brownies and rusk

my mom used to bring these home all the time. i got them as a birthday gift from my step-mom/dad's friend sachiko. i love this rusk. it's really light and not too crunchy and perfectly sweet. i wish it came with larger portions, though.



last night i ate dinner at my dad's house. i've been promising him desserts for a while. he thinks of me as a really great baker (i think i kind of am, too). so i made a trip to the grocer and made these from scratch.



mac nut brownies
(recipe from hilaire walden's "the great big cookie book")

ingredients:
1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, unsalted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
6 oz white chocolate
6 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate
6 oz milk chocolate
1 and 1/2 cup unsalted macadamia nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9in. springform pan (a regular circular 9in cake or pie pan will do). Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the butter, sugar, and white chocolate until it's smooth. Cool, then mix in eggs, vanilla extract, and the sifted mixture into the pot. Then stir in the chocolate chips. Pour into baking pan, making sure the mixture is level.

Bake this for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Sprinkle the milk chocolate on top and bake for another minute. Take it out of the oven and with the back of a spoon, spread the milk chocolate evenly. Sprinkle macadamia nuts and then press it into the chocolate. Let it cool. With a knife, run around the edges of the pan to loosen.

anyway. the brownies are AMAZING. shocked at how good of a job i did. :)