MINI AUNTY'S CHOCOLATE CAKE

It doesn't usually happen this way...Jobin asking for a cake because there will be some cake at any point in our house,any time of the day. We ran out of cakes which means we were out of desserts after every meal! We don't need anything fancy, all the time but sometimes yes. When he asked me for a dessert the other day, I asked him what he wanted and he said that cake I made when newly-weds G &J came home for dinner. I knew it! He loves that cake and any cake made along that line.Finally we settled for a chocolate cake .

So Chocolate Cake, huh? Hmm,I have umpteen choices in that one thing. Which one do I bake? Which one is my all time favourite? Which recipe  needs another try? Whose recipe should I try? Cookbook recipes or family recipes? Yes! Family recipe, it is!

Mini Aunty,Tia's mother,is one of my most favourite aunts! She is a fantastic cook! I love her cakes, savory pies,manga pacchadi,moru curry,meen curry,cheemmen fry ,beef olathiyathu and oh! how could I forget her paper thin ghee dosa's and thenga chammanthi! She made me a Dosa convert!

She is Amma's brother's wife and all their kids and we were of the similar age,so we all got along very very well! Infact all our vacations were spent together, we still do if we get a chance. This time, in September, right after her daughter's wedding,we went to visit Jobin's sister in Kashmir. That way, I'm so happy to have spent some quality time with her, after one and a half years!

While I was studying in college, they lived in Bangalore for almost 3 years and I lived with them even though I was paying rent elsewhere :-) The power of lovely people and yummy food attracted me to their house. Mini aunty used to bake cakes once in a while and her chocolate cakes were really tasty. I got this recipe from her, long ago and she is very generous in sharing recipes, unlike a lot of other people who I personally know of! :-)

Mini Aunty's Chocolate Cake 

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 c sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c butter, at room temperature
1 c warm milk
4 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla


Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 F and line a loaf tin.

Sieve flour, salt and baking soda together. Reserve.
In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 c warm milk with 4 tbsp cocoa.
In another big bowl, on high, beat together butter and sugar for a minute. Add the eggs and beat till light and fluffy.Add flour and 1/2 c milk alternately and beat until fluffy. Add the cocoa-milk mixture and vanilla and beat for a minute. Pour into the tin and bake for 45-50 mins or till done.

Enjoy!

So I'm finally back baking with our baking group : A Sweet Punch. I have been away for a long time now and I hope this cake bring me back to baking with the group regularly.

This is just a good old cocoa cake. I love it and infact I really think you all should try it sometime as it is going to be your favourite too! You can slice it horizonatlly into 2 or 3 and then sandwich it with some yummy chocolate fudge frosting and then cover it with some more. Sprinkle some sprinkles and then stick a candle or two to make it into a birthday cake! :-) Plus, if you are looking to give something exciting for your lil one this season, maybe you could take a look at these kids kitchen play sets!

COFFEE CREAM WHEEL

We are on a roll these days.Rolling from one part of the country to another.It's just the beginning of our journey. When we booked the tickets, Amma & I insisted that we go in a train so that we get to rest atleast for that many hours!To be at home, is the best thing to ever happen to many of us and that's even more awesome if you can lose some weight, even though you are gorging on endless yummy Amma-made food!

This recipe is sensational. It is such an easy one and something you just cannot go wrong with! Did it seem that easy to you? If you just look at it, you wouldn't think so but when you actually make it, you would wonder how something so simple to make can turn out to be so tasty! Amma got this recipe from Amma's twin sister, Daisy.

Yes,my Amma,Susy, has a twin.They are identical twins, in almost everything.Sharing recipes is one of their favourite hobbies which is also passed down to me.I recently started writing another diary with just homemade recipes...mostly passed down from my aunt's and cousins. I hope to fill it by the time this vacation of mine, is over.

