Eggless Choco Brownie Cup Cakes

Had taken a short vacation to Bangalore a few weeks back. Got my hands at baking a few goodies...not only my hands but my little nieces hands too! What fun it is, to bake with a kid. An exciting baking experience explaining every step and most of all that impatient wait (checking every 5 minutes if it is done) once the choco mix got into the oven....finally the warm, soft and chewy brownie cup cakes were devoured off the moment they got off the baking tray!

Needless to say it was more like a challenge attempt as the instructions(from my niece) about the final product were laid down crystal clear at the start...:-)...." it has to be a cup cake made with chocolate and also like a brownie.....I want a brownie in a cup cake"! Well, I thought that was very cute. So, me and my SIL did a search  on google and found just the perfect recipe for these choco brownie cup cakes!

To top it all we made them eggless..tried substituting flaxmeal (powdered flax seeds) and they turned out perfect for the brownie effect!

Source: Joy of Baking

For food substitutes refer to : http://www.foodsubs.com/

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cup powdered white sugar (castor sugar)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp unsweetened chocolate powder
- 3 eggs or egg subsitute (refer below)
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- a pinch of salt


Egg Substitute:

- 6 tbsp (90 ml) flaxmeal
- 9 tbsp (135 ml) water
- 1/2 tsp baking powder

combine the above 3 ingredients.

Prep time: 30 minutes       Bake time: 30 minutes (varies with oven)

Preparation:

- Preheat the oven to 325 deg F or 170 deg C. Line the muffin tray with baking cup foils and lightly butter the foils. If you do not have a muffin tray, place the cup cake foils on a plain tray as well. Works out fine!
- Melt the butter in a bowl placed over a wide pan of boiling water. Once the butter melts, add the chocolate powder and stir well. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Help from the little one to mix in the choco powder in the butter

- Add the powdered sugar and beat with a hand mixer( or manually).
- Add the eggs one after the other or the egg substitute and beat in well until they blend together. Add the vanilla essence too.

- Mix in the flour and salt until well belnded ( never beat the flour...it needs to be always mixed in or stirred in)

- Pour or spoon in the mix into each of the cup cake foils and place in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes.

- The baking time may vary with every oven...so, pls check after 20 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center has to come out clean.
- Remove when done and let it warm before serving!

Foot note:

- If using egg substitute, it tends to make the cake a little chewy( perfect for the brownie texture though). If you do not want that texture, pls add 1 tbsp of oil to avoid the chewiness.
- Using flaxmeal is good cause flax seeds help fight cholestrol!

Sending the recipe to

Bookmarked Recipes event hosted by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan and Aipi of US Masala

Gutsy cook club

ABC Series: Cakes for Christmas event at Ramya's Recipe

Apple Upside down Cake!

I am so thrilled and excited about this cake... it turned out as fabulous as Vardhini had posted in her blog. The moment I saw the post on her blog I had bookmarked it and wanted to try it for my bro-in-laws b'day which is today!

Being born with hearing and speech impairment, he is now going through some tough unhealthy phase in his life. I wanted to make this day special for him with all the ingredients he is allowed to eat and this cake was just perfect except for a few ingredients. Anyways, we live life just once....what is life, if we can't relish a piece of cake even on our b'day?! The cake was a big hit among all at home and vanished in no time:-)

Baking it in an oven would have made the cake rise much better and brown on top. However, am yet to equip my kitchen fully after relocation. So, had to bake it in microwave....have to say...it was super quick making the cake in microwave though I was not very pleased with the rising part.Now off to the recipe...

Ingredients:

For topping:

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder (optional)
1 apple cored and skin peeled
1 tsp lemon juice

For cake mix:
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 cup cake flour( I used pilsbury)
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp vanilla flavoring
- few walnuts for topping

Prep time: 20 mins               Bake time: 10 mins in microwave

Recipe Source: Zesty Palette

Preparation:

Topping:

- In a cake pan, add the butter, brown sugar and cocoa powder given under "for topping" above. I also added a tsp of powdered white sugar, as I had powdered some extra sugar. This is not needed though.

- Heat the above in microwave for 1 to 1 -1/2 minutes until the butter is melted. Mix all the ingredients.
- Peel the apple and core it. Slice them thin and place it over the melted butter and brown sugar mix. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the apples.

Cake mix:

- Beat 2 tbsp butter for a few seconds.
- Sieve the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together. Add the sieved flour to the butter and beat all together while slowly adding the milk.

- When everything comes together, add the egg whites and vanilla essence and beat the whole mix for a minute until everything turns fluffy.
- Pour this mix over the apples in the cake pan.
- Sprinkle some pieces of walnuts over the batter. While baking, these nuts will get soaked into the cake and would give a crunch while you bite into the cake:-)

- Microwave selecting the "cake" menu for 10 minutes. The time may vary from oven to oven. A toothpick or knife inserted in the center has to come out clean! At this point your cake is ready.
- Remove from oven and let it cool for 5 to 10 minutes.
- Invert the pan on to a plate. The cake will slide on to the plate and voila.....your apple upside-down cake is ready to eat!

