Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Do you ever have this dilemma?  You bake something amazing.  People compliment.  (Big sheepish but proud smiles for that!)  And then people creep up to you and ask for the recipe.  I'm gonna be super honest here because apparently that is the best policy.  I deliberate whether to give out that recipe or to keep it to myself.  Do you think I'm being selfish?  But shouldn't I be able to keep some recipes so that I (I!) can be the special person who brings joy to people with my bakings?  What do y'all think?

Anyhoo....
I made these.  I love these.  I love strawberries.  Strawberries are like those rare breeds:  gorgeous to look at and equally gorgeous on the inside.

Here's what I did:
(I used milk chocolate but I do prefer them with white or dark chocolate.)  I melted the chocolate over simmering water and dipped the strawberries.  Then I put the chocolate dipped strawberries on pans lined with cooking paper and put'em in the refrigerator until the chocolates hardened.  And voila~!  You have the best looking, best tasting snack in the world.  Big smiles. 

Question:  Anyone know the solution to the bottom of the pan chocolates?  They either hardened up quickly or have cooked but they refused to be melted when I reheated them.  So my last few strawberries got lumpy chocolates.

Wicked Chocolate Brownies

Hello.  How have you been?
I'm great.  A bit busy but fantastic.  You know why I'm great?  I have two weeks until my summer vacation starts.  Oh~ Yeah~~~~ :)  If I may, I do have a grumble, though.  The weather is totally playing mind games with me.  It's like summer is playing babyish peek-a-boo, ya know?  I'm over it.  But what can I do?  I can't force it out of its peek-a-boo state.  I just have to be patient and let it come when it's ready.  But I know when it does come, it's going to be fantastic. 

I've realised that I talk about weather a lot here.  They say, that one of the best small talk topics is weather.  Small talk = Convo with strangers.  I'm trying to think how I can get past being acquaintances with you so we can get past the small talk phase.  It'll come.  I'm sure.  :)

In the meantime, I've got a recipe for ya. 

As novice baker, I try to follow the footsteps of the greats.  There are a few (as you've noticed) that I totally look up to in the baker's blog world.  And there's something that I've noticed about these bakers.  It is that they get their amazing recipes from almost anywhere including....food packets.  It is not the 'where' that counts but the final product, right?  So...that's what I did.  There was a chocolate brownie recipe that I've noticed on the packet of Champion Flour and I decided to try it out.

Apologies for the shaky photos.

I seem to have shaky hands these days.  

I'm wondering if I'm lacking in certain nutrition.  Hmmm...

 

This recipe is chock-full of cocoa and sugar (dang, it had a lot of sugar!) and I absolutely loved the texture of it.  A bit of moist and gooey with a crispy top...my kinda brownie, baby~ 

Enjoy.  :)

Wicked Chocolate Brownies

From Champion Flour packet

•  200g room temp butter, softened (I used unsalted.  Packet didn't specify)
• 1 1/2C sugar
• 1C cocoa
• 3 eggs - room temp
  
• 1/2C standard flour (I sifted)
  
• 150g roughly chopped white chocolate or 3/4 C roughly chopped walnuts (I used 3/4C of chopped macadamia nuts because it is what I had.  It was awesome but I would definitely add the chocolate next time)
  
• Icing sugar to dust

1.  Preheat oven 150 degrees C (about 302 degrees F) and grease a 20cm (about 8 inches) baking tin/pan.
2. With an electric mixer on high speed beat butter, sugar and cocoa for 4-5 minutes until creamy.  (The batter will be super crumbly but it'll come together)
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Stir in flour and chocolate (or nuts) and transfer mixture to greased baking tin.
5. Bake for 1 hour or until the surface of the brownie appears cracked.  The centre should appear almost uncooked.
6. Cool in the tin and cut into squares.
7. Dust with icing sugar before serving.