Food Lust People Love

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Almost Gwyneth's Fudgy Brownies

My less-healthy version called almost Gwyneth Paltrow's fudgy brownies. Still made with spelt, they are chewy and chocolatey and delicious!

I was sitting around the house this past Monday (actually on my laptop making comments on many of the movie-inspired #SundaySupper posts – so many fabulous ones!) and suddenly, on Facebook (yeah, okay, you got me, also reading Facebook) a link popped up for these brownies. It was posted by a friend who is trying to eat more healthily (Hi, Claire!) and she said that, for healthy brownies, they were pretty good. More cake than brownie but good. Well, I just happened to have some spelt flour I bought on a whim a few weeks ago, (I was under the mistaken impression that it was gluten free. It’s not!) so I decided to give them a try. Of course, as these things usually go, I didn’t have maple syrup or agave nectar or soy milk. So substitutions were made.

If you’d like to make Gwyneth’s actual recipe, here’s the link with metric measurements and imperial measurements, but I can tell you that, after comparing results with my friend, my brownies were chewier and more brownie than cake. Not as healthy perhaps, since they have sugar. But hey.

And while, I’m but hey-ing, what’s with all the hating on Gwyneth? I think folks are just jealous. Are you a Gwyneth fan?

Ingredients
2 cups or 200g spelt flour
1 cup or 80g cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark.)
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
Healthy pinch fine salt
1/2 cup or 125ml canola or other light oil
1 cup or 250ml honey
1/2 cup or 100g light brown sugar
1/2 cup or 125ml strong brewed coffee, cooled
1/2 cup or 125ml milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup or 175g semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your baking pan by greasing with a little canola oil or baking spray. This is supposed to make 12 brownies so I used my square brownie pan but I must admit it was very full. (You’ll see what I mean later. Nothing ran over during baking though, so I guess it was just big enough.)

Gwyneth’s instructions said to sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together but when I tried sifting the spelt flour, the bigger bits just got stuck in the tiny holes in my sieve, so I tipped the flour into my bowl and then sifted in the cocoa, and added the other ingredients, including the light brown sugar. So you can probably do the same.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the canola oil, milk, honey, coffee and vanilla.

It doesn't really want to mix. Just do your best.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Gwyneth said, "Don't stir too hard," so I didn't.

Pour half of your batter into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with half the chocolate chips.

Now cover the chips with the rest of the batter.

Top with the rest of the chocolate chips.

See how full?! I was a little worried, I'll be frank.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out almost clean. I think underdone is better than overdone when the item is brownies.

All the chocolate chips sank. But maybe that made them more chewy so I'm not complaining.

Let them cool for about 10-15 minutes and then cut into squares. These were fabulous warm!

Enjoy!

And since I substituted honey for the maple syrup, I am submitting these chewy brownies to

We Should Cocoa, hosted by Choclette of the ChocolateLogBlog where chocolate is a food staple and April's extra ingredient is honey. Go on over and visit!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Jammy Peanut Butter Muffins #MuffinMonday

These lovely peanut butter muffins have jam swirled through the batter. Top them with candy berries for extra special decoration.

Food Lust People Love: These lovely peanut butter muffins have jam swirled through the batter. Top them with candy berries for decoration.

I know, I know you are probably saying to yourself, “But she just DID peanut butter.” And, so I did. But this week, our ingredient was jam and what goes better with jam than peanut butter? I submit to you that the correct answer is NOTHING. I used the lovely peanut buttery muffin recipe from My Baking Addiction and then swirled jam through the batter to create these lovely things. And then, just for fun, I topped them with some Haribo “berries” for decoration. And, frankly, I was very pleased with myself until right at the end.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour

1/2 cup or 115g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 240ml creamy peanut butter
1 large egg (Ignore what looks like two eggs in the photo. My egg had a double yolk!)
1 cup or 240ml whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup or 120ml mixed berry jam – or jam of your choice

Haribo candy “berries” to decorate, if desired.

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your muffin pan by greasing it or lining it with paper liners.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all of your dry ingredients: the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

In a smaller mixing bowl, add all of your wet ingredients EXCEPT the jam: the creamy peanut butter, egg, whole milk and vanilla extract.

Can't remember the last time I've opened an egg that had two yolks!

Give your helper the peanut butter jar to lick clean for recycling.

Use a fork to break up the peanut butter and continue mixing until the whole mess is homogeneous. That is to say, smooth and of the same consistency throughout.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ones and fold gently. If there is still a bit of flour showing, that is fine.

Add your jam in big spoonfuls and then fold it in as well. You want to see streaks of jam and we are no longer going for homogenous here.

Divide the batter between your prepared muffin cups.

