Fig Brownies

This is a pretty simple and highly delicious recipe for brownies. The original recipe called for cashews but all I had were figs and, lemme tell you, it turned our very delicious.

Prepare:
-Mix 200g dark chocolate (broken up) with 175g unsalted butter in a bowl
-Melt in a microwave (medium heat for several minutes, stirring every now and then) or over a pot of boiling water and then leave aside to cool
-Whisk 2 eggs and 1 cup of sugar (brown makes for a moister brownie) for about 5 minutes until pale and fluffy-Add the chocolate butter mixture-Sift 1 cup flour and 1/3 cup of cocoa powder into the large bowl and mix well-Roughly chop 100g of dark chocolate and a handful of dried figs-Fold into the mix
Cook:
-Preheat oven to 160C/320F
-Pour into a shallow brownie tin, lined with baking paper
-Bake for about 30-35 minutes. Top should be firm but not too hard, as these will set when left to cool
-Enjoy with some fresh fruit or an icing

Tips:
-These are pretty quick to make and very delicious. You can use a sour-cream based icing but I find these sweet enough on their own to not need it
-You could use many different things instead of the fig: pistachios, cashews, almonds, dates, apricots, dried cranberries, etc.

Dessert Burrito!

I was hankering for something amazing this morning. No, I wasn't hungover, just craving. I thought that a dessert/breakfast burrito would be the best thing:
Prepare:
-Warm a tortilla in the microwave for 15 seconds
-Spread a good amount of nice peanut butter and Nutella down the middle of the tortilla
-Slice 1 banana down the middle and arrange on the tortilla, fold/wrap upCook:
-Heat a large flat pan on medium heat
-Place folded burrito on the pan and place a plate on top for seal and pressure, cook for 4 minutes (if it starts smoking, take it off!) and then flip over.
-Enjoy!Tips:
-This is pretty perfect on its own... you could add caramel or marshmellow fluff for a bit more of heaven.

Banana Chocolate Shake

Every now and then I get a craving for a creamy shake. The problem is that they're usually like 5$ and unhealthy, so I never buy them. I tried to make one at home that was maybe a bit healthier and definitely cheaper. It came out with pretty much the exact consistency I wanted, thick and creamy but still drinkable, which was very nice.

Prepare:
-Couple tbsp cocoa powder
-1 tbsp hot water
-5 cubes ice
-1 banana
-1/4 cup milk (I used soy)
-1.5 tbsp low-fat vanilla yogurt

Cook:
-I put the tbsp water in a big beaker that goes with my blender, then put it in the microwave for 30 seconds to boil
-Mix in the cocoa until it's a bit thicker and almost like a paste-Pour in half the milk and the yogurt and blend-Mix in the banana, ice, and the rest of the milk and blend again
Tips:
-You could change this in may ways... substituting ice cream for yogurt, using a different kind of milk, putting in berries instead of banana, different flavored yogurt, mixing in mint leaves... the world is your milkshake!

Chocolate and walnut biscotti

I got this recipe from a cute-little Italian cook book I got from my girlfriend's nephew and niece. The book is Italian Light and Easy and has a number of nice recipes, that I have cooked.

Prepare:
-Chop about 1 cup of walnuts, toast for 8 minutes at 350F. Keep oven on for the cookies
-In a bowl, melt 2 oz unsweetened chocolate with 3 tbsp unsalted butter in a microwave (about 1 minute), then let cool
-In a large bowl sift 1 1/4c flour with 1 tsp baking powder-In a different bowl, beat 2 eggs; add 1/2 cup sugar and blend; then add the chocobutter
-Stir the two together, then fold in walnuts
-On a lightly greased cookie sheet, form a roll, about 14 inches long, 3 inches wide, smooth
Cook:
-Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until firm all the way through
-Take out the biscotti roll and cut diagonally, 1/2 inch-wide pieces
-Place pieces on wire frame (I used the wired rack of the oven, cleaned) and back another 15 minutes
-Cool and enjoy

Tips:
-Any nut would work well for this. I think in the future, I'd try pecans or something
-I only had sweetened chocolate, so I used that and reduced the sugar by a tablespoon. The cookies weren't that sweet (though maybe they're not supposed to be) and in the future, I'd keep the sugar the same
-Adding dried cranberries or raisins would only be a plus with these babies!

