Daring Bakers Challenge: Chocolate Valentino, flourless chocolate cake

This is my second challenge although it should have been my fourth :( I could not do the previous two cause I had NO time.. but i made sure I had time for this one! it was soooo simple! and really good!

I made just the cake.. it was too sweet and was perfect by itself.

The February Challenge comes from Wendy at wmpesblog (Arizona) and Dharm at Dad - Baker and Chef (Malaysia).


It called for just three ingredients:

-chocolate
-eggs
-butter

Surprisingly it did look like a cake..more like a really rich brownie.
I made them in muffin tins and that too didn't fill up the tin too much.




Gooey and dense just like a brownie





Yet soft and spongy like a cake!

I really enjoyed making these :D Thanks again DBers!

Chocolate pancakes with hot fig sauce

Some days just call for decadence.

I felt heady and I gave in.. somewhat.

What you need:

(for the pancakes)
¾ cup of plain/ whole flour
2 tbs coco powder
1 egg
½ cup milk
¼ cup water
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
3 tsp sugar/ substitute/ honey
a pinch of salt

(for the sauce)
6 fresh figs, finely chopped
2 tbs honey
1 tsp butter
1 stick of cinnamon
¼ cup water

(for decadence)
1 tbs nutella (optional: only for the ultimate hedonist)

What to do:

(Pancakes)
1. Mix all the ingredients to form a smooth batter. Add more milk if using whole wheat flour. Basically just make a smooth not too runny batter. Stir vigorously to prevent forming lumps.

2. Spread on a nonstick pan and cook on a low heat and cover while cooking. Cook on both sides till brown(er) and well done.

(Sauce)
3. In a saucepan, on a low heat, put all the ingredients for the sauce and simmer for 10 minutes till sauce is thick.

(Assemble)
4. You can either fill the sauce into the pancake and roll it up or sandwich the sauce between layers of pancakes, like I did. Top with nutella, if you want more.

GUEST BLOGGER

My sister is always surprising me with her wonderful desserts, actually, I get a preview when tantalizing smells emanate from the kitchen (also because of the sounds of the rebuke she gets from mommy for disrupting her kitchen!) so its not really a surprise, but I always anticipate the finished product. This little item which she conjured (and i say conjured because she made it in 20 minutes with scraps for ingredients!) was quick to make and QUICKER to finish. the biscuit base had some oats, walnut powder, butter and some other items (I only recall the crunching sounds which were made by this crisp, light (?) and taste bud pleasuring base)...oh ya! it had everything but biscuits!!
but what really got me going was the gooey from the inside and crisp from the outside filling which was made from butter, chocolate (er....this chocolate was the remnants of a big slab...it actually had some of my teeth imprints on it), coco powder to intensify the flavour (laa dee dah!), and an egg, yolk first followed by the white (i dont get why they are separated to eventually meet!) anyway, all this was put into the oven and baked for sometime (which felt like eternity people!) and, excuse the cliche, VOILA..... sintitilating chocolate tarty-thingie (hey i just do the eating!)
wanna know more about this sweet tooth's narcotic? ask the chef....I'm just a junkie.

Mulberries and smoothies

I remember that silly rhyme we would sing as kids, round and round the mulberry tree. The fruit is not silly though.

It resembles a blackberry but has these tentacle like thingies all over (forgive me for not knowing the scientific word, this is a food blog)

I bought some of these but really didn't know what to do with it. I remember Patrick Star (of Spongebob Squarepants) once say: "when in doubt, pinkie out!" (that REALLY did not help)

SO I created a new one "when in doubt, blender out!"

I made a dee-licious smoothie with the mulberries and strangely a larger quantity of other stuff.

What you need:

¼ cup mulberries
½ cup diced papaya
1 cup cold milk
honey to flavor (honey is perfect as a sweetener for this recipe)

What to do:

1.Blend all, preferably with some ice
2.Slowly sip and enjoy the flavor. And keep your pinkie out. Its Friday the 13th!




My beautiful mulberries.




My even more beautiful mulberry smoothie.

Homemade Pasta

I love pasta.

First of all carbs, cheese and meat make me a very happy person :)

Second of all I lurve Italian food. For some reason it really goes well with my palette.

If that wasn't enough if it is... ahem made fresh and with wholewheat flour?? what more do I want in life? :D

I made this from scratch, by hand, without any machine or anything.

What you need:

3 cups of wholewheat flour
2 tbs EVOO (for those who don't know/love Rachel Ray, evoo stands for extra virgin olive oil)
2 eggs
Salt as per taste
just a drop of water for kneading (only if needed)
lots of water for cooking


What to do:

1. Mix all the ingredients except for the water and knead for a good 15 minutes to form a reasonably firm dough. If the dough is too firm add a little water (do not over do it)

2. Roll out thinly. Cut into any shape you want.

3. Spread out the pasta onto trays and leave to dry for 2 hours.

3. In a large saucepan heat a lot of water till boiling add salt if wanted. Drop the pasta into the bubbling water and cook for no more than 3-5 minutes. Overcooking will ruin the pasta.

4. Drain pasta and use as desired.

Be sure to consume the pasta within two days. Since it's fresh and preservative free, it doesn't keep well for long.




my pasta, drying




The cooked, drained pasta; still steamy.




What I did with my pasta :)