Christmas '15: Brownie with Cream Cheese Pattern

This year for Christmas presents, I decided to bake a big batch of brownie and cut it up into squares to pack up. I had originally planned to have 2 different brownies and some kind of gingerbread-like bars in there as well, but due to time constraints, I had to settle with just the one.

For the brownie, I used a double batch of the classic egg-free recipe I have been using. To make it a little more interesting, at least to the eye, I topped it with a pattern of cream cheese, quark, and icing sugar mix. The quark helped make the cream cheese more fluid, and I had some left from before that needed using up. The pattern was made by drawing lines of cream cheese mix over the top of the batter, then running a chopstick in opposite directions.

The wonderful image I had in mind for nice, even squares went out the window the moment I cut into it after cooling and refrigerating it a couple of hours. The no-crust parts were crumbling and falling every which way. Luckily, I managed to somehow cut 30 squares that were more or less intact, and to package them in little bags, each piece sitting on its own square of baking paper. Unfortunately, in some cases, the pattern did not really survive the cutting and packaging.

Pseudo Terrine

 

Some of you might know how much of a manga fan I am. Lately, I've been reading a lot of Shokugeki no Souma. In there, one of the characters makes a terrine. Since I read that, I've been thinking of making a terrine for a while.

Some issues: most terrines use meat or gelatin or eggs to hold the layers together. Due to an excess of carrots, I decided to try to make a semi-mousse out of them. I used some peanut butter and corn starch as binding agents. Unfortunately, I had to add a lot of water for the carrots to blend properly. Then I didn't have time to chill the whole thing... so it kind of flopped.

The edge is made out of steamed eggplant slices. Then I had a layer of carrot "mousse," a mix if mashed peas and potatoes, some sliced mushroom, then another layer of carrot. This was served with an herb sauce (perilla, cilantro, lemon juice, and a bit of olive oil) and a quark sauce.

Maybe next time I'll add tofu to the carrot layer... and I will chill it properly with a weight for it to hold together better.

Vegetarian Burritos

While doing groceries the other day (fridge was empty from Spring Break, so had to fill it a bit before market day came), I randomly decided we would have burritos for dinner yesterday. Probably was influenced by the two tortillas my friend gave me. Or maybe I just hadn't had any for too long. Whichever the reason, I was clear I was getting burritos done.

I made new white rice, in which I mixed some chopped cilantro (frozen from a few weeks back), and added some lemon juice in an attempt to replicate the Chipotle rice.

For the black beans, I just took a can of beans, stir-fried them a little with some salt, and then they were ready.

Chopped some lettuce and diced some tomatoes. Yesterday's version did not have guacamole, but I got some ripe avocados at the market today, so I made guacamole by mashing the avocado, adding some lemon juice and salt, and mixing it all together.

The grated cheese tastes like aged Gouda, which has a sharper flavor than the younger ones. I prefer the taste of aged cheese, and it was the cheapest grated cheese, in any case. I couldn't find sour cream, so I grabbed a tub of quark -- a good decision. It has a very nice flavor, and apparently, it has less fat than sour cream.

Pile the ingredients in whichever order, and wrap it up!