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Baking | Two Healthy Fresh Fruit Squares with Finger Millet and Oats – Time for Spring Cleaning

27 April 2013 14 Comments

Baking | Two Healthy Fresh Fruit Squares with Finger Millet and Oats

‘Our house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy’. Yes, we decided to repaint the house after putting the long due project to back burner for years. The house is in total mess, but this exercise is a good lesson not to collect things which we may never use in life. There are sackful of such useless articles peeping errr..sleeping in the cupboards and overhead lofts, and I am on a disposing spree…finally.

On a positive note, painting your house is a good chance to do some spring cleaning as well. My old oven, box TV, stone age printer, bangle boxes, speakers, toasters, fluffy teddy bears, bagful of plastic kitchenware…looks like I have a real Pandora box…and believe me some of these have never seen the light of the day. Getting attached with these not so useful objects which were a part of my life some years back is inevitable, and I really feel sad to part with.

House is in total mess, everything is buried under a thick layer of dust. The good part is that children are waking up on their own, eat whatever I cook, take shower without me shouting thrice…yes, they are trying their best to make their grumpy mom cheerful again.

Keeping in mind the harmful effects of dust and paint scrapping to the food I cook in my kitchen, lunch and dinner menu is kept very simple for weekdays. And whenever I get time I sneak in a tray of brownie, cake slices or quick breads in my oven which is kept in the foyer.  I remember reading these lines somewhere that ‘If you feel really rubbish and you have a nice bit of food it makes you feel good’.

I baked these fresh fruit cake slices with Oats and finger millet or Ragi which are easy to bake, moist, chewy and healthy. Spring cleaning could be very taxing, interrupted net connection to top it all, but who cares when there is good food to accompany!

IMG_6251

My house at present…

1. Finger Millet or Ragi Mango Squares

Baking | Two Eggfree Healthy Fruity Squares with Finger Millet and Oats

Ragi cake slices

Ingredients;

  • 3/4 cup Finger Millet or Ragi flour
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 cup mango pulp
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp. yogurt or curd
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. cardamom powder
  • Salt a pinch

Baking | Two Eggfree Healthy Fruity Squares with Finger Millet and Oats

Method; Grease a rectangular baking tray with oil and pre heat the oven at 190 for 10 minutes.

Use a good quality mango which has less fiber and more pulp. I used 2 medium Alphonso mangoes to get a cup of pulp.

Take a large bowl and add Ragi flour, all purpose flour (maida), baking powder, salt and cardamom powder in it. Mix well with a fork.

Baking | Two Eggfree Healthy Fruity Squares with Finger Millet and Oats

Peel and take out the mango pulp. Blend it for a few seconds to get a fine pulp. I did not blend mine and just mashed it with hands.

Add oil, yogurt and sugar in the mango pulp and beat it with a fork for a few minutes to let the sugar dissolve.

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold it lightly to mix it well.

Baking | Two Eggfree Healthy Fruity Squares with Finger Millet and Oats

Pour the batter in the greased baking tray and bake it for 25-30 minutes till done. Check the cake by inserting a dry knife, the cake is baked if it comes out clean.  Serve these Finger Millet or Ragi Mango Squares with a drizzle of honey.

2. Apple  Banana Oatmeal Squares

Baking | Two Eggfree Healthy Fruity Squares with Finger Millet and Oats

Ingredients;

  • 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 cup apple and banana puree
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup yogurt
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla essence
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • Handful of chocolate chips
  • Salt a pinch

Baking | Two Eggfree Healthy Fruity Squares with Finger Millet and Oats

Method; Grease a rectangular baking tray with oil and pre heat the oven at 190 for 10 minutes.

Grate one apple and mash a large banana to get a cup of fresh fruit puree.

Add oats, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt in a bowl and mix well with a fork. Crush the quick cooking oats with hands before adding to the bowl to avoid bits of oats peeping through the cake slices.

Blend fresh fruit puree, yogurt, powdered sugar to make a thick batter. Take it in a large bowl and add oil in it and mix well.

Add dry ingredients and chocolate chips into wet ingredients and whisk lightly with a fork to combine all the ingredients together.

Pour the batter in the greased baking tray and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Baking | Two Eggfree Healthy Fruity Squares with Finger Millet and Oats

These cake squares are moist and have dense texture unlike the normal cakes due to extra moisture from the fresh fruit puree in the recipe.

Notes;

  1. The finger millet cake squares are dense, try it if you are used to the taste of finger millet which nutty but is slightly grassy and flat.
  2. The apple-banana squares are also chewy in texture and are not fluffy like a sponge cake due to addition of extra fresh fruit puree in the recipe.
  3. The consistency of batter and texture of the slices may vary in both the recipes because of the variety and moisture in the fruits you use.
  4. These cake slices are a perfect after school snack for children. Top the slices with honey or any other fruit sauce of your choice.

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14 Comments »

  • dassana said:

    healthy and fruity treats sanjeeta.

  • Poornima said:

    Love them both, especially the one with mango. Definitely going to try it!

  • kum said:

    Finger millet cake looks so yum! And these two recipes are so easy to veganize, just use apple sauce instead of yogurt…

    thanks for sharing so many cruel-friendly(vegan) recipes!

    Global vegan fare

  • Sayantani said:

    repainting is a real tough job, messy dusty and very very tiring to arrange re arrange big furnitures. Take care Sanjeeta. kudos that still you are making such awesome treats.

  • Deepa said:

    Simply delicious and tasty looking squares.
    deepa

  • mjskit said:

    Remodeling at any level is a mess, but you are so right – what a great opportunity to get rid of stuff! Love the first line of your post! I’ll definitely be remembering that one. Good luck with your painting project! I love both of these fruit bars! I don’t bake a lot because I don’t need the calories of anything really sweet and fatty, but these fruit bars look like the answer to that problem. Low on flours, fats, and sugars. And of course your pics make me want to grab one right off the screen! Thanks for sharing and happy painting!

  • Priya said:

    Beautiful cakes, dunno wat to choice..

  • easyfoodsmith said:

    You are amazing! These look so delicious and soft. well done!

  • Sujatha said:

    I tried Ragi mango squares today with nendhran pazham ( Big banana). It was so good and delicious.Thanks for the recipe.

  • Faith said:

    You are absolutely right, that is a wonderful time to do some spring cleaning – I have been doing a bit of that myself lately, but it seems like there is always more I could do, lol! I hope your project is finished soon and you are in love with the end result.

    These healthy cakes look divine – especially the Apple Oatmeal Banana Squares! I will be making them soon, my friend!

  • jodye @ chocolate and chou fleur said:

    Both of these treats look light and refreshing, though I’ve been on quite the mango kick lately, so I think I’ll have to try those squares first. Thanks for the great recipes!

  • MyKitchenStove said:

    Two Healthy Fresh Fruit Squares with Finger Millet and Oats looks very inviting.

  • Deepa said:

    I don’t have a baking oven. Is there an alternative available?

  • Terra said:

    Sorry I haven’t stopped by and said hi in awhile, I hope you are doing well! These fruit bars really sound delicious. I have never had finger millet, but I am for sure interested in trying it! Hugs,Terra

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