Wholewheat Roasted Almond and Fig Bread

Whole Wheat Roasted Almond and Fig Bread

  Happy Tappings is a lot of fun
You can do it on your own - or with anyone!
Tap, tap, tap on the top of your head,
Tap tap tap  - do just what I said.
Tap on your eyebrow just near your nose.
Then the side of your eye where the hard bone grows.
Now on the bone - under your eye
Dont poke your eye or you will make yourself cry!
Now under your nose- but above your lips  
Tap, tap, tap - with your finger tips!
Now under your bottom lip - but over your chin,
Just on the bit where your chin goes in.
Now under your collarbone -  but over your chest,
Right on the bump of the bone is best!
The last on the list is under your arm,
To make sure you get it right - slap with your palm

If you still don’t feel good - don’t go to bed
Start tapping again on the top of your head !

by Joy Winning

This poem pretty much describes how the summer vacations are going for my son and me. He's bored and I am at my wits' end to keep him entertained...We have been tapping our heads no end for ideas..
I  came across one and immediately got into action as soon as he went to bed . Of course the idea is this gorgeous flavourful bread.My husband and me both are huge fans of roasted almonds  and add it to almost anything..from yoghurt to muesli, to oats ,to salads and icecreams...and then I wondered how the bread got left behind...

Ingredients

· 2 cup wholewheat flour

. 1 cup All purpose flour

·  1/3 cup chopped almonds
. 1/3 cup chopped figs
. 2tsp olive oil
. 2 tsp active dry yeast
. 3/4 tsp salt

. 1 cup lukewarm water
Optional-cinammon powder for
              blanched sliced almonds for topping

. 

Instructions

1.In a big mug, heat half a cup of water in the microwave for ten seconds, stir in the sugar and yeast and keep aside for ten minutes.

2. In a big mixing bowl, mix the flours,salt and cinnamon if using. .After ten minutes the yeast mixture will become foamy. Add the yeast mixture to the flours and knead the dough with  it. Use more water if you feel the mixture is too dry.
3.Take the dough out of the bowl and put it on your work surface. Knead it for good ten minutes till it becomes smooth and elastic.Add the olive oil and knead again. Put the dough in a greased bowl and keep it covered for an hour or till the dough doubles in volume.

4.Preheat the oven at 180 degrees, spread the chopped almonds in a baking tray and bake at the same temperature for eight minutes. Remove from the oven and keep aside to cool.
4. Take the dough out, gently deflate it with your hands and sprinkle in the figs and almonds on one side.Overlap and cover with the other side, sprinkle more almonds and figs, fold to form a loaf. This is for the even distribution of fruit and nut in the bread. It has happened to me earlier when the fruit was kneaded into the dough but it managed to form a layer at the bottom of the loaf.So it does happen in breads too and not only cakes.
    Put the loaf in a greased bread mould and wait for it to rise.It should take half an hour to forty minutes for it to rise.

5. Brush the top of the bread with olive oil and sprinkle the blanched and sliced almonds.Preheat the oven to 220 degrees and bake the risen loaf at 200 degrees  for twenty minutes.Lower the temperature to 180 degrees and bake for another ten minutes or till the bread sounds hollow when tapped.
6.Cool well before demoulding and slicing.

No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake

 Plump Strawberries.
Ripe Strawberries.
Bright Red heart shaped strawberries.
Hiding under leafy greens.

Pluck the berry,
 in the summer sun.
Pinch the stem,
Have some fun.
Twist the stem,
Almost done.

 Put the berry,
 in a cup.
Better yet,
Just eat it up...

I made this  delicious melt in mouth Cheesecake last night for my little niece who loves Strawberries. I did not take the traditional route with cream cheese but substituted it with our very own desi  cottage cheese .No one was able to guess the ingredients when they ate this cake. This cake is very simple to put together and is a boon in summers when the electricity supply is erratic and you dont want to take a risk with regular baked cakes. I have used Gelatin here but vegetarians can use agar-agar or china grass instead.

Ingredients


for the base

· 30-35 Digestive biscuits(I used one full big pack of Mcvities)
. 2-3 tsp of milk
. 50 gms butter

for the cheesecake
. 200 gms paneer/cottage cheese
. 200 ml fresh cream(I used Amul)
. 400 ml condensed milk(I used one full tin of Amul mithai mate)
. 350 gms Strawberry Puree
. 1 tsp vanilla extract
. a pinch of salt
. 2 tsp Gelatin 
. 1/2 cup water

for the Glaze
. 1/2 cup strawberry puree
. 2 tsp of sugar
. 2 tsp gelatin
. 3 tsp water

                                 

Instructions

1.Grease an 18 cm spring-form pan with butter. Crush the biscuits in a grinder. Add the butter and milk, mix well.Press it in the bottom of the cake mould.Keep this in the fridge at least for an hour.

2. Puree the strawberries in the mixie with two spoons of sugar. I used around thirty big strawberries for this. And because my strawberries were very tart I landed up adding sugar .It can be avoided if you have the sweeter variety. Cook this puree for a few minutes over the gas to thicken it. Keep aside and let it cool.

3. Stir the gelatin in half cup of water. Keep aside for five minutes to allow it to bloom. Microwave this mixture for thirty seconds and you will obtain a clear solution.Of course you can heat it over the gas too instead of using the microwave.Leave aside to cool.
4.Blend the crumbled paneer, condensed milk and fresh cream together in a mixer. Combine Vanilla extract and salt too. Add the cooled strawberry puree and gelatin mixture and blend again.
5. Pour this mixture over the cold biscuit base and keep this covered in the fridge to set for eight hours minimum.
6. For the glaze, puree the strawberries and sugar to get half a cup of puree. This is where I goofed up a little bit. I ran short of strawberries and could get only 1/4 cup of puree. So I added 1/4 of ready made strawberry crush.This did not make a lot of difference to the taste but the color of my glaze changed entirely. I also omitted the sugar here because I added the already sweetened crush.When I had made this cake earlier this year, the glaze was a beautiful bright red but yesterday it became mauve in color..a little disappointed in the looks department but the heavenly taste of it made me forget about this lack of colour and sheen later.
7. Stir 2 spoons of gelatin in three tablespoon of  water and keep aside for five minutes to let it bloom.Then microwave for thirty seconds to obtain a clear solution.Keep aside to cool.
8. Add the cooled gelatin mixture to the strawberry puree and mix well. Take the cheesecake out of the fridge and pour this glaze over it. Again put this in the fridge for four hours for the glaze to set.
9. Once the glaze is set ,gently remove the ring of the spring form pan and slice to serve.