Fluffy Brownie with Raspberry Puree & a Touch of Summer

This is what happens when you post a delicious recipe late: you simply forget how you made it!! :/
My best posts are always published when the food is still hot, resting in the oven so-to-speak, so that should teach me a lesson :))
I have been waiting for summer ever since it ended last year! The unmatched beauty and bounty of the farmers' market, the long days basking in the sun make this time of the year truly special. 
A week ago I bought fresh raspberries and with all the frozen egg whites I had left from all the times I made lemon curd, I baked a scrumptious fluffy and  as light as a feather brownie. 
So, here we go:


Dark chocolate- check.

Fresh raspberries-check.

A cupful of leftover frozen egg whites- check.

Flour- check.


Baking powder- check.

Vanilla extract- check. 

Brownie with raspberry puree, egg whites and vanilla extract. 

Pretty, simple,  and pretty simple really. :)) If you have ever made a classic pound cake (minus the egg yolks) this brownie will be the easiest thing in the world.

Method

Puree a cupful of fresh raspberries, sweeten and set aside.  Melt a bar of good quality dark chocolate and mix it with approx 50 grams of butter. 

Thaw the egg whites (approx 6) and beat them with sugar and vanilla extract till they harden. Pour the raspberry puree and melted chocolate, whisk, and finally add the baking powder and flour (no more than 4 tbs). 

Bake for approx 40 minutes @ 150 degrees Celsius and decorate with mint leaves and extra raspberries which haven't squashed in the process. 

so cute, right? :)

In my humble opinion as an amateur chef  :), this is the ideal summer dessert: it's packed with fruit, velvety and chocolaty, light and guilt-free in the absence of egg yolks. 

 Yes, yes, yes,  it was love at first...bite! :) 

perfect for breakfast while browsing Ideal Homes magazine, and dreaming of all beautiful things

Red: Smooth Vanilla Pudding with Cherry Topping

What is the colour of love? We often associate the colour red with the idea of love, passion, guilt, pain, courage, sacrifice, or blood. The shades of red cover hues of salmon pink, coral red. carmine, scarlet, candy apple, ruby, crimson, fire brick, maroon.  Red fruits are tangy, rich, ripe, juicy, plump, zesty. Jam-packed with vitamins, they are known to fight against inflammation and infection, reduce the levels of cholesterol, thin the blood, and boost immunity, among other benefits.

Red fruits make me happy as they remind me of childhood. I cherish the memory of summers when school was over and the cherry trees were loaded with big, ripe fruits. It was time to go to the market to buy cherries, come back home to stone them (oh, the mess...) and make jam. And who doesn't like cherry preserve? Or fresh cherries to eat them raw, or as a topping for today's posting: smooth vanilla pudding?

Whenever my mother had a surprise for me or cooked something nice, she would call me saying "surpriza cu visine", which for my dear readers means nothing, but it means the world to me.  The "Surprise with cherries" would be the ultimate delight. With or without cherries, the anticipation of discovering something nice would remind me of how much both my parents loved me.

This is what triggered making this simple dessert: sharing the love and the priceless memories today, with my husband. Milk, vanilla, brown sugar, saffron, egg yolk and cornflower make up this velvety pudding, while the topping comes in the shape of stoned cherries, white sugar and gelatine.

Because this is why we cook: to show love and make the people we love happy, to chat and to laugh at the table, to sigh and to have a shoulder to cry on when in trouble.

This post is a dedication to the wonderful people that matter the most to me: my husband and my parents. I love you.