The best brownies

Real American Brownies with a European recipe

When I make these, I am always asked for the recipe. Here is the problem: they are made with Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate which is not available in the UK. So, with a bit of practice and a few batches, I have converted my Great Aunt Ruth's Brownie recipe to a European friendly version. For my US followers who can get Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate, I have also included the original version:

Aunt Ruth's Brownies - Original version:

2 1/2 oz Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate (2 1/2 wrapped squares)

1/3 cup salted butter

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/8 t salt

1/2 t pure vanilla extract

1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 325 F / 170C (160 C fan)

Grease and flour a 8" x 8" or 9" x 9" baking pan, or better yet, line it with a piece of parchment paper you scrunch into a ball and then open up to line the pan. Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler (glass bowl on top of a saucepan with a little bit of slow simmering water below). Let cool, then add the sugar, 2 beaten eggs and the vanilla. Give this a good stir with a fork, let rest for a few minutes and stir it up again. Next, add the flour, baking powder, salt and nuts if desired. Mix together and pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes for 8"x8" pan and 20 minutes for 9"x9" pan. The brownies will rise in the pan as they bake, but you need to take them out before the set firmly. Cut into 16 sqaures once cooled. Doubles well for larger batches.

+Abigail Wyckoff notes in the family cookbook that for a richer brownie, use 1 1/2oz unsweetened chocolate and 2 oz bittersweet chocolate.

Aunt Ruth's Brownies - European Version:

70 g 70% dark chocolate

85 g salted butter

2 eggs, beaten

100 g caster sugar

50 g light brown sugar

75 g plain flour

1/2 t baking powder

1/8 t salt

1/2 t vanilla

Preheat oven to 170 C (160 C fan)

Line and grease a square pan with greased baking parchment (teflon sheets are really useful here as well). Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler (glass bowl on top of a saucepan with a little bit of slow simmering water below). Let cool, then add the sugar, 2 beaten eggs and vanilla. Give this a good stir with a fork, let rest for a few minutes and stir it up again. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and nuts if desired. Mix together and pour into prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes for 190 cm pan and 20 minutes for 210 cm pan. Cut into 16 squares once cooled. Doubles well for larger batches.

TOP TIP FROM A FOOD STYLIST ABIGAIL WYCKOFF: If you cut the brownies with a cheap plastic knife after they've cooled, you get a nice clean cut.

Vintage Camper Vans in Cornwall

I had a crazy notion a few years ago. I received a special offer (3 night for the price of 2) from O'Conner Camper to try out their vintage Volkswagen Camper over the Easter holidays. The children were small and I was dreading being housebound with them for the entire school holiday. With that motivation, we booked a 3 night get-away in one of the cutest VW Campers I've ever seen. We had a great time exploring Devon and Cornwall. I learned two things on that trip: April is a little early in the season to camp, but vintage camper vans make a great family holiday. 

Happy boys in the camper van

And for those of you have read my blog entry about my self-catering check list, this was one of the few times that I didn't need it. They really thought of everything! (This cute yellow Camper Van is called "I am Sparticus"!)

Tell them Michele from Life At My Bench sent you. For more information about prices and availability, click on the link below.

O'Conner Campers

Roulottes at Chateau Monfreville

My post about Chateau Monfreville is my most popular to date. I've asked Zoe McKinley to do a guest post on the story of those amazing roulottes she renovated. They are so much fun to stay in!

Zoe writes: I bought two Irish gypsy vans on a complete whim: spied them for a minute or two and thought they’re great! The next thing we know, we’ve hired a lowloader trailer. One at a time they were slowly dragged onto the trailer and driven down the motorway. It was quite surreal to see travellers with their horses and wagons parked up on the verges waving to us as we passed. Little did they know that glamping was our intention.

Well, they sat next to my veggie patch for a few months whilst the weather did its worst.

I contemplated the not so very intact roulottes which were in a far worse condition on closer inspection. Contemplation took me off to Paris to forage the markets for fabrics, papers, stickers and inspiration. 

