BUTTERY JAFFA DRIZZLE CAKE @ SECRET RECIPE CLUB

A cake that's so buttery and pound like with lods of vanilla topped with orangey goodness and if that aint enough there is a nice orange vanilla buttery drizzle atop the little loafs before u top them with melted chocolate.

Some home made orange candied peel and sprinkles and u have a cute little Jaffa cake at hand to snack on or wolf down :-)

Besides all u need to do is dump all the ingredients @ stand mixer and whisk away till nice , smooth ,light and fluffy ( did a bit differently but for convenience more than anything else).

 Kimberly's blog made me feel even more romantic than i already am , i dont know if it was about her wedding or the mexican wedding cookies , but make me feel the love some more she sure did and once again i was so happy with my pairing @ Secret Recipe Club.

Kimberly aint just into but crafts too and i love she day dreams about moving to a beach , specially since i live in a land of beaches , with a beach less than 5mins away from home.

Walks in the evening never got better.

Though i so wanted to bake the wedding cookies , i promised someone to bake this cake for them today and i sure did.

BUTTERY CINNAMONY VANILLA HUNGARIAN COFFEE CAKE/MONKEY BREAD @ CAKE SLICE

DO NOT  read this post and recipe unless you plan to bake right away

Gives you craving to have something cinnamony with a hint of vanilla and maybe chocolate . -ok add butter scotch to that . .

Yup thats what I microwaved , all of the above in chips with a few caramels and curly wurly all sprinkled with cinnamon sugar atop. . Now I was at peace to go back to the recipe and post . . .
Ps- if you want to try the dukan diet make sure your pantry doesn't boast of a good collection of chocolate chips of all kinds. 

There is no saying how creative You can get with them.

Important note/WARNING

Rightly said that this cake will surely test your self control ,i needed a few caramel bars dipped in cinnamon sugar even as I begun baking these ;-)

And if like me your making this coffee cake or monkey bread cake for the very first time as I was you'd be just as excited.

All the steps ,tossing the vanilla sugar with cinnamon in a zipper bag (or a large bowl as i did) , and tossing scoopfulls of the prepared dough to coat them all with the cinnamon vanilla sugar, placing them in the prepared pans and sprinkling with nuts and raisins    pecans as I go . . . 

And all those scents wafting around while baking.

 And while that bakes so waiting to have a peek a boo of how these bake , what they would look like after they bake and how deliciously the cinnamon vanilla combi would take these to a new height.

I went back and forth a many times over trying to decide on a large cake or a couple of minis, and a couple of minis in my small pan it was.

Oh all that caramelly goodness coating the crunchy pecans.....

The dough comes together pretty easily , mix the dry ingredients , cut in some very very chilled cubed butter , and let some nice vanilla buttermilk or whisked yogurt bring it all together.

Then scoop balls with whatever size of scoop u want , and toss them in some Vanilla Cinnamon Sugar (ahh already getttn so good) ,  get them a bit round again if they seem to have gone outa shape and this step is soo good , all that cinnamon vanilla sugar clinging to ur warmish hands as it goes.....

MAIDA'S BIG APPLE PIE WITH CRUMBLE @ MODERN BAKERS

 Here's my first post to the Modern Bakers group and From Modern Baker By Nick Malgieri an Apple pie , not just an Apple pie , but Maida's Big Apple Pie with Crumble topping ....

 Ok ok , i had this crumble ready just for this pie in the freezer , and well while baking i took multi tasking a bit too far , and it remained sitting right there , so that for another pie ..

I have baked a pie from Nicks recipe , so this is officially my second pie, that one being an English pie with blackberries, mango and guava.

Whether u wanna slice it thru , or have it whole , love it u sure will....

The rich pie dough is one of the best dough's ever and since there is no sugar in the crust u can work beautifully around the fillings.

Plus sprinkling some home made Vanilla or cinnamon sugar before u pop these in the oven , atop the crust is always fun ....

 Since i love hearts being there a plenty in my world , this was so expected of me , wasnt it ?

