Easy chocolate brownies

I have been absent from my blog for a very very very long time. But, now i am back and promise to be regular. I have learnt so many new recipes in the last 5 years that i am dying to share them.
So, my first recipe this year are these decadent chocolate brownies which my son loves and  they are super easy to make.
Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:
1/2 C all purpose flour
1/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
 Wet ingredients:
2 large eggs
1 C sugar
1/2 C melted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 C walnuts (optional)

Method:

1. Whisk eggs and sugar until the sugar is fully incorporated. Add melted butter and mix well.
2. Add vanilla extract and mix well.
3. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and add them slowly to the egg sugar butter mixture. Whisk constantly.
4. add walnuts if using.
5. preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
6. grease a 8x8 inch square baking dish with spray oil or butter.
7. Add the brownie batter and bake it for 25-30 mins.
8. Let it cool and cut them in squares.
9. Serve with a scoop of ice-cream or just by themselves.

Enjoy !

Yields: 16 squares

Banana Nut Muffin

This is a recipe which did not get to me in the first time ....took me around 3-4 tries to make it perfect :) Anyway , Banana Nut Muffin is my husband's favorite and i made it for his office party and it turned out really well, everybody appreciated it. So i decide to put it on the blog..

Ingredients:

3 medium bananas
1/2 C walnuts, chopped
2 C all purpose flour
1 C sugar or 1/2 C splenda
3/4 C butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
11/2 teaspoon baking soda

Method:

1) Mash 1 banana coarsely and keep aside.

2) slice the other 2 bananas in a big mixing bowl and add sugar . Mix with a hand mixer for good 4-5 minutes until a smooth paste is formed.

3) Add eggs , vanilla , melted butter, salt , baking soda and mix well .

4) Slowly add the all purpose flour part by part so that no lumps are formed and keep mixing with the mixer.

5) Fold in chopped walnuts and the coarsely mashed bananas into the batter with a spatula.

6) Grease a muffin tin with melted butter and fill half of each cup with batter so that it doesn't fall off when it swells.

7) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bake the muffins for about 20 minutes or when a toothpick comes out clean.

Serves: 12(one each)

Low calorie banana bread

Recently my husband has become very health cautious. Although he has a sweet tooth, he wants his desserts to be low calorie. Now, thinking of a low calorie dessert is difficult because anything without butter and sugar might not taste as good. Anyway, my friend Namrata got an eggless and low calorie date cake once when she came home and it was fantastic!! I didnt realize that it has no butter.
This gave me an idea to make low calorie banana bread. I added splenda instead of sugar and buttermilk instead of oil or butter. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas, medium
1 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/4 C+2 tbsp splenda/ 3/4 C sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/3 C buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking soda
1/4C raisins, optional
Method:

1) In a mixing bowl , beat eggs and sugar together with a hand mixer for about 5 mins till the eggs become fluffy.

2) In a separate bowl mash the bananas and add oil and vanilla and mix well. Add the banana mixture to the egg bowl and fold in flour , baking soda and salt.

3) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a bread loaf pan and add the batter to the pan. Pour some raisins on the top

5) Bake the bread for 45 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Serves:4-5