Brownkie

Everybody who knows me, knows I love to bake. It's my thing. I like the pleasure of handing out tasty morsels to my friends and family and hearing the sounds of delight. And I like to try to create new inventions that will inevitably change the world. (OK, maybe not the whole world, but my world at least!) Introducing the brownie-cookie or cookie-brownie, hey why not brownkie?!
These, my friends have changed my world. And I'm pretty damn sure they will change yours too if you whip a batch up!

For 12 brownkies you will need:

150g Dark Chocolate 
20g Plain Flour
1/8th Teaspoon Baking Powder 
75g Caster Sugar 
20g Butter (either salted or unsalted)
1 Egg

 

Start by adding your butter and 100g of your chocolate (in small pieces) to a small pan over a low-medium heat. Melt until glossy and there are no lumps then set this aside.

Add your egg and sugar to a big bowl and mix (on medium/high) for 7ish minutes until the mixture is light and creamy. (I used a kitchen aide for this part but if you don't have one  a handheld electric mixer will do just fine!)

Whilst that is whizzing away chop the rest of your chocolate into shards. Then add your flour, baking powder, melted chocolate and your chocolate shards to the egg and sugar mixture. 

 

Mix it all together - it should end up being a bowl of lumpy chocolaty goodness. It then needs to sit for 5 or so minutes, this is when I preheat the oven to 180c (fan forced).

After 5 whole minutes of trying not to eat spoon fulls of mixture, grab a couple of baking trays lined with baking paper and spoon on the mixture. About a heaped teaspoon is enough for one then, pop them in the oven for 8-10 minutes until they are puffy and cracked. 

Grab them out and leave them to fully cool on the baking paper. I have to admit one of mine might have 'slipped' off and 'fell' into my mouth at this point. 

When they are cooled they should be soft, chewy and delicious! And they will stay like this for a few days (if they last that long) in a sealed container in the pantry.

Devour straight away (like me) or if you want to make them a little more fancy, add a peanut butter frosting  I used this one and sandwich two together. 

  

But beware these are incredibly hard to stop eating! If you have exceptional willpower pop a couple in the freezer overnight and they make the best frozen 'ice cream' sandwiches!

What do you reckon to my first ever recipe post? Would love to read your feedback in the comments below! Or feel free to shoot me a question if you have one! 

Botanic Burgers

Today we started at The Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens - I've always been a fan of a lazy stroll on a crisp clear day and the botanic gardens is the perfect place to do this. 

 

After our fair share of wandering, clean air and hogging the various water features we deserved a rest, so we headed to The Burrow. 

This a relatively new addition to the gardens and I love it! It's just under the shop and restaurant and offers a variety of books, games and amenities for everyone to enjoy.

 My favourite things are the beanbags...

                                               

You can drag one (or three!) of these babies onto the grass and enjoy!

I grabbed a coffee, my book and set about relaxing in the afternoon sunshine, looking up occasionally to take in the stunning surroundings.

This would be a perfect spot in the summer sunshine with a giant picnic and a bottle of something fizzy, but today we had something else in mind. A BIG juicy burger, check this bad boy out.

That's what I call a burger! The Burger Haus in North Hobart is relatively new in the Hobart burger scene but don't discount it because of this, it's recently been voted best burger in Hobart by 7HOFM and it's definitely one of the best in my opinion.

The space is small but cozy industrial and has a general chilled and fun vibe. They have a few long tables which are shared for that German tavern sort of feel and the staff are friendly and helpful.

Back to the food, the chips, oh the chips.

Fluffy, crisp and served with a deliciously creamy aioli, the perfect addition to the meaty, salty and sweet burger. 

I can't recommend The Burger Haus enough - friendly, relaxed, well priced and delicious. They also have a selection of speciality milkshakes, peanut butter and nutella should definitely seal the deal for any one on the fence! 

Unfortunately you can't book a table and it does get rather busy, especially Friday and Saturday nights so I would recommend a late lunch or early dinner. You can find their Facebook page here for more info. And more details for The Royal Tasmanian Botanic Gardens here