Orange Tian-Daring Baker's March Challenge

Orange tian (March 2010 Daring Baker's Challenge) was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate savings. At first glance, this orange tian felt within my comfort zone because of its similarity with tarts but I knew that this feeling will certainly change soon:) I was particularly excited for this contest because we had an orange tree in our apartment complex and picking up oranges was a lot of fun!

Banana Walnut Loaf - Cake or Bread ?

One can find banana-walnut loaf at almost every cafe. This along with marble loaf cake are my favorite. Usually, I don't miss a chance to eat these calorie-devil's while pondering- Is this a cake or a bread? Regardless, a slice is perfect for breakfast with a fresh cup of coffee!

Eggless Prune Cake

To diversify my baking portfolio, I wanted to learn how to bake an eggless cake :) I read about the "cake fever" which was spread by the eggless date cake in aayi's recipe. I looked into my refrigerator and found prunes instead of dates, so decided to try eggless prune cake with little modifications. Overall, it is an easy, tasty, and refreshing cake which I make quite frequently especially because of the 15 min preparation time.

Mango or Strawberry Sandesh

When I am hosting a party, I am most excited about the dessert. However, I can't really ignore the main food and at the same time don't really want to serve store bought desserts either. As a result, I always find myself looking for dessert options which are easy to make.

Muhammara - Remembering Turkey

Like Guacamole for Mexicans, Chimichurri for Argentinians, Hummus for Middle Easterns, Muhammara (a walnut and red bell pepper dip) is for Turks. Now, I don't remember why we zeroed down for a vacation in Turkey (couple of years back) but it was an excellent idea! Baklava, Turkish apple tea, historical monuments, Turkish delights, Turkish carpets, Turkish Haman's and the people ---oh I want to go again......

Almond Butter and the Extensions!

Almond is one of the most versatile nut in the families of nuts. Many Indian kids eat almonds (soaked overnite) every morning to increase their brain power (however I am yet to find any scientific study behind that until then I would assume that its a strategy used by parents to make the kids eat almonds). Anyways, other than their brain enhancing powers, I like almond (Badam) Burfi and badam halwa which are common desserts in India. Marzipan is probably the counterpart of badam halwa in Europe and US wherein its used in chocolates, tarts, cake decorations and what not!

Blood Orange Salad

Well, the farmers started having blood oranges in the farmer's market recently. This week's recipe by Allegra McEvedy in Guardian about blood orange salad caught my attention. I had tried the vegetarian Moroccan pie by Allegra from her clickalong recipe series which I totally loved.

Scones

Many would agree that most of the food that is just taken out of the oven tastes thousand times better than when it sits on the counter for two hours or more but scones taste billion times better when they are just taken out of the oven.