Vegetarian mug chocolate cake - 3rd try

- zaty.

This is a modified version of the mug choc cake I tried a few years ago (ori recipe here; my 1st, 2nd attempts). I like experimenting... and i like how this turned out, especially if I'm in dire need of a quick chocolatey treat. The result? Half a mug of choc cake -- just enough to satiate those sudden pangs of sweet goodness.

Equipment 

• A microwable mug/bowl
• A tablespoon
• A microwave 

Ingredients

• 4 Tb flour
• 1 Tb white sugar
• 1 Tb unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 1 Tb nutella
• 1 tsp peanut butter (might use more pb next time)
• 3 Tb water
• 3 Tb coconut oil
• 1 Tb vanilla essence

Directions  

1. Combine dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa) in the mug/bowl.
2. Add wet ingredients (nutella, peanut butter, water, oil, flavoring), mix well
3. Place mug in microwave; nuke for 2mins 30secs in a 1000w microwave oven
4. Take it out of the microwave, let it settle for a few moments, and dig in!

Best eaten fresh out of the microwave when it's still soft and gooey; if you leave it for a while the cake might harden (it's not that bad, it just gets a bit a bit chunky/flaky after that, and I prefer my cakes soft).

You can also sprinkle some icing sugar at the top or have this with vanilla ice cream if you like, because i've reduced the sugar for this version because of the additions (e.g. choc chips/nutella) :)

Enjoy ^___^

Vegan-friendly 5-minute choc cake in a mug

- zaty.


This is a modified version of the mug choc cake I tried a few years ago; this cake is less of a mess to make, uses basic ingredients, is vegan-friendy, and better for those on a diet (fewer calories, less sugar, less fat, smaller portion)! Basically, I omited the egg, substituted the milk with water, and changed the portions of some of the ingredients of the original recipe.

So I've done this a few of times in the past few months, and I like how it turns out, especially if I'm in dire need of a quick chocolatey treat. The result? Half a mug of choc cake -- just enough to satiate those sudden pangs of sweet goodness.

Equipment 

1. A normal-sized mug
2. A tablespoon
3. A microwave 

Ingredients

1. 4 Tb flour
2. 1 Tb white sugar
3. 1 Tb unsweetened cocoa powder 
4. 3 Tb choc chips
5. 3 Tb water *
6. 3 Tb oil **
7. Some flavoring:
1. if using liquid eg. vanilla, peppermint essence, 1Tb
2. if using powder form eg. cinnamon, 1tsp plus 1Tb water

* sometimes I add 1 Tb oatmeal powder to give the cake some texture
**  sometimes I mix coconut oil, butter, and/or vegetable oil

Directions  

1. Place dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa, choc chips) into the mug, mix well.
2. Add wet ingredients (water, oil, flavoring), mix until well-combined. This might take about a minute.
3. Place mug in microwave; nuke for 2mins 50sec in a 1000w microwave oven (or 4 mins for 700w). 
4. Take it out of the microwave, let it settle for a few moments, and dig in!

Best eaten fresh out of the oven when it's still soft and gooey; if you leave it for a while the cake might harden (it's not that bad, it just gets a bit a bit chunky/flaky after that, and I prefer my cakes soft).

You can also sprinkle some icing sugar at the top or have this with vanilla ice cream if you like :)

Enjoy ^___^

Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies

- zaty.

So far I've tried a number of choc chip cookies -- crunchy, chewy, big, hard, soft, a mixture of either or all of these etc -- and I think I like the crunchy on the outside but slightly chewy on the inside kinda type. I found an awesome recipe for choc chip cookies on popularcookierecipes.com which I like to use as a rough guide to make these cookies, because I've only made them a few times before (at this time of writing)... and I tend to forget the ingredients and their general measurements lol :P

I made a few changes to the linked recipe above, I:

1. used a bit less sugar, because I don't like it too sweet
2. added chocolate powder, because I just felt like it
3. used sea salt, because I saw another recipe using it so I'm curious about how it'll turn out
4. added a bit of milk, because I like the idea :P
5. used baking powder instead of baking soda (yes, the horror!), because I didn't have baking soda and I'm too lazy to go get some

Anyway, here's tweaked recipe, which roughly makes 5 dozen cookies that are about 2 inches in diameter. :)

Equipment

1. Oven
2. Spatula
3. A large mixing bowl
4. Baking tray (2 if possible)
5. Baking/lining paper
6. Measuring spoon/cups
7. Airtight container
8. Dining tray/baking rack/large plate

Ingredients A (wet):

1. 1¼ C sugar (mixing white sugar and packed brown sugar is better)
2. 125 g butter, melted
3. 2 Tbsp cooking oil
4. 2 large eggs
5. 1 Tb milk
6. 5 drops of vanilla essence (you could also try 4:1, vanilla and peppermint)

Ingredients B (dry):

1. 2¼ C all purpose flour, well-sifted
2. 1½ tsp baking powder (or 1 tsp baking soda)
3. 1 Tb cocoa powder
4. 3/4 tsp salt
5. 1 C of chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 190degC.
2. With a spatula, mix Ingredients A one by one in a bowl until well-combined.
3. Stir in Ingredients B one by one, and mix everything well. The dough will become quite firm.
4. Line the baking tray with baking paper.
5. Scoop half a tablespoon of dough and use the spatula to push it onto the baking paper
   (arrange each scoop of dough so that there is about 2 inches of space between each cookie to prevent the cookies from melting+combining together).
6. Place the tray in the oven for about 8-10 minutes
   (8 mins = slightly chewy brown-on-the-edges-lighter-in-the-centre cookies, 10min = darker and crispier; I'd go for 9 mins).
7. Prepare another batch on a second baking tray
   (keep this and the rest of the dough in the fridge/freezer while waiting for the batch in the oven!) ^*^
8. After a batch of cookies are done, take it out and replace it with the second tray you have prepared. Transfer the freshly baked cookies onto a clean surface (baking rack, dining tray or large plate) to cool down at room temperature
9. The cookies are good to eat/store just before the previous batch is done in the oven - transfer the baked cookies into an airtight container as soon as they've cooled down to prevent them from going stale. :)

And that's pretty much it. Now I'll enjoy my cookies with some mint tea. :D

^*^ a cold dough will 'melt' faster, making the cookie melt quicked and make it thinner (and crispier) around the edges. Just the way I like it :D

Coco Choco Slice

- Zaty.

