Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

In school we used to go for these girls school District and All-Island Tennis Tournaments. The thing we used to look forward to the most was the amount of food we will be consuming during that week. Tennis matches were the best! Our team consisted of a bunch of really close friends who just constantly had fun. Up-to-date we still remember the silly things that we used to do at the matches and roll on the floor laughing. We didn't have superstar players but we always managed to at least bag second place. Jam and I were doubles partners, we were even on TV once because of this crazy intensely long match we played. Everyone at the tennis club knew who we were after watching that match, thus they came to watch the final match and we failed miserably at it. Whatever, we had fun anyway. 

So getting back to the food, I used to bring these massively awesome hotdogs and 'fried items'. I loved sausages, they were my thing and my team mates look forward to eating them because they were so so so good. The other favourite thing we did was buy a 600ml bottle of strawberry milk from the canteen. It was this gigantic pink bottle which finished in a few seconds because everyone just pounces at the person carrying it. And our all time favourite food at the tennis club was what they sold in the fancy gym attached to it. CHOCOLATE OATMEAL COOKIES. I have never been a fan of oatmeal for some weird reason. Always thought it was old peoples food. I was sceptical initially when everyone was buying it. The only reason we ventured in to the gym was because it was Air Conditioned and we couldn't bare the heat outside anymore. I'm glad we ventured in, because they were soo yummy. They had different flavours but the Chocolate one was my favourite. 5-6 years later I decided to make some at home. It was good. They get gooey after a day or two, initially they are a little cake-y. But it brought back fond memories. Missing and reminiscing. Good times, best food, great friends, awesome memories. Those were the days.

Your Challenge: oatmeal is healthy, so don't feel guilty.

Ready ---  Steady --- Bake!

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

(Makes 25 approx.)

INGREDIENTS: 

100 g all-purpose flour 

15g unsweetened cocoa powder 

1g ground cinnamon 

95g margarine/butter

60g brown sugar 

85g white sugar 

1 egg 

4ml vanilla extract 

85g rolled oats 

70g semisweet chocolate chips (optional) 

3g baking powder (only if using Plain Flour)

2g baking soda (only if using Plain Flour)

3g salt  (only if using Unsalted Butter)

 

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 175°C (350°F). Grease cookie sheets. Stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; set aside. 

2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine, brown sugar and white sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients using a wooden spoon. Mix in the oats and chocolate chips. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. 

3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Note: If you want it to be a bit more gooey than Cake-y, add a bit more butter or an egg OR reduce the amount of flour. If using plain flour, then reduce the amount of baking soda and baking powder to reduce it from fluffing up too much.

Ps: the batter tastes amazing. You have to have some raw. 

Challenge Accepted???

Enjoy!

Tosakanth

Quick Cake in a Mug

So Podi-Peré and Lady Shwij came to visit me at my Crib of Awesomeness (yes, it's a real place. One at a time ladies, please!). Well technically they came to visit Schmelly my dog. Whatever! still counts. That Lady Shwij is such a useless bugger (lady), she's been 'trying' to visit for the last 2 months and finally ran out of excuses. Anyway, cooked a Lankan meal: Rice, Pol Roti, Chili Chicken, Dahl, and Vambatu, the lot. Stuffed our selves, gossiped like school girls, stalked like loners and laughed at Youtube clips, then craved some dessert. So Lady Shwij had the brilliant idea of making Cake-in-a-Mug. It literally takes like 5 minutes to whip it up. 3 minutes to mix the stuff 'thoroughly' under Lady Shwij's bossy supervision and then 2 minutes to microwave and 0 minutes to eat it. It was good, we may have put a bit too much peppermint and we were all rolling around with a chocolate food baby afterwards, but what-evs, twas still good. 

Your Challenge:  whip up a couple-a Mug Cakes instead of Cupcakes.

 

 

Ready---Steady---Microwave!

