There’s more to life than chocolate, but not right now.
Anonymous
THUD! It was that all too familiar noise of the postie chucking a parcel over the gate again. While I braced myself for probable disaster & broken bits of parcel, the son raced out yelling, “Mama, must be something for your blog!” Excitement writ on his face, the expectation of a new foodie flavour or recipe lighting up his life, he does enjoy the little joys of my blogging. A foodie through and through, he was spot on! Came in waving a brown floppy parcel, his eyes searching my face for a ‘go ahead’ to get to the contents! The nod from Mama followed, and soon he was waving a delicious package of Milled Flaxseed, Cocoa and Berries from Linwoods UK.
Linswood UK are a health food company based in the UK and manufacture an astonishing range of products – fresh, dairy and packaged. My first experience with their products was after the Food Blogger Connect ’09 in London where we got a goodie bag full of exciting stuff thanks to Bethany of Dirty Kitchen Secrets. Linwoods was one of the sponsors and they had included a bag of milled flour which I experimented with in an Apple Crisp, Milled Nut Flour Macarons and in this French Fougasse.
A friend coming from the UK got me another bag recently, and I continue to use it to enhance nutrition in desserts and breads I bake. Of this cocoa berry product, the company says, “Linwoods Milled Flaxseed, Cocoa and Berries blend boasts incredible antioxidants qualities, particularly when compared to other fruit and vegetables. An adult would need to eat a total of 1 cabbage, 3 full broccoli, 6 carrots, 3 apples, 1 grapefruit and 10 tomatoes to get the same amount of antioxidants contained in just two spoonfuls of this new super food!”
The cocoa berry mix called my name and I dreamt of several ways to use it …. but Mr PAB who was recovering from an illness decided to have a relapse, and left me with little time to experiment! Linswood asked us to create recipes using the product, and here is my contribution. The idea took off as snack brownies, but the creation in the end was more like dessert nirvana.
Decadent and delicious! I have to say I was surprised at the amount of flavour the Linwoods mix offered them! Made brownies using their cocoa product, enhanced with a little melted dark chocolate. Also substituted 25gms butter with 25gms EVOO, and added some brandied burgundy cherries to the mix. This is my entry for the Linwoods Cocoa Delight Recipe Development Competition.
My one and only jar of brandied burgundy cherries was disappearing fast, and I felt compelled to use them again before they were gone. I recently topped these divine Chocolate Pavlovas we did for the Daring Bakers with these preserved cherries. Adding some to the brownie batter, I thought the brownies might turn out nice, but I didn’t expect them to turn out this nice. The cocoa berry mix and dark chocolate added great depth in colour and flavour, and the brandied bing cherries took them straight from snack to ‘dessert’ level! Moist, dark and deep, the verdict was out the minute I sliced them! YUM!!
Served them up with some unsweetened whipped cream topped with some more preserved cherries of course! Thank you Linwoods for this wonderful product. Loved experimenting with it, and hope to try it on some more sweet stuff in the near future. Thank you gorgeous Bethany for introducing me to the world of Linwoods!
Cocoa Berry Dessert Brownies Own recipe
75gms unsalted butter, soft
25gms Extra Virgin Olive Oil {EVOO}
2/3 cups vanilla sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
50gms dark chocolate, melted and mixed with 1 tsp EVOO
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup Milled Flaxseed, Cocoa and Berry mix from Linwoods
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup brandied burgundy cherries, drained, halved
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Line a 8″ round Victoria sandwich tin, or 7 X 11″ baking tin.
Place the flour, milled flaxseed, cocoa and berry mix, baking powder and salt in a bowl, and mix uniformly with balloon whisk.
Beat the butter, EVOO and vanilla sugar till smooth, 1 minute on high.
Add the vanilla extract and eggs, and beat for another minute. Pour in the melted dark chocolate in a stream, beating to incorporate constantly.
Fold in the mixed dry ingredients and the drained, chopped preserved cherries.{I reserved a few cherries for the top}
Turn into prepared tin, and bake for 20-25 minutes / until a tester comes out clean. Cool on rack completely, chill for a few hours / overnight, else they might be too fragile to cut. Turn out gently, slice and serve.
