GOOEY AND FUDGY STRAWBERRY CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

Weather was beautiful outside yesterday evening. Drizzling rain drops and popping rainbow was making me eager to whip up something quick and easy to enjoy this beautiful weather with my cuppa.

Jumped up from the couch and hurriedly stepped down to the kitchen and my eyes went straight to the chocolate buttons in my pantry. The first thing that came up to my mind was, “ah I haven’t made my famous classic brownies in a while which are always my family and friends’ favorite!” Opened the fridge and pulled out the butter and eggs, and while I was grabbing them I saw a strawberry punnet and thought of putting it to a great use! Chocolate and strawberry is a classic combo and pairs so well...grabbed that to make them part of my classic recipe. Now brownie isn’t complete without adding a crunch of the nut, opened the freezer and pulled out the bag of pecans which I always stock up as they are one of my favorite nuts. Worked up the brownies batter and within in no time my gooey fudgy brownies were ready to gobble down...

If you yearning to eat something indulgent but don't want to stand up in kitchen for hours to curb your cravings, this classic brownies recipe modified with strawberries is just the perfect one for you to try which will be ready in minutes...

I’m sure you’re already drooling as who doesn’t love brownies - read the recipe down below!

---

YIELDS: 9 large/16 small pieces

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

BAKE TIME: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 185g dark chocolate buttons ( you can use semi-sweet)

• 125g butter, cubed

• 1 cup caster sugar

• 1 cup all purpose flour

• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 eggs, lightly beaten

• 3/4 cup pecan nuts, roughly chopped

• 6-8 strawberries, sliced

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line 8x8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper.

2. Bain-marie the chocolate buttons and butter together in a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Make sure your bowl is not touching the hot water.

3. Remove bowl from the pan, add sugar and vanilla; stir to combine. Add lightly beaten eggs to the chocolate mix, stir to combine well.

4. Gradually add flour to the chocolate mix, in three batches, fold gently to a lump-free batter. Fold in the pecan nuts. Transfer the brownie batter to the prepared pan, place sliced strawberries on top and bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

5. Leave to cool in pan for 20 minutes. Remove from the pan and cut them into slices and serve warm with a dollop of ice-cream on top.

COOK'S NOTES:

• Bain-Marie is a technique of melting or cooking something over a pan of simmering water. You can also do this step in the recipe using the microwave, but I prefer to do it over a pan of simmering water.

• Strawberries on top makes the brownies bit more gooey. The extra moisture which oozes from strawberries after baking makes them more moist hence they become more gooey.

• Do not over bake your brownies if you feel after 30 minutes of baking they are still soft from the center. They will firm up slightly and will become fudgy once cooled down.

#brownies #fudgybrownies #baked #baking #chocolatebrownies #bakedrecipes #strawberry #darkchocolatebrownies #pecannuts

STRAWBERRY NO-BAKE CHEESECAKE

The weather is still warm and insisting you to dig into cooler desserts. My daughter asked me to make her favorite strawberry cheesecake one more time before she leaves for her Uni, and how can a mum say no when you know your child won’t be home for months!

I saw these luscious strawberries at Carrefour and thought I’ll make these one more time before the king of the summer fruit, the mango, takes over. It’s an eggless, no-bake beauty which won’t take much of your time at all! It’s super simple, I've made a video tutorial for you to follow along here, or read the recipe down below!

---

SERVES: 4

PREP TIME: 15 minutes

COOKING TIME: 10 minutes

REFRIGERATION TIME: 4-6 hours

INGREDIENTS

• 6 digestive biscuits

• 1 1/2 tbsp caster sugar

• 60g butter, melted

• 150g cream cheese, room temperature

• 100g crème fraîche, room temperature

• 1/3 cup icing sugar, sifted

• 1/2 cup heavy cream

• 8 strawberries, cut in half

• 150g frozen strawberries

• 1/2 cup orange juice

• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

• 2/3 cup caster sugar

• 1 1/2 Gelatin sheet

• Few strawberries for garnishing

METHOD

1. To make crust, pulse digestive biscuits and 1 1/2 tbsp sugar together in blender until fine crumbs are formed.

2. Transfer to a bowl, stir in melted butter and divide in 4 dessert cups (6 cm deep) and press gently. Place in fridge for 20 minutes.

3. In an electric mixer bowl, beat cream cheese and crème fraîche and icing sugar until combined. In a separate bowl beat heavy cream until medium-stiff peaks are formed, fold it in the cream cheese mixture.

4. To make jelly, soak Gelatin sheets in cold water; combine frozen strawberries, caster sugar, orange juice and lemon juice and bring it boil and cook for 5-7 minutes until strawberries collapse and sugar dissolves, stir in soaked gelatin sheets until melted and mixed together. Cool it.

5. Take glass dessert cups out of fridge, arrange strawberries inside cups with cut side facing out and touching the glass, pour the prepared cream cheese mixture on top and cover just 1cm above strawberries.

6. Now pour strawberry jelly on top, garnish with whipped cream swirl and some strawberries.

For a quick video tutorial, watch it here!

#vegetarian #dessert #eggless #nobake #cheesecake #sweet #strawberry #quick #easy #tutorial