Not often does one get the chance to have a blank canvas and do whatever pleases you. Things you would never dream of doing in your own home. 

Spring brings sunshine and a determination to get the project under way. I’ve taken bookings which is so exciting. Where to start?! 

Stripping, filling, painting, wallpapering, scrubbing, stitching and on and on it went. Four months later the result was Miss Molly & Madam ZoZo.

My roulottes are a delight to me. They make me smile every time I see them. Lovely people holiday in them every summer, bringing happiness to all who live in them. The roulottes bring a little romance all of their own. Bizarrely, the majority of people who stay are average height woman, married to the tallest men I think I’ve ever met!!! Happy Days.

For more information about glamping at Chateau Monfreville, visit their website at www.chateaumonfreville.com

A proper pot of Orange Marmalade

It's March and the days are still quite cold, but there is hope in the air for a bit of Spring to come. There is another little glimmer of light in this month: the Seville Oranges are still season. To the British this means one thing - make marmalade in vast quantities - enough to last until next Christmas!

A few years ago my dear friend, Liz Horton, handed me a pot of her homemade marmalade as a Christmas present. I secreted it away from the rest of the family because I had never tasted marmalade that delicious in all my life. Stupidly, it never occurred to me that I could make it. I would occasionally purchase some at church fetes or school fairs, but make it? Much too difficult. That was until lovely Liz invited me to her house one dark, snowy afternoon to a tutorial in how to make a proper pot of British Orange Marmalade. The first time I made it I was still slightly sceptical that I could make it on my own, but by the second year I was beginning to understand the nuances of the experience. This year we couldn't make our busy schedules align, so she encouraged me to have faith and try it on my own.

Therefore, this blog post is really dedicated to Liz's fine teaching skills. I have taken her beautifully crafted recipe and added my own pictures of the process to illustrate how easy it is to make. This recipe made 14 various size jars of the golden nectar, the majority being the standard Bonne Maman size jars, which I save all year long for just such an occasion. Let's hope my first batch of marmalade lasts until Christmas!

Seville Orange Marmalade
(makes approx 10 lbs of marmalade)

Ingredients:
3 lbs (1.5 kg) Seville oranges
2 lemons
6 lbs (3 kg) Granulated cane sugar eg Tate & Lyle (not beet sugar)
5 UK pints (that is 5 x 20 fl oz) of water

Method:
Wash fruit and remove stalks. Knife a cross (just over an inch) at both ends of fruit. 

Place in a very large preserving pan with the 5 (UK - see above) pints of water. Cover, bring to boil then reduce to a slow simmer for 2 hours. 

Remove the oranges to a large colander sitting over a bowl to allow to cool and collect any juices that run free from the fruit. Pour any of this delicious juice back into your preserving pan. Meanwhile, wash your collection of jars and place them on oven-proof trays ready for heating (or just pop them all in dishwasher). Weigh out the sugar and place in large flat pans. Put the pans of sugar into the oven onto low-medium heat (130 degrees C or 250 degrees F) for at least half an hour. 

Once the fruit is cool enough to handle, cut in half and scoop out innards and pith into sieve over  another clean bowl.

Push through innards until most gone through sieve and the remaining mixture seems a bit dry. Put all the sieved innards in bowl back into the preserving pan.

Cut up skins into desired size of shred and put in preserving pan. 

Bring everything back up to boil and boil rapidly for about 5 minutes. Remove the sugar from oven and add to preserving pan all at once. Stir constantly until sugar completely dissolves.

Bring everything back up to boil and let it do a rolling (ie: high) boil for at least 20 minutes. 

Put some side plates into freezer to prepare for the set test. Meanwhile, if you haven't washed the jars in the dishwasher, turn up oven and put the jars in to sterilise them. 

