Desserts: Surprise Gooey Strawberry Brownies

Happy September to All! It’s an extremely eventful month universally. September magazine issues are the largest and there are so many birthdays to celebrate! E and I share the same birthday month and this year it is the first time we’ll be in the same country to celebrate it! I am thrilled.

Unfortunately, as my duties as a student start to become a mountain of tasks and my calendar starts to pack, I won’t be around (in the east side of Singapore) to celebrate E’s birthday with him. So I decided to make surprise brownies this week. (My only free friday for the next 2 weeks.)

I modified the recipe from BBC Good Food and after eating it, I will have to make more modifications. Nothing is ever perfect, especially on the first try.

Chocolate/Cocoa/Strawberries/Flour/Sugar/Eggs/Butter

I was so happy to find Ghirardelli baking chocolate in the supermarket! This is the first time I’m seeing it outside of the USA and I was so excited! Hahaha Instead of raspberries as mentioned in the recipe, I used strawberries because strawberries here are sour instead of sweet. I have no idea why. And they are much more affordable than the raspberries. And I’ll bet E doesn’t like the taste of raspberries. Once again, butter is not Buttercup because it is not real butter. Seriously. I can’t emphasise how bad this fake butter is for you and your arteries.

The best part about this recipe is that I didn’t need to do much whisking, so my already-aching arms could be given a break. Although, carrying the groceries from the store to the kitchen is heavily taxing too. For people who like to live in oblivion and just eat good food, I suggest for you not to look at the recipe because honestly it is scary. And for that the next time I will definitely reduce the amount of sugar and butter in the batter and maybe add more flour to get a more chewy texture.

Surprisingly I took just slight over 45 minutes to do all the prep work and get the tin into the oven. This is quite a feat for me because I am always exceeding expected prep times by hours. I always spend so much time getting ingredients and equipment out.

I love watching my trays in the oven change with heat. It is indeed magical and special.

After this shot was taken I had to bake it for even longer because the centre was too gooey. But I didn’t take any photos of that. Oops we forgot cause we were too blinded by gluttony. This recipe is perfect for surprises because you don’t have to use any whisking equipment or make loud noises while stirring. In fact, most of the work is done with a spatula or wooden spoon. You can be as quiet as a mouse and still cook up an amazing brownie.

I met E at a grocery store to buy stuff for our amazing risotto (weekend food) and for dinner (wraps!). We made some yummy wraps for dinner. He loves wraps. But more about that in another post.

I am so excited for the next weekend of cooking adventures. Maybe we should use up those frozen egg whites. (I should probably start doing my homework too.)

xx

Su

Baking with E: eclairs

Baking is so therapeutic. It lifts your spirits and pampers your nose. The smell of butter or vanilla is so pleasurable and it really makes me motivated to keep on baking. I have been watching Sorted Food for quite a while but I never really had anywhere to bake. Thankfully, E’s place is wonderfully stocked with all the necessary baking equipment and then some.

 

One of his favorite desserts are eclairs. He loves cheesecakes too, but the last time I made a dessert, it was an oreo cheesecake for his mock birthday. So in this couple of weeks, we’ve been trying our hand at choux pastry and crème patisserie. Since it is also durian season. We thought of making some durian puffs too! The recipe can be found here. I love watching Sorted Food on YouTube because these four boys are super hilarious and charming all while being incredibly informative. This recipe took so many eggs. We took Ben’s advice and froze the egg whites for later use. We’re planning to make macarons or maybe mousse. I haven’t decided.

 

Honestly we haven’t gotten the pastry perfect. The last batch we did turned out better than the rest though. My favorite part of the process is watching the pastry rising in the oven. And eating the ginger-infused cream. Slurp.

If anyone knows how to make real awesome choux pastry please let me know what the secret is. Because my pastry never seems fluffy enough.

To get the consistency of the batter right I found that maintaining a high enough temperature was important. And we had to reduce the amount of ginger in the cream. I always like extra ginger, but some have a problem with that. I guess baking is like everything else, with time and practice, it will improve and develop closer to perfection. It really cultivates the virtue of patience and my biceps with all that beating haha. Also, we used Lindt Dark Chocolate as the cherry on top. So it all turned out very awesome. (Save for the breadiness!) 

Melting the chocolate was the easiest part and it was so satisfying to see chocolate chunks melt into a gooey consistency. Learning to pipe the pastry was tough because I had no idea how to make the eclairs come out fat and happy. In the end, it took some pressure and patience to get eclairs that didn’t look like bread sticks. Look at the awesome creammmmm. Slurpz. And and and lesson of the day: if you buy Buttercup brand from the dairy section or butter section in the grocery stores. Please stop. It isn’t butter at all. Seriously. I was duped for 20 years of my life. It is made with vegetable extracts (which means it is NEVER good for you, read: trans fat). I don’t know about you but I like my butter from milk. This applies to spreadable butter (never).

Till our next baked adventure or whenever I am not so bogged down by my schedule.

XX Su