Caramel Popcorn (Baked)

My love for popcorns is too big that I grab a packet of it wherever I go and my mouth keeps busy munching on them.  If not available anywhere around, I just pop them up at home whenever I just get the thought of it.  And I, in general, am a sweet-toothed person and love to munch on something crisp too.  Caramel popcorns just popped up in my mind.  I have not had a chance to taste them all these days (as not very commonly available at my place) though have heard many a times of them.  Just in the right moment, this recipe came to my eye and I just immediately worked on it.  Success at the first trial as it is an easy, peasy and fail proof recipe.  With a large bowl of it in your hands, anyone just can't resist munching on them these little caramelly delicacies.  Crunchy munchy go....

Here goes the recipe of making these little golden munchies...


Ingredients:

Popcorn Seeds (kernels) - 1/2 cup

Coconut Oil - 1 tbsp

Butter - 1/4 cup

Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup

Corn Syrup - 3 tbsp (or half of an 1/3 cup)

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Vanilla Extract - 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda - 1/8 tsp (a big pinch)


Procedure:

In a pressure pan, heat coconut oil and add the popcorn seeds.  Close with the lid (without vent on).  Keep the stove on medium flame.  Shake the pan once in between to help uniform popping up of the seeds and there are not much seeds left out without popping.  Once no more popping up sound is heard, switch off the flame immediately.  Open the lid and transfer the popcorn to a large bowl.  This would be equal to about 6 cups of popped up corn.

Preheat the oven at 150 degrees for 10 minutes.

Line a baking tray with butter paper or silicon mat and grease with butter generously.

In a saucepan, add butter, brown sugar, salt, and corn syrup.  Heat on a high flame and stir until the butter melts and everything comes together.

Reduce the flame to low and let it be undisturbed (do not stir) for 5 minutes exactly.

Switch off the flame and add baking soda.  It will bubble up, so carefully stir with an wooden spatula.

Now, pour this caramel syrup all over the popcorn making sure each popcorn is coated with the syrup.  Use a wooden spatula to stir up uniformly.

Spread the caramel coated popcorn on the prepared baking tray evenly.  Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes at 150 degrees.  After every 5 minutes, remove the tray from the oven and toss the popcorn with a wooden spatula.  Continue to bake till the set time of 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow the tray to cool completely on a wire rack.  Break the baked caramel popcorn with your hands and store in an airtight container.  This stays good for about a week at room temperature.

Crunchy, caramelly baked popcorn is a sure treat to munch on.

I packed them in small containers for a bake sale here and it was a sure hit around.


Notes:

I used coconut oil to pop out the popcorn seeds.  You can use any vegetable oil or butter alternatively.

If brown sugar is not at an easy reach, you can very well substitute it with the regular white sugar.


For want of time for the bake sale, I requested the local popcorn maker (a friend of mine) to supply me with plain popcorns and I worked on the caramelizing and baking portions.  You can try both ways as you feel convenient. 

Festive Floral Cookies

Recently, I had baked a Captain America Shield Theme fresh cream pastry cake.  In a spree to get the right colors of the whipped cream to be used for decorating the cake, I ended up with loads of bright red colored and blue colored whipped cream left over after decorating the cake.  Normally, whipped cream is used to make mousse, cream cheese cakes, dessert jars etc. apart from cake decorating.  I wanted to do something else other than these with the leftover whipped cream and found this recipe of whipped cream cookies on the internet shared by Mrs. Rajeswari Ganesh.  Also, at the same time, a contest had been announced for the festive season in one of the home bakers groups on Facebook in which I participated.   I chose do a simple rangoli style arrangement of floral theme with these cookies and was pretty happy with the outcome.

Here goes the recipe of the Whipped Cream Cookies.


Ingredients:

Whipped Cream - 120 gm

Icing Sugar - 1/2 cup

Almond Essence - 1/4 tsp

Unsalted Butter - 40 gm

Coarsely Powdered Nuts (Cashew, Almonds, Pistachios) - 1/4 cup

All Purpose Flour - 1½ cups

Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1 pinch

Chopped Nuts and Saffron Strands - To decorate

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 160 degrees for 10 minutes.

Sieve together well all-purpose flour and baking powder.  Keep aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat whipped cream and icing sugar until well combined.

Add the essence and the coarsely powdered nuts to this and mix well with a spatula.

Add the butter and beat at medium speed.

Finally, add the sifted flour and mix to form a cookie dough.  Add butter if necessary to get the right consistency of the dough.  Do not use milk or water.  Only butter is to be used to get the dough consistency to be of mashed potatoes.

Smear ghee or butter in your hands and roll small balls of the dough to form a flower shape.  Decorate with chopped nuts and saffron if desired.

Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until the sides turn light brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.  It will be soft when hot and perfect when cooled.

Store in an airtight container until use.

I had used the colored whipped cream for this recipe and hence got bright red and blue colored cookies in floral shapes.  To color the whipped cream, I have used Americolor Red gel color and blue gel color.  These cookies can be done without the color effect and will appear light colored when white whipped cream is used.

To make fresh whipped cream, scoop out 1 cup of frozen non-diary whipping cream stored in the freezer and place in a bowl in the fridge for about 1 to 2 hours.  When it turns to a thick liquid consistency (some frozen chunks can also be there), transfer to a mixing bowl.  Whisk with an electric beater at medium speed for a minute and then increase to high speed and beat until soft peaks.  This may take around 5 minutes or more.   Transfer the whipped cream to an airtight container and store in fridge until use.  The mixing bowl and the beaters/whisk should be chilled prior to whipping up the cream.  An ice bath can also be used by keeping a big bowl of ice cubes underneath the mixing bowl while whipping up the cream.



