Chocolate coated mini swiss rolls (birthday cake)

Pumpkin cheese souffle cupcakes

 



Been baking and cooking a lot off late, but haven't got the time to update my blog. So I will just post the photos here to let your saliva drools, and will only update on the recipe later ;p.

Easy cous cous salad for breakfast

I love cous cous!! In my last trimester of pregnancy with Josh, I had cous cous salad for breakfast almost every morning. I was having salad for breakfast the last trimester, cos I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. I was cursing it initially. But after going on the low-sugar and low-carb diet for 3 months, I gave thanks to it, cos I was never so healthy for my entire life and I was fit and lean, despite heavily pregnant. I lost my pregnancy weight gain within the first week after giving birth, without doing anything, but just pumping (breastmilk).

 

After I gave birth, I stopped the hard-core 'salad-for-breakfast' days, cos I got freed from GD. Hahaa.. But occasionally, I still love having it cos it's such a light and refreshing way to kick-start the day.

 

I had some nice cherry tomatoes and Japanese cucumber lying in the fridge, I thought I should use them up before they get rot. So the night before I quickly washed and chopped up the ingredients and prepped the cous cous for my next-morning breakfast. My cous cous salad is made with whatever I find available in my fridge or kitchen counter. It would be even nicer if I have some cooked chickpeas or black eyed beans in it. But this time, I have some left over coralini pasta left from my son's dinner last night, I just added them in for extra texture.

 

Recipe:

*Half a Japanese cucumber, chopped

*About 6-8 cherry tomatoes, chopped

*2 slices of sun-dried tomato (I used Jamie Oliver's brand) (sun-dried tomato in jar is a staple in my fridge, so versatile for my salad)

*1/2 cup of cous cous (cooked by pouring in about 1.5cups or less of boiling water and let steam for about 10min)

*seasoned with pinch of salt, mushroom seasoning, cracked black pepper and 1/2 tsp of coarse Dijon mustard

 

The next morning, I prepped an omelet (I'm an avid egg lover) and serve it with my cous cous salad. Nice, wholesome and refreshing! Yet, easily done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby's pasta with tomato cream sauce (Ree drummond)

My poor boy has been eating porridge for the past few days cos his mommy was crazily trying to perfect her recipes with swiss roll and Ogura cakes. Despite, he had no complaints and was still happily gulping down all his food. I started to feel guilty. Thus I made a trip to the market and brought back some fresh staples so I can prepare some exciting meals for the cutie pie.

 

I initiated the cook-along event for the mommies network in Facebook which involves cooking with pumpkin this month, so I'm gonna prepare a pasta sauce with pumpkin, at the same time, I also wanted to join the Cook Like a Star featuring Ree Drummond's recipe, so I browsed through her recipe list for pasta sauce inspiration, I think it would be quite easy, cos pumpkin is quite a 'ranch' type of ingredient (hahaa.. if you've been following my previous post, you would have remembered I described Ree as a 'ranch' kind of chef). I stopped at this one - Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce, the basic ingredients were onion, garlic, tomato and cream, sounds great!! (bear in mind, I'm cooking for an 11month old baby).

Tomato is something I am yet to introduce to the lil' fella. It is an acidic fruit. Yes, it's a fruit, not vege. And there may be a risk of diaper rash from consuming acidic food. But now that the lil' fella is 11month old (actually, he's yet to turn 11month end of the month), I would like to gradually introduce tomato (such a versatile ingredient) to him, fingers crossed he's gonna handle it fine. Since it's his first trial, I'm not gonna use too much of it, so I'm gonna make some adjustment (as usual) to Ree's basic tomato cream sauce recipe and turn it to a baby-friendly recipe.

I made up mine with pumpkin (of course) and also sweet potato (to render it a natural sweetness and also the creaminess). I also bought some baby corn, so I decided to chuck some in.

Recipe:
*2 clove of garlic, finely chopped
*Half an onion, roughly chopped
*Half a sweet potato, peeled and roughly cubed
*About 200g pumpkin, peeled and roughly cubed
*About 5 cherry tomatoes (I peeled off the skin)
*2 baby corn, roughly chopped

I was at work when I prepared this pasta sauce, so I didn't have the facility to stir-fry the garlic and onion for added fragrance (I recommend that you do it). I just chucked everything into a stainless steel bowl, seasoned with pinch of herbs (which has red pepper flakes, basil, black pepper etc) and steamed for about 30min till sweet potato turned soft.

