100th post and a decadent (Coco powder) Brownie

            Yes, friends! I have reached the milestone at last. I have climbed to the toddler phase of culinary adventures, leaving behind the infant stage. The blog is also turning two. Many of you would think, 'It's not a big deal' as most of you would have attained the milestone with in a year of your blogging and I must confess that I was a bit slow there. But still; looking back, I feel a sense of triumph, for never in my life had I dreamed of reaching 100 posts in my blog when I started it. I thank almighty Allah for making it possible for me..

            A little history...

             I had actually started cooking seriously after marriage and had to confront a lot of hurdles, as I was a real zero as far as culinary knowledge and instincts were concerned. Before wedding, my cooking experiences were limited to making instant noodles now and then, making a few snacks which I loved to have for tea, cutting vegetables to help my mom and of course toasting breads for breakfast. So it is not an overstatement, if I say that I found the responsibilities(of cooking)  huge enough to suffocate me and dreaded the outcome of my 'admirable cooking skills' in my inlaws' home. 

            My poor mother in law would have had quiet a number of heart attacks after I squeezed myself into her cooking space with my annoying kitchenastics. Luck was on her part as I could not stay with her long enough to display all my 'cooking tactics'.  I was plucked out of her cozy kitchen into the wilderness of a foreign kitchen as I settled abroad with Mr.KB with the whole mess of a kitchen all to myself. Oh! boy, How scary it was to start cooking from scratch with no body to assist you and nobody to turn to help! You must be thinking why Mr.KB could have helped, right? Well, if you knew him well, a thought like that would never pass your mind. If there was some one who was more ignorant than me in cooking, it was him :)

            And I had started cooking with my mom's and mom in law's recipes scribbled on bits of papers and it was followed by a lot of ISD calls to mom asking for the merest bit of explanations. Later I began reading recipe blogs and used to gawk at the pictures in them with much awe and admiration. It was those recipe sites and blogs which gave me an ardent zeal to experiment anything under the sun. That was when Mr.KB suggested, why not create a site of your own so that you can actually do something better than gawk at the pictures of food which other people prepared. It was his insisting compulsions which made me give in. If it was not for him, I would never have  started this blog, and would have went on with my lazy life as ever.

          Gratitude....

          Of course I have learned a lot on my way... from cooking tips to basic food photography. Even now I use a point and shoot camera to shoot my foods with nothing particular to boast about. I love food photography and I dream of having a DSLR  of my own sometime, but don't know when I would be able to have it. Till then you will have to bare with my plain looking pictures.. Any way, I thank you my readers, for all your loving encouragements  without which, I would have reached nowhere. And much gratitude goes to my blogging pals, who have created a lot of positive attitudes towards each other making the blogosphere alive with events, awards and give aways. All of you who had taken time to read my blogs and given valuable comments, I fondly remember you as the lights which lead me on every day of my blogging..

       The sweet...

         Celebration time always asks for sweets and there's nothing more addictive than this incredibly fudgy, moist and chocolaty, coco powder brownie. Caramelised nuts on top makes it even more worthy. The health nut in you may perhaps resist it seeing the loads of calories it may add to your diet. But it is one of those delicious goodies which you can have on the rare occasions of celebrations, forgetting all about diet and disregarding your figure.

Fudgy Coco powder Brownie with caramelised nuts

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cold large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped caramelised walnuts/almonds

Method:

• Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325degreeF or 160 degree C. Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhanging on two opposite sides.
• Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot.
• Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Spread evenly in the lined pan and sprinkle the top with caramelised nuts.
• Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.
• Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Allow it to completely cool.Cut into 16 or 25 squares and serve.

Recipe courtesy: Epicurious.com

Walnut Chocolate Brownie

"Forget love - I'd rather fall in chocolate! "

~ Sandra J. Dykes

 

            

                    The look of a brownie had never appealed to me. All cracked and uneven, it was an ugly duckling. And so I hadn't took pains to make one and never bothered to find a recipe until I had these bitter sweet chocolate brownies from a nearby confectionery. What shall I say? They just took my breath away... Just melted in the mouth as they said and before I knew what hit me, I already had three in my tummy. So decided it was time to google some recipes...

                    Dived into the fridge for provisions and out came them one by one. Butter, chocolate, eggs and at last there was none. Melted chocolate and butter and in went sugar and flour, and the batter was ready with walnuts in less than half an hour. Started baking in zeal with a tune on my tongue and a swing on my toes..

                   Everything went on like breeze, until the chocolate nut in the house appeared from nowhere and demanded  he want chocolate for definitely he can smell one. Informed him it is being baked in the oven, but nevertheless he wanted then. So couldn't wait for thirty minutes before it was cooled and half of them went to a tiny tummy.. a tummy which loves chocolate. Fingers licked, lips smacked, and surely the brownies rocked.

Walnut Chocolate Brownie Recipe

Things you need:

150g semisweet or bitter sweet chocolate chopped
113g (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 cup powdered white sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
250g walnuts, chopped

 Method:

          Preheat the oven to 350 degree F or 180 degree C and place the rack in the centre of the oven. Butter the baking pan and line it with parchment paper or wax paper leaving an overhanging on two opposite sides.
          Melt the chocolate and butter in a large stainless steel bowl placed on a sauce pan of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time with a rubber spatula, until the butter and chocolate is completely melted.   
          Remove from heat and add sugar. Whisk in the vanilla extract. Now add the eggs one at a time and beat with a wooden spoon for 15 to 20 strokes.  Finally stir in the flours, salt and walnuts.
         Transfer it to the baking tin and level the surface with the help of the spatula. Bake on the centre rack for about 30 minutes or until a tester inserted at the center comes out moist with a little crumps. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and let it sit for 5 minutes.
         Now carefully transfer it to a cutting board by holding the two over hanging parchments. Let it cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting to square pieces with a knife (which is the toughest part).Sprinkle with icing sugar.Serve!

I am sending this recipe to 'Love n Chocolate Fest' at Vimitha Anand's 'My Culinary Trial Room'.

              and Let's cook Sweet somethings at Tickling palates