Remembering 2013 with a luscious chocolate pie...:)

Happy New Year to all of you.

So quickly the days go by, and here's another year to look forward to. New resolutions, new hopes and dreams (or in some cases the same old hopes and dreams!), new goals and so on. I feel the last year went by too fast or maybe in my case I just might have missed a few months in 2013! I must have slept through or they just sped by...am not really sure. You can definitely say that by looking at my posts, erratic is the best word I could come up with...

Now 2013 wasn't at all bad, it was in fact a pretty good year for me. I did a lot of baking, even though I might not have posted as much on the blog about it. I'd baked a 4 layered Chocolate Fudge Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting in September for my brother's birthday (Sorry don't have a picture). I made 5 Apple Tarte- Tatin's for a neighbors kitty party. I came up with a new recipe for Sweet n Sour Chicken (which is heavenly by the way) and made Lasagna from scratch (Yes, including the Lasagna sheets). Conducted a baking class too, where I made an AMAZING Chocolate Ganache Tart. Red Velvet Cupcakes which blew everyone's mind. And the one bowl Chocolate cupcakes with buttercrem frosting and silver dragees, which looked as great as it tasted. Oh! did I mention I made Croissants from scratch (tedious but totally worth it) and the Passion fruit Panna cotta fit for Gods.

And the bad stuff, in my baking class, we tried baked doughnuts (I don't know what made me do this, when the yeasty fried ones I've always made worked so well for me...stupid healthy stuff) and one of the girls put in a tablespoon of baking powder instead of a teaspoon, the result...disgustingly acrid tasting doughnuts...blech...yuck ( and a few choice words that I cannot use here!). Another time, my Cinnamon- Sugar Pull apart Bread which worked perfectly every single time and is a family favorite, decided to go Kaput on me...It was a soggy run down mess and just refused to cook, it sort of resembled the boys' dessert from Masterchef Australia's Girls V/s Boys first challenge...Eaton mess I think they decided to call it (It looked like crap by the way...they should've named it Disgusting mess! But I can assure you mine looked way better even though it wasn't cooked in the center).

And just when everything was going great, 2013 dealt me a BIG Bang in my face. I have this very bad habit of  imagining how I'd feel if something were to happen to me, and the worst part is sometimes it comes true (not in a good way). For example, this one time a cousin of mine jammed her finger in the car's door and I always wondered how it'd feel, and a few years later I jammed my finger in the car's door! And I can tell you it definitely wasn't pleasant...you'd think I would've learnt my lesson from that. But no, two other cousins had surgeries and I wondered how it'd feel ( I know...I know...very stupid, considering my track record) and guess what! I had to undergo an emergency appendectomy in bloody December! Oh, the horror...post-op is not a place for someone like me, I annoyed the hell out those nurses asking for water and pillows and whatnot! And the worst part nobody gave me FOOD for 4 days!!! And all this just before an interview I was supposed to attend. Well, this sure taught me to never, ever, ever wonder about such things!

Anyway I decided that to remember all the good, bad and ugly parts of 2013, it warrants a Pie...and not just any pie, it's a slice of chocolaty goodness topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings or in other words a luscious Silky Chocolate Pudding Pie!

Yum...yum...yum

Now, the recipe for the Silky Chocolate pudding, I got from Smitten Kitchen. You can have the pudding as it is, or you can jazz it up a li'l and make a Pie with it. The Chocolate base is my creation...but feel free to experiment and  make your own crust. And I topped it with whipped cream only because I was jobless and I had a pack lying around which I've wanted to try for ages. You can skip this...but why would you, it's whipped cream, it tastes amazing and it's not like it'll kill you right! And down here's how I made this wonderful confection which warms the cockles of your heart :)

Oooooh chocolate...please pretend you didn't see the mess on the whipped cream

Silky Chocolate Pudding Pie Serves 6 to 7

Here's what you'll need:

For the Chocolate Base

1/2 cup - digestive biscuits, crushed coarsely ( I used Vita Marie Gold)

1/2 cup - Bourbon biscuits, crushed

1 tablespoon granulated white sugar

2 tablespoons Drinking chocolate powder (I used Cadbury's)

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons of butter, melted

Directions

Mix all the dry ingredients together and add in the butter and combine. Now press this slightly wet mixture firmly onto the base of your pie dish or if making individual servings, into bowls. Cover and refrigerate while you make the filling.

