Sunday, November 17, 2013

Playing with Brownie!



One cannot resist the intense chocolatey mixed with buttery fume freshly from the oven.

I can sense the happiness as I wore my polka dots kitchen mitts and pulled the tray off the sturdy oven. Inserting in a toothpick at the center of the cake, my brownie was done. Unlike chiffon or roll cakes, waiting for the chunky brownie to cool down was unnecessary. I used a regular spatula to simply cut them into squares, placed them on a clean plate and topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Ultimately, a bit of cocoa powder for dusking.

Hot brownie + Vanilla ice cream + Whipped cream =  Formula from God.

Out of all bakeries, brownie is the safe play:
1. Everyone loves brownie
2. It can be served in almost every occasion- Christmas, V's day, or even birthday- truly a piece of joy.
3. It is easy to bake, unlike maracon, which requires all those miscellaneous steps.

Two things I want to cover in this entry: how to distinguish between awesome brownies and awful ones then how to twist your brownies to be even more delish and creative.

Since it is undeniably everyone's favorite, brownie is served in most bakeries and restaurant. I would not call myself an expert but I often feel disappointed when my order didn't turn out to be what I've expected. Some brownies are too fluffy and light like Betty Cocker's instant chocolate cake mix; some I can barely smell the butter. The only good thing I found from these kinds of brownie is the less calories. But what's the point of eating low fat bakery anyway?! If you already prepare yourself for extra calories, get the best one! For those who cannot imagine how fat a square of 5x5cm  brownie can be, I'll simply tell you the main ingredients: butter, sugar, cocoa powder (or chocolate in some cases), eggs, and flour. Brownie is one of the scariest threats for healthy diet. 

So, how should good brownies look like?



1. Dense and Moist 
Butter is doubled the amount of flour to make it dense and moist. Good brownie adds only a pitch of baking powder.

2. Chewy
Additional chocolate chips engender this magic.

3. Intensely chocolaty
50-70% cocoa powder is very preferable.

4. Light cracked crust
Lots of sugar- around 200 grams- makes the cracked crust. This would be a heaven on earth for ones who love sweet bakeries. However, I usually reduce the sugar to almost half of what the recipe calls for since vanilla ice cream is already too sweet. Thus, the cracked crust is not that necessary for one who prefer less sweet brownie.

For my best cocoa brownie recipe, visit my previous entry

peanut butter  walnut  pecan  cranberry  oreo


With this recipe you can always enjoy a little twists, making the classic interesting. After pouring the batter to the baking tray and paddling the spatula from side to side, you can top it with anything that goes well with chocolate. Here are some of my ideas.


assorted brownies


oreo


classic candies like mini Reese's peanut butter cup or chopped Snicker's bar would also be nice


mini Reese's white chocolate cup


Peanut butter


S'more brownie: Graham goldfish, marshmallow, and extra chocolate chip


Raspberry filling Ghirardelli


oreo  potato chip  popcorn


pecan


packed for giving out


three tiers brownie cake: potato chip, oreo, yogurt pretzel, white chocolate chip and pecan


Brownie Cheesecake: insert small pieces of brownie into cheese cake batter. Then bake it for 40 minutes and top it with brownie chunks


Matcha Greenie


Thai tea Thaiger bars
http://threesspoon.blogspot.com/2012/02/tiger-bars-thai-milk-tea-brownie.html

Thank you so much P'B+ for assigning me to update my baking blog ka :)

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Bento...fun way to eat :D

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Today my friends and I had a factory field trip outside of Bangkok for our Production course. It was in an early morning and the prof said that he would only provide us a meal each. One of my friends was kidding me on making her breakfast... well she didn't think that I would take it seriously. Guess what she knew me a little go... i ended up making these bentos at 5 in the morning.
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I named my 1st bento: Ms. Sunflower

such a cute name unlike our age studying in a junior year.

1.Japanese rice

2.Smoked salmon

3.Dashimaki Tamago (ไข่หวานม้วน)


4.Tempura

5.Wakame seaweed

6.Japanese Curry


wrap the cooked Japanese rice with plastic wrap in order to make it round.
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1.Japanese rice

2.Smoked salmon
3.Dashimaki Tamago (ไข่หวานม้วน)
4. Boiled egg

5.Wakame seaweed

6.Japanese Curry
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1.Japanese rice

2.Smoked salmon

3.Dashimaki Tamago (ไข่หวานม้วน)

4.Tempura

5.Wakame seaweed

6.Fried egg

7.seaweed

8.Unagi
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Sunday, March 4, 2012

Sushi Cake

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It's a cake but it's no bake...It's a cake but it's not sweet...It's a cake but it's so unusual!! Well, well, well it's a SUSHI CAKE! I kinda got this idea after craving for sashimi for a week. At the breaking point of my tolerance, I went straight to Gourmet Supermarket and bought a piece of salmon fillet. Planning to eat it sliced with wasabi and shoyu, I changed my mind and created an image of layers of Japanese this and that in a form of sushi cake.
YOU WILL NEED:
round cake pan with removable bottom
seaweed
Japanese rice
mirin
heavy syrup
Japanese vinegar
a pinch of salt
Dashimaki Tamago (ไข่ม้วน)
Wakame seaweed (ยำสาหร่าย)
Unagi (ปลาไหลญี่ปุ่น)
Ebiko (ไข่กุ้ง)
Salmon
Shrimp
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in a round cake pan with removable bottom:
1st layer: cut the seaweed in the circle and place it as the base of the cake
2nd layer: Japanese rice
3rd layer: Dashimaki tamago
4th layer: wakame seaweed
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5th: rounded seaweed
6th: Unagi
7th: Japanese rice
8th: Ebiko
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9th: sliced salmon
10th: boiled shrimp
then remove the cake from the cake pan

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Japanese Rice
cooked Japanese rice (about 2 cups)
1tbsp Japanese Vinegar
1tbsp mirin
1tbsp heavy syrup
a pinch of salt
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Dashimaki Tamago
2 large eggs
1 tsp soysauce (shoyu)
1tsp mirin
1tsp heavy syrup
1tbsp water
butter for buttering pan
1. mix everything together (carefully, no bubble)
2.Thinly coat a frying pan with butter. Wipe out the butter paper towel.
3. Pour 1/3 of the mixture into the frying pan, and spread it evenly by jiggling the pan.
4. After the surface of (3) hardens slightly, roll it up to one end of the frying pan.
Move the rolled egg to the opposite side and oil the bottom surface.
5. Add another 1/3 of (2) into the pan, and roll it up after the surface of (3) comes has hardened.
Repeat (5) with the last 1/3 of the mixture.
6. Pick up and let it cool and cut.
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you may use the sushi mat to roll the tamago
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Wakame seaweed
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unagi
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salmon fillet
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ebigo
HOW TO BOIL THE SHRIMPS
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in a very hot pot of hot water add in shrimps wait until they turned orange
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remove them from the heat and put them in iced cool water
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cut into pieces with sharp knife
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I happened to go to Viva's so why not give her some:)
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for her family :))
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eat them with lemon grass tea
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