Eggless Chocolate Brownies

My first memories of having  brownies dates back to my college days. There was (in fact its still there) a restaurant in Guwahati named JBz which served sizzling 'Brownie with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce'. Oh Boy! Having that dessert all for myself was sheer indulgence! I used to savour each bite and even today when I think of it, it sets my mouth water!! But, in those times, I had never once thought of finding out how to make it, cooking was never my cup of tea! But neccesity is the mother of invention and now that I have developed a liking for baking, I keep trying new recipes.

This recipes comes from Nita Mehta's book which I borrowed from my elder sister on my last India visit. I had made it once for our girl's get together. But, that time I had baked it in an about less than 7" square cake tin and it puffed up and was more like a cake. Never the less it was tasty. Last week, I was in a mood of baking and tried these brownie again. This time in a 9'' square cake tin and they came out well. Moist and fudgy and it was great when combined with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Here comes the recipe:

Eggless Chocolate Brownies:
(Click here for the printable version)


Serves 12.
1¼ cups low fat milk
1 tbsp white vinegar.(Original recipe had 2 tbsp. See Notes)
1½ cups AP Flour.
¼ cup cocoa.
1 tsp soda- bi-carb.
1¼ cups sugar. (Original recipe had 1½ cup+2tbsp).
½ cup oil.
1 tsp vanilla essence.
2 tbsp crushed walnuts and chocolate sauce for decoration.

9 ” Square tin.

Process:

1. Grease the tin and dust it with flour. Preheat the oven at 160 C.
2. Boil milk and add vinegar. When the milk starts to curdle, keep it on fire for 30 seconds and take it off gas. Let it cool down completely.
3. Sift all the dry ingredients and keep the mixture in a mixing bowl.
4. To it add the paneer with whey and oil. Add essence and milk well with a wooden spoon till well combined.
5. Pour the batter in the prepared tin and sprinkle walnuts over it.

6. Bake at 160 C for 40 minutes. When done remove from oven and let it cool completely. Remove the brownie from the tin. Sprinkle powdered sugar over it. Cut into peices.

Warm it in microwave for 20 seconds and serve with ice cream, topped with chocolate sauce.

Notes:

1. A few days back, I was seeing Barefoot Contessa. Ina Garten was baking a Brownie and shared a tip. She asked to give a nice tap to the cake tin on the rack after baking it for 30 mins. It helps in releasing any air that might be formed because of the leavener and makes the brownie more fudgy. I will try this technique next time, I bake a brownie.

2. I have tried this recipe with both 1 tbsp and 2 tbsp Vinegar. First time when I had baked it, I used 2 tbsp of vinegar. On adding 1 tbsp vinegar to boiled milk, it curdled instantly.  But since the recipe called for another tbsp, I added it. Vinegar helps in leavening which makes it more cake like.So, next time I tried it with 1 tbsp only and got better results. I was more fudgy and moist. I will recommend using 1 tbsp vinegar only.

3. I reduced the sugar by 1/2 cup from what was given in the original recipe and it was perfect for me. Adjust sugar to your own liking and taste.

Enjoy!

Linking it to Champa's Bake Off , ToReview's Food Palette Series Brown and Divya's Brownie Event.

The Tapestry of Love by Rosy Thornton

Imagine life in a rural French countryside, in a place that is greatly remote, has a scarce population, in fact barely a few souls in the neighbourhood. And what it might be like if you are not a native of that place. That is what Rosy Thornton has given a picture of in her book, The Tapestry of Love. It is about Catherine Parkstone, who is seeking an idyllic life in a small hamlet in the Cevennes mountain in the French country side.

Catherine is divorced for the past few years and has has come in terms with it. She has two grown up kids, Tom and Lexie, whom she loves and adores. At the age of 49, Catherine wants to make a fresh beginning in her life. She sells her house in England and moves to a small house in Cevennes. She has great skills in tapestry work and wants to set up a small business as a seamstress to earn a living.

