Sunday, October 12, 2008

Divine chocolate brownies . . .

I apologise to UK readers for my use of American measurements. I still have my beat-up aluminum measuring cup and spoons that I brought with me when I crossed the mighty ocean (and I refuse to spell it aluminium, or say it 'al-you-MIN-ee-um *). If I know the equivalent, I'll write it, but otherwise, well . . . I don't know what to tell you. Except that these brownies are so good you'll be more than happy to figure out the recipe in grams.

Into a mixing bowl, place:

1 cp / 125 g. GF flour mix (I use Doves Farm)
1 cp / 200 g. sugar
1/3 cp / 25 g. unsweetened cocoa powder
4 medium eggs
3/4 cp sunflower oil
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 tsp baking powder

Beat well, then stir in about 5-6 oz / 150 g. chunked-up chocolate (I use the TESCO Continental brand, which is dairy-free, soya-free, etc, and 72% cocoa) and a 4 oz. (100 g.) bag of pine nuts which have been toasted lightly in a skillet.

Pour into baking pan (8" x 8" -ish), bake at gas mark 4 (link for equivalents at right) for about 25-35 minutes, depending on the pan you use and the brownie thickness. Remove while knife inserted between centre and edge is still a bit gooey.



* Regarding 'aluminum,' we can thank Humphry Davy for the differences between British and America spellings (and pronunciations). Yes, it was his to name, but I mean, come on -- how long does one need to finally settle on a name? And then he had finally decided on aluminum when some scholar told him that since so many other elements ended in '-ium' that his aluminum should as well, for consistency. And so after 40-odd years he switched one last time, and settled on that spelling.

Americans, meanwhile, had things to invent, electricity to discover, medicine to advance, and a moon to land on. We had better things to do than sit waiting for nearly half a century, so we kept his spelling and moved on.

Sorry, Mr. Davy. Oops, I mean 'Sir Davy.'

2 comments:

Li loves David said...

So that's why there are two pronunciations! Hmmm. Your brownies do indeed look divine...

Nonni said...

The other one here I find interesting (but do't know why we're different) is the US 'jewelry' and the UK 'jewellery'.

Yes, good brownies. Didn't even want to count the WW points, though! I did put some in the freezer, so I wont eat too many.