I have been itching to put this recipe here for a long time while I was in Minneapolis but it never happened. Today, finally it is here for you all. This is an excellent make-ahead snack/dessert and it freezes very very well! The only thing that you need to remember here is that, you have to refrigerate it. Don't leave it outside for too long or else the filling will become soft yet the taste won't be compromised :-)

You can make these really small, like a candy or big like a summer sausage. It's totally upto you as to how big or small you want these to be. Whatever size it maybe, make sure you wrap it well so that once you store it in the fridge, it doesn't get any 'fridge' taste. I always feel if desserts are not covered when left in the fridge,it get's a fridge taste and I don't like it. So whatever you keep in the fridge, cover it well. You don't want all the flavours to be mixed up or do you? ;-)

So are you all ready to make this easy peasy snack/dessert with some biscuits, butter and sugar? Say YES! please! :-)

COFFEE CREAM WHEEL
Recipe source: Amma via Daisy Mummy

Ingredients:
250 g Marie biscuits/ Graham crackers, powdered superfine
150 Sugar, powdered fine
1/2 c Warm water plus 1 or 2 (if needed)
1 tbsp Instant coffee granules
100g Salted butter,softened
1/4 tsp Vanilla extract

Method:
In a large bowl, dump in the powdered biscuits.Dissolve the coffee powder in warm water and add it to the biscuits and knead to form a smooth dough. It should not be too dry nor too wet. You should be able to kind of knead it. It will be smooth and soft, almost like a Chapathi dough.Divide it into 4.
Cream the butter and sugar. Add vanilla and beat to mix. Reserve.
Take a rectangular sheet of foil and roll out one ball of dough. It should be about 1/4" thick,as seen in the photographs above.
Spread some buttercream over it making sure it's spread all over. It need not be very thick,just a good coating would do.
Now, start rolling from the shorter side. You should roll it away from you, with out the foil. Take the help of the foil to lift the dough and to aid in rolling.
The dough will crack at the first roll but it's OK, it won't be seen in the end. Keep rolling and  it will come off the foil easily.
With the seam side down, wrap the assembly in the same foil and secure the ends tight. Refrigerate till firm.
Cut into thin circles with a serrated knife, carefully with the seam side down.
Enjoy!!

Verdict: Dee-li-cious! If you like, you can serve it with an ice cream of your choice. This is something I've grown up eating and it's still one of my favourites!

RITCHIE'S FAVOURITE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Hmmm...what shall I begin this post with? Sometimes I feel I should have blogged anonymously and never let go of my identity here. I'm not a secretive person at all hence you know a lot of stuff about me including my real name and how I look to the colour I like the most and what keeps me up dreaming all night!

Now, the situation is if I want to write my heart out here...I cannot. That's because my entire family including my extended family and their relatives and their neighbours and my neighbours and all their friends and family reads this...reads whatever I write here. When people meet me at parties, they identify me saying 'Hey, you are that Ria of Ria's Collection!'.They discuss with me the things that I have written over this space. It is indeed a proud moment for me and I will never deny that fact! Infact my cousin Tia was telling me that she introduced my blog to her neighbour and whenever her neighbour meets her, she tells Tia that she is addicted to my blog and that she even browses my blog randomly before going to sleep! Now that is something...I mean if my blog is becoming a bed-time story book it does mean something to me. I have some cookbooks piled up on the floor next to my bed and I browse through it before I sleep...just simply flip through, see the photographs and get the idea of how things are done and how people manage to keep their spirits up even when the most beautiful thing turns into a disaster and how many pounds of butter goes into one small piece of cake etc.

I consider that to be a book's success. I am not sure how many of you think that way.So I am very happy if my blog is becoming a bed time story book! :) At the same time, everyone knows about what I think, what I do. It's part of being out in the public.I know it but I never knew what I was getting into when I got into this whole thing called blogging! So I don't know if people can tell me, 'You should've known!'.

There have been days when I wondered that I should just quit and stop everything. Yes, stop blogging. Stop dreaming about food. Stop thinking about food. Stop taking pictures of what I cook. Stop blogging, completely. If you noticed, I never said, stop cooking . That's not possible because I have to feed the two of us and it's me who has to do that.

