Pecans Brownies

First thing first, wish all the Malaysian Happy Merdeka Day and Happy 57th Birthday to my national Malaysia. I have been busy with my final year project and assignments, and I have promised myself to be productive in this holidays. I did it! =D

Come back to the main topic today. Brownies finally here! Yay! This version of the brownies is the most I have made at home whenever I'm free or fancy to bake, and the important point is, it is super duper easy to make and extremely delicious, no joking! 

The texture of this brownie is more like cakey feeling rather than the fudgy one. Sometimes I like to additional add some chocolate chips or drizzle some chocolate sauce on top, it will be wonderful too. But this time, I just simply present it with snowy icing sugar, just like the classic one. ;)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup   Butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup   Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
3/4 cup   Castor Sugar
1 tbsp   Golden Syrup
2 Eggs
2 tsp   Vanilla Extract
3 tbsp Milk
1/2 cup   Self-raising Flour
1/4 tsp   Baking Powder
2 tbsp   Cocoa Powder, unsweetened
1/4 tsp   Salt
1/2 cup   Toasted Pecans, roughly chopped

材料：
1/4 杯   牛油，室温
1/2 杯   苦甜巧克力粒
3/4 杯   细砂糖
1 大匙      金黄糖浆
2 颗   蛋
2 小匙   香草精
3 大匙   牛奶
1/2 杯   自发面粉
1/4 小匙   发酵粉
2 大匙   可可粉，不甜的
1/4 小匙   盐
1/2 杯   烤山核桃，随意切碎

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C / 350˚F.
2. Place the chocolate chips in a double boiler, cook it until melted. Set aside to cool.
3. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, sugar and syrup until creamy.
5. Add in the eggs and combine well.
6. Mix in the vanilla and milk together well.
7. Add the melted chocolate and whisk until the mixture is thick and creamy.
8. Add the dry ingredients and mix them in until they are well blended.
9. After that, add in the chopped pecans and mix them until well combined.
10. Prepare an 8x8 inch baking pan and lay with parchment paper, leave some extra paper out, so later can remove it easily.
11. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake it for about 30 minutes or until set.
12. Once its baked, let it cool completely before cutting.

做法：
1. 预热烤箱180˚C / 350˚F。
2. 将巧克力粒隔水煮溶，备用。
3. 将自发面粉，发酵粉，可可粉及盐混合均匀，备用。
4. 在另一个大容器，将奶油，糖及糖浆搅拌至均匀及顺滑。
5. 加入鸡蛋打发均匀。
6. 加入香草精和牛奶混合均匀。
7. 将煮溶的巧克力加入，搅拌均匀至浓稠。
8. 随后加入分类，均匀搅拌至完全混合。
9. 把山核桃倒入轻手混合均匀。
10. 准备一个8x8寸的烤盘铺上烘焙纸，预留多出的纸，随后可以轻易地拿出。
11. 刮出面糊倒入预备好的烤盘，烤约30分钟或熟透。
12. 烤好后拿出烤箱，置放至冷却后才切。

Homemade Almond & Coffee Ice Cream (without machine)

My boyfriend and I are really an ice cream fans. Serve ice cream as a dessert never goes wrong for us. Since I have learned how to make ice cream at home, I rarely choose to purchase the manufacture one. 

Once I know the ingredients of the ice cream base, I like to explore and try to make the new flavour, and this time I have tried the coffee flavour. It comes out really good. 

The good thing about making ice cream by own is that you can add the nuts or filling as much as you desire, all in your control. =P 

I haven't had enough budget to buy an ice cream machine now, but still I couldn't resist myself to make ice cream at home. I choose the traditional and fully manual method to satisfy my crave. 

The outcome of the "project" is totally worth to spend the entire time of processing it. For those people who do not have an ice cream machine, this is the good time to get a try, you will never regret. =)

Ingredients:

2 cups   Whipping Cream

1/2 cup   Full Fat Milk

1/2 cup   Castor Sugar

1 tbsp   Vanilla Extract

2   Egg Yolks

2 tbsp   Espresso or Dark Roasted Coffee

1/4 cup   Roasted Almond (chopped)

材料：

2杯   鲜奶油

1/2杯   全脂鲜奶

1/2杯   幼白砂糖

1汤匙   香草精

2颗   蛋黄

2汤匙   浓咖啡粉

1/4杯   烤杏仁（切粒）

Methods:

1. Beat up the egg yolks with sugar until pale yellow and creamy.

2. Add in cream, milk, and vanilla extract.

3. Mix everything until well combined.

4. Bring it to the stove, cook with low heat.

5. Stir it constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent it burns on the bottom.

6. Cook about 5 to 8 minutes, until the custard thicken and coats the wooden spoon, and then heat off.

7. Pour the hot custard over the coffee, let it sit about 30 minutes or until becomes room temperature.

8. Once it cooled down, stir it again and strain it with a coffee strainer.

9. Cover the custard with a lid or cling wrap, and then refrigerate in freezer about 2 hours.

10. Take out the half frozen ice cream from freezer, stir it with a spoon to break out the ice crystal.

11. Add in the chopped almond and then mix well, place back to the freezer about an hour.

12. After an hour, stir the ice cream again to break out the ice crystal.

13. Repeat step 12 each hour,  2 to 3 times.

做法：

1. 将蛋黄及幼糖打发至淡黄色和幼滑。

2. 随后加入鲜奶油，鲜奶，及香草精。

3. 将其混合均匀。

4. 用小火煮。

5. 煮的期间用木勺不停地搅拌以防底部烧焦。

6. 大约煮5至8分钟，煮至酱汁变浓稠，然后熄火。

7. 把热酱汁倒入咖啡粉中，然后待凉，大约30分钟。

8. 拌匀咖啡酱汁，然后用咖啡过滤器滤掉咖啡渣。

9. 用盖子或保鲜膜将酱汁盖好，然后放进冰箱大约冰两小时。

10. 从冰箱拿出半结冰的冰淇淋，用汤匙将其搅拌均匀，以防结冰沙。

11. 然后拌入烤过的杏仁粒，放回冰箱大约冰一个小时。

12. 大约一小时后，拿出冰淇淋再搅拌一次。

13. 每小时重复步骤12，重复两三次。