In a previous post I said that I want escapism from my reading material. I live in the real world every day so why on earth would I want to read about some other part of the same messy world? No, I like to escape into magical lands hidden in the back of wardrobes thank you very much. However, last year I discovered that there is one other thing that I quite like from a book. Sound, life-changing advice.
It was one book in particular that turned me onto the idea of books offering something other than escapism. I had never had any interest in reading anything remotely self-helpy until June 2017. A colleague at work (back in the days of working full-time) began telling me about The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. And it literally changed my life. (Photo credit: Amazon.com)
If you have even the slightest inkling that you may have too much stuff, I seriously recommend that you read it. It’s not very long – I read it in one day – but the message has stuck with me. In a nut shell, Marie Kondo says that we should only hang on to the things in our life that ‘spark joy’. When I read those words, I had a lightbulb moment. Of course! Why on earth would you keep hold of possessions that you don’t love!
Our house in Lincoln was small, small, small and it made me so frustrated that it was never tidy. But that’s because we had too much stuff in it - stuff that I didn’t even want to keep but was hanging onto because I felt guilty about wanting to throw it away! Ridiculous. TLCMOTU reset my brain and I finally let go of so many things. Clothes that didn’t fit, shoes I couldn’t walk in, jewellery I never wore, obsolete CDs, DVDs, ornaments (I hate ornaments). The charity shop on our street must have had a field day when I rocked up with boxes and bags full.
If you’re wondering when I’ll get to the bit about the brownies, it’s coming I promise you…
My new-found need for order hasn’t stopped in the wardrobe (you should see my sock drawer…) or even with my paperwork (got that sucker nailed). This week, it has found a new level within my recipe folder. Now, I’m not going to sit here and say that my recipe folder used to be a shameful mess of batter-smeared, dog-earred pages torn from magazines. It wasn’t. It has always been something of a credit to the control-freak within me that every recipe is in a plastic wallet and it is divided into Winter, Summer, Baking, Halloween and (of course) Christmas. However, the sheer volume of recipes was becoming an issue. The ring-binder was bursting at the seams and so some Life Changing Magic was called for.
Armed with a glass of wine and only mildly distracted by a film on in the background, I tackled the folder and applied a simple logic to the task at hand. By asking myself, “ Am I ever actually going to make this?” I culled a massive percentage of the folder and am now the proud owner of a more slimline and less daunting volume to consult when in need of inspiration.
What does this have to do with brownies, I hear you ask. Well, during the cull I learned that I have a grand total of 8 different brownie recipes. I haven’t even tried all of them! Brownies are, without a doubt, my favourite sweet treat, but even I have to admit that 8 recipes may be too many. Like any sane person, I decided that if I’m going to keep all 8 recipes then I at least have to had made them all.
One such recipe caught my eye because the brownies in the picture looked so delicious and gooey and I can’t stand a dry brownie. The original recipe called for 250g of dark muscavado sugar and 350g of good dark chocolate, no less than 70% cocoa. Hmm, expensive brownies I hear you say. No kidding! As well as a recipe-folder control freak, I am also a financial control-freak ad keep a very tight hand on my purse-strings. I love dark chocolate and appreciate that you get what you pay for, but I also believe that if I’m cooking with something, it’s going to get lost in the recipe and tend to cut corners (and prices!) where I can. So I bought some intelligently priced dark chocolate from a supermarket that was happy to help and stumbled upon a game-changing revelation.
After melting all that chocolate with butter I did what all good chefs do and dipped my finger in the bowl to check that it wasn’t poisonous (obviously). I was surprised at how sweet it was – tooth-achingly sweet. There was no way that I was about to add 250g of sugar to it and so ladies and gentlemen, I left out the sugar. Now I had saved money on the cost of fancy sugar too #winning! The end result was a brownie so divine and gooey that Mr A choked on his first piece. High praise indeed.
I have no doubt that following the original recipe would result in an even better brownie, but for those of you living on a budget, my alternative doesn’t disappoint. Best served with a cup of tea and, of course a good book :)
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