Press a Haribo candy into each cup of batter, if desired.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. I must confess that I checked these at 20 minutes and the Haribo candies were still whole and perky on top and I am sure the muffins were probably done, but I was chatting with my mother-in-law on Skype and decided they could wait another five minutes till I took them out. After the additional five minutes, the muffins were fine but the “berries” had collapsed. Could have kicked myself. Ah, well.

After allowing them to cool for a few minutes, remove the muffins and place on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Looks aside, these muffins were still very tasty in all their peanut butter jamminess.

Enjoy!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Spicy Sichuan Noodles

Spicy Sichuan Noodles are a fragrant, spicy noodle dish with stir-fried ground pork. It's one of our favorite one-pot meals.

Have you ever seen the movie Eat Drink Man Woman? If you love foodie movies, this is one of the best. Shot in Taiwan and directed by Academy Award winning director, Ang Lee, Eat Drink Man Woman (1994) is the story of an aging chef who tries desperately to keep his family together by cooking elaborate feasts for his three daughters every Sunday. In the opening scene, he prepares dish after dish and you can’t help but think that he must have a crowd coming. With every plate that was finished, I wanted to be at that table! I counted at least 14 dishes and then the chef mentioned, as he rushed off to deal with an emergency at his restaurant, “The crab dumplings are still in the steamer!” Crab dumplings? Yes, please! (I read somewhere that the opening cooking scene actually took two weeks to film. I believe it!)

A screenshot from the movie of the LADEN #SundaySupper table, just as the chef rushes off to his restaurant.

This week’s #SundaySupper theme, hosted by the delightful Heather of GirliChef, is movie-inspired recipes. What could be better inspiration than Eat Drink Man Woman, where Sunday supper is the most special, unifying meal of the week? We love Chinese food of all kinds so it was hard for me to choose just one dish, but, finally, I decided that the Spicy Sichuan Noodles from Ken Hom's Chinese Cookery would be perfect. Noodles in Chinese culture symbolize long life (so you never cut noodles!) and anything spicy is a winner in our house. Don’t let the long list of ingredients scare you. This comes together quickly and is sooooo tasty. Like many noodle dishes, it gets better and better and leftovers will be your favorite lunch ever, the next day. If you have any left over.

Ingredients

13 1/4 oz or 375g ground or minced pork

1 1/2 tablespoons dark soy sauce (sometimes called Special Soy in the grocery stores)

1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

Cantonese-style egg noodles

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 lb + or 500g dried Cantonese egg noodles

1 tablespoon sesame oil

3-4 tablespoons peanut oil

2 tablespoons garlic

2 tablespoons fresh ginger

5 tablespoons green onions

2 tablespoons sesame paste (tahini) or smooth peanut butter (I used peanut butter.)

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

2 teaspoons light soy sauce

2 teaspoons chili bean sauce

2 tablespoon chili oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup or 250ml chicken stock

For the garnish:

2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns

Method

Mix the pork with the next four ingredients: the dark soy sauce, the rice wine or dry sherry, the salt and black pepper. Stir well, cover the bowl with cling film and set aside. (This can be done earlier in the day, in which case, refrigerate until needed.)

Put some water on to boil in a pot big enough for your egg noodles. Add a little salt to the water.

Peel and finely mince your garlic and ginger. Finely chop your green onions. Set aside.

When the water comes to a boil, drop in the noodles and cook about 3-5 minutes, until they are done.

Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse with hot water. Drain again.

Put the noodles in a bowl and pour over the tablespoon sesame oil. Toss to coat and cover. This can also be done early in the day and refrigerated until needed.)

Mix the sesame paste or smooth peanut butter, dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, chili bean sauce, chili oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper in a small bowl, and set aside until you are ready to cook the dish.

Meanwhile, toast your Sichuan peppercorns in a small skillet for a few minutes, and then grind them up with a mortar and pestle.

Okay, are you ready to cook and eat?

Heat your wok or large skillet until screaming hot and then add the peanut oil.

Yeah, I didn't measure too carefully. Sorry.

When it is really hot too, stirfry the garlic, ginger and green onions for a couple of minutes.

Add in the seasoned pork and break it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Cook until all the pink is gone.

Now add in the bowl of seasonings you mixed together (with the peanut butter) along with the chicken stock.

Let it bubble along for a few minutes, and then add in the noodles.

Stir well so the noodles are well-coated with the liquid seasonings and cook until they are hot through again. I find it most effective to use two spoons and toss the noodles as you would a salad.

Pour the noodles into a serving dish and sprinkle with the ground Sichuan peppercorns (and a few random chopped green onions for color, if desired) and serve immediately.