First Time for Another First Time

We're invited for lunch at a friend's house today, which is a wonderful baking opportunity. I leafed through millions of pages of cookbooks the other day, but I couldn't settle on one thing. I knew I wanted to make brownies, but what kind, bro?! My other option was to make banana cream puffs for the first time, but I decided not to. Seriously, why does my mind want to make things for the first time when it's for a special occasion? I think I'm mentally challenged.

Okay, I take that back. One mustn't be too hard on oneself.

I made something about an hour ago that is still in the oven. Ugh, BRB, the timer's done.

Okay, back. I had to do a couple chores instructed to me by Mum. Anyway, the brownies were supposed to be done a long time ago, but I guess they took longer than they were supposed to because I preheated the oven at the last minute. Hey, don't blame me. A certain someone wanted to eat sweet potato french fries for breakfast, which required use of the oven.

Did I tell you what I made yet? No? *cackle* Oh, how I love exposing everything discreetly.

Today's post features....

Mexican Brownies!!

The Mexicans that invented this recipe are geniuses. These brownies taste like SUGAR OVERLOAD!!! SUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGAR
SUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGAR
SUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGARSUGAR

Like I said, sugar overload.

My sister, at the age of 10, made these all on her own for the first time. I, seven years later, am making these for the first time. My sister is such a genius. Maybe she's part Mexican. LOL, wut. Just kidding.

Here is a fabulous photo of the recipe card my sis wrote a million years ago. Don't you guys just love her penmanship?

Too blurry? 2BSS, SISTAH!! (2BSS = 2 Bad So Sad)

Since y'all probs can't read it, I will kindly write the ingredients down for y'all.
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

My sister is in the kitchen making the coffee icing. Since I did most of the work.... ehehhuhhuhuh *cough*

Since I didn't have much mistakes... other than the late preheating... here is a bunch of pictures I snapped. Well, Little Gamer Bro Assistant took some as well.

Little Brother took this. His finger is in the way.

Those fab feet are Little Brother Assistant's.

[10 hours later]

The lunch was fabulous. The hosts liked the brownies. One of them even took a picture of them. Lol. And now, one brownie is left, sitting alonely in a container on the table.

[1 hour later]

Okay, I'm back on my good old computer where the pictures are.

First you line your 13 x 9 square pan... with foil... also, remember, unlike me, to preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Fabulous, fascinating light.

Combine your flour...

Pouring flour in the bowl

  ...with your cocoa...

Pouring cocoa in the bowl

You know, I'm aware that these pictures are low-quality. I kind of like that. I mean, they're just pictures. I ain't no photo journalist.

Now add your salt...

Adding salt

And whisk 'em all together...

Now melt your butter over low heat...

Putting the stove on low heat

Butter wraps

Save your butter wraps... grease the pan with them...

Still kinda cold and stickin' together

Peace out, butter stix. Have fun being reduced to nothing but yellow liquid...

{Bedtime for me. Bah-bah, bad guys!!}

[13 hours later]

More photos for you people!!

I think this pic is upside down

 

Combine the melted butter with the sugar...

Ta-da!

I had Little Brother frustrated by telling him to take these useless photos

 

Now mix in the eggs one at a time...

 

Now, combine the butter-sugar mixture with the flour-cocoa mixture.

 

Whisk together...

 

Get this awesome chocolate mixture (that tastes awesome)...

See ya soon

Sorry, I couldn't find The Man, i.e., the cake tester. Had to kill the brownies with a fork...

 

The fault in our brownies (literally. If you know some geology, you'll find this funny.)

Teh koffy icing

 

 Then you serve them to people at lunch. The end. There. Finally done with this post. Took three days to complete.... e.e

And those guests are gonna come to our house this coming Thursday. Woo-hoo!!

In case you don't like reading recipes that have a lot of pictures, here's the complete recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

Brownie:

1 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1 Cup Butter [2 sticks]
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
4 Large Eggs
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

Coffee Icing:
1 Tablespoon instant cofee powder or granules
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
2 Tablespoons Water
1/4 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
3 Tablespoons butter or margarine
1 1/3 Cups Confectioners'/Powdered Sugar
Coffee beans and/or chopped semisweet chocolate for garnish.