Quick Cake in a Mug

(serves 2)

INGREDIENTS:

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons oil
1 dash vanilla
1 dash salt (optional)
1 dash baking powder (optional)

1 dash of mint essence (optional)

METHOD:

1. Put all ingredients in a large mug and mix well.
2. Separate batter in to 2 microwavable mugs

3. Microwave for 3 minutes.
4. You will see cake rise, but it will fall when you take it out of the microwave. Microwave times may vary. If it looks done 15 or so seconds earlier, take it out.
5. Serve with some ice cream or whipped cream.

Note: We used a gigantic mug and doubled the quantities. Don't fill the mug right to the top with batter, because it will overflow and make a huge mess like our one.

Challenge Accepted???

Enjoy!

Tosakanth

Chocolate Mousse Cake

It's DashGlowPrincess' birthday day and I had the honour of whipping up a cake for her. Wanted to do a Coffee Mud cake but then decided on this intoxicating-death-by-chocolate-better-than-sex-chocolate-mousse-cake instead. I halved the ingredients to make a small itsy bitsy little cake. We felt a little high and hysterical after eating it because twas too intensely rich. Everyone loved the cake, and the birthday girl seemed very surprised! Happy Birthday DashGlowPrincess!

Your Challenge: Try to amuse your bouche with this Chocolate Mousse.

A very surprised DashGlowPrincess

Ready --- Steady --- Cook

Chocolate Mousse Cake

INGREDIENTS:

500g dark chocolate
2 tbs golden syrup
125g unsalted butter
4 eggs
1 tbs caster sugar
3 tbs plain flour, sifted
Icing sugar to decorate
Fresh Cream or Whipped cream to serve

METHOD: 

1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Grease and line the base of a 20cm round spring-form cake pan with non-stick baking paper. 

2. Melt the chocolate, golden syrup and butter in a bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Set aside to cool slightly.  

3. Place eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer or use an electric hand beater and beat on high for 10 minutes until very thick and pale.

4. Gently fold in the flour then fold in the chocolate mixture until combined.

5. Pour into the cake pan and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 12 minutes. 

6. Remove from oven and run a knife around the edge of the cake. Remove collar from cake pan and transfer the cake to the fridge for 1 hour to cool (this step is important as it sets the middle of the cake).  

 

Coffee Mascarpone

Ingredients:

200g mascarpone cheese  

2 tbs instant coffee  

2 tbs pure icing sugar 

Method: 

1. Dissolve coffee in 1 tablespoon of boiling water and set aside to cool.

2. Beat together the mascarpone, coffee and sugar in a bowl until stiff.

3. Serve a dollop with the cake.

Microwave the frozen cake for 5seconds and serve with Coffee Mascarpone, Fresh Cream, Whipped Cream or Ice Cream. The original recipe served it with a Chocolate Sorbet and Coffee Mascarpone.

Challenge Accepted?

Enjoy!

Tosakanth

Cheesy Stuffed Chicken Wrapped in Bacon

As I mentioned in my French Onion Soup Post, I cooked a romantic 3 course meal for my friend who I'm going to name DashGlowPrincess for anonymity. So the main course was Cheesy Stuffed Chicken Wrapped in Bacon with a side of Crispy Herbed Baked Potatoes. It was so super good. I seem to say that for all the stuff I cook and post on this. I'm just that awesome I guess. If that romantic dinner was actually for a potential lover/suitor, I would be married with a child or two by now. One would be a food baby and the other would be a love child. It was THAT good. You must agree that bacon makes anything taste awesome.

Your Challenge: get stuffed eating the good stuff.

Ready --- Steady --- Cook

Cheesy Stuffed Chicken Wrapped in Bacon

INGREDIENTS:

4 chicken thigh fillets

8 slices middle bacon

50g softened butter

Half of a large brown onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/4 cup parsley leaves, finely chopped

2 tablespoons Oregano

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Toothpicks for assembly

1/4 cup Mozzarella cheese

Dash of lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees.

2. Mix butter, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, oregano, cheese, lemon juice and breadcrumbs together to form a dough of stuffing.

3.Grab a generous handful of stuffing and press them onto the middle of a chicken thigh fillet.

4.Roll the chicken fillet over the stuffing and wrap the chicken roll with 2 slices of middle bacon.

