![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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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
Source: goddessofscrumptiousness
Tex - Mex Fried Chicken and Sweet Corn Mini Pancakes with Maple Syrup
My take on Chicken N’ Waffles. And one of my comfort foods.
Source: goddessofscrumptiousness
Quick Saffron and Seafood Rice with Chorizo
In a way, this is very similar to Paella, but I do not want to call this even a Quick Paella because I strayed away from the traditional and complete ingredients of the proud Spanish dish and well, I don’t want my dear friend Laura who is very Spanish and the one who sent me the packets of saffron powder I used in this dish to disown me… which I know won’t happen, because she loves me no matter what. But then she is Spanish and I don’t want to commit any sacrilege towards their national dish.
I made this just a couple of hours ago for Saturday night family dinner. And I cooked this as quickly as I can because after a day of cleaning house I just want a very speedy yet quite special dish to serve to my family.
I used basmati rice and omitted tomatoes or any tomato by-product, it’s the reason why I cannot, for the life of me call this Paella… anyways, this tastes delish and whole family was happy.
Ingredients:
3 cups basmati rice
6 cups hot chicken stock
pinch of saffron threads or pinch of saffron powder
(in my case, I used one small sachet of saffron powder equivalent to a pinch as well)
1/2 pound large shrimps, shelled and deveined
1/2 pound squid, cut into 1/2 inch rings
1/2 cup pitted green olives
1 foot long link of chorizo, medium dice
1 large white onion, small dice
6 cloves garlic, minced
juice of half a lemon (to marinate shrimps and squid rings)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (for frying chorizo as well as sauteing the onions and basmati rice)
2 tablespoons butter (for sauteing the garlic, shrimps and squid separately)
salt and pepper to taste
lemon wedges (to serve on the side)
1/2 cup parsley, coarsely chopped (to sprinkle on top)
Procedure:
- Marinate shrimps and squid in lemon juice, salt and fresh cracked black pepper for 5 minutes.
- Put the saffron threads or saffron powder in hot chicken stock, stir and set aside.
- Place a large skillet (preferably a skillet with a bit of height) over medium heat and add olive oil. Fry diced chorizo until a bit of the fat renders in the pan and mixes in with the olive oil tinting it with a gorgeous red-orange colour. Remove fried chorizo bits from the oil and set aside.
- Add onions into the tinted oil and saute until soft. Add basmati rice and saute for 5 minutes just barely toasting it. And then pour the saffron infused hot chicken stock.
- Wait about 2 minutes for the mixture to boil before reducing heat to low to simmer for 15-20 minutes or until rice is done (either preferred al dente or just perfectly tender but not mushy and overcooked).
- While the rice gently cooks, place a skillet over high heat, add butter and garlic. Saute garlic until fragrant and soft (but not browned) and add the marinated shrimps and squid along with the green olives. Saute for 3 minutes or until shrimp curls up and turns orange (do not over cook shrimps and squid or both will be tough and chewy… which will just ruin the dish). Set the sauteed seafood aside (still in the skillet).
- When rice is almost done, add the fried chorizo nuggets and sauteed shrimps and squid rings along with the bit of pan juices rendered. Toss the mixture with two forks.
- Top with chopped parsley.
- Serve with lemon wedges on the side.
Makes 8 servings
Feliz Comiendo!
Source: goddessofscrumptiousness
HOT MADRAS CHICKEN CURRY
The Madras curry originated from the South of India and got its name from the city of Madras, now known as Chennai.
This type of curry has its origins in Hindu and authentic recipes for this were usually vegetarian, but it also can be definitely made with any meat.
A prominent characteristic of this particular curry mix is it is hotter than most curry mixes and the orange-red colour of it. The addition of some tomato puree into this dish also imparted not only another depth of reddish glow but also some more savoury richness in taste.
One can definitely make this completely vegetarian by replacing meat with cauliflower and aubergines, or also chickpeas along with the potatoes and carrots.
Ingredients:
1 kilo chicken thighs (salt and pepper to season/marinade chicken)
1/4 cup canola oil (2 tablespoons for pan-searing the chicken, 2 tablespoons to saute aromatics)
1 head garlic, minced
2 large white onions, chopped
1 tablespoon ginger, chopped fine
4 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
1 cup tomato puree
2 tablespoons hot Madras curry mix
2 large potatoes, large dice
2 carrots, large dice
- Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and pan-sear in canola oil until lightly golden and meat is caramelized. Place on a dish. And add the remaining canola oil in the pan.