Chocolate Date Muffins

I found this recipe on the back of the package of dried dates that I had been munching on. Seemed easy and tasty enough, so I scaled it down for 6 muffins, made a bit more changes, and went to town.
Prepare:
-Chop up ~1/2 cup of dates
-Ready 1/2 cup of water for boiling
-Chop 50g (a little less than half a cup) of butter or margarine
-1/4 cup castor sugar
-1 tbsp chopped almonds
-1 egg, beaten
-1/2 tsp vanilla
-1/4 tsp baking soda mixed in 1/4 cup of milk
-1 cup self-raising flour (I didn't have self raising so used this convenient substitution: 1 cup self raising = 7/8 cup regular + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp salt) mixed with 1/4 cup cocoa
-1/2 cup or less chocolate chips
Cook:
-Preheat oven to 210C or 410F (I know, it's hot, but it worked)
-Pour boiling water over dates in a bowl, mix and crush till melted
-Slowly add butter-Wait till butter melts, then add everything else except for the chocolate chips and mix very well
-Fold in chocolate chips-Pour batter into greased muffin tray-Put try in oven, baking for about 18-20 minutes, or until toothpick test works outTips:
-These were great, I don't know if I'd change anything... maybe substitute pecans for the almonds and also use chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips
-Eat them warm - they're great that way

Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

I found this recipe off allrecipes, like so many other good ones, based on its impressive rating and reviews. Many were heralding it as the "most amazing cookie ever" and "the kind of cookie you get in a bakery but can never make at home". I copied it as written on the website and prayed for a worthy product. It was very delicious - nicely crunchy on the outside, but good chewyness on the inside. Not the most amazing cookie I've ever had, but very very delicious nonetheless.
Prepare:
-Melt 170g (3/4 cup) of unsalted butter (I used salted and didn't add the salt later on)
-Cream1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar into the bowl with the butter -In a small bowl, beat 1 egg and an additional yolk, mixing in 1tbsp vanilla essence-In a large bowl, sift 2 cup plain or all-purpose flour with 1/2tsp of baking soda and 1/2tsp of salt (skip if used salted butter)
-Mix the 3 bowls together... not too much, though, just until more or less blended
-Fold in as many chocolate chips as you'd like-Refrigerate for about 40 minutes
Cook:
-Roll dough into balls... using 1/4cup measuring spoon gets you a nice big cookie
-Space evenly on a baking pan lined with ungreased baking paper (this is important)
-Bake at 350F/160C for about 15-20 minutes, or until outsides start to turn brown but inside is still soft
-Let sit outside, on cookie sheet, for a couple minutes to finish cooling. Eat!Tips:
-I made these at a friend's house with aluminum foil instead of baking paper and it turned out plain wrong! Use baking paper
-The time is weird... according to the recipe, it called for 15 minutes or less, but mine took closer to 25 or 30 minutes to cook. It depends on the size of the cookie and the efficiency of your oven, I suppose
-You can make the batch, and separate it into rolls (wrap in baking paper and then cling wrap/plastic bag) for freezing - then when you want a cookie or two, just cut off from the loaf and bake in a toaster oven!-Substitute chocolate chips for chunks, or any other flavor (butterscotch, white, peanut butter) chips, as per desire and availability

