Brown celebration (rich dark ...and gooey)
We will all grow old. Even me. If you want to age graciously like me you gotta have a hobby. Well mines cooking. There I said it. Those of you who plan to vist our res and are now put off are not welcome anyway. We will send samples to your place. If something gorteseque is to happen to you we would rather it happens at your quarters. We might possibly hand deliver them too. Please do not be surprised if we come with our camera though. The entire 'guinea pig' expt thingy needs to be recorded for the sake of scientific record; and perhaps as proof for all you sceptics out there. If you survive we promise to sample our own produce.
Today (16 Aug 06) is Janmashtami and while the rest of the folks are out there toiling in their workspace the authorites that govern us decided it would be nice to unleash one of the 10 off days on us. So the cooking fetish really helps on days like this. Once decided that we will grace the kitchen with our presence, the next desicion is what. Like everything we do, the need for delegating certain transactional tasks is mandatory. For this may we present our able assistant (AA) Mom. Conversation between moi and AA:
Moi: "The need to express myself is felt today"
AA: "Get out of the kitchen please"
Moi (ignoring the comment from AA): "Whats in the fridge?"; proceeding to the fridge: "nuthin? where is all the pasta and cheese I had bought?"
AA: "Which year was that my dear, we have several vintages available" in the same breadth: "go do your laundry instead please. There are a dozen shirts that need your attention"
Moi: "Its a festival aint it? lets make something sweet. Brownies it is!! where is the cooking chocolate?"
AA: "Finished. You ate it all. + no eggs at home too" a fall out from the bird flue thing this situation.
Moi: "I shall fetch from the mkt place. Where is my phone?"
AA: "No phone please!! Go to the mkt, and good riddance"
Moi: "I shall return, meanwhile have everything (hand blender, mixing bowl, ingredients, baking bowl) ready for me. Sheesh aaj kal ke assistants"
For those of you who might want to ape me:
Ingredients (makes about 8 1.5" X 1.5" brownies):
100 gms butter
100 gms flour (maida)
100 - 120 gms cooking chocolate
100 gms finely powdered sugar
2 eggs
pinch of salt
tea spoon of baking soda
Optionals:
Marie biscuits
walnuts and any other nuts (about a small fist full)
Method:
Melt the butter and chocolate. Best that you do a double boil (i.e. the bowl with the butter and choc to be kept in a shallow bowl filled with water; duh do not let the water in the butter and choc bowl). If using the micro the melt will be achieved in about 3 mins at 100% microwave cooking. If melting on a fire please SUPERVISE till semi liquid.
Break the eggs into a deep bowl (do not put in without breaking please and do not put the shells in). Beat till nice and fluffy. Add the sugar and salt and beat more till well blended. Once happy (a necessary feeling while cooking) with the feel of this add the semi melted choc-butter mix and continue to blend till you have a rich thick creamy looking dark brown mix in front of you.
**Tip: good idea to heat the blender blade / fork in hot water slightly to avoid ingredients sticking to the surface (contributed by AA).
Sift the flour and baking powder through a mesh and slowly add to the dark brown mix. Best that you do not use the blender, but rather a large wooden spatula. Introduce the flour-baking soda mix slowly. If your planning to add nuts, layer them with some dry flour to avoid sinking to the bottom (again AA's insite this). Once done your ready to pour into your baking bowl. Suggest you line the bottom of your baking bowl with some butter paper. Ideally choose a square / rectangular baking dish (should be at least 1.5 to 2 inches deep).
Preheat the oven to 180 - 190 degrees celcius. Once preheated put the baking bowl in and bake at this temp for between 18 to 28 mins (depending on how good the insulation in your oven is). If using micro please use the convection setting (means it dosent use the microwaves). If your micro dosent have convection trash it and buy one that has this usefull feature (or alternately consult your trusty manual for cooking time; am guessing it will be much lower if you use the micro / cake setting).
Ladies and gents may I present your brownies.
Take em out and keep for a couple of hours.