The process~

1. Line pan with foil and grease it.
2. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
3. In saucepan, melt butter on low heat. Remove from heat and stir in sugar.
4. Stir in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla extract.
5. Combine the flour mixture with the sugar and butter mixture. Pour batter in prepared pan.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

7. For the frosting, dissolve vanilla extract with water and set aside. Heat brown sugar and butter over medium heat till they are melted and bubbly [two minutes].
8. Remove from heat. With a whisk, beat in the coffee.
9. Mix in water. Add powdered sugar until blended and smooth.
10. Spread over brownies.
11. Enjoy.
12: Wish that you had more.

Thank you for reading!!

N

 

Sweet is as Sweet Does

There are some days when I feel productive enough to write a 100 page book in a day.

Then again, doesn't everyone?

Yesterday was one of those days. Okay, I didn't really do anything productive, TBH, except bake some brownies. Which I didn't capture any photos of. A pity too, because I had almost no mistakes making it. I seriously need a camera.

That was a quick topic shift.

I usually bake things I've baked previously when no occasion is occurring. Strangely, when a bake-worthy occasion pops up, I try my best to make something I've never done before, and that usually results in a mess. I remember a few months ago in June, I made cake pops for my sister's end-of-eighteen-months-online-course party. They were okay, but I wasn't really prepared, and some of the cake pops broke up. At the party, I put them on top of the fridge, and some girl saw them and asked me for one. So I took the Styrofoam block down and held it out while kids pulled out the cake pops. They were gone in seconds. And the best thing about it was, my best friend took the best one I made -- my first one. And she liked it!

Anyway, back to real life. I forgot what I was going to talk about.

Oh yeah. Well, yesterday, I made some perfect butterscotch brownies. As y'all may know, I baked these previously twice before. Once in 2009 for a 4-H state fair, and once last year for a potluck. The recipe is so easy, it's hard to mess up. There are a reasonable amount of ingredients, and an even more reasonable amount of directions. The only 'bad' thing about this recipe is that you have to sift 2 and 1/4 cups of flour. No sweat, I guess. I've gotten used to sifting. And actually, it's sort of fun.

#brag #justkidding

I like how the tissue paper is pink for me :] By the way, that yellow sticker is supposed to stand for second place, but I got first place, but they ran out of first place stickers :[

The version I did last year was the only one I drizzled with chocolate. You can never go wrong with chocolate, but these brownies are so perfect they don't NEED chocolate. (Additionally, they are very sweet, so chocolate would put you on a hyper level of high.)

Ew they look kinda uncooked in this photo

The one in the book looks more yummy

The Story of Productive Yesterday
At about 9:54 AM, I took out two sticks of butter to soften. At the time there were some sweet potatoes in the oven, so I put the butter sticks on the stove. Which was a bad idea because the sticks kind of melted.

Wait. Why do I even mention my mistakes?

So that they don't get passed on. Yeah. Okay. Just never get impatient when it's time to bake.

Then I took out the butterscotch chips baggie and cut it open and ate some. AHHH so sweet. Butterscotch chips are like, my favorite kind of chips. White ones smell funny, and chocolate is too common. Butterscotch hits right in the middle, just like me. (and they're sweet just like me)

Well, as I waited for the butter to soften more, I measured everything out, as usual. then I mixed the butter and sugar together, then I added the eggs, then I sifted the flour, then I prepared the wrong pan, and then I folded in the chips.

Then the problem occurred.

See, the recipe told me to prepare a rectangular pan. And I did, but when I put the mixture in it, it all didn't fit. And I thought to myself, "How in the world did it ever fit in before?" With an internal sigh, I prepared a square pan and pressed the mixture in there. It fit, thankfully. Then I pushed it into the oven and cleaned everything up. I was kind of rushing because I had three friends talking to me at the time. But I managed to do all the dishes and clean the table. I was rather proud of myself. And that's what I mean by Productive Yesterday.

