Nan Khatai

Probably nan khatai are the first cookies I ever baked in my kitchen and so, they are special to me. Over the years I have tried various versions, liking them all even without realizing they had Parsi connection. This time around I tried this semolina-almond version which yield crispy, crumbly delicious nan khatai that are quite addictive. For the uninitiated, nan khatai are shortbread biscuits that have been popular in the Indian sub continent for centuries. They are believed to be originated in Surat, a city in western India during 16th century. The word nan khatai is said to have derived from a Persian word 'naan' meaning bread and an Afghani word 'khatai' meaning biscuit.
 
According to the ebook Eat, Pray and Live, some of the Parsi cooks who worked for the Dutch in Surat had learnt to bake soft bread by fermenting the dough with toddy, which is supposedly the beginning of the legacy of Parsi bakeries in Surat. Parsis were inspired by the eggless Scottish shortbread, to create nan khatai, one of Surat's famous confections.The Surat bakers realized that the recipe was suitable for Gujarati vegetarians who did not eat eggs and adapted to suit the local populace by adding nuts and cardamom. Here is another interesting read about how nan khatai came to existence.

Ingredients: (Yield 18 - 20 cookies)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup semolina (I replaced half of it with ground almonds.)
2 tbsp. ground almonds (Optional)
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
A pinch of baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp. slivered almonds for garnish

Method:
* Sift together flour, semolina, cardamom and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add ground almonds to the same bowl if using and mix to combine,
* Cream butter and sugar in another bowl until light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture in small increments and blend until a dough is formed. If for any reason, the dough turns out hard / dry, moisten it with little milk. (I didn't need any milk.)
* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F / 180 deg C. Grease or line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
* Divide the cookie dough into 18 - 20 portions and roll each portion into a smooth ball. Flatten them slightly with the palm of your hand and decorate with almond slivers. Gently press the almond pieces so that they stick to the cookie.
* Arrange them on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them an inch apart since they expand while baking.
* Place them in the preheated oven and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until they turn light golden in color. (I baked them for about 20 minutes, turned off the oven and left them in the oven for another 6 minutes or so.)
* Let them cool on a wire rack and store them in an airtight container.


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Suruttai Poli

(These were originally posted as part of Indian Cooking Challenge during March 2011.)

If you landed here hoping to get a poli recipe, you are surely in for a disappointment. However, hang on, hang on. Don't move away. I promise you that you are going to get introduced to another South Indian delicacy, suruttai poli. Srivalli, the creator of Indian Cooking Challenge chose suruttai poli for this month's challenge. When she mentioned that they are the rolled polis, I wasn't sure why the polis need to be rolled. 

When I went through the recipe and tried it, what do I realize? They are not polis / bobbatlu in any angle, but are kajjikayalu in a different avatar. Instead of being crescent shaped shells, they are presented as rolls. One of the Indian sweets we do like and enjoy. A delicious deep fried crisp roll with a cardamom scented sweet filling - that is suruttai poli for you in a nutshell. The process was simple and very easy to prepare (at least for me). Next time I would like to try with a coconut or nut filling.



Recipe Courtesy: Nithya's mom

Ingredient: (Yield - 10 polis)
1 cup all purpose flour / maida 
A pinch of salt
1 or 2 tbsp. powdered sugar for dusting
1/2 cup oil for deep frying

Ingredients for the stuffing:

1/2 cup roasted gram / pappulu (The one used to make the chutney.)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp. grated dry coconut
2 tbsp. coarsely chopped cashews
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 tbsp. ghee
(And keep some paper towels handy.)

Preparation of stuffing:
1. Heat ghee in a pan. Add the cashew pieces and toast until they turn golden brown. Remove them onto a plate with a slotted spoon. To the same ghee, add the grated coconut and fry for a few seconds and turn off the stove. Let cool.
2. Powder roasted gram, sugar and cardamom together. Add the coconut - cashew mixture to it and mix well. The stuffing mixture is ready now. The stuffing can be made in advance and stored so that poli making process is a breeze.