 The filling is absolutely delicious , though i did cut down on the sugar and up the butter a bit.

The brown & vanilla sugar ,along with an extra vanilla bean , 2 types of cinnamon (pics below), and butter make it absolutely delicious.

 Moving right back to this pie , an apple pie , i did try some stuff around the recipe , and though not perfectly pretty , it made me happy , deliciously happy.

SWEET & SPICY ROASTED NUTS with ROSEMARY @ INA's GARDEN

Cashewnuts are as Goan to me as Cashew feni to a tourist traveling to my land of sun , sand , sea and sea food , Goa , for the first time or second or third (if u have not heard this , i have many many times over, that they HAVE to feast on the cashew feni when in Goa on a holiday or not )

 

Too good , too fast to be true...

See how well the sweet and salty spiced butter coats the nuts..

Never leave Goa without some of these.......

 

Even if i cant generalize that , well i want to for the love of Cashewnuts anyway , besides being a wonderful nut , it connects me to my goan connection , in a good way .

Always looking forward to grind , slice , chop cashewnuts in baking or cooking , here was another opportunity and so for this weeks Appetizers and snacks , Rosemary roasted cashewnuts from Ina's Barefoot in Paris .

I dont know what part of this recipe is French but i like the sound of it ....

U simply cant stop at some....

SWEET BAKED CHOCOLATE LOVE CUPCAKES @INA'S GARDEN

If u think my creativity begins and ends with hearts , ur right , most of the times it does:-)
I mean the pink and hearts lover in me , more often than not cant see beyond hearts and pink.
After all aint i the one who floats on air as i walk , all the while seeing pink hearts popping around me and some violin or piano belting some love songs all along....whewwwww...

Back to another love , cakes , baking and chocolate , happening here in the same breath in Ina's Garden for the theme going on at the moment ''Sweet Baked Love''.

Sweet Baked love is the theme for chosen by urs truly for this fortnight of Ina's Garden and if u at any time posted about any of Ina's baked recipe or even this pound cake , do link up here , we'd loveee to see what u bake along with love....

We would so love u to join us this time , next time or whenever u can , and do hop by our blog for announcements and to know us gang of Ina's recipe lovers who get together every fortnight to bring to u good food with good friends and sweets memories.

How cool is that....

BAKED GARLIC SHRIMPS @ SECRET RECIPE CLUB

Is this the longest time i have been away ...though i would totally love to say Yeah yeah yeah , it aint so coz omce i was without a computer and the company too the longest time to deliver the new laptop , and well i was away.

This was one long crazy month and i say it in such a good way , but this was really really not planned ok , absolutely NOt.....

Though der is a niggly little heart break dat refuses to budge i still had a very beautiful month , even away from the internet and life is jus getting so beautiful that i still wanna throw up both my hands high in the air and say hooray...im in love.......

And i so missed being around and saying hullo to u all and though its gng to take me a bit to catch i sure sure will...and absoultely...

I have been cooking and baking lots and lots of good food , mostly local goodies,coz we have been entertaining a bit and though we sure can get somebody to cater there is nothing like home cooked goodness topped with love.

Lets get talking about food right away and to begin with is my very very late posting for the secret recipe club...

Secret recipe club begun by Amanda of Amanda's cooking  is a fun group to be a part of and u can join in here , and believe me , its totally fun not only coz till the last day u dont k now who is assigned ur blog but u do get to discover some very wonderful blogs and some very wonderful foods.

I have know Lizzy for awhile now and before i go gaga about her wonderful blog i must say she has one of the most wonderful hearts , she is so kind and sweet and her words and thoughts to me always scream so.

I love the love about her and to top that she has an absolutely delicious drool worthy blog....oh its soo yummy!!

I have bookmarked so muc from her blog and was more than jus thrilled to be assinged with her blog.

This and this and this and this ....oh there is more too and i sure have to try the stuff soooonnn.Its also an added bonus that her recipes are so so quick and easy and so good to have at hand on a busy weekday night or relaxed weekend ...