Slowly Catherine, adjusts to the place, gets acquainted with the neighbours, gets accustomed with the weather and sinks into the lifestyle of the place. She befriends her neighbours and has cordial relationships with all of them  and  gradually, they too develop a liking towards her. But, she is very intrigued by one of her neighbours, Patrick Castagnol because of his reserve nature, part English name and fluent French. Equations of relationships between them changes when Bryony, Catherine’s younger sister visits her. She is smitten by Patrick's charm, leaving Catherine feeling decidedly uncomfortable. Catherine also faces challenges against setting up her business from the French bureaucracy and she has a hard time dealing with all the paper work.

This book is about the little things of every day life. Rosy has drawn the poignancy of ordinary life. I just loved how she has portrayed a spectrum of relationships in various lights and shades. I also loved the way Rosy has given intricate details of the tapestries which Catherine creates. The description of the place is so vivid that one imagine the pictures of the location in their minds and the readers are gradually absorbed in the slow paced and relaxed life of the countryside. I found the book very relaxed, warm and quiet. In fact, I needed one like this after reading 'The Lovers'.

Take this book, lie down and immerse yourself in reading it and let the magic of the book work on you. One of the best contemporary women literature of modern time. I picked this book after reading Lindy's review and I am glad I did. I will definitely recommend reading it to someone looking for a relaxed and soothing read.

Wordless Wednesday - Tulips 2

# 4 Teaser Tuesday

Today's Teaser comes from the book, Miss Concieved by Emma Hannigan.

'But, as they sat in the taxi on the way home, Serena's pleasent buzz had evaporated and she realised that no matter how much she drank that night, she could not fully shake the feeling inside. Drink was kind of her friend.' 
Page: 64

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists!

Please leave a comment with the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays, so that I can check them too! Thanks.

Egg less Almond and Cherry Cake

I love baking and keep experimenting new recipes. But, the main constraint is my baking experiments is that I do not use eggs. Now, that is a vital ingredient in baking. So, I am always in the search of eggless recipes and sometimes try my own ideas to create some. 

One of the basic recipes of making an egg less sponge cake is using sweetened condensed milk (Hopefully, I will post it sometimes in near future). In India, it is a very common recipe in every vegetarian household. I have tweaked that recipe to come with this Egg less Almond and Cherry Cake.

Most of the time my DH and my friends are the scapegoat to taste my experiments. I had made this one for a tea party at one of my friends place. It tasted good and my friends liked it. Coming to the recipe now:

Almond and Cherry Cake:
(Click here for the printable version)
Ingredients:

1 cup AP Flour.
1/4 cup ground almond powder.
1/2 cup glace cherries.
1 tsp baking powder.
1/2 tsp baking soda.
1/4 cup butter.
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp condensed milk.
2 tbsp flaked almonds for garnishing.
About 1/2 cup milk (more or less)

Process:

1. Grease a 1 lb loaf tin or an 8" rouns cake tin and flour it.

2. Shift flour, almond powder, baking powder and baking soda 2-3 times so that the mixture is uniform.

3. Wash the glace cherries and wash off any syrup sticking to it. Pat them dry.

4. In a separate large bowl cream the butter and condensed milk, till it is well mixed and the mixture is light and creamy.

5. Add the dry mixture to the creamed butter and condensed milk mixture, mixing all the time. Add the milk little by little to get a dropping consistency batter.

6. Fold in the washed and dried glace cherries and spoon the mixture into the prepared tin. Sprinkle the flaked almonds over it.

7. Bake it at 180 C for 25 minutes and then lower the tempreture to 165 C and bake for another for 10 minutes, till the top is light golden and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

8. Cool it in the tin before taking it out on a wire rack. Cool completly on a wire rack before slicing.
9. Slice and serve. Enjoy!

Notes:

1. If you do not have almond powder, try using equal amount almond puree ( almonds, soaked, blanched and pureed). Beat it into the creamed condensed milk and butter and proceed.
2. The almond flavour in this cake is mild, for a stronger flavour try adding 1/2 tsp almond extract (not essence as it has a very fake flavour).

Linking it to Champa's Bake Off.