Sending the recipe to:

Hearth and Soul Hop at Alea's Premeditated leftovers

Love lock with sweets event hosted by Vidhya of Sweet Karam Kapi

Christmas Delicacy event hosted by Julie of Erivum Puliyum

Bookmarked recipes event hosted by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan and Aipi of US Masala

Oven fried Mushrooms

Just today I realised there are many posts waiting to see the light of the day;-) Don't know why am letting them all sit instead of publishing. Some of friends and cousins had started asking me why am not being regular with my posts. Guess I have a lot of things to do at hand that by the time, I settle down to write a post , am too tired and keep it for another day. Wonder how all my fellow bloggers manage a family, work and also actively run events and regularly publish on the blog as well. I need to definitely strike a balance and I hope to do so very soon.....

Now, on to my favourite a quick starter! I had not been a great fan of mushrooms until one day I tried making this and found myself emptying the plate in a jiffy. It is such a simple mushroom starter and you can be sure it will be an instant hit!

Ingredients:

- 2 cups of washed and chopped mushrooms
- 2 tsp olive oil or cooking oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 1/4 tsp chilly powder
- 1/4 tsp pepper powder
- 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
- Salt to taste

Prep time: 10 mins                   Bake time: 30 mins

Preparation:

- Clean the mushrooms with a wet towel and slice them into desiered thickness. Never wash the mushrooms in running water or in a bowl as it makes them go mushy while cooking.
- In a mixing bowl, add the mushrooms and all the other ingredients and give them all a good toss and let it sit for 5 minutes. Go low on salt as mushrooms do not absorb too much salt.

- Pre- heat the oven to 350 deg F. Spread the mushrooms on a baking tray and leave it on the bottom rack of the oven for 20 to 30 minutes.
- Tasty & oevn fried mushrooms ready to go as a starter with soups or drinks!

Foot note:
- You are free to use any kind of seasoning of your choice!

Sending the recipe to:

Cooking without Onion & Garlic event hosted by Sreevalli of Ammajis Recipes

Healthy Cooking challenge hosted by Smita of My tasty Curry and co-hosted Kavi of Edible Entertainment

Global Food Festival hosted by Kalyani of Sizzling Tastebuds

Oven Baked Stuffed Capsicum

It feels so bad to be posting just once in a week. Don't know if its my personal feeling or this is the way it is....but life in India seems to be too busy that finding time to cook in leisure is in itself a luxury. Am yet to find that luxury though. So, I decided to post some of the posts which were saved up for such rainy days. Now, when I have the time to post, they are coming in handy.

Last month, while we had gone farm picking, I got hold of some really cute capsicums and could think of nothing but make stuffed curry out of them. I decided to bake them in the oven instead of roasting them stove top and it turned out equally good with roti and rice! 

Ingredients:

- 6 small capsicums

- 1 medium onion finely chopped

- 1/2 cup lima beans 

- 1/2 cup mixed veggies finely chopped

- 1/2 tsp each of coriander powder, chilly powder,  jeera(cumin) powder and garam masala

- 1/2 tsp jeera(cumin) seeds for seasoning

- 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste

- 1 tbsp coarsely ground peanuts

- Salt to taste

- 1 tsp oil

Prep time: 10 mins           Cook time: 1 hour

Preparation:

- Chop the head of the capsicum and core the seeds from inside.

- Pre-heat the oven to 350 deg F while you get the stuffing ready.

- Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan, add jeera and allow to splutter. Now, add the onions and ginger garlic paste and saute until the onions turn translucent.

- To this, add the veggies, lima beans and all the masala powder and salt. If needed add some water. Mix everything and cook covered or open.

- When the veggie masala is dry and cooked, add the peanut powder and fry for a minute before removing from heat. Garnish with some coriander leaves for added flavour

- On cooling, scoop the masala into the cored capsicums and arrange them in a baking tray or pan.

- Spray the stuffed capscums with cooking oil and place them in the lower rack of the pre-heated oven.

- Bake for 30 minutes. Baking time may vary depending on the oven. 

- If you do not have an oven, you can try them in a pan on stove top as well. Ensure to turn the capsicum over on all sides to cook it evenly.

Foot note:

- Since the capsicums are not cooked in spice, you could add little extra salt in the stuffing if you prefer. 

- You can choose to make any kind of stuffing you prefer.

Pull-Apart Pumpkin Bread with Butter Rum Glaze

Baking time...yet again! I know, most of you would find the name of this recipe very fascinating....true. I was dragged to this  recipe by its sheer name and the moment I read it and saw it in pics....my next stop was the grocery store and the liquor shop...ha ha ha...believe it or not...but thats what I did! And the wine & liquor shop here had such beautiful miniature collections of all liquors and i flicked over one cute little Rum boy:-)

I bookmarked this recipe the moment I saw the pics and wanted to bake and upload the recipe earlier this week. However, too many errands kept me from doing both.But finally, its here and for my baby steps in baking...I should say, they turned out pretty close to the bookmarks I followed.

