Hanim Cooks!

10 Minute Chocolate Cake.

The best thing ever if you feel like having a quick fix. I cannot stress more on how easy this recipe is. The texture is in between spongy and fudgy with melted chocolate in the middle. 

Ingredients

4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp cocoa powder or Milo
4 tbsp sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp melted butter
1/3 cup chocolate buttons (optional)

Method

Brush the inside on a ramekins (or microwave-able mug). Mix everything except for chocolate buttons in a bowl using a fork, mix well. Pour the batter half way up the ramekins, fill it with generous amount of chocolate buttons and top it off with the batter until it reaches just below the top of the ramekins. Microwave it on high for 3 minutes. Let cool, transfer it onto a plate. If you want, dust it with icing sugar, serve it with jam of your choice or with vanilla ice cream.

Note: You can keep the cake in the fridge up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave on high for 1.5 minutes.

Brownie Cupcake With Peanut Butter Frosting.

I was in the mood to bake and I want to eat chocolate and peanut butter. So I made this. No story behind it, not sure what triggered the craving too. Maybe Resse’s Peanut Butter Cups. Very dense and chocolaty with a hint of saltiness from the peanut butter, just the way I like it.

Ingredients

Brownie

1/3 cup butter
1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate buttons
85 g unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Frosting

1 1/2 cup icing sugar
250 g cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup smooth peanut butter, room temperature
1/2 chopped salted peanuts, optional

Method

Preheat oven to 175 degree Celsius. Line 10 medium size cupcake tin with cupcake liners. Sieve flour, set aside. Combine butter, 1/2 cup chocolate buttons and unsweetened chocolate in a heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water (or double boiler if you have one). Stir until mixture melts smoothly. 

Remove from heat, transfer it onto a large mixing bowl. Whisk in brown and caster sugar into the mixture, then whisk in 1 egg at a time while whisking. Mix vanilla essence, flour, salt and remaining chocolate buttons.

Divide batter among prepared cupcake cups. Fill about 3/4 of the cup. Bake cupcakes about 30 minutes or until the toothpick inserted come out with moist crumbs attached. Transfer cupcakes onto rack and let cool completely.

To make the frosting, whisk all the ingredients except chopped peanuts using an electric mixer. You can either use a frosting bag to create effects or just slather it on with a spoon or knife and smooth the edges. Drizzle chopped peanuts onto cupcakes.

Bread and Butter Pudding.

When you need easy comfort food, bake this. You can never make any mistakes with the recipe. It’s one of the dessert that I first learned to bake using my mom’s Betty Crocker recipe book published back in the 70’s (and we still have it, though tattered). Enjoy!

• 8 slices bread
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 1/2 cups milk, scalded*
• 1/2 cup raisin
• Pinch of salt

Heat oven to 175 degree celsius. Butter a medium sized casserole. 

Toast the bread, spread butter and sprinkle a bit of sugar and cinnamon. Cut into squares and arrange the bread in the casserole, butter side up. Sprinkle raisins.

In a bowl, beat egg together with salt, sugar and vanilla. Stir in milk and pour over bread.

Place casserole in a pan of very hot water about an inch deep. Cover casserole lightly with aluminium foil, bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for another 30 minutes or until toothpick/knife inserted from edge of casserole comes clean. Cover with foil if tops get too browned. 

Alternative: Replace bread with croissant and raisins with chocolate chip for a different twist to the original recipe. 

*Scaled milk means heating the milk just before it reaches boiling point.

You can trust her. I can vouch for it. 

goddessofscrumptiousness:

The Makings of a Perfect Brownie:

1) A perfect brownie should be crunchy on top that the surface cracks the minute you sink your teeth into it.

2) The texture should be chewy and moist and fudge-like that the act of chewing every morsel of it is equally pleasurable as that of having a foodgasm.

3) A perfect brownie should never contain any leavening agents such as bicarbonate of soda or baking powder (unless you want a cake-like brownie, then I believe one should just eat cake instead). Any brownie recipe that includes these sacrilegious additions is well, a sacrilege!

4) The proper mixing of all the brownie ingredients is also a factor. If you just mix all the ingredients together and dump everything into a baking pan, the brownie top won’t be as crunchy, unlike when you separate the egg whites from the yolks, beating the whites with sugar just until thick and frothy, much like a runny meringue before mixing with the rest of the ingredients is the secret to a crunchy top… I promise!

5) And lastly, of course a perfect brownie should taste like it is blessed by a Mayan god cacao connoisseur. It should be ooh-ing and screaming chocolate. So use the best quality chocolate bar or cocoa powder.

Crunchy Top Fudge Brownies

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup good quality cocoa powder (I use a German brand cocoa powder -Heintz, you can use a Dutch-processed cocoa powder… means it is alkalized)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 cups granulated sugar

4 eggs (medium), separated

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups dark chocolate chips

*2 cups whole walnuts (optional)

Procedure: 

Preheat oven to 350’F. Line a 9”x13” rectangle baking pan with baking parchment.

- Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over low heat. When melted, remove from heat and add cocoa powder, mix until smooth.

- Add brown sugar, salt, vanilla, egg yolks and flour. Set Aside.

- Using a hand mixer/wire whisk/stand mixer, beat egg whites until frothy. Then slowly add the granulated sugar until meringue gets into a soft peak stage.

- Fold the meringue mixture into the chocolate mixture. Then mix in the dark chocolate chips and walnuts (optional).

- Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour or until when toothpick inserted in the center of the brownie comes out with moist crumbs (not wet brownie batter).

- Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then lift from the baking pan and cut into 24 square pieces. Cool cut brownies on wire racks.

- Store in an air tight container. Laid flat and layers separated by parchment paper.

Makes 2 dozens

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Cinnamon Rolls.

I made this sweet, sweet delicious buns for my friend’s tea party.

The recipe is simple but the explanation is a bit lengthy - only so that you’ll get it right.

Just thought I let you know that the recipe calls for yeast so naturally you will need to spare some time to let the dough rise. Don’t make this if you are in a hurry. 

Serve ‘em warm.