I like to think that she’s been inspired by me, but I suspect that Bea’s sudden passion for baking is really due to her obsession with The Great British Bake Off. Over the past two weeks she has made two loaves of bread, cheese rolls and now these brownies.
Bea used the recipe from Paul Hollywood’s book How To Bake, and it requires marginally less butter and chocolate, and crucially, I think, fewer eggs, than Nigella’s brownie recipe which, despite repeated attempts, I’ve never made successfully (the squidge v cake balance is all out of whack – too wet and not cakey enough for my liking).
Bea doesn’t like walnuts so she used pecans instead and we had no cranberries so she made do without. I hovered in the background whilst she worked, biting my tongue. I was quite surprised by how controlling I am when it comes to other people using the kitchen. Matilda is also obsessed with The Great British Bake Off so I can see that I am going to have to learn to ease up a bit and just let them go for it.
You think you are controlling in the kitchen -you should see me! I really need to overcome it too so that I can teach my kids how to feed themselves.
I could murder one of Bea’s brownies right now.
Letting go of control in the kitchen is very hard indeed! My girls are all grown and gone now, but if husband decides to cook I actually have to remove myself to a distant part of the house…
Sue and Moira, I’m so glad I’m not alone in my kitchen-control-freakery. Joe’s allowed to cook, but I just can’t quite leave the girls to it, or anyone else for that matter. I don’t want to think about what that says about me!
The Brownies look perfect, she is a good baker, your Bea. I have no qualms about letting people loose in the kitchen, how else will they learn? I haven’t made brownies for so many years that I can’t recall which recipe I used, but suspect it would have been a Betty Crocker one since my American sister-in-law influenced me so much in the home – for which I thank her.
Now then, I must confess to plate envy – yours is so individual that it must have been hand made – do you know the potter?
I certainly do know the potter – she’s my mother! She’ll be delighted that her plate has been admired. I love it, and I’d love to have more like it, but she’s called a halt to ceramics and has gone back to works on paper instead – just as lovely, I might add!
How lovely to own a plate made by your mother, that makes it very special. But what a shame that she has stopped potting.
You could of course go for the Paul Hollywood style of judging all things baked in your kitchen & that’d send any potential cooks heading for the hills…?!- but those brownies look so very good, I’d just eat & enjoy!
They’d be in tears in no time. They sit, cushions against their faces, wincing whenever he delivers his verdict. As you say, better to just enjoy the brownies – which we did, and now they’re all gone.
Yum, lucky you to have a Bea to cook for you, I could do with a brownie like that.
My favourite recipe of all time is Josceline Dimbleby’s – I am normally all metric, but the fact the recipe has a lb of muscovado in it (for a double quantity) has made a big impression on me. Best served in small squares
Good old JD – I must look up that recipe. She’s one of my favourite cookery writers and her chocolate cake made with bread crumbs was our family’s celebration/birthday cake of choice for many years – in fact I asked my mum for the recipe today, reminded of it by the fact that I missed my younger sister’s birthday!
So glad that you are back blog-wise – the garden looks stunning.
That plate caught my eye too. It’s a shame your mum’s stopped producing them as it sounds as if she’d have made a few sales!
Like Moira I find it easier to leave the kitchen when my daughter and her boyfriend cook dinner. However as their skills improve it’s becoming increasingly worth the angst.
My oldest found a recipe that she was thrilled with, and enjoyed making so much, that I just had to let her have at it. It was called Dutch Baby, full of eggs and very good. However, it also called for a 425 degree oven, and she’d pre-heat the pans in the oven, take them out and swish with butter, then fill and pop them back in the oven. That was a tough one for me! (But it is noted that I, NOT she, that got burned making that recipe!)
I, too, love the plate! I’m terribly bad at biting my tongue when the ‘children’ (21 and 24) are in the kitchen. Had a massive barny with my B recently, when I tried to suggest she might cook rice differently. Also agree about Nigella’s brownies, which I’ve made for a couple of birthdays instead of cake.