Brownies III – Bloomin’ brilliant brownies

Bloomin’ Brilliant Brownies for Bloomin’ Brilliant Beauty!! *grin* Yup~ so who is this beauty? None other than… *drum roll* Jamie!! Another January babe!! <3 all the January babies!! Okie, pure biasness *cover mouth* Been cracking my lil head on what to make for her, made cookies for her the 1^st time I met her, so X-ing cookies out! Need to be sometime different! Chocolate cake? All the cream and stuffs, I doubt it will last till my greedy master meets her! =/ He will most prolly make up a reason like, “the cake is going out of shape!” and start gobbling it up. XD

Need something that will last and able to store up to a few days!! I’m sure she will be dining out for a couple of days in a row. Something she can munch on and not too heavy. After some hunting, my virtual best fren (Mr. Google) pops up this brownies recipe by Jamie Oliver! *giggle* Jamie for Jamie! What is this!! Signs for above!! okie dokie then~ i choose u, Bloomin’ brilliant brownies! *throw pokemon ball* Simple things can be great too yea? XD Made some Fudge to go along with the brownies as well, Just for Jamie! More Js. *grin* Made some for Master San to share with his colleagues as well~ XD San, i’m afraid u will chomp out my special gift for her! therefore…. prevention is better than cure! *giggle*

Jamie: 100% Dark chocolate! from brownies to fudge! less sugar = less fattening, plus it’s your b.day everything u eat = 0 calories! Sorry babe, Ice-cream not inclusive~ =X Was so close to making you so homemade ice-cream, but melted ice-cream won’t taste yummy!

Happy B.day girl! (^^,) U WILL be blessed with everything! *nod* More than anything imaginable!

Recipe taken from Jamie Oliver’s Little Book Of Big Treats.

Ingredients:
250g unsalted butter (reduced to 150g)
200g dark chocolate
50g chopped walnuts
80g cocoa powder, sifted
65g plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
360g caster sugar (Reduced to 160g)
4 eggs

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 180 Degrees C. Grease Baking pan.
2. Melt the butter and dark chocolate over a double boiler and mix until smooth.
3. Add chopped walnuts and stir together.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar, and then add this to the chocolate mixture.
5. Beat in the eggs and mix in until you have a silky consistency.
6. Pour your brownie mixture into the baking tray, bake for around 25 minutes.

*NOTE*
You don’t want to overcook them so, unlike cakes, you don’t want a skewer to come out all clean. The brownies should be slightly springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle. Allow to cool in the tray, then carefully transfer to a large chopping board and cut into chunky squares.

Verdict?
Smells great! From the looks and chocolate-y scent i sense that it’ll definitely be a lot richer in taste compared to the 1^st brownies recipe. But lacks the crispy crust of the 2nd brownies. 3 brownies recipes so far… more to come! Didn’t get to taste it as it’s a gift! It seems like, i am sending out food without ever trying them myself nowadays =/ brave yea! *fingers crossed* Let’s wait for comments from Jamie, San and his colleagues. XD

- .: Baker Lee :.

Fruit Pastry

Yup~ I know the craze is all over~ >.< the Fruit Pastry craze started in Jun 2007? Lot of forum babes posted pictures of their beautiful bakes of this recipe. Today was the “perfect” time to try it out~ =X Thursday = the day I make freshly baked goodies for the folks that practice Qi Gong with mummy. (^^,) Yani once asked me, “your mama trying to “promote” you? Who knows one of the folks have a single and available son and can match make you guys up!” *yawn* how true yani!! let’s see! *rub chin* okie, another one of my nonsense! XD haha~

Did a trial run of this recipe yesterday~ =X overall, i’m not happy with the results! =/ 1stly I over-baked it… was multitasking and therefore not really paying full attention on it! >.< 2ndly, didn’t realized that the rack was being lower to the lowest rack which resulted in too much browning on the base! it turns out kind of dry~ NOT GOOD!! 3rdly, I used canned apricots and they dun taste good at all~ kind of to the sour side. After baking the sour-ish taste got ever stronger… *sulky face* never say die attitude, i am still determine to give this recipe a try this morning! The problem sure lies with me for sure >.< since the other forum babes loves it so much, it mus be good! *YOSH* Crawl out of bed at 5.30am to make it again~ (i slept at close to 3am! eeeks! i need the bed! T.T let’s all hope i get a good night rest after gym ) This time round, i sprinkle some sugar over the sour apricots before baking. Balanced out the taste ^^ love the refreshing scent of the fruits and orange zest~ *jump around* now i’m ready to impress! *grin*

Ingredients:

210g Plain flour
200g sugar + 2 tablespoons (reduced to 120g, the elders like it not too sweet! XD)
100g butter
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla Essence
1 tsp orange zest
3 eggs
500g fruits (apricots, peaches, pears, cherries, plums, orange, pineapple, or any other fruit not to juicy)

Steps:

1. In a strainer, place the prepared fruits (pit removed and cut in not too big pieces) sprinkle them with 2 tablespoons of sugar.
2. Preheat oven to 180 C, Greased the baking pan.
3. Beat butter, sour cream and sugar together.
4. Add eggs one at a time.
5. Add in Vanilla essence and orange zest.
6. Finally add in Flour and baking powder. Mix until everything is smooth.
7. Pour the mixture into baking pan, place fruits on top (do not press them into the batter)
8. Bake for 60-70 minutes or till an inserted skewer comes out clean.
9. Let cool on a wire rack and sprinkle with sugar and serve.

 

Verdict?
Refreshing and delicious!! I guess I’m having too much chocolate recently~ my taste buds are craving for something not too rich and sweet. This fruit pastry fits in just too well! not too sweet, light and moist~ <3 YUMMILIOUS! As you can see, i used mainly canned fruits(peach, apricot, rambutans), will try fresh fruits next time round!

- .: Baker Lee :.