MANGO GLAZED CAKE

MANGO GLAZED CAKE

OTHER day I had a craving for a dessert. Had a peek in the refrigerator and found mango but no eggs.  It is very difficult to do the grocery shopping in the days of complete Lockdown due to Covid 19.  That is when I decided to make an eggless mango glazed cake.

Mango is considered the king of fruits in India.  Every region or state in India can boast of a different variety  of mango.  It’s a complete meal in itself because it is loaded with fibrous content.  It is not just great in taste but has innumerable health benefits.  It has antioxidants, helps in maintaining cholesterol level, cleanses your skin and gives it a glow, helps in alkalising body, contains a lot of vitamins and essential nutrients, it boosts the digestive function.  It has vitamin A, thus helps your eye sight.  It helps in strengthening immune system.

With so much to gain I pulled one mango out of the refrigerator to turn that into an appetising dessert.

Ingredients:

 1 large Mango, 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup cooking oil, 1 cup milk, 1 1/2 cup white flour, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, a few drops of vanilla essence.

Method:

Cut mango into small pieces and in a mixer make it into a purée.

Cook mango purée and half cup of sugar till sugar dissolves and mixture looks translucent. It took me four to five minutes. (If your mango is very sweet variety, you may add just 1/4 cup of sugar. My mango was a bit tart so I added 1/2 cup of sugar.)

Keep this aside to cool.

In the meanwhile, whisk together 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of cooking oil till they become creamy.  Now add 1 cup of milk into this mixture and beat or whisk more. Please make sure that milk is on room temperature.

Now add white flour, baking powder and vanilla essence to the wet mixture and whisk it till mixture is all well blended.

Once your mixture is ready, add 4 tsp of mango-sugar translucent blend into this.

Grease a cake pan and dust it with white flour. Pour the mixture in it.

Bake it for 30-35 minutes in 180 degree C.

When cake is done, let it cool off on the wire rack for two hours.

Pour the translucent mango blend on it. Keep in the refrigerator till it is set.

You may decorate it with some cherries or chocolate or any way you like.

I could not wait to have it so skipped the decorating.

JAGGERY AND SESAME COOKIES

“A small piece of jaggery after your heavy lunch helps in digesting the food”, Mom said this often when we were growing up. Ironically we often took such advices lightly in younger years. Other days I was reading the benefits of jaggery and it amazed me.  So I decided to bake cookies with wheat flour, oats along with organic jaggery powder and sesame seeds.

Jaggery is not only sweet with low calories but it is whole package of nutrients.

 It activates the digestive enzymes thus helping with the digestion of food.  It acts as a detox, helps cleansing the liver of nasty toxins.  It is full of anti oxidants and minerals like zinc and selenium. It helps build immunity against infections.

Other healthy ingredient in these cookies is sesame seeds.  Sesame seeds have innumerable benefits. They help with healthy bones, lowering blood pressure, Cholesterol and Triglycerides. They are a good source of B vitamins and help reduce inflammation.

I baked these cookies and gave to some friends . All of them loved them and were surprised to know that cookies were home made.  These cookies are ideal for coffee or tea time.  They are made of wheat flour and oats and are eggless. They are free of refined sugar as jaggery powder is the only sweetener in these.  So what is not to like in these crispy and healthy cookies.

Here is my recipes of jaggery and sesame seeds cookies:   

Ingredients:

1 cup wheat flour, 1/2 cup ground oats, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp cardamom powder, 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder, a pinch of salt, 1/2 cup ghee(clarified butter), 1/2 cup jaggery powder, 3 tbsp milk, 2 tbsp sesame seeds.

Method:

Pre heat oven to 350 degree F or 180 degree C.

In a large bowl mix together flours, baking powder, cardamom powder, cinnamon powder and salt and keep it aside.

In another bowl sift jaggery powder. Get rid of any large lumps or break them with hand ,sift them and mix with the sifted jaggery powder.

Add ghee to the sifted jaggery powder and mx using a whisk or hand mixer 

until well blended and fluffy.  Add the milk and mix well.

Now add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix well till it forms a dough. If dough is not forming well even with your hands, you may add 1 tsp of milk.

Add sesame seeds to the dough and knead well. Cover the dough and leave it for 10-15 minutes.

Then roll the dough using the roller pin. Cut into any shape you like. Make sure cookies are 1/4 inch thick.

Transfer cookies to baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes depending on the heat  of your oven. Once they are golden brown in colour, take them out.

Cool them on a wire rack and then store them in an airtight container.

Enjoy at tea time with family and friends.