RECIPE | COURGETTE BROWNIES

A healthy(ish) twist on the indulgent classic.

These brownies keep well and stay delightfully moist.

* To make these even HEALTHIER you can replace the oil with half a cup of over ripe mashed banana and leave out the chocolate pieces and nuts.

COURGETTE BROWNIES

Ingredients:

125ml Vegetable Oil

300g Caster Sugar

250g Grated Courgette

2tsp Vanilla Essence

40g Cocoa Powder

250g Plain Flour
1tsp Salt

1tsp Baking Powder

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

80g Chopped Walnuts

100g Dark Chocolate (chopped into small pieces)

50g Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease a 22x33cm baking tin.

2.  Get a large mixing bowl and combine the oil, sugar and vanilla essence, mixing until it is blended.

3.  Sift the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbanate of soda, baking powder and salt into the mixture and get mixing!

4.  Add the grated courgette, along with most of the walnuts, dark chocolate pieces and chocolate chips (make sure to leave enough for a generous sprinkling of each to go on top of the mixture) and MIX.

5.  Pour the mixture into the baking tin and then sprinkle with the rest of the dark chocolate, chocolate chips and walnuts.

6.  Place the tin in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes (depending on the heat of your oven).

I'M STILL ALIVE. JUST ABOUT...

 Highlights of my 
M  U  N  D  A  N  E 
life as of late...

# 1  I bought a JULIENNE PEELER!

Off eBay. £1 (Okay...£1.70 with p&p if you want to get specific).
Inspiration came from THIS post over at Oh She Glow's (a lovely vegan blog).
You can make veggie spaghetti, noodles, etc...the possibilities are endless!

(Photo: Ohsheglows)

# 2  I made yet ANOTHER courgette cake.

A mixture of the first and second cakes I previously posted as this was a lime and coconut loaf.
No frosting though but we shall not divulge into that right now...
*Note to self: Fat-free cream cheese does NOT make good frosting.

# 3  I have now pretty much COMPLETED RESEARCH FOR MY DISSERTATION.

And this is probably COMPLETELY pointless as I still havn't really thought of a solid title, been assigned a tutor or even been contacted about my department regarding anything dissertation-related. Nice one. Ah well.
Oh, and I also made labels for my dissertation/module folders for this term...

# 4  I've been making DIY POLAROIDS!

Using my snazzy new Kodak Printer, some freebie photo paper and this swanky little free programme called Poladroid which you can download HERE.

# 5  ...and I've entered a whole new level with my love for ORGANISING.

I had a little clean up and sorted out my main diary (which in case you wanted to know is THIS trusty personal sized chameleon Filofax).

Things-to-do list from A Pair of Pears blog (you can download it HERE) and a very unprofessional homemade calendar courtesty of Microsoft Publisher.

...and last but not least.
Recycling egg boxes into jewellery holders.

RECIPE | COCONUT, LIME AND COURGETTE CAKE

This is my recipe for a birthday cake I made for my sister last week.

It's a mixture of several recipes I found on the internet and then adapted to make one that suits my families tastes.

Very easy to make...and also very handy for using up the abundance of courgettes we have produced from our allotment this month!

COCONUT, LIME AND COURGETTE CAKE

Ingredients:

Cake:

350g Self-Raising Flour

250g Caster Sugar

250g Butter

1tsp Vanilla Essence

4 Eggs

350g Grated Courgette

60g Dessicated Coconut

Zest + Juice of 1 Lime

Frosting:

200g Cream Cheese

60g Butter

250g Icing Sugar

Generous portion of Dessicated Coconut for sprinkling.

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line two 25cm cake tins.

2. Beat the sugar and butter in a bowl until smooth and creamy.

* A tip from Mama Wood is to use an electric whisk and wait for the mixture to become lighter in colour.

3. Add the eggs individually, beating them into the mixture.

4. Add the flour, vanilla essence, grated courgette, lime zest, lime juice and dessicated coconut.

5. Pour the mixture into the two cake tins and place on the middle shelf of the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes.

6. When the cakes are cooked, remove them from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes. Remove the cakes from the tins and allow them to cool for a further hour on wire cooling racks.

7. To make the frosting: Mix the cream cheese, butter and icing sugar together until smooth and fluffy. Spoon the mixture over the top of one of the cakes.

Place the other cake on top (like a sandwich!). Then use the rest of the frosting to cover the whole cake. Once the cake is covered, sprinkle generously with dessicated coconut.

The Result:

A lovely, moist and flavoursome sponge cake with a generous layering of cream cheese frosting.

And trust me, you won't even taste the courgette!