3 Chocolate Based Recipes By Chinna Dua To Rekindle The Homely Feeling

Chocolate is a very reliable ingredient, you can hardly ever go wrong with it. I love the effortless way in which it complements desserts, shakes, ice creams, puddings (and my life). If you're all for minimal cooking culminating into a week's worth of exquisite desserts, these recipes by Chinna Dua will do a bang-up job. 

Chinna Dua, a cuisine connoisseur, revels in the art of cooking and baking and describes the process as therapeutic. She has come a long way from not being able to switch the stove on to putting together an entire meal from scratch. Her recipes are modest, neat and customized with love. These three desserts are fairly easy to prepare and the deliciousness of the end product transcends the amount of effort required. 

Chocolate Walnut Fudge

• Prep Time:5 mins
• Cook Time:20 mins
• Total Time:25 mins
• Servings:30
• Easy

Ingredients

• 1 tin Condensed Milk/ Milkmaid
• 125 gms Melted White Unsalted Butter
• 1/4 cup White Powdered Sugar
• 3/4 cup Cocoa Powder
• 2.5 tbsp Refined Flour/Maida
• 1 cup Walnuts

• Step 1

  Mix all the ingredients except for the walnuts in a heavy bottomed aluminum pan (kadhai). Cook on high heat while stirring constantly (cook on low heat if you're unable to stir continuously).

  

• Step 2

  Keep cooking till the mixture thickens considerably and falls in sheets when you try to drop the fudge back in the pan. Put a drop of the fudge in half a cup of cold water. Take it out and roll it between your fingers, if it retains its shape, you have successfully reached the end point.

  

• Step 3

  Now, add walnuts to the fudge and mix well. Switch off the gas.

  

• Step 4

  Lightly grease a tray of appropriate size with refined oil (do not use butter as it will solidify). Spread the fudge evenly and let it cool for a while. With the help of a knife, mark lines on the fudge about 1 inch apart, horizontally as well as vertically.

  

• Step 5

  Leave it outside to cool in winters, and in the refrigerator in summers for at least 2-3 hours. Cut it into pieces when set.

  

Chocolate Walnut Fudge is a cube of heaven that readily melts in your mouth leaving a distinctively chocolatey aftertaste.

No-Bake Chocolate Pie

• Prep Time:10 mins
• Cook Time:15 mins
• Total Time:25 mins
• Servings:4
• Easy

Ingredients

• 100 gms Digestive Biscuits
• 50 gms White Unsalted Butter
• 100 ml Cream
• 75 gms Milk Chocolate
• 75 gms Dark Chocolate
• 6 inch Glass Pie Dish
• 1 Butter/Parchment Paper

• Step 1

  Place the digestive biscuits in a polythene bag or a loose zip pouch. Fold the edge, remove air and zip it. Crush the biscuits with a rolling pin till they're midway between coarse and fine. Mix melted butter with the biscuit crumbs.

  

• Step 2

  Place butter paper in the pie dish (a springform pan would be ideal) and uniformly spread the crushed biscuit and butter mixture on the base of the dish. Use a masher or rolling pin to flatten it. Chill in the fridge for about 45 minutes.

  

• Step 3

  Add small pieces of milk and dark chocolate and cream in a pan. Heat it on low flame and stir periodically till the chocolate melts to form a chocolate ganache. Let it cool to room temperature.

  

• Step 4

  Pour the ganache uniformly on the base you prepared earlier and keep it in the fridge to chill. The pie takes about 4-6 hours to set.

  

• Step 5

  To make chocolate curls, use a peeler to peel the edge of the chocolate bar. The chocolate bar shouldn't be too hard or too soft, rather in between the two to get perfect curls. Place the curls in the fridge to chill.

  

• Step 6

  To prepare whipped cream, keep cream in a steel bowl along with the prongs of the beater in the freezer for an hour. When nicely chilled, take it out and place over a bowl full of ice. Beat the cream slowly till it becomes soft and fluffy.

  

• Step 7

  Take the pie out of the fridge and transfer it to a clean plate after removing the butter paper. Decorate the pie using chocolate curls, nutties, whipped cream, banana slices, strawberries, cherries or any other item you fancy. Slice the pie using a pizza cutter and relish!

  

Variation: To add a coffee flavour to the pie, make a solution of hot water and 2 tbsp coffee powder and mix it in the ganache.

The Chocolate Pie has a crumbly biscuit base contrasting with the smooth ganache on top. Preparing it is a piece of cake (or rather, pie) and the taste is so divine that it's impossible to resist a second helping.

Chocolate, Coffee & Cream (3Cs) Mousse

• Prep Time:10 mins
• Cook Time:20 mins
• Total Time:30 mins
• Servings:4
• Medium

Ingredients

• 1/2 tin or 150ml Condensed Milk
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 & 1/4 tbsp Gelatin
• 1/2 cup Fresh Cream
• 1/4 cup Water
• 2 tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 1 tbsp Coffee Powder
• 1/4 cup Chopped Walnuts/Roasted Almonds
• 2-3 tbsp Kahlua or any coffee liqueur optional
• 6 Coffee Candies coarsely pounded for garnishing
• 2 tbsp Whipping Cream

• Step 1

  Make a double-boiler by placing a sieve on top of a pan with water which is placed on a stove. Put a pan with milk on the sieve, add cocoa powder to it and stir to make a smooth paste. (If you have two pans which sit nicely one over the other, do away with the sieve).

  

• Step 2

  Add gelatin to 1/4 cup water and let it swell. Then, place it in a pan and use the double-boiler to melt. It will turn into a turbid solution.

  

• Step 3

  Make a solution of coffee powder with 1 tbsp hot water and let it cool. Mix the coffee solution with cocoa powder and milk paste. Add condensed milk and mix all of it with the gelatine solution. Add broken chocolate bits and mix everything extremely well.

  

• Step 4

  Add coffee liqueur if you wish to. Fold in the whipped cream, add chopped nuts and mix gently.

  

• Step 5

  Pour the mousse into individual bowls or cocktail glasses.

  

• Step 6

  Garnish it with whipped cream (made the same way as in the above recipe), coarsely crushed coffee candy, wafer sticks and chocolate curls. Serve chilled.

  

Chocolate and coffee is the ultimate dessert combination and this 3C mousse promises the best of both along with the goodness of cream. 

Desserts customarily mark the end of a meal and such simple recipes will enhance your family get-togethers, birthday parties, sleepovers or lazy Saturday afternoons. Make sure you make a little extra for later because overindulgence is a phenomenon we promise. 

Thanks to Dr. Chinna Dua, we had the opportunity to taste all of the above recipes as well as witness the procedure of preparing them. Take it from me, nothing could be better than devouring three desserts a day.