Dry Fruits & Nuts Laddoo (Dry Fruit & Nut Balls without any sweeteners)

Category: Kids Special
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 5 mins (for toasting)
Servings: yields around 18 laddoos

Healthy Treats!!!

Dry Fruits and Nuts Laddoo is a healthy sugar-free, and nutrient dense snack for kids. Its not only healthy, its tasty and very easy to make.

Dry Fruits & Nuts Laddoo

If we are having unsalted roasted nuts in hand, we can make this within 10-15 mins. These are perfect for the mid-morning snacks for the kids an also can go well in their lunch box.

We can add any of our favourite nuts into it and its sure a way to make kids eat these healthy foods. We can alter the ingredients according to our taste, but dates /  figs are the must for getting the right consistency. We can use either roasted nuts or the unroasted ones. 

Ingredients:

• Figs - 1 cup (I used around 9-10 dried whole Organic, unsulphured figs)
• Dates - 1 cup (I used around 20 Organic dates)
• Raisins - 2 Tbsp
• Almonds - 1/4 cup
• Cashews - 1/4 cup
• Pistachios - 1/4 cup

Dates-Walnut Chocolate Muffins (Whole Wheat & Eggless)

Category: Baking
Preparation Time: 15 mins  
Cooking Time: 25-30 mins
Servings: yields around 12-15 muffins 

Dates-Walnut Chocolate Muffins

Mini Muffins:)

 Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:

• Wheat flour / Atta - 1 cup
• Cocoa Powder - 1/4 cup
• Baking soda - 1 tsp
• Salt - a pinch

Wet Ingredients:

• Black Dates, deseeded - 1 cup (around 20-25 nos) 
• Milk - 2 cups, divided
• Brown Sugar - 1/3 cup (I used Dark Brown Sugar; Jaggery can also be used)
• Cold Butter - 1/2 cup
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Other Ingredients:

• Walnuts, chopped - 1 cup
• Wheat flour - 2 tsp

Method:

1. Soak the deseeded dates in 1 cup of warm milk for 2-3 hrs
   
   
   
   
2. Pre heat oven to 350°F
3. Grease the muffin pans / line with muffin liners
4. In a sieve add the dry ingredients (Wheat flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder) and sieve them into a bowl and keep it ready
   
5. In a blender, add the soaked dates along with milk and grind to a smooth puree and keep aside
   
6. Finely chop the walnuts and mix it up with 2 tsp of wheat flour to avoid sinking during baking process
   
7. In a mixing bowl, add the cold butter and brown sugar and beat it well till the sugar gets dissolved and become creamy texture
   
8. To this add the remaining 1 cup of milk, Vanilla extract and dates puree; blend well
   
9. Now add the sifted flour into the wet ingredients and gently mix it up to form a batter
   
10. Fold in the toasted nuts, mix gently
    
11. Spoon the batter into muffin tins 
    
12. Bake for around 20-30 minutes (depend on the size of the muffins), or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean 
    
13. Cool for about 10 minutes in the pan and then remove from pan to cooling rack
    
14. Serve warm with a glass of milk!

Home made Granola

Category: Breakfast / Baking
Preparation Time: 10 mins 
Cooking Time: 25-35 mins
Yields: Around 5 cups 

Home made Granola

Homemade Granola is always better than the store bought sugar loaded ones. When we make at home, we can use our favourite add in combinations and flavours, also will have a control on the amount of sugar going in it. 

Crunchy and Yummy!

We can avoid the sugar and just use the maple syrup alone. Since Honey shouldn't be heated, I am not using honey in the granola.

Home made granola can be had as a breakfast, snack, topping for the overnight oats, Oatmeal, muffins,etc.,

 Ingredients:

• Oats (Rolled / Old-fashioned) - 3 cups
• Dry fruits & Nuts, chopped - 1 1/2 cups
• Brown Sugar - 2 Tbsp
• Maple Syrup - 1/4 cup
• Salt - a pinch
• Coconut Oil /  any cooking oil - 3 Tbsp
• Vanilla extract - 3-4 drops
• Almond extract - 1-2 drop (Optional)
• Coconut flakes - 1/4 cup  (Optional)

Note: 

• 1/2 - 3/4 tsp of ground Cinnamon can be used instead of Vanilla / Almond extracts
• Dry fruits and nuts are as per our liking and any combination can be used

Granola ready to be baked

• We can use almonds, walnuts, pecans, dry dates, dry figs, raisins, pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes, sunflower seeds, etc.,

Method:

1. Preheat Oven to 320 F. Take 3 cups of old fashioned oats in a bowl, Instant oats cannot be used here
   
2. Chop the nuts and dates into small pieces, raisins can be added as a whole
   
3. In a small bowl add Oil, Vanilla extract, almond extract(if using), salt and mix well
   
4. In a wide bowl add the oats, chopped dry fruits & nuts, brown sugar and mix well
   
5. Add the oil mixture into the oats and mix gently
6. Add maple syrup 1 Tbsp at a time and mix gently till it gets coated evenly
   
7. Grease the baking pan and transfer the granola mix into the baking pan
   
   
   
8. Bake for around 15-20 mins in the pre heated oven (320 F)till the oats started to turn golden brown. After 10 mins of baking, mix gently every 5 mins for even baking
   
9. After 15-20 mins, add in the coconut flakes, mix gently
   
   
10. Continue baking for another 5-10 mins
    
11. Once its done, take out of the oven and allow to cool
    
12. Upon cooling, the oats become crispy
13. Store it in air tight container
    
14. Enjoy as a snack or breakfast or as a toppings in oatmeal, muffins,etc.,
    

Dates Chocolate Cake - Whole Wheat & Eggless

Category: Baking
Preparation Time: 10 mins 
Cooking Time: 40 mins
Servings: 1 square cake

Dates Chocolate Cake

 Chocolate Cake with Dates is a tasty, healthy and moist cake, kids will surely like it:) We can also make cupcakes with the same batter and only the baking time varies. We can add our favorite dry fruits and nuts into it to make it more richer:)

Dates - Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• Wheat flour / Atta - 1 cup
• Black Dates, deseeded - 1 cup (around 20-25 nos) 
• Milk - 2 cups
• Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Butter, melted /Olive Oil - 1/2 cup
• Cocoa Powder - 1/4 cup
• Toasted Walnuts, chopped - 3/4 cup (mix with 1 tsp of wheat flour - Optional)
• Baking soda - 1 tsp
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
• Salt - a pinch 
• Oil / Ghee - 1 tsp for greasing the pan
• Corn meal / Rava - 1 tsp

Method:

1. Soak the deseeded dates in 1 cup of warm milk for 2-3 hrs
2. Pre heat oven to 350°F
3. Grease the baking pans with ghee / oil and sprinkle some rava / cornmeal 
   
4. In a blender, add the soaked dates along with milk and grind to a smooth puree
   
5. To this add the remaining 1 cup of milk, Melted butter / Oil, Sugar, Vanilla extract and cocoa powder, blend well
   
6. In a sieve, take the wheat flour, baking soda and a pinch of salt, sieve them into a wide bowl
   
7. Add the blended puree into the flour mix and mix well
   
8. Fold in the toasted nuts, mix gently
   
   
   
   
9. Pour the batter into the greased pan
   
10. Bake for around 30 to 40 minutes (depend on the size of the pan), or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean 
    
11. Cool for about 10 minutes in the pan and then remove from pan to cooling rack
12. Once it became warm, slice and serve 
    
13. It tastes good when served chill too:)