- Saute ginger, onions and garlic then add the hot Madras curry powder mix.
- Put back the seared chicken thighs. Add the potatoes, carrots, tomato puree and chicken stock. Bring to a boil then lower heat to simmer the stew for 45 minutes or until root vegetables are tender and stew is thickened. Season with salt to taste.
- Serve with plain boiled rice, Indian chapatis or Naan.
Makes 6-7 servings
Source: goddessofscrumptiousness
Poached Mussels in Ginger, Shallots, Garlic and White Wine Broth
I find that there is always something comforting about sinking my teeth into a golden, crunchy and garlicky-buttery toasted bread and then immediately follow this act, without even a moment’s hesitation, slurping a spoonful of flavourful broth headily infused with the spiciness of ginger, mild and timid oniony nuance of shallots and pungent punch of garlic all melded with the light and clean taste of the sea provided by the juices of plump and meaty mussels which was finally rounded off with the earthy fruitiness of dry white wine… why, just imagining the act of eating such a meal itself is already a mouthful of heaven really.
The garlic bread that accompanied this dish is very simple to make. I used Ciabatta bread which I sliced in halves.
The secret to making the most flavourful and garlicky garlic bread is to start with a cold sauce pan and into it add softened butter along with finely minced garlic. Melt and saute the mixture over medium heat until the heady scent of garlic permeates the air and it gets soft but not browned.
Remove the sauteed mixture from heat and add chopped parsley.
Spoon and spread the garlicky melted butter on slices of ciabatta (or french bread/baguette) and toast in a 350’F preheated oven for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown and crunchy.
For the Poached Mussels
Ingredients:
2 pounds of mussels
6 shallot bulbs, sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
half a golf ball size of ginger, sliced thinly
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
250ml dry white wine
250ml water
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped parsley
lemon wedges (to serve on the side)
Procedure:
Soak the mussels in cold and clean water. Sort, debeard and scrape off any barnacles left on the shells. Discard the mussels that haven’t closed.
Take a large pan with a lid. Into the pan over medium heat, add the butter and saute the aromatics (ginger, shallots and garlic) then add the dry white wine and water. Simmer broth for 5 minutes just to develop flavour.
Tumble the mussels into the broth and poached (over low heat… gentle bubbles… closed lid) for 5-6 minutes. Shake pan around as the mussels cook.
The mussels should have opened when you lift the lid. Discard any mussels that haven’t opened.
*Basic principle in dealing with mussels is, when raw and after soaking, discard opened ones. When cooked, discard unopened ones.
Before serving, sprinkle with chopped parsley and place lemon wedges all around the serving dish/bowl to squeeze over and add citrusy brightness in the broth.
Makes 4 servings
Source: goddessofscrumptiousness
Poached Mussels In Ginger, Shallots, Garlic and White Wine Broth
Source: goddessofscrumptiousness
Rustic Style Roasted Potatoes with Roasted Garlic Chips and Sea Salt
I like the fact that I can always count on good old spuds to save dinner for me. I know that this is a side dish but most of the time a serving of roasted potatoes already is my entire meal on nights when I end up not having anything fancy to cook or I just feel lazy and just want a carb-cozy looking after.
This is a very simple, no-fuss roasted potato recipe anyone can obviously serve as a side dish or something you can tumble on a plate with maybe a drizzle of sour cream, pierce with your fork, munch on in front of the tv (I love that aside from the crisp garlic chips, the sea salt also adds crunch into every morsel of spud) and wash down with a glass of wine… just saying!
Ingredients:
2 large potatoes, scrubbed, unpeeled, and cut either into 1-inch triangles or medium diced, then par-boiled in lightly salted water
5 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Fresh or dried herbs like thyme and rosemary (optional)
cracked black pepper
coarse sea salt
2 Tablespoons chopped parsley
sour cream (on the side and optional)
Procedure:
Preheat oven to 375’F. Line a baking sheet with either foil or parchment paper (for easy clean-up).
-In a mixing bowl, place par-boiled potatoes, thinly sliced garlic, extra virgin olive oil and season with cracked black pepper. Toss everything together until all the pieces of potatoes and slivers of garlic are coated with the olive oil.
-Spread the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet.
-Roast for 25-30 minutes or until potatoes are tender and golden, and the slices of garlic turn into crunchy chips.
