Cream Cheese Brownies

Oh my God! I dont know about you but I did not know about cream cheese brownies until today and boy was it a revelation or what! I am hooked and I dont think I can go back to normal brownies anymore. The saltiness of cream cheese breaking out through the intense taste of sinfully dark cocoa is, well, indescribable. You have to taste it to believe it. If you are a fan of cheese and fan of chocolate like I am, then this one is for you.  I had even hardcore cream cheese haters reaching out for seconds. I can't say more, except..yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!

Here is what you need,

• About 6 overflowing teaspoons of cream cheese/cheese spread
• 100 grams of milk chocolate
• 75 grams of cocoa powder
• 1/2cup of flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• one stick of butter

(Gosh, my measures are all over the place. But I swear, I will get better soon! )

Method:

1. In a saucepan,over medium heat, melt together the butter and chocolate.
2. Then take it off the heat and while still hot, stir in the cocoa powder and leave it to cool.
3. In another bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar.
4. Then beat in the chocolate mix to it. Combine well.
5. Now slowly sift in the flour and continue to beat the mixture until everything has combined well.
6. In your brownie tray lined with foil, pour in half of the batter.
7. Then spoon in the cream cheese equidistantly.
8. Pour the remaining batter. 
9. Now bake the brownies for about 20 minutes in oven preheated to 170 degree Celsius, until a toothpick when inserted comes out with little gooey mix on it.
10. Leave the brownies to cool and then leave it in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.
11. Cut into squares and prepare to be absolutely floored by it! (or so I hope!)

Nigella's Mini Key Lime Pie

Well, as you can probably guess, I have an abundance of lime around me and so, I'm doing the best thing I can do with it, make pie! :) :) That and the fact that I got gifted Nigella's ' How to be a Domestic Goddess', which is filled with many many of such lime n lemony treats. Its truly a simple recipe and what I like about it is because we make it in small tart tins, it gives us scope for experimentation. The basic recipe stays the same, but you can always add different flavouring agents to it and so you end up a dozen or more pies, all in different flavours! An assorted pie tray of sorts. Well, I tried many of them. Tried the basic lime pie, key lime pie, orange pie, passion fruit pie and pineapple pie. Stayed on course with tropical fruit though. Its really simple, you should most definitely try it. You don't even need freshly squeezed juice to get the flavour, packaged organic juice works just fine. Nonetheless the name of the post is Nigella's Mini Key Lime Pie cause, well it is her recipe after all and all I've done is make changes to it.

Here is what you need,

• 1 can of condensed milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 egg whites
• 250 gram digestive biscuits
• 100 grams of butter
• about 4 tbsp of key lime/lime/pine apple/passion fruit/orange juice (Not all at the same time but you know that already. However, I wonder if adding spoonful of each would give it a carribean flavour?? Hmmm..I wonder)
• A pinch of salt

Method:

1. Pulse the digestive biscuits and butter together in a food processor until it forms nice buttery crumbs.
2. Then press it into your mini tart tins. Take care to line the sides too.
3. Leave in the fridge for atleast 30 minutes.
4. Pre heat the oven to 170 degree Celsius.
5. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks together until it becomes thick.
6. Continue whisking and add the condensed milk and the fruit juice of your choice. Mix well.
7. In a different bowl, beat the egg whites plus the salt until it forms soft peaks.
8. Now fold the whites in to the yolk mixture.
9. Pour it into the biscuit base and bake for about 10-12 minutes.
10. Leave it to cool completely. Refrigerate if possible.
11. Serve! Yum!

The only disappointment I had with these pies, and it was more my fault than theirs, was that they looked a bit boring! I expected my lime pie to be green and my orange pie to be, well, orange and so on. I know I am being silly but really, these neutral colours broke my heart a little.:(

Simple Syrupy Lemon Cake

Notice how the most simple in life are the most worthwhile? Like you could party with the celebrities in the coolest clubs, yet it is a cuppa coffee you shared with a long lost friend that means more. Or how you can stock up on all the latest gizmos and phones and all that but there is nothing quite like a looooooong conversation made on your landline phone. Or you could sign up to a million social networking sites to keep in touch with friends but   it doesn't even to begin to hold a torch to a letter from a pen friend. A date could take you to the choicest restaurant and buy you the most expensive dinner but its most often the cab ride home that makes you wanna see him again.  There is nothing more appealing than holidaying abroad, well perhaps there is one thing more appealing, coming back home to your familiar bed. You get the drift of what I'm trying to say now, don't you? Well, just like that, you could make the fanciest cakes in the world with the most amazingly sinful frosting, yet there is nothing about it that warms your heart like a homemade syrupy lemon cake.