Preparation of polis:

1. Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add water gradually and make a firm dough, as you do for rotis / pooris. Cover and rest the dough for at least 30 minutes.
2. Pinch about a big marble sized dough and roll out as thin as possible, into a circle of about 5 inches diameter. Prick the disc randomly using a fork so that it won't puff up during the frying process. You don't want to deal with puffed up pooris in this recipe and pricking takes care of that. The circle should be bigger than your typical poori and repeat the same with the remaining dough. 

3. Spread the rolled discs on a wide plate and allow them to air dry for about 10 minutes. 
4. Now comes the frying part. Heat oil in a kadai or a pan. Add a pinch of dough to the oil and check whether it swims immediately to the surface. If it does, then lower the heat to medium setting and slowly drop a disc. As soon as it appears cooked and bubbles start to show up, flip using a large perforated spoon and fry for a few seconds and remove it taking care to drain the oil using that spoon. It should not be fried till it starts to change color to a brown hue like a poori. It should be just done, still maintaining the creamish hue. Also if fried longer, they would become brittle. (I placed the fried disc between two paper towels and patted it to remove the extra greasiness. This way, it was also be not hot to handle while stuffing.)
5. Sprinkle some powdered sugar on a platter and place this fried disc on it. Add about 3 tbsp. of the stuffing mixture along one edge of the disc. Start rolling from that end where the stuffing has been added and form a tight roll. 

6. Place the rolled poli on a plate with the seamed end facing downwards. Let cool. Repeat the same with the remaining discs.
7. Once cool, they become crisp. I just decorated with nuts, coconut and saffron and this is entirely optional. Store them in an air tight container.

Notes:
They are very easy to prepare. The only points to remember are
1. Discs need to be fried only until done with out changing the color. Few seconds on each side, that's it. A little longer would result in brittle discs.
2. The discs need to be rolled immediately since rolling becomes impossible when they are let to cool down.

3. If you are trying to prepare a large quantity of polis then try to make them in small batches.

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Ooty Varkey

Today we are travelling to Ooty, a hill station in Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu for a baked delicacy called varkey. It is a rustic shaped, flaky, baked biscuit which is quite popular in the region. I have been to the place but don't recall even seeing them. My brother in law used to work as the director of 'Pasteur Institute of India' in Coonoor. The institute and their bungalow with an enviable garden used to be right in front of Sim's park. They have lived in the area for about a decade and half and I need to check with them later about these and to see if my sister in law knows the recipe by any chance. 

There were not much authentic recipes online for us marathoners to try. Thanks to Gayathri, who came up with this perfect recipe after a couple of trials, I got to try and enjoy this utterly delicious biscuit from the comforts of my home. The Urdu word 'varq' means layer and the word 'varkey' probably is an allusion to the cookie's texture. This crispy, rich tasting biscuit is said to be originated in Nilgiris during the British era and the local makers of varkey are trying for a geographic location tag. According to the GI application submitted by the 'Ooty Varkey Producer's Association', these biscuits were invented in Ootacamund aka Ooty when it used to be the Summer capital of Madras presidency. Confectioners in the area employed several local and migrant laborers from Kerala to churn out large number of baked snacks to suit the tastes of British officials stationed there.

According to a 'Times Of India article', The Ooty varkey is said to be a local adaptation of the French puff pastry, which incorporates fat into the dough in stages. Varkey makers use homemade leavening agent called maavai which is basically the starter from the previous day's batch. This maavai is made from all purpose flour, semolina, sugar and banana. It is added to a bigger batch of flour, sugar and salt which forms the final dough for the fresh batch. They also set it for overnight fermenting according to Gayathri. Others in the plains use yeast in varkey production. No animal fat is used in the production of varkey. 

The local varkey producers believe that the varkey turn out better only when the dough is kneaded by hand and baked in brick ovens with wood fire. Cooking these can take about 12 hours since the local weather is cold. They think that 25 deg C is the right temperature to make varkey and so the local summer weather suits best for the purpose. It seems to be also the reason why varkey's sales are more in summer than the cooler months in this hill station area.

The shapes of varky can vary. One can pinch portions out of strips into balls and bake. Or shape them into neat squares or rectangles  which look like puff pastry when baked. The original version however is the one which looks like the bakers were in a hurry to even shape them. It is a rustic version where the strips are roughly shaped into a round lump and randomly pressed on top once with finger tips. They can also be fried instead of baking if one opts to do so but they are traditionally baked since the dish originated in the bakeries. They can be enjoyed along with tea or coffee. Or they are soaked in hot milk for about 10 minutes and eaten as a cereal.