Now, after writing all this, I feel I should just delete everything I just wrote but no, I won't do that. That's the problem with me.I don't like to delete and type sentences because it wouldn't be the way it comes from my heart...it would be my brain's work then :) I admire people who think with their brains first simply because I can never do that!

Okay,now that's enough of rambling for the day. So by now you all know that I have a sweet little brother and that he scored some awesome marks for his 12th board exams!He joined college today and he is leaving home. I was sad when I spoke to him because all my life when I think of him,I know he is at home...walking the way he walks ...swaying his arms and never smiling (especially when he sees me) even though he has a great smile ;-) Now he won't be at home but away in a hostel. Anyhow, he is joining college and I wanted to bake him his favourite Chocolate Cupcakes that he used to ask me to bake  after I once baked it for him long long ago...almost 14 years ago. I found this recipe on Hindu (newspaper) and didn't know it would be this good. I was just 12 years old then so I cut that part out and stuck it onto Amma's recipe Diary and she still has that copy! When I grew up, I wrote it down in my own Diary . I don't know how he remembers it as he was just a 4 yr old but he used to ask me always 'to make those chocolate cupcakes' which I never did...until 2 days ago. So this is for you Ritchie Kutta, have a fun time in College! Study hard and not hardly ;-)

RITCHIE'S FAVOURITE CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
250 g all purpose flour
350g sugar
375 ml yogurt
75 g cocoa powder
100 g unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 tsp Vanilla
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Method:
Pre heat the oven to 180C/350F. Line 2 regular sized (not mini)cupcake tin with cupcake liners.

In a bowl,beat all the ingredients together on medium-high speed for 2 mins. Pour 1/4 c of the batter into each cupcake liner and bake for 30 mins or till a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Verdict: Delicious soft chocolate cupcakes which are super easy to make and please :-) I don't think there are many recipes which can give you 24 cupcakes with just 100g of butter! Isn't this recipe a winner??

He always asks me 'Did you try out anything new?' whenever we speak over the phone and I list out all what I tried and he just asks 'Hmm,Nallatha (did it taste good)?'. I know he misses my experiments at home( inspite all the wonderful goodies Amma makes ) which he used to gobble up once he gets back from school...Amma confirms it :-) So this time when I am home, I am baking this for him :-)
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The giveaway is extended till Monday as some of you wrote to me saying there is a problem commenting on my blog. Till then, go through the wonderful stories you all came up with! It's hilarious!


Happy Friday guys!

RE-VISITING CHOCOLATE BISCUIT PUDDING

Isomehow just cannot get enough of this pudding. This has been one of my firm favourites due to ease and taste. It's not that I have't blogged about it, it's just that I have improved in photography over the years and I wanted to give this pudding a better look and share it with you all so that this deliciousness wouldn't go unnoticed! It needs attention :-) I have plenty of time in my hands when it comes to dessert and I want it to look as pretty as it can even if I am standing on one leg in my messy kitchen :-)

This recipe comes from my Aunt Beeji. She is my dad's cousin and I remember asking her for some recipes a  long time ago, easily 10 years ago. She said she has this yummy biscuit pudding recipe which she shall send me once she gets back home, which she did. I love recieveing letters especially in this world of everything electronic.There's something about fresh ink and paper, it's so personal, so touching that makes you want to treasure it.

I still have that copy she sent me. She sent me some fabulous icing recipes too, along with it. I have used her 'Fudge Frosting' recipe on my Mahogany Cake and it is a winner. You need to work fast with that icing because it might dry out otherwise and be a bit crackly.

So here's is the recipe (once again!) for my favourite easy pudding as I celebrate the success of my little blog having 600,000 hits!

MY FAVOURITE CHOCOLATE BISCUIT PUDDING
Recipe source: Beeji Aunty
Serves 6-8 depending on the size of your dish.

