Category: Cooking

Ingredients:

• 2cups of shelled and skinless peanuts
• 1 tsp of vegetable oil
• optionally a teaspoon of honey or brown sugar.

Method:

• Roast the nuts for about 5-7minutes on the stove or 15-20 minutes in the oven.
• Use a food processor or grinder to start blending the peanuts.
• Keep grinding the peanuts and scraping down the sides of the appliance you are using to ensure they are all being blended evenly.
• When you notice the peanuts changing into a slightly more moist consistency, add the oil and honey or brown sugar if you are adding it.
• From here just keep grinding he nuts until it forms a peanut butter-ish consistency.*

Notes:

1. If you see that you peanut butter has a gritty texture, then try adding the oil later on in the process.
2. If you want chunky peanut butter, crush a few peanuts at the end and add them to your finished peanut butter.

*If you want a thinner consistency then blend it a bit more.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of self raising flour.*
• 3/4 a cup of any yogurt

For the glaze (optional)

• 1 cup of powdered sugar
• 1-2 tablespoons of milk
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract or lemon juice (optional)

Method:

1. Mix together the flour and the yogurt in a bowl. The dough will be super sticky and not like a dough at all but please do not add more flour it will ruin the recipe.
2. Slightly grease the inside of a piping bag and fill it with the dough/batter mixture. You can use a zip-lock bag too, instead.
3. Now drop little blobs of the dough/batter mixture in some 150 degree oil and fry until golden.
4. To make the glaze add the milk to the powdered sugar as well as the flavorings if you choose to add them.

Note**

You can add any toppings you want such as cinnamon sugar, chocolate ganache, melted Nutella or just eat them without toppings if you want to.

*to replace self raising flour you can just use 1 cup of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of bread of choice*
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon (optional but highly recommended)
• 1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla essence or extract (optional but highly recommended)
• a pinch of salt
• 2-3 tablespoons of butter or oil for frying

Method

1. Cut the slices of bread into long strips.**
2. Whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and salt.
3. Now mix together the sugar and cinnamon
4. From here just cook the bread like you would any normal French toast. (Dip the bread in the egg mixture and cook in on a pan with butter)
5. Once the bread is done, and while it is still hot, gently toss the bread in the cinnamon sugar until completely covered from all sides
6. Serve however you want B)

*Depending on the bread you choose, the amount of the egg mixture will vary because how much liquid your bread soaks can vary from place to place. Also, how thick your slices are can also vary.

**You can cut the edges off if you want to but, your choice (I personally like the edges of the French toast the best-I know some people will disagree but…its a matter of opinion you know.)

These are just very very basic rules and tips that I’ve learned while cooking

1.How to make a cake rise without leavening agents (baking powder and soda)

There are actually a few ways to make a cake rise without leavening agents . One is to whip up the egg whites and fold into the rest of the batter. You could also use self rising flour which is flour, baking powder and salt, I also heard there’s a gadget in which you put your cake batter and it sort of aerates the mixture ( I think?) which is similar to the egg whites one.

2.Holding some liquid back

This applies to baking any baked good(Mostly) which is while adding your wet ingredients to the dry, always hold some liquid back or add some more. This is because different flours absorb liquids differently. You might need a bit more or less just make sure you have the consistency the recipe requires.

3.Read the recipe all the way through before starting

This is actually a really helpful one because you know if you even have all the equipment or ingredients. And also sort of gives you a head-start on the recipe so can plan ahead and manage your time.

4. Cook something for less time than the recipe requires

This is because different ovens heat differently and anyways you can always fixed raw food but you can’t fix burnt food. Also you never really know how yours will handle a new protein or new veggie.

5.Season everything with salt( Yes I said Everything)

That’s because salt is a flavor enhancer. Salt and sugar go well together (I’m sure you’ve heard of salted caramel) The winner of master chef season 5 Courtney Lapresi, made a dessert of cherry meringue, salted chocolate and spiced almonds and she salted the cherries. Yes cherries.

6.Don’t always season everything with salt

Yes I know this the exact opposite of the last rule. What I mean is that don’t always rely on salt to make you food better. Sometimes a recipes needs some other flavors as well. Try adding some lemon juice or soy sauce or any other type of sauce etc.

I mostly do use these tips (if I remember:p) and I find these very helpful and I hope you do too.