Mango Pie

I know it has been a while that I posted a recipe on FoodZone. These days I haven't cooked much, and even if I cooked, those recipes were already there on the blog. I wanted to post some special recipe for Christmas but couldn't and then thought of doing that for new year and that did not happen either. Holidays have been busy with friends, parties and travelling around.

Hope you all had a merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

My cousin 'S' sent me this Mango pie recipe and pictures to put on my blog on the last day of the last year :) I wanted to add it to the blog immediately as a new year post, but I just could not find time to do that. I did not even know where my laptop was. The day was that crazy. In fact today morning, before going to work, I literally had to search for my laptop. Sometimes I wish we had something like Google to search for things in the house.

Anyways coming to the recipe, she said it is a simple but a super yummy pie. So if your still i n the holiday mood and want to treat yourself with some more goodies, go ahead and try this pie. All it needs is some ready made ingredients and few minutes to put them together.




Ingredients:
 1 can Mango Pulp(available in Indian stores)
Kraft Cool Whip : 8 oz
Unflavored gelatin: 2 packets
Graham Cracker Pie Crusts: 3
Walnuts for garnish.

Procedure:


Boil 1 cup water and add gelatin to it. Mix it untill the gelatin dissolves in water. Now mix mango pulp, cool whip and dissolved gelatin in a bowl and pour it in 3 pie crusts. Garnish with walnuts. Let it set in the refrigerator for atleast 4 hours.

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Tres Leches Cake - 3 milk cake

My friend "S" told me about this Tres Leches Cake some time back and then she sent me pics of the cake she made. I have never heard of this cake before and the gorgeous pics she sent made me drool. When she told me Tres Leches means 3 milks and this cake contains the three milks whole milk, evaporated milk and the condensed milk, I had to try it immediately being a milk fan.

I generally like anything made with milk. I am not a sweet person, but tend to like the ones made with milk products.

The first time I tried this cake, it was a big flop. I did not beat the eggs properly and the cake turned out to be hard and not at all fluffy. It did not soak the milk syrup. I still liked the taste of it:)

So decided to try it again and this time its a success! I followed the recipe from this site.
She has beautiful step by step instructions with pictures. I followed the recipe exactly with only one modification.

The cake was awesome and juicy!

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour: 1 cup + 2 tbsp
• Baking powder: 1-1/2 tsp
• salt: 1/4 tsp
• Eggs: 5 separated
• Sugar: 1 cup divided
• Vanilla extract: 1 tsp
• Whole Milk: 1/3 cup(for cake) and 1/2 cup(for syrup)
• Evaporated Milk: 1 can
• Sweetened Condensed Milk: 1 can
• Heavy Whipping Cream: 1/4 cup
• Store bought whipped cream fro topping.
• Canned cherries( for topping)

Procedure:

1. Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a large dish.
2. Separate the egg yolks in to a mixing bowl and beat  them with 3/4 cup sugar until the yolks turn pale yellow.
3. Stir in milk and vanilla to the yolk mixture.
4. Pour egg yolks mixture to the flour mixture and stir gently until combined.
5. Beat egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. withe mixer on, pour the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and beat until egg whites are stiff but not dry ( This step I did not get stiff peaks after i added the sugar. But the cake was good and fluffy)
6. Fold the egg white mixture into the flour batter until combined.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
8. Grease a baking pan and pour the cake batter and bake for 35-40 minutes until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
9. While the cake is baking prepare the milk syrup combining Condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream and the 1/2 cup whole milk.(The actual recipe did not have the 1/2 cup whole milk or syrup. The syrup was too sweet for me so I added 1/2 cup milk) You can actually omit this and if you feel the cake is too sweet, you can just pour some milk on top in the end.
10. Once the cake is baked, cool on a wire rack and pour the milk syrup over the cake.
11. Cool it in the fridge for 2-3 hours before serving.
12. Add some whipped cream and cherries on top before serving.
13. You can use any fruit as topping.

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Fruit Cake

First of all wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year!

This is a simple and an easy to make cake from my MIL.

We baked this for the new years' eve.

Do you make new year resolutions? I don't usually make any...but this year I want to try to eat healthy. Not really a resolution...but I just want to try! So keep checking for some healthy recipes...

Another thing I have in my mind is "Go Green" :) yes....save the planet! Well...the best place to start with is the kitchen. I want to use less paper( use cloth napkins in kitchen instead of paper towels) and use reusable bags for shopping.

Coming to the cake recipe....my MIL gave me this recipe that she used to make for my hubby n his sis when they were kids.  My mom too used to make this cake for us when we were kids.



Ingredients:

All purpose flour: 1  1/4 cup

Sugar: 1 cup

Butter: 1  1/4 sticks

Tuity fruity ( I got these from the Indian store)

Baking Powder: 1tsp

Eggs: 3

Vanilla essence: 1tbsp

Dry fruits( I used Almonds and Cashews)

Procedure:

Grind the sugar into fine powder.

Beat sugar, eggs and butter for 10 minutes and then add the all purpose flour and the baking powder. Beat until the flour is mixed well.

Add vanilla essence and beat for 5 minutes. Add Tuity fruity, almonds and cashwes and mix well.

Coat the baking pan with cooking oil spray and pour the cake mix.

Pre heat the oven at 450 degrees for 5 mins and then  place the baking pan with the cake mix and bake for 30-40 mins.

Check with a tooth pick or a fork to make sure the cake is baked well and the tooth pick comes out dry.

Let the cake cool and then cut into pieces.

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