Ultimate Original Chocolate Brownies

When I was at school, Chocolate Brownies became my 'thing' they were always present at the birthdays of my close friends, always requested, and then always always just expected to be there on their day, even on MY birthday, I was expected to make them for everyone
to share. (the sheer cheek of it!)

So I thought this was an appropriate recipe to start blogging with, as it very much is associated with me amongst my friends, yes and I do love them dearly, and I love making brownies, it wasn't all peer pressure.

Here it is, I much prefer hand written recipes so I'll include this, trying to give my blog a more homely touch, this recipe is pretty much 4 steps, 6 ingredients, simplicity is all that is needed.

Always bare in mind, you are making something with such delicious ingredients,
it's pretty hard to have an outcome that is not tastey even if you are not
happy with the look or texture, serve it up with icecream still warm and you
can't lose. Keep mindful of this, and you will be a happy baker!

Okay, now please enjoy these rather beautiful artisan-esque photos taken by a dear friend I'll call H,
who was being snap happy, as she is so talented at being, some time last year
when I was cheerily obliging to making brownies at her request.

The photos show, (right to left top row, right to left bottom row) chocolate
butter mix after melting, egg/sugar mix after whisking, (I did it with a hand
whisk here, hard work, takes a good 5 mins) adding the two together, adding the
flour/cocoa mix x2 and finally the mix sat in the baking tin.

Please enjoy, devour, share, eat warm wish lashings of cream or icecream, or leave to set and cool and chop up for gifts and celebrations, or just for sharing when someone looks in need of a Brownie!

Nifty Gift

I like to put lots of thought into presents, I like to get excited in a girly, fairy-god-motheresque kind of way. So last Sunday morning spent baking presents, wearing pj bottoms and a nice soft jumper, was as good as any morning is going to get for me.
I just made some basic cupcakes, I've tried a few recipes and decided . I hollowed out the middle with a gimmick product 'cupcake corer' which turned out to do the job quite nicely, and filled the middles with lemon curd and strawberry jam for extra delicousness. I was asked if these came from the Hummingbird Bakery so I suppose I can call that a job well done?! Topped them with butter-cream and put them in a pretty little cake box, this one I found in Morrisons if anyone is looking for some!

Also, great tip I picked up from The Great British Bake Off Masterclass, put cold butter in a jug with warm water and leave for a minute to soften, then drain and you have perfect, baking-ready butter instead!

Always invest in good jams and curd of not making your own(I shall be doing that soon!), they taste so much better, I think anyway. Plus the labels are prettier.

Basic vanilla cupcakes with extra filling and butter-cream: This makes 6-8 cupcakes, I use a muffin tray.

115g soft unsalted butter
115g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
115g self raising flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp glycerin
Lemon curd
Strawberry jam (or any chosen fillings!)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C, line your tray with pretty cupcake cases. Whisk the butter and sugar together with an electric whisk, when pale and fluffy add the egg a spoonful at a time with a spoonful of flour too, this stops it from curdling. Next sift in the rest of the flour into the mix, and the baking powder, then mix in the milk, glycerin and vanilla.  Spoon into cases and cook for about 15 mins, or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Once cool,  cut off any uneven parts of the cupcake, so you have a flat surface to ice onto (eat these bits!) use the cupcake corer, twist it in until about a 3rd deep, then twist back up again, be gentle and it will work. Then fill with chosen super tasty treats.

For the butter cream:

250g unsalted butter
250g sifted icing sugar
1-2 tbsp of chosen flavor, i used 2 tbsp of lemon juice, and 1 tbsp of strawberry jam after splitting the mix. Then, just a dot of food coloring.

Cream the soft butter and sugar together with the liquid. Then either pipe or spread into mounds on the cupcakes. Top with a little extra decor if you like.

I love making birthday cards too, as you can see, they don't need to take hours of labor,  and can be simple designs done whilst watching Sunday Brunch. I used a water soluble pen to write with, and then added shadows with a fine paint brush dabbed with water.

The yellow have grated lemon zest atop, and sliced strawberries on the pink ones. A heavy dusting of icing sugar for finishing makes the butter-cream dry to the touch.