For the Pudding

1/4 cup (30 grams) cornstarch
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups (710 ml) whole milk
6 ounces (170 grams) semi- or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (or 1 cup good chocolate chips)
1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
Directions
Combine the cornstarch, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan, Slowly whisk in the milk, in a thin steam at first so that lumps don’t form, then more quickly once the cornstarch mixture is smoothly incorporated. Place over medium-low heat and stir occasionally, scraping the bottom and sides. Use a whisk as necessary should lumps begin to form. After 10 minutes or so (slower over lower heat is better, to give the cornstarch time to cook), before it starts to simmer, the mixture should begin to thicken, enough that it will coat the back of a spoon. Add the chocolate, and continue stirring for another 2 to 4 minutes, until chocolate is fully incorporated and mixture is quite thick. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

If you’re concerned about lumps: Run mixture through a fine-mesh strainer.

Remove the pie base from the refrigerator and pour the pudding mixture in. Cover with plastic wrap on top of the pudding and smooth it gently against the surface before refrigerating, about 2 to 3 hours.

To serve, remove the plastic wrap, top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Eat!

If you are not making pie (your loss), distribute among individual pudding cups or one large serving bowl, and chill until it is cool and set, about 2 to 3 hours. Cover with plastic wrap on top of the pudding and smooth it gently against the surface before refrigerating, to prevent pudding skin from forming.

Until next time, Happy Baking! and have a blessedly wonderful New Year :)

My Fail proof Brownie Recipe

Brownies...just saying the word makes me think of warm, chocolatey and chewy slices of goodness which will instantly put anyone in a good mood. A brownie will make you more friends than anything else. And why not, when it tastes so good! And I am sure that anyone with access to an oven would have baked a brownie at least once in their lives. Brownies can be used for just about anything...for example, You have messed up big time and need to say sorry - bake some awesome brownies, pack it very well and give it to the person...and you will definitely be forgiven. Have some guests coming at the last minute for dinner and you have no dessert, whip up brownies, serve with whipped cream and caramel or chocolate ganache...Voila! you have a 'killer' dessert. Your child has a bake sale at school, make a batch of brownies. So many uses for such a simple thing!

Here's what wikipedia has to say on the subject: "A chocolate brownie is a flat, baked square or bar developed in the United States at the end of the 19th century and popularized in both the U.S. and Canada during the first half of the 20th century. The brownie is a cross between a cake and a cookie in texture.[1] Brownies come in a variety of forms. They are either fudgy or cakey, depending on their density, and they may include nuts, frosting, whipped cream, chocolate chips, or other ingredients."

Now, everyone has their own version of the best brownie recipe. Considering the amount of brownie recipes available on the internet, it's a definite possibility that everyone has at least a few recipes in their kitty. As they are fairly easy to bake and use only a few ingredients, none of which are fancy stuff ( unless you plan on wowing the audience with brownies using Ghirardelli Chocolate or Valrohna or even Hershey's Cocoa for that matter) it's inexpensive too. And moreover most recipes don't call for a stand mixer or even a handheld mixer for that matter (which is definitely a plus point according to me), and use only about two bowls at most which reduces the washing up (this I love, because I hate washing up!). I take laziness up a notch by spreading out some clean papers and sieving the dry ingredients on them ( see, I reduced washing up by using only one bowl).

I definitely have more brownie recipes than most, I have a whole book-full! I have every conceivable kind of brownies - chocolate, triple fudge brownies, s'more brownies, pretzel ganache brownies, blondies and even a lemon and lime brownie (this is my all time fav!)...and many many more! The brownie recipe below is one that I can whip up last minute, as this is a no effort brownie and I mix this using a whisk. And as the title says, it is a fool proof recipe!