Made it yesterday after eons and it felt familiar, it felt nice, it felt like home.


Here is what you need,

• 11/2 cups of flour
• The zest of one lemon
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 4 tbsp milk
• 3/4 stick of butter
• juice from 1 1/2 lemons
• 100 grams of icing sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degree celsius.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
3. Then add the eggs one by one and the zest of the lemon and mix well.
4. Into it add the flour and baking powder and mix really well.
5. Finish it off with milk and once again mix well.
6. Pour the thick patter on to a greased and floured baking tin and bake for 40 minutes.
7. In the meanwhile, mix together the lemon juice and icing sugar on low heat, until all the icing sugar melts and a lemony syrup is formed.
8. Once the cake is baked, using a tooth pick or fork, poke holes all over the cake.
9. Now pour the lemon syrup over the cake, making sure it reaches all the corners.
10. Let it cool until all the syrup has been pulled in by the cake.
11. Then, Dig in!!! 

**Note: I baked two cakes in a go, and so made a variation with the second cake. I used passion fruit for the second one and the only difference I made to recipe was to omit the lemon zest from the batter and instead add 1 tbsp of passion fruit juice. Also, for the syrup, lemon juice was replaced with passion fruit juice. Dare I say, the passion fruit version was slighlty more yummier than its lemony cousin. But I've featured the lemony cousin here cause its more "home" than passion fruit will ever be.

Steamed Rice And Prawn Pie

Seen those bamboo steamers that are such a rage these days? Well, a few weeks back I happened to go travelling to the interiors of India and what do you know, the tribal have always been cooking with them. Infact, I happened to meet a very accommodating local who within a matter of minutes, chiseled out for me, my very own bamboo steamer. Yup, custom made! How cool is that? Anyways, today I decided to put the steamer to good use and baked my self a yummy steamed rice n prawn pie.

Here is what you need,

• 1 cup Basmati rice or small grain rice (which ever is handy) soaked in water for a couple of hours
• 5 cups of coconut milk (You could also use 3 cups coconut milk with 2 cups water if you like)
• Pinch of sal
• 1 cup cooked prawns
• 1 onion finely diced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp chili powder/paprika
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• a small piece of ginger, finely grated
• a small knob of butter, melted

Method:

1. In blender, mix together the pre soaked rice with coconut milk until a very smooth and runny batter is formed.
2. Add the salt to it and mix really well. Keep aside.
3. In a pan, pour a little oil and saute the onions until they turn translucent.
4. Now add the garlic and ginger and saute for a couple of minutes.
5. To this, add the paprika/chili powder, salt and the turmeric powder and fry until the raw smell disappears.
6. Now tip in the cooked prawns and mix until everything is well coated with the spices.
7. In a greased cake tray, pour half of the rice batter and allow it to steam for 10 minutes or up until it cooks and becomes firm.
8. Then, lay down the prawns in a layer on top of the cooked rice batter and pour half of the remaining batter on top.
9. Steam it for 5 minutes and then quickly pour the rest of the batter on top.
10. Steam for a further 10 minutes or up until the pie is fully cooked. You could try the toothpick test to check if the pie is cooked.
11. Remove from the steamer and give the pie a butter wash.
12. Let the pie cool before transferring it to your serving dish.
13. Enjoy!! Yum!

PS: I know it looks a little minimalistic and plain jane, but the flavour of the prawn and the melt in your mouth consistency of the pie more than makes up for it.

Cheesy Coriander Bread

Cheesy Coriander Bread. *Sigh*  Oh the smell that was wafting around the house whilst the bread was baking...Aah, I could just live off that smell. If you and I are going to be friends, then there an are three things you need to know about me.

