Brownies instead of the French Buche!

Our First term at school (in Niort) ended yesterday; I left the 'college' at quarter to five, by the time I drove home it was 6 p.m. A bit of rain but no fog and i was driving against the traffic! It's the first time ever that I've finished teaching only three days before Christmas. I remember finishing on the 21st a few times in England. 

After dinner, Steven and I watched a lovely film called Regarding Henry. We'd never watched it before and we both enjoyed it. While I was watching it, I fancied sketching something so here it is: 

Walnut Chocolate Brownies

Brownies are the sort of thing that shouldn't work at all, but in the same way that uncooked cake mixture is a delight, brownies are often better than the most perfectly cooked sponge cake. Be brave and take them out while still squidgy – they'll firm up when they cool.

Ingredients 
Plain chocolate, broken up into chunks 100g
100 g poudre
200g Butter, cubed 
3       Medium eggs, beaten 
250g Golden caster sugar  - 
250g Plain flour 
2 teaspoons of ginger syrup 
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C/gas 4. Melt the chocolate and butter. Cool. 
3. Beat the eggs with the sugar, pour in the cooled chocolate mixture, add a pinch of salt and sift in the flour. 
4. Beat until blended and stir through the chocolate chips and walnuts.
5. Pour into the tin and bake for 25–30 minutes (don't use a fan oven; the brownies will just become dry). 
6. The outsides will look crackled and the inside will feel firm but will still be gooey.
7. Allow to cool in the tin for 20 minutes. Slice into squares.

Olive oil brownies

We have friends coming tomorrow for a bbq of course and I thought I'd do some brownies of a different kind, without butter! I found this recipe. Also I replaced two of the eggs by a banana. So we shall see!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on at least 2 sides. Oil the foil (not including the overhang).

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt in a medium bowl. Melt the chocolate with the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently. Let cool slightly. Stir in the sugar and eggs. Add the flour mixture, and stir to combine. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs, 30 to 35 minutes.

Let the brownies cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack. Use the foil overhang to help lift them out of the pan. Cut into 16 squares. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Recipe

Hazelnut brownies

Ingredients

Serves: 12

225g butter, melted
300g of brown sugar (or more depending on your taste)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
225g plain flour
110 g dark chocolate (70%) at Liddle
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
80 g grilled hazelnuts

Preparation method Prep: 20 min |Cook: 20 min

1. First, preheat the oven to 180 C / Gas 4. Lightly grease and flour a 23 x 30 cm baking tin.

2. Next, heat butter and dark chocolate. I used the microwave

Then add sugar and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time.

3. Sift flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder and add it to the mixture. Beat it slowly until flour mixture and butter mixture are incorporated, add the hazelnuts then mix again.

4. Pour it into the baking tin and bake it for 20 minutes or until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean.

5. Let it cool. The brownie will be crumbly if you eat it right away. Let it cool and it will be chewy and not crumbly. Patience is a virtue.


Note: I changed this recipe!

If you are diabetic, there are sugar-free chocolates available at some supermarkets and you may use Isomalt as substitute for sugar but in very small amounts. Editor's note:

This recipe was edited by Allrecipes.co.uk staff, to conform to measures and ingredients that are familiar to UK and Irish cooks.

Just a normal Saturday in an unusual life...

My first fudgy coconut brownies are in the oven now! click here for the recipe!
The only change I made was to use gluten-free self-raising flour only because I had some and it saved me from adding the 'levure' to the French flour. You cannot find in French shops self-raising flour so you need to buy the 'levure' separately and then add it in the flour according to  the instructions. Oups, there was another change i should mention, I put some roasted cob-nuts that Steven picked up from under the tree, sorted the bad ones from the edible ones and then roasted on the bbq as you do...Well it took him lots of time to do this..still as he is a retired gentleman, why not, his word not mine! 
I kept a bag of gluten-free flour for Camille whose diet is gluten-free.
Well it's been and is still very hot out there. When we went for an ice-tea at the local café, I compared today to an August day.