Chocolate Gluten-free Puddings with Custard

I was browsing some women's magazine in the doctor's office a couple weeks ago, searching for recipes as per usual, when this one for Chocolate "Christmas" Puddings jumped out it me: it looked really good and didn't require any wheat-flour. Our discussion tutor has Coeliac's disease and thus needs to eat gluten-free foods. I surreptitiously ripped the page out of the magazine and readied to make this delectable food. Note: 'pudding' in British countries means, essentially, moist cake.
Prepare puddings:
-200g (a bit more than a cup) of chopped dried fruit (I had dates, apricots, raisins, papaya, and apple)-2 tbsp Tia Maria or Kahlua
-1 cup of gluten-free flour (this can be rice, potato, corn, or a mixture
-1 1/4 cup caster sugar
-1 tsp baking powder
-1/3 cup dark cocoa
-200g (1 1/2 cup) butter, melted-3 eggs
-1 12-hole muffin pan, with slots greased and a bit of baking paper on the bottomCook:
-Preheat oven to 180C/375F
-Mix the fruit and the liquor, sit aside
-Sift together the powders in a large bowl, make a well in the middle and-Add eggs and butter, mix well until smooth
-Add fruits and mix till heterogeneous
-Pour batter into muffin tray, leaving maybe 1/2 inch/2cm from the top-Bake for 40 minutes, let cool for 15 minutes before taking out of the tray

Prepare custard (note, this was hectic and thus I was unable to take pictures):
-1/4 cup of honey/golden syrup
-1 cup Tia Maria or Kahlua
-2 1/2 tbsp gluten-free flour
-300 ml of cream
-50g (~1/3 cup) butter
Cook:
-Melt butter in sauce pan/small pot-Mix in flour, cook for 1 minute
-Add the remaining ingredients
-Lower heat to medium low and stir constantly until sauce begins to boil lightly and thickens
-Remove and immediately cover in plastic wrap to prevent skin formingTips:
-You could substitute the mixed fruit for just one of your favorite fruits, to concentrate the flavor. Alternatively if you used half fruit and half chocolate chips, this would turn out much more chocolatey
-Make sure to grease the trey pretty well, as I had a hard time removing the puddings
-Would work great with fresh berries on top
-Do not let the custard actually boil: maintain a level of almost-boiling-ness while stirring
-

Chocotastic Cheesecake

I've always loved cheesecake but never tried to make it. I had an opportunity to do it for a picnic and decided to put a twist on a classic cheesecake and make it chocolatey, as I love chocolate. For the base, or crust, of the cake I used the dough from Natasha's Triple Choc Cookies. If you wanted a bit plainer/non-chocolate base, you can crumble Graham crackers mixed with butter and a bit of sugar into the bottom of a greased pan and bake at 350F for about 15 minutes.
Prepare:
-Dough as given in the cookie recipe. You don't need as much as is written, but I used some extra to layer the cake and froze a ball of cookie dough for later. I pressed it, raw, into the mold of the cake pan, then took it out and baked it on a cookie sheet.-2 8oz packs of cream cheese, melted to room temperature
-a couple tsp of lemon juice, with some pinches of lemon zest-1 pint heavy whipping cream
-1/3 cup of sugar
Cook:
-Mix together cream cheese and lemon-Beat heavy whipping cream until thick, mix in with cream cheese, add sugar-Pour into pan, on top of crust
-Chill for at least a couple of hoursTips:
-I put half the cheesecake filling on top of the crust and then put in a layer of crumbled cookie crumbs and sliced banana. Any fruit would work wonderful, especially a berry. I then used the rest of the crumbs to decorate the top of the cake (PBL 15 is my discussion group).
-This cake turned out very tasty but very sweet and rich. I think next time I might use light cream or light cream cheese.

