Tuesday 23 December 2008

Flat, baked, square or ...

..sliced from a type of dense, rich chocolate cake.Brownies come in a variety of forms. They are either fudgy or cakey, depending on their density, and they may include nuts, frosting, cream cheese, chocolate chips, or other ingredients. A variation that is made with brown sugar and no chocolate is called a blondie.

Thats the Wikipedia definition for a brownie.


Been on a brownie marathon baking marathon today, so much so that I have yet to start my packing, when its 10:41 PM and there's a flight at 8 AM tomorrow to saddi dilli! (Blogging a bit later would be a good idea, right now!)

With X'mas celebrated by the family (in-laws), there's always an exchange of gifts, and you guessed it, this year I intend giving all brownies.

Took the day off today to bake!! Haha!! With ingredients such as nougat & chocolate chips not available at regular stores, a trip to Arife La Moulde (opp. Shoppers stop, Bandra (W)) was mandatory. A visit to such shops is always leaves me confused; I end up buying a lot of junk as well. Like the last time I ended up with coloured decorative sprinkles, and this time it was ginger bread man (& woman) cookie cutters.

Fudgy chocolate chip brownies (makes about 16)

Ingredients:

Buttter - 100 gms
Chocolate - 100 gms
Eggs - 3
Castor sugar - 300 gms
Flour - 150 gms
Chocolate chips - 75 gms

Method:
- Preheat oven to 180° celcius
- Grease and line a 9” square tin
- Melt butter and chocolate together, personally I prefer using the microwave over the double boiler, but remember turn down the power of the microwave to about 60% if the wattage is over 1000.
- Whisk eggs and castor sugar
- Add chocolate mixture
- Add in flour and chocolate chips
- Pour into tin and bake for 35-40 minutes

Ideally, one is supposed to bake brownies only 90%, eggophobic me refuses to comply with any such instruction (it’s a miracle I manage to bake anything with 3 eggs – but omelets I love!)

Blonde brownies (makes about 32)

Ingredients:

Flour – 500 gms
Baking powder – 2 ½ tsp
Butter – 150 gms
Brown sugar – 500 gms
Eggs – 3
Chocolate chips – 125 gms
Walnuts – 200 gms
Nougat chips – 50 gms


Method:
- Preheat oven to 180° celcius
- Grease and line a square tin
- Mix the chips and walnuts
- Sift baking powder, flour and add ¾ the above mixture
- Cream butter with brown sugar, add in eggs
- Add in the flour mixture, at this point you might need to mix it all with your hands as it forms a dense dough like texture
- Press into the tin and bake for 25-30 minutes

Have a look - I’ve yet to pack the them; well first I start with mine own then pack the brownies!

Merry Xmas!

















4 comments:

Chaitali Patel said...

I need to learn baking from you. Have a great trip and Merry X'mas in advance. :)

Deeba PAB said...

How nice to be so adventurous & make both blondies & brownies! I'm so envious that you have such nice shops in Mumbai where you can pick up chocolate chips etc. What company chocolate chips are they? I'm glad you enjoy baking so much. Have a wonderful holiday season, & best wishes for a new year filled with warmth, joy & happiness for you & your family!

SS said...

Thanks for the wishes Deeba! My wishes to you and your family for the new year!

I lived in Gurgaon too, 2 years ago, where there I had no success in finding any of these ingredients!

These chocolate chips are unbranded, but they've worked well so far.

SS said...

Hey Chaits! Please do come over, we can all meet up and bake! It'll be fun!

Here's wishing you and Abhi a very happy new year!