Happy's Cook

Friday, December 23, 2016

Traditional Christmas Fruit Cake Recipe | Kerala Plum Cake | Christmas Fruit Cake | Christmas Special Recipes

The word plum cake is bringing me nostalgic childhood memories about Christmas. I grew up eating plum cakes from 'Greatest Bakery', 'Cake World' and 'British bakes' in Nagercoil for Christmas. When I was very young, I don't like the taste of plum cakes and hence, dad buys Vanilla Tutti Frutti Cake for me. After few years, I realised the taste of the plum cake and from then, I love it to the core. Making this delicious cake at home is a real dream come true moment for me and to my surprise it came out super awesome.

This time I wanted to follow the traditional method and hence I soaked the nuts and fruits in rum. If you are looking for alcohol-free version then you can follow the same recipe by soaking the nuts and fruits in apple juice or orange juice or grape juice. In this case, just soak it for one day in the room temperature. I too will post the non-alcohol version as soon as possible. Do check out my Homemade Grape Wine too. Let us move on to the recipe:

Homemade Grape Wine Recipe | Grape Wine | Christmas Special Recipes

Hello everyone, I am here with an unusual recipe in the blog and it is apt for this Christmas Week. Also, I am extremely sorry for posting this recipe a little late. I know you will not be able to make wine for this Christmas following this recipe. However, please bookmark this recipe and plan to make it for Easter. This process of wine making requires a minimum of 42 days to get a clear and matured wine. I started this preparation by November 1st week and being a first timer, I was very much scared about the outcome. As days past, I got the confidence and now, I am super excited with the result. The preparation is very easy and it is a no-fail recipe if we follow the steps carefully. The homemade wine and a piece of plum cake is a yum combo. The colour of the wine purely depends on the colour of the grapes used. I used light purple grapes and hence the colour of the wine is not very dark. Believe me, there is no compromise in the taste and I am waiting to get the feedback from our friends here.

Blueberry Yogurt Muffin Recipe | Blueberry Muffin | Christmas Special Recipe

I have not planned this muffin for Christmas Special recipes. However, it was in my drafts for a long time now and hence thought of posting it. I made this when blueberries were in season this year. This can be served as a breakfast muffin, it is extremely moist and has a bread like texture. Instead of blueberry, you can replace it with any available berry (chopped strawberries, raspberries or blackberries). The batter for this muffin can be prepared in no time, it doesn't require too my beating. The wet ingredients are mixed in one bowl and the dry ingredients are mixed in another bowl. Now, mix both of them together and you are done with the batter.

My daughter 'Happy' loves making muffins and she will be in the kitchen until it is out of the oven. If I make something for blog sake, I will not involve her since she doesn't allow me to click the step-wise pictures properly. This time she was very much reluctant and was with me throughout the preparation. Somehow I managed to click the pictures, though you can see a glimpse of her.😅 The muffin turned out super moist and delicious. Let us move on to the preparation steps:

Sweet Diamond Cuts Recipe | Sugar Coated Maida Biscuits | Maida Biscuits | Christmas Special Recipe

Yet another interesting snack mum makes for Christmas and school vacation is diamond cuts. After I moved to Chennai for studies and work, she stopped making it since I didn't have a long vacation as in school. I can remember and feel the taste even after these many years. I tried it for last Christmas and it didn't come out well. The sugar syrup I made went wrong and it made my diamonds soggy.

Now, I am a little more experienced in making the sweets after trying many Diwali Sweets. This time it came out super crispy and Jany loves it to the core. I made it in very less quantity and everything vanishes in a day😆. I reserved a small pack for my friend's son and he too liked it. I have seen people mixing the sugar with maida while making sweet diamonds. However, mum makes the diamonds plain and sugarcoats it at the end. I have followed mum's method here and please do try it for this vacation.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe | Choco Chip Cookies | Christmas Special Recipes

I love to make traditional snacks for Christmas rather than Cakes and Cookies since mum does it that way. Apart from making snacks like Achu Murukku, Munthiri Kothu, Adhirasam, Mullu Murukku and Sweet Diamond cuts, the only cake we focus for Christmas is Plum cake and we buy it from a famous bakery in Nagercoil. On the day of Christmas, we make many non-veg dishes along with Fruit Custard and Payasam, etc. I am receiving many requests for more cookies and cakes as Christmas special recipes. I tried few baked goodies this year too and I will be posting it in the coming days. Check out my other Cakes and Cookies too.

Eggless Walnut Brownie Recipe | Chocolate Walnut Brownie(Eggless) | Christmas Special Recipes

We are going to celebrate our first Christmas in Sydney. Happy is really excited with the Christmas activities happening. She already met Santa a few times and got her Christmas presents. Though I am very much busy, I have a few recipes in hand to post it here. Two years back when I posted Chocolate Walnut Brownies for Christmas, I received many requests from readers asking for an eggless version. I wanted to try it from that day. However, I couldn't make it. When I was getting ready with Christmas recipes this year, these eggless brownies top the list. I made it a few weeks back and it turned out well. I am here with the simple and delicious brownie which doesn't require too much mixing. Do check out my peanut butter banana fudge brownie recipe as well.