December 13, 2012

Baking | Wholewheat Dark Chocolate Brownies … one bowl, whole grain, and delicious

“May your life be filled, as mine has been, with love and laughter; and remember, when things are rough all you need is … Chocolate.”
Geraldine Solon

Wholewheat Double Chocolate Brownies Wholewheat Dark Chocolate Brownies … deep, dark, decadent, indulgent. These days I’m driven by a strange bug, the whole grain bug. Experimenting rules the roost, the more whole grain, the better! It’s a fight to the finish … HUNGRY TEENS, final exams and the need for food, or rather, the constant need for food!
The last few days of December slip through the fingers helplessly. I try to hang on to the year but obviously am fighting a losing battle. Time to march on the greener avenues, look forward to 2013 … and enjoy the remainder of 2012!

The junior teen and his friends discuss the Mayan end of the year on December 21, 2012. I look at him disdainfully! For heavens sake … what must be, must be! Who are we to figure out when the world will end? There must be better things to think about. Chocolate is one of them! Chocolate just makes everything better!

Plenty better stuff to think about – More whole grains everyday. Making food yummy. Experimenting. Butter is good! I make it at home too, sweet white butter from scratch!
I made 2 batches of thees whole wheat brownies for the ‘German Mela‘ last week, a fundraiser to help my sweet friend Mukta. I made some Christmas sugar cookies too. Then I made yet another batch of these brownies yesterday for the hungry kids … they’re almost gone {the brownies I mean …LOL} . Did I tell you the wholewheat dark chocolate brownies are good, really good?

Recipe: Wholewheat Dark Chocolate Brownies

Summary: Decadent wholewheat dark chocolate brownies just right for the season of indulgence. Wholewheat makes these less ‘guilt-ridden’, and some olive oil instead of butter convinces you to reach for more. Add some walnuts if you like!

Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:

65g unsalted butter, room temperature
35g light olive oil
100g dark chocolate
100g raw sugar
3 small eggs {or 2 large}
1tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
75g wholewheat flour {aata}
50g dark chocolate chips { and / or chopped nuts}

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a square 8 X 8″ baking tin with parchment paper.
Place the butter, oil and chocolate in a bowl and microwave for 1 minute {or simmer over a double boiler}. Whisk well until the chocolate has blended with the butter and oil.
Add the sugar and whisk well.
Add the eggs and whisk again, followed by the vanilla extract, then baking powder and salt.
Now whisk in the wholewheat flour, and fold in the dark chocolate chips and /or nuts if using.
Turn batter into prepared tin and bake for 18-20 minutes.
Cool in tin, then remove gently and cut into squares.

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

October 22, 2012

Baking | One-bowl Milk Chocolate Brownies ….. with a little food for thought!

“She doesn’t want to fight. She’d rather write poetry, make brownies, drink herbal tea and watch the clouds roll by. None of the dragons she knows breathes fire, so she doesn’t, either.”
Christina Day

Milk chocolate brownies! I have never considered baking with milk chocolate, never turned to the Google Gods for milk chocolate recipes. It’s just something that isn’t me. In my mind, maybe for some silly reason, milk chocolate is sweet & un-chocolaty, and good for young kids alone! A through and through dark chocolate {read bitter dark} person, I often steer clear of white chocolate as well! Yet, the recipe caught my eye while leafing through Kathleen Kings fresh new baking book ‘Baking for Friends‘ {more about the book on the Chocolate-Pear Tea Cake}. It was reassuring to read I am not alone in my dark chocolate leanings. Kathleen writes, “You can probably tell from my recipes that I’m a dark chocolate fan. I don’t bake with milk chocolate often, but each time I do, I am pleasantly surprised how delicious it is.” I don’t sport much of a sweet tooth but a little nibble confirmed the chocolaty goodness. The kids loved them … fudgy, chocolaty, moist milk chocolate brownies! The past few days have been T I R I N G ! Playing chauffeur to the kids is tiring. Out at day break day before at some unearthly hour to pick up the daughter who had slept over at a friends’ after a late Enrique concert. Back home, daily chores, drove her to art class, then dropped junior for a Dussehra mela {festive fair}. Out again past 9pm to first pick up junior & his friend, then pick up the daughter, drop friend home … just as well that I enjoy driving! Every days seems the same ….