Ingredients:
200g Marie biscuits,crushed
100gSalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 c milk
1 c sugar
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp Vanilla/Rum

1 c heavy cream, whipped

Method:
Mix together crushed biscuits and butter till they are soft and sand-like. Spoon in half of it into wine glasses and press it with a spoon and level it.Reserve the remaining biscuit crumbs aside.
Make a thick sauce by boiling together milk,sugar, cocoa powder & cornflour.Whisk constantly to obtain a smooth sauce .When cooled, add vanilla/rum. Divide this among the wine glasses.
Top it with the remaining biscuit crumbs and then put a blob or two of whipped cream in each glass.
Let it set in the fridge for 4 hours. Serve cold.
You can decorate with a cube/square of chocolate like I did :-)

Verdict: I can eat this for brekky, lunch, tea time and dinner! I love this pudding so much that I convinced Amma to add it to her 'Cookery Class Menu'. There is nothing to go wrong with this recipe, so it's simply fool proof! Go ahead and try it for yourself and if you do, please let me know how you liked it :-)

NUTELLA - COCONUT MILK BREAD PUDDING for 500,000 hits

Isometimes get this feeling that I should create a series of my own recipes. And  I pull out everything and start with some weird combination of ingredients in my head. Luckily, they have always been edible.Last Friday evening,I was thinking of baking something out of that weird combination of ingredients and use Nutella to balance everything just in case something goes wrong ;) I couldn't wait for it to get baked. I almost stood by the oven for that 1 hour, the time it took for the pudding to bake...taking a peek every now and then. I bless my oven because it has a bulb inside it, so it's easier to have a peek.

I actually made this pudding for the World Nutella Day but I couldn't post it that day as we were busy at the Winter Carnival at the State Capitol,St.Paul. That day was fun! We got to see ice sculptures, ice palace,ice chair so on and so forth.They also had wine tasting plus a torch parade ,so I don't have to tell you how much fun we must have had! :) It was freezing but our jackets did a good job so I have no complaints!

Then came the SuperBowl Sunday and we were at our friend's house for dinner...so even that day passed by. But the good news is, this little space of mine touched 500,000 hits yesterday!! So that means the nutella post can be tweaked in for the celebratory post! ;-) So once again, I'm killing 2 birds with one stone! I hope I got that line right because the last time I said that, I said something else! :-D

NUTELLA- COCONUT MILK BREAD PUDDING
My own recipe



Ingredients:
For the custard:
1 1/2 c whole milk
4tbsp coconut milk powder
1 c warm water
5 eggs
1/2 c sugar
A pinch or two of salt

10 slices white bread
3 tbsp nutella

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 350F/180C and position the rack in the centre.

Arrange the bread slices on a cookie sheet and toast/bake them in the oven for 5 mins.
Spread nutella on each of the slices and cut them into 2 diagonally.
Arrange them neatly (with peaks showing) in a pudding dish.
Mix together whole milk, warm water and coconut powder (Instead of coconut powder and warm water, you can use 1 cup thick coconut milk).
Beat together eggs ,salt and sugar till fluffy, for about 30 secs.
Add it to the milk mixture.
Pour the milk mixture over the bread. If you want, you can spoon some over the slices too.

Prepare a water bath*and bake for 55 mins or till set.

* Inorder to prepare a water bath, take a rectangular baking tray and fill it half way with hot water. Place it in the oven and then place the bread pudding dish into it,carefully.

Verdict: We both had been craving for a bread pudding the whole of last week. Jobin said he's not a big fan of Nutella after I baked the pudding but he still ate it.It's because this was not the kind of bread pudding he was longing for, instead a Shahi Tukre/ Double Ka Meeta types. According to me, it was really nice with a faint coconut-y hint. If you are not a big fan of coconut, you can subtitute it with milk or cream for the same amount.Serve it hot or cold, I bet you are going to fall in love with this pudding! I just had 2 huge serving, myself :)

Now that the Shahi Tukre /Double Ka Meeta kind of bread pudding is still pending in our house, you might see that pop here as well ;)

On another note, I am hosting the Kerala Kitchen (click on the link for more details)this month, so if you are making anything with a touch of 'Kerala' in it, send in your entries to  airmathew AT gmail DOT com. The event ends on 28 Feb 2011. Please feel free to use the logo.

