Chocolate Drizzle Cake

It's about time I get back to posting regularly. This is attempt #1. 

Since my husband started cooking almost daily with me, I have found less of a need to share.

This does not suit food blogging. The purpose is to share, Sarah. So here we go. We've got chocolate cake. It's good. It's airy. It feels like it has no calories in it. It does. Many calories. And pockets of chocolate. Pray for your hips. 

Chocolate Drizzle Cake

You'll need: 

200 grams of unsalted butter, softened

200 grams of caster sugar

80 grams of melted milk chocolate

1 tablespoon of milk

140 grams of all-purpose flour

60 grams of cocoa powder

2 teaspoons of baking powder

4 large eggs, separated

A pinch of salt

2 drops of vinegar

Begin by preheating your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Grease a 20 cm round baking tin and line it with baking paper. 

Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa together and set aside. 

In a large bowl, cream your butter and sugar together until light and fluffy using a stand mixer or electric beater. 

Add the egg yolks and milk and mix until combined.

Mix in the combined dry ingredients then the melted chocolate. 

Whip your egg whites in a sepatate bowl with a pinch of salt.*

Start whisking the egg whites on low speed at first to get smaller and more stable bubbles in your foam. 

Add the vinegar and continue to beat the egg whites continuously until you get stiff peaks. 

Fold the egg whites into the cake mixture carefully. Don't fold too much or you'll end up with a deflated batter. 

Pour your cake batter into the baking tin and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool then remove from the baking tin.

*Make sure your egg whites are at room temperature. Make sure your bowl and utensils are clean and oil-free. 

For the ganache:
1 cup of heavy cream
1 ½ cup of chocolate chips

To prepare the ganache, heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and pour in the chocolate chips. Stir until completely combined and glossy. Allow the ganache to cool before pouring over cake.

Zebra Cake Turned Biscotti

I seem to fall into a pattern; one that I try to come to terms with, adjust to. It starts off with a quick job that drives me to run for an amount of time on what seems like the positive energy of this world compounded. Work happens in the midst of this; success comes in bursts. Later as it ends, I become harsher, a cracked heel. It is over and in some way, I too am over and worn out. I will sleep for days, read for hours, approach my kitchen out of necessity and watch food shows out of habit but no particular interest.  

A while later, I return after my hips have stretched and I have inhaled a large but untold number of biscuits, store-bought and homemade (not our home but another maybe mother or mother in law). Then when they are all gone I become biscuit-desperate, I make my own. Only then do I realize that I missed what I do. I missed my kitchen. I missed me.    

 Zebra Biscotti
(Adapted from BBC Food)

You'll need:
butter, to grease
4 large eggs
250 grams of granulated sugar
100 ml of milk
250 ml of sunflower oil
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
475 grams of self-raising flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
25 grams of cocoa powder

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Butter a 23 cm cake tin. Crack your eggs and pour your sugar into a large mixing bowl. Pour in the milk, oil and vanilla extract and mix with a handheld electric whisk for a minute. Add 175 grams of your self-raising flour and whisk again until smooth. 

In a separate bowl, pour half of your mixture. Whisk in 1/2 a teaspoon of baking powder and 175 grams of flour and set aside. In the other bowl (the first bowl), mix in the cocoa powder, 125 grams of flour and the other 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder. 

In your cake tin, spoon two tablespoons of plain cake mix into the center then spoon two tablespoons of the chocolate mixture in the center and on top of the plain cake mix. Continue to do this until both cake mixes have been used up. You'll end up with alternate rings of cake mix in the tin. 

Bake in your oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven, turn the cake out onto a wire rack and cool. Once cool, have a slice then place the cake onto a chopping board. Cut the cake into thick straight slices and arrange the soft cake, one side down, onto a baking sheet. Bake for around 15 minutes in a 190 degree Celsius preheated oven until they reach a light golden color. Transfer the biscotti onto a wire rack and cool completely before storing in an airtight container. 

