Jul 26

Chocolate and pineapple brownies

Tags: blog, cooking experiments, , , , 2 Comments »
Aka the recipe I made when I found myself with an extra can of pineapple and some leftover chocolate. You would think that the pineapple would not go well with the chocolate–but it does, trust me. It’s actually a very yummy combination, the pineapple bringing the moisture and sugar that the chocolate lacks.

 

Chocolate and pineapple brownies
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Recipe type: Dessert
Author: Aliette de Bodard
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Total time: 40 mins
Serves: 6-8
A wonderful mix of tart pineapple and gorgeous chocolate.
Ingredients
  • 100 g dark chocolate
  • 1 can pineapple slices (340g, 10 slices)
  • 140g sugar (be prepared to throw in some of the juice from the can if the mixture’s too liquid, or to adjust the flour if it’s too dry)
  • 120g flour
  • 1 bag vanilla sugar (8g sugar and a dash of vanilla extract otherwise)
  • 2 eggs
  • 125g butter
Instructions
  1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C (gas mark 6)
  2. Melt the chocolate and the butter, let the mixture cool down for a bit.
  3. Meanwhile, dice the pineapple slices into smallish bits (I go for the width and length of my fingertip).
  4. Mix the sugar, vanilla sugar, and the eggs. When the above chocolate-butter mixture has cooled down, add it and mix everything until the dough is smooth.
  5. Prepare a low cake mould by brushing its sides with a little butter and a little flour. Pour the dough into it.
  6. Cook for around 20 minutes: the cake should be still moist.
 

There you go–enjoy!

ETA: adjusted quantities following further experimentation

Jun 25

Orange and chocolate scones

Tags: blog, cooking experiments, Uncategorized, , , , , 2 Comments »
So, I did promise the recipe for the scones…

Below are my VD scones (though I didn’t put enough baking soda in, and ended up making oversized cookies. They are supposed to look a bit better than this normally):

Scones

 

Orange and chocolate scones
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Prep time: 30 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Total time: 50 mins
Serves: 8-9 scones
A dessert that combines two of my favourite flavours: chocolate, and orange.
Ingredients
  • 230 g flour
  • 11 g baking soda
  • 60g butter
  • 1 teaspoon caster sugar
  • 145 mL of milk
  • 1 tablespoon Orange Blossom water
  • 120g chocolate, chopped into coarse bits
  • Zest of half an orange, chopped into tiny bits
  • Pinch of salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven at 200°C. Leave the butter out to soften a bit.
  2. Sift the flour, the sugar and the baking soda in a bowl, and gently rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the milk little by little, until you have a spongy dough.
  3. Work in the orange blossom water, the orange zest and the chocolate chips until the dough is smooth and uniform.
  4. Grease a baking sheet. Divide the dough into 8-9 parts and shape it like cylinders (roughly 5cm across, 1cm thick). Or, if it’s too much trouble, just put dollops of the dough onto the baking sheet :-)
  5. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until the scones are risen and light golden in colour.

 

Enjoy :=)

(I originally was looking for a chocolate and orange scone recipe after eating very tasty ones in Montreal, but couldn’t find one that worked on the net. In the end, I adapted this from the plain oven scones recipe contained in Scottish Teatime Recipes by Johanna Mathie)