Chocolate Marble Bread ~ for The Daring Bakers

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

Quick Bread
Bread that is quick to make because it doesn't require kneading or rising time. That's because the leavener in such a bread is usually baking powder or baking soda, which, when combined with moisture, starts the rising process immediately. In the case of double-acting baking powder, oven heat causes a second burst of rising power. Eggs can also be used to leaven quick breads. This genre includes most biscuits, muffins, popovers and a wide variety of sweet and savory loaf breads.

The rules of the Challenge are:

No yeast

Can’t take more than 1.5 hours to prepare and bake through.

Only loaves or muffins/popovers

I opted to bake ChocolateMarble Bread from Joy of Baking. Since I made it at the last minute and as I was down with fever and cough, I was just not in a condition to think and twist the recipe to make it my own.... so I just adapted the recipe as it is and believe me it was really good..... we finished one loaf in two days!

Butter Chicken / Murgh Makhani Recipe

My mom taught me to make two chicken curries before my wedding; one was this Butter Chicken and another was Kashmiri Chicken…. Even after all these years these two curries are my favorite… whenever we have guests I make either one of these if I am serving an Indian course…. This is not the authentic way of making butter chicken, but a version which is a lot easier and healthier… Usually when I make this I only add 2 tbsp butter in total instead of ¼ cup… …  This recipe goes really well with Indian breads or rice….   

Coriander and Garlic Naan Recipe

One more Indian Bread recipe to my collection....Tried this recipe from “The Big Book of Baking”..../ Actual recipe requires the naan to be baked.... But I cooked it on the stove top on a grilling tawa / skillet instead.... Also I added ground coriander leaves, thus my naan have a slight greenish colour; the original recipe calls for 1 tbsp coriander powder.... My picky eater son really loves this Naan with Butter Chicken or Kashmiri Chicken......

Chocolate Fudge Cake

It was my hubby’s birthday yesterday and as usual I started my baking plans well in advance…. The most confusing part was which cake to bake… Finally I decided on this Chocolate Fudge Cake from a cook book I have…..but instead of simply filling and spreading the icing on the cake I decided to do ruffle icing an idea I got from Amanda’s site… It was so easy to do this icing… only thing is that it requires a lot of icing, so I decided to fill the cake only with a thin layer of icing….. An ultimate birthday cake that all of us enjoyed very much!

Cherry Wine Recipe

True love is like a fine wine, the older the better ~ Fred Jacob

This post was pending since Christmas.... Somehow never published it at that time. Since it is Valentine’s Day today I see a lot of red, pink & chocolate colored posts all over the blog world, I thought of adding some red colour to my space as well even though it’s pretty late for a Valentine’s Day special :D....... Wishing all my romantic readers A Happy Valentine’s Day!

Dulce de Leche Brownie Recipe

Dulce de Leche Brownies, from the name itself you can imagine how tasty these brownies would be right??  Dulce de Leche, chocolate, butter, eggs all the tasty things together in a brownie and you just can’t go wrong with the taste ;)....  Although it’s highly fattening having them once in a while is acceptable :D..... So Valentine’s Day is around the corner, many of you must have been planning to make something special for that special person in your life...... If you haven’t decided yet; do try these brownies....Make sure to make these brownie a day before you are planning to serve as it tastes better on the next day.....

Spanish Tortilla (Tortilla Espanola) Recipe

Are you looking for a nutritious, easy to make tasty and filling breakfast or brunch on a lazy weekend? Then try these Spanish Tortillas :)..... Spanish Tortilla is a thick omelet made with eggs and potatoes. I have this small book named “Pancakes Made Easy” which has a collection of 15 different pancake recipes..... I have tried all the recipes from this book and all of them taste really good...... I make pancakes from this book once in a while on weekends which we all love along with a glass of fruit smoothie......

Chicken with Green Chillies

Is there anyone who doesn’t like Chinese dishes? Well I don’t think so.... I make a lot of Chinese chicken dishes and this one is a hit in my family.... My picky eater son loves this curry and he will eat this with noodles or chapathi happily.... only thing he will pick up and keep aside all the veggies I add and eat only the chicken pieces :D.... This recipe is from a book “My favourite Recipes Chinese” by Mrs. Bhanu Ravindran which my mom gifted me when she visited me after my wedding.... This has some of the best Chinese recipes and I have, over the years, tried almost all of them! This curry goes well with fried Rice, Noodles and even with chapathi......