5.Cook them in a pan until brown and chicken is cooked

6. put it in the oven for approx. 10minutes or until bacon is browning.

Serve with anything you like e.g. roasted balsamic/garlic potatoes, mashed potatoes with veggies, or salad and chips, or if you're like me, you can just eat them on its own and not feel guilty about it because of its deliciousness it's so worth it, 

Challenge Accepted ???

Enjoy

Tosakanth!

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

My housemate (also known as my de Facto by a friend of mine) and I are doing this 6 week diet plan so start looking sexxxual to lure in lovers and possible suitors. Week 1 was Vegetarian week! sigh. For anyone who knows me, they all know I'm the biggest carnivore alive. I cannot survive without my meaty goodness. At home in mother Lanka, we have to be vegetarian one day a month when it's a full moon day (a religious mumbo jumbo) and I pretty much starve the whole day, because I hate vegetables and there's nothing for me to eat. I survive on Maggi soup. It's really painful. you just don't understand my love for meat, like seriously. 

Anyway, since I decided it's time for me to start looking sexxxual because it is the prime of my life or something to that effect, I decided to make week 1 vegetarian week. So option A lunch was Dhal and Mushroom curry. Option B lunch was Pumpkin curry. Week 1 went really well actually. I didn't crave meat as much as I thought I would. 

Anyway, I wasn't meant to be writing about my stoopid sexxxual diet. I was meant to write about why and how I made Chocolate Pumpkin Cake. Yeah, so we had extra pumpkin left over from week 1. I never really understood the fascination with pumpkin in desserts. It's a big Halloween and Thanksgiving thing in America but I didn't find it that interesting. The de Facto brought home a super moist almost fudge like dense piece of cake from work and she said to eat it and tell her what the flavour was. I'm normally really good at figuring out flavours and ingredients but I just couldn't figure this one out. When she said it was pumpkin -  MIND = BLOWN. So I decided to make some. I found the original recipe here, but as per usual I changed the ingredients and added my own twist to it. It came out so moist and dense and awesome.I topped it off with some Brandy Butter Icing. But instead of brandy I used whiskey because that's all we had at home. Don't ask me why.

Your Challenge: Pump it up with some Pumpkin stuff

Ready --- Steady --- Cook

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

INGREDIENTS:

100g Plain flour

100g Self raising flour

200g sugar

120g salted butter

50g cocoa powder

2 eggs

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon nutmeg

200g pumpkin  puree

1/2 cup yoghurt or sour cream

2 teaspoons Vanilla

 

METHOD:

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180°C and grease pan (Bundt cake pan or whatever you have).

2. If using fresh pumpkin, chop it and add a little yoghurt or sour cream and blend it till it's a puree.

3. In a bowl combine the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder,  cinnamon and nutmeg.

4. In a mixing bowl with electric mixer, cream butter with sugars until light and fluffy.

5. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and then beat in vanilla.

6. Slowly beat in the dry mixture, alternating with the sour cream/yoghurt and pumpkin. Beat until well blended, scraping the sides of the bowl a few times.

7. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan

8. Bake for 25 mins or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

9. Cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Invert onto a serving plate to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar or ice with an orange tinted glaze or thin icing.

 

Notes:

You can find the original recipe here. I have halved the ingredients in the original recipe and made this version and even then there was waaay too much batter left. My recipe yields a lot because the 2 eggs make a very fluffy/rich batter.

-Also, I mixed plain flour and self raising flour because I did not have baking soda at home. Whoops.

-I used fresh pumpkin and blended it with the yoghurt to get a puree like substance.

-I used yoghurt because I didn't have Sour Cream at home either. (really didn't think this one through)

-The original recipe says to bake it for 1 hour. I generally do the toothpick trick because every oven is different. So bake till you deem necessary.

Brandy Butter Icing:

Whisk butter, icing sugar and a tablespoon of Brandy together.

To make it feel Pumpkin-ee, mix in orange colouring and serve on the side.  

Note: Orange = Red+Yellow  food colouring. However, mix the yellow in first and add red little by little depending on how dark you want it to be.

Challenge Accepted ???

Enjoy

Tosakanth!