Mango & Vanilla Verrines

Been long since the seasonal mangoes made their appearances on most of the vegetable counters in supermarkets and road side cart sales. Mango season hasn't ended yet and you guys still wondering why I don't have a single post with mangoes yet? I am trying hard to catch up with some mango desserts. Now does this make you ponder what on the earth is so hard about whipping a mango dessert? Not at all!

Mangoes have been showing up on almost every meal of ours, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. Whatever the meal be, it's incomplete without the mangoes to end with. I am hardly in a mood for any dessert these days and all I am in love with are these delightfully juicy, ripe, sweet mangoes. The crave is so bad that they are not just our post meal desserts, but also hunger pang killers. Back home from work or from an outing, I seek immense pleasure from freshly cut mangoes. And it's Alphonso and Bainganpalli types that make up to my favorite mango treats!

Just the sight of the gleaming amber mangoes can make me go down my knees for some humble bite into them! So now that I have explained the absence of mangoes from my blog, I did promise myself some mango verrines reserved for this space, which would use mangoes in their true form. Absolutely no decking up, no adulterations! Just a little manipulation! ;)

Mango & Vanilla Verrines

INGREDIENTS

1 cup milk
1/2 cup milk cream (I used 25% fat)
1 tbsp corn starch (an egg yolk can be used too)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup thick undiluted mango pulp

DIRECTIONS

Mix the corn starch or egg yolk in 1/4 portion of milk. Heat the rest 3/4th of milk to a boil with sugar. Add in the corn starch milk in slow streams and stir well continuously. In case of using egg yolks, temper the egg yolk with the boiled milk prior to avoid any curdling. Once tempered, add it to the hot milk and thicken further. This will thicken up soon. Stir well and scrape the sides too. As it bubbles and thickens well, add the cream and turn off the gas. Add in the vanilla. It will lighten the entire mixture, but should still be thick. If it's runny, heat it further to thicken up a little. Remember it thickens further as it cools down too. Let the custard cool to room temperature. You may also use a store bought custard powder and prepare it as per the directions on the pack. Once cool mix in a tsp of mango pulp to this. It's purely optional, so leave it out if you like the alternating vanilla mango flavors.

Meanwhile, keep the verrine glasses ready. To assemble the verrines, drop a tbsp of thick custard alternating it with a tbsp of thick mango pulp, till it fills the glass to brim. Allow it to set well and cool further in the refrigerator.

Before serving, I topped each verrine with a cherry and roughly broken oatmeal cookie. Serve cold.

The mangoes I used here were naturally sweet, so they did not require any extra sugar to sweeten them further. The vanilla custard being sweet balances out the sweet tang flavors very well. I always love mangoes in their true form, unless they are really raw and sour. It's like, if you asked me what I would prefer out of the two, Mango ice cream or fresh mangoes with ice cream, I would undoubtedly choose the latter. That's how I am fascinated with these. I rarely make desserts out of mangoes, especially if they are sweet. Even in desserts I love to keep them neat and unadulterated.

The flavors in this dessert were fruity, mellowed and soft. They make a good serving post breakfast too. For a more exotic version, I suggest you use stabilized whipped cream instead of custard. It works out to be really rich. Worth for an occasion. I use custard only for the sole reason that it cuts down on calories from the use of whole whipped cream. Not entirely sure considering the sugar in it, but it does give me a reason to go for a few more servings!

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Vanilla Cheesecake... the vegan way

We at times like to settle for some simple desserts on weekday nights while the exotic ones are reserved for the weekends. Though we generally avoid indulging in heavy dinners followed by rich desserts, it's sometimes nice to just sooth down and pamper ourselves after the stress and hustle-bustle of the day, with sometime really as simple, yet exotic as this Vanilla Cheesecake.

