Chocolate Brownies for Grandchildren

 It's good to have something in the freezer that all grandchildren like for a dessert. Adults don't refuse them either.

This is a recipe from the WI Chocolate recipe book and always turns out well. I've added it to the separate recipe page.

CHOCOLATE BROWNIES 

These are good served warm with ice cream.

4 oz butter diced

4oz plain chocolate, broken into pieces

1 Tablespoon Golden Syrup

5oz dark muscovado sugar

5oz castor sugar

4 eggs, beaten

8oz SR Flour

1½oz cocoa powder

2oz white chocolate drops or chopped (optional)

2oz walnut pieces(optional)

Line base and sides of a 30cm x 22cm tin (12 inches x 8½ inches)

Preheat oven to 180℃/ 160℃ -fan

Place butter, chocolate and syrup in a large saucepan and melt gently over low heat.

Add all other ingredients and mix really well.

Spoon into tin, spread evenly into corners

Bake for approx 30 minutes until it has risen and is firm to the touch and coming away from the sides

Allow to cool in tin.

 Cut into 32 or 24 pieces.

The photo below is from when I made brownies and cheese straws back in early January.

Crowded Jumble Sale and Rye Flour

 The jumble sale last Saturday, a fundraiser for a village hall in a nearby village, was absolutely packed with people. I just picked up a three things for £1

Something for Granddaughter to do when she's here, another freezer storage box and lid, the right size for putting small cakes in the freezer and a solid clipboard for the check-in charts for Keep Moving group, I've been using a cardboard one for the last three years and it's falling apart.

BUT while looking round I lost my woolly hat, which I'd shoved in my pocket as everyone went in, so annoying as I'd had it ages. It probably fell out of my pocket and got added to the jumble! I can't go out in winter without something over my ears as getting cold can make me dizzy. When I got home I searched high and low for two other pull on beanie type hats that I had and they've vanished, I do still have two but one is a very thin knit and the other is an old fleece hat that lives by the back door for going in the garden. 

So that jumble sale has ended up costing  me more money than I wanted as I've sent for two different new hats - one home knitted from the Oxfam online shop  and a cheapie from ebay. (just occasionally I wish I'd had the patience to learn to knit!)

Then even more annoying, when I put my other coat on on Tuesday I found one of the vanished hats in my pocket ................duh!

After the jumble I went on to the next village for their monthly craft/farmers market and got a bag of rye flour to try (I've been wanting to try to make medieval maslin bread for ages)

 BUT what I'd not realised was that rye flour needs a different mixer blade for my bread machine as it makes a very sticky dough. I could make by hand but find kneading dough very hard on the wrists now. New blades for the bread machine are cheap enough so I sent for a pack containing one of each - normal and rye -  handy to have a spare anyway while it's still available.

So even though the sun was shining for the first time for many days it didn't feel as if I'd had a successful day.

Ho Hum

17th February Chinese New Year

 I don't really know much about Chinese New Year or Spring Festival except that it's  very important  for the Chinese, where ever they are, but it gets a mention in the Almanac for today.

The date of the Chinese New Year is calculated by the date of the Lunar New Year, which falls at some point between 21st January and 20th February. Celebrations start on the New Year's Eve and finish with a Lantern Festival on the 15th day and include dragon dances, lion dances and fireworks.

Customs and traditions include thoroughly  cleaning your house before New Year but not sweeping on New Years Day in case luck is swept away. Windows and doors are decorated with red paper cut-outs and money given in red envelopes.

The Chinese zodiac is a twelve year cycle with each year being represented by an animal. This year is the year of the Horse (it says Fire Horse in the Almanac book)

• Rat 1948, 1960, 1972, 1984, 1996, 2008, 2020 

• Ox  1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021 

• Tiger 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022 

• Rabbit 1951, 1963, 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023 

• Dragon 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024 

• Snake 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001, 2013, 2025 

• Horse 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, 2014, 2026

• Goat 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991, 2003, 2015, 2027

• Monkey 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028

• Rooster 1957, 1969, 1981, 1993, 2005, 2017, 2029

• Dog 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018, 2030

• Pig 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019, 2031

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I was born in 1955, the Year of the Goat - which I reckon explains a lot!.