#NovemberRoad - Corn, Red Pepper and Cheese Roulade

“We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.” ― Carlos Castaneda

I'm munching on the leftover of this beautiful and yummiest stuffed bread I've ever eaten.
I may not have taken beautiful pictures because I was exhausted by the time this came out of the oven but it is YUM.

Melting cheese oozing out from cracks on the sides, this wasn't supposed to happen according to the recipe but gave it ever more the temptation to eat as fast as I could.

Can you imagine baking nonstop for NovemberRoad on the last day and being hungry? The aroma of corn mixed with melting cheese getting crispy on a hot baking tray...

Nope! Can't wait to get the pictures done and dive onto that tray...

Recipe follows:    

The recipe was sourced from Five and Spice

P.S. For NovemberRoad Project, all the recipes will be displayed as a link. I will not be writing about them until I make any changes to the same. Thanks.

#NovemberRoad - Banoffee Pie

“I'm not telling you it's going to be easy - I'm telling you it's going to be worth it.” ― Art Williams

I had no clue what Banoffee Pie was until a friend from Delhi called to tell me that I owe her a treat on her Birthday (which she happens to share with Sid) since I have started this blog.

I started searching immediately and found this website with the prettiest Banoffee Pie pictures. In Chef Curtis words Banoffee is a Banana and Toffee Pie!

Yeah so back to the recipe, this one turned out to be the show winner. Everyone at home loved it and I had enough left over to serve my friends who came to give me a farewell. Tonight also happens to be the last night at our lovely hill view apartment. Nostalgia is in air...

Recipe follows:    

The recipe was sourced from Curtis Stone

P.S. For NovemberRoad Project, all the recipes will be displayed as a link. I will not be writing about them until I make any changes to the same. Thanks.

#NovemberRoad - Classic Apple Pie

"I think fearless is having fears but jumping anyway." -Taylor Swift

I did it! I did it!
You wont believe what I did today!

For years and years of reading the same recipe in almost all the cookbooks and blogs, I know it by heart now. The only thing was the fear of not getting the crust right.

I have heard too many comments about 'not flaky enough' or 'a soggy shell' that the scare of being a failure stopped me from even trying it once. Especially when I'm living with a pie lover. He must have eaten Apple Pie in almost every bakery its available. Even when I'm not around, he makes sure to send me a picture of the one saying "I'm still waiting for the right one!"

I guess I'll assume it was the right one as all I hear about is having one more slice before sleeping. 3 slices in a day is good right? And a major block lifted!

To think of it, this project has given me freedom from fifteen mind blocks and I am loving it. I would be loving it even more if I complete it on time. With moving cities, and Ozzy at home watching videos on my laptop instead of me writing my post, it just seems to be getting bigger challenge than expected.

I have 2 days left and 4 more recipes to go...sigh! 

Recipe follows:    

The recipe was sourced from Sprinkle Bakes

P.S. For NovemberRoad Project, all the recipes will be displayed as a link. I will not be writing about them until I make any changes to the same. Thanks.

#NovemberRoad - Rainbow Thumbprint Cookies

For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. - Matthew 7:14-16New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Do you remember eating thumbprint cookies when you were just a kid? These cookies were the highlight of my day after school. I used to come back home to a glass full of milk (meh) and cookies like a ritual and I always would start with scratching the jam first.

When I told Sid about my ritual, surprisingly he used to scratch the jam first too. It seems like a universal act to do because I noticed Ozzy doing the same! Wah!

I may have confessed to many things on my blog but I don't think I have ever spoken about my fear of baking cookies. They never seem to come right.

But now they do! Maybe because I'm baking more frequent or maybe its just the letting go of the frustration and doing it without thinking about its failure. whatever it is, it seems to be working.

These cookies came out so pretty. Ozzy could not wait to get her hands on!

Recipe follows:    

The recipe was sourced from Love and Olive Oil

I just rolled them in a bowl full of sprinkles to create Rainbow effect.

Also used homemade Plum preserve in the middle of these pretty cookies.

P.S. For NovemberRoad Project, all the recipes will be displayed as a link. I will not be writing about them until I make any changes to the same. Thanks.

#NovemberRoad - Almond Coconut Chocolate Scones

“Take pride in how far you've come. Have faith in how far you can go. But don't forget to enjoy the journey" -  Michael Josephson

Scones on my list! oh yeah! I love breakfasts, fancy breakfast but only at hotels. I don't make them at home but if served to me, I take the largest portion thinking I'll skip the lunch (sometimes I do, don't judge).

they only problem is that we at home have very limited options when it comes to breakfast. scrambled, french toast, omelette, did I say scrambled?

You get the gist?

This is why I'm trying to check out newer options. Scones were bookmarked because I am forever thinking of changing our breakfast menu and it never happens. Maybe now we look towards adding one more thing to 'limited ways to eat an egg'.

Recipe follows:    

The recipe was sourced from Joy The Baker

P.S. For NovemberRoad Project, all the recipes will be displayed as a link. I will not be writing about them until I make any changes to the same. Thanks.