And more so if u have guests , unannounced, whatever ur situation or ur tastebuds demand , she has a recipe for u.....

Now having jus come online , was a little lost catching up and though had planned on min of 3 recipes from her blog i simply couldn do it and went with this favourite.

I had everything , except bread crumbs in the pantry and am sure u do too , this recipe comes together at the snap of the finger , and not to forget is soooo absolutely delish too.

I didn add muc butter as the original recipe and used one red serrano peppers , for a little bite .

 Also stuck to whole black peppers , which i love to bite into.

Where crushed pepper goes Habareno pepper and Chipotle pepper flakes worked well for me , infact very well.

All u need to do , is toss all the ingredients together or simply line the shrimps in a single layer on a baking tray and sprinkle it all over and bake..

If u have some garlic bread u can add it to the oven , in the final minutes of baking so u have some warm bread to dip the juices in.

Lizzy does delicious with some warm french bread... me love...

BAKED GARLIC SHRIMPS

recipe from Lizzy's blog

Easily double and please triple actually :-)

12 shrimps ( peeled and deveined with heads and tails intact)

a good drizzle of olive oil

2 tablespoons red pepper chopped

2 tbh parsely/cilantro minced

4-7 cloves garlic minced

1 serranno pepper,deseeded sliced long(optional)

  red pepper flakes to taste

   black pepper to taste

   garlic powder (optional)

   butterdepending how buttery u want it

parmesan cheese to sprinkle.

salt to taste

Arrange the shrimps in a single layer in a baking dish and sprinkle all other ingredients except butter and cheese atop.

Dot with butter , sprinkle with cheese and bake in a preheated oven till done .

Here are all the goodies of the Secret Recipe club members...enjoy....

LAVENDER VANILLA APRICOT BARS with A PECAN CRUMBLE @BAKED

 Its Fathers Day today and somebody asked me the question , what is the best thing ur Dad taught u , without battling an eyelid or thinking , i replied "" Love , to love . And he taught me that by loving me immensely , unconditionally , always .....till i was brimming ...and im till date..."".

Love sure makes the world go round and fills me with a positive energy like nothing else can , its lends a bounce to my step and makes me give my best ...always...

When i think of him today , my heart swells and my eyes fill ...i love when someone see's a lot of him in me .....

I havent seen him in a long time , a very v longgg time and it feels like a longer time.....but i have the hope of seeing him someday soon, in heaven, when we meet again.

I wonder how he would be today , i would have so loved to bake and cook and go for long drives with him today , with me behind the wheel...

Miss u dad, lods n love ya forever...with all my being...

Not jus today , but 365 days , coz dats the real meaning of love the thought behind these special days.

Moving on to these bars , these have nothing to do with dad , infact i never baked these for him , i dont know if u would have loved them ,for besides the fact that i baked them.

I wish i had .....

Never  miss to spread the love by wishing ur pals and family who are dads , a fantastic Fathers day * 365...

They are the most special people for the children for whom they make rocking dads!!

 I want to go thru building these bars step by step ,not to make it seem lengthy or difficult which they are surely not but coz each layer is pure joy to make as much as fast and easy to put together.

I used Lavender instead of Rosemary coz its not everyday that we find rosemary here and i LOVE lavender with VANILLA...
Add a little zest and u have all my fav flavours in one bar....

ORANGE ALMOND CRUNCH CARAMEL CAKE @ CAKE SLICE

When there are good times , there got to be cake ...and real good cake ...
Two months into our new move and its been so beautiful , oh yeah there were hiccups and a sad incident but now its beautiful , very....

Moving has u looking forward to a new life and this has been one , in every way and so abundantly good too.
If there is so much of good news coming thru in ur personal life and family as well , u have nothing but to be excited and jump with glee...
Its got busier but with a schedule i'm in love with, beautiful early morns , a little nap that works wonders on the skin sometimes at noon and more...

And then u bake along , specially a cake like this , it gets yummy luscious...