Milk Chocolate Brownies

Milk chocolate brownies??!! Did I hear you say that? Promise I won't be surprised or take offense that you frowned at these! That's the expected reaction from dark chocolate loving palates. No, I haven't shifted loyalties to milk chocolate, though Cadbury and Campco will always hold a special place in my heart.

Nostalgia! It was a special treat back then, when dark chocolate had not made an appearance yet, at least where we lived. It made the perfect dessert for my school picnics and other smaller special occasions. I remember eating just one piece of  my Cadbury bar at a time or it would get over too soon!  And the time we had forgotten a couple of bars near the window in summer to find that the chocolate had completely melted. Had cried as we could not eat the chocolate, though no amount of admonishing could stop us from licking the chocolate!

Though dark chocolate remains my guilty pleasure, I do enjoy stealing a bite of milk chocolate now and then. A little sweet, but still good! I had a couple of bars of milk chocolate a friend had given. I  did not really know what to do with them, and then I remembered these brownies on Deeba's blog. I had the perfect excuse to bake these for the kids to take on a holiday. A good make-ahead dessert on the move!

These brownies are very rich, chocolaty, fudgy and yes, just a tiny bit on the sweeter side.  Just the thing for your little ones this Valentine's Day? Or simply as a break from the usual dark chocolate brownies to bring back some childhood memories ?

Adapted from Passionate About Baking, the recipe here.  These are from the book 'Baking With Friends' by Kathleen Kings, owner of Tate's Bakeshop, New York. Recipe on the site here.

Ingredients:

• Unsalted butter, cubed, soft - 113 grams / 1/2 cup
• Milk chocolate - finely chopped, 250 grams / 9oz
• Sugar - 85 grams / scant 1/2 cup (weigh and powder fine unless using caster sugar)
  
• Eggs -  96 grams / 2 large, room temperature
• Pure vanilla extract - 1 tsp
• Plain flour - 98 grams / 3/4 cup
• Cocoa powder  - 1 tbsp - 5 grams (just measure with your measuring spoon)
• pinch salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180C / 350 F. Mise en place. Line and lightly grease a 9'' square tin with aluminum foil or baking parchment  leaving an overhang. You could use an 8'' tin for taller brownies, but you baking time will be a few minutes more.
   
2. Sift the flour and cocoa. Keep aside.
3. In a medium sized heavy saucepan, melt butter and chocolate gently over low heat (on your stove-top) until just melted says the original recipe. Stir gently to mix evenly, then leave to cool slightly. Please read note. Scrape the mixture into a medium sized bowl.
4. Add the sugar, gently whisk to incorporate. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla gently. Add the flour mixture and stir in till well incorporated. Spread evenly into the prepared tin. 
5. Bake for about 15 -16 minutes or till the center is very slightly gooey when a toothpick is inserted in the center. ( I like them this way!) Do not over-bake, err on the side of under baking rather than over baking them.
6. Leave tin on cooling rack to cool completely. 
7. Gently lift the brownies from the pan (along with the foil) and cut into 16 squares.
8. Store airtight to retain the moisture in the brownies. I loved them fresh and warm from the tin! These tasted best the day they were baked, though they still remain moist and good later.

    
         Please note :

• Make sure your chocolate is chopped fine. If the chocolate is not properly and completely melted, your brownies will not have a good texture. Given that milk chocolate is more sensitive, it can be tricky.
• I was a little apprehensive about melting milk chocolate along with the butter. I have melted the butter (on the stove top) till it almost melted, took off the heat, added the chocolate and stirred . With heart in my mouth, very briefly put back on very low heat  as the chocolate did not seem to start melting fast enough.  Later I had to press my spatula here and there to melt some pieces, but all was still well in the end. Could have done a better job,  try your preferred method of melting chocolate, a double boiler may be the safest bet. Tell me how you did this if you try these.
  

• I may try substituting a tablespoon of the flour with cocoa to cut down on the sweetness, but the amount of sugar will be the same. Add some toasted walnuts or almonds to the batter if you like.
• Too much of heating of butter may make your brownies greasy. 
• Goes without saying that good quality milk chocolate will give you better tasting brownies. 

Make these once for a change and don't shy away from admitting that you did enjoy milk chocolate brownies!

Oven-baked Ice Cream Cones

Summer is here and how! And a I-can't-believe-this-is-Bangalore summer at that!  A slight rise in the mercury levels and I will be squirmish, so not surprisingly just staying put in Bangalore is my idea of a summer vacation. We are boring folks, I told you! While the kids are enjoying at their summer camps, I thought I must at least try and build some excitement around making ice cream, ice-pops and fro-yos at home. And some fun homemade ice cream cones too! No, I am not lucky enough to own a waffle iron but I actually quite enjoy eating ice creams from the waffle cones made in front of ice-cream outlets. Don't tell anyone, but if my daughter has second thoughts about finishing her cone, my son and I invariably kind of (note, only kind of) compete with each other to help her finish! 