The End.

My brother ate too much, which kind of bothered me, but he said they were good. And that's what I'll take as payment. :]

Optional to Read!! Life Updates:

December 20: My last session of archery at the masjid. Went to somebody's graduation party. Played dodgeball after a halaqa at the masjid and got sore all over.

December 21: No karate session, unexpected. Bought a graphing notebook for brother.

December 22: Had guests over. Cleaned to the death.

Thank you for reading!! :]

N

Bad Choices

On December 12, my dad, sister, and I went shopping. Everything was on a good sale. I plopped a bag of light brown sugar in the cart, and I was so happy that the morsels were on sale, too! I got a bag of everything: white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and dark chocolate chips. From there, I knew, the next thing to be mixed up in my house was going to feature one of those many chips.

Well, not just one chip, of course. One kind. Know what I mean?

Now, before we get into any stories of baking calamities (which is what always happens), I'm going to have to entertain you with a life story. This one's gonna be good.

December 12-14th marked the three days of an AlMaghrib class called Deception. It was an in-depth study of Shaytan/the devil. I didn't know why I wanted to take it, but I knew why I wanted to take it. (My mind is so contradictory.) Things like these scare me yet they interest me at he same time. Sometimes I think I have a second mind. After all, I do have two brain halves. My dominant mind is the one I'm used to, but this other mind makes me think 'Do I really not know the reason behind that?' or 'Did I really not do that?' etc., and I really hate this other mind because it makes me feel and look like I'm not telling the truth when I actually am.

Anyway, the class was probably THE best AlMaghrib class I ever took. That exam isn't going to intimidate me!

The only boring part about the class was lunch time. I preferred sitting in class, laughing at jokes and understanding stories. At lunchtime, the whole classroom was empty because everybody was at restaurants eating burgers and pizza. I/we just had fruits, power bars, and Chex Mix. While eating a power bar, I analyzed it and guessed how it could have been made. (It was chocolate covered.)

So. To the point. I don't really remember what sort of life story I was going to tell you. (Which is why I shouldn't leave a blog post alone for more than a day.)

Aren't they just fab? (No. They're not.)

I have a question for you after you analyze the photo. Do those look like oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookies to you?

No?

I didn't think so.

I never should have let my sister choose what I was going to make. That was a bad choice. She made a bad choice. Bad choices lead to more bad choices. I should've known.

Well, anyhow. Mistake report coming up.

There are hardly any places to catch a good patch of sunlight in this house/apartment. [Bleh, I'll call it a house.] The windows are blinded [literally], and the living room has a sliding door that is also blinded. I prefer curtains and windows, man. I DON'T CARE IF THEY'RE SO LAST CENTURY.

Anyway, I brought that up because I like to let sticks of butter soften in the sunlight. Because 1. Patches of sunlight are so pretty. and 2. It's faster. x3

Fortunately, some sunlight was streaking in the kitchen on top of the dryer, so I placed all the sticks of butter there. After leaving them there for about half an hour, I checked on them and they were still hard as stone, or so I thought until I poked them. Okay, a tad squishy. However not enough to fulfill my expectations. I unwrapped them and put them on a plate. That would work, right?

...right?

Detected hesitation tells you NO.

At least, I'm hoping so.

The recipe told me 1 1/3 cups of unsalted butter, softened. After taking them out I thought, "That's quite a lot." But I couldn't argue with the recipe, of course. (I can't argue with most things/people.)

The recipe also called for 1 1/3 cups of sugar, AND 3/4 cups of brown sugar. (If you measure these out, you'll see how much this is.)

Time was running away like a cheetah, so I dumped the fuzzy sticks of butter with the sugars and mixed 'em up. Not sure if the butter was a problem, but most likely. Ugh! I need to seriously take my baking seriously! Remember this important piece of advice from Mum, "Always take the butter out an hour before you want to bake."