My fail Proof Brownie Recipe
Ingredients:
All purpose flour 1 1/3 cup
Granulated sugar 2 cups
Cocoa Powder 3/4 cup (use a very good quality, I use Hintz or Hershey's)
Baking Powder 1 tsp
salt 1/4 tsp
Chopped nuts 1/2 cup
4 large Eggs (lightly beaten)
Vegetable Oil 2/3 cups
Vanilla extract 2 tsps
Milk 2-3 tbsp
Assorted nuts 1 cup ( to scatter on top of the brownie)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 degrees Celsius). Line and grease a 9 X 13 baking dish.
2. Sieve the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add the sugar and 1/2 cup of chopped nuts and mix well ( The nuts should be well coated with flour so that they don't sink to the bottom when you bake the brownie).
3. In another bowl, mix together the lightly beaten eggs, the vegetable oil and the vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients gradually to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Add two tablespoons of milk to the batter and mix until combined. If the batter feels too thick add another tablespoon of milk and mix until just combined. Do not over mix.
4. Pour into the prepared baking dish, scatter the assorted nuts on top (if using) and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 30-35 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Cut and serve. Yields 24 pieces.

Until next time,
Happy Baking!

I thought I'll talk about something other than food or recipes

Since I started this blog I've only posted about my love for food, cooking and recipes. So, I thought I'll also share my love for other things. Lets start with my love for books. Whenever I am not baking, you'll definitely find me reading. I've so many books right now, I don't know where to put them...that does not mean I'll lend them! I've had awful experiences with people who borrow my books. They either think they can keep it for themselves or tear chunks off my precious original beauties (them idiots!humph). I buy books whenever possible, I spend most of my money either on books or baking ingredients. The salespeople at Crossword in Indiranagar even know what kind of books I like. Whenever I am in Bangalore I make sure I go to Crossword almost every sunday morning, it's like a ritual. And I always end up buying some book or the other, mostly because I feel I just cannot leave the book behind. I feel the books speak to me (overripe imagination and all).

And for all those of you who don't know what Books are, here's the definition of books from Wikipedia:
"A book is a set of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of ink, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each side of a leaf is called a page."
Interesting fact, again from Wikipedia: The word Book comes from Old English "bōc" which (itself) comes from the Germanic root "*bōk-", cognate to beech.^[2] Similarly, in Slavic languages (for example, Russian, Bulgarian,Macedonian) "буква" (bukva—"letter") is cognate with "beech". In Russian and in Serbian and Macedonian, another Slavic languages, the words "букварь" (bukvar') and "буквар" (bukvar), respectively, refer specifically to a primary school textbook that helps young children master the techniques of reading and writing. It is thus conjectured that the earliestIndo-European writings may have been carved on beech wood.^[3] Similarly, the Latin word codex, meaning a book in the modern sense (bound and with separate leaves), originally meant "block of wood".

Here's a list of a few of my favorite books (I can't name all of them in one post)-

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (my all time favorite)
To Sir, With Love by E.R. Braithwaite
Love Story by Eric Segal
Doctors by Eric Segal
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran
Don Quixote (Don Quijote de la Mancha Completo) by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra,
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Othello by William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
Those pricey Thakur Girls by Anuja Chauhan
The Family by Mario Puzo
Prizes by Eric Segal
Princess by Jean Sasson
Mayada by Jean Sasson
Love in a torn land by Jean Sasson
The Sicilian by Mario Puzo

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Devil Wears Prada (The Devil Wears Prada #1) by Lauren Weisberger
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan
The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
Child of the Morning by Pauline Gedge
P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Rage of Angels by Sidney Sheldon
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Asura - Tale of The Vanquished by Anand Neelakantan
Asterix and Obelisk by René Goscinny

I will try and find links to the e-books for those of you who are interested in reading and post on this blog.


Until next time, Happy reading :)

The Real Coffee Cream!

