Double Chocolate Banana Cake (No Eggs and No Butter / Oil Recipe)

I came across this moist and yummy cake when I was looking for something that included both chocolate and banana. The person who posted this baked it in a 8x8 pan but I halved the recipe and baked in a 6 inch loaf pan since I was baking this for one, my daughter. The loaf uses a good dose of fruit in the form of banana and apple sauce. The latter replaces the fat (butter/oil) and hence cuts down some of the calories from the recipe. I further cut down the calories by omitting the egg from the recipe. It was not a light and airy cake but still was a super moist one and was surely a winner. Everyone at my home loved the texture and taste of this treat. I am sure that this guiltless treat is going to be featured in my kitchen more and more in the future. Unfortunately, the tiny loaf was gone before I could take the pictures of the sliced cake and all I could manage were these pictures. I am going to update them later.

Source: Here
Ingredients:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 bananas
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
6 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method:
* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Grease a 6 inch loaf pan.
* Mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
* Blend bananas and brown sugar together. Add apple sauce and vanilla and mix together.
* Next add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well to incorporate. Fold in the chocolate chips, saving some. 
* Pour the mixture into the loaf pan. Sprinkle the saved chocolate chips over the surface. (I ended up with a little left over batter that yielded me an extra muffin.)
* Bake until a tooth pick inserted at the center comes out clean, about 35 - 40 minutes.

This goes to the following events.
1. Blogging marathon #73
2. Srivalli's Kids' Delight event, hosted by Kalyani this month with the theme 'Chocolate'.

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Chocolate Peanut Clusters

Here is one more delectable chocolate based treat, after the one I posted yesterday. This one too is a quick and easy one which lures people of all ages. The amount of chocolate chips can be increased if you prefer more chocolate than nuts and vice versa. I wanted to have more peanuts in my clusters and the ratio of chocolate and peanuts mentioned below would yield that.

Ingredients: (Yields 10 clusters)
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup skinned peanuts (salted or unsalted)
 
Method:
* Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
* Add the chocolate chips to a glass or any microwave safe bowl and melt them in a microwave, stirring at 30 seconds intervals, until smooth. Remove the bowl from the microwave and add the peanuts to the melted chocolate chips. Mix well to coat the peanuts with chocolate uniformly.
* Drop spoonfuls of the mixture on the foil lined baking sheet, spacing them.
* Refrigerate until firm.

This goes to the following events.
1. Blogging marathon #73
2. Srivalli's Kids' Delight event, hosted by Kalyani this month with the theme 'Chocolate'.

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Chocolate - Shredded Wheat Treat

This makes a quick fix and yummy chocolate treat for kids. It hardly takes five minutes to prepare and so an apt one for play dates or even kids' based parties. I came across this chocolate - cereal based sweet somewhere on the web and barely remembered the ingredients when I got to make this today. I could neither recall the name of the recipe nor the quantities of the ingredients. I just kinda eyeballed the measurements and came up with this crunchy treat. 

Ingredients:
1 cup shredded wheat (I used this.)
1 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. semisweet chocolate chips
1 heaped tbsp. of chocolate peanut butter  / regular peanut butter
1/4 cup - A mixture of unsweetened cocoa powder + icing sugar
* The ratio of cocoa powder and sugar can be adjusted to the preferred sweet level. 
 
Method:
* Melt butter, chocolate chips and peanut butter on low flame and stir to a smooth mixture.
* Turn off the stove and add shredded wheat and mix well to coat with the chocolate - butter mixture.
*  Add the cocoa and sugar mixture to a plastic bag with seal or a brown paper bag. Add the shredded wheat from the above step to the bag and close it. Shake the bag well until the wheat pieces are coated with cocoa mixture uniformly.

This goes to the following events.
1. Blogging marathon #73
2. Srivalli's Kids' Delight event, hosted by Kalyani this month with the theme 'Chocolate'.