How happy to these little beauties make you? Pro-looking cakes, affordable and simple, to make a perfect gift!

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Chocolate Black Pudding

I watched a version of this Italian pudding being made earlier in the week, when working as a bit of a wing-man at the cooking demonstration. So I owe it to L for introducing me to the idea, this recipe however, I improvised, and it was decided it was more like black pudding in looks than Salami as it is usually called.

It is still very fitting with my super quick dinner theme of tonight, and tastes oooohhh so good! Really, you can't go wrong.

Ingredients

200g Dark Chocolate
200ml double cream
250g digestive biscuits, crushed
2 Crunchie bars
handful of Pecans
anything else you fancy, I wanted to put in glace cherries, but not all of my family would have agreed! But personally I feel it would benefit even more from something chewy.

Method

Melt your chocolate, stir in the cream, tip in the dry ingredients, mixy mixy, then tip first onto grease-proof paper and wrap up into a sausage shape, then cover in tin foil. March it to the freezer and leave it for a couple of hours, take it out 20 mins before serving like you would with ice-cream, dust with icing sugar and slice up into little black puddings. Looks a treat, tastes a treat, couldn't be more simple to make! Would be great to make with whatever was in the cupboard and leave in the freezer for an emergency pudding. For something really sweet you could put popping candy in or on top before serving...wished I had had some lying around!

Anyway, enjoy!

Chocolate Mousse and Orange Shortbread Hearts

To put it most simply, this dessert received an almost record number of 'mmmmmmmmmmm's from everyone, prepared ahead of time, effortless to both make and serve, and tastes just so...mmmmm.
This is perfect for when you are having guests over. I am a believer in getting the best tastes in the simplest ways, after all, we are busy people, things to do, people to see, baking needs to be efficient , and as much as I love endless hours in the kitchen (and I really really do!) you don't always have the time. This is a good effective bake, needs very little washing up through minimal bowl usage, and so it really isn't daunting in the slightest.

Ingredients for the Mousse
200g good quality dark chocolate
4 large free range eggs, separated
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Whipped vanilla cream to serve (add vanilla seeds to double cream and whip to make your own)

Method

Melt the chocolate gently, and in a separate bowl whisk the egg whites into soft peaks, add the sugar, and continue to whip into stiff peaks whilst waiting for the chocolate. Next, remove the chocolate from the heat and stir in the egg yolks one at a time, at first it looks like it will seize, but it doesn't, have faith. Add a spoonful of the egg whites to the chocolate, and fold gently with a metal spoon, this will help to soften the mixture, then add the rest of the egg whites in 3 batches, again folding gently so not to remove the air. Spoon the mixture into your chosen vessel and place in the fridge to set for at least an hour. Top with the cream and prepare to serve!

Happy little pudding lovers! Ben has a spot on his nose to match his jumper...

It was hard to keep Alice's pudding still to take a picture, I ate mine too quickly so had to borrow hers to show you the mousse...

Yep, this was the only state that I could photograph my own pudding in!

Ingredients for the Shortbread

125g caster sugar
225g unsalted butter
300g plain flour
50g ground rice
The zest of 6 satsumas, or 3 oranges, think generous here, you want lots of lovely flavour.

Method
Cream together the butter and sugar, then tip in the flour and ground rice, rub with your fingertips like you are making a crumble, so that it becomes very well mixed. Then, combine the breadcrumbs and kneed gently to form a good pliable but stiff dough. Either roll and shape, or push into your moulds.  It is best here to chill for half an hour, but if you impatient like me you will survive if you put it straight in the oven.

Bake at 180 degrees C for about 15 minutes. If you can, get the shortbread out the oven whilst it has barely  any colouring, they will still feel quite soft, but this is the best way to get a nice crumbly biscuit with just enough of a bite.  Transfer to a cooling rack once you can push them out of the moulds, and dust liberally with caster sugar. They keep well in an airtight container, but ours never make it to needing to keep...

I loooove silicone moulds now, I am officially a total convert! Lakeland, you are a haven!

Enjoy everyone.