Plum Apple Crumble

If there’s one thing I could eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it’s this Plum Apple Crumble! And I urge you to do the same. 😛

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Thai Mango Sticky Rice

Come away to Thailand with me as we gorge on some easy, vegan, gluten free, lip-smacking Thai Mango Sticky Rice! ❤

Crownies

Combination sweet treats have been making waves for quite a while now; and I think they are just awesome! I mean, isn’t it great that you get to fulfill your longing for two baked delights at the same time? 😀

Can’t decide between a croissant and a doughnut? Have a Cronut! Confused between picking up a bag of pretzels or a cupcake on your way home from work? There’s no need to rack your brain when you can indulge in a Pretzel Cupcake! If all your heart wants is a slice of cheesecake AND a slice of red velvet cake – here’s an idea, bake The Foodscape’s Red Velvet Cheesecake Swirl Brownies! (Oh wait, that recipe doesn’t just combine red velvet cake and cheesecake, but brownies too! Win-win, isn’t it? Or should I say, win-win-win? 😉)

The idea of creating a fusion of two desserts to make one delicious masterpiece is just genius! And quick that I am to learn from the world of baking, here I am integrating two classic coffee-time munchies into one – to make Crownies!

Brownies + Cookies = Crownies! Yes; these Crownies are packed with the goodness of both Dark Chocolate Brownies and Chocolate Chip Cookies. Many call them Brookies, but I like to call them Crownies; look at them – they are more brownie-ish than cookie-ish, aren’t they? But hey, once you take a bite, it doesn’t matter what they are called. Well mostly because you can’t stop eating them! 😛 They are that incredible!

Here’s what you need:

For the Brownie layer:

• Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips – 160 g
• Unsalted Butter – 113 g
• Cocoa powder – 2 tbsp
• Sugar – 150 g
• Eggs – 3
• All Purpose Flour – 100 g
• Vanilla Extract – 1 and 1/2 tsp

For the Chocolate Chip Cookie layer:

• All Purpose Flour – 1 cup
• Unsalted Butter – 1/4 cup
• Brown Sugar – 3/4 cup
• Salt – 1/2 tsp
• Baking Soda – 1/2 tsp
• Cinnamon Powder – 1/2 tsp
• Egg – 1
• Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp
• Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips – 1 cup

This is how you make Crownies. 🙂

The Brownie layer:

Step 1: Place the semi-sweet chocolate chips and butter in a heat-proof bowl; place the bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure that the water isn’t touching the base of the bowl. Leave it to melt.

Step 2: Take the bowl off the heat and mix in cocoa powder and sugar until well incorporated. Beat in the eggs until the batter is fluffy.

Step 3: Add in the flour and vanilla essence and beat the batter until it is glossy and smooth.

Step 4: Pour the Brownie batter into a greased and lined 10 inch square tin. Smooth out the batter until it is in an even layer. Set aside.

The Cookie Layer

Step 5: In a bowl, mix together flour, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, butter and cinnamon powder until the mixture is well combined, yet crumbly.

Step 6:  Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat well. Mix in chocolate chips and give the batter a final mix.

The Crownies

Step 7: With your palms, make little rounds of batter, flatten each of them and place them on top of the brownie layer until the surface is covered with a layer of cookie dough.

Step 8: Pop the Crownies into a preheated oven and bake at 165 degrees Celsius for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top of the cookies are crisp and golden brown, but a toothpick inserted all the way into the brownie layer comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Take them out of the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, cut yourself a piece and EAT!

These Crownies are the perfect amalgamation of an array of flavours and textures that are sure to make you go “Wow!” The ooey-gooey lusciousness of the Brownie layer with all that chocolaty goodness oozing through, paired with the crisp bite of the Chocolate Chip Cookie layer giving way to the moist cookie with welcome bursts of chocolate – I’d say that’s heaven right there!

Though I’m not a huge fan of chocolate, this was Ah-Mazing! And I had to exercise a great deal of self-control to stop myself from gobbling up the entire batch! Mom loved it; she took a very skeptical bite, but my, was she pleased! The boyfriend took a bite, closed his eyes and drifted away to paradise… and it was a good three minutes before he came back to earth and said, “This is so good! I’m so lucky!” (State the obvious, much? 😉)

If you like to hear such wonderful feedback from friends and family about your culinary prowess, I suggest you get into the kitchen and get baking! You’ll surely earn lots of brownie points, and some cookie points too! 😛

