French Perigordine Choco-chip Walnut Pastry

"The kitchen is a country in which there are always discoveries to be made." Grimod de la Reyniere

I don't know how many of you out there want to cook/bake something when you are feeling bored or upset. Well I do. Only last Friday, in the afternoon I ranscaked my fridge and cupboards to see if I had something to make these delish pastries the recipe of which I had read in a book in the library a couple of weeks back (yes yes,I read cook-books in the library!). :D

Having found all the ingredients I put on my chefs' hat and began work. In no time I was tired yet happy,looking at the wonderful pastries I felt a certain warmth run through my veins. The experiences in the kitchen are very theraupatic.

This dessert is of french origin.

French Cuisine! France has blessed the world with a variety of gourmet goodies. French gourmet dinner cuisine is a touch of luxury and always leaves you satisfied. Through history the French have harnessed the essential ingredients and techniques passed down generations to culminate into harmonious blends of herbs and spices in order to create the most honored traditional gourmet cuisines that are enjoyed worldwide.Their desserts as we all know are internationally acclaimed.

French desserts are known worldwide. There are times that you eat a dessert not even knowing that it originated from a French kitchen many years ago. The word dessert comes from the French word “desservir” which means “to clear the table”.

Walnuts are famous from Perigord and are grown every over the south east area of France. So its obvious that the Walnut cake is the most popular of desserts that's eaten in the region.

And since walnuts are my favourite nut, I just had to make these. Another reason to have this pastry was the good news delivered to me by HoneyB that my baby ...my blog (Zaayeka) was featured on Jenn's Finest Foodies Friday, which is no less than an honour as I have been blogging only for three months now. :)

So after a lot of searching and researching...I adapted slightly the recipe and made these lovely dense, yet moist cakes.

French Perigordine Walnut Pastry

Ingredients-
1 1/2 cups shelled walnuts,finely ground ( leaving a few walnuts just coarsely chopped)
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
4 tbsp plain flour
a pinch of baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips


Method-
In a bowl, separate the egg whites and whisk till they form soft white peaks.
In a different bowl, mix the other ingredients with the egg yolks.
Add a spoonful of eggwhite to the mix, now fold the entire egg-whites into the mix.
Bake for 40 minutes in the centre of your pre-heated oven.
Cool and serve with whipped cream.


Note: I sliced the cake first in half , layered it with whipped cream. Then for simplicity of serving I cut it into pastry size squares.




A simple yet very rewarding recipe! Its for keeps. Bake it once and you will make it again and again....

I don't decorate my cakes...not because I don't want to but because I don't have too many kitchen aids..no offset spatula but a butter knife...no piping cone or pastry bag. I am sure many out there also are in dire need of a baking set. So here's some good news. Rose (of All about Cakes) is giving away a 100 piece Betty Crocker Cake Decorating Kit to celebrate her 100 posts.Now thats' good news..ain't it! :)

Cooking with Alicia & Annie--Chocolate Chip Fudge (Brownie)

Fudge brownies are my favourite dessert....(although I don't want to rule out the other options of ice-cream, chocolate, cakes, panna cottas,puddings et al), if possible I would dig in ..and keep digging in my 'huge' plate of fudge brownie with vanilla ice-cream...a match made in heaven!!

I had one this weekend (when my sugar craving had hit again). Its Thursday today and I wanted to taste the chewiness and warm fudginess, all over again. So I made one, this time in my microwave.

Ooey, gooey & chewy Chocolate Chip Fudge Brownies were calling my name!
Everyone loves a good old-fashioned brownie with a tall glass of cold milk. I am no different (except I can skip the milk) ;p. Chocolate Chip Fudge Brownies are so moist and chewy it is hard to resist just one...thats why I made a whole bowl...all for myself !

Here is my variation to the original recipe that I found at Annie's recipes.

