Friday, December 15, 2006

Chocolate Brownies with Caramel Icecream

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.

17 comments:

Krithika said...

Those brownies look perfect ! lovely combination with caramel ice cream !

Priya said...

The brownies look delicious Anupama !! The decorations all around you does get us into the festive mood too, a visit to the bustling grocery store is enough to tell you how big the festival is !!

FH said...

Perfectly moist brownies.I am saving this!:)) and that caramel ice cream is a killer!YUM!!!

Lakshmik said...

Nice photos and delicious brownies. Cannot wait to try them.

Seema Bhat said...

Anupama:
I love brownies and always get the ready to make packs and make them. Somehow i have always wanted to learn to make it from scratch and thanks to your recipe now i can.
Cheers
Seema

TNL said...

Looks so tempting...!Caramel ice cream looks wonderful!

-Trupti

Sumitha said...

So good!Anu I am going to make this for Xmas!Thanks to you!

KA said...

Beautiful pictures Anupama!
Not related to this post:
Your idli upma idea is excellent, I am going to give it a try soon.

jayakarthik said...

wowwww yummy chocolate treats
thanks for sharing the recipe

Anonymous said...

Brownies!!!!! They are a treat !!!! and my weekness too :) Nice one Anupama!!!! You can check out my recipe of making a brownie sundae!!!!!
http://mykhazanaofrecipes.wordpress.com/2006/10/18/chocolate-brownie-sundae/

Vaishali said...

Great brownies, Anupama. Maybe you want to send them to Nandita for WBB #8? I think they'd make a great entry...without the ice-cream, though. :) On second thought, the ice-cream can go along too. We were eating out for brunch at around 11 a.m. the other day, and I saw a little girl ordering ice-cream!!!

Anupama said...

Thankx Krithika, I cannot takr credit for the icecream though as it is by cadbury's.

Thanx Priya. And a very happy christmas and new year to you

Thank you very much Asha.

Lakshmik, I suggest you you do not wait anymore. Go ahead and make them.

Seema, Thanks for dropping by Seema

Trupti, the caramel icecream is by Cadbury's. Its great.

Hi Sumi, Great to hear from you. Happy Swiss Christmas to you.

KA, Thanx a lot.

Jayakarthik, Are you a chocoholic?

Rooma, I'll surely check out your recipe. Thanx for letting me know.

Vaishali, I think thats a fab idea. And icecream should be fine too . It is christmas after all. Thank you so much for the suggestion.

Brilynn said...

Now those look like nice moist brownies, not overdone like mine... And the caramel ice cream is the perfect pairing.

Menu Today said...

Hi Anupama,
Your Brownies looks yummy!!!

Unknown said...

Ek super aahe Anu! The internet sure smells of chocolate nowadays ;)
I have something for you to guess at my end - nothing chocolate related though - a different aroma altogether ;0

Unknown said...

Wow I was searching for brownies recipe and landed in your blog site. Thanks for giving this delicious brownies. Now I could try out from scratch.
I have tried this eggless brownies with great success:
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/31983-post67.html

Unknown said...

I tried brownies yesterday as per ur receipe, oh I cann't explain it in words u can see my facial expressions when we will meet.cheers