After a little looking, I settled on this recipe that requires just 3 ingredients. Making the cookie dough was super easy and after a few minutes in the oven, I had a pile of little cookies. I split the dough and to half of it I added a fourth ingredient – some chocolate chips. You don’t have to do this, but who can resist a little chocolate. With this cookie you get a little sweet and a little salty. If you are going to use some crunchy peanut butter like I did, you’ll have a few small pieces of nuts in there too. I love having a quick and easy recipe like this one in my arsenal. I would, however, cut down the sugar in this recipe the next time I make them. I did find them a little too sweet for my taste. I’d probably drop it to 3/4 of a cup the next time and take it from there. The recipe below has the original quantities.
3-ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
Yields:18-20 depending on size
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
Preheat oven to 170ºC.
Mix the peanut butter, sugar and egg till smooth.
At this stage, if you’d like to add chocolate chips to some, or all of the dough, you can do so.
Portion out and roll into balls. I just use my hands for this.
Press down lightly with a fork. The tines of the fork give you a criss cross pattern. You could either press down just once to give you some lines across the cookie or turn the cookie a little and press the fork down again to get a chequered pattern.
Place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Don’t let it overbake or brown it off too much.
Enjoy!!!
Tiramisu … or the post that almost wasn’t
The recipe came together nice and easy. When I make this next, I will work on better presentation. This time around, I had a very eager husband buzzing around the kitchen with excitement. Halfway through my assembly, he decided he wanted to help me capture step by step pictures. So I have a few. I’m sure he will get better at them with a little practice. But you’ve gotta love a guy who is so eager to help 😉
Watch the video version of the recipe here –
Tiramisu
Adapted from: Green Road to Bliss
500g mascarpone cheese
5 egg yolks and 1 egg white
160g sugar
300 ml espresso coffee (I used strong, instant coffee – don’t tell anyone)
1/2 cup water
400g Savoiardi biscuits (lady fingers), approx.
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting
30ml brandy (optional)
Prepare the coffee. Set aside 1 tsp of coffee and mix the rest with the water.
Mix the brandy into the cooled coffee, if using.
Beat the eggs with sugar till fluffy about 2 minutes. Start on a low speed and gradually increase.
Add the mascarpone cheese and the 1 tsp of (cold) coffee that was reserved.
Combine everything together until you are left with a soft and creamy mixture.
To assemble –
Spread a very thin layer of the mascarpone mix on the bottom of the pan.
Lightly dip the savoiardi into the coffee solution, but do not over soak them. Layer them over the mascarpone layer. Try to cover the base of the pan with the biscuits without leaving any gaps.
Spread half the mascarpone mix over evenly and dust with cocoa.
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| Second layer starting up |
Repeat with another layer of savoiardi and mascarpone and a final dusting of cocoa.
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| Second layer almost done |
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| Take care to not overpour the mascarpone mix at the end |
Refrigerate for a couple of hours.
Serve and enjoy!
Baath / Badca – Traditional Goan Coconut Cake
Baath
200g dessicated coconut
2 cups water
2 cups semolina
2 cups sugar
6 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
6 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
A generous pinch cardamom seeds, crushed (Seeds from about 6 large pods)
In a heavy bottomed pan, bring the water to a boil.
Add the sugar to the pan and let it melt.
Once the sugar has melted, add the coconut and the ghee and let it come to a boil, stirring frequently.
Add the semolina and let it cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the crushed cardamom seeds.
Take off the heat and cool.
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| After the mix has cooled |
Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line and grease a baking dish / cake pan.
When the mix has cooled, add the baking powder.
Just before baking, add the beaten eggs. Mix well till the eggs have been incorporated well.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake till done. (Till a skewer pierced in the center of the cake comes out clean.)
If the top starts to brown too quickly, cover the top with some aluminium foil.
Cool down and enjoy!!!
NOTE – Add the eggs only just before you bake the cake and not in advance. Preheat the oven in time to bake the cake.
Chocolate Mud Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache
So with a single cake pan and a wooden spoon, I set out to bake this cake. Please excuse the aesthetics on this one and don’t let it fool you for a single moment. This cake was so very good, I was amazed. I know I will make this recipe again. This cake was down right delicious. I think I might’ve jumped the gun when I tried to sandwich the cake with the icing. I now know better. I would’ve had a better looking cake had I just iced it on top. Which is why I don’t have a picture of the entire cake, just one enticing piece 🙂 That’s something I know I will do differently the next time. But all said, this is a winner of a recipe.
