Peppermint brownies

Is there anything more universal than chocolate brownies? Is there a person in the world who doesn’t love the crackly, slightly crunchy crust, chewy edges and squidgy, chocolaty, almost molten centre? It’s a good thing. Brownies are supposed to be intense, rich and overpowering. There’s nothing subtle about them, and decadence is the trademark of a brownie. Not to mention, brownies come with a side of nostalgia - who hasn’t tried making brownies as a child and almost burnt down the house? (that would be me..).

So last weekend, in a spontaneous brownie baking moment (if you know, you know) I decided to add one of my favourite ingredients to my brownie batter - peppermint! I love peppermint and dark chocolate together - it is a refreshing variation to a popular classic. PLUS - the best part is, you can use leftover brownie crumbs/chunks to make peppermint brownie vanilla ice cream - summer bonus, and a very appropriate dessert for this weather.

They taste like the brownie equivalent of after-eight and they don’t look any different than regular brownies so it comes as a pleasant surprise to someone who bites into one. They’re a crowd pleaser and up your popularity quotient if you take them to work the next day (LOL)

Ingredients:

• 500 g chocolate

• 250 g butter

• 4 eggs

• 1 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 cup flour + 1 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 3 tsp peppermint extract

• Crushed peppermint (optional)

Process

• In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and chocolate together until smoothly combined. Let cool.

• cream the eggs, sugar and vanilla in a bowl.

• Add the cooled chocolate and butter mixture and add peppermint extract & combine well.

• Add the flour mix one spoon at a time and mix well, but do not overmix.

• Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 30 - 35 minutes or until the top forms a flaky/crusty layer. The centre should not be wobbly.

• When done, take it out of the oven and let the brownies cool for about a half hour.

• Slice into squares, sprinkle with crushed peppermint and eat!

Classic Hot Chocolate (with video!)

It’s snuggle season guys – I don’t know about you but Delhi winter is my favourite time of the year. (I have been talking about the weather an awful lot haven’t i). The city is heavy with festivity, string lights, music and basically just good cheer and while whether that compensates for the traffic and smog is debatable, let’s at least acknowledge that festive season means we are officially allowed to eat as much comfort food as we want , GUILT NO BAR! Seriously – they even have a term for it – Holiday Weight. It is totally one hundred per cent legit, so toss your guilt in a box with your flip flops and shorts and label it ‘things I don’t have to deal with until summer’. ‘Nuff said. Anyway, nothing says COMFORT FOOD like hot chocolate in the winter amirite? Besides which, I am a strong proponent of the idea that chocolate really deserves as much attention, research and experimentation as is possible

Alice Medrich says that hot chocolate need not necessarily be the richest, thickest and creamiest because that steals attention from the flavour of chocolate – she recommends chocolate with milk and water (water!!) , but didn’t we grow up on a cup of creamy and milky hot chocolate loaded with thick whipped cream, and marshmallows and chocolate sauce ? So the dilemma is - what’s the real hot chocolate ?

[embed]https://vimeo.com/153621987[/embed]

Search #ProjectXHotChocolate on the blog and on Instagram (for sneak peaks) this whole winter to follow my experiments with hot chocolate, more theories (LOL), snuggly winter stories and some kickass recipes.

BUT FIRST – here’s my recipe of Classic Hot Chocolate – I swear by it.

1. Melt 25 gm of dark chocolate pieces (I use Ghiradelli 60 % cocoa) in saucepan, with 1 ½ tbsp. cocoa powder and ½ cup of milk. Stir over low heat until completely mixed and smooth.

1. Now remove from heat and add another ½ cup hot milk, 1 ½ tbsp sugar and 1/8th tsp salt.

1. Stir for about 2 -3 minutes until fully combined and frothy.

1. Whisk together some heavy cream and sugar to make your own whipped cream and dollop a spoonful on top.

1. Add a light sprinkle of dark chocolate shavings.

And TA-DAAAA!! The perfect hot chocolate.

More soon xxxx

Cinnamon rolls

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Why do people say ‘smells like food’ as though its necessarily a bad thing! Alright fine, nobody likes the smell of onions or rotten milk but how about acknowledging that food also brings us some of the most gorgeous fragrances ever? Imagine walking into a house that was oozing with the scents of cinnamon butter, freshly baked bread, hot from the oven. What part of that can you even complain about? Cinnamon is possibly one of the most delicious fragrances if you ask me – its rustic , honest, not-too-sweet-but-still-very-powerful-scent screams autumn. I could add cinnamon to everything (no, really – I use cinnamon scented candles. Im that person.)

Anyway, somewhere in the middle of last week, after an absolutely disastrous day in the kitchen (more about that later), I pulled out a recipe for what could be best described as the most comforting food of all time – Cinnamon rolled buns (you may have seen them on Instagram) !

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This was my first time using dry yeast and though I wont say it’s the easiest recipe in the world, I will say this: There is something immensely satisfying about perfectly risen dough and the plethora of possibilities that it brings. Since it’s just dough, you can use it for anything from cinnamon buns to bread to buns stuffed with minced meat. So feel free to experiment.

I used Nigella Lawson’s recipe from How To Be A Domestic Goddess – This is a book that a couple of my friends gave me for my birthday one year and that’s when I started baking, and I swear by it. (Its in shreds now).

Here’s the recipe:

The dough :

• 600g flour
• 100g sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 21g (3 sachets) instant dried yeast
• 100g butter
• 400mL milk
• 2 eggs

The cinnamon filling:

• 150g soft unsalted butter
• 150g sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
• And, 1 egg beaten for glazing.

Method:

1)      Preheat oven to 200°C

2)      Put flour, sugar, salt and yeast together in a large mixing bowl.

3)      In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, and melted butter.

4)      Mix the milk/egg/butter mixture into the flour mixture.

5)      Mix or knead until smooth and springy. (The dough will be sticky and will stubbornly cling to your hands so if you have an electric mixer with a dough hook, I recommend using that instead)

6)      Form dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave for 30 minutes to rise.

7)      Take one third of the dough and stretch or roll it out to cover a baking tray which has been lined with baking paper.

8)      Roll out the rest of the dough on a lightly floured surface

9)      Cover with the cinnamon butter – be generous here because you really want the cinnamon butter to be the star.

10)   Roll it up into a sausage and slice into 2cm slices, placing each slice on the dough base on your baking tray.

11)   Glaze with egg using a pastry brush.

12)   Leave for 15 minutes to rise.

13)   Put in the over for 20 – 25 mins.

14)   Put on a cooling rack, and then eat warm.

Also, here are six things you should know if you’re making these for the first timelike I was.

• Firstly, it could (it probably will) get really messy – but it’ll be worth it.
• Secondly, these are pull apart rolls so they will be stuck to each other when done and that’s fine.
• Thirdly – when you’re slicing the dough sausage and placing it on to the pan, it may look all smoodgy and not at all cooking-show worthy, but when it’s baked it’ll still smoothen out and look fantastic
• Fourth – the dough is just dough – you can even stuff it with Nutella if you like (I did a little experimental batch).
• Fifth – Eating this warm & fresh is the only way this should be eaten. If you’re eating it the next day, heat it a little first.
• Finally, I promise this is completely worth every minute of your time. Happy fall and happy baking !

xxxx