Our local temperature was around 16 degree C when I prepared the dough last week and it went up to around 21 degree C by mid afternoon. I left out the dough at room temperature for about 8 hours but there was no way for my dough to rise as there was no leavening agent. Also the rectangle I made out of dough was no where perfect and the varkey shape may not have turned out as the authentic ones. However the cookies still turned out super good texture and tastewise. They were utterly crispy, somewhat crumbly and I could feel the buttery richness though butter is not part of the recipe. They have a very faint sweetness which made even my husband to enjoy them. I made a small batch thinking that there would be only me eating these but I regretted it after putting one in my mouth. I did not brown them much since they were done even before I removed them from the oven.

(I halved the original recipe and had to use less than 3 tbsp. oil.)
Ingredients for the cookie dough: (Yield 12)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tbsp. oil
Water as needed (I needed about 2 or 2.5 tbsp. water)
Ingredients for the paste:
All purpose flour as needed
Oil as needed (I used about 2 tbsp in total.)

Directions:
* Add all the ingredients to a mixing bowl.

* Combine them to a crumbly mix.

* Add water only as much needed to form a soft, pliable dough. Let it sit for a couple of hours. Or the dough can be let to sit at room temperature overnight. (I left it at room temperature for about eight hours.)

* Generously oil the work surface that is going to be used. This is important when you need to lift the dough to fold. If not greased well, the dough is going to stick to the work surface. I used a 1 by 1 foot granite slab to work. 

* Place the dough ball at the center and roll it into a thin rectangle, which should be transparent enough to see through.

* Pour 1 to 1.5 tbsp of flour and 1.5 tbsp. oil over the rolled out rectangle and make a spreadable paste. 

* Add extra flour and oil if the paste is not sufficient enough to spread. Spread the paste evenly all over the rectangle. 

* Starting from one of the longest side, lift 1/3 of the rolled portion and fold. 

* Similarly fold one more time from the opposite direction.

* Again pour oil and flour over it and make a spreadable paste.

 * Again spread and cover the entire surface with the paste. 

* Lift from one of the short sides and fold up to the center point. Then do the same from the opposite side. Cover and let it sit for 10 minutes.
* Preheat the oven to 355 degree F / 180 degree C.
* Roll the rectangle thinly and cut into 5 vertical strips.

* Pinch 2 portions from each strip (or more if the rectangle is big), roughly make into a round shape pinching at the top.

* Shape the rounds from all the strips.

* Arrange the rounds on a baking tray. Bake them until they turn brown, about 40 - 45 minutes. (Mine took less time.)

So far my recipes in the series of 'Indian Snacks and Sweets' are below.

First week - Indian Traditional Sweets
Malaadu / Hurigadale Unde
Dry Gulab Jamun
Coconut Burfi / Kobbari Mithai
Almond Halwa / Badam Halwa
Elaneer Payasam
Godhuma Sojjappalu

Second week - Snacks from Gujarat, India
Damni Dhokla
Doodhi Muthia / Lauki Muthia
Dal Pandoli

Sev Khamani

Methi Khakhra
Pressure Cooker Khandvi

Third Week - Snacks
Bafauri
Soy Beans Guggillu / Sundal

Jhal Muri

Roasted Phool Makhana
Kalmi Vada Chaat
Spicy Corn Chaat

Fourth Week - Regional Snacks 
Aakukoora Pappu Chekkalu
Millet Handvo (Baked Version)
Ratlami Sev

Jowar Kothimbir Vadi
Kalmi Vada

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#104.

