Nutella Brownie Cheesecake Bites!

Now this recipe earned me some serious bragging rights. The best comment I got was from hubs when he tried it and after pillaging through five or six of them said "they are so good they ought to have a name by themselves" and "a perfect fusion of the Indian mithai and the brownie". I didn't care much for the names he went on to suggest (shhh..) but I was definitely flattered.
I tried them after and these little bites definitely have something to be said about them. While the first bite starts to tell your taste buds that you just bit into a moist and chocolaty brownie, the smooth texture of the cream cheese swirls quickly convinces them into believing it is indeed no ordinary brownie but a whole other dish unto itself.
If all the above makes you think this will be one tricky recipe, you are in for a surprise. This recipe is really easy to put together and a very forgiving one at that. And yes any baking with chocolate does deserve a dash of Nutella, goes without saying.

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No Bake Nutella Cheesecake!

  Yup! back with yet another Nutella recipe. US Masala and Nutella have gone to such lengths that even Google recognizes my love for the decacent chocolate spread by giving me my own type-ahead - you see Nutella as an option as you start typing "US Masala" in the search box. If you are looking for a dessert that is decadent, looks like a million bucks and is rather quick to put together, this one is surely for you. It will get you rave reviews from anyone you serve it to and impressive as if you spend all day in the kitchen making it.
I have made a few fundamental changes to the recipe this is inspired from. Things like using regular soft fudge cookies instead of the recommended Oreo cookies (believe it or not, no one in my household cares much for Oreo, not even the kid), bumped up the Nutella (*smirk*) than was suggested and cut down on the whipped topping quite a bit and oh yes before I forget, completely skipped the butter. 
As you push your spoon through the garnish and then the top layer, you feel the thick lusciousness of the creamy layer underneath which all the more urges you to pick up the spoon and satisfy your senses. Make sure you find a lone corner so you don't have to share. lol.

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4 Ingredient Nutella Brownie

rownies are not disliked by very many. People may pass on a cookie when offered one but you will definitely see them stop and give it a thought if you offered them a brownie. They may not take it sometimes for whatever their reason but I can promise you they definitely wanted to. So how do you one-up a brownie - simple - add Nutella to it. As soon as I saw this recipe there was no stopping me, especially unless you noticed already, it is really simple and straight-forward - heck even the title said there were only four ingredients. The proof was in the pudding as they say. Took me literally two minutes to mix it up and another ten to bake it - ready in under fifteen. And perfect they were - teeny bite-sized brownie with the classic crust and the ever familiar gooey chewy texture. For kicks I used my little tart pans but of course you can use your regular muffin tray.

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Gulkand-Pista Kulfi/Rose petal jam Indian ice-cream

s the mercury climbs and the sun becomes more relentless, it is beginning to remind me of summers in India. The carefree school days, long summer holidays, visiting grandpa's place- I am sure each one of us must have some fond memories of summer like these. Summer also reminds us of our favorite food ice-cream :).The popular variation of which in India is called Kulfi. I have some fond memories of those summer evenings. I remember whenever we used to go out to eat chaat and panipuri (which was very often) we had to have kulfi otherwise the whole outing used to be incomplete. 

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Spiced-up Nutella Hot Chocolate

inter is around the corner. Yay! It is getting cooler by the day. Well its sixty degrees so some of you might not think it to be much of 'winter' but that is how us south Floridians see onset of winter. lol and I totally love it. Talking about what else I love - Fridays - the best day of the week, well who doesn't huh. Waiting for five long days and nights for Friday evening is not easy. I get to go out and have lots of fun. Be it movies, catching up with friends, eating out, shopping etc. Can watch TV late into the night no school, no office, can sleep in till late the following morning and have two full more days to relax. lol.

