My last year's Valentine special dish was Shahi Tukda . This year i made some chewy, soft brownies that are everyone's favourite!!! Errr, did i say "everyone's"? No, not hubby's!!! Hubby dearest is not much of a chocolate fan, (I never really understand these people who don't like chocolate :)), but i wanted to bake some brownies since a long time! So, i decided to make them today and treat myself :) After all, i am my first Valentine, isn't it?
You all must be thinking me to be a narcissist, but let me mention here - It is extremely important to love self! To pamper oneself, to take time out for oneself, to think about our own self and do what one likes to do! No, this doesn't mean being selfish, but this way we get a chance to look at our own inner being with a different perspective. The result is pure utter happiness. As is the famous saying, "You can't keep others happy unless you are happy". So at times, it is important to wear what you like to, eat what you relish and do things what makes you ,"YOU".
Well, enough of philosophy. Back to the post, hubby did eat it with vanilla ice cream :) But the brownies tasted great on it's own too.
Ingredients:
All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 cup
Powdered Sugar - 3/4 cup
Baking powder- 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Cocoa powder -1/2 cup
Milk - 1 1/4 cup
Oil - 1/3 cup (i used normal vegetable oil, but you can use olive oil too)
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
Almonds and/or walnuts - 1/3 cup chopped
Vinegar - 1 tsp
Dairy milk - 1 medium chopped
Recipe:
Let all the ingredients be at room temperature.
Grease a baking tray and keep aside.
Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius.
Put about 1 tsp of flour in the nuts and mix together to coat the nuts. This is so that the nuts don't sink in the cake when you mix them.
Sift together maida, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder twice.
Add powdered sugar to this mixture and mix well.
Mix together milk, vinegar, vanilla essence and oil.
Now fold in the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix everything lightly. Don't over mix.
Add the nuts and chopped dairy milk.
Transfer the batter to the baking tray and bake till a toothpick comes out clean. Takes about 30 minutes. Start checking after 25 minutes and bake more if required.
Let it cool, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting into desired shape.
The home smells of a lovely aroma... Oh, i love baking :))
Happy Cooking :))