Chocolate Mud Cake with Dark Chocolate Ganache
For the cake –
400g butter, chopped into cubes
400g dark chocolate, chopped
15g instant coffee powder
2 tsp vanilla extract
60 ml water
225g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
25g cocoa
6 large eggs
440g caster sugar
Preheat the oven to 160°C.
Line a 9″ round cake tin with parchment paper and lightly grease it.
Place the butter, chocolate, coffee, vanilla and water in a saucepan over low heat. Stir and heat till melted. Set aside and cool to room temperature.
Sift the flour and cocoa into a bowl. Sift another 2 times.
Beat the eggs and sugar till pale and thick.
Add the chocolate mixture and beat till combined.
Fold in the flour cocoa mixture.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin.
Bake for 90 minutes or till done.
Leave it in the baking tin to cool for about 10 minutes.
Take it out of the cake tin and cool it down completely.
Note: According to the Donna Hay Magazine, where this recipe is originally from, she recommends testing a mud cake with a skewer. Piece the skewer into the center of the cake. It will emerge coated in cake. Roll the cake from the skewer onto your fingertips. If it balls up and feels tacky, the cake is done. Take the cake out of the oven.
For the ganache –
250 ml single cream
300g dark chocolate, chopped
Place the cream and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat and stir till melted and smooth.
Cool to room temperature.
To assemble –
When the cake has completely cooled, spread the completely cooled ganache over the cake.
Serve.
Note: I did cut and split the cake into 2 layers and placed some ganache in the center. This is something I won’t do the next time, it just messes up the finish. I would recommend baking the layers separately, if you’re keen on a layered mud cake.
SRC: Blueberry Muffins
Mind you, with a blog like Love and Flour, LeAndra has a ton of recipes that will take you by the hand, lead you to the kitchen and urge you to make them. Before I decided on these muffins, I was considering the Banana Rum Cake, Marbled Chocolate & Vanilla Quick Bread, Tiramisu Bread Pudding (I still intend making this soon), or on the savory side this Corn Pudding and these Crab Cakes. I was torn between these choices so I was really glad when the Blueberry Muffins spoke up 🙂
The muffins were easy to make. The batter came together really quick and then all it took was 20 minutes in the oven. I pretty much stuck to the recipe except for the cinnamon powder. I used it but just reduced the amount compared to what the original recipe called for. I couldn’t seem to figure where it went, so I just added it to the sugary topping mix. Another thing I noticed was that the ingredient list had white sugar mentioned twice, I considered that a typo. Also, something I was really excited about was, for a change, I managed to get the actual yield that the recipe suggested. Happy days!!!
On another note, check out these cupcake liners I picked up at the supermarket a couple of days ago. They look like so much fun. I baked the muffins in these liners and I think it would be a fantastic way to add muffins to a kids birthday party dessert spread.
Back to the muffins. These blueberry muffins were amazing. They weren’t too sweet, just the way I like it. I loved the flavor that the cinnamon added. And those bursts of delicious berries with the light crunch of the sugary topping were something else altogether. In all, I’d consider this the perfect muffin. Its everything I look for in a muffin and so much more. Do yourself a favor and make them soon.
And don’t forget to hop on over to LeAndra’s blog and say Hi.
Blueberry Muffins
Makes 12
1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided in half
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Zest of 1 lemon, divided in half
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.
In a small bowl, mix the topping ingredients – 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the cinnamon powder and half the lemon zest.
In another bowl, mix the dry ingredients – the flour, brown sugar, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, baking powder, salt and 1/2 the zest.
In a large bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients – the milk, oil and egg.
Stir in the dry ingredients till combined.
Fold in the blueberries.
Spoon the batter into the lined muffin tin, filling almost to the top.
Sprinkle with the topping mix.
Bake at 200°C for 20 minutes or till a toothpick pierced through the middle comes out clean.
Enjoy!!!
Week 4 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats: Chocolate Covered Pretzels
I’m not too happy with the evenness of the chocolate coating on some of them, but I think they still turned out alright. The next time I make these, I’ll either double dip them in the chocolate or I’ll cool the chocolate down a little to thicken it up a bit. I’m also very eager to try candy melts the next time around. I used mini pretzels and I think they’re just way cuter since they’re smaller. But these turned out really well. While I was dipping these in chocolate, my husband decided to help out by supposedly “tasting” some even before the chocolate had an opportunity to set up. In my experience that’s good news. He has really good taste. He isn’t fussy about food and will silently endure all the torture I put him through while I’m experimenting with new ideas. But when he really enjoys a dish, I can tell, and it makes it all worthwhile. Let me tell you this much, its hard to stop at one, or two, or even three with these bite sized treats.
