For dessert we served the chewy chocolate brownies with a dollop of double cream, a scoop of So Good vanilla soy ice cream and a sprinkling of chopped peanuts.
Mmmmmmm, double cream.
The recipe for the brownies came from Jac’s “Good Housekeeping All Colour Cook Book”. It’s so easy. Gather ingredients, mix thoroughly in bowl, pour into cake tin and bake.
Chewy Chocolate Brownies
Makes 16
75 g (3 oz) plain flour
175 g (6 oz) dark soft brown sugar
25 g (1 oz) cocoa powder
1.25 ml (quarter tsp) salt
100 g (4 oz) butter or margarine
2 eggs, beaten
5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla flavouring
75 g (3 oz) chopped mixed nuts
- Put all ingredients in a bowl and beat thoroughly (preferably with an electric whisk) until evenly combined.
- Turn mixture into a greased 20.5cm (8 inch) square cake tin and level the surface with a palette knife.
- Bake in the oven at 180 C (350 F) mark 4 for 25 minutes until only just set (the mixture should still wobble slightly in the centre). Stand the cake tin on a wire rack and leave until the cake is completely cold. Cut into 16 squares and put in an airtight tin.
I used Jac’s Braun handheld electric mixer to beat the mixture, but as I was mixing I caught the whiff of a weird smell and Jac said “Oh my god, it’s smoking!”. Heheh, I guess the brownie mixture was too thick for the mixer to handle. It was making very strange noises, though I did think it was due to my non-existent handheld mixer technique (but now I know what a dying handheld mixer sounds like). Luckily by this time most of the ingredients had blended together quite well, so I finished mixing it all with a wooden spoon. And the mixer still works, thankfully (Jac used it to puree the soup afterwards)! I must save up and buy a proper heavy duty mixer for baking (it would help me feel more like Nigella as I bake too!).
I used butter, not margarine, and the mixed nuts I used were just what we had in our miscellaneous nut jar – some chopped walnuts and almonds. What I’d like to do next time I make this recipe is use just hazelnuts, so that the brownies have a Nutella-like flavour. That would be sooooo yummy. Everyone enjoyed their dessert anyway (I just had a bite of Jac’s, and that was pretty yummy… very moist and chocolatey), which was good. And we still have brownies, double cream and ice cream left for re-enactments :).
The Mothers Day 2006 flickr set is here (people photos are friends and family only).
I'm TFP, a food blogger from Perth, Western Australia.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I always said you could make a fortune combining your pictures with recipes :). I cannot handle mixing sweet and salty things(nuts). What would you suggest as replacement for this ingredient?
Hi, just found your blog. Love reading it. As I am a new arrival from Malaysia and your blog being based in Perth, I found it very helpful. Can really relate to your food idea. Bring back memories. …. And your favourite food court, well I live in that Suburb. Always go to that malay (KL) store there when I need some malay food fixes.
Damon Z,
Not sure what I’d replace them with. The nuts I bake with are unsalted, so they aren’t completely salty/savoury in the brownies. Because they are blended into the brownie mixture, the nutty and chocolate flavours combine really well.
flower,
Glad you like the blog. My favourites are Penang Cuisine and Fook Kee. Hmmm, may have to convince Jac to take us there sometime this week (the power of suggestion!).
I might ask my husband to take me to Pancho for a belated Mothers Day and my birthday too.
flower, you really should go to Pancho’s! If you do, let me know what you think!