Brownie Muffins

I have been thinking to make muffin for a long time. Went to Phoon Huat this morning to get my utensils (muffin mold & cups). I think for a first time, this is not too bad. Inside is a little moist, however, the surface is a little hard (crispy). I made this using recipe from one of the blogger, (sorry, forget who). Below is the recipe, modified:

Ingredients:
(makes 6 muffins, with diameter 2.5" by height 1.5" muffin cups)
80g butter, chopped into chunks
150g dark eating chocolate, chopped
85g raw sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g plain flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
A handful of chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat oven to 200 degC.
Line muffin pan with paper liners.
Sift together flour and cocoa powder, set aside.
Place butter in a saucepan, melt over low heat. Once the butter starts to melt, add in the sugar.
Stir to prevent sugar from getting burnt. Add in the chocolate and stir still smooth.
Transfer chocolate mixture to a mixing bowl.
Stir in the eggs gradually, followed by the vanilla extract, then the sifted flour & cocoa powder mixture.
Stir till just incorporated.
Divide batter into muffin cups.
Sprinkle with chocolate chips and bake for 20 mins or until skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Do not over bake as the muffins may get dry.

Brownie

This is the best brownie I have made so far. The texture is moist, soft, yet not too sweet. With tips from expertise, I modify the original recipe as follows:

Ingredients
250gm Butter
200gm semi-sweet chocolate block
5 medium eggs, room temperature
1/4 tsp salt
1 cups raw sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup walnuts pecans, chopped (optional)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 175 degree celcus
2. Grease a 13 X 9 inch baking pan
3. In a double boiler, melt butter and chocolate. Remove from heat.
4. Cool chocolate for 5 minutes
5. Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and salt in a large bowl until lemon colored and foamy.
6. Add sugar and continue beating until mixture is well blended.
7. Stir in vanilla.
8. Add cooled chocolate to mixture.
9. Fold in flour. Do not over mix.
10. Gently fold nuts into batter.
11. Pour batter into prepared pan.
12. Bake for 20 to 25mins until a wooden stick inserted into the center comes out clean.
13. Cool in baking pan.

Serve with Chocolate syrup to add sweetness to the brownie as shown below.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I need to use up my balance shortening from making Mooncake (which is a failure that I will not post). Hence, after flipping through my cookbook, saw this recipe.

Bailey's Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake

When I was making this Cheesecake for this recipe, I was thinking how to decorate the top so that it will look nice and not plain and boring, hence, I scoop out a bowl of the mixture before adding the chocolate. This portion is too small to make the swirl inside the cake, hence, it only appears on the surface.

Chocolate Cheesecake

Irish Cream Chocolate Cheesecake

My first Real Cheesecake, adopted recipe from the web plus my modification to reduce the sugar. I am quite proud of myself when it comes out from the oven. The top is so nice until my son created a hole in it. I have no choice but to decorate it with whipping cream and chocolate shaving. I did not expect it to turn out so nice & I had received compliments on it.

Chocolate Cookies

Another batch of chocolate cookies, done with the help of my darling girl.