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
1 packet of mini pretzels
A bar of white chocolate
Sprinkles of your choice (I used some chocolate strands and some hundreds & thousands)
Break the chocolate bar into smaller pieces and place in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for about 30 seconds. Stir and continue heating in bursts of 30 seconds till it melts and stir in between each zap, to ensure the chocolate doesn’t burn.
Prep a little assemble line of sorts on your table / counter / work platform. I placed them in this order – pretzels, melted chocolate, plate lined with baking parchment, sprinkles.
Dip the pretzels in the chocolate, and using a fork, pick it up and place it on the lined plate. Sprinkle the ‘sprinkles’ over it as desired.
Leave it to set. I usually pop it in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
There you go. That how quick, simple and easy this is. Repeat the process till you’re done. You can also use milk or dark chocolate if you prefer.
Don’t forget to check what the others have put together this week. We will be posting one new recipe every week for 8 more weeks so don’t forget to stop by every Wednesday for a new idea. If you’d like to join in and cook / bake with us, you can sign up at Brenda, our hosts blog, Meal Planning Magic.
Two Minute Chocolate Mug Cake
I pretty much stuck to the recipe, with the exception of chocolate chips. I didn’t have any so I just left them out. And it still tasted pretty good. Also, I didn’t think the mix would fit into the mugs I had, so I mixed the batter in a larger bowl and then poured it into the mugs. Now its not as perfect as the ones I’ve baked in an oven, but it was good. And now that I know that something like this can be whipped up in minutes, I’m gonna have to try extra hard to not make this too often, for the sake of my waist; if you get my drift 😉
Two Minute Chocolate Mug Cake
Recipe from: Completely Delicious
Yield: 1 large mug or 2 small mugs
3 tbsp veg. oil
3 tbsp whole milk
1 large egg
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp all purpose flour
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
A pinch of salt
Place the oil, milk, egg and extract in a large microwave safe mug and whisk together using either a whisk or a fork until combined.
Add the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt and mix until combined.
*If you’d like to add chocolate chips, stir in 3 tbsp chocolate chips.
Microwave on high for 2 minutes.
There you go, your cake is ready!
Enjoy!!!
Week 3 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Treats: Coconut Ladoos aka Coconut Snowballs
At the start of this years edition of 12 WOCT I said I would bring you recipes that were quick and easy to put together at home. Todays treat definitely fits the bill. It is quick and easy to prepare and so very delicious (ofcourse, I’m biased towards coconut). Nevertheless, these dainty treats will sure look so festive on a Christmas platter. Typically in India, they make these ladoos for Indian festivals like Diwali, but you’ll also see them make an appearance on some Christmas platters. In the past I have made other coconut treats like this Coconut Toffee for which I use a candy thermometer. This deliciously coconutty treat doesn’t need one and that suits me just fine since I’m starting out all over again without the luxury of my fully equipped kitchen back in Mumbai. So without any further delay, here’s this weeks treat – the humble Coconut Ladoo.
Coconut Ladoos
Yields: 12-15 pieces
125g desiccated coconut
1/2 tin of condensed milk
4 pods of cardamom
Peel the cardamom pods and powder the seeds.
Mix 100g of the coconut, the condensed milk and the powdered cardamom seeds in a non stick pan.
Place it on medium heat for about 5 minutes (or till the mix can be rolled into little balls), stirring frequently.
Leave it to cool for about 5-10 minutes or till it is cool enough to be handled.. The mix needs to be warm while shaping.
Take a spoonful of the mix into your hands and shape into balls and roll it through the remaining desiccated coconut.
Repeat with the rest of the mix.
Enjoy!!!
Don’t forget to check what the others have put together this week. We will be posting one new recipe every week for 9 more weeks so don’t forget to stop by every Wednesday for a new idea. If you’d like to join in and cook / bake with us, you can sign up at Brenda, our hosts blog, Meal Planning Magic.
This recipe is linked to –
Tuesday Talent Show
Diwali Delicacies @ Spicy Treats and Priya’s Versatile Recipes
Bread Pudding
Bread Pudding
12 slices of bread, if they’re a day or 2 old, its even better
500ml milk
5 eggs
150g sugar
Grated nutmeg or nutmeg powder, to taste
1-2 tbsp. butter
1/2 – 1 tsp. vanilla essence
Extra sugar for the layer of caramel
1/4 cup of raisins, or to taste (optional)
1/4 cup slivered almonds (optional)
Mix warm milk and sugar and stir to dissolve the sugar.
Lightly beat up the eggs, vanilla and nutmeg and add to the cooled down milk mixture. Whisk in to mix well.
Chop up the bread roughly or simply tear the slices of bread into smaller pieces and soak it in the milk and eggs mix.