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Eggless Chocolate Pancakes

When I picked Kids' Delight theme for this week's blogging marathon, I let my daughter know about it since she is fond of chocolate. I wanted to see whether she would prefer any dish in particular and as predicted, she came up with a ton of ideas, of course with her favorite chocolate chip cookies being top on the list. I already have two chocolate cookie recipes that we are all fond of and so I had to scratch them off the list. Her next request was chocolaty pancakes and I came up with this kid-friendly version, loaded with chocolate chips. My kids loved these pancakes and were happy to gobble them up with chocolate syrup instead of maple syrup. Yup some more chocolate and it turns out that a drizzle of chocolate syrup over chocolaty pancakes isn't overkill as I thought it would be. And of course one need not go with maple / chocolate syrup at all. Any other preferred choice of toppings like fruits, butter, honey etc. should work too. 
Ingredients: (Yield 6 pancakes)
1 tbsp. flax meal + 3 tbsp. warm water *
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. melted butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips
* Any substitute for one egg 
 Method:
* Whisk flax meal and warm water together and leave aside for about 5 minutes.
* Heat a griddle / non stick pan on medium heat such that a drop of water beads when dropped on it.
* Blend the flax meal mixture and the remaining ingredients mentioned above into a thick batter. Leave the chocolate chips if you prefer sprinkling them on the pancakes instead, while preparing them.
 
* Pour about 1/4 cup batter of batter onto the pan. If chocolate chips was not added to the batter, then sprinkle some on the top. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface and the bottom side turns golden brown. Flip the pancake with a spatula and cook until it is done on the bottom side too. Transfer onto a serving plate. Repeat the steps with the remaining batter.
* Serve the pancakes warm. Top them with chocolate syrup / maple syrup.
 

These pancakes are going to be a part of 
1. Blogging marathon #61 and check here to find out what other marathoners are cooking today.
2. Kids' Delight event, hosted by Kalyani this month under the theme 'Chocolate' with a #KidsDelightChocoGiveaway.

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Eggless Banana - Chocolate Chips Pancakes

 
I know it seems like I have dived from one pancake session to another going by my posts recently. I have an excuse however. My both kids love pancakes and my daughter seems to like them a tad bit more. She doesn't mind if they are served for all her meals, everyday. These cinnamon flavored banana pancakes studded with ooey gooey chocolate chips are just her kind. Soft, fluffy and yummy. Quick to whip up and a perfect foil for those over ripe bananas lying in the fruit basket. If serving kids / chocolate lovers, top the pancakes with more chocolate chips. Or omit chocolate from the recipe completely if it is not preferred.

Ingredients for 8 pancakes:
1 tbsp flax meal (Or one egg substitute)
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. melted butter
3/4 cup to 1 cup milk at room temperature (Start with 3/4 cup and add more if the batter is too thick.)
1 cup mashed banana / 2 small sized ripe bananas
4 - 6 tbsp. semisweet chocolate chips
Maple syrup, banana slices & chocolate chips to serve
 
 Method:
1. Whisk flax meal and 3 tbsp. warm water together and leave aside for about 5 minutes.
2. Heat a griddle / non stick pan on medium heat such that a drop of water beads when dropped on it.
3. Blend the flax meal mixture and the remaining ingredients mentioned above into a thick batter. (Leave the last one from the list - the maple syrup, banana slices and chocolate chips reserved for serving) 
4. Pour about 1/4 cup batter of batter onto the pan. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface and the bottom side turns golden brown. Flip the pancake with a spatula and cook for about 30 - 40 seconds more. Transfer onto a serving plate. Repeat the steps with the remaining batter.
5. Serve the pancakes warm. Top them with banana slices and more chocolate chips if desired and drizzle with maple syrup.
 

These go to blogging marathon #57 and check here to find out what other marathoners are cooking today.

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Oat - Banana Cookies (Using 3 Ingredients)

 
The other day I was mashing the over ripe banana to try these 3 ingredient cookies. My daughter who just stepped into the kitchen proceeded towards the sink and started to wash her hands. I had no clue what got into her and asked her the same. There was a sense of betrayal in her tone when she asked whether I was not going to let her to mash the banana and mix the ingredients needed for the baking. Then I got the point. It is kinda ritual in our home that whenever I bake something she gets to assist me. This time I started on my own without even bothering to call her. She had accidentally ended up in the kitchen and noticing me doing the prep work, she thought of helping me. I had to tell her that there were hardly any ingredients to combine and she began to wonder how is that REALLY possible if I am baking something.  I wondered the same when I saw these cookies on MSN recently. 
 
