Chocolate Fudge Brownies.....With Homemade Semi-Sweet Chocolate

These are an easy recipe to make - I like anything that is versatile - especially when you want to use other flours such as spelt. If using all whole grain spelt, remember to adjust the liquid content (use less) but this is also nice to mix and match. Use some spelt to give them more of a dense nutty texture familiar in a brownie...

I also make my own semi-sweet chocolate....for inclusion in a recipe it's often better then the factory made variety - besides you can control the ingredients completely with no preservatives etc. And, there is that continued satisfaction of making your own whenever possible. 

Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Cake

1 ¾ cups flour (I use 1/3 spelt)

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

2/3 cup chopped nuts (almonds, cashews)

125g butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

½ cup sour cream or yogurt

Semi Sweet Chocolate

6 tablespoons cocoa powder

6 tablespoons powdered sugar 

1 ½ to 2 tablespoons vegetable shortening (start with less)

Topping

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

¾ cup powdered sugar 

1 cup cream cheese

Preheat oven to 170C. Butter and flour a square baking tin or a shallow brownie pan. You can also line the sides with parchment paper to ensure ease of removal.

In a mixing bowl, sift together dry ingredients (except sugar) add ½ chopped or coarsely ground nuts. In the meantime, in a saucepan, over hot water, make the semi sweet chocolate in a heat-proof bowl.  Add all ingredients starting with the vegetable shortening first. Stir constantly to remove any lumps making sure all the sugar is blended in.

Allow chocolate to cool a little then add in sugar (from the cake section), lightly beaten eggs and sour cream or yogurt – beating until mixture is well combined – it will be thick and smooth. 

Add chocolate mixture to dry flour ingredients – using a wooden spoon stir gently until combined but do not over stir. Spoon evenly over the bottom of buttered baking tin – bake in oven 32-37 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in tin.

For the topping, place all ingredients into a bowl, using a fork, mash until well combined. It will soften and become spreadable after a few minutes. Using a knife, spread thickly and evenly over top of cooled cake then sprinkle topping with remaining chopped nuts. Cut into squares and serve….Lovely! 

April

A very chocolaty treat! 

Coming Into Chocolate Zombie Season....

I wanted to wade into the melee here on the subject of chocolate - that's right, that dark, sugary, sweet stuff that we are told is supposedly the nectar of the god's. Well, I for one don't eat it, don't believe it and have been there done that - when it comes to all manner of it.

It bothers me quite a bit to read people's blogs and then read published research again and again on how good this 'food' is for us. How full of this vitamin and that mineral chocolate tends to be and the many options we have to 'take our chocolate'.

If you want to know what I think about it - from a Medical Intuitive perspective, well, keep reading. Otherwise, stop now - because I am going to get graphic.... LOL. Just kidding - but I would like to give you some idea of the energetics of this bean.

So, we have the cocoa bean from which chocolate is derived. It grows on a tree - all you've got to do is watch Dora the Explorer to know you can shake that tree and get chocolate bars raining down like manna from heaven.

And that's one of the problems I have with this so-called treat....it is pushed, peddled, plied, spoon-fed, and even bottle fed to our children starting in the cradle. Everyone is a chocolate pusher - your first birthday cake should be triple fudge and dripping with sugar.

You with me so far? 

Then we move on from there to our teens - munching chocolate for the odd treat until hormones, self consciousness and personality confuse the body and mind. Then, as we 'grow up', for many of us, this 'treat' becomes a meal, a craving and a means to an end in itself.

Chocolate is a drug. Yes it contains caffeine (I am told it is less then coffee) but that's not the point - the point is it contains several ingredients which, when combined within the bodies of many of us, act to stupify, numb and otherwise feed into addictive patterns.

I know and meet many people who cannot stop eating chocolate - have drugged themselves silly every night for years, waking up the next day feeling like a stoned chocolate zombie. This cycle has been stuck on 'repeat' every time they feel they can't cope with...well, anything.

I said I would mention chocolate from an intuitive perspective; what it does is push down human sexuality. Not a bad thing you might be saying...well, it is when sexuality comes with and is linked to,  creativity, life force, spirituality and all those little chemical messengers related to health and well being called hormones.

To be honest, I get tired of reading the merits and benefits of eating 2 squares of chocolate a day. And I hardly know anyone who can keep such an addiction at that level. Besides, just because a drug is legal, doesn't mean it's good for us - 

Personally, I don't touch it - I wouldn't let anything interfere with my experience here on this journey. And I certainly don't want to spend my life in a drug induced haze or looking like a chocolate bunny...

April 

Cat watching from the shadows...