#53 - Baileys Biscuit Brownies

Have you ever had that moment in the middle of the night when you are having a serious craving for something rich and chocolatey? Like a slice of decadent brownie for instance? 

Yes I just had that moment! 

And the result of me having this super duper strong craving, was me rushing to the kitchen and whipping up these basic and easy brownies bars with whatever limited ingredients I can find in my pantry. I was lucky that I happened to have all the basics that I need. And of course, how can i forget my secret ingredient! Baileys Irish Cream! Almost everything taste better with a couple tablespoon of this, don't you agree?

And the end product was... nothing short of being RICH! How I regretted not having some homemade Bailey Ice Cream to go with the brownies! I am sure that will elevate the taste to a whole new level. 

Please be warned that this brownie is really thick and rich and packed with all chocolate goodness. If you are not a MEGA chocolate fan, please stay away. Otherwise, do enjoy a little midnight indulgence. Enjoy :)

***************

Recipe: Adapted & modified from Brownies & Slices

Free printable version of recipe - Click here (Updated!)

Ingredients

Chocolate, chopped into pieces – 350g

Butter, softened – 110g

Cocoa Powder – 25g

Instant Coffee Powder – 10g

Caster Sugar – 125g

Egg – 3nos (approximately 140g)

All Purpose Flour, sifted – 50g

Chocolate Biscuit, crushed into pieces – 80g

Baileys Irish Cream – 3 Tbsp

Walnut – 70g

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C and line baking pan (I used 9” square pan) with baking paper. Set aside for later use.

2. Using double boiler over low heat, melt the chocolate with the butter. Stir constantly until all the chocolate is melted.

3. Stir in cocoa powder, coffee powder and sugar. Make sure the mixture is well mixed. Remove the mixture from heat and allows it to cool for at least 10 minutes.

4. Beat in the eggs to the mixture until it is well blended.

5. Fold in flour to the mixture and add in the crushed biscuit. Combined well. Make sure the combined mixture is well mixed, with no trace of flour.

6. Add in Baileys Irish Cream to the final mixture. Mix well.

7. Pour the combined mixture into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle walnuts on top.

8. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until your tester come out clean when inserted in the center of the brownie.

#15 - Cheese Top Brownies

Ta-dah! My version of Cheese Top Brownie! They look a little small in this paper liner, but trust me, they are just simply the most delicious small-bits devils! This has been my go-to recipe whenever I feel like pampering my family/friends with some sweet treats to thank them for everything and anything. So far, feedback on this little devils has been really positive! And I am getting more and more familar with this recipe, I can now better predict what my little devils' mood swings are. Haha!

If you have read my last entry, you would be aware that I have received (and just completed) my very first order of these Cheese Top Brownie. The order came from my student and it was for a Children Day Party! Though it was just a small order of 25 of them, there were so much pride and happiness in me!

 

I made a totally of 4 batches of 12 brownie each. Batch 1 was a test batch, which I wasn't very happy with because of the proportion of the brownie to the cheese topping. It was a little off. Too much brownie base, too little cheese. Batch 2 was much better (after changing to a slightly smaller muffin tray) and Batch 3 & 4 were excellent!

With these delicious brownie, not only was I able to meet the order from my student, I also have some brownies reserved for my hubby, in-laws, friends as well as Ting & Lian (& Katie & Kelly) who I met up with on Sunday for a wonderful brunch + chit chatting session! I was so happy! Remember, sharing is happiness! 

Note: Icing the brownie after cooling them overnight really helps to ensure that the icing stays for a long period of time. And also, only fill paper liners to half so as to allow a good proportion between the batter and the cream cheese. This will also helps to make sure that the cream cheese are not 'burnt' and they will look really pretty!

***************

Recipe: Adapted & modified from here.

Servings

Make approximately 12

Ingredients

Brownie Base

130g Chocolate Chips, melted

57g Butter

85g Flour

1 tbsp Cocoa Powder

1/8 tsp Salt

125g Sugar

2 Eggs

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Cream Cheese Top

88g Cream Cheese 

1 Egg Yolk

1 tbsp Sugar

Icing Sugar (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175C and line muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside for later. 

2. Melt chocolate chips & butter in microwave oven and stir together. 

3. Sieve the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, salt) and set aside. 

4. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and egg together using a whisk for about 1 minute until the mixture is light and fluffy. 

5. Add in the melted chocolate & butter mixture together with the vanilla extract and mix well to get a smooth mixture.

6. Using a whisk, add in the flour mixture in Step (3) (1/3 portion at a time) into the wet mixture in Step (5). Switch to a spatula to help with mixing. Make sure that the combined mixture is well-mixed, with no trace of flour. Be careful not to over mix the batter.

7. Using an ice-cream scoop, divide the batter evenly into 12 muffins cups. Each muffin cup should be filled up to 1/2 to 2/3 of the way. 