They cookies are  made with just three healthy ingredients and without all the regular junk fare - the flour, eggs, sugar or butter. These cookies must be the healthiest version I have ever baked. With some milk on the side, they make a complete and guilt-free breakfast, if you prefer a light meal in the morning. I made these cookies in two versions - one with raisins and the other with chocolate chips upon my daughter's suggestion. I think the raisin version more suits the adult palate as they were very subtly sweet but anyway my daughter liked them too. Where as the semi sweet chocolate chips version were sweet enough to please kids. I made the raisin version a bit chunkier than the chocolate chip ones. I did not follow the baking time mentioned in the original recipe and baked longer to get almost crispy cookies. The thicker cookies were soft and chewy whereas the thinner ones were crispy from outside and soft and chewy inside. And needless to say we preferred the thinner, crispy ones though we finished them in one sitting.

Ingredients: (yield 12 cookies)
1 cup oats
1/2 cup tightly packed, mashed banana
1/4 cup raisins / chocolate chips

 Method:
* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil / parchment paper or grease it. (I lined the baking sheet with aluminum foil and greased it.)
* Combine all the ingredients just until combined.
* Divide the mixture into 12 portions and roughly pat them into discs of medium thickness. (Don't make them either too thin or too thick. Thick discs will result in softer cookies.) Place them on the prepared baking sheet.
* I think the original recipe recommended to bake for about 10 minutes or until the bottoms start to brown. I baked them for about 20 minutes, turned off the oven and left the cookies in the oven for another 15 minutes. The resulting cookies were crispy from outside and soft & chewy from inside. 
* They are better eaten on the same day they are made.  

This is my post under 'Recipes with 3 Ingredients'. Check the blogging marathon page to see what my fellow marathoners are cooking for BM#53.

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Chocolate Chip - Oatmeal Cookies (Version 2)

KAF is my to go website for baking recipes since most of their recipes are foolproof and the user reviews gives me an idea how a recipe is going to turn out and in case if it needs any tweaks or twists. These chocolate chip - oatmeal cookies come from there and are supposedly their recipe of the year for 2015. An apt choice I would say. This recipe yields addictive cookies with the right amount of chewiness and crispiness. My daughter loves chocolate chip cookies and I had bookmarked them earlier for her. I tried a small batch yesterday making it an eggless version and got a big happy thumbs up from her. The only regret I had was that I should have made more cookies as mine were gone in a day. They are just subtly soft at the center and have a crispy exterior if baked for the mentioned time. If one prefers crispy cookies, they must be left in the oven few minutes more after turning off the oven. Cookies can be made bigger or smaller than the size mentioned in the recipe below and the serving size would differ. I used a tbsp. sized scoop and got sixteen, 2.5" sized cookies. 

Ingredients: (Yield 16 cookies)
1.5 tsp. flax meal or a substitute for half an egg
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method:
* Combine flax meal and 1.5 tbsp. water in a small bowl and set it aside for about 4 -5 minutes.
* Whisk together flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
* Preheat the oven to 325 deg F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or grease it.
* Beat butter and sugars together until smooth. Next add the flax egg and vanilla and beat well once again. Add the flour mixture into the butter bowl and mix until thoroughly incorporated, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl. Stir in the chocolate chips.
* Scoop out tbsp. sized portions of dough onto the cooking sheet, leaving about 1.5 to 2 inches between cookies.
* Bake for about 12 - 15 minutes, until they are light golden brown, with slightly darker edges. They continue to bake as they cool on the pan and so it's ok if they look slightly shiny in the middle. Remove the cookies from the oven, and as soon as they're set enough to handle, transfer them to racks to cool.
( If baked for the mentioned time, they wouldn't be crispy when they come out of the oven. When they cool down, they crisp around the edges while remaining softer at the center. I baked them for 15 minutes and turned off the oven. I left half of the cookies in the oven itself for few minutes more and those cookies had turned out perfectly crispy.) 

