Monday, May 21, 2012

Everything with Butter

This past weekend has been fantastic; running, yoga, coffee and croissants, sangria, reading in the sunshine, drawings from a gorgeous 5 year old for my fridge (thank you Gabe!), shisha, Coronas, Italian gellato...and butter!



There has been a drought-induced dairy shortage recently here and farmers in Kenya have only been able to produce 30% of the country's needs. Along with the rains butter is once again on the shelves of the supermarkets...although at a higher price. So with the return of butter, I thought I would bake. It has been a while...(which is a good thing..!) so I thought I would try something new.

I have never mastered brownies. Never. Even when I used to make them from a box in Kuwait, they were never very good; there is a fine line between cake dough, gooey uncooked mess and brownie.

Inspired by Anna I added bullet red chillies to this classic brownie recipe. (I didn't add any nuts-I thought the brownies would have enough flavour with the chillies).


I loved the bite of the chillies (I only used two large ones and that was enough-but would maybe choose milder chillies and have more of them next time, for colour)...but I have still not mastered baking brownies.



I will just have to try again...!

19 comments:

  1. Wow...this kind of makes me realize how I take my baking ingredients for granted. In France they are always cheap and abundant. It sounds like you had an amazing week! You are brave putting those peppers in your brownies!!

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  2. You are one brave soul. I'm mastering-ish brownies for now ... but not with chili. Not quite yet.

    Glad butter's back! Don't know what I'd do w/o it. Probably lose a couple pounds..or more.

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  3. add the chilli-honestly. they went down well (i think!) in the staff room today at break!

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  4. It's interesting how much we take for granted. Especially me, because I live in California, where much of our stuff is grown, so not only can I get it, I can get it FRESH. So when traveling, I sometimes get a reality check and realize how good we have it! Although a few days without butter may be a good thing sometimes!

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  5. Wow, I'm amazed...it makes me grateful for everything we have here in the USA!

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  6. there is one tiny store here that sells butter from the amish people, but the trick is being able to buy one of the 2 pound logs before they sell out. and now, it's the only butter i want. your post reminds me to calm down about butter. :) the chili pepper sounds wonderful! (note to self....)

    sherry

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  7. Seriously- life without butter would be crazy! Makes me grateful for the butter I have in my fridge- holding on to it now! So glad you guys got it back. Those brownies look delicious.

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  8. Dancing Branflake- like Kyria said, it probably is a good thing, once in a while, but not for long..!

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  9. you put those in brownies!!? i am so intrigued!!

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  10. I'm so glad you visited my blog, Robyn because it's led me to yours.

    We travelled in Africa for eight months 10 years ago (can it really be that long?) and it has never left me. I will so enjoy reading back through your blog. x

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  11. Maxabella-thank you for stopping by! Hope my blog will help you revisit happy memories of your time in Africa.

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  12. I LOVE butter :) it is soooo yummy. That is great that you have butter back but it sucks it's so expensive. What a treat to bake again! I love baking, which explains why I eat so unhealthy ;P

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  13. Nice and interesting blog :)

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  14. Chocolate and red hot peppers go together quite well. I'm enjoying your adventurous travels!

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  15. Ha! I've never attempted brownies, but strangely enough I've been thinking about giving them a go just the last few days. Yours look pretty good?

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  16. zigsma-these were honestly very easy and went down really well with everyone-although not so child friendly-try them

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  17. Hi Robyn Thanks so much for linking this up with the POTMC - I am fascinated at the thought of adding chilli to brownies! The thought would never have occurred to me. But I don't know if I'm game enough! Bravo you. J x PS Thanks for becoming a Planetarian!

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  18. thanks Jane-I would have left a comment on your blog-but can't find where/how to do it.

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