Julekake Recipe(Norwegian Cardamom Scented Christmas Bread) | Eggless Julekake Recipe | Norwegian Christmas Bread

I am wishing you all the blessings of a wonderful Christmastime & Happy Holidays. Enjoy the holidays with your family and friends. Now coming to today's recipe, For this Month's We Knead to Bake we are baking Julekake / Norwegian Cardamom Scented Christmas Bread. Julekake (or Julekaka/ Julekaga) is a rich bread flavoured with cardamom, and is traditionally served at Christmas in many Scandinavian countries. It is particularly popular in Norway and Denmark. This bread is more cake-like in texture, very soft rich and delicious bread. The bread is baked plain or is glazed with icing. Traditionally the plain bread is served warm at breakfast with butter or a Norwegian caramelised brown goat milk cheese called Gjeitost/ Brunost.

As the bread is rich and contains dry fruits I did not glaze them. Traditionally the bread is prepared with Citrus peel and flavored with Cardamom. But you can also use any dry fruits, raisins or red/green colored cherries to reflect the festive mood. Here, I used Dried cranberry and tutti frutti, but added in less amount. I prepared both Egg and Eggless Julekake version. For Eggless Julekake, I simply followed the same recipe and skipped Egg. The pictured ones are Eggless Julekake.
Both turned out soft and delicious, the Eggless Julekake was light compared to the egg version and tasted similar to the Honeycomb Buns/Khaliat Nahalwhich we baked last year.

Vegetarian Mexican Pizza / Mexican Pizza Recipe / Homemade Mexican Black Bean Pizza

For September Month's We Knead to Bake, we were given the choice to bake Pizza but different from the usual one. I usually bake Veggie Pizza at home or sometimes Pizza with spicy Indian style toppings. This time I decided to try Vegetarian Mexican Pizza. A simple and healthy version of Mexican Pizza with Curried Black beans, Medium spicy Salsa, Colored Peppers, onion, tomato & cilantro topping.
Pizza with curried black beans topping turned out so good and filling. My kids loved it too and I was happy that they had some curried beans in pizza form. After referring more recipes on net, I customized the topping to my taste. I used this recipe for the pizza base and this time made center portion as thin and the edges thick crust.

Gibassier Bread(A French Anise & Orange Flavored Bread) / Eggless Gibassier

For this Month's We Knead to Bake, we are baking Gibassier / A French Anise & Orange flavored bread. Gibassier is a French Breakfast bread that is flavored with Candied Orange, Orange blossom water and Aniseed. This is one of the popular French Bread that is baked during Christmas Occasion.

These Gibassier are pretty shaped bread looks like a oval shaped leaves. Again this is also a new bread to me and baked it for the first time.

Petit Pains au Lait / French Milk Bread

Today again I am here with another We Knead to Bake Event's Post, Petit Pains au Lait / French Milk Bread that was May Month's bread recipe chosen by Aparna. I wanted to try this bread from the time i saw the recipe on Facebook group and happy that i baked it Yesterday. This is a very soft, delicious milk bread with nice flaky texture and buttery flavor. And also this bread is so easy to make and the most fun part is shark tooth like scissor cuts on the dough. Since the dough was too soft and delicate to handle, i couldn't cut it neat and little deep, so after baking it doesn't look neat but still the taste was perfect. Thanks again Aparna for another delicious bread. My kids requested to make it again and the little one ordered me that he wants this rolls daily for his breakfast :) Definitely a kids friendly bread, and the milk and butter in the recipe is good and perfect for kids.
Before trying this recipe, if you want to decorate the bread the traditional way, then do take a look at both these video links to get a good idea of how to cut this bread.

Flaounes / Eggless Flaounes(Cypriot Savoury Easter Cheese Pies)

Flaounes are savoury cheese pies that are baked for Greek Orthodox Easter. This recipe is part of April Month's We Knead to Bake. Since I was not able to participate that month I am posting it now.This Flauones/cypriot bread is little different from the Other traditional Easter bakes, as
this Flaounes are savory bread with goodness of cheese and some addition of special spices
Meheleb and Mastic which are widely used in Greek and Middle Eastern Cuisines. Flaounes filling are made of salty kind of cheese and it can be replaced with haloumi cheese, greek cheese, English Cheddar, some Italian cheese like Parmesan or Romenalo Cheese.

