Brownies - in egg shells

The most delicious and simple brownie recipe ... also available in egg shells

This recipe is featured on RecipeNewZ

Source: A friend’s grandma

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients
- 200 g margarine, melted
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp baking powder if not using self rising flour
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts, optional

Instructions
1. Mix all ingredients in no particular order.
2. Grease a 9x13 inches baking pan and pour the batter in.
3. Bake on 350F for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.

Afterthoughts
- This is my most favorite brownies recipe: it produces wonderfully chewy, chocolaty and not-too-sweet brownies. The main criticism is that it's very hard to stop eating them, and when a batch is over you immediately crave more. Fortunately, the recipe is so simple, that the craving is very easily satisfied :-)
- If you are using egg shells, empty, wash and dry them before baking. You can place the filled egg shells in muffin tins to bake. Egg shells are super-cute, but very high maintenance, both in terms of preparation and eating (peeling and all), so I only managed to make 6. The rest of the batter I baked in a smaller (7x11 '') pan. The egg shells keep the brownies moist for over a week, so you can make them well in advance.

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Mango Mousse Cake

Perfect for entertaining and a lot of fun making!

This recipe is featured on RecipeNewZ

Source: Base cake Improvised
Mango mousse adapted from Desserts for Breakfast
Mango jelly adapted from Baking Library

Taste: 4 out of 5
Difficulty: 4 out of 5

Ingredients
For cake base
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup / 100 g sugar
• ¾ cup / 120 g all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
For syrup
• ¼ cup syrup from canned peaches
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp fruit liqueur (optional)
For mango mousse
• 1 tbsp gelatin
• 2 tbsp water
• 350 g fresh mango puree
• 100 g sugar
• 1 cup / 250 ml whipping cream
• 1 tsp orange extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
For mango jelly
• 150g mango puree
• 2 tsp gelatin
• ¼ cup water
Total 3 3-inch cakes and 3 4-inch cakes (I’d say 9 servings)

Directions
For the cake:
1. Using an electric mixer whisk the eggs with the sugar on maximum speed for about 5 minutes until soft peaks form.
2. Fold in the flour and the baking soda and pour the batter into a parchment lined 10x14 inch cookie sheet. Spread the batter evenly and bake in an oven preheated for 350F for about 30-40 minutes until the cake is golden brown.
3. Let the cake cool before peeling the parchment paper; then using the mousse rings or a cookie cutter, cut individual cake rings of desired sizes.
For the syrup:
4. Place all the ingredients into a small pot. Cook on medium heat until all the sugar melts. Remove from heat and let cool. Generously brush the tops of the cake bases with the syrup. Let soak for several minutes before assembling the cake.Now you can make the mousse.
For the mousse:
5. Combine gelatin with water and set aside for 5 minutes to bloom
6. In the meantime, heat half the mango puree with half the sugar, just until all the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, stir in the gelatin and again whisk until the gelatin dissolves. Mix in the remaining puree and the orange extract and let cool.
7. Whip the cream. Add the remaining sugar and the vanilla and whip until soft peaks form.
8. Fold in half the whipped cream into the mango puree to lighten it up. Then gently fold the puree into the cream.
9. Immediately pour over the syrup soaked bases and refrigerate for 3-4 hours.
For the jelly:
10. Soak the gelatin in water, let bloom for 5 minutes, then heat in a microwave for 20 seconds until gelatin dissolves completely. Allow to cool and mix with the mango puree. Pour over the chilled cakes. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours until the jelly sets completely.
For assembly:
11. You will need 3 3 inch cake rings and 3 4 inch cake rings. You can also use cans, such as tuna cans with bottoms removed.
12. To line the molds I used transparency strips. Remember those transparencies used for presentations in the pre-laptop age? I cut them into strips, a little taller than the cake rings. It was a bit of work, but I will be reusing the strips for future cakes, so it was time well spent. You can also use parchment paper, but I am afraid cake edges will not be very smooth.
13. Before you start baking, prepare the rings and the lining.
14. First make the cake. While it’s baking make the syrup. Let the cake cool in the pan then invert it onto a cutting board, peel of the parchment and cut the individual bases. Re-line the sheet with parchment.
15. Place the lined rings on the baking sheet. Brush the bases with the syrup and place each base at the bottom of each ring.
16. Next make the mousse, when it’s ready pour it over the bases and place the baking sheet with the cakes in the fridge to set.
17. Make the jelly only once the mousse is completely set. Pour the jelly over the mousse and refrigerate the cakes once again.
18. To unmold, slide the cakes with the transparent lining out of the cake ring (that should be very easy). Then when the cakes are still cold, carefully peel off the lining. If you freeze the cake for 5-10 minutes before unmolding, the lining will come off a little cleaner leaving the sides, especially the mousse layer, smoother.
19. Can be served with almond crisps, chocolate shavings, whipped cream of fresh mango slices.