CHOCOLATE ALMOND BROWNIES

Thank you all so much for your precious comments on my Interview in Women's Era Jan 2011. You guys rock!! Now let me get my feet firm back on the ground! :-) It still feel so surreal! Anyhow, I baked a batch of brownies  before 'the' news broke but I wanted to share that  with you more than the baked goodie, so the brownie post had to wait.
There's something with me and brownies. I just cannot let go off a single recipe! I read through it and try to compare to what I have made before. And I bake a batch of 'em. This happens all the time including this time :-) Jobin doesn't seem to get fed up with it, so it's kind of OK with me baking brownies every now and then. This one is again from Alice's new book and is definately a delicious one.I just realised that I should tell you about my 'certain' food problems.

Whenever something (obviously food!) catches my fancy,I have to make it at home,whatever it may take and however long I have to wait! Initially it was the Joconde Imprime on the Chocolate Mousse Cake I found in Bangalore then it was Brownies and now I have many many more to add to my list and all of them are WIP (Work In Progress). I hunted for the perfect homemade brownie and made an American Brownie using my friend's mom's recipe.But now, my taste has definately refined over the years and I am looking for much more intense flavoured, chocolate-y stuff. Of course, I have my go-to recipe for a good brownie...but I still love that anxiety,that excitement, that wonder, the pressure of getting the crackly crust and the perfect texture inside it. That makes me go on and on baking brownies one after another!

Now, I have laid my eyes on a few things which I really want to try at home and someday I will. Till then, let me leave you with yet another intensely chocolate-y brownie recipe :)

CHOCOLATE ALMOND BROWNIES
Recipe:Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich. Pg 225


Ingredients:
4 tbsp unsalted butter
11 oz (approx.300g) chocolate chips
2/3 c sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
2 large eggs,cold
1/3 c plus 1 tbsp  unbleached all purpose flour
1 c almonds

Method:
Line an 8-inch square tin, the bottom and all 4 sides with foil.
Pre-heat oven to 180C/350F and position the rack in the middle.

Melt the chocolate and butter together, till smooth.
Stir in the sugar, salt and vanilla, if using.
Add 1 egg, stirring until it is incorporated. Repeat with the second egg.
Stir in the flour and beat with a wooden spoon or spatula until the batter is smooth and glossy and comes away from the sides of the bowl; it is critical that the batter pulls away, so do not stop mixing until it does.
Pour into the baking tin,spread it evenly but with lots of raised swirls and ridges and top with almonds.
Bake for 30-35 mins, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs, not totally gooey.
Cool on rack, lift the foil ends to transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares.

Verdict: Just like any other Alice's recipe, this one is equally good. It has a deep chocolate-y taste and the crunch provided by the almonds add to the delicious-ness! Gosh, I really hope somebody comes up with a rule of no more new brownie recipe ever again! ;-) This is a temptation which I find hard to resist. I mean, look at those soft-bellied chocolate squares...how can you just take your eyes off them ??

BISCUIT JOCONDE IMPRIME/ENTREMET - MOCHA BAVARIAN CREAM GATEAU

This time I knew I had to do the DB challenge not because it was a cake, but it was something which I had been planning to do this month,otherwise. Then when the DB challenge was announced, I was so thrilled that I almost bounced off the walls. I love trying different techniques, different filling ...basically anything different,everytime! I had written down the recipe for a ribbon strip from the Le Cordon book of Baking and used to show it to Jobin saying this was something I always wanted to try.A Joconde Imprime is a decorative design baked into a light nut-sponge cake providing an elegant finish to desserts/tortes/entremets formed in ring molds.