No, I wouldn't admit that it's as quick as whipping a dessert in minutes and serving them, but it's fairly simple. I developed this light, yet rich-tasting dessert for our dinner a few months ago. I know it would seem too long to post, but I held on to this post thinking it wasn't the best of the photographs I took that night to justify it here. The summers were warm and as mentioned the temperatures were at peak too. So when I brought them out of the refrigerator to photograph them, they went on a melting spree in few minutes! By the time I could get good lighting and adjustments, they almost began to leach, putting me off completely.

I like desserts which I can prepare ahead of time. That gives me time to focus on other items on my menu. I would love to experiment more with cheesecakes, probably baked ones too. I could make these for entertaining events because I can prepare them ahead of time, which is what I love. But at the moment I am yearning for a spring form pan for more to be baked!

Vanilla Cheesecake

INGREDIENTS

For the crust:

1 pack digestive biscuits
1 tbsp margarine butter

For the cheesecake:

1/4 cup silken tofu
3 cups plain soy milk (400 ml)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pack china grass/agar-agar (vanilla flavor)
1 cup sugar (avoid if your pudding mix already has sugar)

DIRECTIONS

Crush the digestive biscuits and add in the melted butter. Mix well so that it resembles bread crumbs. Cover the bottom and sides of the cake tin with a cling film if you don't have a spring form pan. Layer the biscuit crumbs on the bottom of the pan and press it down well evenly. Push it into the freezer till you prepare the cheesecake.

Bring 2 cups of the plain soy milk to a boil. Mix the china grass mix to the rest of the soy milk. Add in the sugar to it if your china grass mix has no sugar added in it. The china grass pack that I used had sugar in it, hence I didn't add any extra sugar. Once the soy milk has come to a boil, add in the china grass milk to it. Bring it to a gentle boil or until the agar-agar has completely softened into the soy milk. Turn off the flame, remove from heat and allow it to sit for a while.

Meanwhile, blend the silken tofu until very smooth. Add extra vanilla if required. Add in the warm china grass milk to it, blend again till it's one uniform mixture. Transfer this to the prepared biscuit base. Cover the top with a cling film if required and refrigerate for few hours, preferably overnight.

Before serving, melt some dark chocolate and pipe it through a zip lock bag in stands over top of the cheesecake. Top with chocolate shavings if required. It compliments well with the vanilla flavors of the cheesecake.

When I made the cheesecake, I used very little silken tofu fearing that it would give out uncooked taste in the dessert. That's why it melted away instead of holding firm shape. The silken tofu particularly added to the creamy texture. I also did not allow it to sit for hours and brought it out before it could set completely, though this did not hamper the taste in any ways. I would suggest you increase the tofu by another half a cup and allow a setting time of atleast 6 hrs.

If you are not a vegan and have tasted those exotic rich and creamy cheesecakes, then you would surely sue me for the difference! These are light, absolutely light! Most vegan cheesecakes would use Toffutti Better than Cream Cheese, but that option was far from possible for me. I can't think of getting hold of something like that here. So I have just skipped that and used pureed silken tofu instead.

The vegan cheesecake was light, dreamy and good. Hubby dear took the first bite and gave thumbs up saying it was totally yum! With common cheesecakes being rich, heavy and relatively high in calories, this one was light, low fat and healthier than it's siblings. Not to forget being vegan too, it's totally guilt free!

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Choco Chip Banana Bread

When I first ventured into the egg-less baking, my mom persuaded me to try bananas as a foolproof egg substitute. At that point, I was well focussed on attempting at other substitutes, especially the ones that could pair well with varied flavors. Baking with bananas did not strike my chord much. That's because bananas have a characteristic flavor of their own that can disguise other flavors in my bakes. So I refrained using them for long.

Not that I had given up baking with eggs completely, but I was immensely happy with the results I achieved with other alternatives and that deterred me from using eggs for quite sometime.

Bananas are so common at our place that there's virtually not a single day when we go without them. This time however we had a few excess of them and over a few days, a couple of bananas had been glaring at me on the table top with their pale looks. They seemed less consumable as is and I had to either toss them to the waste bin or make something out of them. Though the tossing rarely happens. After using a pair of them in rasayana and another pair in sheera for our breakfast, I was left with another 2 of them. My husband pointed me out that it's time I should bake a Banana Bread. I was intimidated by that thought as it was the best I could do with my dying fruits.

