Easy 3 ingredient dessert

My kids school restarted after a long long summer break.....and that means I am totally free for a few hours in a day. I like to take long long walks, try out new recipes, photograph stuff and best of all meet other "free" moms for a "kid-free" meet .... :) I may be exaggerating, but a "mom's time out"......without her kids is so relaxing. You do not even have to go out.....just get together at some place, have "chai" and chit-chat. I love these sessions and I am lucky to have found wonderful women to share this with in all the places, I have lived in.

Usually, morning after the kids leave for school works best and me and my friends decided to meet for a potluck brunch. It was an impromptu decision and yet all of them came up with lovely dishes.

For me, cooking something suddenly for anyone other than my kids is bit daunting ... all I make for breakfast is cold cereal, oatmeal or eggs. To cook something out of the blue, requires me to look at fridge 100 times and search google 500 times ..... :D and then I am inspired to cook!! So with all this search...the actual time for cooking is very less.... well, this recipe requires very less time to cook and is delicious.

Ingredients:

• Puff pastry -- 1 sheet
• Strawberries -- 7
• Nutella -- 6 tsps (or more)
• Powdered sugar -- 1 tsp (optional)
• Cocoa powder -- 1 tsp (optional)
• milk -- 1 tbsp (optional)

Recipe:

• Thaw the puff pastry sheet on the kitchen counter for about 40 minutes.
• Unroll, it on a flat surface and cut into squares or rectangles.
• Pre heat the oven and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
• Put all the puff pastry squares on the sheet with about 1/2 inch space between each.

• Brush the top of the pastry with milk.

• Bake for 15 mins at 400 degrees F(about 200 degrees C )
• Take them out and let it cool on the baking tray.

• Chop the strawberries.

• Spread about half teaspoon (or more) nutella on the baked pastry square.

• Top it with chopped strawberries.

• Drizzle cocoa powder or powdered sugar on top with the help of a sieve.

Quantity:

• One sheet makes 12 pieces (1 inch by 2 inch)

Notes:

• You can use any fruit available, raspberries, blueberries, kiwi, mango, banana or any combination of mixed fruit.
• You can make a big fruit tart instead of individual pieces.
• You can sprinkle cinnamon with sugar instead of cocoa.
•  All pictures taken with my phone, as I made this along with the kids lunches and the morning rush of getting them ready.

Tofu Chocolate Mousse

When my friend +Meenoo Joshi  suggested that I try out tofu chocolate mousse for a vegetarian version of chocolate mousse, I was really surprised. I had heard about tofu as a replacement for eggs, but I never believed that it would blend in so well and can be used for a dessert. I am not a vegetarian and neither am I a big fan of tofu, but this easy "made in minutes" dessert  recipe is a keeper. This is so simple dessert, just mix 2-3 ingredients and you are done. Even your kids can make it ....!!! The texture of the mousse is not as light and airy as the one with eggs, it's more like a pudding, however it tastes awesome. A chocoholic heaven!! and best of all it has only 1/4 cup of sugar.(or lesser if u prefer it that way) I googled for the recipe, I liked this one and finally came up with this recipe made with the ingredients I had in my kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 1 pack (about 300 gms) silken tofu
• 100 gms dark chocolate (I used Lindt 90 percent cacao)
• 1/3 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips (or u can use another 50 gms of dark chocolate)
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/2 cup of dark cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1 tsp instant coffee powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of sugar

Recipe:

• Take out tofu from it's pack and put in on a strainer to remove all the water.

• Break the chocolate into pieces, put it in a microwave safe bowl and melt it in the microwave along with the chocolate chips. You can melt it on stove top, using the double boiler method too.

• Puree the tofu in a food processor.

• Heat 1/4 cup of hot water. Add a tsp of instant coffee. Once it is blended add cocoa powder and mix it well. 

• Add the coffee-cocoa mix to the melted chocolate.

• Whisk it with a hand blender, it will start thickening.

• Add the tofu puree and the vanilla essence and whisk it well.

