Classic Chocolate Brownies

 Photo Quentin Bacon

Prep and Cook Time: about 45 minutes. Notes: These classic chocolate brownies can be stored airtight for up to 2 days.

Yield: Makes 9 or 16 brownies

Ingredients

• 1/2  cup  (1/4 lb.) butter
• 3  ounces  unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1 1/3  cups  sugar
• 2  large eggs
• 1  teaspoon  vanilla
• 1/2  cup  all-purpose flour
• 1/2  cup  chopped walnuts
• Chocolate glaze (optional; recipe follows)

Preparation

1. In a 2- to 3-quart pan over low heat, frequently stir butter and chocolate until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, and walnuts until well blended.
2. Spread batter evenly in a buttered and floured 8-inch square baking pan.
3. Bake in a 350° oven until edges feel firm to touch and begin to turn a shade darker, 25 to 30 minutes.
4. Run a knife between pan rim and brownie. If desired, spread with chocolate glaze. Let cool in pan on a rack, about 1 hour. Cut into 9 or 16 squares.
Chocolate glaze. In a 1- to 2-quart pan over low heat, frequently stir 1/3 cup whipping cream and 1 cup (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Use warm.
Note: Nutritional analysis is per small brownie.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 195 (55% from fat)

Protein: 2.4g

Fat: 12g (sat 5.8)

Carbohydrate: 22g

Fiber: 1.1g

Sodium: 70mg

Cholesterol: 43mg

Recipe from: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipes/chocolate
Sunset, NOVEMBER 2003

Nigella's Spicy Christmas Cookies

 Photo by: Petrina Tinslay

I found this lovely recipe on http://www.bravotv.com/foodies/recipes/christmas-decorations

Ingredients

for the cookies:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon mixed ground spice
• 1–2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper (optional)
  
• scant ½ cup unsalted butter
• scant ½ cup dark brown sugar
• 2 large eggs beaten with 4 tablespoons honey

for the icing and trimmings:

• 2 cups confectioners’ sugar, (icing sugar) sifted
• 3 tablespoons boiling water
• gold or silver balls or sprinkles

Directions

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, mixed spice, and pepper in the processor. With the motor on, add the butter and sugar, then, slowly, the eggs and honey, though don’t use all of this liquid if the pastry has come together before it’s used up. Form two discs and put one, covered in plastic wrap or in a freezer bag, into the refrigerator while you get started on the other. Preheat oven to 325°F.
Dust a surface with flour, roll out the disc, also floured, to about 15 inches and cut out your Christmas decorations. Re-roll and cut out some more, setting aside the residue from this first disc, well covered, while you get on with rolling out the second. When you’ve got both sets of leftover clumps of dough, roll out and cut out again and keep doing so till all the dough’s used up. Now take a small piping tip and use the pointy end to cut out a hole just below the top of each cookie (through which ribbon can later be threaded to hang them).
Arrange on the baking sheets and cook for about 20 minutes: it’s hard to see when they’re cooked, but you can feel; if the underside is no longer doughy, they’re ready.
Transfer them to cool on a wire rack. Make up ordinary glace icing by mixing approximately 3 tablespoons of boiling water with the sifted confectioners’ sugar and stir till you’ve got a thin, glossy glaze. Ice the cold decorations using a teaspoon (the tip for dripping, the back for smoothing) and scatter sparkles or sprinkles as you like.

Notes

set of Christmas cutters
2 baking sheets, lined with parchment or wax paper or nonstick
florists’ ribbon for hanging

© 2001 Nigella Lawson

Mum's Pikelets

...this one's for you Katy!

 

Photo courtesy of photobucket.com

Mum's Pikelets

 Aussie Ingredients:

1 cup (150g)Self-Raising Flour (Sifted)
1 tablespoon caster sugar
Pinch of Salt
1 egg
3/4 cup (185ml) milk
1 dessertspoon of melted Butter
1/2 teaspoon of Bicarbonate of Soda
Approx. 2 tablespoons of boiled water

• Mix the sifted S/R flour, with a pinch of salt and sugar together.
• To the well beaten egg, stir in the milk
• Blend the water (still warm) and the melted butter 
• and then mix in the bicarbonate of soda.
• Combine the butter & water mixture with the egg/milk mixture
• Mix the liquids into the dry ingredients (the flour/sugar) and blend until smooth.
• Heat your greased pan, pour spoonfuls of batter into pan and wait until they start to bubble before you turn!
• Watch the heat and 'shake' the pan a little to prevent burning

Serve with jam and cream and voila!
For variety add sultanas to the dry mix - yum!