I let it cool, then blitz everything into a blender. Check out how creamy the pasta sauce turned out to be. I have prepared a similar kind of pasta sauce for him before, but sans the tomato. This time, with the tomato, it is different, its taste has a little zing to it, very appetizing. Even without the grated cheese, it already tastes good on its own. I'm sure the lil' fella will love it! (Note, this recipe was prepared without salt, even my mom was surprised how good it tasted).

Ree added cream to her tomato cream sauce (that's the reason why it's called cream sauce, right?). I haven't got any cream at home. So I just replaced it with a dollop of full-fat greek yogurt. I didn't need a lot of that, cos the sauce was already quite creamy to start with.

I was hoping that my sauce will have the reddish tinge like Ree's, but I guess because mine hasn't got much tomato to start with, it was a little on the dull yellow side. Anyway, who cares? So long it tastes good, ay?

The recipe I used above makes about 3 batches of pasta sauce for the lil' fella, so I freeze them in their individual serving portion in my breastmilk storage bottles (found good use for them). I'm going away for about a week and my mom's gonna help care for the lil' fella. My mom can just thaw them, steam them and serve with boiled pasta.

 

At 11th month, the lil' fella has tried out quite a variety of pasta, both gluten-free or those with gluten. This time, I'm letting him try this cute looking tiny pasta known as 'corallini' *Organic Corallini, made in Italy. It's a type of tiny short tube pasta that cooks quite easily and quickly. Its texture turns out to be really soft but still maintains a bit of bite to it, just great for the lil' fella (he loves food with texture, with only 4 pearly whites at the moment). 

Organic Corallini

Cooked corallini

Steamed with a dollop of greek yogurt and grated cheddar.

 

Yummy mom mom! The lil' fella finished it in no time.

Some leftover coralline, which I added to my cous cous salad
the next morning.

For recipe of my cous cous salad, please refer here.

Note:
1. This is such a versatile sauce. You may serve it with pasta, or have it over pizza base and topped with grated cheddar cheese. Alternative, it will also make a tasty soup. Just dilute it with some stocks and thicken with heavy cream or yogurt.
2. You may also cook it with meat of your choice. My boy remains a pescatarian until he turns 12month old soon.

This post is linked to the cooking/baking event, Yummy Homemade BabyFood, organized by me and Healthy Food for My Baby. To join, simply cook and bake any dishes for your babies under 2, using pumpkin (for month of September 2013). For more details, please see this.

 

 

 

 

I am also linking this post to Cook like a Star, organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Wanna cook or bake like Ree Drummond? To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from The Pioneer Woman or her cookbooks and link with us at this Zoe's, this Yen's or this Mich's post for the whole month of September 2013.

 

Steamed pumpkin and banana muffin

Since I've initiated the cooking event for the Facebook Group: Healthy Food for My Baby that involves pumpkin (for September), I've been cooking and baking a lot with pumpkin. Fingers crossed the lil' fella is not gonna turn yellow. I realized some babies (or even adults) are particular sensitive to the yellow pigment (beta-carotene) in these yellow food (including sweet potato, carrot, pumpkin, kiwi etc). Their skin turns yellow after two consecutive meals involving these yellow-color food. The reason for this is because their body takes longer time to flush out the beta-carotene (a great antioxidant). Many parent may find it unappealing, but it is generally harmless.

 

I baked a lot! At times, I wonder if the lil' fella would get heatiness eating all my baked food. But he seems not to be affected. But I tried out this recipe for the sake of the mommies in the group, as I realized that many mommies are looking for a simple snack recipe for their lil' ones, that's straight forward, without involving too complex steps making it. Also, many mommies don't like to bake (for fear of heatiness) or just because they don't own an oven at home. If you're one of them, then you can try this out.

 

This steamed muffin turns out to look and even taste like 'Huat Kueh' 发糕。 I don't eat 'Huat Kueh' (translated as prosperity cake) any other time of the year, except for Chinese New Year. I find them quite dry.

 

This recipe is adapted from food-4tots. You may refer to her beautiful photos of her version of this steamed muffin and also very detailed pictorial step-by-step description on how to make it. Even before I made mine, I already knew mine wouldn't turn out to have the bright yellow color like hers, cos I was going to add banana into mine. Banana will turn a little brownish upon cooking. But I wanted to add banana into the recipe, cos I knew pumpkin taste would be quite subtle and I wasn't gonna add sugar into my muffin (this is a snack for the lil' fella, and I haven't been adding sugar or salt into his food, he's not one yet). I needed the banana to sweeten the muffin.