Add the raisins and stir a little to spread them through the mix.
Let it stand and soak in the liquid. In the meanwhile, you can make the caramel.
Make the caramel either straight on the baking tray, if you’re using a metal one or make it in a pot and pour into the baking dish to cover the base of it. I did the latter. Simply melt the sugar on low heat till it caramelises. Keep an eye on it as is can go from a beautiful caramel to severely burnt in moments.
When your happy with the colour of the caramel, drizzle it over the base of the baking tin while its still hot. As it starts to cool it wont spread around the base.
Note that when making the caramel, they say its better to swirl the pot rather and stir it. That’s how I’ve always done it and have never had any trouble with it.
Give the caramel a few minutes to set and then pour in the eggy – milky – bread mix. (I’m sure there’s a better term to use here 😉 but you get the message)
Sprinkle some of the slivered almonds on the top, you can also add some raisins to the topping if you wish.
Add a few knobs of butter on the top.
Bake in a preheated oven at 160ºC for about 30-40 minutes.
Here’s what it looks like before baking; all assembled and ready to go into the oven.
This pudding can either be served warm or cold. Its just as good either way.
Blackcurrant Cheesecake
This cheesecake was requested for, by my brother. He had a friends birthday to attend and the birthday boy is a big fan of cheesecake, hence the request. This recipe is one I hadn’t tried before, so I literally had my fingers crossed while this was coming together. I actually made a second tiny cheesecake, so that we could taste it too.
The cheesecake was a complete hit. We at home loved it too, so I know for sure they weren’t just trying to be nice when they complemented it. I heard that at the party there was quite a scramble for it. There were a couple of pieces set aside to take to someone, but apparently a couple of the boys were found in the kitchen gobbling them down. All that was left were crumbs. Its always so nice to hear that. That’s what keeps me baking.
I followed the recipe I found on Easy Meal Planning for the cheesecake. I didn’t however, have the time to make the sauce for the topping. This cheesecake was originally supposed to be a Blueberry Cheesecake, but my brother who was supposed to pick up a tin for this specific purpose, picked up a tin of Blackcurrant pie filling instead. So we decided to use it anyway. Waste not! Want Not!
This cheesecake had to travel about an hour to its destination, so all I did was use the dull side of a knife to loosed the edges of the cheesecake after it had cooled completely. Then I placed a glass on the table and the cheesecake tin over it just to demould it completely. I simply picked the ring up again and then added the topping. I wrapped it all up nice and securely at the base and covered the top with some al-foil. It reached safe and sound.
Blackcurrant Cheesecake
Yields 1-8″ and a tiny 4″ one or 1 – 9″ cake
For the base
250g digestive biscuits, crushed
60g butter, melted
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
You can either use the food processor and lightly crush the biscuits till it resembled coarse bread crumbs or you can use a rolling pin. I used the food processor to save time.
Tip the biscuit crumbs in a mixing bowl and add the melted butter. Stir till it is incorporated well and starts to look like wet sand.
Press this mixture into the bottom of a loose bottomed cake tin (you could also use a spring form pan if you have one) and let it come up the sides as well. How high you let it come depends on how you like your cheesecake crust. Avoid making the crust too thick where the base meets the sides.
Bake for 7-10 minutes till it has lightly browned.
While this is happening, you can start mixing your filling.
For the filling
250g cream cheese
450g cottage cheese
200g light brown sugar
6 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp. lemon zest
Make sure the cream cheese and the cottage cheese is near room temperature and not chilled to get a nice, creamy texture.
Blitz the cottage cheese in a blender with some milk / cream till smooth and creamy. Do not over beat.
Beat together the cottage cheese, the cream cheese, sour cream and the sugar. Add the egg yolks and continue to beat. Add the zest and the vanilla essence and beat till it has been incorporated well into the mix.
Beat the egg whites till they hold soft peaks. Fold the beaten whites into the cream cheese mix.
Pour the mix into the baked biscuit shell.
Wrap a large piece of heavy duty aluminium foil around the base of the tin and up the sides. Place the tin in a roasting tray. Carefully, pour boiling water in the roasting pan till it reaches halfway up the side of the cake pan.
Carefully place the roasting pan in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes or till a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out just clean.
Remove the foil from around the tin and let the cheesecake cool completely.
Now you can demould the cake and add the topping. I used a tin of black-currant pie filling/cheesecake topping.
(Note that the original recipe calls for 450g cream cheese and 250g cottage cheese. I had just about 250g cream cheese and the local store was out of cream cheese so I used the quantities above and still ended up with a cheesecake that had beautiful texture.)