Valentine's Day Brownies

My favourite brownie recipe

3/4 cup grape seed oil (healthiest option if you don't want to do olive oil) 

1 1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa plus 3 tbsp 

(use high quality cocoa, I got mine from soma in toronto either found at their store in the distillery district or at the hudsons bay eaton's centre  basement in the O&B sweet store) 

1/4 tsp baking powder plus 1/8 tsp

1/4 tsp salt plus 1/8 tsp salt

2-3 strawberries, washed, dried and sliced (with green part on or off, up to you)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). If using a glass pan put oven on 325 F.

(Grease a 8x8 inch baking pan.)

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the egg mixture until well blended. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Slice strawberries and before placing them on the brownie batter in the pan press each piece down on a plate of cocoa powder so the bottom is covered in cocoa to avoid fruit sinking in the brownie while baking.  I did half the pan strawberries and half without.**

3. Bake for 30-40 minutes (this is just approximate time so keep an eye out!) or until the brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan.

Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares or frosting/glazing it.

A nice ganache topping makes these brownies just a bit more special! 

to makea  ganache add some heavy cream to a double boiler and heat, as soon as it's warm add a good quality chopped chocolate, you want more chocolate than cream. Let it sit 2-5 minutes on the counter until the chocolate melts then stir until it's glossy and beautiful. 

Slice your brownies and  plate.

Spread some ganache on each of the plain brownie squares and sprinkle with some edible gold. 

Brownies and more brownies

It's been quite a week, I'm exhausted just thinking about it.  Between the heavy snow fall late last weekend, spaying my cats and having one of them go through some complications (she's doing well now) I'm finally able to just relax this weekend and do nothing (except bake brownies!)

Last weekend (pre kitty surgery) I was at petsmart to pick up some fresh litter for my little ones when I realized I need some stainless steel water bowls, those things can be quite expensive and an unlikely but great place to look for them is at a winners or home sense (TJMAXX/Home goods?) and lucky for me I stumbled upon a store in the same mall.  I went in and WOAH (unfortunately for me!) the pet stuff is near the kitchen stuff and there is a TON of stuff on clearance, which resulted in a huge shopping haul. 

As if that wasn't bad enough I found one set of these nice curtains that would suite my new windows, but only one set in the desired colour so I had to stop into every Winners (and home sense!) store in my area to locate another 3 sets. 

More stores, more stuff, and my car was pretty full of things. By that time I was also hungry and one winners has a whole lot of food items (close to expiration) on sale so I got a tin of cookies to munch on in the car, quinoa, pasta, chocolate, just a load of goodies for my pantry. 

Among the hoard of things there was this brownie pan, normally I don't go for infomercial items or "As seen on TV" products but this was dirt cheap and looked interesting enough.

Since I brought it home I've baked 2 batches of brownies, the first one was experimental, I just went with my regular brownie recipe and baked it on a lower temperature.  The brownies slid right out of the pan, no problem there! 

The only issue was that they turned out more fluffy, puffy and cake like than actual brownies, and I figured it's because of all that metal and even with a lower oven temperature there is too much heat going around that each piece cooks very quickly. 

This weekend I attempted to try again, making 3 times the brownie recipe in the 9X13 inch pan and using just oil instead of butter in my recipe. 

While baking the brownies puffed up like mad, I thought for sure they'd overflow but they didn't (PHEW!) instead they settled down but left that shiney crackly layer on top (which I think all brownies should have!) and a soft chewy centre developed as they cooled.  The baking time only took under 30 minutes!! 

I used my favourite brownie recipe (here ) this recipe is adapted from another recipe by adding another half a recipe to one batch and then baking it in a smaller pan for a higher chewier brownie.  It's been a reliable recipe for me.

For this pan I went with 3 X the original recipe or twice my recipe (since mine is 1 1/2 so doubling that would make 3 batches) and crammed it all into the 9X13. 

Brownies 

1 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or sunflower)

3 cup sugar (2 brown, 1 white sugar) 

3 tsp vanilla extract

6 eggs

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

2/3 cup cocoa plus 6 tbsp

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt 

Chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). If using a glass pan put oven on 325 F.

(Grease a 9X13 inch baking pan - or you're cool brownie pan with insert -use a mister filled with oil to spray this type of contraption - outdoors preferably!)

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in oil. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir the cocoa into the liquid mixture until it's lump free and chocolaty.

Gradually stir flour mixture into the egg mixture until well blended. Stir in walnuts, if desired. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. (add metal divider insert here, add garnish to individual brownies if desired, I used walnuts on some and sea salt on others then left some plain) 

3. Bake for 30-40 minutes (or 30 minutes if using my brownie pan, must set the brownie pan onto another baking tray as the label instructs!)  (this is just approximate time so keep an eye out!) or until the brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan.

Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares or frosting/glazing it.