Okay, I got distracted by the word 'Mum' because it reminded me of something. Egh.

When my sister was helping me spoon the batter on the cookie sheets, she said, "When something's wrong with the cookies, it's either because there's too much sugar or there's too much butter."

Guilt twisted inside me.  

But, that's what the recipe said! my other mind protested.

Shut it! my dominant mind argued.

Heh, said my face.

[Nothing] said I.

There was too much sugar and there was too much butter. No matter, The batter looked like this.

DO NOT EVEN TRY FEIGNING THAT FACE OF INNOCENCE, BATTER

 Beautiful, no?

No? Yeah, I feel you.

I like the background, too

Such natural lighting

Moving on to the process of cooking these little troublemakers. Like I mentioned before, I hate making drop cookies. It's messy. I hate getting my hands dirty. It's okay if everything else is dirty, but not my hands. NOT MY HANDS. EVAH.

Anyway, how do drop cookies even get your hands dirty. Because, somehow, the spoon handles get dirty and I have to touch them in order to use them.

My hands aren't typing what they're supposed to type. (-_- that sentence needed like 3 corrections -_-)

Every time I dropped the dough on the sheet, the cookies turned out flat and hideous and the extremity of golden brown.

much oven

 Yep. Like that.

My sister made some of the cookies. She rolled up little dough balls. They turned out like cookies with rounded tops, but flat bottoms, but much perfecter than those shown above. They brought tears of joy to my eyes, because they were so beautiful. So I made the rest of them like that.

There are about 3 of these in the cookie jar right now. I tried to eat one with milk this morning, but the milk was sour. :( And I usually have milk as a wake up drink. :( (Actually I have it as an everything drink XD)

This post is really late, so, buh-bai.

N

They Are Awesome The Brownies

This is by far one of those pictures where my hands look just beautiful.

"http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/11/fudgy-brownies-recipe.html
heavenl;y let's make it tomorrow"

A message I received from Big Sister on December 7th.

My reply?

"Don't look at the stuff I +1 please
lol"

We did end up making them however, on the day after. December 8th. They were... err... rather delightful.

Delightful for a while, yes. Then, I guess the sugar overload took over.

I was chatting with one of my friends at the time, and I asked her if she wanted pictures, and she said "that would be great!" (with multiple '!'.) So after my sister took pictures and sent them to me, I showed them to my friend, and she said, "WOW THEY ARE AWESOME THE BROWNIES" (hence the title of this post) (#yodatalk) and I was like ':3 Meknows.'

Anyway, these don't look AT ALL like the ones on the website, and I'm assuming that's just because it was made by me. Yep. Things like that, always happening when I'm involved. Anyway, I made the brownies, and my sister made the frosting. I could sense a lot of upcoming lack of health, but I follow the rules of recipes, so I took no action.

They were finished on December 10, I believe. The day after I was terribly sick. I wanted to have some, but I was still sick, and refused to take any risks.

The weather is warming up, but that is an entirely different story for an entirely different time.

N

The Reason Why You Don't Click on Random Links

My mom told me to check my Google+. So I logged in and checked my notifications. It was one of my expectations: a recipe that, of course, I was going to make. I read through it and let out an internal groan.

Remember my last post, the one where I talked about my folding problem? I had no idea whether my mom was trying to make me feel bad or encouraging me to keep trying folding. Whichever it was, the word 'fold' in that recipe yanked my heart down. I couldn't fold. Let's rephrase that. I CAN'T fold. That's the real reason my closet is so empty. Joking. That was a lame joke.

Anyhow, my mom told me that she didn't even read the recipe, which triggered my whole body to go and facepalm a wall.

However, one day, my sister suggested we make it. She told me to begin and tell her to come only when the folding had to be done. (My sister has much more experience in baking than I do.) So, everything went well. We baked the brownie part first, poured the butter cake over it, blah, baked it, blah blah. Then, when we took it out and cut it, BOOM! The cake exploded.

