Bent on brownies

Delicious. Chocolate. Brownies. It doesn't take much to appreciate the sweet, rich density offered by a bite of brownie.
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These days I've been eating a lot of chocolate.  It's been Easter and therefore almost impossible to ignore all the stands of chocolate treats set up absolutely everywhere!

If you're going to eat chocolate you might as well find another way to eat it -- for example, in a brownie!  These ones are simple -- no intrusions, no additions like nuts -- just simple, unadulterated chocolate brownies. I used a combination of dark and milk chocolate, brown sugar and plain flour.  Too easy and seriously delicious!

chocolate brownies
makes 12 squares

175g good quality chocolate (150g dark, 25g milk), chopped
130g butter, chopped
120g brown sugar
pinch of salt
2 whole eggs, room temperature
75g plain flour

Preheat oven to 165 degrees C.
Line a square or rectangular tin with baking paper. Place chocolate and butter in a bowl and place over a pot of simmering water just until melted. Take off the heat and keep aside to let cool slightly.  In a separate bowl place sugar and salt.  Add chocolate butter mixture to sugar and salt and mix.  Add eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Finally mix in flour well - ensuring not over mix batter.  Pour batter into tin and bake approximately 25 minutes or until skewer inserted comes out clean. Take out of oven and let cool before slicing.

Fruit & Nut...and a muffin.

Oh, and chocolate! You can't have fruits and nuts without a touch of chocolate.

This delicious combination of fruit, nut and chocolate came together to make these delicious banana and hazelnut muffins.  Perfect for the morning or any other time of the day, these muffins are exploding with banana flavour and a touch of spice.

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Sometimes muffins can be heavy and dense but using half flour/half hazelnut meal, ensured that these sweet little treats were kept light. In addition to the sweet ripe bananas, I added a touch of brown sugar, spices like mace and cinnamon and a necessary addition - chocolate! Not just any chocolate - these were pieces of dark hazelnut filled chocolate - the perfect pairing of fruit, nut - and chocolate. Try it out!

banana and hazelnut muffins
makes 12 muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup hazelnut meal (if you can't find/make then use almond meal)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
pinch sea salt
1/4 tsp ground mace
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 whole eggs
1/4 cup non-fragrant oil
2 medium ripe bananas, mashed
50g dark hazelnut chocolate, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
In a medium bowl sift dry ingredients - flour, hazelnut meal, baking powder, sugar and salt. Keep aside.
In another bowl, beat eggs lightly and mix in oil and mashed bananas. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated - don't overmix! Then mix through pieces of hazelnut chocolate.
Spoon mix into cases and bake for about 20 minutes. Take out and let cool. Enjoy!

Coffee & cookies

You know that time around 3pm when you hit that afternoon slump, can’t keep your eyes open but still have lots more work to do? At that time I need either caffeine or sugar (or both).

Yes, I know that caffeine and sugar aren’t the healthiest options for sustenance. But my oatmeal cookies are not all that sweet, and they do a great job satisfying afternoon cravings and giving you a little boost of energy.

My oatmeal cookies use wholegrain rolled oats, coconut, walnuts and of course, smooth, rich and anti-oxidant packed dark chocolate.  Once the batter was made, I used an ice cream scoop to make small little imperfect balls, pressed them down a little and baked for 10-15 minutes. Easy to make and delicious to eat – the perfect afternoon treat (with your coffee!).

oatmeal-coconut-walnut cookies

makes about 15 fat cookies

1/4  cup canola oil

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp soy milk

1/4  raw sugar

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup wholegrain oats

1/2 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch sea salt

1/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

1/4 cup dark chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

In a large bowl add oil, egg, vanilla, soy milk and sugar and mix until well incorporated.  In a separate bowl mix coconut, oats, flour, salt and baking powder.  Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir through walnuts and chocolate. Using an ice cream scooper or large spoon make little balls and place onto lined baking tray. Bake 10-15 minutes or until just golden. Enjoy with your afternoon coffee!

