Chocolate Brownie

A Brownie differs from a chocolate cake in several ways.. It has a moist and more crumbly texture.. also ingredients wise it uses more eggs and very little flour. personally I prefer a brownie only with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream ( the recipe is soon to follow this one.. :D  ) you can add crushed Walnuts to the batter and get a walnut brownie. Alternatively you can add chopped chocolate or chocolate chips to get even more chocolate flavour..
And this is a perfect recipe in case you are a chocolate lover like my sister Bhanu.. she can live on chocolates.. :p
to make you need

150 gms cooking chocolate, dark or semisweet (chopped or in buttons)
1/2 Cup unsalted butter
1    Cup castor sugar ( or normal granulated sugar)
3     Eggs
2     Table spoons cocoa powder
3/4  Cup flour
1/4   tsp salt
1      tsp  vanilla extract

How to make
Dust a 8" square pan or line it with parchment. Pre- heat the oven to 180* C.




                         
In a glass bowl put chopped chocolate and butter.

Melt the chocolate and Butter in a Double boiler. Basically place the heat proof bowl over a simmering pan of water. The chocolate will melt in a few minutes. Take it off heat





Mix cocoa powder and Sugar.
Add the eggs and flour to molten chocolate.
Combine well. Add Vanilla extract and salt.

Pour it in the prepared tin and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

The Brownie will be moist when you insert a pin. but it is done.. Do not over bake the brownie. It is okay for the surface to crack.

Easy Chocolate Squares

            I am back to Blogging after nearly a year.. a year full of activity  but total laziness to blog anything at all.. been archiving pictures of what I made but never got around posting them.. Thank God for FACEBOOK which reminded me this morning that there has been no activity on the page..:)
now for this renewed beginning, as the cadbury Dairy Milk ad says "Kuch meetha ho jaaye". what better way to begin than a chocolate recipe.

             The best thing about this recipe is that it hardly takes any time and is so yummy that it finishes before you know. Before we talk about the recipe let me tell u a few things about ingredients. In terms of chocolate to use you have a lot of options. It can be chocolate buttons or cooking chocolate bars. Often I have read people mention percentage of cocoa in the chocolate or a great brand. Personally i really never found any difference .. but if you prefer a certain brand go ahead use that.. i buy whatever that i can considering i live in a smaller town and it is a bit of a luxury to choose brand.. and never found any difference in results..you may opt for semi sweet or dark chocolate depending on your taste preference.
the original recipe is from www.chefinyou.com but i have tweaked it to my liking.

You need

• 350 gms of any cooking chocolate chopped or chocolate buttons
• 400 gms Tin of condensed milk ( Nestle milkmaid wud do)
• pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons of butter( unsalted) if using salted Amul etc don't add extra salt
• Cinnamon or any other spice if you like ( optional)
• 200 gms assorted nuts roughly chopped ( cashews, almonds, walnuts etc)

How to Make

In a large heatproof glass bowl mix chopped chocolate/ buttons, condensed milk, salt, butter, cocoa powder and spices if using.


Heat the mixture using double boiler.. a double boiler is essentially a glass bowl kept above a simmering pan of boiling water. the water shud not touch the sides of glass bowl. this way chocolate melts using indirect heat of steam.

Once the chocolate melts add the chopped nuts. and pour the mixture into a square tin lined with greased baking or parchment paper. Let the mixture cool. refrigerate for 2-4 hours .

Once set u can cut squares of your choice out of it. And wrap using a chocolate wrapping paper. Or better just eat it like that..:)