Hello to all,
This is my equivalent of the festive gift - I'm afraid that the measurements
are a bizarre blend of metric and imperial. This is because my normal
kitchen spoons are sized so that a heaped spoon of flour is 1oz, and a level
spoon of sugar is 1oz. Sorry.
This year's recipe is.......
White Chocolate and Berry Brownies (no guarantees that this will work for
you, but I've done it enough times that I'm pretty sure these are the
correct amounts)
Gently melt together 150g white chocolate and 100g butter. Be careful as
this will 'split' if you overheat or overstir it. You'll also need to use
good quality chocolate - make sure that it's cocoa butter based rather than
some emulsified oil abomination.
After ranting about the bad chocolate sold today, let cool.
Viciously beat up 4 eggs, 16 oz unrefined caster sugar (aka 'golden caster
sugar'), 1 tbsp vanilla extract (that's _extract_, not that flavouring
rubbish), 1tbsp pure chocolate extract (this is available, heck - I can buy
it in my local supermarket) and a good teaspoonsworth of mixed spice. I use
a balloon whisk for this, and you should keep going until you have a thick
creamy almost-sauce.
Pour in the chocolate and butter. Ignore the fact that some of it will have
separated out and some more will have sunk to the bottom. It just happens
that way. Mix it in thoroughly (yes, you can still use the whisk for this).
Put in some dried berries, about 200g worth. Cranberries, blueberries,
cherries - whatever's to hand. My supermarket kindly stocks this thing
called 'Berries and Cherries' which is a ready-made mix for me.
Add about 100g of small pieces of crystallised ginger (you can get large
pieces and chop them up if you want, but they should end up no bigger than
your little fingernail).
Stir in the lot, then add 5oz of plain white flour. Gluten-intolerant
Rabbits should be made aware that the substitute plain flour sold by 'Dove's
Farm' is the best alternative I've found, but whatever you're happy with.
Line your brownie pan with baking paper. My pan is about 12" x 6" but
frankly I'm not sure it matters exactly.
Cook at 180C for 25 minutes, then start testing with a skewer every 5
minutes or so.
Let cool BEFORE you cut them to size or eat them. The white chocolate in the
mix needs time to settle down.
Serve with a light dusting of cinnamon icing sugar and a gaming table full
of friends.
Happy festive season and may you all have a wonderful time. I'm off to
finish my sketches for the Christmas cake...
Jennifer
_________________________________________________________________
It's Hotmail's 10th Birthday! Come and play Pass the Parcel
http://www.msnpasstheparcel.com