50 Sweet and Savory Holiday Recipes + Add yours to win a $25 Amazon gift card Giveaway!

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"There is only one thing more exasperating than a wife who can cook and won't, and that's a wife who can't cook and will". This cheeky quote by Robert Frost always manage to bring a smile on my face. It just shows how perseverance can will help and play an important role in the kitchen and elsewhere.

Learning and experimenting on my own in a tiny kitchen (Why do I end up with tiny kitchens, always! Sigh.), I learnt many tips and tricks. Most of them were a 'trial and error' process, except for my mother's recipes which I follow to the tee even today. Sometimes I swooned at a bread that came out perfectly and at times completely dismissed a recipe which I have been working for a few hours. I believe that a fair & square attempt is all it needs to get anything right.

Holiday Baking Recipes | Mini Plum Upside-Down Cakes

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I close my eyes and I see a winter coat. Furry, soft, black my favorite color when it comes to coats. The nostalgic dream doesn't end there. We are in a big garment factory and there we are standing in front of aisles of coats. Beautiful ones getting ready to be worn for the upcoming winter. It will be my first winter in US and am secretly praying there will be snow, lots of it so that I could make a snow man.

On that day, after much prodding from my roommates I chose a woolen coat with big buttons but sadly the price was exorbitant. Not something I could afford with my meager salary from working at our University food court. But my heart pleads to go for it...and I did. I was a proud owner of my first ever black furry coat. For many many winters after that, I remember digging my mitten-covered hands into its pockets and walking on snow filled streets. Many coats came later that but the memory of shopping for my first one is always special. :-)

Just like in the 90's, I am still obsessed with fresh or dried aloo bukhara. This ruby colored fruit is from plum/prune family and is a bit tart + sweet to taste. Biting into it takes me back to my grandmom's house where she used to bring home these luscious fruits every time they are in season. Few months ago, a good friend of my dad sent us a bag full of freshly harvested fruit from his backyard. Resisting the urge to eat them right way and making the usual jams or chutneys, I made few upside down mini cakes with them which turned out to be super moist and delicious. :-)

Mini Plum (Aloo Bukahra) Upside Down Cakes

Since the fruit is pre-cooked in the sugar syrup before hand, it becomes slightly mushy once taken out of the ramekins. But it tastes yumm nonetheless and the fine balance of flavors made the effort well worth it. Any other firm seasonal fruit available on hand can be easily substituted in this recipe. 

Makes 6 mini cakes + 3-4 cup cakes

Ingredients:

For the cake batter:

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

For the topping:

1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup plum wedges

Preparation:

1. Melt a tbsp of butter, sugar and add plum wedges. Mix well until they are even coated and cook for 2 to 3 mins. Turn off heat.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla.

3. Beat well for 2 to 3 mins on medium speed using electric mixer or whisk rigorously with hand.

4. Add flour mixture half cup at-a-time and Mix everything until just combined.

5. Preheat oven to 350 F or 180 C. Grease ramekins with butter and place a layer of fruit at the bottom. Top with few spoonfuls of cake batter and evenly distribute it.

6. Place these ramekins on a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for a 5 to 10 minutes. Gently invert each ramekin and unmould the cakes. Serve.

I had just a few spoonfuls of cake batter and plum wedges left. I applied the same technique of layering the fruit at the bottom, topping with batter and baked for 8 to 10 mins until a tooth pick inserted came out clean.  These upside-down cupcakes I must tell you were too adorable to eat. :-)

This is Recipe 63 added to 2013 Recipe Archive. Check out the rest of the recipes too.

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until next recipe,

Holiday Special: Vegan Christmas Tree Pie

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"When Christmas bells are swinging above the fields of snow, we hear sweet voices ringing from lands of long ago, and etched on vacant places are half-forgotten faces of friends we used to cherish, and loves we used to know."  

~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox (American poet and writer 1850-1919)

The one place that reminds me when I think of Christmas and Snow together is - New York City. As a first-timer in 2007, I was mesmerized by its energy and sheer liveliness in almost every street. If you are one of them, who took long walks on Fifth Avenue, tightly hugging your snow coat with hood & woollen mittens on, strolling near almost every shop's window, while its slightly snowing, then you know what I am talking about. :-)

Food, if you wanna talk about that, then we can go on-and-on for hours and never get tired. Such is the vibrancy of NYC which is so infectious and many vivid memories are etched in hearts & minds of everybody who visits there.

Make holidays fun by baking these cute Vegan Christmas Tree Pies

Today's recipe is dedicated to the big Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony that happens every year near Rockefeller Centre, which marks the beginning of the holiday season and personally for me, it symbolizes how happy & fun holidays are..The tree, traditionally a Norway Spruce, is illuminated by 30,000 environmentally friendly LED lights on five miles of wire, and crowned by a Swarovski crystal star. :-)

..miss you New York City.. I hope we meet sometime, real soon!

Santa is here...to fulfil all our wishes..

Step 1: Roll a dough ball into almost a square. Fold opposite sides towards the centre to create a rough mark. 

Step 2: Fold sides back and make cuts perpendicular to the mark, as shown in the picture above.

Step 3: Place some filling in the centre area. 

Step 4: Start folding the strips alternatively from the top, until the very end..

Finally, it would look like this - a Christmas Tree Pie is ready to go into the oven..

Pie Filling - Cauliflower, Potato, Peas with Indian spices.

Perfect for potlucks, parties and these are so much fun to make for family & friends..

Christmas Tree Pie..cut open..

{Recipe} Vegan Christmas Tree Pie

Adapted from Veganlovlie

Ingredients:

For the pie crust:

all-purpose flour, 2 cups
canola oil, 4.5 tbsp
water, 5-6 tbsp (to form a soft, non-sticky dough)

For the filling:

cauliflower florets, thinly sliced, 2 cups
potatoes, cut into small cubes, 1 cup
(fresh/frozen) green peas, 1/2 cup
onion, 1 small, finely chopped
tomato, 1 small, finely chopped
garlic clove, 1 or 2, finely minced
turmeric, 1/4 tsp
salt, to taste (Note: Add a little less salt as the pie crust is already salted)
coriander powder, 1 tsp
red chilli powder, 1/2 tsp
olive oil, 2 tsp
soymilk with a pinch of turmeric, for glazing

Preparation:

To make the dough:

Mix oil into the flour and mix in with fingers until it look more like fine breadcrumbs. Then slowly add water, little by little and knead to form a smooth, non-sticky dough. Divide into 3 balls.

To make the filling:

1. Heat oil in a pan on a low-medium heat and add onions & garlic. Cook until translucent and raw smell goes away.

2. Add potatoes and cook them half-way through. Next add cauliflower. Mix in and cook until slightly tender.

3. Add peas. At any stage, don't add any water. The filling has to dry, so that you don't end up with soggy pies..

4. Add tomatoes. Stir and mix well.

5. Season with salt, turmeric, red chilli powder and coriander powder. Cook for couple of more minutes.

6. Allow to cool the filling completely.

Assemble -

1. As per the photographs above, roll, cut and fill the pies.

2. Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F)

3. Place the pies on a greased baking sheet and brush with some (soymilk + turmeric) mixture.

4. Bake for 30-40 mins until light golden colour. Serve and enjoy..

Note: If you are feeling too lazy to make the pie crust, then use store-bought puff pastry, thaw and follow the same procedure.

Happy Holidays everybody..:-)

until next time,

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