Silent Prayers Across The Borders: Chewy Brownies. The Recipe.

Assalamualaikum wbt ladies.

Eid Mubarak!!!~

Chewy Brownies 2012

Wah wah!

Leya celebrated eid in Tawau Hospital (working~), whilst asma' I suppose in Manchester, but off from work since it was Sunday!~ Wee. (Yes, this is Izzati reporting the whereabouts of my bffs during the first day of eid!)

And here I am typing up the same recipe for the brownies that was served to the girls last Saturday.

Funny thing is, Asma' and I tried to write up this recipe 3 years back when I visited her in Manchester. (we used to fly to each other's place every year and er, bonded ----> doing what else?--->gossiping plus giving updates on our lives and cooking skills, trade secrets, erm, shopping. Basically we didn't do much of travelling when we got together, but I think we simply enjoy each other's company) So, we baked, took loads of pictures, all excited to post them in this blog and share the world this very fast and simple recipe! Alas, like many enthusiasts who loooove to procrastinate, the whole thing never reach this page.

Enough rambling, here it goes.

Before we start gathering the ingredients, let's take wudhu' first! ^___^

Let's get used to purify ourselves all the time, hence purifying our intentions as we start to do our daily tasks. Just like one of the infamous companion of the Prophet from Habsyah, Bilal bin Rabbah used to do. Have you heard the hadith about Bilal's footsteps in Paradise? (I’ll share the hadeeth after the cooking bits okay?)

Okay2, back to business:

In a different light. Ha. The wonders of photo editing.

The ingredients:

1/3 cup plain flour
11/2 cups granulated sugar
2 sticks (1 cup/8 ounces/226g) unsalted butter (I usually use the whole 250gm butter)
1/2 cup of coco powder
6 pieces of bittersweet chocolate, grated

1/3 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs

1/4 cup of Chopped Hazelnuts

1/4 cup of Chopped Walnuts

1/4 cup of Chopped Almonds

Instructions:
1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 200 degree Celcius.

2. In a large bowl, put the plain flour and coco powder in together. Add in baking soda and mix them well with a spoon.

3. Melt the butter and sugar together in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring frequently until the whole ingredients boil up, then remove the pan from the heat and set it aside.

4. Pour the mixture in the same large bowl from (2).

5. In another small bowl, add the vanilla essence to the eggs and whip them hard until it's all yellow.

6. Pour the eggs into the large bowl and whisk them hard using a spatula. You don't need a mixer for this.

7. Add in all the nuts and chocolates and whisk them again to evenly spread the nuts and chocolates in the mixture.

Cooking Instructions:

1. Pour and scrape the batter into a buttered 9-inch square pan. (Don’t trash the paper u covering the butter; use it to rub the pan off with butter! Save you time, mind you)

2. Bake the brownies for 25 to 30 minutes, during which time they will rise a little and the top will turn dark and dry. (Remember, beauty ain't everything!)

3. Poke into the center at about the 20-minute mark to see how the brownies are progressing. They'll be perfect if they're just barely set and still a bit gooey.

4. Cool the brownies in the pan on a rack.

5. Cut into 1 1/2 by 2-inch bars to serve.

Done!

You can serve these lovely dark looking brownies with ice-cream or whipped cream or chocolate syrup! I like mine just the way it is. ^__^

There’s a story behind this recipe,

It’s a turun-temurun thing, I had it to bake for Eid on my 3^rd year of medical school in Dublin from a friend of mine, Muizzah who learnt it off from another Dubliner, our senior, Kak Saadah. Once they went back to Malaysia, this recipe has been passed to friends and juniors every year since! Alhamdulillah, now we share it here!

Enjoy!

Adib cakap: Sehingga menjilat jari? Hehe. Mak Lang sayang Adib & Amni

As promised,

Abu Huraira reported that Allah’s Messenger (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said to Bilal: “Bilal, tell me which act you did at the time of the morning prayer for which you hope to receive good reward, for I heard during the night the sound of your footsteps before me in Paradise?” Bilal (radi Allahu anhu) replied: “I did not do any act in Islam for which I hope to get any benefit, but this, that when I perform complete ablution during the night or day I observe prayer with that purification, what Allah has ordained for me to pray.” [Sahih Muslim]

What Bilal (radi Allahu anhu) used to do is not that difficult to do. He would try to stay in a state of purity, and whenever he did wudhu or ghusl, he would pray nafl rakaat with that wudhu. This enabled his footsteps to precede those of Rasul Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) in Paradise.

Do you know Mas Habiburahman El-Shirazy? He is the Indonesian writer who penned the hit novels Ayat-ayat Cinta, Ketika Cinta Bertasbih, Bumi Cinta to name a few (The movie which spin off from the novel Ketika Cinta Bertasbih later become Indonesia’s highest-grossing movie to date.) Anyway, I also learnt that whenever he started to write his books, he is always in his wudhu’, and he is never late to perform the prayers.

We could try for the same girls!

p.s: I’m still stuck reading the book that I mentioned in my previous entry. Raya ok! I’ll move on to another book by the next entry inshaAllah.