CHOCOLATE PIE : Valentine's Day Special

Ingredients -

All purpose flour- 1 1/2 cup
Sugar castor or fine granulated - 2 tbsp
Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp
Egg yolk - 1
Butter - 100 g

For Filling - 
Milk - 1 1/2 cup
Egg yolk - 4
Castor or fine sugar - 5 - 6 tbsp/ to taste
Dark cooking chocolate - 1 cup
Cream - 100 g
Custard powder - 1 tbsp
Cocoa powder - 1 tbsp

Method -
1.  Take a big bowl and put the flour, sugar and cocoa powder in it.
2. Cut the butter in cubes and add it to the bowl and mix it
     with your finger tips until it resembles bread crumbs.
3. Add 1 egg yolk and mix it thoroughly.
4. Add 4-5 tbsp ice water to bind it in a tight dough, can be 
    added extra 1-2 tbsp to bind it if it's not coming through.
5. Form it into a round disc and keep it in a fridge for 1/2 to
    1 hour.
6. Preheat oven to 200 degree Celsius, grease a 9" pie tin
    nicely with butter.
7. Take out the disc from the fridge and roll it on a lightly 
    floured surface, it should be enough thick and long to line 
    the base and sides of the 9" pie tin, trim the extra edges 
    with a sharp knife, take a fork and press it around the 
    edges to make a design. Place it in the fridge for 15 min.
8. Take it out and place it on the oven tray. Line the pastry 
     with baking paper and fill with rice or beans for blind    
     baking. Bake it in the preheated oven for 10 minutes,
      remove the beans and bake for further 5 min or until 
      cooked through. Reduce the heat to 150.

 Preparing Filling - 
1. Take the milk in a saucepan, Combine the yolks, custard 
    powder, sugar, chocolate and place it over low heat, add 
    the cream after few minutes.
2. Cook whisking it continuously for 10 minutes until the 
    chocolate melts and the custard starts to thicken.
3. Remove from heat, pour it over the pastry case. Bake it 
    over for 10 minutes or custard is set nicely, do not over bake.
    Take it out before the custard is over baked and start's bubbling.
4. Remove from oven and keep it to cool, when it comes to 
    room temperature, place it in the fridge to chill.
5. Serve it with whipped cream.....n surprise ur Valentine with
    this marvelous....beautifully presented....CHOCOLATE PIE!!!!

Blueberries N Walnut Brownie Cookies

Ingredients -

Butter - 1/2 cup softened
Powdered sugar - 2 cups
Unsweetened cooking chocolate - 1 cup coarsely chopped
Eggs - 4 at room temperature
Vanilla essence - 2 tsp 
Walnut pieces - 1/2  cup
Blue berries - 1/4 cup
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Powdered sugar, for coating

Method -

1. Melt chocolate and butter on a double boiler until its
    melted completely, remove it from the boiler, let it
    cool partially and beat it with a wooden spatula until
    smooth.
2. In another bowl beat sugar and eggs on a high speed
    with an electric mixer for 4-5 minutes until it's light and
    double in volume.
3. Blend the slightly cooled chocolate and vanilla essence
    into it, add  the walnut and blueberries too.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt and mix into 
    the chocolate mix with a wooden spatula, half at a time
    until the dough is all mixed and smooth.
5. Cover it with foil or a cling film and refrigerate it or
    3-4 hours.
6. Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Grease the drip tray 
    and line them with parchment paper. 
7. Put about 1 cup of powdered sugar in a small bowl. 
    Now shape the dough into 1-1/2-inch-thick balls,
    applying little oil on your palms. Generously coat 
    each one with sugar and place it on a baking sheet,
    baking about 4-5 cookies at a time. 
8. Bake for about 10 minutes or until brown on both
    the sides, when done, the cookies will be puffed and 
    will feel very soft to the touch. Do not overbake.
8. Transfer it to a wire rack and let it cool, store it in
    an air tight container.

Tri-layered Dates n Carrot Cake

Ingredients -

All purpose flour- 1 cup
Wholewheat flour - 3/4 cup (little more than half)
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Egg - 3
Baking powder - 1 1/3 tsp
Soda bi carb - 1/2 tsp
Dates - cut into pieces 1 cup
Carrot - grated 1/2 cup
Butter - 60 g
Cream ( malai) - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Food colour orange - few drops until u get desired colour

Method -

1. Beat malai and butter until it's very light and fluffy.
2. Add sugar gradually and keep beating it continuously
    on full speed from an electric mixer.
3. Add eggs one at a time  beating after each addition.
4. Sift the flours, baking powder, soda and add it
   gradually in the batter alternating with the milk.
5. Mix all well, add vanilla essence.
6. Divide the batter into two unequal parts, take out
    less than half of the batter in another bowl and mix
    the grated carrot in it.
7. Now add food colour and chopped dates in the
    remaining batter and mix it well.
8  Grease and line a baking tray and spread half of
    the orange batter on it evenly,
9. Spread all the carrot mixed batter on it, taking care
    to spread evenly over the orange batter.
10. Finally spread the remaining orange batter over
      both the layers, covering it all.
11. Bake it on a pre - heated oven for 1/2 an hour or
      until baked thoroughly, when inserted with a skewer,
      it should come out clean.
12.  Take it out from the baking dish, let it cool on a wire 
       rack for half an hour, cut it into pieces and serve
       this tasty and healthy cake.

Malva Cake Pudding : Christmas Special

Malva pudding is an ubiquitous South African dessert, originally of Dutch origin. It is a pudding, usually served hot with custard or ice-cream. Malva is made with apricot jam. This typical South African dessert has a spongy, caramelised texture.

Ingredients - 

Butter - 3 tbsp
All purpose flour - 1 cup
Sugar white granulated - 3/4 cup
Egg - 1 large
Soda bicarb - 1 tsp
Milk full cream  - 1 cup
Apricot jam - 2 tbsp
Salt - a pinch
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

For the sauce -

Butter - 3-4 tbsp
White sugar - 1/2 cup
Cream- 3/4 cup
Vanilla essence - 2 drops
Water - 1/2 cup

Method - 

1. Take a big bowl and put melted butter in it, 
    beat it for a minute with an electric mixture.
2. Put sugar and mix it, add egg and beat it for a minute.
3. Pour the vanilla essence and milk into it and mix all.
4. Sift flour, salt and baking powder and mix gradually 
    into the batter, avoid any lumps.
5. Grease a baking tray and pour the batter into it.
6. Put it into a pre-heated oven and bake in the oven, 
    for 30-40 minutes on a medium heat. (For the first 
    half i put on the lower heating rod then for the 
    second half i covered the cake with the drip tray 
    and put on the upper heating rod of the oven.)
7. Take it out when it's done when inserted with a knife 
    and the upper layer of the cake has turned a beautiful
    brown.

For the sauce -

1. Take a pan and put everything listed for the sauce 
    in it.
2. Heat it and bring it to boil, reduce the flame and 
    simmer it for a minute, stirring it.
3. Pour the sauce over the hot baked pudding as soon 
     as it comes out of the oven. 
4. Let it soak for a while and serve it hot, Njoy this 
    sumptuous delight with your loved ones.