Brazilian brigadeiro

Its time to say good - bye to Norway !! The memories of this beautiful place and its even more beautiful people will remain with me forever. Norway is even more special to me since I baked something for the first time here and of course, I began bogging here :) …reason enough to fall in love with this country.

Now that I am on a kitchen cleaning spree, I am finding so many ingredients to be used. I had some cocoa powder, a can of condensed milk and some chocolate sprinklers from my last baked cake. I made a mental note of combining all these and coming up with something ( I was confident that nothing could go wrong when you are using cocoa powder ). Little did I know that this “something” actually had a name and quite a fancy one at that ….”Brazilian brigadiers”..a name which is enough to intimidate anyone…But as fancy and difficult as it sounds, it is a breeze to make.

 The recipes of these chocolate bonbons spread all over the web are more or less the same with few variations. The authentic recipe uses chocolate sprinklers for decoration but you can use whatever you like…so get creative and get some colored sprinklers, desiccated coconut or also sliced nuts of your choice.

Ingredients :

Sweetened condensed milk - 1 can ( 397 gms approx)
Unsweetened cocoa powder ( I use Valrhona )  - 4 tbsp
Unsalted butter - 3 tbsp
Salt - a pinch
Chocolate sprinklers ( or any other toppings of your choice )

Method :

Heat the condensed milk, butter, cocoa powder and salt in a heavy bottom pan over medium flame. Stir the mixture continuously to avoid burning. Cook until you get a thick sticky mixture and you find it difficult to stir it anymore. This might take around 10 - 12 minutes. Let the mixture cool on a plate till just warm. Slightly damp your hands and make small balls from the mixture. Roll the balls in chocolate sprinklers so that they get coated with the sprinklers on all sides. DONE !! 

Katherine hepburn brownies

Hello readers…I haven’t been blogging much in the past few days…a lot happening around which is keeping me occupied but that doesn’t deter me from being on the lookout for some interesting recipes which I can cook/ bake and more importantly, blog about :)

One such browsing session brought me to this brownie recipe which by its name, sounded quite interesting !! I just had to bake these beauties and was waiting for the right time ( though there isn’t any right time to bite into chocolate…chocolate is for ANYTIME and EVERYTIME..I can imagine chocolate lovers smiling out there :) ) . Ok, so the right time came soon. Some friends planned a get - together and I decided to bake these for them. 

They are so dense and chocolate-y. I just couldn’t stop at one ( err…four actually ). You will not either..Don’t trust me ? Bake them and then see… You can thank me later…just kidding : )..Do check out my other brownie recipes as well…Mocha brownie and Cocoa brownie

Credits : Joy of baking
Makes - 16 brownies

Ingredients :
Unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped - 60 gms ( 2 ounces )
Unsalted butter, cut into pieces - 113 gms ( 1/2 cup )
Granulated white sugar - 200 gms ( 1 cup )
Eggs - 2 large
Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp
All purpose flour (maida) - 30 gms ( 1/4 cup )
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Chopped walnuts or pecans ( optional ) - 100 gms ( 1 cup )

Method :
1.  Get some things ready  - Preheat oven to 325º F or 165º C and place rack in the center of the oven.
Grease an 8 inch ( 20 cms ) square baking pan with butter and dust some flour or line with parchment paper ( I used a slightly bigger pan and hence the flat brownies ).
2.  Melt the chocolate and butter by placing it in a heat-proof bowl kept on a pot of simmering  water (double broiler method).
3. Remove from the flame and mix in the sugar.
4. Then stir in the vanilla extract and add the eggs one by one. Whisk well to incorporate after each addition.
5.  Finally, stir in the flour, salt and nuts , if using.
6.  Pour this batter into the pan and bake for about 30 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
7.  Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack before cutting into pieces.

Linking this recipe to “Bake fest “ hosted by Palachinka flagged off by Vardhini of Cook’s joy