Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

185g unsalted butter

185g dark chocolate

85g plain flour

40g cocoa powder

50g white chocolate

50g milk chocolate

3 large eggs

275g golden caster sugar (other sugar does just as well)

What To Do

Butter & Dark Chocolate Mix

Melt butter and the dark chocolate in a saucepan. 

It is best to break up the chocolate into pieces first!

Melt on a very low heat - I turn on the gas ring to warm the pan then turn it off again. It takes time but avoids burning the chocolate.

Egg & Sugar Mix

Break the 3 eggs into a large bowl and beat until smooth

Stir in the sugar

You can use an electric mixer for this if you like.

Pour Butter/Choc Mix Into Egg/Sugar Mix

Stir well.

Flour & Cocoa Powder Mix

Mix the flour and cocoa powder together in a small bowl.

Add Flour/Cocoa Powder Mix To The Rest

Add the flour/cocoa into the rest and stir. It is best to add the flour/cocoa mix a bit at a time to avoid it going lumpy. Keep stirring until the whole thing is smooth.

Add White/Milk Chocolate Chunks Too

Break up the white and milk chocolate into chunks.

Stir the chunks into the mix

Cooking

Pour the mixture into a ceramic dish - make sure it is not too large or too small. 

The depth of the mix should be about 8cm or thereabouts (3 inches in old time) - too thin and it will over-cook, too thick and it won't cook in the middle.

Cook on 180C for about 25mins. You did pre-heat the oven, didn't you?

Attribution

This is a much abridged/mangled version of this recipe:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/best-ever-chocolate-brownies-recipe

Ian's Aldershot Spoon Biscuits

Ingredients

Half block of butter (125 grams)

Three-quarters of a mug rapeseed oil

1 teaspoon ground cardamom (x2 for more flavour)

1 teaspoon ground ginger (x2 for more flavour)

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

1 mug sultanas (ignore if you don't like sultanas!)

1 mug fine cornflour (or 125 grams)

2 and a half mugs flour (self-raising flour is good)

Half a mug golden syrup

Cooking

Warm butter in large saucepan until melted then remove from heat

Add all other ingredients except the syrup

Mix well

Stir in the syrup

Spread some dough into a tablespoon (or other large spoon) using a knife - like spreading jam on toast

Turn spoon over and get dough on to greased paper on a baking tray with the knife

Repeat until all dough is used

Place tray in oven on 180C for 15 minutes

Remove from oven and allow to cool

Margaret's Fruit Loaf

Margaret's Fruit Loaf is quick & easy to make - you need to let it cool before serving though.

2 cups self-raising flour

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of water

1 cup of rasins & sultanas

1/4lb butter (120 grams or 1/2 cup)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

Put butter, sugar, fruit & water into large pan and bring to boil

Add baking powder - stir for 2 minutes - it all goes a bit mad and bubbly

Turn off heat - leave to cool

Stir in flour & egg

Put in a lined loaf tin or similar.

Gas mark 4 or 180C for 40 minutes.

Leave to cool.

No-sugar Flapjack

Twice as much porridge oats as milk

Tablespoon of rapeseed oil (or other veg oil)

Add some golden syrup, pumpkin seeds and raisins if you like.

180C for 30 minutes

tbh it's not very sweet and more like cake than flapjack. Perhaps more oil?

Inspired by https://sarahdietitian.com/2016/03/30/super-healthy-flapjack-recipe-no-butter-sugar/

Revised version:

1 cup oats

Half cup corn flour

Cup sultanas

Half cup toasted pumpkin seeds

Cup of water (this was too much I think)

Two tablespoons golden syrup

I wonder if other fruit would help make it softer - apple sauce?

Simple Flapjack

75g of butter or margarine

50 - 75g light brown sugar

1 tablespoon of golden syrup

175g of porridge oats

1. Put the butter or margarine, sugar and golden syrup into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the fat and sugar have melted.

2. Add the porridge oats and blend thoroughly.

3. Press into a well greased 18cm square sandwich tin.

4. Bake in the centre of a moderate oven at 180c or 350f or gas mark 4 for 25 minutes or until evenly golden brown.

5. Mark into fingers whilst warm.

6. Allow to become almost cold in the tin before removing.

From: https://www.scottishrecipes.co.uk/flapjacks.php

Oat & Rasin Flapjack Cake (NOT cookies)

Well this was actually a cookie recipe, but my loyal tasters said the cookies tasted a bit cakey. Not that cakey is a bad thing, I know, but IMHO it works better as flapjack or actual cake.

Ingredients

Butter 115g (1/2 cup in foreign) -- start with butter at room temperature!
Sugar -- golden caster sugar works well -- 128g (1 cup)
Egg 1 (1)
Oats 128g (1.5 cups)
Raisins 90g (1 cup) though I tend to put more cos I like them
Flour 135g (1 cup)

Making It

• Mix butter, sugar and egg together
• Add flour
• Add raisins & oats
• Put in non-stick baking dish - I use the glass Pyrex square dish
• Bake at 180C for about 40mins (check at 30mins but I don't think 30 is quite long enough)
• Allow to cool before you dig in

Rock Cakes

225g self-raising flour
75g sugar
1 tsp baking powder
125g butter
150g currants or raisins
1 egg
1 tblsp milk

Mix everything together.

If you like vanilla, add 2 tsp of vanilla essence. Or if you like nutmeg and cloves, sprinkle a little of that in the mix and give it another stir.

Put small balls of mixture on grease-proof paper on an oven tray.

15-20 mins 180C oven.

Bread Pudding

Put 250g of bread and 350ml of milk in a bowl to soak.

Grate the outside of an orange. Mix in a bowl with lots of sultanas. Add some nutmeg too if you like. Add the squeezed orange juice for a more orangey taste.

Add

100g brown sugar
2 eggs and
50g of soft butter

to the fruit and grated orange and mix it together.

Add in the bread/milk to the rest and mix until smoothish.

180C oven for 50 minutes