This post is dedicated to the infamous Coffee Cream. I really don't know where exactly this recipe came from, but I do know it's one of the easiest and best desserts ever. My aunt taught me how to make it first. From then on it's been served at simple dinner parties, as well as weddings. And since it's so simple and inexpensive to make, you can make it in large quantities as well.

Now the explanation behind the title of the post 'The Real Coffee Cream!'. It all started with showing a few of them how to make it, and then the recipe went viral with every Tom, Dick and Harry (or the ladies version of them, coz in Coorg only the ladies cook) knew about this and as long as it was made well I didn't mind. Random people came up and said it was a wonderful dessert and I liked it that they liked it too. Then there are a few people, who feel it's beneath them to ask another person for a recipe (especially if it's me) and come up with their own recipes. Now, I don't mind or care if the end result is the same and it tastes good (after all, everyone has their own version of roast chicken or bread pudding, and the same goes for this). The trouble is when they try fiddling around with ingredients and unnecessarily complicate a simple recipe and the end product not only looks awful but tastes awful too. And finally, there are a few more people who've come up to me and said "this is Ok, another person I know makes it better" ( and that too in front of other people...bitchy much!!!). The best one has been at a recent family wedding, where I had made Coffee Cream for dessert; a nosy-good for nothing-busybody comes up, lifts the serving spoon and smells it (the horror! shoves the spoon up her big, fat nose...idiot, we all gagged at the sight) and coolly asks me what it's called (even though there is a card right in front of her with the name of the dessert, silly old cow!), and when I explain it to her very nicely she turns her nose up at me and tells another person (who we both know doesn't know how to make it, and her version makes us all puke just looking at it!) makes it so much better than me! So I've finally decided it's better to ignore such stupid fools and share my recipe.

Now after all that explanation; Coffee cream is nothing but a cheats version of Coffee Panna Cotta, we just gave it another easier name! All you need is a tin a Sweetened Condensed milk, Good quality instant coffee, gelatin ,Heavy Cream and a blitzer. See, very simple na! All you need is 4 ingredients and people mess that up too, bah!

Coffee Cream (or rather Coffee Panna Cotta)

Time: It takes no time unless you count the setting time.

Serves: As many or as few as you want.

Here's what you'll need:
Unflavored Powdered Gelatin - 1 1/2 Tablespoons
Water - 6 Tablespoons
Good quality instant Coffee granules - 3-4 Tablespoons ( use 3 tablespoons if you don't want it to be too strong, and I use Bru Gold coffee)
Sweetened Condensed milk - 400 ml ( that's 1 tin)
Heavy Cream - 400 ml ( I use Milky Mist cream, you can use Amul if you want, though Amul is light cream the amount of gelatin is enough for it to set well)
Chocolate curls to garnish (optional)

Here's How you do it:
1. Empty the tin of sweetened condensed milk into a large blitzer jar.
2. In a small saucepan, heat the water until it comes to a rolling boil. Meanwhile, place the gelatin in a cup, pour the boiling water over and stir well and make sure all the gelatin is dissolved. You can strain it to remove any residue. Add the coffee and stir until completely dissolved. Let it cool slightly (not too much, it should still be warm or else the gelatin starts to set).
3. Pour the Coffee and gelatin mixture into the blitzer jar with the sweetened condensed milk and give it a good blitz, for about a minute or two. Check to make sure everything is mixed well.
4. Pour heavy cream into the jar and blitz immediately for less than a minute (make sure the cream is fresh or else it'll curdle and instead of a dessert,you'll have a disaster on your hands!).
5. Transfer the Coffee Cream into a glass dish, or into individual glasses, cover with cling film and let it set in the refrigerator for at least 4-5 hours. Serve chilled garnished with chocolate curls if you wish.

Note* You can make the same thing with Strawberries (or any berry), all you have to do substitute 200g of the berries in place of the coffee, and blitz the berries first, add condensed milk and gelatin, blitz again and finally add the cream and blitz and then set for 4-5 hours before serving.
If you don't dissolve the gelatin well, the gelatin granules settle at the bottom of your dessert and you'll have yuck-nog for dessert, so be very careful.

Until next time, have fun and Happy Baking!