 

These are the photos of my steamed pumpkin and banana muffin. Love the way the muffin smiles (or laughs) happily at me :)

 

Wrap the lid with a cloth when steaming the muffin, so that the condensate
won't go onto the muffin and ruin the look of the muffin.

HUAT ah!! All muffin smiling happily :D

The texture was soft and fluffy, especially when warm.

Lil' fella has his plain. I have mine with strawberry yogurt.

 

 

 

Lil' fella's breakfast platter

Recipe:

(Adapted and modified from source)
This recipe makes 8 muffin

 

*80g steamed pumpkin

*50g mashed ripe banana

*1 egg, beaten

*pinch of salt

*1/2 cup fresh full cream milk (or coconut milk or formula milk)

*2.5 tbsp. virgin coconut oil

*200g superfine or cake flour, sifted

*1.5tsp double acting baking powder

 

1. Beat egg till foamy.

2. In a mixing bowl, combine all wet ingredients, ie pumpkin, banana, milk, oil, add in beaten egg.

3. Add in sifted dry ingredients, ie flour, salt and baking powder.

4. Fill muffin batter into a cupcake liner till about 80% full.

5. Bring a pan of water to boil. When water is boiling, place muffins on a steaming rack over the boiling water and steam for 15min.

 

Note:

1. This muffin is okay to freeze for future consumption. Just steam it for another 5-10min before serving.

2. This muffin is a snack and morning breakfast for the lil' fella at his 11th month. He has been tested okay on egg yolk and egg white.

 

 

This post is linked to the cooking/baking event, Yummy Homemade BabyFood, organized by me and Healthy Food for My Baby. To join, simply cook and bake any dishes for your babies under 2, using pumpkin (for month of September 2013). For more details, please see this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Durian swiss roll

I have made swiss roll many times. But, this, by far, is my best attempt!! Only till now, I am daring to share this recipe openly. Previously, the attempts were okay, but I have always felt that there was something wrong somewhere which I only rated them 9 out of 10 perfect, but I just didn't know what went wrong. Finally, I found out this time. I should have baked mine for 20min, instead of 25min as per the original recipe by Sonia. This time, it was just right. The skin wasn't thick nor brown. The sponge was soft and fluffy.

 

I have always used this recipe that Sonia uses instead of 孟老师's， which everyone uses, because Sonia has tried both method before and this recipe resulted in the best, soft and fluffy cake. This recipe fits my swiss roll tray (30cm x 26cm) perfectly, and I couldn't be bothered attempting another recipe trying to fit the size and to taste good with great texture at the same time.

 

So far, I have made green tea swiss roll with adzuki bean filling and 10-grain with sesame seed filling. I have adapted Sonia's recipe and made my own low-sugar 'skinny' version. This time, I have decided to try the same recipe making durian swiss roll. Jenny from Hong Kong is in Sandakan for a week. Again, she gave me a surprise popping into the shop with a Japanese sweet treats. We then left for a durian-hunting session about 18miles away from Sandakan. I came back with a headache travelling in the car with 4 durians. After I returned, I was told that headache is inevitable if we are stucked in a stuffy environment filled with durian aroma. Interesting ...

 

Anyway, other than the headache, I brought back 3 durians. I'm not a big fan of durian myself, none in the family is. The reason I bought them was because I wanted to bake with them. I have never baked nor made any sweet treats with durian before. I have always wanted to attempt them, but have never got my hands on some great durians. This is the best occasion. It's the mid-autumn festival today. So I have decided to make a durian swiss roll for Jenny, who's always so lovely. She brings in treats whenever she comes to Sandakan.

