Chocolate walnut brownies recipe

For Sunday lunch my husband Andrei baked chocolate walnut brownies from a book Sweet Melissa by Melissa Murphy. We fell in love with Melissa's pastry at her cafe Sweet Melissa in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York. The recipe is simple yet brownies turn out to be delicious.

To bake chocolate walnut brownies we will need:
2 sticks of unsalted butter
4 ounces of high quality Belgian unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 eggs
1 and 1/2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2/3 cup of walnuts, chopped



Melt the butter and chocolate. Remove from the heat and keep warm. In a separate bowl beat together eggs, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add the melted chocolate and mix. In yet another bowl whisk together the flour and salt.



Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture in 3 batches, mixing on low speed until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the nuts by hand.



Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour a square shape cake pan. Pour the mixture into the pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the sides begin to pull away from the pan. Remove to cool. When cool cut into 12 brownies and serve.

The secret of the brownies is in the high quality chocolate. A great place to buy such chocolate is Trader Joe's stores where it's sold in big bars for a very reasonable price.

Summer Wedding Essentials contest results

Russian Artists team on Etsy just had its Summer Wedding Essentials contest. Fifty six team shops took part in the contest submitting their hand made wedding-themed items. All of the entries were fantastic! They can be checked out at Russian Artists Facebook Page.

Although all of the items submitted were amazingly beautiful, creative and unique, I picked up a few of my personal favorites. All of the wonderful items presented will make any wedding an unforgettable experience!

1. Dog Crochet Wedding Floral Collar by mailo


2. Event Decor for the Wine Glass by MamaTita


3. Tea Set, Original decorative painting by Yury Tarler


4. White earrings with pearls by HoneyCase2

Coconut Macaroons recipe

These yummy and simple to make coconut macaroons were baked by Andrei Utkin. An inspiration came from David Lebovitz recipes book "Ready for Dessert".

You will need:
8 egg whites
2 and 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
5 cups dried unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large saucepan we mix together egg whites, sugar, salt, honey, coconut, flour and vanilla. We cook the mixture gently over a medium-low heat until the bottom just begins to sizzle. Let the mixture cool a bit.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. With your fingers form 1 and 1/2 inch pyramids out of the mixture and place them on the baking sheets.

Bake, rotating the baking sheets midway during baking, until the macaroons are evenly deep golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let macaroons cool on the baking sheets.
The recipe makes about 60 macaroons.

Lotus Nelumbo Nucifera in Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

On my recent visit to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden I was absolutely stunned by these strikingly beautiful and exotic flowers! I had no idea they grow in Virginia. Nelumbo Nucifera commonly known as Lotus is a rather large plant with leaves sometimes measuring as much as 24 inch. in diameter.

Lotuses are apparently edible and very few people actually know about it. For centuries natives of Australia, Japan, and southeast Asia have been using different parts of this plant in their cuisines. According to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden official page lotus leaf stalks are added to salads and their seeds taste like almonds. The flowers' roots are pickled and their stamens are dried and turned into tea.

I personally like the beauty of Nelumbo Nucifera flowers. Large and unusually shaped they are of tender pink and vanilla hues. A dried seed cup looks like an alien spaceship and with no doubt could be turned into a great house decoration.