In this Flaounes Aparna suggested Mozzarella, Sharp Cheddar & Paneer combo. Since we don't like cheddar i used mozzarella, little Parmesan & feta cheese with other filling ingredients.Also i skipped Mehelab & Mastic, the former one is made by powdering the dried pits of wild Mediterranean cherry and mastic is the dried resin of a shrub.As it is loaded with cheese and mild sweet of raisins, my kids loved it a lot. Once in a while or on special occasions its good to enjoy such rich and delicious breads. I made as Eggless Flaounes by referring Priya's Eggless Flaounes.

Komaj - Persian Date Bread Filled With Turmeric & Cumin(Eggless Recipe)

After two months break, am participating in this month's We Knead to Bake, a bread baking event by Aparna. For this month, Aparna chosen Komaj/ Persian Date Bread with Turmeric and Cumin seeds. This is again a new bread to me and tried and tasted it for the for the first time. This is an Interesting, soft and delicious buns with a unique combo of cumin seeds, turmeric and dates. In Iran they cut the komaj into heart shaped buns but you can use either square or round cutters also, here i used round cutter. We just loved this savory and sweet combo. My neighbors too liked the buns which i shared with them.
I also filled few with chocolate chips and nuts for my kids since they do not like dates. Chocolate chip paired well with the cumin and turmeric buns. Komaj tasted yummy when dipped in warm coffee, i liked it that way. Try this unique combo bread and am sure you will love it. Now off to the recipe...

Melon Pan / Japanese Melon Pan Recipe

Due to some personal commitments i could not blog for the past two weeks. Even for another two months i could not post recipes frequently, hope from June I will be back to routine. Now coming to the recipe, for this month's We Knead to Bake we are baking Melon Pan / Japanese Melon Pan. Pans mean bread in Japanese, a popular type of bread bun. They are actually bread buns covered with a layer of pastry or cookie-like dough. Each bread dough dough is wrapped with a cookie dough. And on second rising after wrapping, the inner bread dough will rise and cause the outer pastry layer to crack all over the surface. The name came about as the appearance of the cracked surface resembles a rock melon. In addition, for a basic or standard Japanese melon pan, melon extract is commonly used to add fragrance. This is absolutely a very soft, light and fluffy bread with crispy and mild crunchy sugar cookie crust.

Garlic Bread From Scratch / Homemade Garlic Bread Recipe

For this Month's We Knead To Bake, Aparna let us to Bake our own desired Bread. I have a huge list of breads in my Bookmarked folder. And this Garlic Bread From Scratch is one of the bread in my to do list and is one my family's favorite bread. I often make this garlic bread with store bought breads. But for the first time tried it from scratch and it was so perfect. we just loved it, I doubled the original recipe and made 2 loaves. First day served as a snack and the other day we had it for dinner along with Pizza. None will say No to this crispy crust, soft centered garlic flavored bread. And the method also simple and enjoyed baking this flavorful bread for my kids. This is a must try for all Garlic bread lovers, sure a keeper recipe. I decided to make it again and again for my kids.

Potato Rosemary Focaccia Pugliese / Potato Rosemary Focaccia

One of the best thing i did in the past year was i learned to bake 12 different Breads which i never ever tried or dreamed to bake at home. Its all possible only because of Aparna's We Knead To Bake Event. Thanks  to Aparna for all your wonderful bread recipes and am happy that Aparna extended the bread baking this year also with some new more members.

Bienenstich Kuchen | German Bee Sting Cake

Wishing Everyone a Very Happy & Blessed Christmas and also a very Prosperous  New Year ahead.
As this is a Festive & Christmas Month, Aparna Chosen a yeasted cake, German Bee Sting Cake / Bienenstich Kuchen recipe. This is a very rich buttery yeasted cake with Custard Cream Filling which tasted so so delicious and definitely perfect for the Holiday Party. And this sure to add beauty to the Party table.