 

 

 

Here's the recipe (adapted from Sonia's):

 

Sponge cake batter

*5 egg yolk (medium)

*3.5 tbsp. organic grapeseed oil

*4 tbsp. full cream milk

*1 tbsp. brown sugar (you may use castor or icing sugar for softer fluffy texture)

*3/4 cup sifted cake flour (I used Japanese Superfine Flour)

 

*5 egg white (medium)

*2tbsp brown sugar (you may use castor or icing sugar for softer fluffy texture)

Swiss Roll Pan Size: 30cmx 26cm

 

Durian cream filling

1/2 cup non-dairy whipping cream

2-3 generous cups of durian flesh

 

Instructions:

1. Lightly whisk egg yolk with brown sugar.

2. Add in oil, stir to combine.

3. Add in milk, combine well.

4. Sieve in flour. Mix well. Set aside.

5. Beat egg white till the mix starts to foam.

6. Gradually add in brown sugar (make sure you don’t add all at once, add in gradually). Beat till egg white forms stiff peak.

7. Take 1/3 portion of egg white and use spatula to mix with egg yolk mix. Do not over mix. Just gently mix to combine.

8. Fold the balance of egg white mix with egg yolk mix. Combine well.

9. Pour batter into swiss roll pan lined with non-stick parchment paper.

10. Gently knock the swiss roll pan on the kitchen counter a few times to remove air pockets trapped in the batter.

11. Bake in preheated oven at 160deg C for 20min.

12. While waiting for the sponge cake to bake in the oven, whip up the whipping cream, add in durian. Stop whipping when the cream is whipped. Set aside in fridge.

To assemble swiss roll

1. Remove the sponge cake and invert the sponge cake onto another piece of parchment paper.

2. Slowly peel off the attached parchment paper from the cake.

3. Place a new piece of parchment paper over the sponge. Invert the sponge again.

4. Wait till the sponge cake is cooled enough to spread the cream, or else cream will melt.

5. Spread evenly a layer of durian cream filling.

6. Roll the cake to form a swiss roll. Chill for about 30min in fridge before cutting.

 

This recipe yields about 8 swiss roll, about 2.5cm width.

 

 

Pumpkin cheese sticks

 

 

 

There are a few parties and wedding dinners coming up the next few nights. Other than steamed potatoes and sweet potatoes, I am thinking to bake some hand-held snacks for the lil' fella so that he can keep himself fed and occupied while we feast ourselves.

 

I have decided to make these cheese sticks again. I have made them before without pumpkin. But since I've just initiated this cooking/baking event for babies under 2 that involves pumpkin, I should try them out with pumpkin.

 

As expected, it turned out nice. Again, it's crunchy on the outside and soft inside. Just right for the baby.

 

 

Here's what you'll need:
*2tbsp pumpkin, steam-cooked and mashed

*2 cups flour (I used a combination of oat flour and all purpose flour at a ratio of about 50:50)

*30g butter (this time, I used grapeseed oil, as I ran out of butter)

*75g grated cheddar cheese

*1 egg yolk, beaten with about 1/3 cup milk

*1/4tsp dried herbs and cracked black pepper

 

Instructions:

1. Sieve flour into a mixing bowl.

2. Rub in butter or oil, until the mixture resembles breadcrumb.

3. Add in beaten egg yolk and milk.

4. Add in cheese and season with herbs and pepper.

5. Continue to knead until mix is dry and is okay to shape. If not, try adjust the consistency by adding more flour (if too wet); or adding more milk (if mix is too dry).

6. Pick up about a tablespoon of flour mix and roll into stick shape. Place on baking tray lined with parchment paper.

7. Preheat oven to 175deg C. Bake for about 20-25min (depending on thickness of sticks) until the cheese sticks is golden in color.

 

Note:
1. This is suitable as snacks for BLW (baby led weaning).
2. Suitable from 8months and above. The lil' fella is turning 11month old end of this month.
 

This post is linked to the cooking/baking event, Yummy Homemade BabyFood, organized by me and Healthy Food for My Baby. To join, simply cook and bake any dishes for your babies under 2, using pumpkin (for month of September 2013). For more details, please see this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hearty pumpkin oatmeal with mashed banana

 

 

 

It has been raining this few days and the mornings has been quite chilly and wet. So I decided to make a hearty oatmeal for the lil' fella using pumpkin. One of my favorite dish with pumpkin is the sweet creamy pumpkin sago that is sometimes served at wedding banquets or dinner parties, and I would like to emulate that for the lil' fella using all the ingredients that are okay for his age (he's turning 11month old end of the month and he's still on a sugar and salt-free diet).

 

Ingredients:

*3tbsp pumpkin, cubed

*2tbsp rolled oat, soaked for about 2hours

*2cups water

Place all ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on 'high' mode for about 2-3 hours.