All this while the hub is in HKG for almost a month so my work seems cut out for me. What keeps me going? Much!! The cocker who flings herself at me every morning like she hasn’t seen me in years, that she melts into submission at meal times, ears ‘clipped‘ back and ready to do anything for food {a home cooked meal!}, that she can chew on a blade of dried lemon grass for hours and enjoy it so much!

… that 3 times this week a butterfly has bounced off the windscreen while I was driving, that the ever charming junior hasn’t got into a spot of trouble at school for one whole week {yes, an achievement}, that the senior teen made stunning lantern invites for the drama fest at school…{began from plain white rolls of paper and made 30 of these; never mind that she spray painted the house in the bargain},

… that butterflies are all over the garden, that my lime tree of many years has finally bloomed a single bud, that the tangerine shrub is laden with fruit, that 3 cherry tomato plants are growing strong, the Thai chili plant is prospering, that I have finally begun walking almost every morning finally thanks to inspiration from friends… … that every time I sit down to be with junior teen in front of the telly, he thinks it’s to watch Julie & Julia. Runs it for me for the 100th time, then keeps checking me out to see if I am enjoying it. He’s also trying really HARD to stop biting his nails as I have asked for ‘un-bitten nails‘ as a birthday present next month! … I am touched that a reader of my blog mailed me passion fruit all the way from South India. The rustic appeal and colour made my heart skip a beat! Thank you Twinsey Rachel. I am humbled that you still remembered our conversation of over 2 years ago! Reading snippets from updates on the moving sidebar on facebook I am beginning to count the blessing. Simplify life is the call!

It’s the little things that matter and I’m striving to make each day better! I am honoured to be part of a curry testing project with Alex from Denmark, and another that is based in the US. Both involve what I love most – food! That the blog is being fed a little more regularly is also a happy feeling!

Milk Chocolate Brownies, Baking for Friends, Kathleen King I am ever grateful that the good folk at Tate’s Bake Shop considered it worthwhile to mail me a copy of Kathleen Kings new baking book, Baking for Friends, even though I live halfway across the globe! I reviewed it on the Chocolate-Pear Tea Bread, and now it’s time to share some more goodness. Seems to be chocolate all the way, and this time was a surprise – Milk Chocolate Brownies!!

Recipe: Milk chocolate brownies {one bowl}

your picture

Summary: You got to believe in the deliciousness of milk chocolate when you nibble these fudgy, chocolaty, moist milk chocolate brownies! Adapted very minimally from Baking for Friends, Kathleen King.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

100g / 1/2 cup unsalted butter, soft
250g / 9oz milk chocolate, finely chopped
90g / scant 1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1tsp pure vanilla extract
90g / 3/4 cup plain flour
10g / 1 tbsp cocoa powder
pinch salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a 9″ square tin with parchment.
Melt butter gently in a microwave safe bowl {or in a saucepan over low heat}, add the finely chopped chocolate and let it stand for a minute. Stir well, then leave to cool slightly.
Add the sugar, eggs and vanilla and whisk briskly until mixed well. Add the flour, cocoa and salt and stir until smooth. Spread evenly into prepared tin.
Bake for about 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with moist crumbs. Leave tin on cooling rack to cool completely.
Remove gently from pan and cut into 16 squares.

