Kheer Komla - Orange Milk Pudding

Had some guests at home, and served this Orange milk pudding as dessert. This is quite a traditional recipe where milk is thickened over low heat and then sugar is mixed to it. When it is cold, orange segments are added to it carefully. The result is a brilliant and you can enjoy it the Bengali way with some luchi and Aloor dom.
Though due to paucity of time, I have used condensed milk along with regular milk and added just 2-3 spoonful of sugar. It also depends on how sweet your oranges are. You have to be very careful, if the orange is sour, the kheer will curdle leaving you disheartened.

Ingredients

• Milk - 500 ml ( Preferably whole milk)
• Condensed Milk - 1 Can
• Sugar - As required
• Oranges - 4, segmented
• Ghee - 1 tsp

In a large Kadai, add the milk and condensed milk and mix well. Now put the kadai on gas and reduce the flame to the minimum. Add the spoonful of ghee too.

Boil the milk continuously for 30 minutes with a stiring here and there so that it doesnot stick to the bottom of the pan. You will notice that the milk is getting thickened. When it is almost done, add the sugar, if required. Stir again. 

Remove from it. Cool it completely.

When the milk is getting thickened, carefully remove the pulps of the oranges discarding the seeds, piths etc. Keep it refrigerated.

Place the kheer on the serving bowl, spoon the orange pulp onto it and serve immediately. Yum !!!!

Orange Cherry Cake

This orange cherry cake is delicious to the core, with its super citrus-y flavor. I love to bake with fruits ( and nuts !!) and you may get a complete list from here. During winter whenever I see juicy oranges in my fruit bucket, I start imagining all sorts of cakes that is possible with this. One of my popular cake is this 'Orange Apricot Cake' , which my family always relish. I am sure, this cherry version will also be liked by all. We really enjoy a slice with our morning cuppa.

Ingredients

• Eggs - 4
• Flour - 2.5 Cups
• sugar - 2 Cups
• Butter - 200 gms
• Orange - 3, zest and juice
• Vanilla Essence - 3 tsp
• Baking Powder - 3 tsp
• Milk - 3-4 tbsp
• Dry cherry - 100 gms

One of the important aspect of baking is everything should be at room temperature. I keep all my ingredients specially the eggs and butter out of fridge atleast 4 hours before I start the preparation.
Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree C. 
Cream the butter and sugar ( I grind the sugar after measuring) using a hand mixer till fluffy. Then start adding the eggs one after another and beat well.

Add the orange juice and vanilla essence and mix well.

Sieve the flour and baking powder together, then start mixing them to the egg butter mixture gradually. Ensure that there is no lump. You may need to add some milk to get the right consistency.
Soak the cherry in water for 30 minutes, strain the water and sprinkle some flour onto it.

Mix the cherry and orange zest into the cake batter and fold it lightly.

Butter two cake loaf pan and line it with parchment paper if necessary. Pour the batter in both the pans till half filled. Put the pans in the pre-heated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes or till a fork comes out clean.

Enjoy the treat !!!

Orange Apricot Cake

This year, my new year resolution is to improve upon my baking skill and to give it a more defined shape, I gave myself a target of one cake a week challenge. Of course, cake is a generic term and it will include all things cakey, that is Cakes, Cupcakes, muffins, cookies, scones etc. both sweet and savoury but I must bake and blog something every week. So here goes the 1st post of the year - Orange Apricot Cake.

Ingredients

• All purpose flour - 2 cups
• Sugar - 1 cup and 1/4 cup
• Butter - 100 gms
• Baking powder - 1 tsp
• Orange extract - 1/2 tsp
• Fresh orange juice - 1/2 cup
• Eggs - 3 large
• Dried apricot (chopped) 1 and 1/2 cup

 Line a loaf pan with butter paper and grease with butter. Preheat your oven to 180°C. 
 Sieve and shift all purpose flour, and baking powder to a bowl. Since I have used salted butter, I didnot use any extra salt. In case you are using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt to the flour.  Take a mixing bowl. Mix Butter and sugar to light and fluffy with help of a hand mixer. Add eggs to butter-sugar mix, one at a time. Mix it to smooth.

 Add orange extract. Then add orange juice to the batter.

 Finally add flour mix to the batter. Whisk it to smooth.

 Add chopped apricot. Fold into the batter.

 Pour the cake batter into greased baking pan.  Put into oven and bake for 65-75 minutes at 160°C or until firm . Prick a skewer to check if it is done.

 Shift to wire rack and let it cool down before you slice it.

 And sit back, relax and enjoy with a cup of tea or coffee.

Sending this recipe to the Baking Palooza Event on Kolkata Food Bloggers

Kheer Kamla - Orange Milk Pudding

A traditional Bengali Sweet dish that is pretty easy to make. In Bengal, Orange is called 'Kamla lebu' and kheer resembles Pudding to some extent. This dish is basically sweet orange segments dunked into rich creamy thick milk. Quite sinful it is, but sometimes we must enjoy the sweet delights of life, is not it?? 

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

• Whole Milk - 1 litre ( Sorry, no skimmed milk)
• Milkmaid / Condensed Milk - 1 can
• Oranges - 4
• Sugar - 1 tbsp / as required
• Ghee / clarified butter - 1 tbsp

Peel the orange, deseed and separate the segments. Make sure you have removed all the whites from it to get the pure fleshes only. Keep in refrigerated. 
Mix the milk, condensed milk and ghee or clarified butter and bring to a boil. ( Ghee helps in getting a smooth pudding and prevents it, to some extent, sticking to the side, so please don't omit this process). 

Now this is a long drawn procedure, You need to simmer and keep stirring the mixture from time to time. It will take a good  45 - 60 minutes to thicken the milk, but you need to stir for every 30 seconds to prevent sticking and get the smoothest kheer ever. It should be of a pouring batter consistency.

Check the sweetness of the kheer and add some sugar if required. Now chill the kheer completely, (it will become thicker as it chills, so adjust accordingly).

Refrigerate the kheer. While serving, add 1 tablespoon of chilled orange segment in individual bowl, then layer 2 tbsp of kheer, alternate for 2-3 layers. Add some orange segments at the top and serve.

Orange Pudding

This Orange Pudding scores high on the comfort front. I had initially a bit of doubt about the outcome, but after baking, it results in this puffy golden melt in the mouth Pudding with a subtle hint of sweet and tangy orange, which is just out of the world. Best to have it warm. A bit dense in calorie though, but life is not about depriving yourself always, right???

Ingredients

• Butter - 50 gms
• Sugar - 150 gms
• Orange - 2
• Eggs - 3,
• Plain flour - 50 gms
• Milk - 250 ml
• Orange Flavor - few drops

Heat oven to 180 degree C. Juice the Oranges by removing the seeds and then strain it. Keep some segments separately for garnishing.

In the big mixer bowl, beat the butter, powdered sugar together in a mixer. Add the orange juice, egg yolks, flour and milk one by one to make a smooth batter. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until firm and mix with the batter. Pour into individual ramekins which are buttered thoroughly. Put in a baking tray half filled with hot water.

Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until lightly browned at the top and set. Place half of a orange segment over each ramekin and serve warm.

Sending this to Linkz Party by My Mixing Spoon  and 'Bake Fest' event organised by 'Nandoo's Kitchen'.