Eggless butter biscuits!

This has been a long time coming.

I cannot bake without eggs. Let me rephrase that. I couldn't even IMAGINE baking without eggs. But I had to, a challenge that I reluctantly accepted because of a vegetarian friend (no, not one of those hipster vegans who are vegans cz it's cool to be vegan, a kind that I absolutely hate but a real, true vegetarian). It turned out great! The recipe *drumroll* unrolls.

Ingredients

• 250g butter
• 400g flour
• 100g (or as per taste) icing sugar
• 100g cornflour
• Few drops of vanilla essence 
• Mixed ground spices (optional) 

Method

- Sift together flour and cornflour.
- Beat together butter and icing sugar until well combined.
- Add the flour mix to the butter mixture. Add a few drops of vanilla and a few spoonfuls of spice. Mix well.
- Cover in clingfilm or plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
- Flatten with a rolling pin (about 1/2 cm thick) and cut into desired shapes.
- Bake till golden brown in colour.


The result is buttery, crunchy and deeply gratifying. The nose is immediately taken over by the sweet vanilla first, giving out that particular smell that spells of home, hearth and love. For me, this is the smell of beautiful afternoons of teatime goodies and simply, happiness. The first bite registers the butter and then the sweetness of sugar with a thin lacing of spice that is faint but is very much there. The warm notes of vanilla embraces the entirety of the mouthful leaving your senses enveloped in a beautiful vanilla cloud. Convaincu, one can only sigh in sheer pleasure while reaching for another and then, yet another.

I made it plain this time since I did not want to complicate the dish as I was already freaking out due to the absence of eggs (yeah, I'm not kidding). Well, what do you know, baking without eggs IS possible after all!

You can add peanuts, cashews and whatever additions you want to make the cookies yummier or you can just make it buttery and biscuity plain. I added a pinch of spice (I love spices and love spices in everything) so that you can just about sense a faint whiff of cinnamon as you munch on these. The perfect teatime treat!

I shall now make a confession. I make cookies so that I can eat the batter. There. You can now imagine where about half of the cookie batter went.

  

Bread pudding a la Sri Lankan

I <3 Bread pudding :)

Cold bread pudding, screwing my face up as I bite into pieces of lemon peel, cardamom pods and sorting through raisins are amongst my most fondest memories of childhood. And that is exactly what this blog is about - Nostalgic food that are close to the heart.

Of course this is a different recipe than what my mother used to make for us when we were small. I don't remember the exact differences but I do remember this; she likes to serve it cold, I like my bread pudding hot.

Derived from the British, the classic bread-and-butter pudding becomes plain old bread pudding when it comes to this tiny island. How do we like it? Very Sri Lankan. And here is my recipe.

Ingredients

• 12 pieces of bread (approx.) top crust removed
• 4 eggs
• Sugar (as per taste)
• 500 ml Sweetened condensed milk (can be alternated by 500ml regular milk)
• 1 rind of lime
• 4 tablespoons powdered spice (cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, clove) 
• 200 g butter
• 200g raisins/sultanas
• Vanilla essence

Method

- Beat the eggs and sugar together until well combined.
- Add the milk.condensed milk and beat.
- Add the ground spice, few drops of vanilla essence and the rind of lemon. Keep mixture aside.
- Butter both sides of the bread and layer the bottom of a baking dish with a layer of bread.
- Sprinkle raisins/sultanas over the bread. Then pour a part of the egg/milk mixture to soak the bread.
- Spread another layer of bread over this. Keep layering till all the bread and the mixture is gone.
- Bake in a moderate oven till the top is crisp and a skewer inserted in the middle of the pudding comes out clean.
- Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream melting over the top.

The result? Beautiful, soft, yielding pudding with a moist middle that is buttery, milky and not too sweet. The top is browned wonderfully so as to give a buttery crunch to the otherwise spongy treat. The finely grated lime rind gives the pudding the distinct citrus taste and aroma while the spices add a certain fragrance while also cutting through the buttery sweetness of the pudding. Ah, decadence!

I like this warm with a bit of vanilla ice cream melting over the top. It's just fine without the ice cream too and would serve very well as a teatime treat on its own as well as an indulgent dessert after a meal. Get creative with it as this is a very versatile dish. Fruit sauce, fresh fruit, custard anything goes.

A warm bowl of this on a rainy cold day, cuddled up on a couch. Heaven just heaved a longing sigh.

I like this very Sri Lankan bread pudding for the fact that is unimaginably simple. Uncomplicated, clean flavours and a myriad of textures for your whole being to wonder and ponder over. What is more, it can be made out of the ingredients that can be found in any household without having to splurge on expensive ingredients. It also appeals to the lazy person that I am, taking literally just minutes to make. And the sweetness isn't too overpowering either. This can be downed in bowlfuls and while it is very filling, one would not feel sick from too much sweetness as is the case with other desserts out there.