The only other thing that can top a cool cozy winter friday evening is curling up on the couch with my two sweethearts (daughter and  hubs) with a hot cups of cocoa (you knew chocolate was coming, didn't you)... aaah... Sipping this blissful heavenly hot cocoa and watching an old Hindi movie with cheesy dialogues but soulful songs.
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Triple Chocolate Brownie Cookies!

ere's my dilemma. I am not a big cookie fan. But absolutely love chocolate. Don't even care much for chocolate cookies. There is about only one baked sweet goodie that I like and that is a good loaded rich and moist brownie. If you get my drift, you probably realize where the thought of these cookies originated. There is one other angle to it. My little princess. She likes cookies especially chocolate ones, but she gives me a hard time when I try to get her to eat brownies. She takes it as I am trying to get 'food' into her and immediately revolts. But she likes the taste of brownies... don't ask.

So long-story-short as you can see these cookies are a winner.... er... well yes before I forget, hubs liked them too :)

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Double Dark Chocolate Cappuccino Muffins (Eggless and Whole Wheat)

s I was browsing around my own creations on USMasala the other day - which by-the-way I do much too less often as much as I would like to - I realized that I haven't blogged lately about any dish with one of my most favorite ingredients - Chocolate. It was also surprising to me as I make something that has chocolate in it almost every other day for my little one.

So here is a recipe for a baked chocolcate goodie that is one of the most common and most loved in my  household. I make a small batch of these muffins atleast twice a week and they serve me well mostly as a quick snack when kiddo gets back from her pre-school.

Now as this is a regular, it has to be healthy. So you will notice the use of whole wheat flour and olive oil and zero butter. You can use whole wheat flour or even whole wheat pastry flour, any that is locally available. To kick it up a notch, addition of coffee is a must for me in anything that I make with chocolate especially when baking.

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Cherry Peach Cobbler

tores are abound with luscious and juicy fruits these days. Hey what do you know, its summer. It is especially the time for stone fruits like cherries, peaches, plums, apricots and the like. Although modern grocery stores carry them in all seasons, this time of the year they are at their best.

The other day I asked hubs to get some regular grocery stuff from the store on his way back from work. I usually make a grocery list on my iPhone and email it to him and he carries the phone in his hands around the store, yes he's cute. I call it my high tech grocery list. Anyway, so this other day besides the usual potatoes, bread, milk and other stuff that was on the list, he got me a box full of ripe plump red cherries. After eating a few right after washing them right out of the bag, the only thought in my mind was 'dessert'. I have made and blogged about Cherry Crumble before so I decided to make my other favorite, the cobbler.

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Strawberry Basil Sorbet

othing screams summer more than this refreshingly delicious strawberry basil sorbet! A sweet and refreshing summer time treat. Luscious plump strawberries so aptly represent the spring and summer in my opinion. Nature at its prime, vibrant and full while the strawberries are gorgeously plump, red, sweet and juicy, a delightful treat for the eyes and taste buds alike. The bright sunshine, the blooms and the flowers make you feel good and admire nature and so is the sight of the red strawberries which are to be seen everywhere. My shopping baskets get filled with the bright reds every time I visit the stores – they are irresistible (and also very cheap lol:)) And so as you have guessed I have been making a lot of things with these beauties lately. Basil is my most favorite herb after of course cilantro. I have a big beautiful basil plant in my little kitchen garden that entices me with its sweet aroma every time I pass by. After making strawberry basil lemonade I thought of taking the combo and making a sorbet out of it. An exotic combination of sweet strawberries and fragrant basil intensifies the flavors of this sorbet. It is a delight with fresh flavors and we could not but fall in love with this one.
Sorbet is a frozen dessert made from sweetened water flavored with iced fruit (typically juice or puree), chocolate, wine, and/or liqueur. The origin of sorbet is variously explained as either a Roman invention, or a Middle Eastern sharbet, made of sweetened fruit juice and water. The term sherbet or charbet is derived from Turkish: şerbat/şerbet, “sorbet”, from the Persian sharbat, which in turn comes from the Arabic sarrbāt meaning “drink(s)” or “juice.” Sorbet is sometimes served between courses as a way to cleanse the palate before the main course. (Wiki)
Ice cream is based on dairy products whipped to make it light. Sorbet has neither dairy nor air. It is fruity- dense and slushy.

