Yogurt Trifle : No Bake, No Cook: Dessert In A Glass: Healthy No Added Sugar Dessert

It was 5 years ago when I went to Istanbul Turkey when I first tasted a yogurt enriched with kefir and it was a love at first sight for me. Beautifully fermented and so authentic that my body immediately realised that I ate something good. What is Kefir, if you ask? Kefir or kephir (ke-FEER), is a fermented milk drink similar to a thin yogurt that is made from kefir grains, a specific type of mesophilic symbiotic culture. If you want to know more about the health benefits of kefir I highly recommend you read this.

Now, I am someone who takes probiotics supplements everyday because my gut health is not that good. So when I was recently asked if I would like to try products from the company called Biotiful Dairy, I instantly said yes and was so excited to give it all a try because their products are loaded and enhanced with kefir. Their portfolio of products is so interesting and attractive, from Original Kefir Drink to Kefir Cheeses. From Kefir+Protien deepened Drinks and Yogurt to Kefir Ice-cream and Kids Friendly Kefir range-they have it all covered.

Biotiful Cultured Dairy Milk is a great alternative to those sugar loaded drinks. On a dull afternoon while we played chess we gulped on Mango and Strawberry flavoured yogurt drink and were absolutely hooked. Nutritious Dairy drinks that are light and fruity- smooth, luscious bursting with fresh flavours.

I also tried my hands on Kefir Cheeses and I can bet they are amazing alternative to cottage cheese, feta cheese or those cheese spread you get in the market. There are so many ways you can use these cheeses in day to day recipes such as in sandwiches, omelettes, on your salad, over crackers with some tomatoes or just have them as a dip with crunchy cucumber and carrot sticks. I used two big spoons Herbs & Garlic Cheese into my tomato pasta and it made it so creamy and just so yum. The cheeses can beautifully flavoured and so light on tummy-you have to try them.

Biotiful also sent me Kefir + Protein snack tub which combines the gut-friendly benefit of Kefir with the high-protein creaminess of Quark. It has a pure, natural taste and a delightfully thick and creamy texture. This is a perfect after meal dessert idea or just to beat your hunger pangs during the middle of the day. You can add in some chopped fruits or berries or even top up it with handful nuts to make it even better and scrumptious. One day, when the temperature went up, I skipped my lunch and had mango and blackcurrant flavoured from this series and I was completely filled up and sufficed.

To tell you more about Biotiful Dairy; they produce cultured Kefir Dairy drinks and snacks using British milk and the ancient method of fermentation. The result? Cultured milk drinks and snacks that are naturally lower in sugar, full of gut-friendly cultures and high in protein. Almost all of their products are:-

• Billions of gut-friendly bacteria
• High in protein & calcium
• Source of Vitamins B12 & B2
• No sugar added
• Red Tractor approved farms
• Free of artificial colours, flavours and preservatives
• Gluten free
• Suitable for vegetarians
• Kefir made in the UK

When I was left with Strawberry flavoured Kefir + Protientub, I knew I wanted to create something with it. I understood that this ‘just rightly’ sweet snack will make a perfect dessert. Desserts in a glass are my all time favourite ones. Easy to make, easy to serve and looks beautiful too! So, with that thought I decided to make Yogurt Trifle. No bake, no mess, no cooking-easy peasy summery Yogurt Trifle.

This layered gorgeous looking dessert gets ready in a jiffy and there are tons of variations you can do here. I used Lotus Biscoff biscuits as my first layer but you can use any digestive biscuits, oreos, cream biscuits, cookies or even granola or crushed cornflakes. For the second layer I used Biotiful Dairy’s Kefir + Protien Starwberry tub but you can use any flavoured yogurt, fresh cream or just plain yogurt too. For the final layer I chose to use melted chocolate, but you can opt for caramel sauce, dark chocolate gauche, melted white chocolate or even fresh fruits or nuts. There are so many ways you can mould this recipe as per your choice and preference.

Ingredients:

½ cup of crushed biscuits. I used lotus

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup flavoured yogurt. I used Biotiful Strawberry

4 Tablespoons melted chocolate

Method:

Melt the butter in the microwave for 10 seconds. When done add in crushed biscuits and mix well. You should have crumbly biscuits.

Take a glass in which you want to serve the trifle and start layering.

Add in around ¼ cup of crushed biscuits to the bottom of the glass and press well.

Beat the yogurt well so that it becomes creamy. Top the yogurt on the biscuits layer. Around ½ a cup.

Add on biscuits layer on the yogurt now. Around ¼ cup of it.

And then top it off with the remaining biscuit mix.

Finally add the melted chocolate on the top. Keep it in the fridge and serve cold.

Notes: 

The amount of ingredients you use is also dependent on the size of the glass you are serving.
I like my desserts to be rightly sweet, so if you like extra sweet then you might need to add some honey or sugar in the yogurt. I feel that biscuits and chocolate balances the overall sweetness well.

Disclaimer: I was not paid or told to write positive review. The post is based on my experience and is unbiased. Thanking Biotiful Dairy  for sending products for review.

Orange Cupcakes, Butter Cream Icing And Some Guessing :)

Once you are back from holidays it takes some days to get back to normal routine and start blogging again. Finally today, after 12 days I am here to share a new recipe with you all. I was planning to make orange cup cakes for a long time, but I kept on postponing it for some or other the reasons. When I came back from holidays I just wanted to make them this time without giving any second thought :)

This time I took some tips on how to make perfect cupcakes from bakingmad.com and I was happy with the texture and softness. BakingMad has some amazing collection of recipes for cupcakes, scones and breads and many more. It is always so good to browse through their site and look for interesting recipes.

