Almond flour blondies

Blondies are like the cousins of brownies. Though without the cocoa or chocolate used in brownie batters. blondies are every bit as rich and delicious as their chocolatey counterpart.

These unintentionally gluten-free blondies turned out to be one of my favourite blondies-brownies recipe! I usually like my brownies fudgy-chewy, and these almond flour blondies fulfil the requirements of being dense, moist and chewy. Almond flour has been used frequently in baking as a gluten-free flour substitute. With its reputation of being high in protein, low in carbohydrates and sugars, almond flour has been a popular alternative to wheat flour.

As mentioned, there is no special reason why these blondies are gluten-free or grain-free; it just happened that I have almond flour sitting in the baking pantry. And I guess it wouldn't hurt to have seemingly healthier treats! :p 

The almond flour made the blondies more dense and grainier than it would be if I had used plain flour. If you are using plain flour in this recipe, just substitute almond flour 1:1 with plain flour. For a little extra crunch, walnuts or pecans can be added.

Slice the brownies into bars/squares to serve, or into bite-sizes as I prefer. Or if it's just for your consumption, go ahead and eat it out of the dish!

What?

• 50 g butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips ( I used a mix of dark, milk and white)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts, if desired (e.g. walnuts, pecans)

How?

1. Cream the butter and sugars together. Add in egg and vanilla extract and mix until light and fluffy.
2. Add in the almond flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until combined.
3. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.
4. Pour the batter into a greased baking dish and smooth it out. 
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degC for 20-25 minutes until golden. Leave it to cool (or not!) before serving!

Adapted from: Meaningful eats

Rocky road brownies

It is suddenly Spring!

Just two weeks ago it was blustery and cold, I found myself scrapping ice off my windscreen. It was a pain - but look at the pretty crystallisation! :)

In the midst of grumbling over how chilly it (still) was, I've let Spring come unnoticed. I pondered how I could have not seen the blooms, how I could have missed those. 

It seems that I've allowed negativity to overcome (or even consume!) me in mere moments that I've missed the good things happening around me. 

Like every season, "this too shall pass", and every obstacle encountered is but only a temporary hindrance. I shall look for the positive lesson in every situation and move on. And have some brownies. :)

What?

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp coffee powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 120 g butter, melted
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used 1/4 brown sugar, 1/4 caster sugar)
• 3/4 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup nuts (I used pecan)
• 1/2 cup mini marshmallows
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

How?

1. Stir eggs, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, coffee powder and vanilla essence until combined.
2. In a separate bowl, stir in sugar to melted butter. When butter is warm (not hot), add it too the cocoa mixture. Stir until smooth.
3. Add flour to the batter and stir until just combined.
4. Add nuts, marshmallows and chocolate chips and stir until fully incorporated.
5. Spread batter into pan lined with parchment paper and baked at 180 degC for 20-30 minutes. The batter should be moist but not wet.
6. Remove from oven and top with more marshmallows and drizzle with chocolate if desired! Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Caramel brownies

At some point in time, we would all need some perking up or some kinda short respite. For some, relief from an exhausting work day would mean to head home to the comfort of the sofa and the tv; Oddly for some people, doing the household chores and keeping the home spotless bring them much satisfaction and unimaginable joy (ya really unimaginable to me...) Perk-ups can come pretty random, from a planned dose of adrenaline from coffee to finding an expected piece of chocolate. Or a piece of cake. Or a brownie.

Or two.

These are my fudgy caramel infused brownies. If you look closely you can probably see the loving goodness oozing out.

Packaged as a gift.

Saved a couple for my mom and a dear friend.

Hope you enjoy eating it as much as I did making it. (:

Cheesecake brownie

For mommy's birthday this year, we decided to stay in and have dinner at home. We had steamboat for dinner and despite the fact that the cooking was carried out as we eat, there was a lot of preparation work to be done prior to dinner time. This meant that I didn't get any kitchen space until 1-2 hours before everyone returned home - I had just enough time to whip up a brownie cheesecake. Chocolate and cheese, 2 of mom's favorite flavors.

A simple brownie recipe was used to make the base, topped with cream cheese and some swirling with a knife for marbling effect. As an afterthought, some chocolate chips in the brownie would be nice to further enhance the fudginess.

And so it was a pleasant night with home-prepared dinner, after-meal soccer-watching, a birthday song and some cheesecake. Simple and warm.