Cooking With Hanzipan

A few days ago I attempted a modified Moroccan chicken pie type dish. I was craving Moroccan food and Oly doesn’t seem to have a restaurant to cater to this craving, so I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and the ingredient list was short and I was set to go.

Ingredients:

• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
• 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
• 2 cups hot water
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• Powdered sugar

Directions:

I forgot to point out something I learned while making my last cupcakes. I’ve always struggled with getting eggs to room temperature. Besides putting them out 4 or 5 hours ahead of time, I’ve tried sticking them in my bra and tucking them around my sleeping cat(she nested them quite well). Then it occurred to me last night to check the Joy. All you need to do is put the eggs in a bowl of hot tap water for 5 minutes and tada! They are 65-75 degrees! Magic!

I make the brownie recipe from The Joy of Cooking. I add a cup of milk chocolate chip in place of the pecans. Enjoy!

Brownies Cockaigne

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking pan lined with foil. Melt in a small saucepan:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

Let cool. If you don’t, your brownies will be heavy and dry. Beat until light in color and foamy in texture.

• 4 large eggs
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Gradually add and continue beating until thick:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

With a few swift strokes, stir in the cooled chocolate mixture just until combined. Even if you are using an electric mixer, switch to a wooden spoon for this. Stir in just until combined:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Gently stir in, if desired:

• (1 cup chopped pecans)

Scrape batter into the prepared pan. Bake about 25 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a rack.

I guess you’ve got to start somewhere, right? This is the first post of Cooking With Hanzipan! Hanzipan is (more or less) two girlies who like to cook, so here’s a blog dedicated to such delightful pursuits.

Starzipan, this is a test post. I wanted to figure out how to insert pictures, etc. The help menu saved my life! I’ve never done a wordpress blog, so I think we’ll have to do some trial and error. It’ll be MUCH easier to mess around with than blogger though. Let me know if you want to change your name or password or anything that you can’t. I’m still trying to figure out the managing options for this.