Grilled brownies anyone?

I made some cream cheese brownies prior starting this blog. They turned out too fudgy and thick for my liking. Since then, I have been searching for another great cream cheese brownie recipe to try. I found one on one of my favourite sites Smitten Kitchen and decided to work on it. Everything was groovy at first. Beat cream cheese till smooth? Check. Melt chocolate and butter together? Check. Fold in flour quickly? Check. BUT………… I forgot that I was grilling garlic bread before this, and my oven was still on grill mode. I only found out about this horrible mistake 5 minutes before the brownies were supposed to be done. ARGH! There were no telltale signs as the brownie still rose beautifully. There were some cracks though, but I did not think too much about them.

I quickly changed the modes and let the brownies cook for another 10 minutes. Thank god the situation could be salvaged. In fact, they were good. Obscenely good. Which makes me wonder, how they would be like when they were done correctly. Also, I think I will add 2 oz more cream cheese in future. Not sure how many people can resist these brownies, with their crackly tops and fudgy insides. As I cut them up into 1 1/2 inch squares, I kept popping them into my mouth. One for the box, one for me, one for me, one for the box, maybe another for me… Someone take them away from me!!!!!!!

Cream Cheese Marbled Brownies
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

For swirl
3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon all purpose flour

For brownies
1 1/4 cups (5 ounces) cake flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
10 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into six 1-inch pieces
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 165C (325F). Cut 18-inch length foil and fold lengthwise to 8-inch width. Fit foil into length of 13 by 9-inch baking dish, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; allow excess to overhand pan edges. Cut 14-inch length foil and, if using extra-wide foil, fold lengthwise to 12-inch width; fit into width of baking pan in same manner, perpendicular to first sheet. Spray foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Beat cream cheese and two tablespoons butter in medium bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually add 3 tablespoons of sugar and beat until well blended. Beat in egg. Mix in one tablespoon flour. Set mixture aside.

3. Whisk to combine flour, salt, and baking powder in medium bowl; set aside.

4. Melt chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan of almost-simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth. (Alternatively, in microwave, heat butter and chocolate in large microwave-safe bowl on high for 45 seconds, then stir and heat for 30 seconds more. Stir again, and, if necessary, repeat in 15-second increments; do not let chocolate burn.) When chocolate mixture is completely smooth, remove bowl from saucepan and gradually whisk in sugar. Add eggs on at a time, whisking after each addition until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three additions, folding with rubber spatula until batter is completely smooth and homogeneous.

5. Transfer half of batter to prepared pan; using spatula, spread batter into corners of pan and smooth surface. Pour cream cheese mixture over, then second half of brownie batter. Swirl the batters together decoratively with the tip of a knife. Bake until toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into center of brownies comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 45 minutes, watching carefully for overcooking. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours, then remove brownies from pan by lifting foil overhang. Cut brownies into 2-inch squares and serve. Store leftovers in airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Miffed

I was supposed to bring my hamster Pudding (aka Fatty) to the vet this morning. Poor Pudding has some kind of growth on his legs so he is slightly uncomfortable. I am not too sure what it was, and it doesn’t seem to be going away. I made an appointment prior to going as I know there are loads of people there during the weekend. I arrived on time and was pleased to know that I was next in queue. After the dude with a cat came out, I got myself ready to go in. To my surprise, the vet called a dog in. I enquired with the nurse and she gave a flaky answer, ‘Uhuh, I did remind the vet….’. After the dog came out, the nurse told the vet that she should be seeing Pudding first. Again, she called another dog in. By then, I was quite angry. I don’t see how other walk-in customers should be able to cut the queue. Also, I can tell that the vet couldn’t quite be bothered with a small hamster. It may be small, but is it not a pet as well? Why should it be perceived as any less important than a dog or cat? In the end, I walked out and took a cab back. I am sure I can find another vet who will take Pudding more seriously.

I made a simple carbonara and garlic bread for lunch. It was absolutely delightful. Simple yet flavourful. Carbonara is not something I normally order when I am at a restaurant because the ones I tried in the past had too strong a milky flavour which I dislike. This one that I made here is much better (to me at least) and I love the way the bacon and cream blended so well with the pasta. The garlic bread is a little sinful, judging from the amount of butter I added, but its worth it. I managed to use up most of the ingredients I bought in the past few days. Woohoo!

