Herbs infused Olive Oil

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Herb infused olive oil

Today I am sharing this easy recipe for Herb infused Olive Oil.

I remember a few years back I went to this restaurant in Delhi. I can not recollect the name of the place (I am growing old), but what I remember is the big basket of assorted bread and the bottle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar that they kept before our meal was served. That moment is when my love affair with dipping bread in olive oil started.

When I was in the US, the days when I wanted a quick snack, I would take a nice crusty loaf of bread and serve it with some herb oil. This herb oil recipe that I first used to make focaccia has been a favorite in my kitchen. Its a great way to use up all the fresh herbs that are growing in the garden or when you have extra from the store after using it in a particular recipe, which I always did.

Don’t have fresh herbs? You can use dried and still get great results.

Use this herb oil recipe to make focaccia; or as a dipping oil for your baguette. The herb infused olive oil also does well as a salad dressing or  you can use it to drizzle over your pasta. Looking for favor ideas for your wedding? Herb infused olive oil bottles are an elegant gift to give your guests.

Since there are not too many ingredients- make sure you use the best. You want the herb flavor to be more pronounced, so there is no need to use extra virgin olive oil. Make sure to wash all the herbs going into your oil and let them dry as much as possible, preferably overnight. This will decrease the risk of bacteria growth.

There are two ways to go about infusing the olive oil. You could go the slow way and cover all your herbs with olive oil in a sealed bottle and let sit in a dark place for 1-2 weeks. Or you could heat your olive oil to 100 F and then add all your ingredients to let infuse. This makes the oil infuse more quickly and you can enjoy the benefits of this simple yet flavorful recipe.

This recipe is adapted from the gorgeous  Bread Baker’s Apprentice cookbook by Peter Reinhart .

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Eggless Brownie Cake

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Eggless Brownie Cake

When I was working on The Pink CakeBox, my home based baking venture, I got a request for a brownie cake. An eggless brownie cake. I have a great brownie recipe and I have made it several times but that is one with eggs. I also have a great eggless chocolate cake recipe, but the person who wanted the cake was very specific she wanted it more like a brownie, less like a cake.

I had never made eggless brownies before, let alone a brownie cake. Since I had a bit of time I started looking for recipes. I was looking for something which would be a cross between a brownie and cake. Cake-like to be eaten with ganache, yet fudge like a brownie. I found a recipe, tried it, it was a failure. I made some variations and tried again, the cake failed this time too. By this time I had started panicking and didn’t know what I would do if I can’t get the recipe right. Thankfully third time’s a charm and I got the perfect eggless brownie cake- slightly gooey, chocolatey, fudgy- just about everything I want in a brownie but still leaning towards a cake. The client loved the cake, and I got an eggless recipe for a brownie cake now in my repertoire.

I am going through all my tried and tested recipes from my TPC days. These recipes went through a number of trials and every feedback was noted. I have decided to share the ones that I used most frequently and became a favorite with my customers here on the blog. I have previously shared my red velvet cake recipe.Today I am sharing my eggless brownie recipe.

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Bacon and Cheddar Scones

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Rich, tender scones loaded with cheese and bacon. These are perfect for Sunday brunch or you could even serve these with soup or salad for dinner.

Bacon and Cheddar scones
I love scones. Some people call them biscuits. Some people insist scones are not biscuits. Whatever you want to call them, I just want to say I love them.

I have posted about scones (and even biscuits) before. This Sarabeth buttermilk biscuit recipe is one of my favorites. Everyone who has tried the cranberry and cinnamon scones has loved it. There is a video also on the blog on how to make scones. While I love a sweet scone, I have been wanting to make a savory bacon scone for a while now. So last Sunday, I decided to add bacon and cheese to my scones and they turned out even better than what I expected.

Bacon and Cheddar scones

The recipe for these bacon and cheese scones is adapted from kingarthurflour.com . The original recipe has chives in it and while I would have loved to add them, I did not have any on hand so skipped that ingredient out. We just planted some chives in our garden, so hopefully soon that will not be a problem for future bakes of these bacon and cheddar scones. I did add a few fresh herbs from the garden though. Another change that I made was that I did half whole wheat, and half all purpose flour. It worked well, and I love the slightly healthier touch (only slightly because bacon and cheese kind of offset the healthiness that the whole wheat flour brings). The third change I made was decreasing the amount of baking powder called for. I have mentioned it earlier on the blog that I feel whenever I add 1 tbsp of baking powder to a recipe that calls for 2 cups of flour, there is always this slightly bitter taste in the baked product. Probably its the kind of baking powder that I use. So now whenever I bake I make sure not to use more than 1 tsp of baking powder per cup of flour and I have made that adjustment in this recipe too. Also, always sift your dry ingredients. Baking powder and baking soda tend to lump and if you don’t sift you will get lumps in your baked product which leave a bitter after taste. Remember, always sift!

To make life simpler, you can make the dough and shape the scones a day in advance. Keep them on a parchment lined baking tray covered with saran wrap/ clingfilm in the freezer. The next day when you are ready to bake them, just remove the tray from the freezer and let sit on your kitchen counter at room temperature while you preheat the oven. Bake and have warm freshly baked scones first thing in the morning without dirtying the kitchen sink. There is no reason why you should not be making these. You can also serve these scones with a soup or salad and make it a meal.

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