Ever since I changed my old microwave and bought a new one with Convection facility, I've been telling myself that I would bake soon (a.k.a tomorrow). Well, it was really a case of If tomorrow comes! I had one reason after the other to put it off... first I said I did not have baking utensils... so S took me to a store and I purchased all of that. Then I said I don't have the ingredients... and well, in the last 2-3 visit to the supermarkets and BrownTree (a store similar to Nuts and Spices) I managed to get more ingredients than required , then I said I was researching on good recipes, kept searching online, ordered for a Sanjeev Kapoor book from Landmark and then my chant was that I did not have time.. finally, S started taunting me about the baking, so I decided to shut his mouth by baking something. I decided to make a brownie, as it was the easiest and it is something I love the most. This recipe is from Sanjeev Kapoor's Cakes and Bakes and I have followed it religiously because I read somewhere that the success to baking lies in using the exact quantity and measure of ingredients.
So here is how this brownie is made:
Ingredients:
- Dark Cooking Chocolate - 100gms
- Refined Flour - 1 cup
- Baking Powder - 1 tsp
- Butter - 90 gms
- Caster Sugar - 3/4 cup
- Eggs - 2
- Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
- Walnut - Peeled and chopped - 1/2 cup
- Butter for greasing the tray
Method:
- Sift the flour and baking powder together
- Double boil the chocolate and butter together (Here is how I did it - I used one huge vessel to boil water, placed the chocolate and butter in a smaller vessel and lowered it inside the vessel of boiling water. Make sure that the water does not enter the smaller container with the chocolate and butter. It should take around 10 minutes for the chocolate to get melted)
- Meanwhile, beat the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla essence to blend well.
- Mix the sifted flour and walnuts to this mixture.
- Add the melted chocolate and butter and fold in well.
- Preheat the oven to 180 ° C.
- Grease the baking tray with butter and pour the batter in it.
- Bake at 180 ° for 40-45 minutes.
- Place on a wire rack to cool.
- Upturn into a plate, cut and serve.
And that is how my first baking attempt was :-). The biggest credit I received is that my young daughter loved it and had one piece fully (its otherwise a huge challenge to get her to eat). So I am guessing I made it pretty well :)
That's it from me for now. Please leave notes/tips on baking so that I can use it to hone this side of my culinary instinct.
Method:
