Cocoa Brownies

Summer has officially begun in Dubai. It's already reached a good high of 45°C a few days ago and seeing as it's only just a few weeks into June, it's going to get a whole lot worse in the next few months. When I was a kid, I never understood why some people would say that summer was their favorite season of the year. Living in the UAE my whole life, it just didn't make sense to me that anyone would love weather this hot; with the sun blaring its dangerously strong rays on you and the humidity levels reaching up to 80%. But when I visited other countries during the summer, I realized that it truly is a season to enjoy. With all the amazing summer fruits that you can indulge in and the relatively cooler summer nights; what's not to like? Which explains why we all run away during the hot months, but moving on!

This summer's different for me. I'm taking summer classes for the first time in all the 3 years I've been in university. I registered for evening classes and have realized how much I prefer them over morning classes. No, not because I want to sleep in! But because I get to do everything I usually don't find much time for in the evenings when I'm taking care of things at home. So, in short, it helps me stay focused and I love it. I also get to escape the wretched heat by not having to walk between classes in the sun, which is always a plus.

Now let's get to talking about these brownies. I've always loved chocolate and vanilla ice cream, there's nothing like a good two scoops of ice cream to get you through the heat. And what goes really well with vanilla ice cream other than cocoa brownies, right? Especially if you're a chocolate lover like me. I've been searching for a good recipe for brownies for months now. I tested one after the other and just kept getting results of a very cake-y brownie which isn't the type of brownie I particularly enjoy eating. The kind of brownies I want to sink my teeth into are the really gooey, soft and extra chocolate-y brownie with a crusty top. After coming across this recipe, I decided I just had to test it out because it looks so easy. And it's merciful on the dish washing too: you just need one bowl to make the batter, no fuss!

I can easily say that this has now become my go-to recipe for cocoa brownies. My family loves it and insists that I make it once every week (yeah, they're getting pretty demanding!) and my chocolate-loving friends adore them too. And yes, they go perfectly with two scoops (okay, three) of ice cream as they just melt in your mouth. They're the perfect simple brownie and I love making them. I probably shouldn't add that eating these during exam week can be quite what calms down those nerves. But I did. So yeah, you can have these if you suffer from exam week hunger pangs like I do. Just don't go overboard ;)

You can also order a batch of these from me. They're great for get-together's, parties, meetings or even just to tuck away for yourself. I happily deliver them to your doorstep! Feel free to contact me to place your orders :)

Best Cocoa Brownies from Epicurious

Makes 16 large or 25 smaller brownies

You'll need: 

An 8-inch square baking pan

Ingredients:

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cold large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup walnut or pecan pieces (optional)

• Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.
• Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water (the double boiler method). Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot.
• Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Stir in the nuts, if using. Spread evenly in the lined pan.
• Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.
• Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares.

Happy Baking!

BakeFestDXB - Round 2

I can't even begin to explain how much I've missed blogging. I'll spare you the details and give you a glimpse of what kept me busy for most of last week and that is: BakeFestDXB - Round 2! I only attended last year's BakeFestDXB and quietly lingered around and tried a bit of everything. All I can say is that it was a proper sugar high and a really good one. But this year I decided I was going to be a part of it and excitedly started planning my menu. Looking through my recipes, researching for some new ones and thinking of ways in how to serve everything practically so that I could sell them individually was lots of fun. Can you tell I'm a control freak when it comes to my baking? If you knew me better, you'd have known how nervous I was prior to BakeFestDXB. This was my first time really showcasing my work so it's easy to start freaking out.

Briefly, BakeFestDXB is an initiative by organizer Nick (also known as the dahlink of Twitter - @theregos) to bring together Dubai's community bakers. Wild Peeta has been the main supporters of BakeFestDXB and have generously opened up their venue for us for the second time (how cool is that?!) to sell our stuff. [As a side note, if you haven't tried a shawarma at Wild Peeta yet, then I recommend you get your butt there soon. Follow them on Twitter, too.]