Afterthoughts
• This was my first attempt at individual mousse cakes. It was a long process (probably a fool day, including recipe research and up to posting, but now I feel like a semi-accomplished baker :-).
• I used 2 large Peruvian mangoes for this recipe, most for the mousse and some for the jelly. I simply pureed the mangoes in a blender. Took less than a minute.
• Taste wise, the cake was a little too dry. I should cook it a little less next time and use more syrup to soak. Or maybe add a little butter or oil. This cake is an angel cake, but it is very thin, so it actually tasted quite a lot like lady fingers. Which is great, because it can be used for Tiramisu, without the need to pipe out individual cookies, yey!
• The leftover cake can be used for English Trifle, or something similar. Cut it into small chunks and serve with canned peaches, fresh blueberries and whipped cream – just one idea.
• For the syrup, you can also use another juice or water, just add more sugar. Next time I will double the syrup for this amount of cake.
• The mousse was great. It gets 5 out of 5 taste-wise.
• For the jelly I used 3 tbsp water and 1 tbsp gelatin. It started to stiffen very quickly before it even got a chance to spread out evenly. If I make the jelly again, I will use a little less gelatin and more water. I will also add sugar or liquor. Also, because the surface of the mousse was not even, I would need maybe twice more jelly to create a smooth cover. So I should try doubling the mousse. But to tell the truth, the jelly did not taste too good. I think using an orange or peach Jell-o would give better results.
• You can also make one large cake. Then you would need a 9 inch spring form pan lined with parchment paper (on the base and on the sides). In this cake use ½ the cake batter.

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Broccoli Cheese Soup

Perfect for one of these cold rainy winter nights - for March SRC
Source: All Day I Dream About Food blog, originally from Cook’s Illustrated

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5 – the most difficult part is using an immersion blender)

Ingredients
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter (100 cal)
• 1 lb broccoli (150 cal)
• 5 green onions (10 cal)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (5 cal)
• 1 tsp dry mustard powder
• pinch of cayenne
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 cups water
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup chicken or beef broth (20 cal)
• 1 cup frozen spinach (40 cal)
• 1 ½ oz sharp cheddar, grated (170 cal)
• ½ oz parmesan, grated + more to sprinkle before serving (60 cal)
• ¼ tsp pepper (or adjust to taste)
Total 4 servings, 555 calories, 140 cal / serving

Directions
1. Chop the broccoli into 1 inch pieces, use both the florets and the stems. Finely chop the green onions.
2. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat butter over medium high heat. Add broccoli, onion, garlic, mustard, cayenne and salt. Stir frequently and cook until fragrant, about 6 minutes.
3. Add water and baking soda and bring to a simmer. Cook until broccoli is very soft, about 20 minutes.
4. Add broth and spinach and bring to a simmer.
5. Add cheeses and blend soup with an immersion blender (alternatively, you can transfer soup to a blender and blend in two batches).
6. Adjust consistency of soup to your liking with remaining water (I found it didn't need any more).
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Afterthoughts
• This is a great soup, we really liked it! Rich consistency, yet not too greasy; all the ingredients can be distinctly felt, yet they blend together very nicely; filling, yet not heavy.
• I made small adjustments to the original recipe; primarily I used a little more spinach and used green onions instead of regular ones. I don’t think these changes made a big difference.
• I was very puzzled by the addition of baking soda. Carolyn mentioned that it was meant to speed up the cooking of broccoli. I did a little more research on baking soda in cooking, and it seems that people add it to greens to preserve the colors, and add it to creamy soups to prevent milk from curdling. Interesting…
• About All Day I Dream About Food – this is a wonderful food blog. I have been following it for ages now, and it’s getting better and better. Carolyn publishes many gluten free and low-carb dessert recipes. She also has a lot of delicious savory posts. I first wanted to make her chilled avocado soup , but it’s a little chilly for that, so I made a warmer soup and her chicken Adobo, which also turned out super yummy!
• About SRC – it stands from a Secret Recipe Club, each month you are assigned a food blog, you choose a recipe from it, post it on a predetermined reveal date and add your link to a blog hop, where all the participant post their results. This is a very neat idea of Amanda Formaro.