Chocolate Chip Fudge Brownie

Ingredients-
1 cup broken squares of unsweetened chocolate
1 cup margarine
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


Method-

Melt the broken unsweetened chocolate and butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Do not burn. Remove from heat.
Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir in sugar until well mixed.
Add eggs, vanilla and salt and beat well with a fork.
Fold in flour and mix just until smooth. Add the semi sweet chocolate chips to the batter.
Pour into a microwave safe bowl.
Bake at medium high setting for 5 minutes.

Top with vanilla ice-cream and serve while still warm.

I offer this to Cooking with Alicia and Annie's Dec. blog event.

This also goes to JZ (of Tasty Treat) who is hosting her very first event-Santa's Holiday Challenge.

If you are a beginner in terms of baking, this is an easy one-bowl recipe that will surely fetch you appreciation. I send this to Vandana (Cooking Up Something Nice)'s Baking For Beginners' event.

Also, this goes out to Susan (of Food Blogga) for her Eat Christmas Cookies event. You can see a variety of other christmas goodies here.

On my friend, Purva's request I send this to her Christmas Feast Event...its here for you Purva!

"Don't wreck a sublime chocolate experience by feeling guilty."

Proof in the pudding.....

"A wise woman puts a grain of sugar into everything she says to a man,and takes a grain of salt with everything he says to her."

----Helen Rowland.

I don't know whether others (like me) have suffered what I like to call the "sugar-magnet" craving.
As a child I sometimes craved for sweets all of a sudden...anything..even plain sugar would do. Unfortunately this has stuck with me over the years. The only thing that has changed is that now plain sugar wouldn't do! A few days back this craving struck, without any warning ....and yours truly had to make 'some' (read 'lots' of) dessert.

I made Fruit Custard (another of my husband's eternal favourites) , to try and keep my dessert a little on the healthier side. ;-) Also, because its so quick!
My earliest memories of custard are when returning after school,we (my bro and me) sneaked into the refrigerator to see if there is something sweet that mom had made...bread pudding, choco-biscuit cake, shahi tukde, sandesh or custard. We secretly smiled at each-other like partners-in-crime,when we saw our sweet-treasures. And even before mom could serve it up for us...we would have attacked the fridge and left only morsels..lol. Mom obviously knew about our sneaking...so she religiously kept some dessert. Well dessert for us kids was not confined to the after meal pleasure, it could be had at anytime during the day-breakfast, lunch, dinner or even in tiffin. lol.

I will do the same for my kids eventually, but for now I'm making my hubby happy..and not to forget myself too! :-)

Vanilla Mixed Fruit Custard--
Ingredients-
2 tbsp custard powder ( I used Brown & Polson, you can use your favourite brand)
3 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 cup skimmed milk
favorite fruits, chopped (banana,mango,strawberry,orange,grapes,gooseberry,pear,apple)

Method-
Heat the milk (leaving 1/2 cup aside) on medium flame, with the brown sugar.
To the half cup milk add the custard powder and mix till lump free.
Now, add this mix to the boiling milk. Remove from heat. Add vanilla essence.
Pour in a separate bowl and refrigerate till cool.

Serve chilled with freshly chopped fruits ( in my case I added the Ritters' Sport Dunkle Voll-Nuss chocolate too !!).

Double Bonanza- Tea meets Coffee

Picture this-- its 2.10 am in the morning here. After various failed attempts of telling me to sleep, my husband went off to the bedroom. I have been on my laptop for the past six hours. Updating my posts, commenting on fellow bloggers' blogs, understanding the html stuff (pardon me I am a lesser mortal not a techie).....and I had promised on my Diwali blog that I would talk about my other dessert-- Jasmine Matcha and Coffee Chiffon Marble Cake. So here I am!!

Thanks to Meeta's Blog ("Whats' for lunch honey")- The Monthly Mingle of Tea and Coffee,which really instigated me to be edgier and venture where I never have before.
(especially as I don't drink either Tea or Coffee.) The result was great, this I say because of the overwhelming positive response I got, even from unexpected quarters.