This is the cake I had done on the Captain America Shield Theme.

Watch out for more of my works on my Facebook page Kriyaetions.

Paalada Payasam Cupcakes (Eggless)

Paalada Payasam, also fondly called as ada pradhaman, is an all-time favorite for Keralites all over the world.  It is a rich dessert made with either homemade or readily available rice ada (flakes), milk, and sugar.  This pradhaman adorns the sadhya (a special meal) in weddings, parties, or festive occasions of Onam, Vishu, etc.  The process of making it is simple though takes around 1 to 2 hours to get a thick creamy payasam/pradhaman.  Nowadays, these payasams are readily available at stores or can be made to order through caterers too.

My family has a great craze for this ada pradhaman and we grab every chance of relishing this dessert whenever available - at weddings or parties we attend, at exhibitions, etc.   The "Top in Town" palada payasam is very famous in my place and is really very tasty; just forget the calories it holds.

Though we are die-hard fans of the palaada payasam, when it is in excess and cannot be had any more, I had to think of other ways to use it up.  What struck my mind was why not try incorporating them in cupcakes and it was a success at the first attempt itself.  Here, I have used the Indian traditional flavors of cardamom and nutmeg in the cupcake batter as well as the buttercream to give it a traditional festive touch.  It is an egg free recipe too just in case you would want to avoid eggs for any reason, be it festive time, personal preferences, allergy issues, religious reasons, etc.  

This paalada payasam cupcake is very moist and soft with small specks of freshly ground cardamom and nutmeg glowing here and there.  Vanilla extract can also be added to enhance the flavor of the cupcake.  I tried using both and they were good to taste equally.  Also, you can serve this cupcake as such or frosted with buttercream or any frosting of your choice like white chocolate ganache or whipped cream or cardamom infused mousse.  Scooping out a tiny portion in the top center of the cupcake and filling it with paalada payasam and then frosting over gives a really special taste to the entire dessert.  Give it a try the way you wish to.  Of course, you all would have your own special ideas too.

The payasam or pradhaman to be used in this recipe should be a really thick and creamy one.  Either homemade or store bought payasam can be used to make these cupcakes.

Here goes the easy peasy recipe of making these cute little Paalada Payasam Cupcakes.

Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter - 2 tbsp
Powdered Sugar - 2 tbsp
Paalada Payasam - 200 gm
Cardamom (Elaichi) Powder - 1/2 tsp
Nutmeg Powder - 1 pinch 
All Purpose Flour - 100 gm
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - A pinch
Aerated Water/Drinking Soda - 100 mL (1/2 cup)


Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C for 10 minutes.

Line the cupcake moulds with paper liners.

Sieve together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Keep aside.

In a bowl, whip butter for a minute until soft.  Add sugar and whip again for a minute until creamy.

Now, add the thick paalada payasam and whisk for about a minute or so until incorporated well.  Add the cardamom and nutmeg powders and whisk gently.

Then, add one-third of the sifted flour and whisk gently.  Now, add the half of the drinking soda and mix.  Add the flour and soda alternately until they are fully used up.  Whisk the batter gently until all the ingredients are incorporated well together.  Do not over mix.

Fill this batter in the cupcake molds until two-thirds level giving enough space for the cupcake to rise while baking.

Bake them at 180 degrees C in a preheated oven for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cupcake comes out clean.  Do not over bake, else the cupcake will sink in the center.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and allow them to cool on a wire rack.  Store in an airtight container once cool or just grab one and test the taste.

I decorated these cupcakes with cardamom flavored buttercream frosting.



For Buttercream Frosting:

Unsalted Butter - 80 gm
Table Butter (Salted) - 20 gm
Icing Sugar - 200 gm
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tsp
Milk - 1 to 2 tbsp

Soak cardamom powder in warm milk for 10 minutes and allow to infuse the flavor in the milk.  After 10 minutes, strain the soaked milk and allow to cool.  Keep aside.

In a bowl, add both the butters and beat for 2 to 3 minutes on high speed of an electric beater until soft.

Add icing sugar 4 tbsp at a time and beat on high speed for 2 minutes on each addition until all the icing sugar is used up.  Again, beat for 5 minutes until semi-stiff peaks are achieved.  Add more icing sugar if needed to get peaks.

Now, add the cardamom infused milk to the buttercream and whip well to get peaks again.

Chill the buttercream until use.


To Assemble:

Scoop out a tiny portion of the cupcake in the top center of the cupcake.

Fill the cavity with a teaspoon or more of the Paalada Payasam and close the cavity with the scooped cake bit.

In a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle, fill the prepared buttercream and pipe a rosette over the filled cupcake.

Decorate with sprinkles of your choice or drizzle with payasam over it.

Delicious Paalada Payasam Cupcakes will lure you to grab one and relish, and you cannot stop with one, I bet.

They stay good for 2-3 days if stored in fridge.  Remember to keep them out of the fridge at least half an hour before serving them.

Notes:

Use thick and creamy Paalada Payasam/Pradhaman for this recipe.  Freshly made or left over payasam can be used.

Vanilla extract or any other flavor of your choice can be added.

Any other creamy and thick payasam can be used viz., semiya payasam, phirni, basundhi, etc. can be replaced for the Paalada Payasam to make these little treats.  Jaggery based or coconut milk based payasams can also be used but the most important point to be noted is they are to be thick in consistency like condensed milk.