Fudgey Browned Butter Brownies

I have a "thing" for browned butter. Actually, I have a "thing" for all things butter, but butter when browned is my favourite. It adds a nutty, rich depth to anything its added to, especially chocolate.

Healthy eating has been one of my goals in life, but clearly I have a need for pure indulgence when it comes to baking and nothing is more satisfying than a browned butter pure cocoa brownie.

The one thing you will always (and I truly mean always) find in our cupboard is Fry's Premium Cocoa. Its an absolute staple for most of my chocolatey wants from these brownies to a whipped cream topped cup of hot cocoa in the winter. Its perfect.

Fudgey Browned Butter Brownies

Adapted from Fry's Cocoa

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups all-purpose Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1 cup butter- browned

1 cup Fry's Cocoa

2 cups Sugar

4 large Eggs

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla

Directions

Mix all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and Fry's Cocoa in a bowl.

Cocoa makes me happy.

Now its time for the browned butter. In our house, we don't own a microwave by personal choice, so I've had to become creative in the melting butter department. I suppose I could have used a small pot, but where is the fun in that? I melt and brown my butter directly on the stove in the measuring cup! 

Exactly one cup once it melts.

Remove from heat and blend in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Then combine all with the dry ingredients. Pour the batter into buttered pan and bake at 350F for about 30 to 35 minutes. 

Just about to enter the oven.

I have vowed not to eat the entire pan, but resistance is futile...they are just that good!

Challenge: Week 1

Give this girl a challenge and away she goes! I decided to start my Lebanese cooking and baking challenge off with a more simple yet hearty dish that I absolutely love this time of year!

Its a combination of everything quintessential Mediterranean - lentils, garlic, onions and lemons- and its amazing! I decided to make a decent-sized batch so that I could pack some for lunch this week. If by any chance I have any left-over, its easily freezable.

This recipe couldn't be easier, especially for non-cooks like myself. I mean how wrong could you go by tossing lentils and noodles into boiling water?

The end result is a healthy comfort power lunch perfect for the cooler Fall weather.

Reshta Lemon Lentil Soup

Ingredients

1- 2 cups  green lentils

2 cups egg-less noodles

1 large onion

2 - 3 lemons

5 cloves garlic

5 cups water
1 tbs of olive oil

Salt to taste

Directions

Bring water to boil and add the lentils. Let boil until lentils are tender and then add the noodles.

As the lentils and noodles are boiling, dice the onion as fine as possible and mash the garlic cloves and set aside.  Set a frying pan on the stove and add the olive oil. Once heated add the diced onion, the garlic and saute until onion is carmelized. 

Once carmelized, add the mixture to the lentil and noodles and mix well. Let simmer for about 5 minutes and then add salt and the juice of 2 -3 lemons to taste. 

This recipe was much, much more simple than I had realized and now lunch is ready for my work-week! 

Back Up and Running!

Guess what finally arrived in the mail yesterday? You guessed it... my long-awaited camera cord! In the time spent waiting for it to arrive, we have changed seasons out here! I had a whole bunch of summer recipes which I had baked and wanted to post, but it hardly feels right with the cool Fall air outside today and so I've had to change my posting plans.


That said, I have been wanting to challenge myself and change things a bit with this blog. I searched the web looking for blog challenges and all that continued to pop up were photography related endeavours such as "30 Photos in 30 Days"... and well, we all know I'm *not* a photographer nor do I aspire to ever be one. So, I kept coming up with nothing that I could make my own. 


Then one day last week, a friend asked me for my hummus recipe and a few days after that I was asking my mother for a recipe of one of the traditional Lebanese dishes I grew up eating. It hit me... I'm going to challenge myself to cooking or baking one Lebanese dish a week for a month and posting about it, but don't worry, I will not be stopping the baking posts!


I should note that I have only ever made one or two Lebanese meals in my life ( and I don't count hummus or that garlic dip as a meal) and possibly only one dessert, so this challenge should be quite interesting!


I'm going to start this weekend and put up a post with my first "re-creation"! If you have any requests...please send them my way!


In the meantime, how can I leave this post without a pretty photo of something? Well... since its Fall... my newest love and inspiration are my Frye Carmen Harness Tall boots:

There.... how's that for Pretty?