Spaghetti Carbonara

 

7 slices of thick-cut bacon (I used half streaky and half back bacon)

¼ cup thickened cream

1 egg, room temperature

½ an onion, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

Handful of parsley and oregano, finely chopped

Spaghetti for 2

Parmesan cheese

  

1.    Break the egg into a bowl. Add cream and mix thoroughly. Set aside for later use.

 

2.    Chop up the bacon into fat pieces. Add a tablespoon of oil into a heated non-stick pan. Add in the bacon and let them cook for about 5 minutes.

 

3.    Add in the onions and cook until almost transparent. Throw in the chopped garlic.

 

4.    Cook the pasta into a pot of boiling salted water. Remove the pasta 2 minutes short of the stipulated cooking time.

 

5.    Add the pasta to the pan of bacon. Add parsley and oregano. Mix thoroughly. Pour the pasta into a heated bowl. Pour in cream mixture and toss to coat evenly. Serve immediately.

 

 

Garlic Bread

 

4 thick slices of baguette or any hard crust bread

5 tbsp of butter

5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

½ an onion, finely chopped

Parmesan cheese

Cayenne pepper (optional)

 

1.        Melt butter in a non-stick pan. Add onion and let it cook till transparent, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook for another 3 minutes. Leave aside to cool.

 

2.        Preheat the oven to grill mode at 175C (350F). Spread the mixture evenly onto the bread. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top of the bread. Top with some cayenne pepper for a spicy kick.

 

3.       Grill for 10 minutes, or until the cheese melt. Serve immediately.   

A series of unfortunate events

As though it is not bad enough that I get crap from an unreasonable client the whole week. Plus getting a talking to from the big boss up there as well. I have to end the week with an unbelievably ugly haircut. Totally regretted walking into an unknown (but promising looking) salon for a haircut. I ended up with an uneven fringe and an even worse looking bob. ARGH. For those of you living in Singapore, do NOT go to Color Bar at Holland Villlage. They suck big time. Guess I have to live with it for a few more weeks before going back to my beloved stylist. Sniff.

I got my inspiration for this bread from the same asian bread book I used for Custard Bread. The book called for melting some Kraft cheese with milk and adding it to the dough. I opted for cream cheese instead. Surprisingly, the result does not have a hint of cream cheese. I reckon the cream cheese acted as the secret ingredient in making the bread soft and moderately dense. The streusel is abit different from the usual ones you will see, using powdered sugar and milk powder. You can add any type of dried fruit you like, nuts too, if you please.

Cream Cheese Cranberry Bread

 

For the cream cheese

 

65g cream cheese

50ml milk

10g bread flour

 

For the dough

 

200g bread flour

30g sugar

¼ tsp salt

90g water

¾ tsp instant yeast

½ tbsp oil

¼ cup dried cranberries

 

For the streusel

15g powdered sugar

3g milk powder

25g all purpose flour

20g butter, cold and cut into small pieces

 

1 lightly beaten egg

 

1.       In a saucepan, break the cream cheese up into small pieces and melt it together with milk and flour over a low flame. Stir continuously until a smooth paste is formed. Leave it aside to cool.

 

2.       Mix the instant yeast, water, sugar and flour together. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Then add oil and cream cheese. Mix thoroughly until a shaggy dough is formed.

 

3.       With dough hook attachment on your mixer, knead the dough until shiny and smooth. Add the cranberries and continue until the dough pulls away clean from the sides of your bowl. Your dough will be sticky but smooth.

 

4.       Scrape out the dough and let it proof in a lightly oiled bowl for 80 minutes. Cover with cling wrap.

 

5.       Divide the dough into 3 pieces. Roll them into round balls and let them relax for 15 minutes. Roll them into long strips of about 25cm each. Proceed to braid the dough.

 

6.       Transfer it into a 9x 5” loaf pan and let it proof for another 60 minutes.

 

7.       In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, milk powder and flour together. Cut in the cold butter quickly. You will get a sandy mixture with small bits of butter.

 

8.       Coat the dough evenly with eggwash. Sprinkle the streusel liberally over the dough. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 33 minutes. Makes 1 loaf.