An amazing week!

Dear friends, I hope that your week went well. What did you do?

I have spent most of my amazing week doing those:

- getting up early, not fun! It would be fun if I went to bed earlyish but as don't, I feel exhausted...still I love going to work and I can drive to Leek now without the satnav! 

- reading the Bible, this is a joyful time. I have also been pondering about memorising verses better  and as I was talking to my friend Lilly, she mentioned the 'writing' and 'reading' method. I almost dismissed it to start with because I have done that for a while and I am not sure it works. Then thinking about it again, I realise the time I spend on a passage is not repetitive enough, what i mean, is that instead of reading a passage on Monday and moving on, I decided that I am going to spend two or three days on the same passage i.e. last week, I practised on Galatians 5 and this week I am reading Luke 6..guess what? it works! 

- meeting up with my friends on the days I'm not working; that's great and I feel so blessed

- having great fellowship at Milwich village hall for another session of the Pilgrim course. 

-  baking brownies, I managed to do one lot following a recipe without butter or oil, replacing them by low-fat yoghurt (only 6% fat) and they came out nice and gooey. Let me know if you want the recipe! 

- looking after our rabbits, mainly stopping them from visiting the neighbours' garden hopping through a protected hedge! It's hard work, the minute you fill up a gap, they find another one!

-  listening to worship music on my YouTube channel and you may want to subscribe to my channel! 

- I've just added a Po.st sharing button on the right side of this blog. It was not too difficult! Sharing the good news using sharing buttons..

A prayer now, Abba father, thank you for the many blessings this week your pour on our lives lavishly. Though we don't deserve any by our own merit, you surround us with your tender love and you look after us day by day. When we fail, we cry out to you and you hear us and pick us up because you are full of compassion. We ask you to bless us and to protect us as well as our family and friends in the powerful name of Jesus, our saviour and redeemer. Amen.

Have a blessed week-end and good night. 

A Victoria Sponge with a twist!

Tonight, Imo asked me to bake another cake (I baked one yesterday), first I refused as it was getting late but she insisted so here is the recipe I used for this Victoria Sponge with a twist. Click on the words Victoria Sponge to go on the website.

150g softened butter or marg (not low fat spread)
150g caster sugar
3 eggs
150g self raising flour
Tip: You can make smaller amounts (or larger!) by using 50g of flour, sugar and butter for every egg you use. So, for example, you can reduce the quantity by using 2 eggs and 100g of the other ingredients.
Set the oven at 180 C /Gas 4
Rub some butter around the insides of the two sandwich tins, and line the bases with circles of greaseproof paper.
Beat together the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until mixture is pale and creamy.
Add the eggs to the mixture, one at a time and stir until smooth.
Add flour and mix gently into the mixture.
Pour half of the cake mixture into each sandwich tin and smooth it level.
Place the tins in the oven for 20 to 25 min's
The cakes are done when they are well-risen and golden brown and feel springy in the middle.
Turn them out onto a wire rack to cool. Remove greaseproof paper.
I made a few changes, first I peeled and cored two small apples then sliced them and put them on the greaseproof paper. I also melted 50 g of dark chocolate in the microwave and incorporated the mixture at the end! So I only used 100g flour. Also I did not have self raising flour, I used plain flour and added baking powder. Everybody had a taste of it even the boss! It is yammy! 

Have you been baking lately? What is your favorite desert?

Pear cake and brownies

That evening I looked at some pears that were ripening too fast in the fruit bowl and thought I'd better use them before they rot! So, I found a recipe for a pear cake and this is how it turned out. Later on I asked Camille to do her special treat, brownies. She's done them before and she has a special knack for them. They are usually delicious.

Camille mixing up the brownie mixture!
Well, here is the verdict!

The pear cake is edible but nobody has eaten much of it yet !
Three quarters of it are still there intact !

The brownies are absolutely delicious and we are making a real effort not to finish them in one go!