What can I say? This is a taste from childhood that I still crave for from time to time. Mother, the best cook that I know in this world said that this particular one was exceptionally good. Made meself proud :)

  

Two minute pudding - Chocolate chip & salted caramel mug cake

This is all Nigella's fault.

It was pouring outside that night. Just out of the shower, I was snugly curled up in front of the laptop, writing the night away as usual. And as is always the case, writing makes me hungry. And being hungry makes me distracted.

I was absentmindedly browsing through FB when I came across Nigella Lawson's update about some warm chocolate pear pudding. That had me craving chocolate.

I wanted something chocolaty and I wanted something warm. And I needed it now. This is what I came up with. 

Ingredients 

• Handful of chocolate chips (I simply chopped up some cooking chocolate)
• 1 egg
• 5 tablespoons of milk
• 6 tablespoons of sugar (I used brown. I always use brown)
• 10 tablespoons of flour
• 3 tablespoons of butter (or 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil)
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• Few drops of vanilla
• 1 tablespoon of salted caramel (Optional. I have jars of this prepared in the fridge and I thought might as well add this for some extra moistness. Will give the recipe for this later)

(Word of warning - Don't take the quantities seriously since I could not bother measuring anything at all. These are all rough measurements just so that you may have an idea)

Method

• Chuck it all in, give it a good stir, whack it in a mug and pop it in the microwave.
• Microwave till it's no longer liquidy. 

Yes, really.

The result - ooey, gooey chocolaty goodness that is so good that you look around ridden with guilt as you are eating it. The vanilla cakey layer remains intact while once you dig in, the chocolate chips have melted just about right to give an oozing gooeyness from within. The salted caramel will have melted at this point and besides serving as a natural sauce, it will add a salty kick to the otherwise sweet and mellow mixture. Although when adding this, you need to be careful with the amount of sugar you are adding since all the sweet elements come together can end up making this dessert too sweet.  

Of course you can make it without the salted caramel if you don't have any at hand. Just add a bit more of chocolate chips, a drop or two more vanilla and you will have a perfectly oozy chocolate chip vanilla pudding. 

You can be posh and put this in ramekins as well. I suppose it would serve as a formidable dessert at a dinner party even. I do not own ramekins and I wasn't feeling too posh in my cosy old pajamas. Besides, a late night writing session is hardly an occasion. Hence the use of the oversized mug.  

Enough has been heard about mug cakes but I never got the chance to try one out. This really is a breeze. Even a lazy bum like myself can whip this up in a jiffy without batting an eyelid. Although you will probably be bouncing off the walls with the sugar rush after polishing this off like I was that night. I killed off one character in my novel and revived her again later on in the night. It's all Nigella's fault. 

Imagine - Rain is pattering on outside. Inside is cool and cosy with the winds bellowing about, making the curtains dance on the windows. You are nicely snuggled in, both feet up while digging into this warm and oozing pudding, probably dribbling chocolate and salted caramel off your chin. You are trying to lick the chocolate off the spoon but smears chocolate on your nose instead. Warm and sticky. Rain creates music outside. You softly drift away and lose yourself in the sensations.   

Don't look at me. Nigella did this. 

  

CHOGM baking

Since most Colombo roads are closed and there is no way of getting around Colombo without the risk of being CHOGMed from time to time, I stayed at home and baked! And made a point to photograph the outcomes :)

I have my own grandiose ideas about brownies. They need to be rich to the point of being sinful, thick to the point of being a mouthful and simply ooooooooozing with chocolate. Having tried almost all the brownies that are in the market these days, none of it actually come up to my expectations. What I find in the market are these sorry excuses of brownies that come in thin, anorexic slivers that have no richness or depth of flavour whatsoever, but the prices, phew! Exorbitant! So I bake my own :)

 

Chocolate chip cookies, a childhood delicasy that came in round tin boxes which were also a rarity. They always came around during Christmas and it only seemed right that I bake some when the December breeze was just starting to bring about that Christmassy warmth about our homesteads. My idea of chocolate chip cookies is a LARGE, rich, moist vanilla cookie that explodes in the mouth with loud bursts of chocolate that literary gives you goosebumps. I attempt to recreate the idea. And to some extent, I was succesful. Above is the proof.

Last but not the least, my father's personal favourite, the butter cookie. Beautifully caramelized on top (I make it a point to not let the sugar dissolve in the batter entirely), these buttery, milky delight has been a favourite of the household from time immemorial. Idea passed down from Mother Dearest to myself. Me being the rebel has made a few changes and out came these one Friday afternoon :)

Ah baking. It has always been a stress reliever. That feeling you get once some ridiculous idea that you've formulated inside your head comes out from the oven, that adrenaline rush you get when you turn a cake over or take the first scorching bite off a dish is just incomparable. I remember the time when in the heat of exams or assignment deadlines, I would put aside everything else and just bake, knead all my frustration, fury and disappointment, sometimes even the sadness away. The outcomes had always been so sunny and cheerful. Instant gratification, results guaranteed.

For the love of baking <3