Ferrero Rocher Brownies

My friend had a craving for this Ferrero Rocher Brownies. She liked it after tasting it when I first shared it with my colleagues a few months ago. I first baked this brownies after seeing Jamie's of My Baking Addiction post but didn't manage to take any pictures, hence no entry for this yummy dessert until now.

                              

This is one expensive brownies. Just the ingredients cost me $20! And that doesn't include the Nutella used for the frosting, which I decided to omit. But it's worth it because the taste is just amazing. The ingredients were costly mainly becauseI used the ones imported from Europe: Belgium butter, French chocolate & Italian rocher! It's all about quality ingredients.... Since I omitted the Nutella frosting, I call this brownies Ferrero Rocher Brownies instead of  Nutella Brownies.

Ferrero Rocher Brownies

Recipe by My Baking Addiction.

Ingredients:

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Valrhona Equatoriale 55%)
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
12 Ferrero Rocher candies, sliced in half

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 deg C). Line an 8×8 inch baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2.  Microwave chocolate and butter in a large bowl microwave-safe bowl at medium (50% power) for 3-4 minutes or until butter is melted.
3. Stir until chocolate is melted. Whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt. Gradually add in flour; stir until just combined.
4. Spread 1/2 the batter into prepared pan. Add an even layer of Ferrero Rocher candies and cover with remaining 1/2 of brownie batter. Bake for 30-35 minutes; do not over bake.
5. Remove from pan & transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

Bingka Ubi Kayu Jagung

Hi everyone. Another long break from blogging for me.... I've been super busy.... not only did I have no time to blog, I didn't even have time to bake! Besides busy at work as the end of school semester was drawing nearer, I was also busy going to the hospital visiting my father. He was admitted to the hospital for infection of the neck area in early October. He underwent 2 surgeries & was recovering. But things took a sudden turn... he went into coma.. His condition has since stablilised although he's not able to wake up... It's been hard for my family. My heart wrenches whenever I'm by his bedside, looking at him lying down, helpless, unable to  move his body. He couldn't even open his eyes.... It's been very challenging for my family, physically & especially emotionally. But I believe that things happen for a reason, a good one. So we'll keep praying my father would recover & that Allah bestows on us the strength & patience to go through this challenging period. Ameen.

Now that it's school holidays, I managed  to start baking again last week. I've baked a few times ... hope to post the pictures & recipes as soon as I can. I made Bingka Ubi Kayu Jagung last weekend & yesterday.  When Ayu posted the picture & recipe, I couldn't wait to try baking & eating it! For one, I just love any tapioca-based kuih.  The humble root tastes so good when it's used to make traditional Malay kuih. This kuih is also interesting because there's sweet corn & gula malaka in it. As expected, the kuih was awesome. I like! So do my tasters.. hehe. So this is one kuih I'll be making again & again... Thanks Ayu for sharing this wonderful recipe.

The recipe & pictures for this entry are from my first attempt last week. I used 450g of grated tapioca for each layer, so I adjusted the other ingredients accordingly, except for the eggs which I retained. I also reduced the sugar for the top layer by 50%. As you can see, the texture was good, it's moist & soft. But I thought the corn flavour for the top layer was lacking.  So the second time I made this kuih,  I made some adjustments to the ingredients to enhance the sweet corn flavour. You may refer to the adapted version here.

Bingka Ubi Kayu Jagung 
(Sweet Corn  Tapioca Traditional Cake)

Inspired by Ayu @ Curlybabe's Satisfaction.
Recipe by a Bruneian from 'Cooking from the Hearts'.
Source: Rezwati @ Wind of Change.

Bottom layer:
225 ml coconut milk (I used freshly-squeezed coconut milk.)
5-10 pandan leaves
150g palm sugar ( gula melaka)
1 egg
450g fresh tapioca (grated) - I blended (See notes below.)
30g plain flour
18g butter (I melted it.)
brown colouring

Combine coconut milk, pandan leaves & palm sugar in a pot & heat up until it boils. Strain & leave aside. Combine the rest of  ingredients & pour in coconut  mixture & mix thoroughly. Pour mixture into a greased baking pan (I used 8- inch round pan.). Bake at 200 deg C for  15 minutes.

Top layer:
225 ml coconut milk
5-10 pandan leaves
200g castor sugar ( This is 50% of original proportion.)
1 egg
450g fresh tapioca ( grated)
30g plain flour
3/4 cup canned whole kernel sweet corn
yellow colouring
salt (I added.)

Combine coconut milk, pandan leaves & sugar in a pot & heat up until it boils. Strain & leave aside. Combine the rest of  ingredients & pour in coconut  mixture & mix thoroughly. Pour mixture onto bottom layer. Bake at 200 deg C for  20-30 minutes.

Notes:
1. To blend tapioca, cut tapioca into small pieces. Place in the blender bowl & add enough water. Blend until become smooth paste. Strain blended tapioca & leave aside for about half an hour until the starch sinks at the bottom. Then pour away the water & pour back the starch residue to the strained blended tapioca.
2. I did not follow the direction for making this kuih closely. Instead, I mixed all the ingredients & stir thoroughly.
3.There was some leftover sweet corn mixture, so I baked it in muffin pan.