How to Make Deliciously Chewy and Fudgy Brownies

Wanting to satisfy my cravings one day, I searched the net for an easy recipe for chewy and fudgy brownies made from scratch. After scrolling through the endless list of recipes all claiming to be the best, I settled on one of my trusted resources: Sally’s Baking Addiction. The steps seemed fairly easy to follow, it didn’t need me to take out my big mixer, and I had all of the ingredients available in our kitchen cabinet, so I immediately set to work.

I followed almost everything, except I didn’t use a normal baking pan. I had bought a Nordic Ware Bundt Tea Cakes and Candies Pan from Tavola weeks ago and, seeing the perfect opportunity, put it to use.  Of course I adjusted the baking time, so they were in the oven for a shorter period.

Quick & Easy Deliciously Moist Chocolate Cake in a Mug

Last night, I had a sudden craving.

We had just finished eating dinner, and I wanted a moist chocolate cake for dessert. Just my luck that we had all sorts of sweets at home, but no cake. I was too lazy to take out all the ingredients and bake because it was too time-consuming. I didn’t want to have to go out and buy one at the supermarket, either.

Thank goodness for the internet, I found a recipe on Table for Two that was so easy and quick to do, my craving was satisfied almost instantly.

Just look at these pictures I took while I made it:

All ingredients in the mug ready to be popped in the microwave

Ready after only 70 seconds!

A mug of chocolate heaven

Here’s how I made this delicious cake in minutes:

Ingredients
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp sugar
• ⅛ tsp salt
• ¼ cup + 1 tbsp. milk
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp hazelnut chocolate spread (I used Nutella)
• Chocolate chips

Directions
1) Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl.
2) Add the milk and oil, and mix well.
3) Pour the batter in your favorite microwave-safe mug.
4) Add the chocolate spread on top of the batter, and put in some chocolate chips. You can also skip the chocolate chips, or even opt to use other toppings. Go ahead and experiment!
5) Place the mug in the microwave (Table for Two suggests to put a paper tissue first and set the mug on top of it just in case the cake overflows).
6) Microwave for 1 minute and 10 seconds on high temperature.
7) Take it out and enjoy!

Yummy!

Whoever invented the concept of a mug cake was an absolute genius!

Pasalubong: Matcha KitKat

In the Philippines, when a person returns from a trip or visits someone at his home, he usually brings something that we call a "pasalubong;" something like a souvenir or gift from the place he visited.

Where I work, we receive a lot of pasalubongs because we often have guests visiting (mainly from Japan), and my colleagues and I go on business trips and/or our annual vacations to our home countries or elsewhere.  And since I want to remember all the different international treats I get to taste, I decided to post a series of all these goodies I enjoy.

First off, matcha (green tea) flavored KitKat brought by one of the managers who came back from his vacation.

He usually buys these for us whenever he comes from Japan and they are my favorite flavors out of the very few varieties of KitKat I've tasted...actually, more the green one than the pink.

Plain Matcha flavor

Cherry Blossom flavor

Each box has 3 individual packs of 2 wafer sticks.

Yum? Absolutely!!!

I wonder why the KitKat flavors in Dubai are so limited.  It was only last year (I think) when I saw Lulu Hypermarket selling the orange and mint ones, but that's it.

Have you tried other KitKat flavors? What are your favorites? Please share...so I can ask our manager to buy them if they're available in Japan =)

Germany Getaway: A Bit of History and More Shopping

On our last full day in Germany, Dad and Mom didn’t go to work. They had decided to close their clinic for that day, making sure they didn’t have any patients booked. Their reason? Because it was our last full day with them. Hubby and I were so touched at their gesture, and really grateful, of course.

The first activity was a visit to Villa Hugel which is the mansion of the Krupp family (of the well-known ThyssenKrupp steel industry). Unfortunately though, it was closed that day so we took a few pictures outside instead.

Next place was the Ruhr Museum.  There we were taken back through the history of Germany, from its early days at the Ruhr Valley, to how it became the successful country it is today. The museum used to be a coal washing plant in that area, so walking through it, you can learn about the history while having a feel of it as well.

the museum from outside

going up

view of the escalator down..so high!

dwarfed by the machines

For more information about how the Ruhr Museum was integrated from the plant, you can read about it here. The museum was huge and there were many interesting things to see, feel, hear and even smell, so we didn’t notice it was way past lunch time already until our stomachs started growling. However, we didn’t go back home just yet.

Since the Metro was on the way, Dad suggested that we pass by there first for all the stuff we wanted to buy before going home for lunch. Which, of course, is what we did.

The Metro is a department store where you can buy all sorts of things at cheaper prices compared to other shops. However, not everyone can go in and purchase items there. You have to be a member, and to be a member, you need to be an owner of a business.

While Mom gathered some groceries she needed, Dad went with us around the store, directing us where we needed to go to get specific items. First stop: chocolates!

We bought all sorts of Lindt chocolates, mainly because they’re so delicious and they had all sorts of flavours:

just a few of what we bought

Of course we didn't buy only chocolates.  We bought sausages and other stuff as well.  We even got a game of Skip-Bo!

After our late lunch at home, we headed to Gelsenkirchen just near St. Hippolytus Church (where M&S got married) to the Deichmann store. Deichmann sells all kinds of shoes (and some bags), and the good thing is they’re not expensive. Plus, according to Irene (who has visited Germany so many times), the shoes don’t wear out easily. She has a couple of pairs that she bought back in 2007 (I think) which she still uses and are still comfortable to wear.

We had been to Deichmann's other branch when we visited downtown Essen a few days ago (that’s where I bought my black shoes), but Hubby wanted to check out this branch because their Essen branch didn’t have his size of a particular shoe he saw. Unfortunately, they didn’t have his size either, but the good thing is he found another one he liked and I saw another pair of shoes which we bought.