-While still fairly warm, sprinkle chopped parsley and season (to taste) with coarse sea salt.
Makes 3-4 servings
Source: goddessofscrumptiousness
A Minty Sugar Rush : Pretty in Pink Dinner Mints
I’ve always been in love with dinner or butter mints. It is that refreshing taste of peppermint and the spontaneous disintegration of it the moment I pop the candy in my mouth are the reasons why I am quite addicted with these.
I also have fond memories of dinner mints in my childhood. I remember one time I was babysitting my 2 year old cousin all alone (I was 11 years old that time) and I got hungry, well not that dinner mints can satisfy hunger, but I was looking for something to occupy my mouth as well as needed some energy booster to keep up with a bouncy toddler. So I happened upon a flat and round tin of dinner mints my aunt kept inside her China cabinet. I was only supposed to eat 3 small pieces but I got hooked with the melt-in-the-mouth sensation of those mints that I realized I ate more than half of the contents of the tin. Anyways, I was babysitting pro bono back then (yes, I was already a cousin-babysitter since I was 7 years old so I was actually already a professional by the age of 11, though it was always pro bono babysitting jobs for all my aunts and uncles) and so my aunt just ended up giving me the whole tin as my reward.
Last week, I was browsing through my disqus comments because I occasionally receive comments from other food bloggers from different platforms. And Blogspot’s Wilde In The Kitchen posted a lovely comment on my bread pudding post.
I am always very grateful whenever other food bloggers stop by to visit my blog, and so I also make an effort to visit their blogs whenever I can.
Vicki @ Wilde in the Kitchen makes wonderful candies, and if you visit her blog, she even has a Candy Collection link tab where I saw her fantastic Pillow Mints.
I adapted her recipe which she originally sourced from the book Sweet Confections. I think the recipe is simple, fool-proof and very kid-friendly that families can make this candy recipe over the weekends and just have fun rolling minty sugar dough and forming it into any tiny shapes.
I did a bit of adjustment with the original recipe, reducing the amount of butter in half because the weather where I am is too hot and humid and there is no way these mints will ever dry up the way I want them to be if I put the specified amount of butter required in the recipe. And I must say, these mints turned out equally great and melts in the mouth just the same, though you can always follow this recipe from Vicki’s blog.
Pretty In Pink Dinner Mints
Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1 teaspoon peppermint extract (I used peppermint oil)
1 drop of red food color (or whatever color you prefer to make two-toned marbled mints)
Procedure:
In a mixing bowl, mix together sifted confectioner’s sugar, heavy cream, butter and peppermint extract. Mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until it forms into a soft dough.
Divide the sugar dough into two, one half will be tinted with a drop of red food color to produce a pink colored dough and the other half will remain white.
Individually roll out the white and pink sugar doughs then place the pink rolled out dough over the white one. Fold into thirds like a book (left, middle and right), fold the right side over the middle then fold the left side over the right. Roll the now two-toned dough into a fat cylinder and cut into 3. Roll each third into 3/4-inch (diameter) ropes then cut into 1/2-inch pieces to which you either shape the pieces into pillows, squares or balls.
Place the shaped dinner mints on a baking tray and air dry overnight.
Store in tins or loose lid jars.
Tip: I placed the mints on a baking rack to dry so that the air can also circulate from under making the candy dry out evenly.
Makes about 3 1/2 dozens
Source: goddessofscrumptiousness
Basking in the warm summer sun and relishing the sweetness of Orange, Maple and Walnut Pudding
As I’ve mentioned a few times now, I love shooting food in natural light. Not only do I capture food in its natural beauty but it saves me a lot of time with the editing process.
These days I am shooting food either by the window or outdoors (not necessarily in direct sunlight, but somewhere nicely lit at the same time shaded).
More than the number of times I mentioned my fondness for shooting in natural light is the number of times I declared, and announced quite proudly, my absolute love of stale bread. I mean of course freshly baked bread is always the best to appease most people’s discerning carbohydrate cravings, but for me, I can do much more delicious dishes and make much more humble uses for stale bread other than smearing butter or pb & jam on slices of its fresh-out-of-the-oven counterpart.
With stale bread I make breadcrumbs (even better, I make my own seasoned breadcrumbs) to use as binders and extenders for meatloaf and meatballs, as breading for deep-fried dishes like schnitzels (scallopine) and to make crunchy toppings for baked mac and cheese, potato gratin and casseroles.