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Orange Cranberry Walnut Bread

Time for some tidbits. Do you know what high tea and low tea are? Good for you if you are acquainted with the terms. If clueless about those words, join the club. I didn't know what they were either until last week and my guesses in fact, would have been quite the opposite to their real meaning. What started as a simple online search this week for elevenses menu turned into somewhat like I was going through a copy of 'English tea traditions for Dummies', (if such a book exists). 😵

One can easily misinterpret the terms 'low and high' teas, associating them with the social class. The 'afternoon tea' of the aristocrat ladies where one needs to mind their dress code and etiquette was called 'low tea' because they would sit in low armchairs in a sitting room while enjoying their tea and cakes set at low level tables. Low tea, a light snack was intended to tide someone over until dinner and usually used to be a ladies 'get together' or a social event. Think of scones, tea sandwiches, pastries, and cakes when talking about low tea. Here, a meal of tea, scones and cream is called a 'cream tea' and it is the simplest form of afternoon tea. If more sweets are added along with tea, scones and cream, then one would have a 'light tea'. If savory stuff is also included in the menu, then it becomes elaborate and constitutes a 'full tea'.    

Ironically, 'high tea' originated among the lower classes of the society and it is the meal served at the end of a working day. During 1800's as I mentioned in this post, dinner was a midday meal and the working class did not have the luxury of a lunch break. They instead had tea/meal right after their work with a hearty meal like cold cuts, cheeses and meat pies. This evening meal was served at at a high table - a proper dinner table and hence the name.

If I am not wrong, a formal afternoon tea time meal is a almost a thing of the past in most of the English households owing to the modern day busy lives. Unless if it is a special occasion or one is visiting classy hotels / tea rooms of England to partake in the afternoon tea which provides the tourists an opportunity to experience the age old English custom along with the locals who drop in to enjoy a relaxed afternoon with a nice cuppa with treats.

Now from those afternoon tea sessions to mid morning breaks. Elevenses, a colloquial English expression that started in the mid 18th century in Britain means a light refreshment taken at about eleven in the morning. I guess the timing had and has been flexible and the food served must have been highly variable. It is obvious  that people who eat an early or no breakfast crave for some light refreshment during mid mornings irrespective of their time period in history or their location on the map. The coffee or tea breaks of the modern world is a proof that the institution of elevenses still exists everywhere though maybe not on an elaborate scale or with the same frequency as during the previous centuries. And for that matter not even under the same name, depending upon where you live.

I am one of those who eats an early breakfast which is usually on the lighter side and feel the hunger pangs mid morning. Today's orange bread is perfect for such situations. A small cup of milk and a slice of this bread would suffice until lunch break. Bread served with butter and small cakes were a usual feature of elevenses and so, I made a quick bread which was kind of cross between the two though the yeast breads were the norm during the 18th century. The other elevenses posts this week are ginger biscuits and classic scones.

This bread which is on the sweeter side turned predominantly orange flavored one since I upped the liquid ratio in the recipe. The original recipe uses cranberries but I opted for the dried, sweetened ones since no one at home is a fan of tart cranberries. The bread tasted delicious, slightly warmed and slathered with butter. Walnuts add slight crunch while the sweetened, dried cranberries lend a sweet - tart touch. I made two mini loaves and the small slices do the portion control and are great for snacking. I guess the sugar quantity can be reduced if not looking for a sweet bread. 

Ingredients:
1 flax egg or any substitute for one large egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 or 2 tsp. grated orange zest
2 tbsp. melted butter
2 tbsp. hot water
1/2 cup orange juice *
1 cup fresh / frozen cranberries (I used dried and sweetened ones.)
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

* I had to use extra juice since the batter was not coming together. I used over 1/4 cup. Start with 1/2 cup mentioned in the recipe and go on adding in small increments until bread batter is formed. The final batter should not be of neither a dough consistency nor a runny batter. 
Directions:
* Preheat the oven to 325 deg F / 165 deg C.
* Combine 1 tbsp. flaxmeal and 3 tbsp. warm water in a small bowl and keep aside for about 5 minutes. 
* Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
* Combine flax egg, orange zest, melted butter, hot water and juice in another bowl and beat to combine. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Gently fold in berries and nuts.
* Transfer the batter to a greased 9x5 inch loaf pan and bake until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes. This can also be baked in 4 mini loaf pans but the baking time would be less.
* Cool for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
* I served the slices warm slathered with butter generously.

This goes to Blogging Marathon under 'Elevenses' Theme.


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Ginger Biscuits

Wishing all my readers a happy, healthy and prosperous new year. May all your wishes come true this year and hope you get to create a collage of wonderful memories with your near and dear ones. 

