Coconut Almond Bars

Recently when my eldest visited us from Dubai, I made her a sweet made from scratch to take back home. Since the ingredients were available in my pantry there was no need to rush to the store.  This is my very own creation and I am glad it turned out well.

Ingredients
2 cups freshly grated coconut
1 cup almond powder
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoon water
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoon sliced almond
A drop each of almond essense, vanilla essense and rose water
1/2 teaspoon cardomom powder
A drop of food colouring (according to your preferences)

Method
Lightly butter a cookie tray and set aside
In a pan, add the water and sugar and let it boil slowly till it turns into a syrup.
Add the coconut, cardomom powder, almond essense and vanilla essense and cook for a few minutes
Next add the almond powder and keep stirring
Add a drop  of food coloring for colour and mix well
Add the condensed milk and almond slices
Continue stirring until the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.
Pour the mixture into the greased tray
Cover with cling film and smoothen it with a rolling pin
Allow to cool
Cut into squares and refrigerate until firm.          

How to make cake made from cake mix taste like home made

One thing I am sure to find in my pantry is a box of cake mix. The reason I buy extras is whenever my children get hungry for home made cake, I just have to grab a box from the pantry, add or switch ingredients and make my own twist to it and la voila, my children are happy to eat an almost homemade cake. All I do to tranform the store purchased mix  into home made one is to play with the cake mix and try to enhance the look and flavour so that it gives a more home-baked taste. Here are some things I add to replace the ingredients to be used as per instructions  in the box; I substitute milk or orange juice for water. I add half a cup of mashed bananas to a vanilla or yellow cake mix to get  a taste of banana cake. Sometimes,just before placing the cake mix batter into the oven I  add chocolate chips to get a shiny finish and throw in some crushed walnuts or pecans to bite into.once it's done,the aroma fills the whole house inviting everyone into the kitchen.

Here I have made a pineapple upside down cake with a pound cake micx

My son helping me with the batter

To this strawberry cake mix I added choco chips.It tasted great