Serve with unsweetend whipped cream, and some brandied cherries.
Note: The brownies stay well in the fridge, and can be served chilled. They remain moist because of the preserved cherries.
“Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.”
Robert Fulghum
And here’s yet another Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe to add to the millions doing the rounds in blogosphere. I guess you can’t have enough of CCCs, & this recipe was born in an attempt to make a bookmarked recipe off Helene’s blog @ La cuisine d’Hélène – Recettes. She had posted these delicious CCC from Doubletree Hotel, & I set off to make them, only to find 3 cups of chocolate chips in the list of ingredients. So what’s the big deal, you might think. But here in India, where I guard my chocolate chips more fiercely than many other things in my larder, 3 cups was far too large a quantity to use. My chocolate chips come in from the US or Dubai whenever some good soul comes by, but only in the winter months. I once even got unevenblobs ofchocolate chips one summer, after they had been baked on the tarmac in the aircraft in the hot Indian summer, so that was my last summer consignment. The chips we get here are micro-minuscule, little milk chocolate chips, that are nowhere in comparison to dark chips that Nestle, Hershey’s, or my fave, Ghirardeli make. So you guys, who can buy bags from Sam’s Club, & even melt them in baggies to drizzle & frost, you don’t know how LUCKY you are…& you’ll never believe how envious I always am!Anyway, I had a bag that my niece had got from Dubai, & used some in these cookies that I made with a cue about ‘grinding the oats’ Helene’s post. I used part oat flour, part wholewheat flour & the rest was all purpose in these CCC. I also snipped in some dried cherries that my friend from the UK had brought in for me….& they were delicious. Was a comforting feeling to know that I had used a portion of ‘healthy flour’, dried cherries & walnuts too.
CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES…with oats, dried cherries & walnuts My recipe
Ingredients: 1 cup flour 1/2 cup rolled oats; ground in coffee grinder 1/2 cup whole wheat flour A pinch of salt 1tsp baking soda 1 cup butter; softened 2/3 cup brown sugar 2/3 cup granulated sugar 2 eggs (medium) 1 tsp vanilla essence 1 cup chocolate chips 1/4 cup dried cherries; chopped roughly (do it with an oiled knife 1/2 cup walnuts; chopped
Method:
Sift both the flour + wholewheat flour + oat flour with the baking soda & salt. Mix in the chocolate chips, dried cherries & walnuts. Keep aside.
Beat the butter + eggs + sugars + vanilla extract in a deep bowl till well blended (about 1 minute).
Add the flour mix & stir well with spatula/wooden spoon till mixed uniformly.
Drop tsps measures on a non-stick cookie sheet, & bake for 12-15 minutes till golden brown. Remove from oven & cool on racks.
Note: The recipe yields approximately 4 dozen crisp chocolate chip cookies.This recipe is being sent to Original Recipes @ Culinarty for Lore’s ongoing event.
“The Super Bowl is the No. 1 snack food consumption day of the year”
Frito Lays
Made these super easy snacks the other day … great as finger food, & they disappeared as fast as I made them. You can flavour them as creatively as you like, choosing different toppings. The ones I made had a sour cream & onion flavoured topping. I think buttermilk ranch dressing might add an interesting twang to them as well. You can also substitute the cream cheese for finely grated cheddar. Or, if you are lucky to get the brown sugar or honey butter variety, pipe on some peanut butter, or cream cheese topped with candied nuts…the possibilities are endless. Make an assorted platter!S I M P L E to make & ready as fast as you can pipe the cream cheese out, throw on the garnishing & you are set! Actually ltook me more time to click pictures, than it took to make them. They are on their way to Cathy @ Noble Pig for favourite crowd-pleasing Super Bowl recipes, the criteria being taste, originality and ease of preparation! She says, they should be ‘Basically, yummy and easy to eat food’. Here we get just the salted variety sold under the brand name of Monaco, Salto or Snacks ZigZags. One of the more popular varieties sold overseas are Ritz crackers. Ritz crackers are a type of cracker designed to be eaten on their own, or with a topping. The Ritz Cracker Brand is made by a subsidiary of Kraft Foods. They are circular in shape, salted lightly on one side, and have small scalloping around the edges. Ritz were created in 1928 by the National Biscuit Company (or Nabisco). Ritz were probably named as such because anything glamorous, classy, or fancy was previously referred to as “ritzy”.[ Ritz can be found at the elegant Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, where it is still a regular feature on the menu. Ritz crackers are available in the US in the following varieties: Original, Low Sodium, Reduced Fat, Whole Wheat, Roasted Vegetable and Honey Butter.
