Banana Nut Brownies

   Is there anything not to love about brownies, except for their slightly racist name. Soft, moist and yummy,they are simply impossible to resist. Eat them a day after baking or right out of the pan, warm with a scoop of ice cream on the side, they are really delicious. I recently had a spiced version of brownie, pan cooked and straight out of the grill with a scoop of 'Gluehwein' ice cream, it tasted simply divine. And to top all that they are so easy to bake, you don't even have to beat the batter. Once you start baking them at home you'd never ever buy them from the shops.The regular brownies I bake at home are a very dense,moist  and Chocolatey version, but these one are soft and simply melt in your mouth. I found the recipe in one of the old BBC good food magazines.I'm probably one of the most outdated foodies you'll come across, I discovered BBC good food only before a year. Just leafing through them is such a delight.The pictures and the props are so beautiful that they put me to shame as a food blogger. I was surprised when I realised that they even have an Indian version of the magazine.

    I'm more of a 'Book' person than a 'Magazine' person.My favourite magazine has almost always been the 'Reader's digest'. I started reading them when I was 10 and all that I could read and understand back then were the sections, 'All in a day's work' and 'Laughter the best medicine'. Through the years the Editors have managed to keep the quality of the magazine intact. With the market today full with all kinds of magazines, with their glossy covers and countless ads, 'Reader's digest' is still one of the magazines where the content is given more importance. It would probably be the first magazine I would ask my kids to read when they are 10, just like my Dad. I still remember sitting with him and a dictionary :) and reading my first Reader's digest ! I read the German version of it now, as we don't find the English version.And funnily after 25 years, I still read it with a Dictionary at my side :)

   Coming to me being a 'Book' person I just finished reading two books,one of them being my usual thriller and the other one, though being sort of a thriller, really got me thinking. I would write about it soon in a new post. So off to the recipe !

You'll Need:

Butter - 150g

Muscovado sugar/Brown Sugar - 300 g  1 and 1/2 cups

Dark Chocolate(broken) - 175g

Walnut - 100g

Eggs -3 large ones(beaten)

Bananas - 2 big ripe (mashed)

All Purpose Flour - 100g

Cocoa Powder - 2 tbsp

Baking Powder - 1 tsp

Method:

-Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 150°C(with fan)

-To a baking paper lined tray add the Walnuts and leave them in the oven for 7- 8 minute. Then take them out and break the walnut with your finger into small pieces.

-Butter the baking pan(18 X 23 cm) , sprinkle flour on the sides and line the base with baking paper.

-In a small bowl mix the flour, baking powder and cocoa

-To a pan add the butter,sugar and chocolate and on low flame let them melt. Gently stir them from time to time to help it melt. Remove the pan from the heat.

-Add the walnuts, beaten eggs and mashed bananas , and with a spatula mix well.

-Add the flour, baking powder and cocoa mixture and again mix well with the spatula.

-Pour the mixture into the prepared tray and bake from 35 - 45 minutes, or until when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean without anything sticking to it.

-Let it cool and cut into squares. Store in an airtight container for a week !

Note:

-The actual recipe calls for 175 g of butter, but it tastes good with 125 - 150 g of butter.

-You can replace the Walnuts with any nuts or mixture of nuts of your choice.

-I used two large Dole Bananas

Thanks for stopping by ! Have a sweet day !

Badusha - Badusahi

    It's been a while since I posted. The last time I posted, the trees where still green and the sky was blue, now the trees are barren and the sky is mostly grey. They do look lovely when they are covered with snow. I still remember the first time when I woke up to a white morning with everything covered with snow. Everything from the street lamps to the slated roofs where covered with a beautiful white layer. It felt like God had perfectly Iced everything with the whitest Buttercream Icing. That's how it looks, perfect, serene and pure when you look at it from inside your warm home. I remember telling a friend in India that it had snowed and her first question was 'How does it taste?! '. I would've given anything to just touch snow when I was back in India and now I would give anything to bask for a few minutes in the warm rays of the sun. Grass is always greener on the other side isn't it? Guess snow is beautiful as long as you don't have to shovel it out of the pavement, or scrape the persistent layer of frost on your car's windshield with your cold numb hands or push a pram through it with a child trying to get out of the pram to play in the snow. Well Grass is greener on the other side because it's not real :) Pessimism aside nothing beats the serene white glow of snow !
    I always have a countdown running in my head each winter, where I count the 90 days it takes for spring to start. It's beautiful to watch the green landscape take over the grey one. 'Silver White winters that melt into spring' is definitely one of my favourite things too:)
    I thought I'll start this year of posting on a sweet note. This is one real easy sweet to make. I always assumed that it would be hard to make and wasn't a big fan of it as I sort of felt that the store bought ones were a tad too sweet and sticky. Though surprisingly it tastes a lot better when u make it  at home and keep an eye on the amount of time you let it soak in the sugar syrup. So off to the recipe !

You'll Need:

Makes 10 - 12

All Purpose flour/Maida - 125 g / 1 cup

Curd - 50 g / 3 - 4 tbsp

Baking Powder - a pinch

Baking Soda - 2 pinches

Butter(melted) - 3 - 4 tbsp/ 50 g

Sugar - 125 g - 1/2 - 3/4 cup

Water as needed

Oil to deep fry

Rose essence -  a few drops

Method:

Sugar Syrup: In a bowl mix the sugar with about 1/2 -cup water(the water should fully cover the sugar) and let it boil on medium heat for 4 - 7 minutes. Take it off the stove and add the essence and mix well.

For Badusha:

-In a bowl sieve the Flour , baking powder and baking soda.

-Add the melted butter and with your finger tips mix and crumble it.

-Add the curd and mix well , the dough will  be slightly sticky. Let it sit aside for 10 - 20 minutes.

Make sure you don't knead the dough a lot, just knead until it holds together. It will not be smooth.

-After 20 minutes , make about 10 - 12 balls out of the dough. Slightly flatten each ball. They will not be smooth.

-Heat oil in a shallow pan. The oil shouldn't be very hot. When you drop a small amount of dough in the oil it shouldn't immediate float to the top.

-Fry each ball until they are golden brown, flipping them over in between.

-Remove from the oil with slotted ladles and drop them in the sugar syrup.

-Let them sit for 30 seconds on one side and 30 seconds on the other side. Remove them. The amount of soaking time depends on how sweet you like it. Done !

Thanks for stopping by ! Have a beautiful day !