I have read enough novels set in the Victorian period to know a thing or two about the popular tea tradition and tea rooms of Britain. However I always associated it with the afternoon tea sessions. A ritual which doubled as a light meal and was meant to ward off the hunger pangs between the lunch and dinner periods. A Duchess named Anna Maria, a lifelong friend of queen Victoria is credited with the creation of the afternoon tea ritual, during mid 1840s. 

There were only two meals served prior to 18th century - a breakfast and a dinner, the main meal of the day that happened around two or three in the afternoon. Somewhere during the 18th century, dinner was slowly moved to somewhere between six to eight in the evening. During this period, a very light midday meal called 'luncheon' started to get served in wealthy homes, to fill the gap between breakfast and these new fashionably late dinners. However these luncheons were lighter and the long afternoons with no refreshments kept everyone feeling hungry. Anna found that a light meal of tea (usually Darjeeling) and cakes or sandwiches was  perfect to beat the hunger pangs before dinner and soon started inviting her friends to join her during the teatime. This post-lunch tea ritual became such a hit that the practice spread in aristocratic circles.

Now, there is another little teatime tradition called 'elevenses' which also happens to be my theme of blogging marathon this week. Elevenses is a short break taken for light refreshments at eleven in the morning, a couple of hours before the midday meal. This is like a second breakfast that comes between a proper breakfast and before lunch. It was not as formal or fancy as the afternoon tea but light snacks which are usually sweet were served with a tea. 

I read somewhere that not the fancy kind but simple ones like these ginger biscuits were a norm for the elevenses. I found the perfect recipe here to suit my purpose and tried it. I was baking a small portion and so, rather than running to grocery store, I substituted with the things I had in my kitchen. Golden syrup was replaced by honey and maple syrup combo, margarine by butter and self rising flour by a combo of all purpose flour, salt and baking powder. Also I baked them a couple of minutes more and left them in the oven for a few minutes. The extra time in the oven makes them perfect 'dunkers' for tea or coffee.

I was taking care of hundred other things while baking this and kind of messed up with my liquid measurement and so, I might have added more flour than needed. I am guessing that's why my cookies were thicker and did not spread as thinner as the original one. However they taste really good in spite of all the substitutions. As I mentioned above, I made them a little on the harder side to use them to dunk in tea / coffee.

Ingredients: (Yield about 30 - 32)
110 g / 4 oz margarine
110 g / 4 oz caster sugar
110 g / 4 oz golden syrup
225 g / 8 oz self rising flour
2 tsp. ground ginger

Directions:
* Preheat the oven to 180 c / 350 deg F. Grease a baking sheet.
* Melt the margarine, sugar and golden syrup in a pan over medium heat. Remove the pan from heat as soon as the contents are melted and allow it cool slightly. Add the flour and ginger and mix to form a dough.
* Once the dough is cool enough to handle, roll the dough into about 30 small balls with floured hands. Place the balls onto the prepared baking sheet with space in between to allow them to expand while baking. Mark the top of each ball with a fork. 
* Bake them until the biscuits are golden brown, about 10 minutes. (Mine were not done at 10 minutes. However remember that they harden a little, while cooling.)
* Remove from the oven, let them cool down a bit and transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an air tight container.


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Mtedza ~ Malawi Peanut Cookies

 
African donuts and these peanut cookies were on my shortlisted 'dessert' recipes to try for the third day of this week's marathon. I was reluctant to try these cookies initially since I was fixated on trying the former. However the idea of frying did not appeal when the time came to try them and I decided to go with a small batch of mtedza. A decision I regretted as soon as I got to have a bite of these yummy, buttery rich cookies. These are like those delightful, crumbly wedding cookies or the moon cookies with an additional surprise of peanuts embedded in them. Not little but loads that give a lovely crunch to these super yummy cookies. Give them a try. You would be delighted, I promise. 

These peanut cookies or groundnut cookies seems to come from the African nation of Malawi and are called mtedza. The online recipes circulating over the years for these cookies seem to be one and the same. I am not sure if the cookies are prepared traditionally this way considering that Malawi is a poor nation and the probability of people owning ovens is probably low. However the cookies taste awesome and are are a beginner level of recipe.