#NovemberRoad - Pineapple Upside Down Cake

“Healing doesn't mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls your life”― Akshay Dubey

I think I was in love with this cake until I had Pineapple upside down cake out of the oven and the aroma was all over my kitchen and home.

These days Pineapples are all over Pune. There are cart full of the ripest ones available in every lane and corner. Its a family favorite fruit (which is very rare) and I had to shoo away various attempts to steal slices every few minutes. I knew any further delay to this cake and I will have to make another run to the market for the fruit alone. That was motivation enough to get this cake off my list. 

The recipe procedure sounds complex, but its hardly any. The only tip I would give here is to make sure that you read the full recipe before starting and line everything in the right order, It will be a breeze to get this beautiful super soft and moist cake out of the oven. Did I say its quickly turning as my favorite...

Recipe follows:    

The recipe was sourced from Joy Of Baking

P.S. For NovemberRoad Project, all the recipes will be displayed as a link. I will not be writing about them until I make any changes to the same. Thanks.

#NovemberRoad - Surprise Inside Cake

Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently - Henry Ford

So finally I met with a disaster! I have been dreading this ever since I started NovemberRoad Project.

The List is a compilation of things I wanted to try and was just sitting in bookmark tab. The fear of messing these basic bakes could be the reason too.

Surprise inside cake has been on the list for a while now. I did try once before for fun and it turned out beautiful. That gave me confidence to try something more complex in design as this and I put it up on the list. 

Unfortunately it did not turn out the way I had planned. The good thing is that I know where I went wrong and know what to rectify next time to have the perfect cake.

But that will have to wait until the project finishes...

*This was supposed to be a green hillock with yellow sunrise <3

Recipe follows:    

I used Pound cake from Baking: From My home to Yours

P.S. For NovemberRoad Project, all the recipes will be displayed as a link. I will not be writing about them until I make any changes to the same. Thanks.

#NovemberRoad - Pizza Pockets

“You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles.”  ― C. JoyBell C.

The other day someone from office wanted to know the reward I would get after completing NovemberRoad. It got me thinking...

There is none! If you don't count the fact that I would be much happier and confident about my future endeavor. But yeah, its no competition. Its just plain old me trying to get some grease back to old aching joints.

Seven days left and I am still left with 9 recipes from The List. Sometime during the week I will be updating two recipes as I'm very determined to complete this project before November ends.
Not to forget that I would be leaving Pune in a few days and movers will be picking and packing my kitchen first, leaving me with just my laptop and camera.

Now onto the recipe, pizza dough is a mixture of good and bad if you will. I have used it several times at home for Pizza nights and Pizza pockets were just the nicer way of saying that I Love Calzones! And it feeds veggies to Ozzy without her suspecting much.

Recipe follows:    

The Pizza Dough recipe was sourced from Joy the Baker

Pizza Sauce recipe was adapted from Kitchen Treaty

P.S. For NovemberRoad Project, all the recipes will be displayed as a link. I will not be writing about them until I make any changes to the same. Thanks.

#NovemberRoad - Apple & Pear Crisp

"All Great changes are preceded by chaos" - Deepak Chopra


I thought I was prepared for the challenge, had it all down to the letter T.
I downloaded an interactive calendar thinking if I plan right, dedicate recipes to the day, it will be easy and fast. I completely overlooked the fact that it was my last month in the city and meeting friends threw that calendar out of the window.

Now I am left with 11 recipes from the list and 10 days to go.
I'd say, the actual challenge has started now. I was just testing the water earlier...

Why is this recipe on the list? Its simply because anything with the combination of Apple & Pear brings childhood memories. I love pears and my dad used to love apples. You see a pattern here...since I was not a fan of an apple a day concept, I always tried to bargain with having 2 pears instead of an apple. He never budged and I was always stuck with both...

This recipe is very versatile. You can add your combination of spices and make it yours. This is also a perfect after dinner dessert during the onset of wintry evening. And best to have it with wine after the little one has gone to sleep. Late night baking has its advantages too :P

The recipe was adapted from Sugarcrafter

Recipe follows:

For the filling:

2 Ripe Pear (peeled - cored - diced) 
1 Apples (peeled - cored - diced)
1/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Lemon Juice
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon Powder
1/2 Cup + 1/2 Tbsp Flour

For the crumble:

1/2 Cup All purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Classic Oats
1/4 Cup Butter (melted)
1/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350 degree F (180 degree C) and grease ramekin dishes

In a bowl add diced Pear, Apple, sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and flour. Toss to coat.

In another bowl mix flour with oats, cinnamon and brown sugar. Add melted butter to it and mix.

Transfer fruits mixture to the greased pan and Spread the crisp to cover.

Bake for 30-40 minutes until its golden and bubbling. Serve warm.

#NovemberRoad - Zebra Bundt Cake

“Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” ― Dr. Seuss

When I started working on my November list I had a couple of bookmarks to choose from. So I went around asking family members about what would they like to add to it.