Coming back to the recipe. Orange cup cakes are very fresh and have subtle aroma and flavour of tangy oranges. I opted to make butter cream icing because butter cream icing is generally sweet and thus balances really well with tangy orange taste. If you are wondering why I chose pink and blue colour, then yes there is a reason for it. It is an idea for baby shower. Last year British summers were very exciting with Queen diamond jubilee celebrations and Olympics and this year we will soon have a royal baby. I think and feel that royal baby will be the girl. What do you think guys? Girl or a boy? Please leave comments below.

Ingredients:

For the cupcakes

2 cups self raising flour
1 ½ cups softened butter
2 cups castor sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 medium size eggs
1 Orange zest
Juice from one lemon

For Butter cream icing:

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks or ½ pound), softened (but not melted!)
3-4 cups icing sugar sieved
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
up to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
2 drops of pink and blue food colours

Method:

For the cupcakes

• Line the 12 cup cake liners in cupcake moulds.
• Preheat the oven at 180 C or 160 C (If using fan oven) for 10-12 minutes.
• Cream together butter, orange zest and sugar till it becomes soft and turns in pale yellow colour.
• Keep mixing one egg at a time and beat for 5 minutes.
• Sieve the flour and baking powder. And mix slowly 2 tablespoons at a time in the butter mixture. Keep repeating till the whole flour is incorporated.
• Finally add the orange juice and give quick mix.
• Bake for 20-30 minutes or till the skewer inserted in the centre of the cupcake comes out clean.

For Butter cream icing:

• Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer on medium speed. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes.
• If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.
• Divide in two equal quantities and mix colour.

Notes:

Always use the ingredients at the room temperature.
Baking time may differ from oven to oven, however if the cake turns golden in colour and is still under cooked than cover it with baking paper and then bake.
This cupcakes taste good with chocolate icing as well

Taste:

Slightly sweet zingy and soft.

Lemon Pound Cake- Lemony, Tangy And Refreshing

There is nothing better than freshly baked cake. When I bake, I just love how the home fills with the fragrance. The weather in London is improving and we are finally getting some sunny days. Thus I opted to make use of lemons, Lemons are my favourite in summers, the colour, the taste, and the aroma all completely beats the heat. I attempted to make Lemon pound cake yesterday and I totally enjoyed the Lemony flavour and the zing that lemon zest leaves. 

The original recipe included the use of 4 eggs but I had only 2 eggs, so I replaced it with ½ cup of yoghurt and it turned out to be absolutely fine. The crust was golden brown while inside it was very lemony and soft. I took some at the Hyde Park picnic and we totally enjoyed its taste.

Ingredients:

2 cups self raising flour

1 ½ cups softened butter

2 cups castor sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ cup yogurt/curd

2 medium size eggs

1 lemon zest

Juice from one lemon

Method:

Grease one pound bread mould and keep it ready.

Preheat the oven at 180 C or 160 C (If using fan oven) for 10-12 minutes.

Cream together butter, lemon zest and sugar till it becomes soft and turns in pale yellow colour.

Beat in it yoghurt and mix well for 2 minutes.

Crack one egg and mix in the butter mixture slowly for 2 minutes. Mix another egg and beats for 5 minutes.

Sieve the flour and baking powder. And mix slowly 2 tablespoons at a time in the butter mixture. Keep repeating till the whole flour is incorporated.

Finally add the lime juice and give quick mix.

Bake for 50 minutes or till the skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean

Notes:

Always use the ingredients at the room temperature.

Baking time may differ from oven to oven, however if the cake turns golden in colour and is still under cooked than cover it with baking paper and then bake.

Taste:Lemony, zingy and soft.

Linking this for Event by Archana's Kitchen - Summer Fiesta

Chocolate Sandesh

Chocolate Sandesh is the sweetness of Bengal in your mouth. If you have ever been to Bengal only then you will know what a delightful this dessert this.Chocolate flavoured Sandesh is truly unique that is perfect to beat summer’s heat. It is chilled dessert which is very simple to make with very less ingredients required. It is ideal for summer picnics.

Ingredients

1 cup freshly made paneer
½ cup tbsp powdered sugar
2 tbsp fresh cream
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Some raisins

Method

Combine the paneer and sugar together in a bowl and mash it well using your hands.

Add the cream, cocoa powder and vanilla essence and mix well.

Divide it into 8 equal portions and shape each portion into a ball and pinch raisin on it

Refrigerate for at least ½ hour and serve chilled.

Notes:-Make sure that paneer is freshly made.

-Squeeze as much water as possible from paneer

-You can use any nuts of your choice

-Instead of cream, sugar and cocoa powder, melted chocolate can also be added.

Choco Balls

Choco Balls are the easiest way to utilize all the left over cake or improper baked cake in a quick and yummy ball of deliciousness. Even though I used leftovers, you could easily bake a cake for the sole purpose of cake balls. Choco balls are also known as chocolate pops and they are quite IN these days. The ways to make it are endless- one can use nuts, coconut, chocolate chips, coco powder etc. Its perfect Picnic Dessert.

Ingredients:

1 cup crumbled leftover cake (any flavor will do)

2 tbsp coco powder

5 tbsp grated coconut

100 grams dark chocolate

Method:

Melt dark chocolate in double boiler

When chocolate is melted and it in 2 tbsp of coco powder

With help of liquid chocolate make balls of crumbled leftover cake

When you get the shape roll it on grated coconut (you can coat with chocolate chips, gems, nuts etc)

Line them on butter paper and freeze for 10-15 minutes.

*Warning- It is very yummy and no one can eat just one*