Ingredients: (Yield 8 - 10 cookies)
4 - 6 tbsp toasted and skinned peanuts
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tbsp. sugar
A pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup flour
Powdered sugar for dusting
Directions:
* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F.
* Roughly chop the peanuts into small pieces or pulse in a food processor.
* Cream butter and sugar together. Add the remaining ingredients to form a crumbly dough.
* Make small balls out of the mixture and place the on a cookie sheet. (The cookies don't expand while baking. Shape them as big or small you would prefer.)
* Bake them for 20 minutes or until they turn light brown.
* Once done, roll them immediately in powdered sugar.


This goes to blogging marathon #93 with the theme of recipes from countries that start with the same alphabet, "Pick one alphabet - 3 countries". My choice of alphabet this week is 'M' and today's post is from Malawi. Check out the page here to read what other marathoners are cooking.

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Potato Scones

These potato scones aka tattie scones come from Scotland and are a variation to the griddle scone. They have nothing to do with the English tea time baked scones most are familiar with. These unleavened scones are made with liberal quantities of boiled or left over mashed potatoes and butter combined with enough flour to bind. They are then rolled out into about 5 mm thick circles or further cut into quarters and are cooked on a griddle. 

These scones are served warm as a part of a full Scottish breakfast or eaten as a roll with fillings. Alternatively, it is eaten with jam and tea like a baked scone. Potato scones contain a small portion of flour to a large portion of potatoes according to traditional recipes. However I noticed many home cooks mentioning to add the flour until all the ingredients come together which sounds more sensible when rolling out the dough. I used less butter than the recipes mentioned. They tasted like potato rotis made with flour and Indians would enjoy it with a spicy side dish to go with.
 
Ingredients: (Yield 8 scones)
1 cup peeled, boiled and mashed potato 
1 tbsp. butter
Salt to taste
All purpose flour as needed (I used more than 1/2 cup.)

Method: 
*  Greasing palms with oil would help if the dough is going to be prepared manually. Combine potato, salt and butter in a mixing bowl and mash together. Add flour to the mixture in small increments and mix, until the mixture holds together without sticking to your hands and the dough is easy to roll. 
* The scones can be either circular or triangular shaped ones. If rolling out into circles, divide the dough into 8 portions and roll out into about 5 mm thick, 5 inched circles, dusting the work surface with flour. 
For triangular ones, divide the dough into two portions. Roll out one portion into a big circle and quarter them using a knife. Repeat it with the remaining dough.
* Heat a griddle or non stick shallow pan on medium flame and spray with some oil. Toast each rolled out piece, flipping once or twice until brown spots appear on both sides. Serve them warm.
This goes to Blogging marathon #85, under the theme 'Breakfast Recipes'. Check out the page to read what other marathoners are cooking.

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Red Velvet Mug Cake

A mug cake is an easiest and quickest way to create and enjoy a piece of cake, especially if baking for one or two people or when one doesn't need any leftovers. It is also a perfect solution when a sudden craving for something sweet hits oneself at odd hours or to surprise an impromptu guest or to placate a cranky kid. 😊

A mug cake was also an easy solution for this week's blogging marathon theme of 'Baking desserts without using a convection oven'. One can bake 4 mug cakes by the time a convectional oven gets preheated and so it was perfect for the weather we have right now. 

Usually I bake chocolate based mug cakes and was looking for a different version for my daughter this time and found one here. I had to make minor adjustments to the recipe since the batter was too thick. She loved it going by the fact that it got made already 4 times in the past week.

Ingredients:
Scant 1/4 cup lukewarm milk 
1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar / white vinegar
1/4 cup minus 1 tsp. all purpose flour
1 tsp. cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. baking powder
A pinch of salt
2 tbsp. sugar
1.5 tbsp. oil (I used canola oil.)
4 - 5 drops of red food color (optional)
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)



Directions:
* Combine milk and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl and leave it aside for about 5 minutes. 
* Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and sugar in a microwave safe mug / bowl. Add the milk-vinegar mixture, oil and food color and mix well.
* Cook it in a microwave for about 70 to 75 seconds.
* Serve immediately with a dusting of sugar if preferred.


This post goes to Blogging marathon #78 under the theme "No Baking Desserts for Lazy Days". Check out the page to read what other marathoners are cooking.

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