Serve with 1/2 mashed banana, 1tbsp breastmilk/ formula milk or fresh milk (for those above 1) and 1/2 tsp of virgin coconut oil. Optional: season with dash of all spice powder / cinnamon powder.

 

The pumpkin oatmeal turned out very creamy, just like how the adult's creamy pumpkin sago is. But it still tasted a little bland to me, which was the reason why I mashed in half a banana to sweeten it up. I have also added in 1-2 tbsp of milk to make it even creamier, which I later on thought that it can be optional. It was already quite creamy on its own. But for mommies with babies on nursing strike, having the milk in it would be a way to ensure that your lil' one is still getting his/her daily amount of milk.

 

This post is linked to the cooking/baking event, Yummy Homemade BabyFood, organized by me and Healthy Food for My Baby. To join, simply cook and bake any dishes for your babies under 2, using pumpkin (for month of September 2013). For more details, please see this.

 

 

 

 

 

Eggs Benedict (Ree Drummond) w. avocado creme sauce

 

 

One question, do I still call it 'Eggs Benedict' with a s if mine is made up of one egg? Anyone?

 

This was a breakfast I made for myself. This morning, within half an hour, I made three different breakfast incorporating avocado, one for myself, one for the lil' fella and another one for mommy dearest. My mom was having a poor tummy, she may not want raw egg yolk running on her breakfast plate. Instead, I made her scrambled egg. The lil' fella is not one yet, so I try to resist his egg yolk count to 3 per week. He had egg yolk last night. So for this morning's breakfast, he had oatmeal with red bean and avocado. 

 

I don't make Eggs Benedict all the time, actually, I rarely make it. I preferred scrambled or hard-boiled egg. The reason being I may fail making Eggs Benedict. As I mentioned, I like fail-proof methods. But for the purpose of joining the Cooking like a star organized by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids,  I have decided to take up the challenge and attempt this for my morning's breakfast, method by the Pioneer Woman Cooks.

 

First, bring a pot of water (about 4inch height) to a boil.  Add in 2 tbsp of vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar).

 

With a spoon, begin stirring the boiling water in a large, circular motion. When the tornado’s really twisting crack in an egg. Or two. Or three. (I cracked the egg into a bowl first, in case, I broke the egg yolk. Indeed, I cracked my first egg yolk. Luckily I was gonna make scrambled egg for mom, so the cracked egg yolk gets used up).  

 

The reason for the swirling is so the egg will wrap around itself as it cook, keeping it together.

 

Turn the heat to moderate simmer. Cook for about 2 ½ to 3 minutes. I cooked for about 2.5min and the yolk was already about 65% cooked.

 

Pick the egg up with a slotted saucer/ spoon. Leave aside to drip off the excess water.

 

Then I went ahead to prepare the sauce. For this, I needed to be really quick. The egg yolk may continue to cook and it may not be that runny anymore when I eat it.

 

Instead of the really nice Hollandaise sauce the Ree highly recommend, I made my own version of Avocado Crème Sauce. It wasn't because of the raw yolk in the Hollandaise sauce that put me off (I'm a hunter gatherer, I have no issues eating raw egg, sashimi or raw beef). I would love to give the Hollandaise sauce a try, but I ran out of butter. I used them all up making my slimmed-down chocolate brownies yesterday.

 

For the Avocado Crème Sauce, I used:

 

*Half a ripe avocado

*About 2tbsp flaxseed oil

*About 2tbsp full cream milk, add more or less to adjust the consistency

Heavily seasoned with cracked black pepper and rock salt

All the above ingredients are added in by eye-ball, so just play around with it until you achieve the consistency wanted.

 

Just mix or blend everything together. I used my hand-held mixer, as it's easier to wash compared a blender.

 

Having a baby at home, avocado is something I always have either on my kitchen counter or in the freezer. I freeze the very ripe ones, in case I can't get to eat them up in time.  I just peel off the skin, cut them into cubes and freeze them in freezer bag. It's creamy and makes sauces of great consistency, but also boosting with good nutrients, especially the omega-3 for the brain.





My mom's breakfast: Scrambled egg with avocado crème sauce

 

Lil' fella's breakfast: Red bean oatmeal with avocado and banana

I'm linking this post to Cook like a Star, organised by Zoe, Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Wanna cook or bake like Ree Drummond? To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from The Pioneer Woman or her cookbooks and link with us at this Zoe's, this Yen's or this Mich's post for the whole month of September 2013.

