Eggless Whole Wheat Almond Muffins using Flax Meal

As our kids enter toddlerhood, a major pressure or rather confusion befall on us 

(parents) - what healthy snacks can I give my child? 

My son brings back almost half of the snacks that I send him for school. However, he loves cakes, sweets and biscuits which are quite unhealthy. I thought why not make them at home with healthy ingredients so that we can give them without any guilt or fear. This is one such recipe which uses the goodness of whole wheat, Almond flour, flaxseed and butter. This makes a healthy wholesome delicious snack for kids any day.

This is one of my son's favorite snacks. He says Yummy yummy and eat it. That feeling you get when you know your kid is enjoying what you cook for him is such a state of bliss :)

This recipe is an adaptation of SharmisPassions-WholeWheat Almond Muffins. I have replaced the egg in original recipe with flax egg.

                        1 egg = 1 tbsp Flaxseed Powder dissolved in 3 tbsp of water

Yields 9 cup cakes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

1. Whole Wheat flour - 3/4 cup
2. Almond Flour - 1/4 cup
3. Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
4. Cane Sugar/Organic Jaggery - 1/2 cup
5. Cinnamon Powder - 1/2 tsp (Optional)

Wet Ingredients

1. Flax Egg - 1 tbsp Flaxseed Powder dissolved in 3 tbsp of water (rest for 15 mins)
2. Boiled Milk - 1/2 cup
3. Unsalted Butter - 1/4 cup
4. Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp

Method

1. Sift all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.

2. Now add all the wet ingredients and mix well using a hand mixer or Blender until the wet ingredients and dry ingredients are combined well.

Cupcake batter ready

                              

3. Line a cupcake liner inside silicon moulds. Alternatively, you can use a muffins tray if it would fit inside your oven.

4. Fill each of the mould upto half of the volume as the batter would rise during baking process.

Batter filled in the moulds

                                 

5. Once filled, decorate them with your choice of sugar sprinklers as shown in the pic.

                          

6. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celsius for 10 mins.

7. Place the cupcake tray inside the oven and bake for 30 mins at 180 degrees Celsius.

8. After 30 mins, remove the cup cake and allow it cool to room temperature.

9. Can be refrigerated in an airtight box for about a week.

10. Keep one daily for your toddler in his/her snack box and see them glee :)

Notes,Tips & Add-On's

1. Each oven temperature and heating capacity is different. My oven cooks only after 30 mins. However, I request you to keep checking on the cup cakes every 10 mins.
2. Gently press the top of the cake to see if it is firm, alternatively you can also use tooth pick to check if the cake is cooked in the center. The tooth pick has to come out clean.

Cup cake with icing done

Vegan Banana Bread

I have been googling a lot to find some healthy snack options for my kid which I can pack for him and send it to school. That is when I bumped on to this recipe. I am an amateur baker and still learning. I have had my bad day at baking where my cake has been either burnt or got hard or never raised. I am still figuring out the various reasons and nuances of baking and trying to fine tune the art of baking. This is a recipe picked from Veg Recipes of India and you can refer the recipe here.

I don't have an OTG and am using a normal convection mode Panasonic microwave oven. The cakes baked from OTG definitely looks more professional in terms of texture and color compared to convection oven cooking. Still, you can achieve a close enough texture and softness from convection oven by following proper tips, understanding your oven and setting the right temperature.

Baking to me has always been like a chemistry lab experiment, you add the right ingredients in right amount and there you have the final output :P:P I generally haven't had the courage to play around with ingredients due to the fear of they not turning out properly. In the picture, I have used granulated white sugar. But I suggest you to use unrefined brown sugar or cane sugar instead to make it a healthy option for kids.

This recipe turned out really well for me and my kid also loved it. I will share certain tips that I followed to prevent major mishaps while baking in order to get a smooth soft cake. Follow the exact steps and ingredient amounts to get it perfect. :)

Ingredients

1. Whole Wheat flour - 3/4 cup
2. All purpose flour - 3/4 cup
3. 4 medium sized over ripe bananas
4. Olive Oil - 1/3 cup
5. Unrefined sugar/cane sugar - 3/4 cup
6. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
7. Cinnamon Powder - 3/4 tsp
8. Baking Powder - 1.5 tsp
9. Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp

Method

1. Take a bowl and mash the banana and sugar together into a puree using hand blender or even mixer. I have used White sugar here, but pls substitute with unrefined brown/cane sugar for kids as its healthy.

                           

2. Add  cinnamon powder and Vanilla extract to the puree for flavour enhancement.

3. Add olive oil. This provides the extra softness to the cake as this an eggless cake.

4. Sieve the flour (Maida+Whole Wheat Atta) and add it to the above wet ingredients.

5. Mix the batter using (Cut and Fold Method) to ensure the wet and dry ingredients are combined evenly. Do not over do it. Stop when both wet and dry ingredients have combined in right proportion.

6. Grease and dust a bread loaf pan with flour, transfer the bread batter to the pan. Tap twice and level it.

7. Preheat the oven at 180 degree Celsius for 10 mins. After the preheat temperature is set, cook the batter for 40 mins.

Tip 1: After first 20 mins of baking, cover the top of the pan with a wet cloth or wet butter paper. This is done to allow the centre of the batter to get cooked without burning the top. The centre takes long for getting cooked. Wet the cloth/paper every now and then and place it on the top to prevent burning through the entire baking process. The browning of top varies from oven to oven. So if you feel the browning of top happens quickly, then start covering the top much earlier.

Tip 2: After 40 mins, insert a toothpick in the middle of the bread and take it out. If it comes out clean, then the bread has been cooked well and you can remove it from oven.

If not, bake for another 10 more mins and repeat the toothpick step.

8. Allow the bread to cool down on its own completely and remove it from the loaf pan by inverting it.

9. You can store this cake in fridge in an airtight container for about 5 days. Warm the cake  before serving :):)

Real Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Icing

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This was indeed a herculean task for a beginner like me in baking. My friend had approached me to bake a rainbow cake for a short film. They gave me great confidence and encouraged me to do this.Making this was an extreme fun and a challenge at the same time.We just had one oven and we had to bake 7 layers individually and also shoot it in parallel. It totally took 10 hours for us to complete all the layers along with icing. The outcome was delicious and worth the effort :) This is a vanilla cake made in 7 different colors. This has been done using eggs as the script demanded. This definitely finds a special place in Griha Bhojanam's Archives.

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Baked an Egg less chocolate cake with whipped cream frosting and icing for my dearest buddy and it had turned out really well... Though am just a beginner in baking... I wanted to go few extra steps  to make something special for my dear friend!!!! For the first time tried icing and it turned out really well and liked by all:):) I know I still have a long way to go and this is the first addition to the list.The second birthday cake from the house of Griha Bhojanam.