Eggless brownies

The first time I ever tasted a brownie was almost 5 years ago in USA and I had immediately fallen in love with its chocolaty goodness. But in those days, I was a newbie to baking and always hesitated to make it from scratch and thus bought Betty crocker brownie mix and baked them whenever I craved for it. But after moving to UK, when I started baking more frequently and learned more about baking, I had always wanted to bake brownies and it was on my 'to bake list' for a long time. Finally I managed to bake these eggless brownies which I found on K.O Rasoi to send to India with MIL along with banana bread and some Moroccan cookies .

Brownies are of 2 kinds - 'Fudgy' and 'cakey'. Everyone has their own favorite choice and I personally like fudgy, chewy brownies. And my lil boy loved these cakey ones. And yup :) baking a fudgy brownie is on my list next .




EGGLESS BROWNIES

Ingredients:

1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tbsp cooking oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp instant coffee
1 tbsp hot water
1/2 cup walnuts



Method:

In a pan, toast the walnuts on low heat for 5-10 minutes and chop them. Dissolve the instant coffee powder in the water and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350°F /180°C. Grease and flour a square baking pan.

Sift all the dry ingredients- Flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, sugar and salt. To this, add the wet ingredients - Cooking oil, the diluted coffee and the buttermilk . Mix thoroughly until well combined, add the roughly chopped walnuts and pour into the prepared tin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then turn onto a wire rack and let cool completely before slicing into squares. Serve warm or at room temperature with yummy ice cream. YUMMMMM....



Notes:

Toasting walnuts is optional. I prefer it toasted because it makes it crunchy.

Also you can use any nuts instead of walnuts, like almonds or pecans .And you can use melted unsalted butter instead of cooking oil.

If you don't have buttermilk, you can substitute it with 2 tsp yogurt dissolved in 1 cup water with 1 tbsp lemon juice mixed into it. Also for vegan recipe use 1 cup soy milk with 1 tbsp lemon juice.



Sending these to Jagruti's event celebrate- Diamond jubilee .

Creamy Raspberry dessert (No cook / no bake)

Who doesn't love easy-peasy recipes..I absolutely love such recipe, which have less ingredients, is ready in a jiffy and tastes yummm. This is one such recipe, which needs just 3 ingredients and is a no bake/no cook recipe.And it will definitely flatter your guests. Had seen this recipe in one of baby magazines a long time back and just fell in love with this delicious dessert. So, let me keep it short and sweet just like this recipe and move on to the recipe.




CREAMY RASPBERRY DESSERT

Ingredients:
80 grams of Cadbury's crunchie bar,
200 ml fresh double cream and
200 grams fresh raspberries



Method:

With a rolling pin, bash the Crunchie chocolate bars into pieces with the wrappers still on. In a bowl, whip the cream with a hand whisk or with an electric beater until you have soft peaks. Open the crunchie packs and add to the whipped cream and stir to combine well.

Spoon into the serving glass or bowl and leave overnight in the fridge to allow the honeycomb in the chocolate to mix with the cream or atleast let rest in the refrigerator for 5-6 hours. And lastly, just before serving, top it with fresh Raspberry and serve. YUMMMMY !!



Notes:

The crunchie chocolate bar is the main ingredient which blends withe the cream and gives a creamy, chocolaty taste. And as far as I know, its available in almost many countries. If you can't find it, you can replace it with any other chocolate bar containing honeycomb.



Sending this over to Radhika's event 'Fruit recipes'.

More similar desserts:

Strawberry Pannacotta

Blueberry Trifle

Instant Eggless Chocolate Mousse

Banana Bread

I was so much looking forward to spring this year after the dark cold winters and also because this will be our last spring in UK but except for just a few days of sunshine and a few daffodils and tulips here and there the spring has has vanished. Its so grey, gloomy and cold again, the temperature is still in single digits and the winter jackets are still being used :(

On such boring and gloomy days, whenever I need to boost up my mood and my day I love to bake something sweet or I love to indulge myself with some hot fried Indian snack. And banana bread is one such thing which I bake again and again during these days, because I love to eat it warm and I feel it tastes best when its warm. And also because whenever I bake this bread my whole house is filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread and the heavenly aroma of cinnamon.



Though I always have a hard time hiding bananas for baking this .Yes ! I have to hide them you know, because everyone in my house including me are banana lovers.So, they vanish in no time. So, I hide a few till they ripen and wait eagerly to bake this Bread.

I found this recipe at Joy of Baking and have baked this many times and believe me it just turns out perfect everytime I bake it and my whole family loves it. So, go ahead and see (taste) for yourselves :)




BANANA BREAD
Recipe source: Joy Of Baking

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup(230 grams) All purpose flour,
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar,
1 tsp baking powder,
1/4 tsp baking soda,
1 tsp cinnamon powder,
1/4 tsp salt,
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter,
2 large eggs,
3 large ripe bananas (1 1/2 cups)-mashed,
1 cup coarsely chopped Walnuts and
1 tsp vanilla extract.



Method:

Lightly toast the walnuts in a non stick pan on low flame for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside to cool. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F (180 C) and butter and flour the bottom and sides of a loaf pan. Melt the unsalted butter and let it cool.

In a large bowl mix all the dry ingredients - Flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon powder and add the toasted walnuts and keep aside. In another bowl beat two egg lightly with a whisk, add vanilla extract, mashed banana and lastly the melted and cooled butter. With a spatula, lightly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Pour this batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 50- 60 minutes or until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.Place on a wire rack to cool for around 15 minutes and then remove the bread from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.



Notes:

Use big yellow bananas which should be ripe. Their skin should be black and they should be soft and sweet inside.

Don't over mix the batter as it will make the bread tough and rubbery. Just lightly fold the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients until you see a thoroughly moist batter.

Sending this over to Radhika's event 'Fruit recipes'.