CRACKERS WITH CREAM-CHEESE My recipe Ingredients: Yogurt – 1 kg; hung for 24 hours Cream – 2 tbsp Sour cream & Onion cream cheese/cheese spread – 2 tbsps Juice of 1 lime Salt & pepper to taste Finely chopped bell peppers, spring onions with greens, fresh coriander etcMethod:
Whip the hung yogurt with the cream + cream cheese/cheese spread + juice of lime. Season with salt & pepper.
Put into a zip bag , snip off the corner in an inverted M, or use a big star nozzle & pipe cream cheese straight onto the crackers. Garnish with chopped peppers etc. These crackers are also headed for Original Recipes @ Culinarty for Lore’s ongoing event.
On another note, Ivy of Kopiaste.. to Greek Hospitality , Gizof Equal Opportunity Kitchen and Val of More Than Burnt Toast unveiled an ambitious project for our Social Network Bloggeraid to launch a cookbook. In their words…Food is our medium and taking a role in alleviating world famine is our mission. Our wish is that you will share our excitement and help make a difference to our world by joining us on this journey. We have announced our largest fundraiser to date ever!!!! With the help of Gloria Chadwick from Cookbook Cuisine , a member of Bloggeraid, we will be publishing a cookbook with 100% of the profit from sales being directed to our chosen agency. The funds we raise will be directed to specific programs of The World Food Programme (WFP), the United Nations frontline agency. The needs are great and choosing a specific effort is currently being negotiated.This side, ‘Oven Roasted Baby Potatoes & French Beans’ is en route toBloggerAid for their special cookbook. The recipes for this event will be found within the pages of the book once it is published. Want to join in? Check out the link here.
“In the cookies of life, friends are the chocolate chips.”
Author Unknown
I bake snacks for the kids 3-4 times a week. It takes care of their ‘tiffin’ or snack box, & caters for their snack when they come back home. Lunch is served in school, & the kids are usually ravenous when they get back around 3 in the afternoon. I endeavour to add variety from time to time ranging from banana chocolate-chip muffins, oatmeal cookies, pound cake, sandwiches, pasta, but often find myself reaching out for the cocoa.
This was one such ‘cocoa moment’, where I put together a number of different recipes to make these cookies. The primary thought was to add oatmeal / fibre to the cookie. Almonds entered the list of ingredients as I had no walnuts. Came out to be yummy, wholesome cookies, with a crisp exterior & a cake-like interior. Enjoyed by the kids & their friends, I’ve now finally got down to posting the recipe. I think walnuts would work very well here, & possibly a tbsp of coffee might work some magic. That’s what I intend to do the next time!
Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients:
Flour – 1 cup
Oats – 2 cups
Baking Powder – 1/2 tsp
Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
Cocoa – 3 tbsps
Salt – 1/4 tsp
Almonds – 1/2 cup; chopped
Butter – 1/2 cup
Granular Sugar – 1/2 cup
Brown Sugar – 1/2 cup
Egg – 1
Egg yolk – 1
Honey – 1/4 cup
Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp
Almond Extract – 1 tsp
Chocolate chips – 1/2 cup
Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Lightly grease 2-3 baking sheets.
Stir together the dry ingredients i.e. flour + oats + cocoa+ baking powder + baking soda + salt.
Beat the butter & both sugars, followed by the egg & egg yolk. Next beat in the honey & both extracts. (Omit almond essence if using walnuts).
Stir in the dry mix & chocolate chips till well mixed in.
Drop tbsps on sheets & bake for about 15 minutes / until done.
Cool on rack & store in an airtight tin.
Makes 2-3 dozen cookies depending on size.
Lore @ Culinarty has a monthly event called ‘Original Recipes’, & I’m sending this to her. Do check out her previous round-ups which throw up plenty of very interesting originals!