The first time I ever saw that strip was on a Sweet Chariot's Chocolate Mousse Cake which was almost 8 years ago and my hunt for that 'strip' recipe started right then and it ended in December '10! I had asked many people on how to bake it and I got various answers which included 'spray painting' a sponge sheet cake! I thought, maybe that was it and I have no measures to spray paint a cake at home, so forget it! But I didn't forget it. I hunted our local library for books which could give me some hint to it and I finally found one...and I made up my mind that I am not letting that book go!

The January 2011 Daring Bakers Challenge was hsoted by Asteroshe of the blog Accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremet dessert.

BISCUIT JOCONDE IMPRIME /ENTREMET - MOCHA BAVARIAN CREAM GATEAU
Recipe for the Cigarette Batter & Joconde -Pastry & Sports
Recipe for the Chocolate Genoise - from here
Recipe for the Mocha Bavarian Cream -Le Cordon Book of Professional Baking by Wayne Gisslen, pg: 534

Ingredients:
For the Cigarette batter:
30g softened unsalted butter
30g powdered sugar
1 egg white
20g flour
6g cocoa powder

For the Joconde:
75g ground almonds
75g powdered sugar
20g flour
2 whole eggs
30g melted butter
2 egg whites
12g sugar

For the Chocolate Genoise:
Look here.

For the Mocha Bavarian Cream: (I made 1/2 portion)
22g powdered gelatin
150ml cold water

3-4 large egg yolks
125g granulated sugar
500ml milk
8ml vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp instant coffee powder

500 ml heavy cream/Amul cream


For Chocolate Ganache:
125g semisweet chocolate/dark chocolate
125 g heavy cream/ Amul cream

Method:
For the Cigarette batter:
Beat the sugar and softened butter together till fluffy.
Beat in the egg white and add flour and cocoa to it.Mix well.
Spread this batter on a parchement paper and make designs on it using your fingers/forks/pastry combs etc.
Freeze this for 15 mins. DO NOT skip this.

For Joconde:
Beat the egg whites stiff by adding the sugar (granulated) towards the end. Reserve.
Beat almonds,sugar,flour,whole eggs together till fluffy and add the melted butter.
Fold in the egg whites carefully and pour this batter over the frozen cigarette batter.
Spread it to an even 1/4" thickness.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 475F/250C for 7 minutes. The cake should spring back when touched lightly.
Let it cool for 5 mins and then carefully transfer it onto a chopping board and trim as needed to fit your moulds.

For Chocolate Genoise:
Look here 

For Mocha Bavarian Cream:
Soak the gelatin in cold water and let it bloom for 5-6 minutes.
Whip the yolks and sugar until light and thick.
Scald milk and slowly add it into the egg mixture,beating constantly.
Cook this mixture over a water bath until it thickens slightly.
Add vanilla extract and coffee powder and mix well to dissolve.
Melt the gelatin and add into the egg mixture.
Let it cool over ice or in the fridge till half set, making sure to stir in every now and then to keep the mixture smooth.
Whip cream to soft peaks,DO NOT over whip.
When the egg custard has thickened, and not yet set, fold in the cream.
Pour in between the cake layers (as mentioned in the 'assembly' below).

For Chocolate Ganache:
Chop the chocolate into small bits and reserve in a stainless steel /glass bowl.
Bring the cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate.
Let it sit for 5 mins. Stir till it is smooth. It will be loose now, you can leave it in the fridge for 10 mins to get it slightly thickened.
Pour over the cake and smoothen it with an offset spatula.

Assembly:
1.Make a soaking syrup: Make a soaking syrup by dissolving 1cup granulated sugar in 1cup warm water. Add 1 tbsp of rum to it, if you wish to. I added it because I like the combination of rum and coffee.

2.Split the Chocolate genoise into 3, horizontally.

3.Cut the joconde into the size of the springform pan (diameter) to fit snuggly. There should be no gaps.