My chocolatey cure

How can chocolate be so comforting? Its sweet, dark richness never fails to help me when I need to feel better, and I love finding ways to cook, bake and eat chocolate in new ways.

Molten lava cake, otherwise known as chocolate fondant, is one of the simplest and most satisfying chocolate desserts. It is a little bit like a flourless chocolate cake in that it has a similar moist and gooey interior, but it isn’t flourless.

It's made with just a few basic ingredients like chocolate (dark and good quality), butter, sugar, eggs and a little flour. I added some vanilla and a bit of espresso just for a change and an extra kick of caffeine.

These are my delicious little cakes – try them out for yourself, especially on a bad day and I promise you’ll feel better!

chocolate espresso molten cakes

makes two little cakes

*use organic where possible

60g dark chocolate – I used half 85%, half  70%

1 1/2 tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp espresso powder

2 eggs

1 1/2  tbsp confectionary sugar

2 tbsp plain flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C.

In a double boiler (bain marie) melt chocolate pieces and butter. Take off heat once melted and let cool a little and mix in espresso powder and vanilla.  Prepare two ramekins; grease with butter and dust with flour. In a mixing bowl, add eggs and sugar and beat until fluffy and a little pale in colour – about 3-5 minutes. Gently add in chocolate mix, stir carefully until combined and then fold in sifted flour, one spoon at a time. Pour into ramekins and bake for about 7-9 minutes – watching/checking that outside is cooked but inside still moist and gooey.  Remove and let cool a little before tipping out onto dish. Finish with a dust of cocoa powder and serve with espresso or cappuccino or anything else delicious!

nb: my cakes weren’t as gooey on the inside as I would have liked – I probably left them in the hot ramekins a little too long.

A little foodie photography project

Dear friends I have something excitng to share with you.  A little while ago, my new blogger friend Aurelie at Pause Gourmande (a lovely French blog) asked me to participate in an interesting blogger project.  She was going to put together an online magazine and asked me to share a few photos and recipes.

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Here is the link to the magazine’s spring issue.  I think it looks great and that Aurelie did a fantastic job of turning this project into a beautiful magazine.  I love the compositon of her photographs and the light and subject is always gorgeous.

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The magazine and all the recipes (spiced chocolate date cakes and red wine braised lentils) are in French. I adore the French language and encourage you to try my recipes out! For those who don't read French – no worries – I’ve posted everything about the recipes below…

A common dessert here in Australia is sticky date pudding – a velvety rich date cake topped with a buttery rich caramel sauce. Not that I don’t love indulging in creamy, heavy desserts (they definitely have a place in my kitchen!), but the warm and sunny weather here often inspires me to make something lighter yet still rich and generous. These spiced chocolate cakes are moist and have a great natural sweetness provided by the dried dates. I use warming and fragrant spices like cinnamon, cardamom and ginger to add a kick to the subtle flavours of dark chocolate. This may sound a little heavy but these little bundt cakes require only a small amount of flour, which makes them moist, light and airy - just perfect for a lovely sunny day! Once cooked and cooled I keep them in the fridge because I love the texture of a cooled spongy cake. You can serve the cakes on their own, dusted with cocoa or with some vanilla whipped cream and/or ice cream. Try making them and you won’t be disappointed.

spiced chocolate date cakes 

recipe makes 4 smallish bundt cakes

*use organic ingredients where possible

180g dates (pitted)

280 ml water 

1 tsp baking soda

60g dark chocolate – broken into small pieces

60 g butter, softened

20g raw sugar

2 eggs

100g self raising flour (if using plain flour make sure to add baking powder as a raising agent)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cardamom

pinch sea salt

Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

Place a small pot with dates and water on medium heat and bring to the boil.  Once at boiling point, turn off the heat, add baking soda and let sit 10 minutes to cool – then blend mixture until reaches puréed consistency and stir in chocolate pieces.  In the meantime, in a separate bowl beat butter and sugar until creamy, add in eggs one at a time until well incorporated.  Add date mixture to bowl and stir well.  Sift in flour, ground spices and pinch of sea salt. Pour thick batter into greased bundt moulds and bake on centre shelf in oven 30-40 minutes until knife inserted comes out clean.  Take out and let cool on racks. To finish dust cakes with dark cocoa powder and enjoy. 