Kanel Snegle / Kanelbullar (Swedish Cinnamon Snails/Rolls)

For this Month's We Knead to Bake we are baking Kanel Snegel or Swedish Cinnamon Snails. This bread contains two spices - cardamom & cinnamon which gives amazing flavor and taste to the snails. Aparna suggested to try both Snail shaped rolls and the twisted buns, so I tried both but the last minute Baking did not helped me this time and everything was not to my satisfaction and also the snails got burnt. Somehow I managed to take few pictures with a snail for today's post and definitely will be making it sometime soon. Anyway thanks Aparna for suggesting this wonderful bread recipe. Even though it burnt we loved it :) Now off to the recipe..

100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread / Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

Its my long time wish to try a Sandwich bread and finally it happened today :) I all excited to see my own homemade 100% whole wheat bread fresh & hot out to oven. Thanks to Aparna for choosing 100% whole wheat Sandwich Bread for this month's We Knead to Bake recipe. We usually buy whole wheat bread and recently stopped buying it because of it preservatives, but now i will not worry for store bought ones since i got one fool proof recipe. The bread tasted so soft and my kids loved it. I am going to try some sandwich or Bread Upma tomorrow.

This bread is soft and very lightly dense than other whole wheat bread and also easy to make except it need lot of time. The soaker and Biga should be made ahead and totally it takes more than 24 hrs excluding bread baking time.

Khaliat Nahal / Honeycomb Buns or Bee's Hive Buns

I love baking breads and it all happened due to Aparna's We Knead To Bake group, special Thanks to Aparna for all her best choices of Bread recipes and definitely i am learning new bread & baking technique every month. And for this Month we are baking Honeycomb Buns/Khaliat Nahal. This is one of the cute and softest bread i ever had. And so delicious and flavorful too. I just loved the aroma of freshly baked bread and these buns are so so good and addictive. Traditionally these buns are made as sweet with plain cream cheese filling, glazed with honey flavored syrup. I too baked the sweet version but with Sweetened Coconut, tutty frutti, & nuts filling. I think now i don't need to explain the taste of these buns, rt? My kids loved it to the core and they enjoyed eating the buns by dipping it in the sugar syrup. These buns makes a perfect tea time snack with some warm milk or hot chai.

Laugenbrezel (German Style Soft Pretzels) / Soft Pretzel

Pretzels are our family favorite bread and we love the famous Auntie Anne's Soft Pretzels. Pretzels are in my to do list and wanted to try it for long time. For this Month's We Knead To Bake, Aparna gave us a choice to bake Soft & Hard pretzels. I picked soft pretzels as everyone at home preferred soft pretzels. The pretzels come out perfect and except the shaping needs practice and patience. My kids love cheese dip and sweet mustard sauce but i tried Chocolate cream dipping sauce and the combo was super hit and we loved it a lot. The whole batch vanished in no time :) The pretzels were soft, bit chewy and flavorful, taste to that of the store bought ones. I wanted to try the Hard Pretzels also and will be baking it sometime soon.

Savoury Kugelhopf ~ We Knead To Bake # 7

Kugelhopf, similar in style to brioche, is a sweetened bread that hails from Alsace, Frances northeastern, mountainous region. This is Typically baked in kugelhopf mold, which are tall, tapered versions of a Bundt cake pan but the bread can be made in a Bundt pan too. For this month's We knead to Bake Challenge, Aparna given us this Savoury Kugelhopf recipe with onions, capsicum, spices but for non vegetarian option you can also use bacon. Savoury kugelhopf can be served along with some coffee for snack or with a soup this makes a perfect meal. I love savoury breads a lot but now due to some reason am avoiding breads. So this month's bread is not for me but still i can bake them for my kids & H. But my kids doesn't like onions or savoury version so i added less onions n spices to the bread and added little more on the top.

As i baked this bread Yesterday with last minute tension i forgot to add nuts on the pan instead i added on the top of the dough so after baking the inverted bread looks like plain bread otherwise i followed the recipe and bread come out really good. I halved the original recipe and used only egg white, the bread was very soft and good.