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Molten Dark Chocolate Cake

s a prologue let me start by an apology for going missing the last ten days. I realized this was very unlike me when quite a few of my fellow blogger friends reached out checking up on me making sure I was okay. A big thanks to all my friends for the concern, I am deeply touched and just want to let you know that I am fine. I just took some time for a quick vacation. In the future, will make sure to let my friends know when I plan on going MIA.
I am back now.

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The best chocolate cake ever!

The celebration of Love is the most special kind of celebration. Love is eternal and omnipresent. It needs no special day or moment to be enjoyed but still having a day a year in our lives when we take time out to sit back and marvel at its wonders, express it in our own unique ways to show our loved ones that they are special is very welcome.
You might think I made my favorite chocolate cake this year; well you are right, this is my favorite chocolate cake but the reason for me making it this year is actually hubby. Believe it or not, he is not much of a chocolate lover (the one thing I don't understand!) but this chocolate cake he totally loves. At a good time, he can eat a couple of whole big slices. This cake was in fact the one that actually get him a little interested in chocolate since when I first made it (I owe you Ina for this one big time). The coffee and chocolate with the yummy butter-cream frosting is actually enough to create magic but throw in a couple of pink and red hearts and sit down with a slice each with your beloved and then tell me if you don't experience magic!

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Chocolate cupcakes with nutella frosting ( wholewheat and eggless)

omorrow, February the 5th is named as the 'World Nutella Day'. Needless to say I felt the urge to make something to pay my tribute to this fabulous on-of-a-kind spread. Since I discovered Nutella some time back, I have been totally hooked. For a while I thought I was one of very few who was totally crazy about it. Little did I know that practically anyone that likes chocolate and has had a taste of Nutella is a fan. This became more obvious from all the feedback I got from my Nutella based recipes. Here's another one in the line. Also, as a tribute here's links to some of my other Nutella based recipes.
Nutella brownies, Nutella cold coffee, Mini chocolate bundt cake with nutella ganache, Dark chocolate nutella Truffles, Molten Chocolate Nutella Cake :)

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Chocohotpots!

atching Nigella on Food Network, making these beauties sporting her always lovely smile I thought to myself "Come on. That looks too easy to be good." But the more I saw her melting, mixing the chocolate, baking and showing the gooey interior... ooo too good to resist she totally talked me into making it.
So, I did. Followed the recipe with my own little tweaks. And I confess-
I AM SO IN LOVE with this simple, yet UNBELIEVABLY SINFUL, YUMMY dessert, the perfect "molten yet crusty" chocolate souffle, forever gooey inside while the outside was nice and brownie-like! A brilliant recipe and I'm thrilled once again by Nigella's ability to combine deliciousness with simplicity. You can have it with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream to make it even more scrumptious. Despite being a rich decadent dessert, this one scores points on the number of ingredients too.  Just 5 ingredients (three additional ones are my own contribution :) and in under 30 minutes you can get everything done from start to finish... isn't that great! My whole house smelled like chocolate while it was in the oven and when it was out I just couldn't stop myself from tasting it burning my tongue in the process.. LOL kiddo and hubby loved it too!

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Nutella Brownies

 

If you've read some of my previous posts you'll know I love nutella :)) and it is also not a secret that I am chocoholic. I just can't have enough of this yummillicious spread. My hubby sometimes teases me that nutella should be my middle name he he. In fact as I am writing this, another nutella recipe is coming to my mind :D I can't help myself as I always think nutella is, quite frankly, one of the best culinary creations out there — a mixture of chocolate and hazelnuts that almost defies words... too good! Well, I love brownies too. The dense fudgy squares are just irresistible. So one day I decided to attempt to incorporate one of Earth's best chocolaty spreads into brownies. And these are eggless and I used no butter and very little sugar.. is very easy to make and it consists of my most fav things nutella, dark chocolate and coffee mmmm... can't write anymore... here goes the recipe -

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