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.

Brownies made with honey!

Yes I had to look up some recipes because Steven's bought some honey last week and I ran out of sugar. I thought I had some brown sugar but I must have used it.
Anyway for the recipe, click here  ; it says put rum of vanilla, in  the end, I put some gingerbread flavour syrup.
You may want to know what was the occasion. Well our friends Dave and Marylin usually host a bible study and prayers and as they've gone to England for a family wedding, we hosted it.
We talked about Habakkuk and added that we can have a conversation with our Father God, thanks to what Jesus did on the cross for us, how wonderful that is!
The Sovereign Lord is my strength;(AT)
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.(AU)Friends, have a blessed evening in the name of Jesus-Christ our saviour and redeemer. Amen.

Comfort food: hazelnuts brownies, why not?

Today I thought that I would bake some brownies and this recipe inspired me. I grilled some hazelnuts (a handful) beforehand and lined them at the bottom of my round tin (I'm using a round tin as my square one is in a cupboard at Imo's house in London..and I haven't bothered to buy another one,,will do though!)
So I'm on the last minute and I will make my own way to our friends home, Mike and Eva who are hosting a venue 'Say one for me' for our House church and the Anglican church meeting together.
Have a blessed day.

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!