BRAIDED MASALA BREAD

Most of the time, I baked sweet bread with filling but this week trying a savory ones  made with  my trusted bread recipe. .  .

This Braided Masala Bread is a small buttery bread, braided and stuffed with onion, green chili  and cilantro.   The filling compliments this lovely loaf perfectly. It is braided from three strand of dough, a similar fashion how you braid your hair.

If you have a mixer or bread machine, the process is even easier because these gadget knead the bread for you.  But if you don't have them, no worries, kneading with your hands is perfect and a good workout too.

Since I opt for buttery dough and stuffing  it  with onion, it becomes more sticky and hard to handle, Adding more flour is required  in order to make it easier to shape.   Actually you can shape into any shape you like but I want my bread in different shape.  Despite it turns out not so pretty ( poor braiding)   but  the taste was *so* good.  .

Braided Masala Bread  is an awesome bread!  It takes a bit of extra time to assemble but the  bread itself is very soft and baked beautifully. .

GINGER COFFEE CAKE

Nowadays a cake is a must for any occasion, such as for birthday, wedding or parties. This Ginger Coffee Cake is good for small gathering or just to satisfy your sweet tooth.   It is a typical cake recipe whereby you beat sugar and butter until light and thick.   In this recipe I have used only half a cup of butter,  additional coffee and  yogurt to moisten the batter.  In case you don't like coffee, you can add very strong tea instead.

We love the kick of heat the ginger brings to this Ginger Coffee Cake.  If ground ginger is not available  you can substitute it  with  3/4 in of  grated fresh ginger that would work too. In future, would  double up the ground ginger since the  ginger flavor was still quite subtle.   Love a fierce gingerly flavor in my cake so am not adding any spice, anything else is a mere distraction

Drizzle over your favorite icing on top of the cake  but I like to keep it simple.  Embrace the ginger. It can only make you feel better. And what are your other favorite ginger recipes at this time of the year?

PIZZA DOUGH APPLE HAND PIES

These  Pizza  Dough Apple Hand Pies  are  made from yeast free pizza dough.  I follow this  recipe with slight changes.  Omitted dry milk and use evaporated milk instead.

The crust is less buttery since we are using 5 tablespoon of melted butter/oil when compared with regular pie crust.   This suits for those looking for lightened up pie crust that was flavorful,  easy to handle and bake beautifully.

Cut  the apple into a half inch  cubes then coat  with the rest of the ingredients for the filling. You will get some liquid after some time, only scoop the apple but leave behind the liquid  when stuffing the hand pies.

Any variety of apple such as red delicious,  gala or  macintosh  can be used instead of granny smith. Another tip is to bake these Pizza Dough Apple Hand Pies on the lowest rack of the oven for 10 minutes,  This trick  ensures a nicely cooked, never soggy bottom.

PUMPKIN BARS

When my friend gifted me with pumpkin, am thinking what to do with it.  So far I have baked Pumpkin Galette,  Mini Pumpkin Tarts. and  Pumpkin Banana Bread, all made with pumpkin.  So decided to bake Pumpkin Bars this time.

The main ingredient for this recipe is pumpkin puree, to get this I steam the pumpkin until it turns soft. Mash the pumpkin while it  is still hot.  Now it is ready to be used.

Used  only ground cinnamon but you can add nutmeg and ground ginger as well.   Making these Pumpkin Bars are incredibly easy, no  mixer needed.

It turns out fabulous, super moist and beautifully sliced.   Feel free to add frosting of your choice to dress it up a bit.

VANILLA CAKE IN A JAR I HOW TO

A simple and easy way to make individual  servings of dessert that are perfectly portable  is baking in a jar,  These are super cute  and a great  way to put up my canning jars for a good use. Baking in jars give you an opportunity to present packaged baked  goods to your friends and family.   Wrap  pretty ribbon around the sealed jars complete with a special card.

You can use any basic cake recipe but I  prefer  this simple and quick ones.  There are  so many recipes that can be baked in jars.  Vanilla Cake In a Jar is baked with melted butter instead of oil and added just half a cup of sugar, this suits my taste.

This  Vanilla Cake In a Jar recipe  filled  3 jars of  18-oz, this  is  the size I had at the moment.   By using a 12-oz jar, you could get more than 3 definitely.  It is important to use wide mouth canning jars for filling the batter with ease and would slide out easily.  Make sure the use a proper jars that can withstand the heat and safe for baking..