After shoe-shopping, Mom and Dad took us to Michaela and Sebastian’s apartment building. Robert and Marion (Sebastian’s parents who live on the floor above them) heard that we would be leaving the next day and invited us over so that we could talk a bit and say goodbye. We all sat around their dining table and talked (of course there were translations for us to understand each other) and laughed…until finally we had to go home. We said our goodbyes and thank you’s and “we hope to see you again soon” amid hugs and hand-shakes.

thankful thursday: bed weather and chocolates

Summer has left the country and winter has finally arrived. Hurray! The weather had started changing in early November (I think), but it was only this morning as I was waiting at the bus stop when I truly felt that the cold season had really started. For one thing, it had rained earlier (and it rained again later this morning); for another, the winds were strong and cool. Even while I'm typing this, one of the windows in our office room is open and all of us are enjoying the fresh air.  This is something we wouldn’t dare do during the summer.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of the changing sky while waiting for my ride.

just above me, the sky is blue

a few seconds later, taken from the same spot but of the sky above the park, it has slowly turned gray

As the rains poured heavily in different parts of the country this morning, it was announced that classes had been suspended and students were being sent home as a precautionary measure. Even some companies sent their employees home, allowing them an early start to the weekend. I can imagine them now sitting cosily on the couch or in bed with a bowl of soup or cup of hot chocolate. Lucky them.

Well, I may not be lying in bed right now, but I do have chocolate…a box of Belgian macadamia ones from Japan.   

And these are the things I’m thankful to have experienced and received today.

for nutella addicts

While shopping for groceries, we came across these really big jars of the chocolate spread and Hubby just had to have a picture holding one.

almost as big as Sophie!

So in case all the Nutella addicts out there in Dubai are wondering where to get them, these are being sold at Carrefour, Deira City Centre for Dhs181.

neuhaus le carré 10 flavours chocolates

Aren’t these pretty? 


One of my colleagues had just arrived from his European vacation and these chocolates were his omiyage /pasalubongs for us. When the box was being passed around, I just took 3 (milk speculoos, dark raspberry, and dark exotic lime). But because they looked so cute and colorful, I couldn’t resist getting the rest of the 7 flavours (takaw much?!). Initially I had planned to take a photo of the 10 flavours and then return the 7...but then, that was just the plan. I decided to use the image from the Neuhaus website instead kasi nakakahiya sa mga amo ko kung makita nila na kinukunan ko ang tsokolate.

thank you sweets

I received all of these last week:

I got the first one, the Frey Chocobloc Orange bar, last Sunday from the manager who sent me the message I mentioned here.

The Thornton’s Dark Chocolates were given to me on Tuesday when a guest from Japan visited our office. It was his first time to come to Dubai and he was really pleased with how I took care of the arrangements for his trip (flight bookings, hotel reservation, transportation, etc.).

The third box contained these yummy treats:

One of our top managers in Japan who frequently visits gave me that one on Wednesday. Apart from the goodies he brings for all of the staff every time he comes, he always has a separate (smaller) box for me because of the arrangements I make for him.

So now we have all these sweets at home. If only we didn’t have diabetes in the family, these would have been consumed right away. But we do, so we can only have bites of them occasionally…and drink plenty of water and brush our teeth after.

Anyone want to share? =)

my first ever moist chocolate cupcake from scratch

I actually did it! My first attempt at baking cupcakes from scratch and it was a success! Yahooo!!! Since last year (or was it 2 years ago?), when I started using the instant mixes to make cupcakes, muffins and brownies, I promised myself that I would learn how to bake from scratch. And then, as time passed and I found out our friends could bake really nice cakes and even made them for parties, I became even more determined. I don’t plan on competing with them, I just want to be able to bake.

where art thou, my childhood favorites?

My previous post of Tim Tam biscuits made me remember the goodies I loved during my younger years. Living in PNG, most of the stuff there were imported from Australia and New Zealand, so I was fortunate to taste lots of yummy stuff. Of course, when the time came for me to study high school in the Philippines, those things were no longer easily in my reach; which I guess was a good thing because I was practically addicted to them. Unlike Tim Tam’s, when I came to Dubai, I never saw a single pack of those at all in any of the shops here…and the reason was the manufacturers just don’t make them anymore…or if they do, they’re just not the same as the goodness I remember. Of course I’m glad that I can enjoy some of the ones I liked (like Flake, Twirl, Crunchie, and Bounty), but here are just a few of the goodies I loved and miss so much:

the white goodness of tim tam

I love white chocolate! That’s why when we go grocery-shopping and I happen to come across biscuits or sweets that are covered in white chocolate, I just have to get a pack and put it in our trolley. But, as usual, I rarely open them right away. It would be several days or even weeks before I take a bite into whatever I bought. Naturally I make sure to check the expiry date if I do this. That’s delayed gratification for you. So anyway, that’s what happened when I saw this pack of Tim Tam White in Carrefour last month:

post-valentines chocolates

The big boss from Japan came for a visit again, and that means SWEETS! This time, he gave us Patchi chocolates...one box for the office, and another one for me (yup, he never fails to bring a separate package especially for me whenever he’s in town, because of all the bookings I have to do for him). I loooove Patchi! They’re so delicious! And since they’re pretty expensive, it’s always a treat to receive them. But that’s not all.

food-days

This week has been full of food! And almost everything is related to the office, so it’s not as if I could avoid eating. What the heck! I’m just using work as an excuse to pig out. But, seriously, I really don’t think anyone could resist all the tasty chow that tempted me almost every day.

my eyes are addicted to chocolate

I keep telling myself that I have to control myself when my sweet tooth attacks, or at least not give in to the temptation to put chocolates and candies in the trolley when we go to the supermarket.