Now that a waffle iron is not one of my prized possessions, I was glad to find a recipe for oven-baked ice-cream cones from the master of frozen desserts, David Lebovitz. Though not exactly easy to shape unless you have asbestos hands, making these is still fun! Cones in chocolate, vanilla and chocolate,  zesty orange and chocolate, lemon and sesame /poppy seeds, coconut and cardamom flavors, or chocolate dipped cones. Miniature ones for kids' parties, sporting the creative designs you can think of.  Spread the batter on your cookie sheets and let your kids do a spot of  'cone designing'. ( If they look clumsy like mine, you can always say the kids did it) Something you must surely do this summer as a fun project, then fill your own ice cream or with some out of a tub.

The batter and method for these cones is very similar to that of tuiles, but this one has more flour for more sturdiness. Tuiles are really really fragile, but a tad more forgiving when you shape. The ice cream cones harden even before you can yelp 'ouch' and mine had a few cracks here and there when I tried to give them better shape. You can pop the cones in the oven again for a minute or more and they do soften again, but still a bit tricky to shape. Keep your counter-top free, have your metal cone right next to the oven, wear heat-proof, food safe gloves (if you have them) which are thin enough to allow you to shape the cones. Or use 2 thin, short kitchen towels to help you shape by partially draping the towel (just enough to protect your fingers and give you a grip) over the hot cones.  Whew! I know, this sounds more like a complex surgical procedure than making some simple cones, but I am telling you all this just so that I can say, don't tell me I did not warn you!

I made one recipe of the vanilla batter and 1 recipe of chocolate. Having both helps use the batters for contrasting flavors and colors in one cone. Recipe from Epicurious

Vanilla cones (see variations below)

Ingredients:

• Egg whites, 2 large  - 60 grams
• Sugar - 7 tablespoons (85 g)
• Vanilla extract - 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt - 1/8 teaspoon
• Flour - 90 grams
• Unsalted butter, melted  - 30 grams / 2 tablespoons (weighed and then melted)

Chocolate Variation:

• Egg whites, 2 large  - 60 grams
• Sugar - 100 grams / 1/2 cup 
• Vanilla extract - 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt - 1/8 teaspoon
• Flour - 60 grams
• Cocoa - 20 grams / 3 tablespoons
• Unsalted butter, melted  - 30 grams / 2 tablespoons (weighed and then melted)

Preparation

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C / 350°F. Mise en place.

• In a small mixing bowl, stir together the egg whites, sugar, and vanilla. Stir in the salt and half of the flour (or the flour and cocoa sifted together for chocolate cones), then mix in the melted butter. Beat in the rest of the flour until smooth.A tiny whisk works well here. At this point you can use the batter immediately or refrigerate it for up to 4 days. Let the batter come to room temperature before using.

• Line a baking sheet (or the back of a 8''/9'' square or round tin) with parchment paper and use a small offset spatula or the back of a spoon to spread 2 level tablespoons of the batter into a circle 6 inches across (I used 1 1/2 tablespoons to make about 51/2'' circles, baked for 13 minutes). Try to get the circles as even and smooth as possible. I found it easier to start off in the middle of the circle and move the back of the spoon in concentric circles (like dosa) moving outward. You will have to rotate the pan as you go, holding the parchment between your left thumb and the middle finger as the parchment tends to come away from the pan with the viscous batter.
  

• Put the baking sheet in the oven and begin checking the cones after about 10 minutes. Depending on your oven, they’ll take between 10 and 15 minutes to bake. The circles should be a deep golden brown (for vanilla) throughout (some lighter and darker spots are inevitable, so don’t worry). Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Use a thin metal spatula to loosen the edge of one disk. Slide the spatula under the disk, quickly flip it over, and immediately roll it around the cone-rolling form, pressing the seam firmly on the counter to close the cone and pinching the point at the bottom securely closed. ( I did a really clumsy job as the cones were really hot!)
• Let the cone cool slightly on the mold until it feels firm, then slide it off and stand it upright in a tall glass to cool. Roll the other cone the same way. (If it’s too firm, return the baking sheet to the oven for a minute or so until it’s pliable again.)
• Repeat, using the remaining batter. You’ll find it easier to spread the batter if you slide the reusable parchment paper off the baking sheet; any heat from the baking sheet will make the batter fussy to spread.

Variations

• For Sesame or Poppy Seed Ice Cream Cones, stir 3 tablespoons (35 g) toasted sesame or poppy seeds and a bit of grated lemon zest into the batter.
• For Gingersnap Ice Cream Cones, add 1 tablespoon mild molasses and 1/4 teaspoon each ground cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg to the batter. Increase the sugar to 1/2 cup (100 g).
• For Honey-Cornmeal Ice Cream Cones, substitute 1 large egg and 1 egg white for the 1/4 cup (60 ml) egg whites. Melt 2 teaspoons of strongly flavored honey with the butter, and substitute 1/2 cup (70 g) of flour and 1/4 cup (35 g) of stone-ground cornmeal for the 2/3 cup (90 g) flour.
• For Rosemary Ice Cream Cones, add 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary to the Honey-Cornmeal Ice Cream Cone batter.

Storage
The batter can be made up to 4 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Let the batter come to room temperature before using. Once baked and cooled, store the cones in an airtight container until ready to serve. They’re best eaten the same day they’re baked.