If I am not blitzing the semi-dry bread into crumbs, I occasionally end up making croutons and butter and sugar snack toasties (my mother’s fav to eat with coffee). But of all the possible and palatable things I can make with stale bread, making it into bread pudding (with dozens of varieties/flavors) is my most looked forward and much more pleasurable plan that is always already mapped out anytime my house is over-stocked with bread.
I found a page from my all-time favorite book Simple Pleasures : Soothing Suggestions & Small Comforts for Living Well All Year Round. The topic is about Comfort Foods and specifically how a most humble Bread and Butter Pudding can caress a most homesick heart.
“Bread pudding may be the all-purpose comfort food that is easiest to reproduce. It has inspired everyone from Leon Lianides of New York’s legendary Coach House restaurant to Marion Cunningham, who updated The Fanny Farmer Cookbook. (Cunningham pointed out that bread pudding was a “great pacifier” for boarding school students for generations- sometimes the only decent dish in the dining hall.)” - (Spring Chapter : Friends and Family, p.41)
Ingredients:
8 slices Egg & Milk Loaf bread (can also use brioche), sliced into triangle halves
4 large eggs
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup half and half (1:1 milk + cream)
1/3 cup melted unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
zests of 1 orange
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup light brown sugar + 1 teaspoon cinnamon (to sprinkle over bread pudding before baking)
Procedure:
- Preheat oven to 350’F. Brush butter onto an oven/baking dish.
- Layer and overlap the bread slices in the buttered baking dish.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs, maple syrup, sugar, half and half, melted butter, vanilla, orange zests, salt and walnuts.
- Pour the egg mixture over the arranged slices of bread in the baking dish. Let the bread soak up the egg mixture, about 30 minutes.
- Mix the light brown sugar and cinnamon together. Sprinkle the mixture over the unbaked bread pudding. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until bread pudding is puffed-up and golden.
- Serve warm.
Makes 5-6 servings
Source: goddessofscrumptiousness
Orange, Maple and Walnut Bread Pudding (unbaked)
I am very happy about how this bread pudding shoot turned out. All the lighting and the warm glow in this photograph were courtesy of the warm summer late afternoon sunlight.
I did not do any color correction or tweaking on this photo other than adjusted the size of it.
Not only that natural light made this bread pudding gorgeous in this photo, but it caught the natural bright yellows and orange hues of all the ingredients there is in this dessert dish of mine.
Source: goddessofscrumptiousness
Spicy Onion Rings
These thin, crispy and spicy onion rings are very addictive specially paired either with iced tea or a very very cold beer.
But as much as I enjoyed frying then eating this bar food, I equally enjoyed photographing the raw onions on my cutting board.
Ingredients:
2 large yellow onions or if Vidalia Onions are available, those are much preferred, cut crosswise into 1/8-inch slices
1/2 cup tempura (batter) flour, for dredging the onion rings
2 cups tempura (batter) flour, this can be purchased at Japanese or Asian food store
1 teaspoon cayenne powder
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cups ice cold water
1 qt. canola oil, for deep frying
Procedure:
- Separate the onion slices into rings. Place the 1/2 cup of tempura flour in a ziploc bag. Put the onion rings inside the ziploc and shake to evenly coat the onion rings.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the tempura flour, cayenne, sweet paprika and salt. Add the ice cold water into the spiced flour mixture and whisk until the batter is free of lumps.
- Put the oil in a large heavy pan with high sides and heat to 375’F. Place paper towels all over a baking sheet.
- Remove the onion rings from the ziploc bag and shake off excess flour.
- Dip onion rings in the spiced tempura batter a handful batch at a time.
- Use a kitchen tong to pick up each ring from the batter to place in hot oil (do not overcrowd the pan to avoid the oil from dropping its temperature).
- Use a slotted (or perforated) spoon to fish-out the fried onion rings.
- Place on the baking tray lined with paper towels to drain excess oil.
To Serve:
- Place in a basket lined with parchment paper/paper towels.
Dip Suggestions:
- ketchup
- sriracha hot sauce
- Asian sweet-chili sauce
- sriracha + mayonnaise
- sour cream + onion soup mix
- mayonnaise + lemon juice + tiny pinch of saffron powder
- curry powder + mayonnaise + mango chutney
- sour cream + chopped chives
- queso fundido or nacho cheese sauce
- nacho cheese sauce + salsa
Makes 3-4 servings
Source: goddessofscrumptiousness