I baked a banana bread once earlier, just a few weeks ago as an experimental effort. Back then, they turned out quite fudge-y rather than 'bread like'. But that did not ruin it's taste and flavor. It was loved by everyone. I modified my recipe this time and the bread actually turned out amazingly good. It had a perfect texture, had baked beautifully and the flavors of dark chocolate chips mingled gorgeously well with the bananas.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS

2-3 small ripe bananas
1 cup flour (160 gm)
1/4 cup oil (40 gm)
1/2 cup sugar (70 gm)
1/4 cup milk or soy milk (40 ml)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (40 gm)

DIRECTIONS

Blend milk or soy milk with bananas. Add the oil. Add in the flour, the sugar, the baking powder and soda and mix with a wooden spoon. Finally introduce the chocolate chips.

Transfer to a clean bread tin. Bake on 180 deg C for 40-45 mins, till the top is golden brown and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool down on a rack, cut into slices and serve.

I cross my heart to say, this is by far the easiest and the most loved bread I have attempted. I mean, the ingredients are simple, there is no fuss with the recipe, it was an absolute solace to bake these. I love my bakes warm and these were no exceptions. As they baked and I took them out of the oven, I had little patience to wait for them to cool. In fact what you see here was cut warm.

The banana flavors were prominent on first of the bake. Surprisingly, they subsided and they could hardly be noticed the next day. I love my cakes when they have the moist crumb and I can tell you, these were not anything less than perfect!

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Mulberry Smoothie

After my post on Mulberry Muffins few weeks ago, I had a few mulberries at hand and I had to work on them quickly. They seem to have a very short shelf life, so I had to whisk up some thing out of them before they would decay, only to end up in the thrash bin.

I generally end up making compotes & jams from fruits that don't last long. Especially, with fruits like strawberries, mulberries, figs, they seem to work fantastic. Chopped fruits are immersed in sugar and gently heated through till they thicken. I like to season them with vanilla or some spices at times. What's best is that they store well in the freezer for long. I get to use them at my disposal as per my whims and fancies. Just thaw them and they are competent enough to make great toppings on ice creams and panna cotta and provide various fruity dessert options to try.

With a good amount of mulberries at hand, they ended up in a compote again (and probably another few desserts following them ;) ) And if you have guests coming in at the drop of a hat, then they are a great rescue with smoothies like this one. I served them with my Classic Oatmeal Cookies.

The compote and the smoothie are simple, quick and easy. Here's what we need:

Mulberry Smoothie

For the compote:

15-20 large mulberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Bruise the mulberries gently using a the back of a fork so that the juices are released. Put the mulberries, sugar and water in a pan and heat them on gentle flame till the syrup thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. Remove and add in the vanilla essence. Allow to cool and transfer to a clean container. You may freezer this for up to a month.

For the smoothie:

1 tbsp mulberry compote
1 cup chilled soy milk
1 tbsp crushed ice

Blend mulberry compote and the chilled soy milk till they are homogeneous. The compote has vanilla and sugar, so no flavors have been added here. Transfer to a serving glass and top with crushed ice. Serve chilled.

I love the elegant purple colors bursting from mulberries. They make it look tempting. I love using soy milk since it's thicker than regular milk. I am a HUGE fan of soy milk and soy products, so I always look for excuses to use them whenever I possibly can!

If you wish to avoid the compote, just ignore the water part in the compote and blend all the ingredients (mulberries, sugar, milk and vanilla) together. The mulberries too have water content in them. Adjust sugar as per your taste. The measurements don't really matter, since it's a choice of individual tastes.