A Chocolate Mousse

Today was the first time I realized that Julia Child shared the same birthday as my now 9 year old stepdaughter. If there's one thing I've noticed about Talia in the kitchen, it's that she doesn't tire. While her older brother, Youssef, has no patience for laborious baking, Talia can knead for as long as she can if you let her, she'll whisk until her arm goes stiff and she'll be sure to eat every last bit of whatever it was she helped with. 

So this August 15th, it was appropriate to whisk aggressively, to get out the tension of today, a day that reminds me that we haven't been able to speak to them, to see them since January 2011. Happy birthday Talia, may you grow to be a master baker and one that we know. Happy birthday, Julia, it would have been nice to have you around a little longer. Egyptian custody laws, may you be reborn fair to both parents equally.  

This is Julia Child's recipe for chocolate mousse adapted by David Lebovitz. Airy, gummy magic. 

Here's my column for The Egypt Monocle featuring this recipe:

I’ve just returned from the north coast, where my days learned to slow themselves down, to breathe to the beat of the sea. There, all that pressed me was the urge to pick off those white specks of sand that had plastered themselves onto my now darker skin.

Leaving the beach has left me with only one thought that is really nothing new. We are so rushed in Cairo and so stuck in traffic that there is time left for little. It has affected me faster than I would have imagined and I fell for a short while into the deep dark hole of quick recipes and shortcuts that will allow me more time in other domains.

When I first got back to Cairo, I started watching Fatafeat, a food channel held in high regard by many in the Middle East. Ignoring all the English-speaking shows I was familiar with — Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Rachel Ray — my focus stayed on the Arabic shows to catch up with the chefs, trends and techniques pleasing the Arab world these days.

At the next big Cairene family lunch, I then easily fit into the trivial chit chat on favorite TV chefs and finally found myself familiar with names I had heard of when I was away but found no easy access to in Southeast Asia. My input was that I liked Nermine Hanno. Crickets, silence, then finally collective input — the final word was that she was good but slow and too elaborate. Slow being the key word, a fault in production.

Watching her show, every move is deliberate, clean and precise; every slice identical to its predecessor, every plate consisting of minute details that make her dishes truly beautiful on screen. Because of the channel’s understanding of Hanno’s skilled interpretations of both modern and classic cuisine, they have boxed her into a slow-paced show that gives way only to the softness of her voice and the occasional saxophone playing hotel lobby music. The average viewer, with a million and one things lined up on their to-do list, doesn’t care to make their home cooking so detailed and may easily tire of the languid manner of the show.

We are becoming a culture that won’t wait it out for a better end result and it is for this reason that you see Egyptians following Emeril’s “Bam!” instead of Nermine’s subtle and sophisticated flavor combinations, the same Chef Nermine Hanno that left a career in English literature at the University of Alexandria to attain the Grand Diplome in cuisine and pastry at London’s branch of Le Cordon Bleu and later apprenticed under Michelin-starred chef Chris Galvin at The Orrery. She’s also the chairman of the World Chefs without Borders, helping to send trucks, along with the Egyptian Chefs Association, filled with bags of food to the Salloum border where people were crossing with their heart-wrenching stories between Libya and Egypt.

While Hanno continues to achieve, many Fatafeat viewers I’ve met see her as a television personality with much talent and a flat show;  a shame because they’re missing out on a lady that will teach them that labor-intensive recipes usually yield spectacular results if followed correctly with the utmost discipline. A little bit of Julia Child in an Egyptian woman’s body.

This recipe below belongs in essence to Julia Child. It uses up many bowls and lots of butter. It will take time to make. It will take time to set. It will force you to appreciate the simple ingredients it contains. But if you make it right, it will be a recipe you’ll hold close for life.

Chocolate Mousse

(Adapted from David Lebovitz's version of Julia Child's chocolate mousse)

You'll need:

170g bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
170g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup (60ml) dark-brewed coffee
4 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup (170g), plus 1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons (30ml) dark rum (You can make it without adding extra vanilla.)
1 tablespoon (15ml) water
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat a saucepan one-third full with hot water, and in a bowl set on top, melt together the chocolate, butter and coffee, stirring over the barely simmering water, until smooth. Remove from heat. Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside.