Lentils are a common dish at my house – they are not only inexpensive but they are also wonderfully versatile and can carry lots of different flavours. A lot of Indian cooking is based on the use of lentils: it not only adds protein and heartiness to vegetarian dishes but also thickens soups and sauces. There are many varieties of lentils but one of my favourites (which actually isn't that common in Indian cooking) is the Puy lentil or French green lentil. Since puy lentils hold their shape during cooking, they keep their lovely toothsome texture. The small little discs of speckled green lentils are not only useful for salad type dishes but they are also beautiful to serve on a plate. The flavours in this dish aren’t complicated –  I sautéed onions, garlic and carrots, deglazed with red wine, used lots of fresh herbs like bay leaf, rosemary, thyme and basil and finished it with a splash of balsamic vinegar for an added richness and sweet tang. I served my lentils with sautéed chicory greens and pan fried halloumi cheese.

red wine braised lentils with fresh herbs

recipe serves 4

1-2 tbsp olive oil

½ red onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped           

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

3 fresh bay leaves

1 sprig rosemary

1 sprig thyme

1 cup Puy lentils, rinsed

½ cup red wine (I used a full bodied wine like Cabernet Sauvignon)

3 cups water or stock

sea salt and cracked black pepper

1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 cup fresh cherry tomatoes

sprinkle of dried chili

Place a Dutch oven or sauté pan with high edges on medium heat.  Once pan is hot, add oil and onions, carrots and garlic to sauté for 5 minutes. Add bay leaves, rosemary, thyme and lentils – stir for a few minutes.  Add red wine to deglaze pan and cook off alcohol – about 1-2 minutes.  Add 3 cups of water or stock and simmer until lentils are just cooked about 20-25 minutes.  Make sure to add more water if needed to finish cooking lentils.  Season lentils well with sea salt and pepper, add balsamic vinegar and stir 1-2 more minutes.  Once off the heat, add a little extra virgin olive oil and stir through fresh cherry tomatoes and a sprinkle of dried chili. 

Serve lentils on their own or with sautéed chicory and pan fried halloumi as I’ve done. Of course, this dish must be enjoyed with glass of delicious red wine.

Birthday cake

Yesterday was my husband's birthday and I could think of no better way of making him happy then by surprising him with a cake. Well it wasn't exactly a cake but more a pancake (as a dutchman he appreciates pancakes). But these were not simple plain pancakes - these were my spectacular chocolate orange millet cakes.

The pancakes were light, moist and chocolatey with the slightest aroma of orange (the orange also added a little layer of sophistication much needed for impressing people in the morning).  I served the pancakes with a few orange segments, a dusting of cocoa and some syrup (being Canadian this should be maple but Australians might use golden syrup...not nearly as amazing) One more exciting thing is that they’re gluten free. Eat up and celebrate.

chocolate-orange millet cakes
Recipe for 2

2 whole organic eggs
½ cup soy milk
1 tsp vanilla bean (paste or extract)
1-2 tbsp Dutch cocoa powder (unprocessed) – the more chocolate the better but it’s up to you
2 tsp orange zest (a little juice too)
½ - ¾ cup of millet flour (I used something in between these amounts)
pinch of baking powder
pinch of baking soda 

To make the pancakes, first beat the eggs and soy milk together, add in vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients - make sure with the flour that you add a little at a time so that you can ensure the consistency stays like a wet batter (should be loose/ pouring consistency).

Get a pan and heat to medium-high heat, use a little oil or butter and cook your cakes. When bubbles appear flip over and cook for another minute or so. Now you have your delicious chocolate orange millet cakes - perfect for a birthday or any other kind of day...