Eggless Brownies

Chitra's Cuisine 3rd Anniversary!

Time flies!! Today marks the 3rd anniversary of my blog Chitra's Cuisine. I really enjoy writing this blog and I would like to thank all my followers and readers. Thanks to all of you for visiting my site. All your feedback and comments mean the whole world to me.

In these three years I have learnt so much about cooking, food photography and made some wonderful friends ! Special thanks to hubby who inspired me into starting this blog and the wonderful home studio!  :) 

I hope you will continue to spread the love, share this blog with your friends and take pleasure in cooking and sharing these recipes with your loved ones.

My recipe this week is one that just makes you melt - Super soft  and moist Eggless Brownies.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup 

Cocoa Powder - 1/3 cup 

Powdered Sugar* - 3/4 cup + 2 tbspn (measured after powdering the regular sugar)

Baking Soda - 1 tsp 

Salt - a pinch

Oil (Canola or Vegetable) - 1/3 cup 

Buttermilk** - 1 cup

Instant Coffee Powder - 1/2 tsp(optional)

Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp

Walnuts - 1/4 cup, chopped (any type of nuts)

*If you are using confectioners' sugar add 1 cup sugar

**If you don't have buttermilk boil 1 cup milk. Add 1 tsp of vinegar and stir it well. Let it cool. 

This mixture(include the whey) acts as a great substitute for buttermilk.

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 350F / 180C.

In a bowl beat the buttermilk well. Mix in the oil, vanilla extract. Keep it aside.

In another bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, coffee powder(if using) and salt. Mix the powdered sugar with this and stir well to combine. 

Now add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and gently fold to combine until there are no more streaks of flour left.

Transfer the batter to a greased 8X8 pan and add chopped walnuts on top.

Bake for 25-30 mins until a skewer inserted into the brownie comes out with crumbs.

Let the baked brownies sit in the pan and cool completely before you cut into squares.

Inspired from here

Eggless Tutti Frutti Cake

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups + 2 tsps to coat the tin and tutti frutti

Sugar - 1 cup, powdered

Curd - 1 cup, beaten at room temperature

Tutti frutti - 1/2 cup

Oil - 1/2 cup (Canola or Sunflower)

Baking Powder - 1 1/4 tsp

Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp

Salt - a pinch

Vanilla Essence - 2 tsps

Milk - 1 tsp, to brush the cake

Inspired from here
Method:

Grease an 8" round pan or the 4"x7" loaf tin with oil. Add a tsp of flour and shake it well so that it coats all the sides and bottom of the tin. Alternatively you can line it with baking paper and make sure you cut it into right size before lining it in the pan.

Preheat the oven at 200 deg C(400 deg F) for 10-12 mins.

In a small bowl take tutti frutti and add 1 tsp of flour and mix well to prevent tutti frutti settling down at the bottom.

Sieve all purpose flour a couple of times to ensure that there are no lumps in it. Add salt.

In a bowl beat curd until smooth. Add powdered sugar to it and beat again for 2-3 mins.

Add baking powder and baking soda to the curd mixture and mix well and leave it aside for 2-3 mins. The curd mixture will become frothy and increase in volume and you can see some bubbles forming in it. Now add the vanilla essence and oil to the curd mixture and mix it nicely and gently and make sure that the air in the mixture is not lost.

Add the flour in two batches and gently fold the flour into the mixture until you get smooth dropping consistency. Do not stir vigorously as it will loose air in the mixture and will not fluff up. Hence do it gentle.

Add the tutti frutti to the cake batter and fold it nicely. Pour this batter into the prepared tin and keep it ready.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180 deg C(350 deg F) and place the tin in the preheated oven and bake it at 180 deg C for 35-40 mins. The baking time varies from oven to oven, hence keep an eye over it after 30 mins.

You can insert a toothpick in the center of the cake to check whether it is done or not. If the toothpick comes out clean with few cake crumbs then your cake is ready. If the toothpick has some batter stuck to it keep the tin back in the oven and bake for some more time.

Brush the top of the cake with milk and put it back in the oven and bake for 2 mins. This gives a shiny look on top of the cake. However this step is optional. 

Remove the tin from the oven and let it sit for 5 mins. Run a sharp knife around the edges of the cake and gently turn it upside down onto a wire rack and let it cool completely, approx 2 hrs. Once it is completely cooled, slice the cake into thick slices using a serrated knife.

Serve it with tea/coffee or eat as it is as a snack.