This ones's for you Meeta.

When we first arrived in Hong Kong, we initially stayed at The Empire Hotel here. We couldn't have asked for a better place. It was wonderful. It was here that I picked up some jasmine and green tea sachets. Ok thats' silly I know. Nevertheless I picked them up as they seemed exotic. On hindsight I am glad I did. :-)

So a couple of weeks after I started my blog, while browsing through the web, quite serendipitiously I stumbled upon Meeta's blog and found this event of the month with the deadline still on. The decision was made...... I was sending in my entry. But what do I make?

First I thought of Matcha(Green Tea) Crepes', but they were too simple.Then I thought of Biscotti, but then again both of us don't drink tea/coffee and are not great biscuit fans.Added to that, all I have here is a microwave, no conventional oven so couldn't do much. Idea cancelled.

I wanted to make something complex yet simple. Something that incorporates both tea and coffee and yet be in harmony.Something that challenges me creatively. And so I came up with Jasmine Matcha and Coffee Chiffon Marble cake, that too made in a microwave....in a heat-safe plastic box, not a cake tin! (I don't have one and I couldn't wait to buy one as I was dying to try my creation) So it was quite a challenge!

Jasmine Matcha and Coffee Chiffon Marble cake
Ingredients-

For the Green tea batter-
1 tea bag of jasmine tea (brewed with 2 tbsp warm water)
1 tea bag of green tea/matcha (brewed with 2 tbsp warm water)
1/2 cup self raising flour
3 heaped tbsp white sugar
1 egg
a small pinch of dried ginger powder
2 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp milk

For the Coffee batter-
2 tbsp any coffee brew (just instant coffee mixed with a little warm water and strained)
1/2 cup self raising flour
a small pinch of nutmeg
a small pinch of cinnamon
3 heaped tbsp brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp cooking oil
2 tbsp milk (as required)

Method-

The Green Tea Batter-

Once both the jasmine and green tea have been brewed with warm water for sometime. Squeeze the bags dry. Keep this brew.
In a bowl beat the egg till fluffy, now add the sugar, beat till it dissolves. Add the oil, milk and lemon. Beat again. Now add the brew.
Finally add the flour, ginger powder and mix. Do not over stir or else the cake will turn out hard.

The Coffee Batter-

In a bowl, beat the egg till fluffy, now add the sugar till it dissolves. Add the oil, milk and the coffee brew. Beat well.
Finally add the flour, nutmeg and cinnamon. Mix well , again do not over stir.

Note :Check if the consistency of the Green tea batter and the Coffee batter are same. Add a little more milk to the coffee batter if required.

Now, using a ladle spoon pour the coffee batter in the baking tray/tin. On top of that, pour the same quantity ladle of the green tea batter. Again ladle the coffee batter followed by the green tea batter.Keep alternating till all the batter is finished. Do not shake the tin. Sprinkle some brown sugar on top.Carefully bake it in the microwave at medium high heat for 10 minutes. Check with the toothpick if it comes out clean. Its done. Cool on rack.
Slice. Serve with either whipped cream or plain.

The cake just melts in the mouth, giving off a burst of myraid flavours. The subtle taste of matcha and jasmine with ginger, combined with the spiced up coffee. Each bite is heavenly (even for people who don't drink tea/coffee). A must try!

N.B. The brown sugar sprinkle at the end browns the cake and gives it a nice glaze, as the microwave does not brown it like a conventional oven would.
I made a small cake as I was experimenting with matcha, double the amount/quantity of the ingredients if you need a bigger cake.

Just to mention- The cutlery stand was made by me with cut outs from a magazine and A4 size blank sheets. :-)

NOTE: Since I made this dessert for Diwali,I also send this as entry to Sudeshna (of Here I Cook)'s monthly event "Satisfy your sweet tooth" (on my dear friend's request).