4.Place a layer of genoise at the bottom and soak it generously with 1/4 c of soaking syrup. Top it with half of the bavarian cream. Repeat. The last layer should be the genoise.

5.Top it with chocolate ganache and level it using a spatula, preferably offset.

6.Wrap the whole assembly with a cling film and let it set in the refigerator for 2 hours.

7.Decorate the top of the cake as you need and serve chilled.

This cake lasts really long, we had it for over a week! :)

Verdict:
I made this cake in one go and it took me 4 hours. I wanted to finish it by the time Jobin got back home from work, so that I could surprise him and indeed he was surprised! ' Mmmm...no one would believe that it's made at home!' was his comment as soon as he took a bite of it.That was enough to keep me going for another week! :-D

It was a very very delicious cake! We couldn't help but dig into each other's plate for an extra bite. The filling was a breeze to make and it was very tasty! The Joconde Imprime gave the cake a very professional finish.

This is one of the best gateau's I have made till date! It is definately a lenghty recipe,but it's really easy to make.If you plan ahead,unlike me, you can make the cake on the previous day, wrap it well and leave it one the counter. Next day start with the joconde, cream and the ganache. If you happen to make this cake, trust me, you will be hooked to it! :)

PEAR & CHOCOLATE CRUMBLE...perfect for the season!

This season, some of my favourite fruits have vanished from the scene...but some not-so favourite ones before, are becoming my favourites now :-)  Pear is one amongst them. Yes, they are crunchy, sweet and juicy but they just cannot beat the Bing Cherries! Surprisingly, one of my friends, kind of hates cherries. Umm..so maybe it depends from person to person.
Crumbles are a firm favourite with us. I have made a Cherry crumble before and Jobin was hooked on to it. Then I made an Apple crumble which never appeared on the blog because it was a big hit amongst Jobin and his mom. We dug into the bowls like there was no tomorrow! :-)

Everytime I go near the produce section of our supermaket, I become very slow. I drag the cart along. Jobin sometimes seem to be lost ,thinking why do I behave like that everytime 'all of a sudden'...you know like the 'slow motion' scenes in movies? Hehe,I love  looking at all the colourful fruits that we get here and those we never get in India. I somehow enjoy taking a stroll around the fruits and thinking about what I can possibly do with each one of them...but in reality, it rarely happens because I can get very lazy at times and eat the fruit as it is! :)

This time, it was Pear & Chocolate Crumble for our 'Sweet Punch' bake for the month of December.We all were given a recipe but I chose to go with my own measurements. It is so perfect for these cold days that we are having right now in Minneapolis.We need something warm to keep us warm...be it dessert or clothes!

PEAR & CHOCOLATE CRUMBLE
My own recipe
Serves-2

Ingredients:
2 pears, peeled, cored and chopped into 1" pieces
Sugar to taste
1 tsp lime juice
3 oz milk chocolate, roughly chopped

For the crumble:
1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c oatmeal, crushed by hand
Sugar to taste (use light/dark brown sugar, if available)
1 tbsp cold unsalted butter, diced
2 tbsp almond slivers, broken up

Method:
Pre- heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas mark 4.Grease 6 oven proof ramekins.
In a bowl, mix together the chopped pears,sugar,lime juice and half the chocolate.Divide them equally among the ramekins,spooning over any remaining juice.
For making the crumble,mix together flour and butter and rub it with your fingertips till it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in rest of the ingredients.
Spoon the crumble over the pears. I always like to make extra topping,so that there is a good crunch all the way.
Transfer the crumble to a baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden and bubbly.
Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Verdict: Jobin eyebrows shot up as he took the first bite.I closed my eyes and enjoyed the chocolate and pear combo...
In Jobin's words,' It was a very yummy dessert!' :) As always,we loved the crumble, maybe a bit more this time...because of chocolate!

I am sending this dessert as an entry to Monthly Mingle- Chocolate Extravaganza hosted by myself :-)