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Swedish Cinnamon Buns "Bullar"

This was my Delishhh SRC assignment for January

This recipe is featured on RecipeNewZ

Source: Delishhh blog

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 3 (out of 5)

Ingredients
For the dough
• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (1140 cal)
• ¾ tbsp active dry yeast
• ½ cup butter (815 cal)
• 1 cup milk (120 cal)
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ cup sugar (195 cal)
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
For the filling
• 2 tbsp butter at room temperature (200 cal)
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup unpacked brown sugar (180 cal)
Total: 24 buns, 2650 cal, 110 cal/bun

Directions
1. Mix the flour with the yeast.
2. In a small pan warm the butter and the milk over low heat until the butter melts. Add the sugar, the salt and the cardamom and stir well until the sugar dissolves. The mixture should be lukewarm (about 115F).
3. Pour the warm milk into the flour and mix well. Knead until the dough is smooth. In a stand mixer with a dough hook it should take about 4-5 minutes on low speed.
4. Cover the dough with a plastic wrap or a wet paper or cloth tower, and leave it to rise in a warm place for about an hour to an hour and a half until it doubles in size. The rise times depend on the temperature in your kitchen.
5. Once the dough has risen, divide it in 2 halves. Dust a work surface and roll each half into a ¼ inch thick square. You can also freeze half of the dough, and defrost in the refrigerator overnight before use.
6. Spread the butter over the dough and sprinkle it with the sugar cinnamon mixture.
7. Roll the dough into a cylinder and cut it into 12 pieces. Place the buns into greased muffin tins and let rise covered once again for another 30 minutes.
8. Brush the buns with egg wash or a little cream mixed with sugar and bake in an oven preheated to 450F for 20 minutes or until you can smell the cinnamon and the buns are golden brown.

Afterthoughts
• These buns are getting raving reviews from cinnamon lovers :-). Unfortunately, I have not learned to love cinnamon yet, so I have not tried them… Why did I make cinnamon buns then? Because I am going on a detox week, and my bf is not. He loves cinnamon, I don’t. So what better dessert can I make for him to make him happy and me not tempted ;-)? But I still have half a batch of the dough waiting for me in the freezer, for after the detox. Only that time I will mix sugar with grated orange zest instead of cinnamon, and I can try my own version, maybe a little less Swedish…
• This recipe comes from a wonderful blog Delishhh that I’ve been following for a long long time now. Ewa is originally from Sweden and has an amazing collection of Swedish recipes (and an equally amazing collection of non-Swedish ones ;-) ). I have never made Swedish food, so I’ve been eyeing those recipes for a long time. Unfortunately for me, many of them have cinnamon, so I have been hesitant to try them. But even for someone like me, there are some cinnamon-free recipes, that I have on my list to make after my detox, like Swedish pancakes, Swedish saffron cake, and Swedish sandwich cake (you must check this one out, it’s gorgeous!)
• This was my Secret Recipe Club assignment for January 2012. SRC is organized by Amanda Formaro and led by several brave volunteer hostesses, who each month assign you a blog, from which you choose a recipe and post the results on a reveal day. It’s a lot of fun to participate and I am very thankful to Amanda and Jane Bonacci, the hostess of our group, for doing all the heavy lifting and making it possible!