Got the recipe from the back of a tin of Pam's evaporated milk. Seriously.

I think I lost the recipe sheet. Darnit. I'll update this when I find it/buy another tin of evaporated milk. :P

Prep time: 20 mins
For: 1 medium-sized pan

Ingredients

Base

• 1 1/2 C flour
• 3 T cocoa
• 2 t baking powder
• 3/4 C castor/icing sugar
• 1/2 C dessicated coconut
• 175g butter, melted

Topping

• 1 C icing sugar
• 2 T cocoa
• 3 T butter, melted
• 1 C dessicated coconut
• 4 T sweetened condensed milk
• 1 t vanilla essence

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg C, then grease/line a 20cmx30cm slice tin.
2. Prepare base:
1. Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder into a bowl.
2. Stir in sugar and coconut.
3. Add in butter and mix well, to moist crumbs.
4. Press the crumb base mixture into the prepared tin using a spatula/wooden spoon.
5. Bake in a preheated oven for 20mins, then allow to cool.
3. Prepare topping:
1. Sift icing sugar and cocoa in a bowl.
2. Stir in melted butter, coconut, condesned milk and vanilla essence. Mix well.
4. Spread topping over the base and place in fridge for 2 hours (until firm), then cut the pieces.

It was fun to make! :)

Choco Banana Pancake

- Zaty.

recipes will be posted later :P

Choc cake in a mug

- zaty.

Update 11/5/2014: here's an updated version of the recipe: clickie!

Yes, in a mug. I kid you not.

Pre-microwave

Post-microwave

Not exactly the prettiest cake in the world, but honestly - if you have 10 minutes, a microwave oven, and a dire craving for a choc cake fix pronto, this is much easier than walking all the way to the bakery or even baking a 'real' cake.

Original recipe from here.

Microwave choc cake in a mug recipe:

Tools

• Microwave & coffee mug. Also baking paper to line the mug :)

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp flour
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
• 2 tbsp whisked egg (omit this for a fudgier cake)
• 3 tbsp milk
• 3 tbsp oil
• 3 tbsp choc chips
• A few tsps of of flavoring - eg. vanilla, peppermint

Directions

1. Add all of the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa) to the mug and mix.
2. Add the egg and combine well. It gets pretty pasty at this point.
3. Stir in milk and oil.
4. Add choc chips and flavoring. Stir well.
5. Microwave for 3 minutes in a 1000w oven, or 4 minutes in a 700w oven. It will start to crown over the top of the mug. Don't panic! It will collapse once the heat stops.

Enjoy :)

For Cookie Lovers, this is for free~

- Odie.

*got this email from a friend of mine, and i thought that it's kinda relevent to post it here. On the second thought, i find this email s very interesting. It's about the famous amos cookies. famous amos cookies as biskut raya, anyone? hehehe.. (note: i havent tried baking it. so please dont blame me if it doesn't taste anything like the famous amos one =p) *

This is a true story

My daughter and I had just finished a muffin at Famous Amos Caf in Bangsar & decided to have some cookies. Because both of us are such a cookie lovers, we decided to try the "Hawaiian Nut Cookie".

It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe and the waitress said with a small frown "I'm afraid cannot". Well I said, "Would you let me buy the recipe?"

With a cute smile, she said "YES". I asked how much and she responded, "only two fifty, it's a great deal!" I said with approval, "Just add it to my bill"

Thirty days later, I received my VISA statement from Famous Amos and it was RM285.00. I looked again and remembered I had only spent RM9.95 for two muffins and about RM20.00 for a pie. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, "cookie recipe - RM250.00". That's outrages!!!

I called the Famous Amos's Accounting Dept. and told them that the waitress said it was "two-fifty", which clearly does not mean "two hundred and fifty dollars" by any POSSIBLE interpretation of the phrase. Famous Amos refused to budge.. They would not refund my money, because according to them, "What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe - we absolutely will not refund your money at this point."

I explain to her the criminal statues which govern fraud in Malaysia. I threatened to refer them to police for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, "Do what you want, we don't care, and we're not refunding your money." I waited for a moment, thinking of how I could get even, or even try to get any of my money back. I just said, "Okay, you people got my RM2-50.00, and now I'm going to have a RM250.00 worth of fun." I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover in Malaysia with an email account has a RM250.00 cookie recipe from Famous Amos...for free... She replied, "I wish you wouldn't do this" I said, "Well you should have thought of that before you stole from me", and slammed down the phone on her.

So, here it is!!! Please, please please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of. I paid RM250.00 dollars for this...I don't want Famous Amos to ever get another cent off of this recipe..... Recipe may be halved:

Ingredients
2 cups butter
4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar
5 cups blended oatmeal (measure oatmeal & blend in blender to a fine powder)
24 oz. chocolate chips
1 tsp. salt
18 oz. Cadbury bar (grated)
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)
2 tsp. vanilla

Steps
- Cream the butter and both sugars.
- Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, & soda.
- Add chocolate chips, Cadbury bar and nuts.
- Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.
- Makes 122 cookies.

Have fun..!!