2. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. I used a hand mixer.

3. In a blender, add flax seed powder and water and blend it until it’s foamy.

4. Add the flax seed mixture and vanilla extract to the creamed butter. Stir it well using a wooden spoon/spatula.

5. In a medium size bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

6. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and combine it well using a spatula.

7. Now stir the oats and other optional ingredients you wish to include.

8. Drop the batter by tablespoonsfull 2 inches apart. I used an ice cream scoop.

9. Wet your hands and flatten the cookies so that they are about 1/2 an inch thick.

10. Bake it for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the centre is little wet.

11. Remove it from the oven and let it cool in the baking sheet itself for 5 minutes. Then transfer it to a wire rack to cool it completely.

2. I wanted to try baking with vegan butter alternatives for long time now. So I bought Earth Balance Vegan Butter and tried this recipe with that, instead of regular dairy butter. I’m 100% sure that the cookies will come out good with regular butter also, because the original recipe uses the same.

3. I’m not a vegan, I just tried baking vegan cookies, so I have used dairy milk in the photo.

2. Coat an 8×8 inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. If you choose to bake brownie cupcakes, line a 12 muffin tin with muffin liners or coat with nonstick cooking spray itself.

3. In a medium size bowl, stir together sugar, applesauce and 2 tablespoons water.

4. Either mix flax seed meal with 1/2 cup water in a small cup or blend it in a blender.

5. Add the flax seed mixture and vanilla to the applesauce mixture and combine well.

6. In another small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips and walnuts (if using).

7. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture.

8. Stir just to combine, do not overmix.

9. Pour into prepare pan. If using a muffin tin, fill each mould 3/4ths full. The given measurement is perfect for 12 muffins, so divide the batter accordingly, which is around 3-4 tablespoons of batter in each cup.

10. The time given in the original recipe for baking in a brownie pan is 40 minutes for chewy brownies and 45-47 minutes for cake like brownies. But since I used a muffin tin to bake brownies, mine was done exactly at 23 minutes.

11. Once the cupcakes are out of the oven, leave it in the tin for 2 minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack for the brownie cupcakes to cool completely.

2. I used muffin liners to line the tin, which made the clean up also very easy. Another advantage of using muffin tins is, they cool in no time.

3. These brownie cupcakes taste better the next day of baking.

2. Add pumpkin and vanilla.

3. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix well.

5. Fold in raisins.

6. Drop by teaspoonfuls (I used 1/2 tablespoon measurement to scoop the dough) 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets.

7. Preheat the oven at 350F for 15 minutes. Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Mine took exactly 14 minutes for the batch which I baked in an aluminum baking sheet. The dark non stick baking sheet batch began to brown at 12 minutes itself. So watch closely.

8. Remove to wire racks to cool.

For Frosting:
1. Melt butter in a small saucepan.

2. Stir in the sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth.

3. Frost cooled cookies.

2. I think either using freshly prepared pumpkin puree or adding some more liquid (like milk/soymilk) if using canned pumpkin would make the cookies even more light and crispy. I used the canned puree and it’s solid packed, so it does not have enough moisture. Already the creamed mixture did not release any moisture and the pumpkin puree also was solid, so the cookie dough was stiff. I was literally praying that the cookies should come out properly or I would have to run out to the store at 9 in the night to get something for the kids next day. Fortunately it came out well. Since I have not tasted pumpkin cookies before, I don’t have anything to compare with. But we liked it very much. As I have mentioned earlier, the cookies were chewy and not crispy.

1. Preheat the oven to 325F (160C).
2. Grease and flour (I used cocoa powder to flour the base of the pan because it’s a chocolate cake) two 9-inch cake pans.
3. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and sugar into a large mixing bowl.
4. Make a well. Add the canola oil. Then the hot coffee decoction.

1. Sift the mix.
2. Add the butter, hot milk, vanilla and baking soda. (I read in the same book that adding a pinch of baking soda to icings prevents hardening and cracking so icing stays moist)
3. Beat the mix using a hand mixer at medium-high speed. Add few drops of water/milk if required.

Frosting the Cake:
This was my first experience with frosting a cake, so I simply followed the steps listed in the book.
1. First I placed the bottom layer upside down, so the rounded side (top of the cake will be on the serving plate). If you have dome top on the cake, even it out by slicing it with a serrated knife and then place it upside-down.
2. Spread about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of frosting on top of the bottom layer. Don’t use hard strokes, but spread it gently using an offset metal spatula or plastic spatula.
3. Now place the second layer on the first, cut or domed side up.
4. Frost the sides of the cake first with another 1/2 cup of frosting.
5. Finally frost the top of the second layer.

As you all know the options are endless. Being a rookie that I am, and because my son loves M&M’s I used them to line the cake. I also used the ready made CakeMate decorating pens which are available in the grocery store in the baking aisle to write the birthday message and draw some flowers.

1.  Preheat the oven to 350F (175C).
2.  Line a standard size baking sheet with foil or parchment and set aside.
3.  In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, and salt until thoroughly combined.

2.  Also slicing the baked log, requires patience, because it tends to break in the middle.

3.  I observed that the baking time mentioned in the recipe (both for baking the log and for baking the slices) are just approximations.  It took another 5-8 minutes to get the desired result.

4.  The biscottis came out well, but I would suggest using all purpose flour itself instead of whole wheat flour and also reducing the quantity of sugar to 1/2 cup.  It was very sweet to our taste, also it had an earthy flavor because of the whole wheat flour.  I have made chocolate cookies using whole wheat flour earlier and my family loved it, but we felt that it did not work out for the biscottis.  This eggless biscotti recipe is definitely a keeper and I will be baking it regularly using all purpose flour.

5. In a small cup add the flax seed meal and slowly add the water and whisk it with a fork and add it to the brownie mix.
6. I chose to add vanilla extract also.
7. Stir everything until well blended (about 40-50 strokes)

8. Now add the nuts and combine it once again.
9. Generously grease the brownie pan. I used a non stick 8″x8″ pan.
10. Spread the mixture in the pan.

11. Bake it anywhere between 30-38 minutes. (Check the instructions in the package for detailed baking time). I baked mine for 40 minutes. But I think I should have taken it around 38 minutes itself, because I had little cracks on the top. That was the only negative thing with these brownies, otherwise they were unbelievably moist and gooey. We did not taste the flax seed at all. Just be sure that the brownie cools out completely before you can cut into squares.

2. I bought the double fudge brownies, which had a chocolate syrup pack, which had to be added to the brownie batter. But I omitted it because this was the first time I was going to bake brownies and that too without eggs. So I did not want to experiment too much.

3. Egg substitute: I came across in many books and websites that ground flax seed is a good substitute for eggs while baking. But the ratio of flax seed meal to water was different in each and every place. I recently bought a vegan cook book and there were a lot of baking recipes using flax seed meal. So I decided to used the proportion given in that book. For every egg in a recipe, use 1 teaspoon of flax seed meal mixed with 1/4 cup of water.

4. Checking the doneness of brownies: I read in the same book that inserting a toothpick to check the doneness does not work for brownies. Instead “the touch test” was recommended. When you touch the top of the brownies, it should not leave an indentation. If it does, the batter is still soft, so you need to bake it for another couple of minutes.