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Not-quite-ginger bread house

Ingredients: rye bread, crackers, cream cheese and toothpicks - not an earthquake resistant structure ;-)

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Garlic Chives Pesto

When you have garlic chives, don’t have time and still want a yummy dinner.
Source: Everyday Mom blog

Difficulty: 1 (out of 5)

Taste: 5 (out of 5)

Ingredients
• 10 (approximately) garlic chives (or garlic scapes), roughly chopped (10 cal)
• 1/4 cup walnuts, lightly roasted (170 cal)
• 1/2 cup olive oil (960 cal)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano cheese (80 cal)
Total: 1 cup of pesto, 4 servings, 1220 calories, 305 cal / serving

Directions
1. In a food processor combine garlic chives and walnuts. Blend until smooth and combined.
2. With the processor still running slowly add the olive oil forming a paste.
3. Scoop pesto into mixing bowl, gently mix in cheese.
4. Serve with your favorite pasta, adding a little pasta water to help coat the pasta, as the pesto is a little thick. Chicken or mushrooms go great with this pesto.

Afterthoughts
• This was my November Secret Recipe Club assignment. My Secret Blog was Everyday Mom, a great site with lots of delicious and simple recipes, that I’ve been following for a while now. And since this month is very busy for me, I chose a really simple recipe, which turned out super-delicious! Thanks, Kim :-).
• The original recipe calls for garlic scapes, the garlic equivalent of green onions. I have only seen those in farmers’ markets during the summer months, and now it’s late autumn. But I recently discovered garlic chives that are sold in our local Asian grocery stores, and I suspect taste quite similar. So that’s what I used.
• I froze half of the pesto and plan to use it as a pizza topping... What will that taste like? That is still a mystery, to keep the future full of good surprises ;-)

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Chickpeas Feta Salad and Tahina

This month my Secret Recipe Club assignment was a perfect match for my first attempts at home made pitas: Katherine Martinelli’s blog has lots of great Middle Eastern recipes (among other things), so I made two great dishes instead of one :-)

This recipe is featured on RecipeNewZ

Source: Katherine Martinelli blog

GARLICKY ROASTED CHICKPEAS WITH FETA AND MINT
Taste 4 (out of 5)
Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients
• 1 15-oz can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained (540 cal)
• 1 tbsp olive oil (120 cal)
• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced (15 cal)
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• ¾ cup crumbled Feta (295 cal)
• ½ cup chopped fresh mint
• Lemon wedges
Total: 970 cal, 2 servings, 485 cal / serving

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C.
2. Mix together the olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
3. Put chickpeas into baking dish and toss with olive oil mixture until the chickpeas are well coated with oil. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Put chickpeas in the oven and roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until chickpeas are slightly browned and barely beginning to crisp.
5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly. Transfer to a serving dish and stir in the feta and mint. Season with additional salt and pepper as needed. Serve with lemon wedges.

Afterthoughts
• This is a very simple, filling and healthy dish, a great accompaniment to any Middle Eastern meal.
• If you don’t have fresh mint, use dried.

TAHINA DIP

Source: Katherine Martinelli blog

Taste 4 (out of 5)
Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients
• ½ cup tahini (710 cal)
• 4 tbsp lemon juice (15 cal)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (10 cal)
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup chopped parsley
• Salt
Total: ¾ cups, 735 cal

Directions
Mix all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Serve at room temperature.

Afterthoughts
Katherine’s original directions have more steps, but I combined them all. Check out her post if you don’t want your tahina to be all green :-)

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Molasses Cookies

Simple autumn cookie recipe

This recipe is featured on RecipeNewZ

Source: adapted from Allrecipes

Taste: 4 out of 5

Difficulty: 1 out of 5

Ingredients
• 3/4 cup margarine, melted (1215 cal)
• 1 cup white sugar (780 cal)
• 1 egg (70 cal)
• 1/4 cup molasses (245 cal)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (910 cal)
• 2 teaspoons baking soda mixed with 1 tbsp apple vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon ground orange zest
• 1/2 cup white sugar (390 cal)
Total: 30 cookies, 3610 cal, 120 cal / cookie

Directions
1. Combine all the ingredients using a mixer. Cover, and chill dough for 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Roll dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining white sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until tops are cracked. Cool on wire racks.