Simply Sweet - Incredible Cakes!!!!!!

courtesy photobucket.com

courtesy photobucket.com

courtesy photobucket.com

 courtesy photobucket.com

joesphotos402_photobucket.com

Chocolate Chestnut Roulade!!!

And if you thought you couldn't get enough chocolate....think again!!!

This Chocolate chestnut roulade is a rich chocolatey sponge cake rolled up with double cream and chestnut purée. Decorated with chocolate holly leaves, this makes an impressive centrepiece to your Christmas table. Rolling the sponge is fun - and imperfections are covered with icing sugar - so do try this at home.

Serves 8
Takes 1 hour to prepare, plus 1-2 hours cooling

Nutritional Information
Per serving:
523kcals
32.3g fat (16.6g saturated)
9.7g protein
52.2g carbs
50.1g sugar
0.3g salt

Ingredients

• Butter, for greasing
• 175g plain chocolate (no more than 50% cocoa solids), broken up
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 175g golden caster sugar, plus extra for dusting
• For the filling
• 200ml double cream
• 4 tbsp sweetened chestnut purée
• For the decoration
• Icing sugar, to dust
• 100g plain chocolate
• 10 fresh holly leaves
• 6 chocolate-coated almonds

Method: How to make chocolate chestnut roulade

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4.
Grease and line the base and sides of a Swiss roll tin (about 22 x 32cm) with baking paper.
2. Melt the chocolate in a bowl resting over a pan of simmering water – make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. Stir until smooth, then take off the heat. (Alternatively, melt in a microwave on medium power for 2-3 minutes.)
3. Put the egg yolks and sugar into a large bowl. Using an electric hand whisk, whisk for about 3-4 minutes, until pale, thick and creamy. Whisk in the melted chocolate. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks. Stir a little into the chocolate mixture to loosen, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites using a large metal spoon, until just combined. Pour into the lined tin and smooth out to the edges to fill. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until spongy to the touch.
4. Place a sheet of baking paper on the work surface and dust thickly with caster sugar. Cool the roulade for 10 minutes, then turn out onto the paper. Peel off the baking paper backing from the roulade, then cover with a clean sheet of baking paper and a damp tea towel. Leave for 1-2 hours to cool.
5. Meanwhile, make the filling. Whip the cream until it just holds its shape. Fold in the chestnut purée and whisk again until thick. Cut the edges off the roulade, spread with the chestnut cream, then roll up the sponge tightly, using the paper to help you. Don't worry if the crust sticks to the paper a little – the icing sugar will cover this.
6. Transfer to a flat serving plate. Dust thickly with sieved icing sugar.
7. To make the chocolate holly leaves, melt 100g plain chocolate in a bowl resting over a pan of simmering water – make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water. Stir until smooth, then take off the heat. Using a small paint brush, paint the chocolate over the dark green, shiny side of 10 small holly leaves. Leave to set, then coat again. Chill until firm. Carefully prise the holly leaves away from the chocolate, discard the leaves and place the chocolate shapes and some chocolate-coated almonds on top of the roulade.
© delicious. magazine

Ramsay's 4-minute Chocolate Mousse

...and even if it takes you 5 or 10 minutes, it's still a super delicious quick treat to impress your guests at anytime!

 

 

step 1Ingredients

Here's the recipe in British English,
and then followed with an American translation.