Bundt cake was not there in the bookmarks because of the simple fact that its been done at home earlier. Mostly marble swirls. I stumbled upon one of the pins on Pinterest while looking for a surprise inside cake and was absolutely mesmerized by the colorful pattern. We had to add this to the NovemberRoad.

I didn't think I could pull it off until I reached YouTube looking for fondant cake tutorial and realized that its not as difficult as I made it up in my head.

And the best part?
No two slices are same. Surprise!

Recipe follows:    

The recipe was sourced from Home Cooking Adventure

Along with Chocolate and Vanilla batter from the recipe, I made Yellow batter by adding 2 Tsp of Yellow color to 3/4 cup of vanilla batter in a small bowl. (You can add less color depending on the product you are using)

How to create the pattern, I followed the method as shown in this video

P.S. For NovemberRoad Project, all the recipes will be displayed as a link. I will not be writing about them until I make any changes to the same. Thanks.

#NovemberRoad - Red Velvet Brownies

"I want to be different. If everyone is wearing black, I want to be wearing red."

Maria Sharapova

There's something about the color Red that keeps us enchanted. No matter how many forums and baking groups tell us about how Red Velvet has been done to death but come on, its Red! Its different!

Do you see Yellow behind the brownies? That is Ozzy's duck. She insisted her duck liked them the best and has to sit on the table. Umm..okay! 

These brownies were soft and crumbly and tasted awesome! They weren't very gooey like other brownies but they passed the yum test! So yay for me! 

Recipe follows:    

The recipe was sourced from How Sweet It Is

{Please note that I've cut down the sugar to 1 cup but the rest of the recipe remains same}

P.S. For NovemberRoad Project, all the recipes will be displayed as a link. I will not be writing about them until I make any changes to the same. Thanks.

#NovemberRoad - Cinnamon Sugar Pull Apart Bread

“Dream big dreams, but start small. A journey of thousand steps begins with a step.”  
― Israelmore Ayivor, Shaping the dream


Working with yeast has been my biggest fears. I have worked with no knead pizzas breads but they are no biggie. even if the yeast doesn't behave, thin crust will still be crusty!
But making a bread...wooo that's something I need to get over with!

I have downloaded Bread Bible on my kindle taking it to office often, reading on my way, but never got to try it. The simple things stop me...and that's just a single step towards it that I was scared to take.

This NovemberRoad project is just a means to overcome my mind blocks. And I can assure you that its working just fine.

My first attempt at Cinnamon Sugar Pull apart bread looks soo damn beautiful. I do not want to take apart the pieces and serve. I think I'll keep the loafs just like this...forever!

This bread is the easiest to make keeping in mind that you have enough patience to let the dough rise and rest. 

Recipe follows:    

The recipe was sourced from Annie's Eats

P.S. For NovemberRoad Project, all the recipes will be displayed as a link. I will not be writing about them until I make any changes to the same. Thanks.

#NovemberRoad ~ Almond Shortbread Bars

The secret of getting ahead is getting started. ~ Mark Twain

The first recipe I successfully completed for #NovemberRoad. This project is now giving me confidence that I can actually nail it. Should I add more to the list?

Well, let's not go over the board, I still have 14 more recipes to go...

These Almond shortbread have been my favorite. Everyone says that simple things are the most intimidating and this one was it. And it passed my Ozzy's yummy test, everything is on track I see :P

Recipe follows:    

The recipe was sourced from Love And Lemons

P.S. For NovemberRoad Project, all the recipes will be displayed as a link. I will not be writing about them until I make any changes to the same. Thanks.

#NovemberRoad Project ~ Lets Rock & Roll!

“I feel the need to endanger myself every so often.”  ― Tim Daly

Its not often that I am brought to an edge but I'm finding myself repeatedly cornered there. Its not a pretty place to be and I am fighting with everything in me to prove that I've not lost it.

However, this month is going to be amazing! I feel it already!
This November, I am going to challenge myself.
Do a project, just like Julie did! With the number of times I have watched that movie thinking this is soooo me, it seems like the right thing to do...
So yeah to bring my sanity back, I do what my soul needs.

About this project:

I have 30 working days remaining in this pretty bakers city ~ Pune. A shame I never used it to the fullest, but its still not very late...
I have 15 recipes listed below that I am going to bake and put it up in November alone.

These are the recipes on my "To Do recipes" bookmark since ages. I have picked random ones and they will be done in no order. As and when I get to it...

So to me and to my sanity! Here goes nothing!

1. Apple & Pear Crisp

2. Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread

3. Pizza Pockets

4. Almond Shortbread Squares

5. Surprise Inside Cake

6. Pineapple Upside Down Cake

7. Classic Apple Pie

8. Tiramisu

9. Bundt Cake

10. Roulade

11. Thumprint Cookies

12. Chocolate Coconut Almond Scones

13. Red Velvet Brownies

14. Bonaffee Pie

15. As you / I wish :P


With a published list and #NovemberRoad as my hashtag, I am ready to rock and roll babe! ;)