chocolate + paper + scissors

7.30.2009

Lots of firsts!

Okay, so it's very late - past my bedtime - but it's very nice to have some quiet time to myself! Today was one of those busy days at home - and we managed, somehow, to not leave the house at all. This is bad, isn't it? No exercise! No outside stimulation! But it was nice, too.

I do want to share a delish recipe - but I have to share a quick review of our day:

1. We had lots of imaginary play, as we were in Dragon Land much of the day with K and her friends.
2. A can now clap his little tiny, delicate, chunky hands, and gets so excited! We love it so much that we all clap with him! He's also on his way to crawling any day...
3. K managed to answer the phone for the first time today: she took a client call of daddy's while I was in the other room tidying up...oops! Thankfully, she didn't give any financial advice!

Okay: here's the recipe. I threw this together a couple of weeks ago after forgetting to add sugar to the Nigella recipe I posted last time. (I hope you never do that!). After throwing the entire baked, unsweetened batch of brownies in the trash, all I had to make dessert with was some chocolate, butter and some honey. First time to make this sauce - but it was amazingly tasty. I will be making it again...perhaps for a morning beverage! Nice alternative to coffee.

1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter, salted
4-5 tablespoons of honey

Melt it all in a small pot on the stove...and enjoy. It refrigerates well - but it will harden, so you'll need to reheat it in the microwave.

Chocolate heaven! Goes well on anything - especially room temperature foods. But we ate it on ice cream when my girlfriends were in town, and it was heavenly. Of course, the company made it taste even better!

Lights out for now...sweet dreams!

7.02.2009

FFF: Thank you, Nigella, for lovely fudgy brownies.

Hi all!

I know it's Thursday with a holiday weekend approaching...so I thought I would post this recipe early. I haven't been very consistent with posting my favorite recipes - I really am trying to do a better job at this one. I have some out-of-town preparation to do tonight, so I'll try to make this short and sweet.

I tried this Nigella Lawson brownie recipe for the first time at the end of this school year for my daughter's pre-school teachers. I baked for them whenever an opportunity presented itself, usually for holidays. They always loved everything so much - and it's so fun to bake for people who love and appreciate the product!

Nigella: can we talk about how delicious she is? Her cookbook reads so lyrically...it's so soothing and relaxing. Making these brownies was such a joy - so calming during such a busy time of year. This recipe is taken from How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking. It's a gorgeous book.

I substituted white chocolate chips for the walnuts. which were a nice complement. These were gooey and scrumptious. I realized that my entire baking life, I've been making cakey brownies (as opposed to fudgy brownies). I was afraid these were undercooked, but they were fine once they cooled. The gooey-ness was the best part. I froze about 1/4 of the recipe, and they're great warmed in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

Cheers, and enjoy! And, everyone have a lovely 4th of July.

Ingredients:
13 1/4 ounces soft unsalted butter
13 1/4 ounces best quality dark chocolate
6 large eggs
1 tablespoons vanilla extract
17 2/3 ounces caster sugar
8 ounces plain flour
1 teaspoons salt
10 5/8 ounces chopped walnuts

Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2.Line your approximatley 33 x 23 x 5 1/2cm brownie pan with foil or baking paper.
3.Melt the butter and chocolate together in a large heavy based saucepan.
4.In a bowl beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla.
5.Measure the flour into another bowl and add the salt.
6.When the chocolate mixture has melted, let it cool a bit before beating in the eggs and sugar mixture, and then the nuts and flour.
7.Beat to combine and then scrape out of the saucepan into the lined brownie pan.
8.Bake for about 25 minutes.
9.When its's ready, the top should be dried to a paler brown speckle, but the middle still dark and dense and gooey.
10.Keep checking the brownies as they cook; remember that they will continue to cook as they cool.

Makes 48 brownies.