These cookies are going to be a part of
1. Blogging Marathon #52.
2. Srivalli's 'Kids' Delight' event hosted by Sandhya this month with the theme "Snacking all the Way".

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Eggless Zucchini- Chocolate Chip Muffins

 
I had asked the other adult at home to get a zucchini and as usual I ended up getting four instead. And also was told that I would find ways to use them anyway. That was true in a sense and I made some crisps, and a bread but was still left with one zucchini. It was not sufficient to make a chocolate zucchini bread but I could bake some muffins instead. I found a recipe online which had eggs and the muffins looked super moist going by the images. I was so tempted by those images that I made them instantly converting it into an eggless version and was very much pleased with the results. Somehow I could not trace the original recipe now as these were made a few weeks back and I forgot to save the link.  

I am surprised to notice that my muffins are kinda looking dry in images but they were moist in reality. I forgot to take pictures showing their crumb and by the time I remembered, there were no muffins left to try. Usually I take a bite of what I bake to notice their texture and taste but I ended up eating the whole muffin as it was really good. The base of the muffins are subtly sweet and the sweetness comes more from the chips when you bite into the muffins. They were moist and yummy and the latter part was certified by my daughter as well who sat and ate three in one sitting. That's like a aatwa ajooba (8th wonder) in my home considering that she needs a lot of cajoling and threatening to eat anything.

Ingredients: (Yield 9 muffins)
1 flax egg or go with any other substitute
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. oil
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peeled and grated zucchini
1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Method:
* If using flax egg, combine 1 tbsp. flax meal with 3 tbsp. warm water and let it sit for five minutes.
* Preheat the oven to 425 deg F.  Grease a muffin pan or line them with paper cups.
* Combine the flours, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl.
* Whisk the flax egg, brown sugar, oil, milk and vanilla in another bowl.
* Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Finally stir in grated zucchini and chocolate chips.
* Fill the muffin cups up to 2/3rds with the batter and place the muffin pan in the preheated oven.
* After 5 minutes, lower the temperature to 375 deg F and bake for another 15 minutes or until, a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.

Check the blogging marathon page to see what my fellow marathoners are cooking for BM#52.

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F for France ~ Mendiants au Chocolat

 
Event: BM #44  
Choice of country: French Republic
Capital City: Paris
Official Language: French

I would like to visit Paris one day and leisurely explore the city. Technically I have set my foot in the city several times over the years, as I usually catch my connecting flight to India from there. I am always in a hurry to reach India to meet my loved ones instead of breaking off my journey and so couldn't visit the city yet. Hopefully I will make it during my next visit. 
Besides, my son is studying French at school and would love to learn more about that country. We wanted to send him on a student exchange program to Paris during last summer but couldn't do so because of dietary restrictions. As part of the program, he would have spent his summer in France, with a sponsoring French family learning about their language, culture and traditions. While we would have done the same here in US, welcoming a French student to our home. At the last moment, I got cold feet to send him alone and besides being a vegetarian, there was the issue of food. I promised myself at that moment that he would get an extensive tour of the country. In fact, not only him but every one of us. In the mean time, we are set to enjoy some French food at home. I prepared a French treat for us called "mendiants au chocolat". 

A mendiant is a traditional French confection that was usually made during Christmas. It is a chocolate disk studded with dry fruits and nuts and is very easy and quick to put together. They were traditionally meant to represent the four monastic orders of middle ages in Western Europe -  Dominicans (or Jacobins as they were called in France), Augustinians, Franciscans and Carmelites. These monastic orders were mendicant orders, mendicant coming from a Latin word meaning "to beg". These monks renounced every worldly possession and were bound by a vow of poverty. They depended upon charity / begging for their livelihood.