It was strange and funny that when I started photographing this, I got deviated from my focus on the smoothie and ended up with several shots of my soft toy, Gundu (that's what we call him). It was so much fun that I got involved with shooting that guy and finally while sorting out the photographs for editing, I realized I had several shots of this guy and few with my smoothie! So don't be surprised if my Mulberry smoothie has been side lined and you end up seeing more snaps of my Gundu!!! :D I just found it so cute with the teddy pushing his nose up and drinking my smoothie or looking innocently at the camera and my classic oatmeal cookies! I couldn't take my eyes off the photographs! Hope you are not wondering what this thing is doing on a food blog! Aah, isn't he so cute?

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Classic Oatmeal Cookies

The weather God has been playing good and we have been receiving decent occasional showers of rain in the evenings. I feel much better being rescued from the scorch of heat. The summers were bad, not as bad as other parts of the country though. But it still came with potful of troubles with continued power cuts at peak hours of the day, sufficient to give a baker her nightmares!

It can't get more irritating when I have my goodies baking half way through in the oven and then the unexpected power cuts that can go on for atleast a couple of hours leave me feeling miserable and I end up with flat cakes or cookies that have to be used as alternatives or end up in thrash! I am hoping it gets better with more rains, though at the moment it's not any good.

All I want to do right now is to dive down cozily into an armchair, with a thought that I am totally carefree and have nothing much to do. Would probably just want to grab a novel, a cup of tea in one hand, cookies to sink my teeth into, melodies of the past being played on radio in the background, cool breeze kissing my cheeks, the murmurs of rain adding a zing of music to my ears... I am feeling exactly this way at the moment. Does this sound a perfect way to lazy around on your weekend or may be a nice holiday?

With the climate changing to better, the temperatures falling and with a few showers, it feels nice to see the dry, sun burnt grounds converting to patchy greens and hopefully lesser power cuts too! And with the cool breeze kissing my cheeks, it reminds me that it's time I convert my home to a baker's bliss, the time when vanilla and chocolate-y flavors waft through air and we descend gracefully into it's blissful aromas.

So I headed straight to make these simple delightful cookies for our evenings. I adapted the recipe from here, however made a couple of changes. I kept it neat with no dry fruits or nuts added to the dough. Instead I chose to frost my cookies with chocolate and finely chopped pistachios. My Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies have been appreciated in the past. These are classic American cookies and the best bet for the ones like me who dislike oats in their true nature. Recipe is quite simple and follows a standard procedure of dry into wet ingredients format.

Classic Oatmeal Cookies

INGREDIENTS

1 cup plain flour
1 1/4 cups oatmeal
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tbsp flax seed powder
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt

Decorate:

1/2 cup melted dark chocolate
Slivered pistachios

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375° F. Mix 1/2 tbsp flax seed powder into 2 tbsp water and keep in the fridge for a few hours. You will notice that the flax seed water will turn to a slimy mixture exactly like that of an egg. I have produced the best results from this mixture.

In a mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, vanilla and butter until well blended. Add the oatmeal, flax meal water and stir well.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Gradually add to the oatmeal mixture, stirring well. Scoop the dough by tablespoonfuls, spacing each about an inch apart, onto the baking tray. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

For the frosting, melt the chocolate over double boiler or in a microwave. Dip one half of the cookie into the melted chocolate. Drain excess chocolate using the edge of a spatula. Dip into a finely chopped pistachios and allow it to cool over a plate.

These are good as is without any frostings. Frosting them is purely optional. I am not good at frosting, or must I admit that I have the least patience to decorate. However, this time I thought I must leave my laziness aside and try some hand at frosting. I opted to coat them partially with molten dark chocolate and pistachios.

I have been experimenting a lot with flax seeds and honestly, off late, I have begun to dislike even the faintest taste from flax seeds. Though the smell is not so pronounced in this recipe, my taste buds seem to identify it easily, which I don't like. So the frosting made it good for me. However, do not resist to try this. If I don't like it, it doesn't mean it's gross. You may love it. My family did. In fact, they merrily enjoyed it. You may use 1 egg instead of flaxseed.

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