Beetroot Brownies

Since I still have one beetroot sitting in my fridge. I reckon I should get to that recipe which has been "stored" at the back of my mind since forever. Yes...Brownies with beetroot. Sounds really unusual I know, I ever since beetroot has been introduced into cakes in some bakeries (e.g Cedele), I'm pretty intrigued by it. Especially that brilliant magenta just brings so much vibrancy to it. And do you know
Beets are used along with medications in the treatment of liver diseases and fatty liver. They are also used to help lower levels of triglycerides (a type of fat) in the blood, lower blood pressure, and to improve athletic performance. How cool is that! More Beets please!

And that also explains why I did my Beetroot Bread earlier this month. ;) But you know what? This Beetroot brownie was way yummier!

Notice that hint of redness from the brownie? Yeah, it's from that all natural colouring from the beetroot, so love! And taste wise? I am gonna be thick skin and say I am pretty please with it for the first time trial haha. :P Rich, chocolaty and yes with a hint of sour from the root vegetable which surprisingly blending well with the brownie. 

Without further ado, let's check out the components we need:

Ingredients for Beetroot brownie (makes a 8" by 2" square)

250g unsalted butter

200g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks

3 large eggs

180g caster sugar
1 tbsp wildflower honey 

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

175g cake flour

1/4 tsp baking powder
200g beetroot, pricked, steamed and peeled

Reese's PB chips (Or you can use chocolate chips)

100g toasted walnuts (optional)

• In a blender container, add in the peeled and steamed beetroot. Blend at high speed till smooth. Set aside for use later.

 

• In another bowl, place over a double boiler with barely simmering water. Add both butter and chocolate chunks in. Stir constantly till the butter and chocolate starts to melt. Mix so it is well combined. Once both has melted completely, remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly which will be used later.

 

• Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease and lined with parchment, and grease again a 8" by 8" square baking pan.
• In another mixing bowl, crack in the 3 eggs and salt, whisk well. Slowly drizzled in the chocolate butter mixture. and whisk as you drizzle in.

 

• Once the chocolate mixture has been all added in, sift in the cake flour and baking powder. Mix well to make sure there is no lumps.
• Lastly, add in the blended beetroot. Again mix well till smooth.

 

• Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. And add the toasted walnut and Reese's PB chips on the top.

• Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Once baked, remove from oven and let cool on the rack.

Note: DO NOT over-bake the brownie please. An over-baked brownie is NOT good eats. :P It will tend to be dry and hard. So it is okay that the tester comes out with some cake stain. Best way to enjoy the brownie would be to let cake to rest at room temperature before slicing. It will actually taste better the next day. ;)

I actually love how the cake turn out to be soft and crumbly and yet slightly fudgy in the middle, with the contrast of crunchy walnuts and nutty PB chips.

 Moist, chocolaty and all fudgy in the center! And I even tasted mini bits of beetroot in the cake too... such a pleasant surprise. ;)

 

 Another close up in case you didn't catch the gooey goodness earlier. :) 

If you have beetroot, if you adore chocolate, and you love brownies...what are you waiting for? Perhaps it might need more tweaking, but for now, I am happy with it. 

Have a good day ahead everyone!

Vegan Tofu Brownies with Walnuts and Chocolate Chunks

So here is the guilt free chocolaty treats that I have been wanting to try for the longest time. :) I guess many bakers are actually venturing into this area since many of us are more health conscience nowadays. And substituting some of the ingredients from the usual recipe, we can convert these everyday recipes into more healthy versions. I guess we just need to experiment it and see how it taste haha! Well, today this Vegan Tofu Brownies is one of them successful experimented recipe which I will be sharing with everyone! Excited!

 

So ya the picture pretty much says it all haha! Chocolaty goodness that is guilt freeee! OMG haha! Okay okay, lets get on with the recipe!

Ingredients for Vegan Tofu Brownies (makes 4" by 6")
250g firm tofu
120g brown sugar (I used 100g)
100g dark chocolate (65% cocoa), melted 
50ml coconut oil
100ml fresh chocolate milk
80g cake flour
40g wholewheat flour
15g cocoa powder (I used Valrohna 55% cocoa)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp baking soda

100g Toasted walnuts
100g dark chocolate chunks

• In the blender, add the tofu, coconut oil and zap till smooth
• Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease & line a 4" by 6" cake pan with parchment paper.
• In a heat proof bowl, add in milk and sugar and cook at low heat or microwave the mixture till slightly bubbly on the side. Stir till sugar has melted in.
• In a large mixing bowl add in the tofu mixture, then add in the chocolate milk mixture and stir till well incorporated. 
• Then sift in both flours, salt and baking soda into the tofu milk mixture till everything comes together into a smooth batter.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Now put in the walnut chunks all over the batter, pushing in some and leaving some over the top of the batter. Do the same for the chocolate chunks.
•  
• Bake in the oven for a good 28-30minutes. DO NOT over bake.
• Remove from oven and let cool on rack before slicing and noming haha!

 

Moist chocolaty goodness that uses no egg, no butter and lesser sugar, how much better can it get!! Haha! Love the addition of the extra walnut and the chocolate chunks,giving it more texture and creamy chocolate goodness.

 Okay if I have not convinced you enough to try this, perhaps staring at the picture for another minute or two might just help haha! Okay, do tag me in Instagram if you tried it, "ig_honeybeesweets"

Okay, goodnight everyone! Hope you have dreams as sweet as these yummy brownies heehee

Dulce De Leche Swirl Hunks

Homemade dulce de leche seems to be such an "in" thing now among the bloggers. So how can I not try it out myself! Especially since I am so curious how it taste and seeing the fellow bloggers' delicious posts. :) What started me off was Quinn's lovely dulce de leche. :) Hers was so thick and silky with a nice caramel color. After reading her post, I went straight to my kitchen and immediately boil my can of condensed milk, which took me 3hrs++ to complete. When I got it out of the water, it was already 12 midnight, but I am happy...sleepy and happy, lol! :) Thanks Quinn for the inspiration....although mine sure didn't look just as good as yours...mmmm. ;P This is what I have after that long wait, this thick, gooey, sweet and pudding-like custard. :) Who knew boiling a can of condense milk can yield this good stuff?