In a bowl large enough to nest securely on the saucepan of simmering water, whisk the yolks of the eggs with the 2/3 cup of sugar, rum, and water for about 3 minutes until the mixture is thick, like runny mayonnaise. Remove from heat and place the bowl of whipped egg yolks within the bowl of ice water and beat until cool and thick, as shown in the photo above. Then fold the chocolate mixture into the egg yolks.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt until frothy. Continue to beat until they start to hold their shape. Whip in the tablespoon of sugar and continue to beat until thick and shiny, but not completely stiff, then the vanilla. Fold one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remainder of the whites just until incorporated, but don’t overdo it or the mousse will lose volume. Transfer the mousse to a serving bowl or divide into serving dishes, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, until firm.

Finding Solace in Brownies

Featured in The Egypt Monocle

I was sitting on the floor of our apartment on the 21st floor. Sliding the balcony's glass door open, I let Malaysia's humidity touch our skin; my stepkids, me, barefoot. "Like this?" Youssef asked, sitting in his camouflaged t-shirt and mismatched shorts, as I took photo after photo to post for you to see, here. "I want to stir the brownies now, Sarah. It's my turn," Talia chirped at first, her voice quietly deepening, tensing up. "Only if Sarah lets me take a photo while you stir," Youssef teased. 

Placing the camera around his neck, watching him secure it in his hands, my stepson had grown from the three year old that I had first spent time with on a boat cruising down the Nile. 
   
And then it happened what it was that happened until we reach this time of year, his 10th birthday. But we are not there to see it, to see him. Not his dad, not his grandma, not me. This is our law, Egypt. This is the law that allows mothers to deny fathers their right to spend time with their children, to hear their voices, to watch them grow - become hot-headed teenagers with sex drives. 

What if the father, after succumbing to court, has finally received a court order to see his child? He sees them (if the mother brings them) in the presence of the mom and a designated official from the government. All that's missing is a glass wall. Of course, all of us on the father's side of the family are in no way entitled to know the children; exceptions may be made for grandmothers if their sons are away but stepmothers? Me? Never.

Little did I know that day on the Nile that I, who was not invited to his birthday before becoming his father's wife, would not be able to speak to him again on his birthday five years into being his stepmother. And so it stays, all of us in one city, all of us learning to adapt to a situation we have been forced into, all for own reasons. I hope you have a beautiful birthday, Youssef. You are on our minds today and I wish you were here to make (or eat) these brownies with us.       

Pistachio-Milk Chocolate Brownies 

(Adapted from Epicurious)

You'll need: 

100 grams of unsalted butter

230 grams of milk chocolate, chopped

1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

3/4 cup of brown sugar

2 large eggs

3/4 cup of all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

A handful of pistachios, chopped

A dash of sea salt

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Butter and flour a 20 cm pan (8x8"). Melt butter and chocolate in a saucepan over low heat, continuously stirring until smooth. Cool until lukewarm. In a separate bowl, mix together the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla then slowly pour in half of the chocolate until the mixture is glossy. Add the flour and ½ teaspoon of salt then half of the pistachios. Mix well, beating hard, to incorporate. Stir in the remaining half of chocolate and spread the batter in a pan and sprinkle with the rest of the pistachios and sea salt. Bake for approximately 25 minutes.

Chocolate & Zucchini Cake

My weekly column and recipe for The Daily News Egypt. I'm quite surprised with the way this turned out. Zucchini has become a friend I'm beginning to trust a little more than I used to. 

Chocolate & Zucchini Cake

You'll need:
½ cup of unsalted butter
½ cup of vegetable oil
1 of caster sugar
¾ cups of brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon of baking powder
½ teaspoon of salt
2 large eggs
½ cup of yogurt
2 ¼ cup of all-purpose flour
¾ cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of espresso powder
2 cups of shredded zucchini
½ cup of bittersweet chocolate chips

For the ganache:
1 cup of heavy cream
1 ½ cup of chocolate chips


Preheat your oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Grease your baking pan. Cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well combined. Stir in the yogurt alternately with the flour. Then add the cocoa and espresso powder, mixing until smooth. Finally, fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into your prepared pan. Bake the cake for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden skewer or thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a rack. To prepare the ganache, heat the heavy cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and pour in the chocolate chips. Stir until completely combined and glossy. Allow the ganache to cool before pouring over cake.

