookbook.

This granola is a perfect balance of salt and sweet, crisp and crunch, fruit and nuts. Using butter to make the granola gives it a ton of flavor, especially in combination with cinnamon. But you can easily substitute vegetable oil or coconut oil for the butter. Varying the fruits and nuts in the granola is the fun part, so feel free to use whatever you have in your pantry.

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Mexican Chocolate Bars

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 12
Bake of the day: Mexican Chocolate Bars

Last week of December, last couple of posts for this year's Bake-a-thon.. sigh.. time sure is zooming by fast :-( Can't believe we are just a few days away from a new year, I'm excited and anxious as to what it's going to bring.

Coming back to today's dish, I made these Mexican Chocolate bars way back in May when I had my blog buddies over for a get together. I took the photos but didn't get a chance to post the recipe till now. Recipe is from Woman's Day.

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Chocolate Cookies (Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies)

Blogging Marathon# 59: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Holiday Bakes

Dish: Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies

Hope all of you are having a good holiday weekend. Mine turned out to be busier than expected and I couldn't find time to type the posts that I planned for the weekend. These chocolate cookies were supposed to be posted yesterday but with my poor time management they are a day late :-(

I made these Chocolate chip cookies aka World Peace cookies by Dorie Greenspan twice this month. I sent a batch with my mom for my cousins in India and the second batch went to my son's school as a holiday treat. I kept a few home and left them out along with some chocolate-chip cookies for Santa on Christmas eve.

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Chocolate-Caramel Sandwich Cookies

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 8

Bake of the Day: Chocolate-Caramel Sandwich Cookies

I made these cute little chocolate-caramel sandwich cookies for my daughter's Halloween party in school. They were quite a hit and all her teachers wanted the recipe. The recipe is from Martha Stewart site.

Chocolate cookies are very easy to put together, just mix all the ingredients, roll and bake. The only change I made is to use egg replacer powder instead of the egg yolk.

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Eggless Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 7
Bake of the Day: Eggless Strawberry Creamcheese Cupcakes
Did you know that yesterday, December 15th, was National Cupcake day? I didn't either, but it was on my daughter's calendar and that's how I found out :-) So here's a recipe celebrating the cupcake day.

I actually made these for my mom's 60th birthday couple of months ago. We also celebrated my daughter's 3rd birthday on the same day, hence the 60 & 3 toppers on the cake. I decorated some with fresh strawberries and some with fondant toppers. Base is my favorite vegan vanilla cupcakes stuffed with a piece of cream cheese which is in turn topped with strawberry jam.

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Eggless Fruit & Nut Cake

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 6
Bake of the Day: Fruit & Nut Cake without Eggs
We are just 12 short days away from Christmas and I'm sure everyone is in full gear with holiday decorating, shopping and baking. We just put our Christmas tree up yesterday and the decoration is still work-in-progress. My 3 year old is very excited about Christmas and has been actively helping me in decorating the house :-)

This fruit & nut cake reminds me of Britannia snack cake with little specks of tutti fruity in it. I have made this cake about half a dozen times already and it has been quite a hit every time I make it. Recipe is from Nisha Madhulika's site. Recipe needs just a few basic baking ingredients and a few minutes of stirring, voila you have a delicious cake in less than an hour.

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Wholewheat Banana Bread (made with Honey)

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 5

Bake of the Day: Wholewheat Banana Bread

I sometimes feel that overripe bananas are a bane of my existence. They haunt me with their lingering smell and I can't eat or throw them away. The family abandons them the minute they turn slightly blotchy outside even though they are perfect inside. I have learnt to show them only peeled ones so they don't judge it by the package.

Even with all this I end up with 3~4 overripe bananas by the end of the week. I have so many versions of banana breads/ muffins that making another one doesn't excite me that much. But this recipe from Cookie+Kate is made with wholewheat (pastry) flour and is sweetened with honey (or maple syrup) got me off my behind and into the kitchen to bake.

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Mini Chocolate Chip Scones

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 4

Bake of the Day: Mini Chocolate Scones

I think scones are one of the easiest baked goods, they can be made without any prior planning with ingredients straight from the fridge. When I see any new scone recipe, I bookmark it right away. This mini chocolate chip scones recipe is from King Arthur flour.

Mini vanilla scones are sold at Starbucks for about a $1, but they are quite easy to make at home for fraction of the cost. Except for using some wholewheat pastry flour I followed the recipe to the T and these mini scones are really very addictive -- flaky and delicious.

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Toasted Millet & Oats Granola

Bake-a-thon 2015: Day 3

Bake of the Day: Toasted Millet & Oats Granola

Today I have a simple and easy to make granola recipe with millet, rolled oats, coconut and pistachios. Recipe is from Everyday Food by Martha Stewart. This recipe has been on my to-make list for a while now and I'm glad I can finally strike it off from the list.

This granola is crunchy with the toasted millet and chewy with the coconut flakes and dried cranberries. I like to eat it over some Greek yogurt for breakfast. Soaking it in almond milk makes it a little soft and easier to eat.

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Oats Butterscotch Cookies

After a few month's break the Home Baker's challenge has regrouped again this month, big thanks to Rafeeda @ The Big Sweet Tooth for taking the initiative and getting the group active again. Our theme for this month is 'Baking with Oats' and she gave some yummy bakes to choose from.
I made these very addictive Oats & Butterscotch cookies. I had the butterscotch chips in the pantry for a while begging to be used and they went straight into these cookies and tasted amazing. Recipe is right from the back of the wrapper which of course I never looked at until I read Rafeeda's recipe :-)

I'm always looking for people to share any goodies I make, so luckily I was meeting some of my blog buddies couple of days ago and these cookies were just perfect to bring along for them. They all loved them and even my chocolate loving son liked them a lot.

