Chocolate Pancakes with Chocolate-Strawberry Sauce

i am still in a chocolate mood... so here's another sinful chocolatey breakfast goodness on a lovely sunday morning... chocolate pancakes with homemade chocolate-strawberry sauce... yum yum..

initially i wanted to add chocolate chips to the batter to complete it as a triple chocolate shot... but oh well, i was too lazy to go buy some.. hehe.. and actually, the kitchen ran out of hershey's chocolate syrup too... and again yes, i was just plain lazy to make the trip to the grocery store... so i decided to make my own chocolate sauce instead... with a slight twist of adding a few scoops of strawberry jam...

Chocolate Pancakes:
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oil
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence

1. Sift together the dry ingedients into a mixing bowl.
2. Whisk in the wet ingredients till thoroughly mixed with no lumps.
3. Drop 1-2 tbsp of batter into slightly greased griddle or frying pan. Fry both sides of pancake for a few minutes till browned.


Choc-Strawberry Sauce:
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
3 tbsp seedless strawberry jam
1/4 cup water

1. In a small sauce pan, whisk together sugar, cocoa and cornstarch.
2. Gradually whisk in the water and jam.
3. Bring to a simmer over medium heat for a few minutes, whisking constantly.

Double Chocolate Pudding

my sweet tooth was craving for a super quick chocolate fix... and so i came across this no-brainer no-bake choc pudding in one of my recipe notes.. what i love most about it is the fact that it is unbelievebly simple & easy to make.. all you have to do is to mix all ingredients into a saucepan and just stir away.. yup, it is indeed that simple :-)

1. In a saucepan, whisk in 3/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup sifted cocoa powder, 3 tbsp of cornstarch & 1/4 tsp salt.
2. Over medium heat, gradually whisk in 2 1/2 cups milk. Ensure there are no lumps. Bring the mixture to a boil till it reaches a thick consistency.
3. Remove from heat. Stir in 100g grated eating chocolate & 1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence.
4. Allow to cool slightly before consumption or chill for at least 1hr for best results.

there is a point to note though.. this recipe only yields about 3-4 ramekins.. hence if you have a large family like mine or have a significant number of guests coming over, you may have to repeat the recipe a few times or increase the amount of ingredients accordingly..

Sweet Chocolate Chip Cookies

yup here it is... my usual choc chip cookies which i normally bake... some of my girlfriends had requested for the recipe a few times... hehe my sincere apologies, i keep forgetting to write the recipe down for you ladies... so i guess i will post it in this entry.. :-)

i love munching on these cookies... either as a late-night snack or while i'm doing work... i personally think it is best served with a tall glass of refreshing ice-cold chocolate drink...

110g softened butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
sweet cooking chocolate chips
chopped walnuts - optional

1. thoroughly cream butter & sugars. add egg, water & vanilla. beat well.

2. stir together flour, baking soda, & salt. blend into the creamed mixture.

3. add in chocolate chips & walnuts, mix well.

4. using a teaspoon, drop a small dollop of mixture 2 inches apart on a greased baking sheet.

5. bake at 180 celcius for about 10-15 minutes. cool on a cooling rack before storage.

Chocolatey Pretzels

it's a sunday and i felt like staying home and bake something... was looking through one of my baking recipe books and decided on this chocolatey pretzels... i am a self-confessed sugary/syrupy sweet junkie... and so i sprinkled a generous coating of icing sugar on the pretzels... i kinda like the soft chewy texture.. next time round, perhaps i'll try to modify the recipe a little bit and bake a batch of chocolate mint flavoured ones...