An Cooking

It was a last minute desicion to attend a dinner potluck at a friends place and I had to come up with something fast and good. Since there was plenty of food planned, brownies seemed like a good idea. However, the fact that brownies had never been a part of my prior culinary experiments, was making it seem like a bad idea.

Like any other student of Google university, I typed out, brownies with oil, and lo...there were several such recipes, made for lazy last minute bakers like me. I tried one such recipe, try as I might I cannot seem to find the correct source. As soon as I do, it will be appended into the post.
I chose a recipe for a 9x9 pan, so that if a disaster was encountered it wouldnt have become a huge waste.

The results of the first batch were highly encouraging and I quickly put in a second batch. DH and me tasted one and oohed and aaahed over it. The friend who came to pick me up insisted that he have one first before we landed up at the potluck house and he gave me his double thumbs up too! People at the potluck finished it off, including the crumbs. So, when you need to impress people without spending too much time, this is JUST the recipe for you.




Walnut Brownies with orange zest
Time taken - Under 30 minutes
Makes 16 pieces
Source- to be added soon
Category - Dessert, potluck party, picnic food

For a 9 inch square pan

Ingredients

1/2 cup Canola oil - I used soyabean oil which is pretty much odourless.
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup powdered brown jaggery / brown sugar
(You can use 3/4 cup sugar instead or more depending on sweetness of the sugar you use)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp orange zest (optional - but it gives a wonderful flavour)

1/3rd cup unsweetened cocoa powder ( I used Cadburys)
1/2 cup AP flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat oven at 350F. Line a 9 inch square pan with foil coming out of the edges and grease base & sides with oil.

Blend the sugars into the oil, in a large bowl. Lightly whisk the eggs and fold it into the oil-sugar mix. Do not beat this much.

Add the vanilla extract and orange zest into this mix.

Sift the baking powder, AP flour and cocoa powder onto a sheet.

Put in the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, along with chopped walnuts and stir gently till well incorporated. Do not beat air into it or over mix if you want your brownies to be chewy.

Pour mix into greased pan, even it out and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the top is dry and it springs back on touch.

Cool well.

Cut with a pizza cutter for clean edges into 16 squares.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. You could even refrigerate overnight and serve next day when the brownie will be its fudgiest best.

Variations:
Orange zest pairs beautifully with chocolate flavour and the aromatic walnuts.
You could add chocolate chips, peanut butter, chilli powder or just about any flavours, using this as a basic brownie recipe.

You could use butter, but I prefer oil - it is easier to handle, less messy and also saturated-fat free.