Individual Brownie Trifles

Today's dessert is probably the most simplest to make and doesn't even require a recipe. But I'm going to give you one anyway :-)

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Fudge Brownies for Valentines Day

Valentines day is just around the corner and these cute little fudge brownies are just perfect for the occasion. I saw the recipe in King Arthur Flour's newsletter and have been itching to bake them. 

Just in time my daughters school had Valentine's day party today and I signed up to make some brownies. These brownies need just one bowl (or a saucepan). Unsalted butter is melted first (either on the stove or in a microwave) and then sugar is added. The mixture is heated once again and this heating ensures more sugar to melt and gives the brownies a nice shiny crust. Once the sugar is melted, all the  other ingredients go in and then it's baked until done.

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Eggless Fudge Brownies with Nuts

I recently joined Gayathri's Baking Eggless group. She gives a dish that has eggs and wants the group to come up with an eggless version of the same. This month, she picked Joy the Baker's Extra Nutty Dark Chocolate Brownies recipe that has 3 eggs and asked us to come up with an eggless version.
Egg replacer powder (I use Bob's Red Mill brand) is my go-to substitute for eggs and I always keep a packet of it in my fridge. But that usually works only for recipes with 2 eggs. Any more eggs, I don't think the vegetarian option gives the desired results in the baked goods. Ground Flax seeds (Flax see meal) can also be substituted instead of the egg replacer powder.

So for this recipe with 3 eggs, I substituted 2 of the eggs with the egg replacer powder and for the last egg, I used 1½tbsp of sour cream. The resulting brownies tasted very close to the real thing, they were fudgey and delicious. I shared few of the brownies with couple of blogger friends and one of them said she couldn't stop eating them because they were so fudgy and yummy :-)
One thing to note about baking brownies in general is that to remove the pan from the oven when the top does not look glossy anymore -- there might be a few wet crumbs sticking to the toothpick, but resist the urge to bake it longer because that might lead to dried out and crumbly brownies.

Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker:

Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter - ½cup (1stick)

Dark Chocolate - 5oz., chopped

Unsweetened chocolate - 2oz., chopped

Unsweetened Cocoa powder - 

All purpose flour - 1cup

Baking Soda - ¼tsp
Coarse Sea Salt - ½tsp
Light Brown Sugar - 1¼cups, packed
Egg replacer - 2tbsp whisked in 6tbsp water
Sour Cream - 1½tbsp
Vanilla extract - 2tsp
Pecans - 3tbsp, halved
Walnuts - 3tbsp, chopped

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 8" square baking pan with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. Lightly grease the parchment too.
• In a microwave safe bowl, combine butter and the chocolate. Microwave the mixture 30 seconds at a time, stirring until glossy and completely melted. Stir in cocoa powder and mix well to combine.
• Whisk egg replacer mixture, sour cream and brown sugar in a mixing bowl until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla extract.
• Add the chocolate mixture and stir to combine.
• Next add salt, baking soda and flour. Mix well to combine all the ingredients, spoon into the prepared pan. Top with the nuts.
• Bake for 30~35 minutes until the brownies are slightly puffed, the nuts are golden brown and the top is no longer glossy.
• Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Brownie with Ice Cream (Eggless recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 47: Week 3/ Day 3
Theme: Combo Dishes
Dishes: Brownie with Ice Cream

I am ending the final day of this week's 'Combo dishes' theme on a sweet note with this easy to make and addictive eggless Brownie and Ice cream combo. I like cakey brownies more than fudgy ones cna these brownies are cakey, moist and delicious.

I made these for our Halloween party and added a chocolate frosting and some spidery web icing on top. I made the spider web with some homemade creme fraiche mixed with confectioners sugar but another easy alternate would be some melted white chocolate.

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Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

Blogging Marathon# 30: Week 3/ Day 3
Theme: Kid's Delight - Summer Special
Dish: Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

Day 3 of Blogging Marathon# 30 and today's kid approved Summer treat for Chef Mireille's Kid's Delight: Summer Special event is this cool and creamy Milk Chocolate Ice cream. This is a very decadent dessert, perfect on a sunny day (or any day for that matter). 

I've been making eggless ice creams for quite sometime now and I've had good success with it. But this recipe uses 4 egg yolks. I had frozen some egg yolks after using the whites in making Strawberry birthday cake for 2 little girls who share the same birthday. As I was looking for recipes to use up the frozen yolks, I found this recipe for Milk Chocolate Ice cream on Annies- Eats. The recipe sounded amazing and the pic was too tempting, so I gave it a try and the resulting ice cream was super creamy and delicious.

After visiting Annies Eats I realized that July is National Ice Cream month. 3rd Sunday in July (that is the 21st of this month) is declared as 'National Ice Cream Sunday'.

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