I was totally inspired by Jessica of Sunny Side Up to try the recipe and followed the recipe from Willow Bird Baking to the T with very minor changes though. Though I had made Braided Bread a few weeks back, I still wanted to play low on my second attempt at baking...So, I altered the proportions a little bit and made just about a loaf...around 12 slices of bread!

And that meant a lot of re-calculation of measurements....the Math I learnt in school...finally was put to use in the kitchen:-) In some of the pics you will find my hand written calculations;-) Let me get straight into the details of baking the bread because just as any other bread this one too involves a lengthy process...Also, I have added a load of pics...pls bear with me for that too!

Bread Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup bread flour
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup milk
2 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp + 1 tsp unsalted butter
1 tsp + 1/4 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt

Filling Ingredients:

1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp butter + 1/2 tsp unsalted butter

Butter Rum Glaze Ingredients:

1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
2 tsp milk
1 tsp Rum ( willow bird suggests 1/4 tsp but I used 1 tsp...having bought it I wanted to use a decent bit..;-))

Prep time: Overnight or 4-5 hours

Preparation:

Making the dough

- In a small saucepan brown the butter. It needs to get to clarified butter consistency(ghee). Let it boil and foam and once you see the bottom browning remove it over to a wide bowl.
- In the same pan bring the milk to a boil and pour it into the same bowl with the melted butter.

 - When the heat of the above is warm add the sugar and yeast and let it sit for a few minutes.

- Later add the pumpkin puree, salt and flour and knead them all together into an elastic dough. At this stage I had to add 4 more tbsp of flour to bring the dough to a non sticky elastic consistency.

- Cover the dough with a damp cloth or paper towel and allow to rise. Allow it to rise for 60 to 90 minutes or until it doubles. You can work on it at this stage or leave it covered in the fridge overnight.

- I put it in the fridge overnight and felt it was so much easier to handle in the morning. If you refrigerate the dough, let it sit out for half hour in the morning, before you start working on it.

Making the filling:

- When the dough is all set and you are ready to start working on it brown the butter as given above and allow it to cool

- Mix the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a separate bowl and set aside.

Making the bread:-)!

- Punch the risen dough and knead it with a sprinkling of 1 tbsp of flour. Set it aside for 5 minutes.
- In the meantime, clear a large work surface and sprinkle about 1 or 2 tbsp of flour.
- Place the dough on this and roll this into a rectangular shape. As I used less flour I rolled out the rectangle based on my gut feel. Did not follow the size in the original recipe very strictly.

- But I would say, do not roll it too thick as you let the dough rise again after slicing them.
- Spread the browned butter over the surface of the rolled out dough using a pastry brush.
- Sprinkle the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg mix all over the dough and press it into the dough using the back of a spoon. I felt the sugar was lot and left behind about a couple of tsp. But you can use it completely too...your choice:-)

I was too excited abt slicing...sliced one length before spreading the butter & sugar;-)

Now to the slicing part....my fav:-)!

- Grease a loaf pan and dust it with flour and set aside.
- Using a pizza cutter, slice the rolled out dough by the length into 3 long strips. Pizza cutter is by far the best to use. Makes it so easy to slice!
- Pile on the 3 long strips one on top of the other. Now, cut this into 4 equal squares. So, now there are 12 slices!

- Place these 4 portions one after the other into the loaf pan. Cover with a damp cloth or paper towel and allow to rise for 45 mins. Ohhhh...this was the most difficult wait....I could'nt wait to have them baked...:-))
- In the meantime heat the oven to 350 deg F or 325 deg F for glass loaf pan.

- When the dough has risen, place the loaf pan in the top rack of the oven and bake for 30 to 45 minutes. Am giving this window because the baking time varies with different ovens. I baked the last 5 minutes in the lower rack.
- The bread has to be a tone of dark golden brown on top. Cool for 20 to 30 minutes and prepare the rum glaze mean while.

Out of the oven!

Rum Glaze...Yummm

- In the sauce pan, bring the butter, milk and brown sugar to a boil. Remove to a bowl and whisk in the sugar and rum. I used the left over white sugar mixed with cinnamon and nutmeg too in the glaze.

Serve the bread

- Using a soft knife, loosen the bread from all sides of the loaf pan and invert it on to a plate. Flip over the bread to the top side and drizzle the glaze over the slices.

Bottoms Up..when I flipped it over from the loaf pan!

- Warm the bread slices for a few seconds in the microwave and serve with a drizzle of glaze if you have any left over:-)

Flipped over to top!

Foot note: For those who want to avoid Rum glaze...you can do a vanilla flavour or any other essence of your choice.

Linking this to Vardhini's Halloween Fiesta at Zesty Palette

Linking to Global Food Festival hosted by Kalyani of Sizzling Tastebuds