Classic Dark chocolate Brownies

Classic Dark chocolate Brownies
I was happy to get my second award from Yasmeen of health nut -"I'm a Chocoholic" It was so sweet of her to pass this award to me. Thanks again Yasmeen:) Being an ardent sweet lover chocolate always tops my list of sweets. I remember the first thing I baked after coming here was chocolate cake and was amazed to find out how easy was making cakes here, since then I regularly bought cakes n brownie mix and baked them.
Putting a scoop of vanilla ice cream on hot brownie and again topping it with chocolate sauce..is one of my favorite.
Just a week back I got this beautiful book on baking from the library, Williams- Sonoma's "Essentials of baking".Its an amazing book with beautiful illustrations, I coudn't stop drooling after gazing at those pictures, I might have turned the pages of this book-a hundred times and was in a BIG dilemma as what to bake first! as I found every recipe to be equally tempting.
But after I got the Chocoholic award I finally made up my mind to bake a chocolate brownie and this time from the original recipe and not from the ready to make mix.
It came out perfect, I enjoyed it with a scoop of vanilla on top of it.
here goes the recipe!
6 oz chopped unsweetened chocolate,
6 oz unsalted butter
3 large eggs
1 and 3/4 cup of sugar.
1/4 salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
5 oz all purpose flour
Melt chocolate and butter in the top of double boiler . Check out here for the exact procedure.
I melted the chocolate in microwave.
In a large bowl beat together eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla extract ,slowly transfer the chocolate mixture and mix well until blended . Add the flour (in small portions ) and mix slowly until its properly blended.
Pour the batter into the greased baking pan( grease the pan with butter).Bake it on 350 degrees for about 35 minutes .
Use a knife or fork to check if its properly done.
Cut into small squares and serve.


Brownies served with Chocolate! I dedicate this post of brownie to my sweet blogger friend- Yasmeen!

Pizza

I have always loved eating pizzas.Its one of my of favorite,so I decided to give it a try today, believe me I enjoyed making pizza,its fun to make pizza.I was so excited to see the dough rise, it was more than double its size.
Making pizza is an easy process but not a quick one. You need to knead the flour and let it rise for about 2 hrs.Kneading is an important process too.
The good part is that the Pizza dough can be kept in the refrigerator for several days and frozen pizza dough can be kept for several months; would be of great help in emergencies.

Ingredients for basic pizza dough:( make sure you take exact measurements).

1 and 1/2 tsp Active dry yeast.
1/2 cup water(warm).
1/2 cup cold water.
1 and 1/2 tbsp olive oil.
1 and2/3 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt.

Toppings:( which I prefer)
Jalepenos,
Tomatoes
Olives
Onions
Mushrooms
Green / yellow / red peppers( makes your pizza look colorful)
Pizza Sauce
And the most important of all CHEESE!

Method:
In a cup mix yeast and warm water and keep it for 5 mins till its foamy in its texture.
Take a big bowl to knead the flour add salt,olive oil,cold water knead it for some time add the yeast mixed water and knead it well.Knead the dough until you have a smooth ball.
Cover it with a cloth and keep it in a warm place for about 2 hrs ,enjoy seeing your dough rise:)
put the pizza dough on a lightly floured surface and stretch it with your hands,use a rolling pin to make pizza of appropriate thickness.
Lavishly spread pizza sauce and your favorite toppings on it. Finally spread shredded cheese and bake it by placing it on pizza stone on 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Your delicious pizza would be ready to be served , though its not as easy as placing an order for pizza on phone but Iam sure its gonna make you proud of your achievement.

Sheer Korma ! ( Vermicilli pudding)

Sheer Korma is a sweet dish prepared in India on the day of Eid. Eid marks the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting.Its the day of celebrations for us. I prepared sheer korma on the day of Eid. My recipe of Sheer korma is quite easy and it goes like this.

Ingredients:
Seviyan roasted 2 cups(got from Indian store)
Whole milk 1/2 gallon
Sugar 2 cups or less if u prefer less sweetness in your dessert.
Ghee/ clarified butter 3 tbsp
Dry fruits:
Almonds: 1/4 cup
Pistachios : 1/4 cup
Chirongi : 1/4 cup
Pitted Dates : 1/2 cup

Method:
step:1
Blanch the dry fruits and peel the skin of almonds, chirongi and pistachios.
Cut almonds into thin slices.

Step 2:
In a big pan heat ghee and fry all the dry fruits till slightly brown and keep it aside.



Step 3:
Boil milk for nearly 30 to 40 mins on medium flame.

Step 3
Finely break/ crush seviyan and fry in ghee till golden brown and then add sugar and stir it well.
Add this fried seviyan with sugar to the boiling milk. and cook again for 10 - 15 mins.



Step 4 :
Garnish the sheer korma with fried dry fruits and and serve hot.