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Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

BM# 51 -- Baking Marathon: Day 17

Bake of the Day: Celebration Cakes -- Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

I can't believe it is the third week of our month long mega baking marathon, after making breads, breakfast dishes, the next two weeks (or week and a half) are going to be focused on desserts -- cakes, cookies and so on.
I have been planning for this marathon for almost 6 months now. So I've been saving all the special baked recipes for this week. First up, is the cookie cake I made for my son's birthday. It is a giant chocolate chip cookie that is decorated like a birthday cake.

My son's birthday was on a weekday last year and I had planned to make a birthday cake for the party over the weekend. So on his actual birthday, I decided to keep it simple and made this cookie cake instead of an actual cake. That decoration was supposed to be a dinosaur because my son is a big dinosaur fan :-)

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Gingerbread People Cookies

Bake-a-thon 2014: Day 12

Bake of the Day: Gingerbread People Cookies

I love the smell of Gingerbread houses -- the vanilla frosting mixed with the spices from the gingerbread makes it feel like Christmas time. 3 years ago, when I was still working, our department decided to participate in the annual gingerbread house competition. It was so much fun to come together as a team and even though we didn't win, I think we had a great time making the gingerbread house.

My son has been making gingerbread houses in school and we keep it around the house for a while because I love the smell of it and it feels like Christmas for a little longer in the new year too.
This year my son volunteered to bring Gingerbread people to school. It was his brilliant idea (!!!!!!) to include people in their gingerbread houses and when the teacher said they are difficult to find, he volunteered to bring them himself (?????). Well, since I love baking, I didn't complain and took up the project.

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90 Minute Fruit Cake

Bake-a-thon 2014: Day 11

Bake of the Day: 90 Minute Fruit Cake

Christmas is just 1 day away. If you didn't make a fruitcake and think you don't have time to make it, think again. This 90 minute fruitcake is just for you. Instead of making loaves or round shaped fruitcakes, these mini bundt cakes are very easy to put together and taste almost like the regular fruitcake.

Last year I made an eggless Christmas Fruitcake that involved soaking in the dry fruit and nuts in orange juice or some kind of alcohol for at least 1 day or more to get the best flavor. This year I wanted to make something different and when I saw these mini bundt cake recipe in the King Arthur catalog, I knew I found myself a good recipe.

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Lemon Almond Biscotti

Bake-a-thon 2014: Day 10

Bake of the Day: Lemon Almond Biscotti

Yay!! It's the week of Christmas. My 7 year old is very excited and can't wait for Christmas day and to open his gifts. I have all the gifts already delivered, but haven't had a chance to wrap them. Since he's in school today, I have to try and finish wrapping them. These crunchy Lemon-almond cookies are great while wrapping along with some hot tea :-)
I made these as 'Christmas gifts' for my friends. I gave them a choice of 6 homemade treats to pick from and these biscotti were on ALL of their lists. Oh, by the way, do check my list of homemade edible gifts if you have time and plan on giving them to your dear ones.

These lemon-almond biscotti are very subtly flavored with lemon and almond. Recipe is from King Arthur Flour site. Lemon zest and lemon juice are added along with almond extract. I added some sliced almonds for some extra crunch. The lemon drizzle on top is a really nice touch.

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Holiday Hoska (Eggless, Vegan recipe)

Bake-a-thon 2014: Day 8

Bake of the Day: Holiday Hoska

Hope all of you are done with your holiday shopping and started preparing for the big day, which is only 1 week away now. I finally ordered almost all of the kids gifts yesterday -- it is fun to shop online. I don't think I fair well at going shopping especially at this time of the year when the malls and roads are crowded. I prefer the peace of home :-) Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the gifts are shipped out on time and the mailman does not leave the package in the neighbor's house (has happened way too many times that I keep looking at the neighbors door every time I go out to check the mail). It is definitely the most stressful time of the year :-)

What's not stressful is this beautiful holiday bread that is easy to make and sure to impress. The dough is very easy to work with and once you get a grip on making a dough braid, you are on your way to making this show stopper bread.

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Afghani Sheer Payra (Afghani Milk Fudge)

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 4/ Day 3

Theme: Bookmarked Recipes from A-Z International Marathon

Dishes: Afghani Sheer Payra

I'm going to end this month's blogging marathon on a sweet note. I have made this delicious milk fudge from Afghanistan 3 times in the past 1 month. It is that simple to make and quite a crowd pleaser. My husband really liked the fudge because it has a really nice flavor from ground cardamom and rose water.

The only thing that takes time in making this fudge is melting sugar and boiling the syrup and letting the fudge cool -- other than that the whole process is very simple and quick to make. The most important and critical part of successfully making this fudge is the consistency of the sugar syrup. it should not be too thin (fudge won't set) or too thick (fudge would be very very hard). 

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Poppy & Sesame Seeds Crackers

For this month's Home Baker's Challenge, Priya gave us some crispy and crunchy savory cracker recipes. I took the whole summer off from this event and thought I can get back into track with these simple to make savory crackers.
To be honest, I am not much of a snack person. But if I really have to choose, I would probably prefer sweet snacks like cookies, cupcakes more than savory snacks. So when I saw this month's challenge, I wasn't sure if I was going to participate. Also September was a very very busy month for me with the schools opening, both my kids birthdays and the month long mega marathon.

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