Ingredients

British instructions:

• 100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) broken up into pieces -
• 300ml double cream
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 large egg white
• chocolate shavings, to garnish
• 2 tbsp Amaretto or other liqueur (optional)

American instructions:

• 4oz bar of high-quality dark chocolate. 
• You'll use 7 of the 8 squares, and the 8th square you can shave for garnish (or munch on to keep your cravings at a minimum while whipping this up)
• 10oz heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup extra-fine granulated sugar (not powdered sugar!), or just grind up regular granulated sugar in a food processor or coffee grinder. Caster sugar is just really fine sugar. DO NOT USE POWDERED SUGAR
• 1 large egg white
• chocolate shavings, to garnish
• 2 tbsp Amaretto or other liqueur (optional)

step 2Cream + Chocolate

• Break the chocolate into small pieces and set aside.
• In a small saucepan, heat half of the cream until it begins to boil

Note: this happens faster if you preheat the saucepan before adding the cream

• Turn off the heat, add the chocolate pieces to the cream and stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
• Pour the mixture into a bowl set over a large bowl of iced water and add the rest of the cream and Amaretto, if using.
• Using a hand-held electric whisk, beat the mixture to soft peaks. 
• Remove the bowl from the iced water.

step 3Egg white + Sugar

• Separate egg white into a bowl

• Whisk the egg white with a hand-held electric beater until stiff peak.
  
  
• Add the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, and continue whisking to a soft meringue.

step 4Fold together and Devour

• Carefully fold the meringue through the chocolate mixture

• Then spoon or pipe into chilled serving glasses.
  
  
• Top with chocolate shavings or cookies or mint sprigs!
  
  
  
  
• Try not to eat the whole thing at once or you'll definitely be down after lunch for a 'nanna nap' and even worse still......you may require a trip to the local outpatients!!!

Tools

• Hand-held electric mixer
• Bowl inside another bowl filled with ice water
• Scale to measure ingredients
  
  
  
• Thanks to Scoochmaroo for the delicious photos and instructions!
  [Article taken from - http://www.instructables.com/member/scoochmaroo/]
  
  
• See Gordon Ramsay's original chocolate-mousse-recipe here
  courtesy of channel4.com
  
  .....and if you can't wait 4 minutes....try Nigella's instant mousse!!!
  
• Nigella's INSTANT chocolate MOUSSE!!!
  
  
  
  

   See more delectables from 'scoochmaroo' here: Instructables.com Chocolate Pie!
  

  
  

   

   

   

   

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Willie's Yummy 'out of this world' Chocolate Cake

Meet Willie my new Chocolate Hero!

&

Check out some of his famous Cacao recipes here

http://www.williescacao.com/cookbook/

 

Willie Harcourt-Couze is on a mission to educate the public in the delights of using top quality cacao/chocolate.

Passionate about growing, harvesting and processing his own cacao beans, and turning his chocolate dream into a reality when he took his family to the wilds of Venezuela, where Willie learnt to be a cacao farmer, and then back to the rolling hills of Devon, where they built a small chocolate factory and now make 100% Supreme Cacao and Delectable eating chocolate.

Willie's cloud forest chocolate cake made with 100 per cent cacao tastes out of this world.

I'm trying to find a better picture of this amazing chocolate cake, made with pure Cacao, but until I do...

here's Willie's (now famous) recipe....

Makes 1 x 25cm cake

Ingredients

• 180g cacao, finely grated
• 250g unsalted butter
• 125g golden caster sugar
• 50g light muscovado sugar
• 6 eggs
• 100g ground almonds

Method: How to make cloud forest chocolate cake

1. Preheat oven to 160ºC. Line a 25cm spring-formed cake tin with baking paper.
2. Melt the cacao and butter by placing them, along with half the caster sugar and all of the muscovado sugar in a large heat-proof bowl. Sit the bowl over a pan of simmering water.
3. Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the remaining caster sugar until they have tripled in size.
4. When the cacao and butter has melted, add the almonds and stir to combine.
5. Gradually fold the cacao mixture into the eggs. Tip the cake mix into the prepared tin.
6. Bake for 25 minutes, then leave to cool in the tin.
7. The cake can be iced by heating 500ml double cream with 150g caster sugar. Stir in 180g grated cacao, leave to cool and spread over the cake.


Channel 4 © 2009. Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of external websites.

Welcome to 'The Best Food on the Blog'

My Humble Pie!

I decided to start this Blog so I would have a place to collect and save all the yummy recipes and food ideas that I find on the World Wide Web.
There are so many incredible dishes, recipes, ingredients to choose from so I thought that I would just start a Blog so I could easily keep them all in one place!

Indulge & Enjoy!

Feel free to add to my list if you have any favourites!

Susi B