Life and chocolate

Well, it has been a long, hard difficult week. Monday morning breakfast time we had no idea of just how the week would pan out nor how terrible things would get. I tend not to make much of DS2's needs on this blog but although ten he has an emotional age of 4. Basically (and I need to be careful how I phrase this) he has been let down by several professionals this week which led to an aggressive outburst resulting in the County Council banning him from home school transport until a meeting on the 11th October. We don't know what will happen after this. Obviously there are details and extremely strong feelings I can't share in case anyone from the Council Council or who is directly involved reads this blog. Because of all the extra pressures no sewing has been done at all, no City and Guilds, nothing. If I have cried on your shoulder this week I want to say thank you, this seems such a small word to say for your support and comfort.

The other word in the title was chocolate, this is essential in times of stress. Rather than eat my bar of chocolate I made it into this -

And the secret ingredient was beetroot, although neither DS's knew about this. This is the recipe I followed.

Chocolate Beetroot Brownies



250g/10oz good, dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken into pieces
250g/10oz unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus more for greasing
250g/10oz caster sugar
3 free-range eggs
150g self-raising flour
250g beetroot, boiled until tender, peeled and grated
 
1. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4. Grease a baking tin of approximately 20 x 30 x 3cm and line the bottom with baking parchment.
2. Break up the chocolate into pieces, cut the butter into cubes then mix them up a bit in a heatproof bowl. As the oven begins to warm up, put the bowl onto one of the shelves for a few minutes until the chocolate and butter starts to melt. Stir, and put back into the oven for a few more minutes to melt completely.
3. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a bowl until combined, then beat in the melted chocolate and butter until smooth. Gently fold in the flour then the beetroot – be careful not to overmix or it will make the brownies tough.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth over the top with a spatula. Bake for about 20 minutes. A knife or skewer pushed into the middle should come out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Don't be tempted to overcook them! Remove the tin from the oven and leave on wire rack to cool before cutting into squares.

This recipe was a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall recipe which can be found here.

Off to do some C&G so there should be some proress to report soon.