Lovely Desserts You Can Make by Yourself

Any Indian festival, including Raksha Bandhan, which is celebrated without eating delicious sweets is unheard of. Sweets with their mouth-watering taste, makes the occasion more grand. Raksha Bandhan, commonly known as Rakhi is a festival which is celebrated to honour the eternal bond between brothers and sisters. Apart from the ritual of tying a Rakhi thread on the brother’s wrist by sisters, exchanged gifts is also an indispensable part of this festival. Once all these customs are completed, siblings feed sweets to each other to celebrate this joyous event.

Thus, on Rakhi 2011, surprise your brother by making him some delicious sweets. Here are some simple dessert recipes which you can prepare yourself at home.

Badam Phirini (Almond Pudding)

badam phirnisIngredients:

2 tbsp rice
2 cups milk
3 tbsp sugar
1/4th cup blanched almonds (sliced)
1/2 tsp kewra essence
1 tsp green cardamom (crushed)

silver or gold foil paper (varak)

How to make badam phirni:

1. Soak rice in water for few hours, then drain water and grind rice into a smooth paste.

2. In a non-stick saucepan bring milk. Over a moderately low heat add rice, sugar and cardamom and stir constantly till milk turns thick.

3. Remove from heat and add almonds

4. Put in serving bowl and chill.

5. Garnish the badam phirni with silver or gold foil paper (varak) and serve.

Doodh Pak

doodh pakIngredients:

1/2 cup Almonds
1 litre Milk 250 grams Sugar
1 teaspoon Saffron
1 teaspoon Cardamom powder
1 1/2 tablespoon Raisins
1 tablespoon Pistachios

Preparation:

1. Soak the almonds in warm water for 1 hour. Peel and grind to a fine paste. Dissolve the saffron in 1 tablespoon of warm milk and keep aside.

2. Boil the milk in a heavy bottomed pan, stirring constantly. Add the almond paste and simmer for 30-35 minutes, stirring regularly.

3. Add the saffron, sugar, pista and raisins. Cook on a very low flame till thick. Sprinkle cardamom powder.

4. Serve doodh pak hot or chilled.

These lip-smaking delicacies will surely make your brother savour its taste for several days.

But, if you are miles away from home, it will not be possible for you to prepare these mouth-watering dishes for your brother. Instead of this, you can make his day special by sending an attractive Rakhi to India along with gifts with the help of GiftstoIndia24x7.com. From men’s wear, accessories, watches to men’s personal care, watches, perfumes, etc, you will find these all here. But, before you send Rakhi to India with gifts, keep your brother’s preference in mind, if you want him to appreciate your gift. You do not want to gift him something which will be ultimately end up in the basement.

If your brother is a teenager, then along with an attractive Rakhi to India, you can send him a latest mobile phone, watch or some stylish men’s jewellery. We offer you mobile phones from popular brands such as Nokia and Samsung so you need not worry about their quality and durability. Hence, send Rakhi to India along with a latest hand-set from our site and make your brother’s day truly memorable. For your working professional brother, you can opt for a pair of cuff-links, neck-ties or some formal wear as Rakhi gifts.

The Beaufiful Chocolate Loved By Me

Meanwhile the sun is back up and shining again, the tons of snow are almost gone (I try to ignore the sad-looking slushy grey piles of what used to be proud mountains of snow on every street’s corner) and the stacks of flour and almonds are reaching astronomical heights in my pantry. It’s time to get baking!

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes (eat a test cookie, if your unsure when they are done, because their color is not really helping here), then take out and slide the parchment paper with the cookies off the tray, then you can let them cool down completely.

Life doesn’t always play along nicely. Just after we finished our book project, everybody involved got sick. One after another, almost in sync. Then hell winter broke loose on the exact day I needed to travel north and see my family. As much as I had anticipated some christmas baking frenzy, sometimes a cookies-to-bake-list has to be put on ice – pun intended – for a couple of days.

I usually start off my Christmas baking with cookie recipes that require a little extra time for decoration, simply because after cookie batch no. 12 I most likely have lost the patience to neatly decorate each and every cookie. So I need to get these out of the way early.
This time I filled some of the cookies with apricot jam and sealed the little cut-out shapes in the top layer with some white chocolate – what a treat! The ones without jam filling received a more abstract look with white and dark chocolate ornaments – easy, yet eye-catching.

Cut the cold butter into small cubes (or – if the butter is really well chilled – use a coarse grater) and add the egg. Quickly knead together by hand or with a pastry blender and form into a neat ball. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours.




For starters, how about a very basic cut-out cookie with cocoa and a touch of cinnamon, one that allows for all kinds of variation? Like fragile and not so fragile shapes, fancy chocolate decoration or traditional jam filling? This recipe might just be the one for you – you can use it any way you like.
Preheat the oven to 180°C (~350°F) and line the baking trays with parchment paper. Take the dough out of the fridge and cut off half of it (put the other half back into the fridge). Dust a large wooden board with flour and roll out the dough until about 3 to 4 mm thick. Cut out the shapes of your choice and place on the baking trays, then continue with the other half (any dough scraps should be chilled before using again).

Decorate to your liking with either melted chocolate, a brush and a piping bag or a jam filling (heat the jam for some minutes, so it becomes easier spreadable). Store in an airtight cookie jar.