Baked Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze ~ We Knead to Bake # 6

For our this month's We knead to bake, Aparna challenged us to bake Yeasted Doughnuts or Donuts. As every first Friday of June Month is Celebrated as National Doughnut Day this is apt to bake Doughnuts rights? that's what Aparna given us a Baked Version of Doughnuts recipe. Though am not much fond of doughnuts V and kids love them a lot and they really loved this fresh, buttery soft doughnuts. This time i was too late to bake them, due to one or the other reason and kept postponing but the recipe was supposed to be posted on 24th of every month, i don't want to get excuse and baked them Yesterday with severe Migraine.

So i couldn't bake them perfectly this time, because of lack of cutter the bottle lids did not worked well  and my donuts did not hold the shape well. Somehow managed to click with it but the taste and flavor was so good. My kids did not let to rest the doughnuts after dipping in chocolate glaze. you could see their finger tips on the top :) But apart from this look and shape this is a great recipe to try and a must try for donut lovers. Now off to the recipe..

Bialys / Soft Chewy Rolls - We Knead To Bake # 5

After completing four successful breads for the past months, the fifth bread of We Knead to Bake is Bialys. Bialys is nothing but a typical round bread more or less similar to a Bagel with a depressed center with savory onion filling and a soft chewy & floury crust. But this is the first time am tasting this delicious chewy rolls/bread that too all baked by me. Thanks to Aparna for giving us different and nice choices of bread and we thoroughly enjoy baking & eating these lovely bread every month and am really glad to be a part of this Great event.
Baking Bialys is not a difficult task but to achieve the perfect floury crust with chewy & soft bread is really a challenging one. Over baking will give u a hard bread so keep an eye while baking and it doesn't need more than 12-15 minutes. For the savory filling along with spiced caramelized onions i added sliced fresh bell peppers and chopped cilantro for extra flavor and taste. It was so good and we loved the spicy toppy. For my kids i baked them plain with some mozzarella cheese and they loved the cheesy bread to the core. If u are looking for a easy & savory bread with simple ingredients n process then this is one of the best option and am sure u will love it. Now off to the recipe...

Torcettini Di Saint Vincent / Sugar Crusted Twisted Cookies - We Knead to Bake # 4

For this Month's bread Aparna decided to bake this soft and delicious Yeasted cookies / Torcettini Di saint vincent by the We Knead to Bake Group. This is the first time am hearing this name and tried and tasted too. These yeasted cookies are so delicious with outer crsipy/crunchy sugar crust with inner soft bread like texture. These cookies are so attractive and addictive, sure one couldn't stop from munching this yummy cookies. Since these are mild sweet cookies, perfect with tea/coffee. More than my kids i loved this cookies and soon will try the choco/coffee flavored yeasted cookies. 
The recipe also very easy and simple to make compared to the previous breads this is more comfortable and i thoroughly enjoyed baking these beauties. Thank You Aparna for this delicious recipe again. Now off to the recipe..

Hokkaido Milk Bread With Tangzhong ~ Eggless Version

For this month's We Knead to Bake Aparna has given us this wonderful, soft, light and delicious Hokkaido Milk bread using Tangzhong and also this is an Eggless Version. This dough is versatile u can make a loaf bread, dinner rolls, stuffed rolls with both sweet/savory filling. If u are creative then u can play with the dough n make desired animal patterns also. Aparna tried tortoise n hedgehogs and shared us with detailed description n nice pics. And many of we knead to bake group members are creative n tried tortoise, bunny, hedgehogs, etc. I couldnt try anythis time but will try it in future ;)

Classic Croissants / Buttery Croissants - We Knead to Bake # 2

I never thought that I would bake croissants at home n when it happened that too a successful attempt, I couldn't believe myself and was so excited, I never forget this Croissant making in my life really after lamination process my knee started aching n the next day my fingers were lightly swollen n couldn't even touch the rolling pin on 3rd day, was worried h am going to do the rolling?! n i did the stretching/rolling with all pain...after shaping the croissants it looked so pretty n i got it nrby perfect. when i see those flaky, soft n layered croissants hot out of oven, i totally forgot all my pain and was so so excited n no words to express it. Yaay...I did it!!!. It's not too tough or not an impossible task but still it needs lots of things to be taken care n need more patience.