Sunday, July 25, 2010

Some Gorgeousness...

 Here's some gorgeousness for ya.

(Not) my first baking book, but I want to say my first proper baking book as my previous baking books were those thin, magazine-like books with titles like 'Quickest Muffins.'  And such books were purchased as a college student from the 'sale' pile of Whitcoulls and my baking only lasted a couple of months before my short attention span moved on to another avenue of interest.  So here it is.  From Women's Weekly - "Classic Cakes."  I actually bought this last Christmas.  It was a Christmas prezzie to myself.  Tee hee~


I may be breaking the foodie blog law by posting this because I have not baked anything from this book yet.  I have been gushing over all the beautiful pictures though and have been dreaming about baking some of these gorgeousness into life.

Another law that I may be breaking is that I am having a baked goods diet (Gasp!).  I know.  How contradicting is my life?  I'm a rebel.  :P  But this is only for a little while for various reasons.  I'll still be cooking stuff though so I won't be taking a break from blogging.

If I may, let me end with a proud baker's moment I had at a doctor's office, recently.  I was waiting in the waiting lounge(?) flicking through Women's Weekly and found this bread pudding recipe that looked just so amazing to pass up.  I thought about asking the receptionist if I could rip out the page but chickened out and decided to write the recipe onto my scheduling diary instead.  Ha!  Yes, I sat there scribbling away the recipe and I felt so proud of myself!  The funny thing is that I've never had bread pudding before in my life and I don't even know if I like the stuff.  But the recipe looked way too good with bananas and milk and raisins and ahhhhhhh.... You get the picture.  :) 
Anyway.  Happy baking wherever you are.  :)

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Tollhouse Brownies

I knew that if I made a batch of brownies, that I would probably eat the entire batch on my own..not that I do not enjoy sharing but because I've been that brownie-hungry.  I had been restraining myself from baking brownies because I was worried about my expanding waist line (they are worse in the winter!  have you noticed?) but in the end I gave in.

I read up on 'brownies' and apparently there are three types of brownies in general.  The fudgy kind, the cake-y kind, and the chewy kind.  I vote for the chewy kind - always.  And that is what I got.  Crispy top and the chewy, chewy middle....
ahhhhh.......the joy............

The Tollhouse Brownies
  • 1 2/3 C granulated sugar
  • 3/4C cocoa powder (I used a brand called Sun Valley - these have worked really well in all my brownies and other bakings)
  • 3/4C butter (170g)
  • 2 Tbsp strong coffee or water (I made very strong coffee with instant coffee)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tsps vanilla extract
  • 1 1/3 C all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 ts salt
  • 3/4 C chopped walnuts
  • 1/4C chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate bar (I used Nestle dark choc bits..they were awesome! I also added more than what's asked)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 degrees C).  Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Combine butter and cocoa powder in a small bowl, and place over a pot of simmering water.  Ensure that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl.  Add the coffee or water and stir to melt the ingredients.

In a medium sized bowl whisk together the eggs and the sugar.  Add the vanilla.  When the butter and chocolate have melted and come together, slowly stir the chocolate mixture into the sugar mixture.  (Have the chocolate mixture cool down a bit before you do this so the eggs don't cook when you mix  them together)

Add the flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.  Stir this into the chocolate and egg mixture and combine.  Fold in the nuts, saving a handful to sprinkle on top.

Pour the batter into the pan, sprinkle chocolate chips or chocolate chunks and walnuts.  Bake for 18-25 minutes depending on your oven.  Remove from the oven and let it cool down before cutting it into bars.