It took me awhile to put this yummy stuff into good use. I had to scan through several recipes in order to settle with one that I like best. I decided on Dulce De Leche Swirl Hunks...which can also be called Caramel Swirl Brownies. Funny how "Hunk" almost sound like some macho-chunky looking guy, lol! :D But there a quote in the recipe book that goes like this "These manly-sized" squares are beefed up with chocolate chunks and pools of dulce de leche." Pretty good reason why they have this name I guess. :)

Again got this recipe from "A Passion for Baking" by Marcy Goldman. What actually got me to use this recipe was the use of roll oats in it...a bit of goodness in every bite, not all that sinful, lol! :D Recipe? Here it is:

Ingredients for Dulce De Leche Swirl Hunks:
2 cups unsalted butter, melted
3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
4 large eggs
4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup quick cook oats
4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
150g semisweet chocolate bar, roughly chopped
1 can dulce de leche

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C and generously grease a 13x9"pan and line with parchment.

• In a large mixing bowl, blend butter and both sugars together. Add eggs, vanilla, and oats and mix well.
• Fold in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. then fold in chocolate chunks.
• Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Top it with dollops of dulce de leche and then swirl it into the batter.
• Bake the cake for about 35 to 38 minutes or till the brownies seems brown around the edges and not jiggly in the center. If it is still wobbly in the center, reduce the temperature to 170°C and and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.
• Once done, remove from oven and let cool on rack completely. Best chill in fridge for at least 1 hr before slicing.
  

Here is a shot of a nice generous dollop of Dulce De Leche in the brownie...yummy! I did reduce the sugar for this recipe from 3 cups to 2 & 1/4 cups of brown sugar, knowing that the dulce de leche will contribute to the overall sweetness of the cake. Furthermore, I omitted the chilling step since I like the warm gooey texture of the brownie. :)

I enjoy that extra chewy texture which the rolled oats contributed to the brownie...not your usual kind of brownie. ;) I also want to say that chocolate with Dulce De Leche....a double thumbs up! But be sure to use dark chocolate ( I used 70% cocoa Lindt), so it won't be too sweet and the cocoa taste can stand out better. :) This recipe is indeed a great one to curb your sweet tooth but also with a bit of goodness in it (oats). Perhaps the next time I make this I will make it into a chocolate brownie...a double chocolate brownie that is; and of course not forgetting our star, Dulce De Leche. ;) Cheers all and have a sweet sweet weekend!

Bake Sale + Awards

Been busy lately with another trip up to KL and meeting up with friends there. That explains why I have not been blogging lately. But it was so good to see my dear friends again, really miss them a lot. >.< Besides that, I got myself involved in a mini project given by my SIL. which took up most of my time in the past 3 days. :P My SIL's elder daughter's school has this talk for the Sec 1's parents cum a side charity bake sale to raise funds for the school. My SIL approached me to see if I was interested to bake something for her to sell over there. I was delighted because firstly I love to bake (nothing new about that), secondly making decorative cupcakes is like super fun for me, so yeah, making them alright! Even though I knew it will be time consuming but I agreed immediately because I didn't want to let this golden opportunity to slip. ;)

You want the truth? Truth 1: I totally enjoyed making this little fondant figurines on the cupcakes. Truth 2: Brings me back to my childhood days which you can mould whatever you fancy with that waxy plasticine, how fun!. Truth 3: I can do this everyday!

I used my usual favorite butter cake recipe for the cupcakes. I then top it with normal butter cream and finally the fondant.

Overall I am pretty satisfied with the cupcakes...just that I wish I have more time to make more, lol! In the end I only made 19, and 16 of them are for sale. I saved the other 3 for my little girls and my niece. :)

I was lucky to purchase a few cupcake boxes from KL during my last trip which cost me much less compared to buying them here in Singpore. :)

My SIL has requested me to bake some brownies as well for the charity sale. So I decided to bake a variety to make it more attractive. I researched a few recipes and finalized on 3.

One from Jamie Oliver (recommended by Grace from Kitchen Corner). 2nd one from Precious Moments which I baked before awhile back. And last one from Martha Stewart's Cream-Cheese Brownie. Yes, all are decadent, sinfully rich and able to satisfy your deepest chocolate craving. :) Now I just hope the parents at the sale will like them!

I want to thank my SIL for giving me this opportunity to let me introduce my bakes to the public. Whether it will be all sold out, it ain't that important to me. What's most important is I got it done in time and I enjoyed the whole process. :P Hope there will be a lot these of opportunities in the future.

About a week++ back, a handful of nice lady bloggers have graciously passed on to me a couple of awards. One of them is this "Beautiful Blogger" award. And the sweet bloggers are Elin from Elinluv's Tidbits Corner , Joslynn from A Nyona's Kitchen and Ann from I so Hungry.

I thank these ladies for thinking of me upon their own receival of this beautiful award. :) Really appreciate it. I however will not be passing this baton on since I see most of the other food bloggers I know have already received it. :P
This lovely award was given to me by Anncoo. Thanks so much! You are one "true-blue" food blogger which I also adore reading your posts. Thanks again for being so supportive. :)

I would also like to dedicate this award to all the other bloggers out there that "work hard" to post up something decent & nice for all to read. :)

Got to run...hope you all enjoyed viewing my post again...have a great week!