In my case I let it cool 5 minutes then released the divider by pulling it out gently.

Store them away after cooling in a glass pan covered with plastic wrap so they don't dry out. 

(recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com Mmm-Mmm Better brownies)

Hope you guys enjoy!

I threw in a pic of my pizza because it's another thing that got me super excited, the Calphalon pizza grate/pan I got on clearance, cooks my homemade pizza super fast and with a perfectly golden crust, how exciting!

.... And for this summer, I'm predicting there will be Paella :D

And of course the brownie pan box makes the best toy in the world!

Walnut

What am I eating?  
Homemade single portion brownie with walnut

What am I drinking?
David's Tea Toasted Walnut 

1/4 cup melted butter

1 egg

1/2 cup white sugar

1/3 tsp vanilla

Mix the above with whisk.

2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

1/4 cup flour

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp baking powder

Mix the above together and add to we ingredients. 

Add:

1/4 cup walnuts (optional) 

Oil 2 ramikins, divide batter between both and bake on 350 F preheated oven. 

Cool and enjoy! 

Blueberries & Cherries...

I love all the fruits we're seeing in stores during summer ... especially cherries, ever since I learned this interesting new technique to pit them I've been addicted to pitting cherries for pies, cakes, and even just freezing batches for future goodies.

Here is a bit of baking that I've done over the last week...

Blueberry boy baits - see Smitten Kitchen for recipe here (leftover edges turned into biscotti! Baked on 160 F in the oven until crisp and dry), Polish fruit buns called Jagodzianki and also a batch of roasted cherry brownies from last week's cherry sundae.

Jagodzianki (see recipe + video here courtesy of the lovely Ania's kitchen)

Dough:

2 cups of white all purpose flour

1/3 cup of white granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp of pure vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup of lukewarm milk

1 1/2 tsp of instant yeast

2 tbs of white all purpose flour

2 tbs of white granulated sugar

1/4 cup of melted butter

Filling:

2 cups of blueberries (I did 1 cup of each blueberry and pitted cherries and divided the remaining ingredients for both)

1/3 cup of sugar

2 tbs of flour

Topping:

1 beaten egg

2 tbs of sugar

In a small mixing bowl add milk, 2 tbs of sugar, 2 tbs of flour and

yeast. Mix until well combined. Set aside to start foaming. ( around

20 minutes)

In to the bowl of your stand mixer add all the ingredients for the

dough except melted butter. Add yeast mixture and mix with a paddle

attachment until all is well combined. Add melted butter and mix for

another couple of minutes.

Spray with oil and cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise until doubled

in size ( around 2 hours).

Mix your blueberries with sugar and flour.

Sprinkle the dough with a little bit of flour and knead with a dough

attachment until the dough is smooth and elastic. (around 5 minutes).

Transfer the dough on to your working surface sprinkled with some

flour. Knead it few more times and then roll into 0.5 cm thick

square. Cut squares around 5 to 7 cm in size.

Fold around 1 tbs of blueberries in to the dough squares forming nice

buns. Place them on the baking sheet covered with parchment paper

leaving them space to rise. Spray with non-stick spray.

Let them rise for about 20 minutes.

Paint with beaten egg and sprinkle with some sugar.

Bake in preheated oven to 180 degree Celsius for 20 minutes.


Roasted Cherries:

Pitted cherries roasted in the oven on 425 F for 30 minutes. Add a squeeze of lime, lime zest and a drop of balsamic vinegar and some water. Stir from time to time.

Cooled and mixed into the batter of my favourite brownie recipe.

My favourite brownie recipe

3/4 cup vegetable oil (or sunflower)

1 1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa plus 3 tbsp

1/4 tsp baking powder plus 1/8 tsp

1/4 tsp salt plus 1/8 tsp salt

3/4 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). If using a glass pan put oven on 325 F.

(Grease a 8x8 inch baking pan.)

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the egg mixture until well blended. Stir in walnuts, if desired. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 30-40 minutes (this is just approximate time so keep an eye out!) or until the brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan.

Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares or frosting/glazing it.

A nice ganache topping with a sprinkling of salt makes this brownie just a bit more special!

(recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com Mmm-Mmm Better brownies)

Favourite brownie recipe ever!

My favourite brownie recipe

3/4 cup vegetable oil (or sunflower)

1 1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3 eggs

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa plus 3 tbsp

1/4 tsp baking powder plus 1/8 tsp

1/4 tsp salt plus 1/8 tsp salt

3/4 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). If using a glass pan put oven on 325 F.

(Grease a 8x8 inch baking pan.)

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the egg mixture until well blended. Stir in walnuts, if desired. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 30-40 minutes (this is just approximate time so keep an eye out!) or until the brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan.

Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares or frosting/glazing it.

A nice ganache topping with a sprinkling of salt makes this brownie just a bit more special!

(recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com Mmm-Mmm Better brownies)