Brownies

After being absent for half a year, which I apologise for, now the dark time of the year comes and cooking and baking is coming back to me. Let me start with fabulous brownies with a decadent chocolate frosting on top.

So here are the ingredients:

• 175 g of brown sugar
• 100 g unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 large eggs
• 75 g of plain flour
• 50 g of cocoa powder
• 1 tsp of baking powder
• 100 g of chocolate chips (I use a mixture of dark and white)
• for the frosting you'll need 120 g of milk or dark chocolate and 100 g of full-fat cream cheese

And how to prepare them:

• line a brownie tin with grease-proof paper
• cream the butter with the brown sugar and stir in one egg after the other
• sift in the flour, cocoa and baking powder and mix
• mix in the chocolate chips with a spatula and spread the mixture evenly in the baking tin
• use your hands (slightly wet) to push the sticky dough into the corners
• bake for 30 mins at 175 degC
• when finished let cool completely
• for the frosting melt the chocolate and let cool to luke warm before mixing with the cream cheese
• spread the mixture evenly over the cake and cut into 16 squares
• refrigerate for at least 1 h before serving

Enjoy! 

Flourless Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies

Yes, you read correctly, chocolate cookies again :-) You can't have enough of chocolate cookie recipes in my opinion! These fabulous little chocolate bombs are flour- and butterless, but they involve lots of sugar and chocolate.

I found the recipe over at Divine Baking. I can assure you, that you don't need a Kitchen Aid for this recipe, but I'd still like to have one... :-)



Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate, cut into rough chunks
• 3 large eggwhites at room temperature
• 2 cups icing sugar
• 3/4 cup of dark cocoa powder (not the sweetened one here!)
• 1 tbs corn starch
• pinch of salt

How to make it:

• mix 3/4 of a cup icing sugar with the cocoa and the corn starch, set aside
• melt 1 cup of the dark chocolate in a bowl and let cool to hand warm afterwards
• beat the egg whites with the salt until soft peaks appear, then, spoon by spoon add 1 cup of icing sugar until you have a proper meringue texture
• now slowly beat in the dry ingredients
• once the dark chocolate is cooled, fold it carefully under the egg mixture, followed by the rest of the chopped chocolate
• this is where I had problems following the original recipe: it says, that the dough stiffens upon addition of the chocolate
• this didn't happen in my case, however, I put the bowl into the fridge for 10 mins and voila, here we are, a proper dough you can roll into balls
• that is exactly what you do, take a tbs of dough and roll it into a ball shape
• now roll it in the remaining icing sugar and cover it thickly 
• place on a baking tray lined with grease-proof paper and bake until the surface is cracked (12-15 mins) at 175 °C
• now make sure the cookies cool completely before transfering them, they will remain soft and are easy to break
• Mine didn't last very long (I took them to work), so I have no idea, how long you can store them.. But that might not be an issue for you as well!

Enjoy :-)

Chicken and Aubergine Curry

Curry Night :-)

One of my favourite curries is this one here. If you want, you can substitute the vegetables with others or change the chicken for lamb.

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast, cut into small chunks
• 1 green pepper, cut into dice
• 1 medium size aubergine, also cut into dice
• 400 ml canned tomato or passata
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 walnut-size piece of ginger, minced
• 1 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
• pepper, salt and chili to taste

And how to make it:

• heat some oil in a pan
• add garlic, ginger and onions, fry until softened, add the cumin 
• add the chicken and brown 
• add the other dry spices and the green pepper
• fry 5 mins, then add the tomato 
• add the aubergine and the bay leaf and cover
• cook for 25-30 mins
• when cooked, season with salt, pepper and chili to taste
• serve with rice and/or naan
• sprinkle with fresh coriander

That's it, quick and easy curry for saturday night!

Late morning breakfast frittata

Hello and yes, I know, it's been awhile...


I started work this month and was busy doing a lot of other stuff, too, so this is the first entry in a month. I promise to get better again :-)

I was out last night and had a fantastic experience in a karaoke bar with two fantastic singer friends. Naturally, I woke up a bit later than the usual this morning and was craving for a hearty but not too heavy breakfast. What could have been better than a frittata!





Ingredients:

• 1 whole egg, 1 eggwhite
• splash of milk
• pinch of baking powder
• half a red pepper, deseeded and cut into thin stripes
• two spring onions, but into small rings
• fresh or dried chili, to taste
• handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered
• handful of grated parmesan cheese
• pepper and salt
• tbsp olive oil
• chopped coriander or any other herb you like

And how to do it:

• heat oven to 150 °C
• in an oven prove pan, heat the olive oil and fry the onions together with the chili and peppers until just soft
• meanwhile prepare a mixture of the eggs, milk and baking powder, season with pepper and salt and mix properly
• pour the egg mixture over the peppers, onions and chilies
• top with the tomatoes and sprinkle with grated cheese
• and now transfer the pan into the oven and bake for 20-30 mins
• when you get it out of the oven, loosen the sides with a rubber spatula and transfer onto a plate
• sprinkle with coriander and serve while still hot

 Enjoy!

Pear and Raspberry Crumble

Hello and a happy sunday!

I have bought some pears last week and they seemed to have ripened overnight. So what to do??? One of my favorite combinations is pears and raspberries, and since I always have some of those sitting in the freezer, I thought a crumble it is. It is also a good opportunity to use up some white chocolate I have had in my storing cupboard since I made these white chocolate cookies.
I can't give exact measurements on this crumble, as I kind of make it just with rough judging.

I still try my best and tell you what I used:

For the crumble mixture:

• 2 tbsp of ground almonds
• 2 tbsp of oats (I used my porridge oats)
• 2 heaped tbsp of flour
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• roughly 100 g cold cubed butter
• pinch of salt

For the fruits:

• 3 ripe but not over pears
• a large handful of frozen raspberries
• 20 g grated white chocolate
• 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• optional: 1 tbsp caster sugar

And how to make it:

• first heat the oven to 175 °C (no fan)
• then make the crumble mixture: mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl together
• then, with you hands, rub the diced cold butter in there until you get a crumbly texture
• if too dry, add more butter, if too wet, add more flour
• then onto the fruit: peel and core the pears and cut into small pieces
• in a bowl mix with the lemon juice and the flour
• if your pears are rather sour, you can add some sugar here, I prefer however not to do that
• fill your pear mixture into the bottom of an oven proof dish
• top with a layer of frozen raspberries, then sprinkle with white chocolate (any chocolate will do)
• now evenly distribute your crumble mix, make sure to cover the fruit to the rim of the dish
• put in the oven and bake for 45 mins or until the top is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling
• and now serve up straight from the oven
• add some cream, ice cream, or vanilla sauce

I have mine pure as it is and I have to hold back not to finish the whole dish at once :-)

Have a lovely week everybody!