'Kay, it didn't, but it was something close to that. Apparently, the cake hadn't been cooked completely through. Butter cake batter oozed like blood from a wound out of the butter cake part of the cake. It flowed out slowly, just like my tears would have if I'd felt like crying. Fortunately, the flow shocked me, not saddened me. My sister put it back in the oven and went to take a shower. (TMI much) She didn't set the timer, so I was supposed to watch over it. So I looked at it and poked it with a cake tester shaped like a chef. (We call him "the Man")

Nothing stuck to him, which meant the cake was done. I took it out, didn't burn myself, and remembered to turn off the oven. (I usually forget) I looked at the place where the flow had come from, and there was no flow. (I find this description fairly disturbing)

I told my sister to take pictures. She actually listened.

One of the slices unaffected by the flow

One of the reasons it failed: the milk.

We did have milk. About ten tablespoons left. It looked okay. But it did not smell okay. Therefore, it was NOT okay. I substituted with some chocolate almond milk we happened to have, fortunately. Still, my sister was mad at me. Then, she came to me saying that spoiled milk is okay to consume if it's cooked.

Well, she didn't exactly use my sophisticated wording, but she said something like that. That made me feel a little better, but it was already in the oven.

I'm probably going to try and make this again (hopefully I learn to fold by then). And with that I conclude today's rant.

Oh wait. That's for Rant Files...

-N

Really, Me? BLC Update

So I read over my post last night, and I thought, "Wow, really, N. Post pictures of that creature you created? Nah."

By the way, BLC stands for Buttermilk Lemon Cake. Anyway, there were quite a lot of problems with that cake. First of all, one of the sticks of butter was not completely softened, so it caused some trouble during the mixing. Then, as I was pouring the rather watery mixture into the pans, I saw some chunks of it in there. As I scraped the rest out, a huge chunk of butter-and-whatever appeared, and I was like, OMG. There was nothing I could do because we were really rushing and I hadn't showered yet, so I let it go. #frozen Then, when I took the cake out, it looked like a total disaster and part of it was burnt and I couldn't even get it out of the pan. It didn't even rise. When I cut it and took a piece out, the bottom was rubber-like. It was squishy but tough. Kinda like a really breakable eraser.

What I lined the pan with was another story. We didn't have parchment paper, so I used wax paper. I didn't think that would cause any problems, but unfortunately it did. It burnt and the cake stuck to it. What I learned was that parchment paper doesn't stick; wax does. What a huge waste of beautiful lemons. I'd like to try again, but not until I've caught up with homework (heehee).

We need a new Bundt pan.

So, yes. There you go.

N

Buttermilk Lemon Cake Attacks Once Again!

Hey guys! Hope you all are enjoying your break. I have absolutely no classes today. Just homework. English homework. I absolutely ADORE my English homework. It's very easy and fun, though a bit challenging at some times. Everyone gets writer's block at some point.

I nearly forgot why I made this post. Today I'm making Buttermilk Lemon Cake, again! It's for a bunch of people tonight. We're going to a Thanksgiving dinner thing. I don't really know why they're having it because Muslims don't celebrate Thanksgiving. I guess they feel like they need the break. But if someone brings turkey I'm going to scream because we should have nothing to do at all with the actual Thanksgiving customs. That is, of course, unless people like turkey.

It's almost December. After some calculations, I discovered that I'm supposed to finish Algebra II on February 18, 2015. Somehow I missed four weeks of it and I'm twenty lessons behind. So that's all I'll be torturing myself with over the weekend. :P Honestly though, if my future job is to be an author, I don't need algebra at all! Maybe minor if I make money, but why would I need to insert quadratic equations and radical signs in my life? I saw this awesome thing somewhere on Google+ (I think). It was like, "Who needs algebra? We're only going to need to find the x if we become pirates." At that, I pointed both my pointer fingers at the picture and said, "UH-HUH! TRUEDAT!"

Kidding. I did that in my head.