Cocoa Cinnamon Brownies. Inhale.

Dear Doctor who Operated on Me,
I am mad at you. I am sad at you. I am all things unpleasant at you. I, my master's right ring finger, am still sick. Even after you cut me open and gave me a scar on my side that doesn't match my beautiful painted face. You stuck screws in me. Long screws that make me feel like E.T. Well the E.T. in me says, screw you, sir. You and your pompous butt. You know, sir, when my master was growing up (before she got boring), she used to draw faces on me and my four other buddies. All of us, standing straight, standing upright, smiling morbidly. Now that she's technically grown up (not that I think so), she has ceased to draw faces on us. And I thank God. Can you imagine what I'd look like in our group photo? A smiley face with a head tilt. A smiley face with a hump. You, screwy sir, have turned me into the Hunchback of Notre Dame. I'm happy that my master found her Esmerelda, in the form of a man with sparkling green eyes, but that might not have happened had I been the Hunchback five years ago. Shame on you for limiting chances that she doesn't need anymore. Hmph! So Dr. Screw, I say, screw you. The Hunchback, I, Scar Finger, previously known as plain old right ring finger, am participating in making glorious brownies when I'm not working out to get my strength back. And I say, poop on you. You'll never taste our brownies. Merry Christmas. 
Screws flying your way,
Hunchbacker (Sort of like a backpacker, but permanent.) 

P.S. My master is a little strange today and cannot stop listening to Bloodhound Gang. She "hopes you die". But not really. Oh, and she's apologizing to her readers for the hiatus. Her laptop died for a month but came back to life for Jesus' birthday, her yogi sister was visiting and oh yeah... she was busy fixing me, Hunchback.


Cocoa Cinnamon Brownies  
(Originally Alice Medrich's, I couldn't resist messing about.
I've made the original before and it is just as amazing.)  
140 grams of unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups of sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (I used salted butter and eliminated this)
1.5 teaspoons of ground cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 large eggs, cold (I used 3 small eggs, because that's what I had.)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup of walnuts


Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line the bottom and sides of an 8x8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides. Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa and salt in a medium heatproof bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot. I actually skipped this step and microwaved it all, stirred vigorously, then combined the cinnamon. I was stuck on time and it worked perfectly. I've tried the original method before, which produced almost the same result with a 10-15% smoother brownie at the end. I highly recommend the proper way if you have the time. 

Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously (there we go again) after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer then beat for 40 strokes. Stir in the nuts. Spread evenly in your lined pan. 

Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes. Take them out. Let them cool for a while then pop them in the freezer, as they are, for a good 20 minutes. Take them out and slice. Nice. :) 

Happy New Year, you. 

Chocolate Cake better known as: "Finished Already"

We are split into 2 camps in this house. The chocolate camp and the vanilla camp. Lately, the chocolate camp has been complaining of unjust treatment. The chocolate camp claims that the vanilla camp isn't doing its part to make chocolate fit in. It's claiming that we're hoarding all things vanilla and not stocking up on anything chocolate. "What if there's a chocolate surplus in the world and people need a recipe?" they ask. "What if you're the only one whose blog doesn't have much chocolate in it?" they ask. They play on guilt. They play with me and I take it. Why? Because I secretly like chocolate too. Just don't tell them or we won't be 2 camps anymore. 

You'll need:
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1 cup of packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
1/2 cup of low-fat yoghurt
1/2 cup of milk
1.5 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cups of cocoa powder (If you're using Dutch processed, keep the recipe as is. If not, eliminate the baking powder and up the baking soda to 1/2 a teaspoon.)
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Broken up chocolate bits to scatter on top (70% cocoa dark chocolate is the way to go on this.)

