Sometime last year, my cousin Sandhya mentioned that she has begun to try some of the single serving desserts that she has bookmarked from various sites. She went on and on about how easy it is and how convenient to make just the right sized dessert that I was kind of hooked into the idea before our conversation ended. I kind of liked the idea of a single serving dessert, just a little bit of indulgence without the chance to go overboard. I figured if I split that with R too, then I would end up having a taste of the sweet without having to worry too much about the calories.
The first recipe I tried was a brownie recipe, sadly though it did not work out for me. Not sure why but I found it a tad bit too dry for my taste. That kind of dampened my enthusiasm to try any other single serving dessert for quite a while. After a bit though, I began to think maybe I needed to try experimenting on my own and see if I could come up with something that was moist and fudgy, the way I love my brownies :) This brownie is the result of my experimentation :) I have played around with the proportions of this recipe many times, increasing and decreasing the almond meal and the quantities of the other ingredients too. But this version is the one that I love the most. It has everything I want from a brownie, its moist, fudgy, chocolatey and delicious. A perfect indulgence :) And the best part this can be ready in just a couple of minutes, and cleanup is a breeze too :)
Click here for a printable view of this recipe
Ingredients and Method to make brownie in a mug
Dry ingredients
2 Tbsp almond meal (powdered almonds/badam) (see notes)
2 Tbsp unbleached all purpose flour (maida)
1 Tbsp Cocoa powder
3 Tbsp fine sugar (shakkar) (see notes)
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
Wet ingredients
2 Tbsp plain yogurt (curds/dahi/thayir)
2 Tbsp milk (Doodh/paal)
1 Tbsp oil
2 tsp semi sweet chocolate chips
In a large mug add all the dry ingredients one by one and mix well. I usually add in the order of almond meal, apf, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, pinch of salt.
Add yogurt, milk, mix well. Add oil and mix again. Scrape the corners to make sure all the flour mixture has gotten mixed. Add semi sweet chocolate chips and mix gently.
Place in microwave and cook for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Here is how it looked at the end of 1 minute
and at the end of 1 min and 30 seconds
My microwave strength is 1000 watts, so if yours is more powerful you will need to microwave it for lesser time and if yours has less strength it will take a little more time. I like my brownies a bit fudgy and soft and moist, if you like yours a bit drier microwave for an additional 15 seconds to 20 seconds.
Remove, cool for a minute or so and dig in. Enjoy this brownie just as is or with some vanilla ice cream on top:)
Notes:
For the almond meal, you can powder a little bit of almonds in a mixer/blender with short bursts of powder until it is powdered fine. Do not over blend as the nut butter in will cause clumping. If you have store bought almond meal you can use that too in this recipe. I usually powder about 1/4 cup of almonds at one time and store the rest in an airtight container and use it in this or other recipes like this almond cashew cookies.
The first recipe I tried was a brownie recipe, sadly though it did not work out for me. Not sure why but I found it a tad bit too dry for my taste. That kind of dampened my enthusiasm to try any other single serving dessert for quite a while. After a bit though, I began to think maybe I needed to try experimenting on my own and see if I could come up with something that was moist and fudgy, the way I love my brownies :) This brownie is the result of my experimentation :) I have played around with the proportions of this recipe many times, increasing and decreasing the almond meal and the quantities of the other ingredients too. But this version is the one that I love the most. It has everything I want from a brownie, its moist, fudgy, chocolatey and delicious. A perfect indulgence :) And the best part this can be ready in just a couple of minutes, and cleanup is a breeze too :)
Click here for a printable view of this recipe
Ingredients and Method to make brownie in a mug
Dry ingredients
2 Tbsp almond meal (powdered almonds/badam) (see notes)
2 Tbsp unbleached all purpose flour (maida)
1 Tbsp Cocoa powder
3 Tbsp fine sugar (shakkar) (see notes)
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
Wet ingredients
2 Tbsp plain yogurt (curds/dahi/thayir)
2 Tbsp milk (Doodh/paal)
1 Tbsp oil
2 tsp semi sweet chocolate chips
In a large mug add all the dry ingredients one by one and mix well. I usually add in the order of almond meal, apf, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, pinch of salt.
Place in microwave and cook for 1 minute and 30 seconds. Here is how it looked at the end of 1 minute
and at the end of 1 min and 30 seconds
My microwave strength is 1000 watts, so if yours is more powerful you will need to microwave it for lesser time and if yours has less strength it will take a little more time. I like my brownies a bit fudgy and soft and moist, if you like yours a bit drier microwave for an additional 15 seconds to 20 seconds.
Remove, cool for a minute or so and dig in. Enjoy this brownie just as is or with some vanilla ice cream on top:)
Notes:
For the almond meal, you can powder a little bit of almonds in a mixer/blender with short bursts of powder until it is powdered fine. Do not over blend as the nut butter in will cause clumping. If you have store bought almond meal you can use that too in this recipe. I usually powder about 1/4 cup of almonds at one time and store the rest in an airtight container and use it in this or other recipes like this almond cashew cookies.