8. Tap muffin tray on tabletop and shake it gently to ensure that the batter is level and evenly spread out. This also help to make sure that excess air is removed from the batter.

9. To make the cream cheese top, cream together cream cheese with egg yolk and sugar using an electric mixer. Make sure that everything is well-mixed. 

10. Add a teaspoon of cream cheese mixture to the top of each muffin cup. 

11. Bake for 20 minutes (turn the muffin tray front-to-back after 10 minutes) and cool completely. If you would like to, you may add icing sugar to the top of the brownie after they are completely cooled (after at least 4 hours) before serving. 

Cheese Top Brownies for a Children Day Party

I am so excited and I can't wait for tomorrow morning to come. Will be making some Cheese Top Brownies for a Children Day Party. Oh my god! Please pray for me that all the brownies must come out perfect and delicious! Really hope the kids will love it!

Please be pretty and yummy like these!

I shall be updating the site with the recipe and the pictures after I accomplished my task of baking at least 3 to 4 dozen of these darlings tomorrow. Will be making a couple more for my girlfriends with whom i am meeting for brunch on Sunday. Please let this be a wonderful weekend of baking!

#10 - White Chocolate Brownies with Strawberry Glaze

Also know as Blondies, white chocolate brownies are the sweeter version of their sister, Brownies. If you are kind of sick and tired of our usual brown/milk chocolate (like I am), then you may want to play around with white chocolate instead.

I have recently expanded my baking collection with some new baking pans from Wiltshire! Yeah! Non-stick pans are my favourite! But the problem arises when I was preparing to bake these little darlings. Because I do not have a square baking tin as required in the recipe, I have to make use of what I have. Being the indecisive me, I could not make up my mind whether to use the Slice Pan (273 x 175 x 32mm) or the Oblong Cake Pan (335 x 230 x 45mm). On one hand, i did not want my blondies to be too thick and dense, but on the other hand, I wasn't sure whether the batter was enough to spread through the cake pan. Haha! Talking about being indecisive, I must be the classic of the classic! 

Anyway, I was greedy as I wanted to be able to bake as many of these blondies as possible as I have friends coming over. So, I decided to use the Cake Pan. WRONG decision! Haha! It caused my blondies to be too thin and it turned out that they were kind of overcooked (don't worry, they were not burnt) and the texture became somewhat in between a brownie and a soft cookie. 

Hubby called them the white chocolate cookies (not brownies) and he finished all of them in just 2 days. What can I say? I am so grateful to have my hubby as my all-time supporter and he makes my life that much easier by being the easy-eater who he is. Thank god he is not that much of a fussy eater.

Not to worry, I will be trying out this recipe again, once I get my hands on a new batch of white chocolate. 

***************

Recipe: Adapted & modified from here.

Servings

Make approximately 30 brownies

Ingredients

1C All Purpose Flour, sieved

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

1C White Chocolate Chips

76g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature

1/2C Brown Sugar

1/4C Fine Sugar

1 Egg

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 tbs Sour Cream

Strawberry Icing

28g White Chocolate Chips

1tbs Unsalted Butter

50g Strawberry, pureed with blender/ food processor

1C Icing Sugar

2tbs milk, if necessary

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Grease baking pan by spraying a layer of non-stick spray on it before lining the base with non-stick baking paper. Set aside for later use.

3. Sieve the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and set aside. 

4. Add 2 tbs of flour to the white chocolate chips and mix well, making sure that all the chocolate chips are well-coated with a layer of flour. This will ensure that the chocolate chips will not sink to the bottom of the batter. 

5. In a mixing bowl, cream the soft butter and sugar together using a whisk. When a creamy mixture is obtained, add in the egg, vanilla extract and sour cream. Mix well to get a smooth mixture. 

6. Using a spatula, fold in the flour mixture (1/3 portion at a time) into the wet mixture in Step (5) and make sure that the combined mixture is well-mixed, with no trace of flour. 

7. Add in the white chocolate chips and fold it into the mixture. 

8. Spread the batter evenly in the baking pan. Shake it gently to ensure that the batter is level. 

9. Bake for 25 minutes. Set aside for it to cool completely before cutting into bars.

10. To make the strawberry icing, melt the white chocolate chips and butter in the microwave/ oven. Once melted, add in pureed strawberries and icing sugar. Whisk well until mixture is smooth and well combined. Add in milk, if necessary, to get the correct consistency of the icing. Set aside.

11. After cooling and cutting up the brownies into small bars, brush a thin layer of the strawberry icing on top of each pieces, to get a glossy glaze. Garnish with a few white chocolate chips before serving. 

#Note - 

It will take some time to melt the white chocolate chips for the icing. Be careful to check and stir the butter & chocolate mixture when they are in the microwave/ oven. The white chocolate chips tends to burn a little instead of melting well (unlike milk chocolate chips).

In addition, you may also add in some macadamia nuts in the brownies if you like the nutty texture!