1/3 cup oil
115g unsweetened baking chocolate
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup all purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 160C and line and grease 8-inch square metal baking pan.
Melt the butter and the chocolate together, stirring often until smooth. Stir in sugar, vanilla and salt. Add eggs one at a time, followed by flour. Stir until very smooth, about 1 minute.
Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake at 160C for 40 minutes.
When the brownies are done - and they will look a bit dry on top - take them immediately from the oven to cool.
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Makes about 12.

Lately I’ve been feeling an urge to cook, bake, write, read and do a million other things during the scarce 18 hours I have in a day.

Baked butter cookies with chocolate chips for my kids yesterday night after they have slept.

This is my own recipe -

250gm butter
500gm flour
1tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
200gm dark brown sugar
100ml honey
2 eggs, beaten
chocolate chips to taste (your preference to add more or less)

Heat oven to 180 degrees C.

Beat the butter and brown sugar till creamy.

Add the beaten eggs and honey, mix till even consistency.

Sift the flour, then add baking soda and salt

Fold in the flour with mixer on low speed - stop when the flour is completely mixed in.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes so that it’s easier to cut out the shapes. If making simple round shapes, no need to chill the dough.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or till the sides are golden.

Chill on rack

Posh, this recipe is also for you, I remember you mentioned you wanted it

**

Also cooked Barley with Lotus seeds and Gingko nuts for the kids today.. I left out the beancurd sheets because I added lotus seeds today. The Cantonese - and I am one - believe that nourishing desserts like this one helps to yang yan and zhi nuan. It’s especially good for children in terms of rejuvenation and nourishing.

The “recipe” for this one is literally boil barley first, then add lotus seeds, after which add gingko nuts and rock sugar. LOL. Easy peasy.

The next time I will make my soy milk version with beancurd and egg white. That one, I will share the step by step recipe like above.

We bought Crayola sets for the children to doodle while I played at being Nigella again.

I used some yogurt in this batch. The taste is slightly tangy and the texture is light.

Love the colour!

For the girls - a layer of Hazelnut cream and then an explosion of colours. I wish I had captured Gean’s face on camera when I gave it to her. She practically squealed with delight.

For Big and the girls. Yes, the girls polished off two cupcakes each! As supper.

I am planning to learn how to make fondant and buttercream swirls for the cupcakes. That should be fun.

Big also made some cookies for us. I will bring some to work for teatime. Butter cookies with a cup of hot chocolate. Oh happiness.

Made Oreo Cheesecake for the Big and small kids yesterday.

Was having a lot of fun pretending to be Nigella as I was mixing the cheese. *think orgasmic face and licking fingers* LOL!!

Am planning to do more baking in the days to come. Like I said, baking is very therapeutic for me, especially after a day of work. I imagine I will be baking all manners of cakes and pastries if I were to be a stay home mum

**

Recipe extracted from Kraft website.

1 cup crushed OREO Original Cookies
50g butter, melted
500g block PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 teaspoons gelatine, dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup cream, lightly whipped
100g OREO* Chocolate Crème Cookies, crushed
50g OREO* Chocolate Crème Cookies, extra, roughly chopped

COMBINE the cup of cookie crumbs and butter and press into a lined 20cm springform pan. Chill
BEAT the Philly* and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Fold in the gelatine mixture, lemon juice, cream and the 50g of roughly chopped crumbs.
POUR the filling into the prepared crust, refrigerate for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with the 100g of crushed cookies and refrigerate for another for 2 hours or until set.

*note: I tried a ready made crust from Cold Storage to see if it is good. Not very good. I’d rather be virtuous and make my own biscuit base next time!

In response to my soul searching, cowboy my good friend responds,

“Awwww shaddup woman. You need to go like bake a cake for mandy and keep your yap shut.

More knitting and less talkin is what you need.”

Idiot.

But suddenly I felt like baking, something that has strangely been therapeutic for me. And so I baked.

Blackcurrant and White Chocolate Cheesecake, which RN said was “f**king pretty“. LOL!

Hazelnut and Raspberry Pie (with a hint of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove)

Shelly was very kind to say that they can sell, but honestly 1. I think they are ugly and no where near Nigella standard. 2. I will go crazy if I have to do this all day. It takes the pleasure and relaxation out of the very act of baking.

But it was good for this afternoon. And as I was folding in the flour, I felt myself slip into a state of relaxation. It was so comfortable watching the flour blend seamlessly into the texture, the specks blending into the greater state of matter. It was good.

What was even better was that my mind was racing thereafter with ideas and plans for the business. I was invigorated, alive. I can feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I thought of the photo shoot for the magazine on Saturday, the promos I will be running for the business and the various new challenges I have charted up for myself.

It was good.