Welcome back! Or should you be saying that to me? I don't really know. But anyway, I'm back in the world of blogging after a couple of weeks away from the computer and you are certainly most welcome here. Like almost everyone I know, I devoted most of my time off to coughing and sneezing my way through Christmas and the new year celebrations and, frankly, spent an unhealthy amount of time attached to my sofa.
But here we are. It's 2012 and I'm back at my desk, staring at my laptop with only a residual cough to remind me of the last few weeks. And a Kitchen Aid but that's a subject for another time.
Last night, I got back from work and decided that I wanted to move around all the furniture in the sitting room. I don't think that life magically changes on the first of January, which is why I've never really been one for new year resolutions, but I felt the need to make a small gesture to mark the new year somehow. Rather than do anything drastic like cut all my hair off or get a new job (neither of which I actually want to do but which I might otherwise have felt compelled to do), I decided that a little furniture re-arrangement was in order.
Quite apart from satisfying the itch for change, the new layout has meant that the dining table is now nestled in the (north facing) bay window rather than stranded in the darkest corner of the room. I am hoping that this will mean that I no longer have to shoot pictures of food balanced on a windowsill or an ironing board. What difference that will make to the quality of my photographs remains to be seen but it will make my life immeasurably easier.
It may have been fairly unremarkable thus far but I have a good feeling about this year.
At the moment, the future is just the vague outline of a shadow, an indistinct shape dancing around on the edge of my consciousness. But every day I feel the sense of anticipation growing that little bit more.
And so, I feel like celebrating 2012. Handy then that my boyfriend came home with a large box of celebrations. A flick through one of the new books I received from some of my loveliest friends elicited me a recipe for celebration brownies, with a layer of unwrapped chocolates sandwiched between two squidgy layers of brownie. Each bite is different. Some are coconutty, some are salty, some are sticky and chewy.
So here's to a very happy and a very exciting 2012. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a damn good one.
~Celebration BrowniesAdapted from Green and Black's Chocolate Recipes Yield: Makes approx 12
Ingredients
- 100g unsalted butter
- 50g dark chocolate (at least 60%)
- 175g soft brown sugar (light or dark depending on preference)
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 100g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 10-15 celebrations (or other small chocolates)
Cooking Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease a 20cm square tin with melted butter.
- In a large bowl, melt the butter and chocolate over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave.
- When melted, mix in the sugar.
- Whisk together the egg and the vanilla and mix it into the butter/chocolate/sugar.
- Fold in your dry ingredients.
- Pour half the mixture into your cake tin, spread your chocolates out evenly and pour over the rest of the brownie batter.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is firm but there's a slight squidge if you lightly press down. Allow to cool in the tin.