Each of the dry fruits and nuts traditionally used stood for the color of the monastic robes they wore - Raisin for Dominicans, hazelnut for the Augustinians, dried fig for Franciscans and almond for Carmelites. The modern versions have moved away from the traditional combination and today, one can use their choice of dry fruits, nuts, fruit peels, seeds, coconut flakes and so on. I guess you got the idea. Adorn the chocolate dollops with your favorite toppings or any odds or bits of nuts / dry fruit you want to use up from your pantry. Besides no need to wait until Christmas to enjoy these delightful treats.

Making mendiants is surprisingly simple. Basically, chocolate is melted by double boiler method and about tbsp. sized melted chocolate is dropped as dollops on a foil / parchment paper lined cookie sheet. They are then decorated with toppings and are refrigerated until they are set.  

Pronunciation:
I suddenly realized at some point that it is a French recipe name and possibly shouldn't be pronounced like an English word. I had even seen recipe titles like "Recette de Mendiants aux fruits secs et au chocolat" for mendiants and thought the one I chose is short and sweet. My son explained me that the long title just means "a recipe for mendiants with dry fruits and chocolate". Phew. Anyone wondering how to say "Mendiants au chocolat"? 
Chocolat is of course "shoh-koh-lah" meaning chocolate.
Au is pronounced as an English 'o' and means 'with' in the cooking context.
And for mendiants, check it here. I am having hard time to write it even though I learnt how to say it from my son. It is said with a nasal voice and it goes like "moan-dyon"

Ingredients to make about a dozen:
Dark chocolate / white chocolate / chocolate chips (I used 1 cup chopped chocolate pieces)
Assortment of dry fruits and nuts of your choice

Preparation:
* Avoid chocolate coming in contact with water at any point of time during the preparation. Keep your work station, pan in which you are melting chocolate and spatula completely dry.
* Line a cookie sheet with foil / parchment paper or use a silicon mat.
* Chop the chocolate into small bits. If using chocolate in large quantity, do it in batches. 
* Keep your toppings ready.

Method:
*  Use a sauce pan and a metal / glass bowl that fits snugly over the top of that pan. Fill the sauce pan with water such that the quantity of water should provide heat but not touch the base of the bowl in which chocolate is going to be melted. 
* Put the sauce pan with water over a low heat and place the chocolate bowl over it. Melt it over low heat, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula.
* Drop a tbsp sized melted chocolate on the prepared cooking sheet. Gently shape the chocolate into a disc using the back of the spoon. Repeat the steps quickly until you have made about 4 discs. Decorate them with your choice of toppings.
* Again repeat the steps doing about 4 discs before decorating, to avoid getting chocolate cold quickly.
* Let cool and refrigerate them until they are set. Once set they peel off easily.

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An InLinkz Link-up

Banana - Chocolate Smoothie

I had chosen "Smoothies" theme for this week's blogging marathon and the timing wouldn't have been more perfect than this. Our summer months here are June through August and we hit very few 80 deg F (around 26 deg C) kind of temperatures until the middle of August this year and I was enjoying the balmy weather. I had even mentioned to my mother a couple of weeks ago, that we had relatively a mild summer here in Chicago-land compared to previous summers. I had spoken too soon it seems and from last few days even though I am not seeing sun much, temperatures are more or less around 90 deg F. I know if I mentioned this to any southerner or people living along the west coast, they would have been wrinkling their noses at me. :)
This heat and muggy weather is making everyone at home preferring cold smoothies, ice-creams, chilled juices and that kind of stuff. My daughter who seldom throws a look at chilled stuff  has been reaching for that chocolate ice-cream carton in the freezer more and more. I had prepared this yummy smoothie a few days back with some leftover overripe bananas. Make sure that sweet variety kind bananas are used. Add frozen banana / some ice cubes if not using frozen yogurt. 

