Makes 9 blondies; 2 ½ x 2 ½ inches, each. If my Fudgilicious Brownies are a bitter-sweet indulgence for adult palates, my Stickylicious Blondies will straight up appeal to the sweet-craving child in you. Moist with butterscotch and sticky with caramel, each bite brings the warmth of cinnamon, the sweetness of vanilla, and the crunch of […]
Tag: sweet
Raspberry Lemon Tartlets
Makes 30 x 2 ½ inch tartlets Whoever invented lemon curd should be awarded a Nobel peace prize. That stuff can neutralize all sorts of heat, from fiery tempers to soaring Summer temperatures. Nestled in palm-sized short crust pastry shells and topped with fresh, dried, and freeze-dried raspberries, as well as mini meringues, this lemony […]
Turkish Baklava
Makes 40 x 1 ½ inch diamonds + extra There’s a reason why Baklava is a special occasion dish. Layers of wafer-thin phyllo striated with a rich nutty filling and then doused in perfumed syrup. Talk about luxury! While many countries lay claim to Baklava’s origins, there’s no debate that this luxurious dessert is the […]
Strawberries & Cream Cake
Makes a three-tiered 6 inch layered cake. In India, winter is peak strawberry season (read, strawberry cake season). Unfortunately, strawberry cake tends to diminish the vibrancy of fresh strawberries. Rather than subduing their voices by cooking them into the cake batter, I’ve baked a vanilla stage for my strawberry sisters to belt out, “I’m so […]
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Makes 12 standard sized cupcakes. Red velvet has one of those je ne sais quois flavours that has justly acquired diva status in the cake world. Can’t peg her as vanilla, or classify her as chocolate—she is curious combination of the two. If red velvet were a fictional character, I imagine she’d be Scarlett O’Hara […]
Fruitcake Rum Balls
Makes 18 x 50 gm balls If your memories of Calcutta involve devouring rum balls from Kathleen, Flury’s, or Nahoum’s, and knocking back dirt cheap pegs of Old Monk at Oly Pub or DI—this fruitcake rum ball will hit you right in the nostalgia. But this is not the child-friendly rum ball from your youth. […]
Parle-G Xmas Macarons
Makes 30 x 4 cm wide sandwiched macarons. I tasted my very first macaron in France, from the legendary Ladurée in Paris. Crisp and airy on the outside with an ever so slightly chewy interior, those delicate meringue sandwich cookies set the bar impossibly high. While I’ve more or less used Ladurée’s recipe for my […]
Banana Bread
Makes a 10 x 2 ½ inch loaf. Confession time. I hate bananas. I don’t like them as a fruit, I deplore them as a flavour in candy or gum, and detest them in any kind of dessert. But banana bread is the one way I absolutely adore my lifetime fruit nemesis. Moistened with yoghurt […]
Devil’s Food Cake
Makes a two-tiered 9 inch layered cake. There’s chocolate cake, and then there’s this chocolate cake; a heavenly creation that merits unwavering worship. Possessing a moist, airy crumb and a bitter-sweet creamy ganache—by some supernatural force—it is at once light and darkness. One bite will send your conscience into battle. Can something this good, be […]
Chicken & Couscous
Makes 4-6 servings. I discovered this dish when I was 18, exactly 18 years ago. Back then, it distinctly belonged to Southern Europe. Over time, it has evolved into a stateless island, influenced by all the lands that touch the Mediterranean Sea between Morocco and Turkey. Here, cinnamon is friends with saffron. Cumin hangs out […]