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Butter and lightly flour a loaf pan. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat well, then the milk, yoghurt and vanilla. Don’t worry if the batter looks a little uneven. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt together right into your wet ingredients. Stir together with a spoon until well-blended but do not overmix. Scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Spread out your broken chocolate bits onto the top to get that amazingly uneven, melty texture. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. It might take a little longer. Cool in pan on a rack for about 10 to 15 minutes, at which point you can cool it the rest of the way out of the pan. 

At this moment, a little one in the house starts screaming, "Look, it'th not cake! It'th frosssteen!" We're trying to work on pronouncing things more beautifully, the way a "Princess" would. Shoot me. (By the way, turns out princesses get annoyed when they find out it's not frosting.)

Ripples.

This evaporated into thin air. As you finish this post, there will be no more of this cake in this world. Until you make it.  

Piece of cake?

Microcupcake: Technologic

Hello, my lazy friends. Today, 2 little people had chocolate cravings and I, voted Today's Queen of the Lazy, couldn't be bothered to actually get off my butt and BAKE a proper chocolate cake. Why bake one when it'll take you hours to find a recipe you're dying to try? But then some hidden energy I forgot I had today nudged me and reminded me of this superquick-supersneaky chocolate cake that you make in the microwave in 3 minutes. A little bizarre, yes, but then again people are using their microwaves for everything now so I succumbed. Is it satisfying? Yes. Does it make you smile? Yes. Should you leave it to get cold? No. This is not a save-for-later thing to make. You make it because you have needs. Demanding needs. Needs that need instant gratification. Yum! This is not for you if you're looking for "the best cake ever" (which you'll never find because it doesn't exist).

Microcupcake 
You'll need:
3 tablespoons of all purpose flour
2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder
2.5-3 tablespoons of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 small egg
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
3 tablespoons of melted butter
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
2.5 tablespoons of milk
Icing sugar for dusting (I used vanilla dusting sugar.)

Put all the dry ingredients together in your mug then mix in all the wet ingredients. Mix vigorously (such a funny word) with a spoon for about a minute and a half or until all is combined and silky. Do a little dance while it cooks for 2.5-3 minutes in your microwave. It depends on the power of your microwave. Don't overcook it. It should look a little fudgy and moist. Happy lazy day! I'm definitely trying this out next time with mint. *evil grin*

Attack.

Heavy Hips: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dear feelings,

I have decided to block you. Yes, like on Facebook or on MSN. I'm cool like that. I'm going to block you. For as long as my cookies last, I will. Who needs you to surface your ugly head when I have chocolate chip cookies right under my nose? Really, really, really good ones too. Chewy ones. Ones that make you believe that the world is still a place that is good and wholesome. A place where sugar and butter don't go to your hips. A place where you're always warm and there are no bad moms and dads. So for now, feelings, I'm going to make you jealous and have them take your place and I command you to be dormant until I'm done with my chewy cookies and the weight I'm going to gain tomorrow morning. Thank you for behaving.

Kisses, 
Cookie Killer 


After hours of searching for a recipe, I ended up with my adaptation of this. If I didn't remember making these cookies, I'd believe that I bought them while sleep-walking. 

You'll need: 

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup of unsalted butter, melted

1 cup of packed brown sugar

A scant 1/2 cup of white sugar

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 cups of semisweet chocolate chip (I used 1 cup of milk chocolate chips, which made these richer + 1 cup of smashed up, pounded to bits dark chocolate.)

Preheat your oven to 165 degrees Celsius. Grease your cookie sheet or line with baking paper. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt and mix in a separate bowl. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well mixed. Beat in the vanilla, egg and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the dry ingredients until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes in the oven or until the edges are lightly toasted. They'll still feel super soft. Cool on baking sheets then transfer to a air-tight container to retain chewiness once they're cool. Smell and smile please. 

Internet Withdrawal Dessert Goodness

Dear Internet,

You left our home for days on end and worried us. We thought you wouldn't come back. Then, when you did come back, you didn't bring your wireless wife with you, which made us worry even more. Would you really make us share a cable? Really? We thought we would have to set up camp at Coffee Bean and ask nicely for them to adopt us. We thought many nasty thoughts but thankfully those have stopped now that you're back with your temperamental wife, Wireless. But do you know the trouble both of you have caused? I haven't been able to update my blog and post my photos and they got sad and lonely when they were separated, not to mention scared. Shame on you for making my invisible friends worry. I love you. Don't leave. Please.

