Friday, October 31, 2008

Brownie - Chocolate Basic

My very 1st attempt in baking... Brownies! Almost every Friday, the kids & I will head over to greenhoihoi's place for play, chit chat & tea time snack. Usually it's greenhoihoi who will provide something for tea eg. muffins, custards / bought cookies. This time I made the effort & time to bake something for us & kids to enjoy our tea time.
Can see how untidy I was while whipping everything together ;)
Taa-dah! Final product.. smells great just out of the oven
I searched high & low for my MIL's baking paper/ grease proof paper and just could not find it! So I improvised by greasing the baking tin with lots of butter. Didn't help much I guess, you can obviously see bits stuck to the tin :p

Kids & I having some fun dusting caster sugar on top & sprinkling hearts over it.



I did the Brownies from this book called "Brownies, Fudges & Toppings" family circle mini cookbooks (pg 14 & 15). It was a gift from Popes when I started my SAHM tour of duty in Jan'08. Am ashame to admit it.. but I've only just got inspired to try the recipes out (it's now Oct'08). Oh well! as the saying goes ~ 'Better late than never'
Ingredients:
150g butter ~ chopped
125g dark chocolate ~ chopped
3 eggs
1.5 cups (375g) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essense
1 cup (125g) plain flour
1/4 cup (30g) cocoa powder
icing sugar ~ to dust
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180'C (350'F/Gas 4). Brush a 20cm (8 inch) square cake tin with oil or melted butter. Line the base with baking paper, extending over 2 sides.
2. Melt the butter & chocolate in a heatproof bowl, over a pan of simmering water, stirring occassionally. Remove from heat & allow to cool slightly.
3. Use a wire whisk to beat the eggs, sugar, & vanilla essense together in a large bowl until well combined. Sift the flour & cocoa together. Whisk the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture & stir in the sifted flour & cocoa; do not overbeat.
4. Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 40 minutes, until slightly risen & just firm to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin (it will sink back down to form a flat surface) then lift out & cut into squares when completely cold.
Dust icing sugar to serve.

5 comments:

greenhoihoi said...

it tasted like made by a pro or brownies u get from the cafe!- for first timer, cannot believe it! a bit too sweet though perhaps if using brown sugar might tune the sweetness down a little. keep it up! how did everyone at home enjoy it?

Little Chef said...

thanks so much for the encouragement! :)

I will keep trying to improve & testing out other Brownie recipes.

Quite "laku" at home I think.. left 1 piece only :p

CY said...

Hey LC

Good looking brownies! Great to see the kids in the kitchen with you!

Little Chef said...

Thanks CY! Will keep the motivation up to try baking cookies / brownies / cakes ;)

Kekeke! The kids love to "help" whenever there is eggs/flour/sugar & anything that can get their hands sticky :p

By the way, that's a sneak view of greenhoihoi's kitchen :)

CY said...

Just to let you know I've tagged you on my blog, so pass it on!