Surprisingly, I was the first one to arrive at Wild Peeta; not that I'm generally a tardy person but I'm not usually an early bird either! So I chose my table and started setting up. I went with a yellow theme since that is one of my favorite colors. Sprinkled the table with some confetti which were little black stars called Stardust. Fancy, huh? After my set up was almost done, I eagerly waited for the rest of the bakers to get there and for us to get the show on. Around 1:00pm, people started pouring in and we could all feel the excitement (and the nerves.)

What did I choose to whip up, you ask?

• Alfajorés (which I wrote about here)
• Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache filling and chocolate buttercream frosting (Recipe for cake and ganache here)
• Vanilla cupcakes with dulce de leche buttercream frosting (recipe for cake here)
• Cocoa brownies
• Swedish summer cake trifles (recipe for whole cake here)

Photo taken by Devina Divecha

Alfajorés - displayed in my make-shift cake plate of flip-over-a-glass-bowl-and-place-it-on-a-wooden-platter. OH YEAH!

Chocolate & vanilla cupcakes
Photo taken by Devina Divecha

The mini tower of cocoa brownies
Photo taken by Devina Divecha

Swedish Summer Cake Trifles

I had a little snoop around (read: mentally noting down what I plan to devour) the other bakers' tables and was just so astonished at how incredibly talented so many of them are. Everyone has their own unique touch and style which makes us a community of very interesting people.

And now, let's allow the pictures of the goodies do all the talking...

Abigail's tower of cupcake-y goodness

Mouthwatering purple yam cupcakes by Abigail; so moist and the perfect balance of sweetness

Rajani's gorgeous cookies

Peach Me Up! - Rajani's wonderful peach cake, perfect for the summer

Toffee Princess table set up. Very pretty!

 

Toffee samples

Shafaq's Bake House set up. Beautiful looking cupcakes

Sidiqa's lovely pink table, very nice!

 Needless to say, I'm already very excited for the next BakeFestDXB and couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity to participate in an event like this. Hoping for many, many more!


A special thank you to Ginger and Scotch & Devina for some of the photos!

For more posts on BakeFestDXB - Round 2:

Nick's compilation: out in my head
Devina's sugar high adventure: FooDee
Arva's sweet perspective: I Live in a Frying Pan
Sidiqa talks all about pink: Spontaneous Euphoria
Anja tells us her healthy perspective: Anja's Food 4 Thought
Sharmishtha tell us about Baby Stovetop: Stovetop Dancing
Abigail shares her thoughts on her first BakeFest: Nappytales


Happy Bak(fest)ing!

Taste of Dubai 2011

My my my.. The minute I set foot onto the green grass and laid my eyes on the overwhelming crowds of people, I thought to myself, "Why is this my first time at Taste of Dubai?!" I instantly decided I'm going to love it. Talk about being really optimistic, huh?

I took my mom along with me because I knew that even though she was feeling a little reluctant to come along (she had a long week and wanted nothing more than to just relax on the sofa) she was going to enjoy the festival. I decided that we should waste no time standing around and begin with the eating!

First up came the Peking Duck from The China Club - Traditional Chinese. I'm a big fan of duck and particularly enjoy eating it this way especially because of the Hoisin Sauce that Chinese restaurants use. To my disappointment the pancake was undercooked, the duck not as tender as I would have hoped and the hoisin sauce almost non-existent.

Moving on to something slightly less disappointing and more on the sweet side of life is Al Hambra's churros with a side of chocolate ice cream and a light drizzling of chocolate sauce. Can you spell d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s? Seriously, I have nothing better to say about the doughnut-y goodness complimented by the cold, creamy and ever-so-chocolate-y ice cream. Mmmm-mmmm!