Love and fairy dust,

Addicted2U

Sneak peak:

My homecheflings, we're about to share an easy experience together. An experience that I haven't yet named. One that doesn't involve scary thoughts like bad Internet connections, ironing your own clothes and invisibility cloaks. Instead, think happy thoughts. Thoughts that involve cinnamon, chocolate, butter (and a possible heart attack but you never read all the way to that part in the contract). So here we go. You'll need:

1 can of condensed milk

1 teaspoon of dark unsweetened cocoa powder

Half a pack of digestive biscuits

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

60 grams of butter

Around 12-15 almonds, blanched, peeled and roughly chopped (Find out how here.)

Such ugly little things.

Of course, you can always just buy peeled almonds and chop them up but then you're no fun and you're missing out on the joy of almond skin popping. Blitz your digestives in a food processor or get a sandwich bag, put your biscuits in it, seal it, and pound away your rage. The sounds of the food processor makes up for the pounding rage so I'm sticking with that. 

Add your cinnamon and your butter. The smell. The smell. The smell. The smell. Joy.

Place your biscuit mix in a tart or springform tin and press down firmly into the bottom and sides of tin. Pack it. Tightly. You don't want a loose base. (No pun intended but haha!) Now, refrigerate your base for 15 minutes. In the meantime, get a saucepan. Pour one can of condensed milk into your saucepan and put it on low heat for a few minutes - I didn't time it so maybe 2-4 minutes. Don't let it boil. Add 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder and whisk away until it's super smooth with no lumps, clumps and unsightly bumps. Turn off the heat and add the almonds, now all chopped, into your chocolate condensed milk goodness. Stir. Mix until it's all combined.  

Take the biscuit base out of the fridge and pour your liquid mixture all over it until it's uniform and touching the edges. Put it back in the fridge and leave it for at least an hour to an hour and a half before slicing, serving, sighing and smiling. (Mine melted quite a bit because of the humidity.)

If you come up with a name for this, I'm listening! Happy weekend to you. 

The Puffins: beautiful little pancake muffins

I don't know if you've ever heard of these before but I hadn't and the lazy part of me got so happy it literally jumped up and made these the minute I saw them. Conveniently, it was also morning. 


Pancake muffins. What can I say? Pros: 1. You don't have to sit and flip your pancakes one by one. 2. It's super fast to make. 3. Everyone gets to eat at the same time 4. You can substitute the chocolate chips with just about anything or make them plain. 5. They'll make you happy. They'll make your kids happy. They'll make your whoever happy. No need to elaborate any more than this really AND I've got a lot of cleaning to do today so be happy with photos and a recipe my little friendlings and run along. And please, please, please... try these.

Mini Chocolate Chip Pancake Muffins: (Adapted from Bakerella. Thank you, Essmat, for introducing me.)

1 cup of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
2/3 cup of buttermilk (I used a buttermilk substitute - 2/3 cup of milk with 1 tablespoon of vinegar left to stand for 5 to 10 minutes)
1 egg
2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup (I used pancake syrup because I had it around. I'd love to try this with honey or vanilla.)
2 tablespoons of melted butter
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Generously grease mini muffin pan. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar in a medium bowl. Sift together with a wire whisk. In another bowl, stir buttermilk, egg, maple syrup and melted butter until combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until combined. Stir in your chocolate chips and keep a few to sprinkle on the top. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes. (My chocolate chips sadly didn't stay on top.)

Makes 24 mini pancake muffins. Let cool slightly and remove from the pan. You may need to use a toothpick around the edges to separate the pancake muffins from the pan. Serve immediately with warmed butter, maple syrup, pancake syrup, chocolate sauce, your call really. You really should dip these in something. They are, after all, meant to be dipped. And one of the best things about them is how they slip right out of the pan. I love things that don't make me scrub to get stuff out.