Test for set: place a teaspoon's worth of mixture onto very cold plate and wiggle to see if skin forms and crinkles. Once happy with set, turn off the heat and allow to cool for 20 mins. Make sure jars are warm but not too hot. Pour the marmalade into jars using jug or a large preserving funnel. Fill the jars to the brim. Cover the interior of the jam jar with a wax disc. Allow to cool completely in jars and then put on cellaphane cover, lids and labels on.


If you would like to enjoy this marmalade on some beautiful homemade No-Knead Bread, you can find it at: No Knead Bread recipe

Winter minestrone soup with borlotti beans and bacon

Being February, it is still quite cold outside. I find I really must have a hot lunch to keep my spirits up. Often, I will make a large pot of this healthy soup and parcel it out by the bowlful over the course of the week. But best of all, it is wonderful if I can convince my children that this is their after school snack - warming and full of Organic vegetables. This recipe can easily be adapted to a vegetarian soup by removing the bacon, but if you aren't a vegetarian, it does give a depth of flavour that satisfies the soul.

A few words about borlotti beans: these protein packed beans have a creamy texture when cooked and add a nutty flavour to your dish. If you are unable to find tinned borlotti beans, cannellini beans can be substituted. The American equivalent to borlotti beans are cranberry beans. 

1 T olive oil
1/2 cup bacon, diced or lardon
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks
1 leek, sliced
1 tin borlotti beans, drained
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Chicken stock *
1/2 red pepper, diced
small bit of crushed chili or hot red pepper (optional)
thick egg noodles or pasta
4 leaves from a savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
grated Parmesan cheese

Saute the bacon in olive oil until the fat is rendered from the meat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, leek and sweet the vegetables until tender. Add the garlic and drained borlotti beans to the pot. Top up the pot with homemade chicken stock or water with a vegetable stock bouillon powder, such as Marigold. Once the carrots have softened, add the red pepper and egg noodles. When those are just about al dente, add the Savoy cabbage. Serve in a big bowl with a grating of Parmesan cheese on top. 

I also like to leave out the noodles and pour the soup over high quality stale French or Italian bread for Ribollita. Another lovely option is a nice green dollop of fresh pesto on the top of the soup.

* I always have some stock in the freezer made with my leftover roast chicken. Here is my recipe for chicken broth: http://www.lifeatmybench.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/chicken-noodle-soup.html

15 minute Games

Remember when we used to go on holiday and there was no TV, no handheld electronics and no Internet? It is very hard to replicate it. We've had a family property in New Hampshire until this year where we have tried to give this experience to our children. My sister and I have banned all modern forms of entertainment for our children, until cocktail hour when we'd put a DVD on the laptop for them (no need to be monastic!).

But, we have had a great time playing an assortment of 15 minute games around the dining room table on rainy mornings or late at night. Here are a few family favourites that you may or may not know about. Click on the name of the game to go to the Amazon.co.uk site or go to the Amazon list below for the US version:

Bananagrams: Really fun and completely addictive game. Great for all ages.

Blokus: Really fun and quick strategy game. Great for spacial perception.

Quoridor: My children beat me at this regularly. Think empowerment!

Tantrix: A bit more complex, but keeps them busy a bit longer!

Uno: I loved playing this with the children when they were very young. Still fun!

Rory's Story Cubes: You don't need these to play the story game, but it sure is fun to roll the dice!
Hoyles Card Game Rules: This book and a deck of cards will keep you busy for weeks.

For more information on these games, look at my list on Amazon.com: 15 Minute Games

And if all else fails, get them to the table with the After Eights game.

Wild Rice Salad

This is a bit of an impromptu posting: I just threw together this salad for lunch and it tasted so good I had to share it with you. This is what I call and open-palm recipe; in other words there aren't really any measurements, just a bit of what you have in your refrigerator. Take the recipe as a starting point and be creative.

Wild Rice Salad:

cooked wild rice
chopped yellow pepper
dried cranberries
chopped red onion
diced beetroot
chopped flat leaf parsley
crumbled pecans (6 - 8)
drizzle of olive oil
drizzle of aged balsamic olive oil
drizzle of red wine vinegar

What would you add to this?