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

October 2, 2012

Baking | One bowl cocoa wholewheat almond brownies … Alice Medrich {#urbandazzle}

“I am endlessly inspired and challenged by ingredients and flavors; the craft involved both in bringing them together and writing about the process.”
Alice Medrich

Cocoa Wholewheat Almond Brownies are a sweet opening to October, plated on the new Diwali/festival gift collection from Urban Dazzle. Baked out of desperation since I had no good quality baking chocolate on hand, the wholewheat brownies were ~~good~~ unbelievably good!! They are adapted from a recipe by Alice Medrich – author, dessert chef, chocolatier.Alice Medrich is an iconic baker who changed the way we looked at food, desserts, chocolate and baking of course. She’s written a series of cookbooks, the latest one Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts. Of the 9, Bittersweet and Pure Dessert are two of my favourites. Food weaves a magical pattern. I baked an adaptation of her Orange & Olive Oil Cake in 2008. Some time later I made delicious Dark Chocolate, Walnut & Craisin Scones from a recipe @ David Lebovitz , another hugely talented cookbook author, dessert maker, ice cream man, story teller. Turned out that recipe was an Alice inspired one too.In late 2008, me, a very timid and shaky food blogger in far off North India, virtually met Alice via the Daring Bakers Caramel Cake with Caramelised Butter Frosting. Her Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels was an optional part of the challenge. Those caramels didn’t happen as we were just back from a trip to Sydney where the daughter fell ill with jaundice, was hospitalised …. and what not! Yet, it was another intriguing window into the creative world of Alice Medrich.Did I just forget to mention the Pebbly Beach Fruit Square cookies pictured above? Adapted from her cookbook “Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy: Melt-In-Your-Mouth-Cookies”, these are typical Alice style. Classic, comforting and high on taste. The fruit squares recipe is highly adaptable.

Buono Decoration Plate Silver

So when I craved baking brownies and googled for a cocoa version, one of the first matches was a Medrich recipe. There was no looking further. I experimented with substitutions mainly because of the high-ish butter content. Using just whole wheat flour and almond meal instead of plain flour, they turned out to be brownie heaven – deep, dark, chewy, moist! Importantly, one bowl cocoa wholewheat almond brownies; hand whisked and with minimal clean up! The bell rang while the brownies were cooling off, and it was the new festive Diwali range of products from Urban Dazzle. Seemed like an early Christmas as I got a staggering array of their recently launched festive ware which includes stunning stoneware, ceramics, porcelain and much more.Stoneware is right up my street and the colours and texture hold instant appeal, the quality excellent too! The soothing blue stoneware platter above with a Mediterranean appeal; and cups, mugs, soup bowls all in pretty colours, stuff you can mix and match. The good thing is the almost inexhaustive choice. You feel like grabbing it all. And that’s the good part! If you love it, others will to.Urban Dazzle is quite a dynamic online option. An e-venture based in New Delhi, they are constantly adding aesthetic, stylish and reasonable kitchen accessories and home decor items. With Diwali around the corner, they promise to take some burden of gifting off your shoulders… though the extensive range promises to overwhelm you with what to choose & what not!You might like these stunning glasses, or a banquet footed platter, chic Borgonovo bottles, pot bellied jugs and carafes … the variety is endless!A while ago someone inquired about these white ribbed fruit plates that I recently used for the Empanada Gallegas. I got mine all the way from Sydney two years ago. Imagine my surprise when I saw them on Urban Dazzle a few days ago! Raise a toast, browse the topsellers, … or then just hit the ‘Sweet Spot’!

Recipe: One bowl Cocoa Wholewheat Almond Brownies

Summary: Single bowl cocoa brownies. Dark, deep, chewy, moist, chocolaty … and made with whole grain. Makes 16-20 squares. Recipe adapted from Alice Medrich.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

140g unsalted butter, room temperature
80g cocoa powder {3/4cup}
110g raw sugar {1 cup}
2 eggs
30g wholewheat flour {1/4 cup}
25g almond meal {1/4 cup}
1tsp baking powder
pinch salt
100g dark chocolate chips

Method:

In a large heat proof bowl, melt the butter, cocoa and sugar in a microwave for 1 minute. Whisk well until smooth.
Whisk in the eggs firmly one by one.
Whisk in the flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt and then whisk briskly for about 1 minute until the mixture becomes smooth and glossy.
Fold in the chocolate chips and pour batter into prepared tin
Bake at 180C for about 25 minutes.
Cool for about 20-30 minutes before slicing {if you like them warm}, else cool, chill and then slice.

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India