My mom is making spring rolls at the moment, and when she's done, I'm gonna bring the cake to action. This cake calls for a glaze, consisting of 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 3/4 cups of confectioners' sugar. I wanted to try making the cake with oranges instead of lemons this time, but my sister suggested I make the glaze with oranges. So that's what I'll be doing! Oh, here's the downside of it all. We got rid of our Bundt pan because it's messed up, and our tube pan leaks (I don't know why we kept it). As a result I must use a pound cake pan. I don't really fancy those, but it's okay, if there's no other option.

Another idea is whirring up in my mind. Ignore it. *ignores idea*

Well, while we wait for Mother to finish the spring rolls, I will tell you a little about my life since I last posted. I got sick two Fridays ago, and I'm partly okay now, but my sister refuses to be near me in case I breathe on her. Which, unfortunately, is going to have to happen. Sorry, sis. Maybe another time. ;D Also, I finished reading Rick Riordan's The Sea of Monsters. Very good. Now I have to read the first book of the new Warriors series, although I'm not very excited about it. I don't care at all about the dawn of the Clans. I want to know how ThunderClan lives on under the eye of Bramble. (SPOILER ALERT!!) Yesterday. I watched Goosebumps: The Ghost Next Door. That movie still scares me, even though I know what will happen. I watched Dumbo too. And, um... that's probably all I should give you guys. Oh wait! There's no archery or calligraphy club this week. That's the only downside of this darned Thanksgiving break.

OMG. I just forgot a really important thing I wanted to say. Oh yeah! I wanted to talk about pumpkin pie!

Wait my mom is done! I'll catch you later!

I am back after 2 hours, possibly. The cake made me feel so horrible about myself that I had to eat a spring roll to make myself feel better. I have no idea what to do, what to think. I have just insulted cake nation.

Errr...... I'll update with  pics later maybe.

N

Folds - Mistake Report

I haven't been here in so long... I missed my little HSBCI. Well, here I am again, and of course, I post here only when I bake stuff. I baked two things recently (of which I can remember, of course).

On Tuesday I baked a cake that everyone loves, called Everyday Chocolate Cake. And today, I baked a cowpoo cake.

You read correctly - cowpoo.

I have no idea why I keep calling it that. It was from this book called Chocolate and Baking. It's on page 52. It's called Chocolate Walnut Cake. It totally failed! I had the correct ingredients, did everything properly. I even thought I did the folding correctly -  apparently, I did not. Folding was all that messed the cake up. My brother called it a sponge that'd been dried out for a long time. My mum didn't want to finish the last bits because it tasted nasty. (And actually, it does.)

The frosting was pretty nasty too. I guess 'cause I beat it on high speed last minute because there were large butter chunks in there. Hehe.

Here's the recipe. If you make it and it turns out perfectly, I'll kill you and ask you for your secrets and pictures, if you took any.

Chocolate Walnut Cake from Chocolate & Baking, page 52

4 eggs
1/2 cup superfine sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 tbsp butter, melted
2 3/4 ounces dark chocolate, melted
1 1/4 cups finely chopped walnuts

Frosting:
2 3/4 ounces dark chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp milk
walnut halves, to decorate

Method:
1. Grease a deep 7-inch round cake pan and line the base. Place the eggs and superifne sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 10 minutes, or until the mixture is light and foamy and the beater leaves a trail that lasts a few seconds when lifted.
2. Sift together the flour and unsweetened cocoa and fold in with a metal spoon or spatula. Fold in the melted butter and chocolate, and the chopped walnuts. Pour into the prepared pan and bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees F for 30-35 minutes, or until springy to the touch.
3. Cool the cake in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cut the cold cake into 2 layers.
4. To make the frosting, melt the dark chocolate and let cool slightly. Beat together the butter, confectioners' sugar, a milk in a bowl until the mixture is pale and fluffy. Beat in the melted chocolate.
5. Sandwich the 2 cake layers with some of the frosting and then transfer to a serving plate. Spread the remaining frosting over the top of the cake with a spatula, swirling it slightly as you do so to make a pattern. Decorate with the walnut halves and serve.

Good luck!!

N