Nutella Pancakes with Banana or Coconut

I love chocolate. My mind frame is thus: if I'm eating something sweet, it's pointless if it doesn't have chocolate. As I was getting to sleep last night, I was dreaming about different ways to use Nutella in cooking, to give a rich, chocolatey taste. I decided that in the morning, I would make Nutella pancakes; of course, mixing one of the fruits that was made for chocolate: banana.
Prepare:
-1 cup of flour
-1 tsp of salt
-1 cup of milk (I used soy since I like the flavor. You can also add a spritz of lemon/lime juice to give it a buttermilk-type thing)
-1 banana, sliced
-1 beaten egg
-1 heaping tbsp of Nutella
Cook:
-Sift together flour and salt
-Make a little hole and pour in the beaten egg. Mix-Slowly add the milk, beating with every pour
-Add the Nutella. Mix well, as it's clumpy in the beginning but should even out towards the end
-Cover in saran wrap and put in the fridge for 30-60min to let it thicken a bit. The consistency should be pretty runny but not full-on liquid-In a pan on medium, melt some butter (normally, I'm an olive oil guy but I figured a situation like this called for butter)
-Drop 1/4cup of batter onto the pan, put the bananas on the top-After ~1 min (you should see a bit of smoke on the edges... you can feel firmness) flip it over
Coconut:
I had leftover batter after this morning (the mix makes about 6 pancakes) and so tonight for dessert I decided to try it with coconut.
Prepare:
-Same batter as above
-2 tbsp of coconut
Cook:
-In an unoiled pan, toast the coconut for about 1 minute or 2 until it starts getting brown
-Mix it with the batter and then cook the same as mentioned above

Tips:
-The pancakes weren't that sweet. You could add 1/2cup of sugar to the mix to sweeten it up. Also, chocolate chips would work quite well.
-I am not a syrup fan, so I ate 2 of the banana pancakes with honey and 1 with kiwi on top. Both were delicious
-Make the batter, make a couple pancakes, and then save the batter for later.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I bought some pumpkin the other day at the market with a dream to make something but no idea what. A soup crossed my mind, but then I stumbled across an interesting recipe for cookies on allrecipes.com.
Preheat oven to ~175C/350F.
In a large bowl, mix:
1 1/2-2 cups of canned or fresh pumpkin (for fresh, roast some pumpkin for around 30 minutes or until soft at ~175C/350F, then mash)1 cup sugar
1/2 cup of vegetable oil (NB: applesauce can be substituted for oil. In this recipe I did about 1/3 cup apple sauce and a bit oil, so it gives it a little fatty taste)
1 egg
Since I my pumpkin mashed, it didn't turn out so creamy, so I put the above 4 in a blender and pureed for a little bit (though not too long, as you don't want to whip the egg).
In a different bowl sift:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and/or any other of that kind of spice you have lying around
1/2 tsp of saltThen, mix the 2 aforementioned bowls and add 1 tsp of baking soda that has been dissolved in 1 tbsp of milk. I don't know what this does, but that's what the recipe called for.
Finally, add 1 tbsp of vanilla essence and as much chocolate chips as you'd like (I think I did about 1 1/2 cups) and mix well.The final dough should be pretty liquid and gloopy, unlike Natash's cookies. I tasted mine and it was lacking something, so I grated some fresh nutmeg (which I hadn't added in the first place) and it tasted much better. Always make sure to taste your dough! The final product usually tastes better, but it's convenient to spot a mistake ahead of time before you pop it in the oven and are screwed.
Spoon balls onto greased baking sheet or baking paper on a pan. Let bake for ~10 minutes or until lightly brown and pretty firm.
The top batch are cooked, the bottom were just slopped on.
Enjoy with some milk and don't forget to share.

Natasha's Triple Choc Cookies

I was sitting next to my friend Matt in lecture one day when his friend Natasha handed me a sumptuous chocolate chip cookie. It was very tasty and so I demanded the recipe and reproduced the cookies for my class.
Preheat oven at 180C/356F
Melt together:
150g (5.3oz) of dark cooking chocolate
180g (~1 cup) of margarine or butter (I used butter)
Just put them together in a microwave for ~2 minutes, then woosh them around till they mix fairly well.
Mix:
2 cups of flour
1.5 cups sugar (I used white)
3/4 cup of cooking cocoa
Then add:
Choco-butter combination
3 beaten eggs
Mix these around for a while. The consistency was much grainier and less liquid than I had imagined for a cookie dough. It tasted pretty good in dough form, too. Then add some chocolate chips, though I suppose you could do walnuts or dried cherries or something if you were so inclined.Then make some balls and evenly space them on a pan with baking paper or a greased pan. They should take 10-20 minutes depending on the size of the balls. You can tell they're ready when you try to move them and they seem semi-solid. Take them out and let them cool/continue cooking outside for about 5 minutes, then enjoy!