Blend the following ingredients to a smooth consistency and serve immediately.
1 sweet variety banana (Bananas can be frozen ahead too.)
2-3 tbsp chocolate chips
2/3 cup frozen yogurt (or substitute chocolate ice cream.)
Sweetener if needed

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Banana - Coconut - Chocolate Muffins

Event: Blogging Marathon #41
Theme: Breakfast dishes

A few bananas that had gone beyond the "over-ripe" stage and a teenager at home who had plenty of free time on her hands because of her summer vacation resulted in these muffins. My daughter wanted to bake something over the weekend and as usual her ideas were revolving around something "chocolate". Finally, we decided to try this recipe as finishing the leftover bananas was our primary goal. And my girl decided to add chocolate chips in the recipe as a compensation for not baking her favorite chocolate chip cookies. I gave her the ingredients and the instructions and she had the batter ready for baking. These muffins were real yummy with coconut flavor and I recommend the addition of chocolate chips to these muffins which add a sweet touch.

Ingredients: (Makes 7 - 8 muffins)

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup coconut flakes

2 bananas

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup coconut milk 

2 tbsp + 2 tsp coconut oil 

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Substitutes:

1. Milk / any nondairy milk for coconut milk

2. Butter / oil for coconut oil

3. Pecans / almonds for walnuts

Method:
* Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Lightly spray the muffin cups or use the liners.
* Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl.
* Mash the bananas in another bowl. Add sugar, oil, coconut milk and vanilla to it. Stir them together until combined well. Now add the flour mixture and stir lightly.
* Finally stir in the coconut, chocolate chips and nuts. 
* Spoon the batter to 3/4th level of muffin cups. Sprinkle some nuts, chocolate chips and coconut if desired.
* Bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until they turn golden brown.

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Vegan Orange - Chocolate Cupcakes

 

I stumbled upon this recipe when looking for any fruit and chocolate based cupcakes and oh boy, I am glad that I did. This is almost a 5 star recipe, in my opinion. I should however admit that in the middle of baking, my heart sank seeing the sinking tops of the cupcakes. I had zeroed in on this recipe and was in no mood for further recipe hunting. I gave up and thought that I may have to fall back on any standard banana chocolate one. However by the end of baking they rose again, leaving a big happy smile on face. And so if the cupcakes sink in the initial stages of baking following this recipe, I guess there is no need to worry.
The taste and the texture of the cupcakes are fabulous. You can also add a tsp. of orange zest to enhance the orange flavor. The recipe had nuts in them but instead I chose to go with chocolate chips as this was a chocolate based theme. This is basically a cake recipe and suggests to use a 8-inch square or 9-inch round baking pan. I decided to use a muffin pan instead since I was planning to bake cupcakes for the marathon.

Ingredients: (Yield 16 cupcakes)
1/2 cup soy milk at room temperature (or milk for a non vegan version)

2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup mixed chopped nuts (optional)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup orange juice

2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips (or chopped nuts)

 

Method:
* Grease the cake tin / muffin pan you are going to use and keep it aside. Or liners can be used for the muffin pan. 
* Whisk milk and vinegar in a bowl and leave aside for 3 to 4 minutes.
* Preheat oven to 375 deg F / 190 deg C.
* Sift flour, baking soda and cocoa powder into a mixing bowl. Add sugar and mix well.
* Mix orange juice, oil and vanilla and add it to the vinegar mixture. Beat just to combine.
* Add the liquid ingredients to dry and whisk to combine forming a non lumpy batter.
* Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean. I halved the original recipe to get 8 cupcakes and mine were done in about 25 minutes.

See how beautiful the texture is.

 

This is going to be a part of BM # 37 under the theme of "Chocolate Based Muffins / Cupcakes".

 

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Oats - Chocolate Chip Muffins

For one of the "chocolate based cupcakes / muffins" themed entries for the blogging marathon, we have the choice to use either chocolate chips or frosting. I have a great aversion to the latter and so stuck with the chocolate chip option. Besides I already had baked a couple of chocolate cupcakes for this week and was looking forward to try a new muffin recipe throwing chocolate chips in it.
And I had to go no further than my pantry for the inspiration. There was a berry muffin recipe on my oats container. Whenever there is an interesting baking recipe other than the boring basic method of cooking oats, I do take notice and give it a try when I can. This time, I turned the recipe into eggless and added some chocolate chips to it. The recipe yields a dozen muffins but I halved the recipe to get six. They turned out good and I had no complaints with either the taste or the texture. Even my daughter approved them. And people who follow my blog of course would know that she had to because of the choco-chips. :)

