Mood Booster

Chocolate for me, tops the list of the best mood boosters of all time. Ahmmm, next to coffee, of course! For a mom of three, this is also something that gives joy to my kids so anything that's chocolate--cake, milk, and the likes, are a go.

For a few days now, I have been planning to bake some brownies. Now, I still don't have LPG for my oven. We've been cooking through induction cooker for many months now (hey, free electricity, so why not?!). I was thinking to buy gas, but kept on delaying, so I have to try baking brownies without oven like most of the cakes I previously made.

Stove Top Baking

For this purpose, we use a big pot with sand inside to act as our "oven". Hive account@kennyroy explained it on this post where he baked chocolate cake without an oven.

Unlike steaming, the heat is achieved with the sand (much like a clay oven).

Chewy Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup melted unsalted butter
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
chopped chocolate chips (optional)
chopped walnuts (optional)

Instead of 1/2 cup of brown sugar, you can use 2 cups of white sugar all together. You may think 2 cups is too much sugar (yes, it is), but taste-wise, it is just enough to balance the bitterness of the unsweetened cocoa powder.

Procedure:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Grease a 9"x6" baking pan.
Whisk together the sugar and the butter, then add the eggs and the vanilla. Mix well.
Add the cocoa powder, flour and salt. Mix until properly incorporated. You should get a very thick batter. You can add chocolate chips and chopped nuts into your batter for more flavor and texture, that is optional.
Pour the batter into the greased baking pan, and bake for around 30-45 minutes.

How do you know the brownies are ready?

Unlike baking a cake, you do not need a clean toothpick to know that the brownies are done. At around 30 minutes mark, check on your brownies and if you find a little moist (not wet) crumbs on your toothpick, then it means that they're ready.

Let it cool and enjoy some fudgy and chocolatey delight with your family! Aww, perfect match to my black coffee. My taste buds are happy! 😍