Afterthoughts
These cookies are very soft and chewy, but it seems I am not a huge fan of molasses. I will try them next time with brown sugar instead :-)

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Cheese Bread

Super easy and delicious, especially when served warm out of the oven. A perfect accompaniment for any autumn meal and my October SRC assignment.
Source Kitchen Trial and Error blog

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients
• 2 eggs (140 cal)
• 3 tbsp canola oil (360 cal)
• 1 cup milk (120 cal)
• 1 tablespoon sugar (45 cal)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (910 cal)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese (660 cal)
Total: 2235 cal, 10 slices, 225 cal / slice

Directions
1. Mix the eggs, the oil, the milk, the sugar and the salt.
2. Add the dry ingredients and mix until there are no lumps.
3. Mix in the shredded cheese.
4. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and pour in the batter.
5. Bake for 45 minutes in an oven preheated to 375F.
6. Serve warm.

Afterthoughts
1. I am not sure whether it’s a crustless quiche, a biscuit or bread, but it’s certainly very tasty, especially warm out of the oven. It’s very easy to finish half the loaf. There is a lot of cheese in this bread, but it does not in the slightest feel greasy or heavy.
2. If you don’t finish the loaf on the first day, seal it in a zip lock bag, store in the fridge and reheat in microwave (but of course chances are you won’t have any leftovers).
3. I greased the loaf pan very thoroughly with shortening, but the bread was all stuck to the pan (I suppose because of the melted cheese) and it was extremely difficult to take the bread out and then to wash the pan. Next time I will definitely use parchment paper, and maybe grease it too.
4. Saving the best for last ;-) : if you have not visited Kate’s blog Kitchen Trial and Error yet, you certainly should. She has lots of great recipes, both sweet and savory, and I’ve been reading and loving it for a long time. And I am not saying that just because my blog is called Cookbook of Trial and Error :-). I think my next trial (and I hope a successful one) from Kate’s blog will be her caramel corn, something I’ve been wanting to make for a year now.

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Cheese Cake with Sour Cream

Tangy, light, delicious and as low calorie as a cheese cake can be

This recipe is featured on RecipeNewZ

Source: a friend’s mom

Taste 5 out of 5

Difficulty 2 out of 5

Ingredients
For the base
• 130 g animal crackers (520 cal)
• 70 g melted butter (500 cal)
For the cheese layer
• 400 g farmers cheese (310 cal)
• 100 g buttermilk or yogurt (65 cal)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (10 cal)
• 2 eggs (140 cal)
• 2/3 cup sugar (510 cal)
For the top layer
• 300 g sour cream (640 cal)
• 1/3 cup sugar (255 cal)
Total 2950 cal, 12 servings, 245 cal/serving

Directions
1. Crush the animal cracker in a food processor to a powder consistency. Transfer the cracker powder into a clean bowl and mix with the melted butter. Press the resulting mixture into a greased 9 inch cake pan – you don’t need to coat the sides of the pan, only the bottom. You can also use a 5”x7” square Pyrex pan, if you want to make cheese cake squares.
2. In a food processor, mix together all the ingredients for the cheese layer to uniform consistency and pour onto the cracker layer.
3. Bake for 5 minutes in an over preheated to 400F/200C and then for another 15 minutes at 350F/180C.
4. In the meantime mix the sour cream with the sugar. After the cake has been baking for 20 minutes, take it out of the oven; pour the sour cream on top of the cake and bake for another 5 minutes.
5. Let the cake cool at room temperature and then chill in the fridge for another 2 hours before serving.

Afterthoughts
• This is a really delicious light cheese cake. Using quark or farmer’s cheese is a great alternative to cream cheese; it has almost 5 times less calories and is not as heavy and greasy. It also has this nice tanginess to it. If you don’t have quark or farmer’s cheese, no worries, you can use 500 g of Greek yogurt instead of farmer’s cheese and buttermilk.
• The only mistake I’ve made with this cake was the bottom layer, next time I will use cracker crumbs, not powder, and will add less butter. In my case the base was too soggy.

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