Kahlua-Mocha Indulgence

They say you can’t have all things nice at any given time and I do believe that’s true. Well, that should apply to dessert as well, shouldn’t it? What if I tell you that I know of the one dessert that defies this norm? What if I tell you that I can show you how to make a dessert that combines the goodness of vanilla sponge cake, the decadence of some velvety chocolate ganache, a boozy hit of Kahlua and that signature crunch of crackling crystal caramel? Isn’t that having all things wonderful at once? (To me, it is!) 😉

This dessert is simple, though it can take a while to put together. Where did I find the inspiration to create this Kahlua-Mocha Indulgence, you may ask? I am a huge fan of coffee (at a point in time, I was edging on addicted) and the idea of a dessert which is an amalgamation of any baker’s or confectioner’s favorite flavors was just too good to resist. Also, in spite of the fact that I am not a fan of alcohol, I do have a teeny thing for coffee liqueur. (It always makes me go – yayyyy Kahluaaa!) 😀

Without any further ado, here’s how you make this gorgeous-looking and fabulous-tasting Kahlua-Mocha Indulgence.

This is what you need:

For the Crystal Caramel:

• Sugar – 150 g
• Water – 2 tbsp

For the Vanilla Cake:

• Unsalted Butter – 150 g
• Sugar – 150 g
• Eggs – 2
• All Purpose Flour – 150 g
• Baking Powder – 1 tsp
• Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp

For the Chocolate Ganache:

• Heavy Whipping Cream (double cream) – 1 cup
• Light Brown Sugar – 1 cup
• Unsalted Butter – 2 tbsp
• Golden Syrup – 2 tbsp
• Milk – 1/2 cup
• Semi-sweet Chocolate – 200 g

For assembling:

• Kahlua or any kind of Coffee Liqueur – 1 and 1/2 cup
• A few deep-edged dessert bowls

Here’s how you make the Kahlua-Mocha Indulgence:

The crystal caramel: 

• Mix the sugar and water in a deep dish. Place the dish on the cooking range on low heat.
• While the caramel is cooking, prepare the baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
• Once the sugar dissolves and the water has evaporated, the mixture will begin turning to a gold hue. When the mixture is of a light amber colour, take it off the heat.
• Pour the caramel on to the prepared baking sheet so as to form a thin layer.
• When the caramel cools completely and is hard to the touch, use the back of a spoon to crack it. Be careful while you’re at it, broken caramel can be as sharp as shattered glass.

The cake:

• Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
• In a bowl, blend sugar and butter until creamy. Add in the eggs and whisk well until light and fluffy.
• Add the flour and baking powder and fold in until well incorporated.
• Pour in the vanilla essence and give the batter one final mix.
• Pour the batter into a prepared 8-inch square baking tin and even out. Bake for about 17-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
• Once the cake is completely cooled through, cut it into 2-inch squares.

The Ganache:

• Place the heavy whipping cream, milk, sugar, butter and golden syrup in a heavy-based saucepan.
• Heat gently until the sugar has dissolved and the syrup has melted. Then bring to a boil. Boil, stirring continuously for about five minutes or until the sauce is thick.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate, a little at a time, until it is completely melted and the ganache is smooth and velvety.

Here’s how you assemble the Kahlua-Mocha Indulgence 😀

• In a dessert bowl, pour in a bit of Kahlua – about four teaspoons.
• Place a vanilla cake square in the bowl and top it off with another square of vanilla cake.
• Douse the cake in another two teaspoons of Kahlua.
• Pour the warm chocolate ganache over the cake tower until it’s dripping over on all sides.
• Sprinkle some crackling crystal caramel on the top and serve immediately.

One thing is for sure – if you’ve dug your teeth into this oh-so-amazing dessert, you’ve surely visited sweet-sweet heaven! The soft vanilla cake with its moist crumb, paired with the incredibly rich bitter-sweet chocolate ganache and the crystal caramel that lends an extraordinary bite to the dessert – not to mention the added sweetness and the smokey flavor -, is just taken to another level of drop-dead-delicious by the warmth and coffee-licious goodness of the Kahlua. Oh! My! God! (My taste buds yearn as I type this!)

I made this dessert for a dinner-date with the boyfriend and my, were we pleased! Being the first time tasting something like this, the both of us were supremely surprised at how wonderful this Kahlua-Mocha Indulgence tasted, and for days after, we craved for more! (The weighing scale didn’t think we deserved to eat more though…)

Trust me when I say that some of the simplest ingredients and techniques go into making this amazing dessert that is worthy of being served in some of the best restaurants and patisseries around the world! There goes another way to show your family and friends that you’re a culinary genius!

A little tip: If you’re not a fan of Kahlua or you don’t fancy alcohol, this dessert can be made without it as well. Just substitute Kahlua with some brewed strong black coffee (without sugar) and it will taste just as AWESOME!