Chocolate Brownies with Caramel Icecream

Chocolate Brownies with Caramel Icecream, originally uploaded by Anupama 72.

Well people, Christmas is just around the corner and my neighbourhood is a riot of colourful twinkling fairy lights and beautifully decorated Christmas trees peeping out of people's homes. It almost makes me glad that it gets dark so soon these days. Because come sunset and the entire neighbourhood comes to life with the festive spirit. Its my son's first Christmas in a UK school and he is so excited ,what with the christmas songs he has learnt in school and the rehearsals for the nativity play.

Although we do not really celebrate Christmas at home it is impossible to stay immune to all the gaiety around. And these brownies are a sure proof of my involvement in this festival. I have tried these for the first time ever and they really turned out well. I had read the recipe quite some time back and the only thing that stopped me from making them before was the amount of butter in it,which is quite a lot. So I waited for a really good reason to make them. And what better reason than Christmas. I have made them quite in advance . They freeze beautifully and can be microwaved just before serving.

I have followed this recipe from the book "Simple Cakes" by Mary Berry who you could say is my Guru in Baking.

Chocolate Brownies, originally uploaded by Anupama 72.

You need:

250gms butter softened,

100 gms self-raising flour (if you are using plain flour just add a tspn of baking powder to it.)

375 gms caster sugar,

4 eggs,

75 gms cocoa powder,

100 gms plain chocolate chips (optional)

Procedure:

Grease a rectangular tray (about 12x9x1.5 inches).

Preheat ovento 180 deg C.

Measure all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Preferably with a hand-held mixer. But it can be done with a wooden spoon.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and spread it out evenly .

Bake for 40 to 45 mins till it gets a crusty top and a skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool and then store in an airtight container. Freeze them if you want to eat them at a later date.