Baking Temperature: 400 deg F / 200 deg C
Prep time: 5 minutes
Baking time: 18 - 22 minutes
Yields: 12 muffins

Ingredients:
1 cup quick cooking oats
1 & 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup soy milk or any non dairy milk (or milk for a non-vegan version) 
1/2 cup oil (I used canola oil, but melted butter can be substituted if preferred.)
1 tbsp. flax seed meal (or any other egg substitute for 1 egg)
1/2 to 3/4 cup chocolate chips (or blue berries)

Method:
* Combine flax seed meal and 3 tbsp. of water in a small bowl and keep it aside for about 3 to 4 minutes.
* In the mean time, preheat the oven to 400 deg F. Grease the muffin tin or line with paper cups. If using silicone muffin pan, there is no need to prep but I use liners to make it convenient to grab n go.
* Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Next add milk, oil, flax seed meal solution and mix just to combine. Stir in chocolate chips at the end.

* Spoon the batter into muffin cups, up to 3/4ths.

* Bake them for about 18 - 22 minutes or until they turn golden brown. (I did half the batch and mine were done in 19 minutes.)

This is going to be a part of BM # 37 under the theme of "Chocolate Based Muffins / Cupcakes".

Comments

Chocolate Cups

Srivalli threw a googly towards us during this month long marathon with the final theme related to "Crafting / Carving kind of Stuff", challenging us to be creative. I haven't got even a single cell that can claim to be creative and so obviously was going crazy over this theme. Soon I was relieved to notice that some other marathoners were also sailing in the same boat. Valli, as usual pulled us all out of our misery by mentioning that we can go with our own themes if we could not come up with any interesting ideas with the given theme. I haven't prepared anything for this particular week but have decided to stick to recipes as this is a food blog. 

I am going with kid-centric recipes (probably :)) and these cute, edible cups made with chocolate is going to be my Day 1 post of this week's marathon. It is pretty simple to prepare these cups and can be made ahead. They can be used as delicious, edible cups to serve cut fruit, ice creams or any similar kind of desserts. They can be a fun part of any parties, especially the kid-centric ones. 

What you would need:

Semi sweet chocolate chips

Small silver foil paper baking cups

(For about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, you would get around 5 cups.)

Method:

* Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and melt them, passing at 30 seconds intervals. Or place chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl and set over a pot of simmering water. Stir until chocolate melts. Remove from heat.

* With the back of a teaspoon / spatula, coat the sides and bottom of the baking cups with chocolate. Put the cups in muffin pan or small cups.

* Place them in a refrigerator and chill until the shells harden.

* Tear away the foil once the shells are hardened. The cups would be ready to serve.

Check what other marathoners are cooking during this month long marathon.

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Trail Mix

 

Trail mix, an assortment of dried fruits, nuts, seeds, grain and (some times) chocolate developed as a snack food to be taken along on outdoor hiking trips. It is claimed that trail mix was first invented in 1968 by two California surfers who blended peanuts and raisins together for an energy snack. It is considered an ideal snack food for hikes since it is tasty and nutritious besides being lightweight and easy to store. This high energy “mix” gives the required stamina to hit the “trail” during hiking or any other similar activities demanding strength and endurance. August 31 is celebrated as National Trail Mix Day in USA.  (Info source: wiki).

This outdoor tradition tastes good on or off the trail and I usually keep a stock of it as my daughter loves to snack on it. We can mix and match with the ingredients we have on hand and can create our own mix. I have gone with salted cashews & almonds, dry roasted peanuts, dried cranberries, raisins, sunflower seeds, white chocolate chips, M&M' s. Mix everything together and store them in air tight container.

 

By keeping trail mix handy, one can have a nutritious snack ready for kids anytime. Also this could be a great substitute for many calorie laden treats, when serving kids during gatherings. Other additions could be granola, pretzels, marshmallows, toasted coconut, dried fruits or whatever one prefers.

Check what other marathoners are cooking during this month long marathon.

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