1) I love bread. I can eat it all day long. I love bread with everything. From my curries, to my jam, to my butter, to even my white sauce. Everything is fine with a little bread by its side.

2) I adore cheese. Nothing is too cheesy (excepting pick up lines :P ) Cheese is the Mary Poppins of the food world. You can put cheese in my tea and I might throw out the tea but rest assured the cheese will find its way into my tummy.

3) Coriander. The best herb ever. I love my curries and no curry is complete without coriander. Call it cilantro, call it coriander, call it what you may but if you are talking spicy and talking garnish, coriander better be on the plate.

So, cheesy coriander bread. Need I say more? 

Here are the things you need,

• 4 cups of flour
• 2 1/4 tsp of dry yeast
• 11/2 cups of warm milk
• a pinch of salt
• Finely chopped coriander, including the stalk. How much depends on how much you like its taste
• Grated Cheddar
• 3-4 cloves of finely chopped garlic.
• One egg

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix together the yeast and milk well until all the yeast has dissolved.
2. Now add the salt to the milk.
3. Then quickly add the flour little by little until it forms a ball. Knead for a minute or two until flour and milk is well mixed.
4. Cover the dough using cling film and leave it untouched for a couple of hours or until the dough has doubled in size.
5. In a different bowl, mix together the grated cheese, coriander and garlic and keep aside.
6. Once the dough has risen, knead if for a couple more minutes and divide it into 12 balls.
7. Roll out the balls into small circles, using a little flour to prevent it from sticking to the rolling pin.
8. Now scoop a little of the cheese and coriander mixture on to each of the dough circles and seal off the edges to form a semi circular shape.
9. Arrange them on to a greased bread loaf tray, so that they overlap one another.
10. Let it rest for another 20-25 minutes
11. Once risen, brush them with egg and bake in an oven pre heated to 180 degree celcius for 30 35 minutes.
12. Serve!!!

Bourbon biscuit ice cream and butterscotch sauce

Ever been in a situation when you are gonna have guests over and you plan and plan about the various courses and completely forget about dessert? Anybody? Somebody? Nobody? Well, It looks like I am the only person to get into fixes like this. Hmmm..It so happens that I have friends over for dinner tonight and I wanted everything so purffect that I spend eons of time planning on what the appetizer and main course would be and the scatterbrain that I am, completely forgot about dessert. I know, unforgivable right? I mean, the dessert is my most favourite part of the meal and still I somehow forget about it. And so here I was thinking I would pick up a cake or a tart or something else sweeter still from my local bakers when like a beacon of hope, Nigella Express began on TV. There are times when leaving the TV on with no one watching it pisses me off, but today was not one of those times. I just grabbing my keys on my way out when I heard Nigella go on and on about a quick fix dessert and boy was it easy or what. Its so simple that I'm sure most of you know about it already but to me it was lifesaver. Its a quick fix dessert and so quick that it already in the deep freeze and I even have time to write about it. It totally deserves a post dedicated to it.

Here are the things you need,

For the Ice cream:

• 1 medium tub vanilla ice cream
• 1 medium packet of bourbon biscuits
• 1 cup chocolate chips (or in my case the left over scraps from my Orange n Choco Chili snaps)

For the butterscotch sauce:

• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 250 ml of cream
• A dollop of honey

Method:

1. Leave the ice cream to thaw in a mixing bowl
2. In a zip lock bag, put the biscuits and chocolate chips and pound the living living daylights out of it.
3. Add it to the thawed ice cream and whisk it all together really well.
4. Pour in into a cake tin and return to deep freeze for the ice cream to set
5. Now, in a pan, bring to boil the butter, honey and the sugars until it caramelises.
6. Then take it off the heat and let it cool slightly.
7. Add the cream to the sugars and mix well.
8. Reheat it slightly before serving.
9. Pour over the ice cream and enjoy!

 I so wanted a pretty pic of a slice of ice cream with the sauce on it, but in the mad rush of having people over, I completely forgot. However, the ice cream was a raging success. I personally thought that there was no need for the sauce as the ice cream itself was so good.