We continued to walk around and see all the many cool stalls/stands that were set up. A pretty cool stand-mixer like stall caught my eye. I thought it was a creative way for Kenwood to display themselves. Nothing fancy, just right to the point :)

And then I caught a glimpse of a stand with poles wrapped in hot pink tissue paper. It looked like a giant gift box, I couldn't resist not taking a closer look. To my delight, it was from a company called La Maison Du Macaron. Now, thanks to my friend Noreen, I have a new found love for macarons. Ever since she took me to Ladurée, they have sneaked into a little corner of my heart and stayed there. La Maison Du Macaron's macarons were.. A bit disappointing as well. My mom wanted to buy a box of six simply because she loved the box so much. The box was probably worth the money more than the macarons themselves; they had the almond powder after-taste which showed that they were neither ground all the way nor baked right. Not very pleasant, in my humble opinion. Nevertheless, they were pretty to look at. Plus, we get to keep the box! :)

We then sampled some of Gourmet Point's beautifully fragrant and pungent oils. My mom and I had fallen in love with the White Truffle Oil. Might order some for her soon, mother's day is coming up after all!

The highlight of my day was when I got to meet and greet with Suzanne Husseini. She had a post for book signing but since I still haven't bought her book, I decided to just speak to her AND get my picture taken with her. Wohoo!

She was wonderfully down-to-earth and super friendly. I noticed that she was wearing whisk earrings, which I've been looking for for a very long time. She said that she got her jewelry custom-made from a silver shop in Canada. Look at these rings that she was wearing which are actually a fork and a spoon that were bent to fit her size. Brilliant!

We continued walking around and taking in all the activity and excitement for food. Which is probably what I loved most about this event: we're all gathering, mingling, experimenting and enjoying simply because of our love for food. It doesn't get any better than that.

Taste of Dubai, an event which I'm now going to be attending every year. It's definitely worth your time and money. Don't miss it next year!

Mango Tree in Souk Al Bahar

I often like to be adventurous when it comes to food, it's usually a big YES that comes out of me when it has to do with a different combination of flavors. So to my delight, a couple of us foodie bloggers from Famished in Arabia were invited by the lovely PR folks from Taste of Dubai to go try out the new lunch menu in Mango Tree at Souk Al Bahar! (Red Panda enjoys being treated, and who doesn't?!)

The new lunch menu has been developed by Head Chef Paul Kennedy who was very welcoming and enthusiastic about serving up a storm for all the hungry foodies at the table. We all had our game faces on from the start so we were ready for what was to come.


First up were our Starters to get our taste buds going:

Right: Salmon Phla (Fresh salmon salad with lemongrass, red onion, chili & lime dressing)
Left: Som Tom Tod (Deep fried crispy green papaya salad)

The Salmon Phla was my personal favorite out of the entire menu. I'm a big fan of salmon, especially when it's served in a non-fussy way with a beautiful marinade to help bring out its flavor more. Delicious, it was! And yes, the salad on the right IS deep fried. Nope, I didn't think that was possible either.

Soup was also part of the starters but for some reason, I can't find the snap I took of it. The soup was called Tom Sap Gai (Thai style hot & spicy chicken soup with vegetables). I will say it out loud and clear: I took the tiniest sip of that soup and the spiciness touched my tongue and continued to hit the back of my throat which then proceeded to send signals to my brain that just screamed, "FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING GOOD, DON'T DO IT!" So, like a good little girl, I smiled politely and set it aside. I'm a wimp when it comes to super spicy food, yes I am.

Next up were the Mains to fill up our tummies:

Khow Phad Pak (Vegetable egg fried rice)

Nua Nam Man Hoi (Wok fried USA rib eye beef with kale, ginger and spicy soy sauce)

Bok Choi (Steamed bok choi in light soy sauce)

Tom Yum Pla Kra Pong (Tom yum steamed sea bass served with spicy lime sauce)

The Steamed Sea Bass and Rib Eye Beef were my favorites. They were both cooked to perfection with the sea bass being soft and melting right in your mouth while the rib eye beef was cooked my favorite way: Medium.

Last, but most definitely never least, is the Dessert:

Home-made Chocolate Mousse with Mango Compote

Chocolate mousse. I can never say no to chocolate mousse. I'll be honest though, the chocoholic within really wished this mousse had a stronger chocolate flavor in it. It was more of a creamy mousse than anything else really. It was partnered with the mango compote which wasn't an overpowering element and a great compliment to the mousse.


Don't forget to check out Taste of Dubai for more about their upcoming festival on March 3-5. I'll be there, armed with my camera and hungry palette!