• Add about 1/4 cup(or less or more -- according to your taste) of sugar and blend well with a hand whisk. Tadaa !!! Done !!

• Pour about 2-3 tbsp of the mix to nice bowls and glasses and allow it to chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours or overnight.

• Serve it garnished with grated chocolate, whipped cream or fruits /berries of your choice.

Quantity:

• Makes about 5 (3 tbsp) servings.

Notes:

• I used exactly 3 tbsps of sugar. With this combination you get a bittersweet dark chocolate kind of taste. Do increase the sugar content if you like the mousse on the sweeter side.
• Use good quality dark chocolate with more than 70 percent cacao. 
• There is a lingering tofu flavor. It will lessen with a better quality chocolate and once it is chilled for about 12 hours.
• Also, use pure vanilla extract and increase quantity to 2 tsps.
• You can also add 2 tsp of coffee powder or additional 50 gms chocolate(making it 200 gms in all )
• Instead of coffee, you can use 1/4 cup of orange juice and 1 tbsp of orange zest.
• You can add about 1/2-1 cup of whipped cream to make it richer.
• Chilling it overnight, will give a better taste and better texture. I photographed it within an hour and half of chilling so it's kind of melting, but after 7 hours or so it was of firmer texture.

Low fat cranberry muffins

Since I bought the perfect fitting cupcake liners for my cupcake tray, the cupcakes seem to bake well. My kids have their friends over, so they like having these mini treats with their evening milk, after afternoon of play and games...!!! A snack, which looks like a cupcake, yet it is kinda healthy(compared to any store bought stuff, I could give them), and which is very easy to make and bake without any lengthy procedure or fancy baking equipment.... :) Sounds good, doesn't it ...?? It tastes good too, with burst of fresh flavors.... !! Google searched and found this yummy recipe, here. It's detailed and I chose to do the original version, with few changes.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour (OR whole wheat flour... check notes)
  
• 3/4 cup quick cooking oats (OR use rolled oats)
• 1/3 OR 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder (As I used self-raising flour, I omitted this ingredient)
• 1/2 cup of dried cranberries (OR use dried cherries, apricots, raisins)
• 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips(OR use roasted walnuts)
• 1 egg (or 2 egg whites.....OR 2 tbsp yogurt to make the eggless version)
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 tbsp oil (any flavorless oil, I used canola)
• 1 tsp grated orange zest
• more oats, chocolate chips, cranberries to sprinkle on top

Recipe:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees for about 10 mins.
• Line the cupcake tray with paper liners.

• Zest the orange.

• Powder the oats, to flour in a grinder.

• Sift flours, salt, baking powder in a large bowl. 
• I pureed the cranberries. You can use them whole.

• Add sugar and dried cranberries. Mix with a spatula.

• Add chocolate chips or walnuts. Mix again. 

• Make a well in the center of dry mix and keep aside. 

• In a measuring cup, measure milk.
• Add oil and egg(or yogurt) to it.

• Add orange zest and mix with a fork or a whisk.

• Add this liquid mixture, to the dry ingredients.

• Mix with a spatula to get a smooth batter. 

• Add additional 1-2 tsp milk, if you think the batter is too thick.

• Add about 2 tbsp of batter in the cupcake molds.

• Top it with 1/2 tsp of oats, cranberries or chocolate chips.

• Bake for 20-25 minutes till the tops are browned and a toothpick comes out clean. 

• Cool them completely, before serving. 

Quantity:

• Makes 12 medium size muffins.

Notes:

• You can use whole wheat flour instead of all purpose one. But, the muffins will be denser and different taste.(acquired taste)
• You can use rolled oats(or maybe steel cut oats -- I have never used steel cut oats) to make oat flour.
• You can use low fat milk and just 2 egg whites instead of a whole egg.
• You can use 2 tbsp of yogurt(Instead of egg), to make the recipe EGGLESS.
• The taste will differ and the muffins will be denser...if u use healthier ingredients.... :) 
• As I pureed the cranberries, sugar can be reduced to maybe 1/3 cup....if you like the muffins to be on less sweet side...!