Take a bow and leave the kitchen. Get AA to tend to the mess.
btw the photo is the real thing made by moi (with a small contribution from AA). Bulk orders will be taken. INR 20/- per brownie. INR 500/- shipping
Today (16 Aug 06) is Janmashtami and while the rest of the folks are out there toiling in their workspace the authorites that govern us decided it would be nice to unleash one of the 10 off days on us. So the cooking fetish really helps on days like this. Once decided that we will grace the kitchen with our presence, the next desicion is what. Like everything we do, the need for delegating certain transactional tasks is mandatory. For this may we present our able assistant (AA) Mom. Conversation between moi and AA:
Moi: "The need to express myself is felt today"
AA: "Get out of the kitchen please"
Moi (ignoring the comment from AA): "Whats in the fridge?"; proceeding to the fridge: "nuthin? where is all the pasta and cheese I had bought?"
AA: "Which year was that my dear, we have several vintages available" in the same breadth: "go do your laundry instead please. There are a dozen shirts that need your attention"
Moi: "Its a festival aint it? lets make something sweet. Brownies it is!! where is the cooking chocolate?"
AA: "Finished. You ate it all. + no eggs at home too" a fall out from the bird flue thing this situation.
Moi: "I shall fetch from the mkt place. Where is my phone?"
AA: "No phone please!! Go to the mkt, and good riddance"
Moi: "I shall return, meanwhile have everything (hand blender, mixing bowl, ingredients, baking bowl) ready for me. Sheesh aaj kal ke assistants"
For those of you who might want to ape me:
Ingredients (makes about 8 1.5" X 1.5" brownies):
100 gms butter
100 gms flour (maida)
100 - 120 gms cooking chocolate
100 gms finely powdered sugar
2 eggs
pinch of salt
tea spoon of baking soda
Optionals:
Marie biscuits
walnuts and any other nuts (about a small fist full)
Method:
Melt the butter and chocolate. Best that you do a double boil (i.e. the bowl with the butter and choc to be kept in a shallow bowl filled with water; duh do not let the water in the butter and choc bowl). If using the micro the melt will be achieved in about 3 mins at 100% microwave cooking. If melting on a fire please SUPERVISE till semi liquid.
Break the eggs into a deep bowl (do not put in without breaking please and do not put the shells in). Beat till nice and fluffy. Add the sugar and salt and beat more till well blended. Once happy (a necessary feeling while cooking) with the feel of this add the semi melted choc-butter mix and continue to blend till you have a rich thick creamy looking dark brown mix in front of you.
**Tip: good idea to heat the blender blade / fork in hot water slightly to avoid ingredients sticking to the surface (contributed by AA).
Sift the flour and baking powder through a mesh and slowly add to the dark brown mix. Best that you do not use the blender, but rather a large wooden spatula. Introduce the flour-baking soda mix slowly. If your planning to add nuts, layer them with some dry flour to avoid sinking to the bottom (again AA's insite this). Once done your ready to pour into your baking bowl. Suggest you line the bottom of your baking bowl with some butter paper. Ideally choose a square / rectangular baking dish (should be at least 1.5 to 2 inches deep).
Preheat the oven to 180 - 190 degrees celcius. Once preheated put the baking bowl in and bake at this temp for between 18 to 28 mins (depending on how good the insulation in your oven is). If using micro please use the convection setting (means it dosent use the microwaves). If your micro dosent have convection trash it and buy one that has this usefull feature (or alternately consult your trusty manual for cooking time; am guessing it will be much lower if you use the micro / cake setting).
Ladies and gents may I present your brownies.
Take em out and keep for a couple of hours.
Take a bow and leave the kitchen. Get AA to tend to the mess.
btw the photo is the real thing made by moi (with a small contribution from AA). Bulk orders will be taken. INR 20/- per brownie. INR 500/- shipping
penned by Sanjay at 7:04 PM
1 Comments:
of all the days to put this up - started my GM diet today. aaarghhh!
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