 

 

 

 

Slimmed-down chocolate brownies (Ree Drummond)

 

 

 

September is indeed a month filled with lots of birthdays and celebrations. I just baked a birthday swiss roll for my sis. Today, I made another birthday cake for my sis-in-law. However, all of us in the family are on very strict calorie-watch diet this few days, trying to look our best for my sis-in-law's wedding in less than a week's time, so I have to bake a cake that is low in calorie and almost sugar-free cos most of us in the family dislike sweet stuffs. It isn't easy deciding on a cake to bake, considering that it still has to taste and looks great, but sans the calorie and sugar. I finally settled for a brownie, the chocolate would render it the sweetness even without any sugar added. The other reason that I chose brownie is because it's quite an easy recipe, like Martha Stewart once said, just dump everything in a bowl, mix and bake. I love fail-proof recipes. I have chosen this recipe by Ree Drummond, cos I am keen to join the blog hop event, Cook like a Star, organized by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids.

 

Honestly, I have not heard of Ree Drummond prior to this, forgive me for my ignorance. For sweets and desserts, Martha Stewart is usually my foremost consideration cos I have done plenty of her recipes and they were almost fail-proof. But like what Zoe mentioned, the purpose of joining this Cook like a Star blog hop event, is to challenge ourselves to bake and cook with different techniques, learnt from different chefs.

 

Ree Drummond is a 'country' housewife chef and her recipes are quite the 'ranch' type (haha.. my definition of ranch is - uses lots of bacon, chops, cream, potato, farm vege for their recipes). Honestly speaking, if it wasn't for this bake along, I wouldn't have used her recipe. But I'm glad I did. I actually learnt two of her recipes in a span of 24 hours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the link for  Ree's original recipe. I have twisted it quite a bit to make it a slimmed-down version. Omitted the mocha icing, due to the amount of butter and sugar needed. Instead, I replaced it with a healthier kind of topping, raw cashew nuts and pumpkin seeds, chopped but not toasted, cos the brownies-baking process would roast the nuts and seeds anyway. I don't want them to get too roasted or burnt. I have also halved the recipe to make a brownie cake that fits in my 10cmx10cmx3cm square ramekin dish.

 

Here's my recipe (adapted from The Pioneer Women Cooks by Ree Drummond)

 

*60g chocolate (the ori recipe calls for unsweetened choc, I couldn't find unsweetened chocolate, so I omitted the sugar in this recipe)

*60g butter, in room temperature

*pinch of salt  

*2 whole egg, medium size

*1tsp vanilla extract

*70g cake flour (ori recipe calls for A.P. flour, I used cake flour, so it rises a little, I guessed either is okay)

*2 tbsp raw organic cashew nuts and pumpkin seeds, chopped, for use as topping, seasoned with pinch of salt

 

Makes 8 small slices of brownies

 

Instructions:

 

Preheat the oven to 170 degreeC. Butter a 10cmx10cm square baking pan/ ramekin dish with butter.

 

For the brownie batter: Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30-second increments, being careful not to let it burn. Set it aside to cool slightly.

(I never like melting butter or chocolate in microwave, I always have this assumption that it may tamper or alter the property, so I melted the chocolate in a bowl seated above a pan of boiling water)

 

In a medium mixing bowl, cream the butter and pinch of salt. Beat in the eggs. With the mixer on low speed, drizzle in the melted chocolate. Add the vanilla extract and mix. Add the flour to the bowl and mix just until combined; do not over mix.

 

Pour the batter in the baking pan/ramekin dish. Spread it to even out the surface. Top with chopped and salted nuts and seeds. Bake until the center is no longer soft, about 30minutes for my halved recipe. Cool.

 

Note:

1. Bake brownies in a bigger size pan if you want them a little thinner. Mine turned out quite thick because of the small ramekin dish I have.

2. Add about 1/2cup of brown sugar into this recipe, if you want your brownies to taste sweeter. My slimmed down version is quite bland, but it suits the entire family on calorie-watch.  

 

I am linking this post to Cook like a Star, organised by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Yen from Eat your heart out and Mich from Piece of Cake. Wanna cook or bake like Ree Drummond? To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from The Pioneer Woman or her cookbooks and link with us at this Zoe's, this Yen's or this Mich's post for the whole month of September 2013.