Sweets

I had a sudden craving for brownies.

I get that once a month or so.

This happens to everyone, right?

I have a good vegan brownie recipe (I’ve tried and liked),

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/2023/03/19/very-good-brownies-vegan

and one of the great things about this recipe is that you usually have all the ingredients.

I love that you don’t have to go shopping just to make brownies.

But one important thing I didn’t have was chocolate chips.

What I did have was a bar of salted chocolate from Aldi (which I really like).

So I tore it into small pieces with my hands and used them in place of chocolate chips.

I was afraid that they would completely melt.

Well, it did melt, but not disastrously.

I was going to wait to take pictures or eat until it completely cooled down and the chocolate got hardened, but who am I kidding, of course I didn’t have that kind of patience (lol).

It actually tasted great with the melting chocolate.

But I’m sure it will taste even better later, so I’m excited.

One more thing about these brownies.

I added these sweetened Azuki beans to the batter.

It gave interesting texture and flavor, and I really liked it.

Who knew Azuki and chocolate go so well together.

Recommended beverage: black coffee.

The plum wine I prepared about a year ago is finally ready to enjoy!

I purposely made a small amount because there are only two in our household.

It turned out delicious!

It’s great when served with tonic water.

But I also like to pour a small amount over a few ice cubes and sip it slowly.

I used both the wine and green Ume plums for the cake.

Carrot cake is a popular choice for the Easter dessert.

But this year I went with something different. ↓

https://sideb.culinarytribune.com/2023/04/08/lime-lemon-cakes

But when I saw all the pictures of other people’s carrot cake, I developed craving for it.

I like my carrot cake filled with a lot of chunks of nuts and dried fruit.

I used pecan nuts and dry cranberries this time.

This time I made my vegan “cream cheese” with tofu as the main ingredient.

Tofu (extra firm; extra water removed), coconut oil, sugar, salt, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar.

It was delicious, and I loved that it worked well for piping too.

Technically, they are lemon-shaped lime cakes.

I was initially planning to make lemon-shaped lemon cakes, but the bag of lemons I found at the grocery store was too big (too many lemons), so I decided to go with a smaller bag of limes.

A few years ago I bought this pan.

I don’t use it too often, but I’m still happy with this purchase.

They turned out great.

Perfectly moist, soft, and full of lime flavor!

They were finished off with lime icing and zest.

Citrus cakes are always popular at our house.

I thought my husband would love these, but it was still great to see him enjoying them!

We love chocolate.

When I buy a bag of chocolate chips, it doesn’t last long in our house.

So, I had to use them quick before they were eaten as an after-dinner snack.

There are many vegan brownies recipes online.

I picked this one, https://eatwithclarity.com/homemade-vegan-brownies/ because the ingredients were simple, which is always a good thing.

It turned out great!

This was a good recipe.

I will definitely make it again.

Brownies are one of our favorite snacks.

But who doesn’t like brownies.

Right?

I cooked a lot during our vacation, but I missed baking.

I looked through my cookbooks, and I decided on sesame cookies as my first baking project after our vacation.

Me giving the cookies good energy through the oven door (lol).

I’ve used this recipe before, but this time I added Matcha.

It didn’t show the color much, but you can certainly taste Matcha.

I really enjoy baking and eating home-baked sweets.

Hope I can bake much more before going back to work.