Treat yourself!

By Rashika Fazali

Yummy and gooey chocolates brownies aren’t an easy find in Colombo. There happens to be all sorts of complaints about brownies ranging from them being too sweet or too dry.

‘Treats n Stuff’ is the newest addition to Colombo’s dessert delights. One lady’s passion for authentic chocolate brownies led her to create her own range of brownies starting from her unique creation rocky road brownies topped with gooey melted marshmallows, chocolate chips and peanuts to classic brownies with a variety of nuts and chocolate chips, peanut butter brownie swirls topped with peanuts, mocha brownies topped with coffee cream frosting, ganache brownies, nutty brownies, praline brownies with toasted cashew praline and double choc brownies.

She also has her own custom made brownie collection covered with nuts and sprinkles. Her brownies are mouth-watering, especially the ganache brownies which are covered in a yummy chocolate topping and a variety of nuts. I bit into a couple of hazel and almond nuts which made the brownie taste extra yummy. The brownie was also soft and was easy to bite into. A dozen ganache brownies costs Rs. 1,080.

It all started for Treats n Stuff Owner Mohamed Anfaz when she tasted chocolate brownies in Malaysia. “I love chocolate brownies. I kept looking for places in Sri Lanka that had authentic chocolate brownies, but couldn’t find any,” stated Anfaz. She revealed that it prompted her to start making those authentic brownies.

After much trial and error, Anfaz started making her own recipes by mixing existing recipes and adding her own ideas. She fully dedicates her time to making these brownies with the help of one employee.

The name ‘Treat’ was decided to stress on delicious sweet things while ‘stuff,’ a youth jargon, is used publicly to refer to ‘all sorts of items’.

When she started making brownies seven months back, her only customers were family and friends. She added: “I used to have around 20 dozen orders per month.” Today, it has grown to 40 dozen orders per month.

Homemade with love and care, her shop is located at her home where she makes all her brownies. On a good day, Anfaz could make around 400 brownies, although she did reveal she has made more than that in one day. “Making 700 brownies is the most I can go!” she exclaimed.

Her order requests are very simple. Customers looking to buy a dozen of brownies would have to give four hours’ notice. For large orders, a day’s notice should be given and for very large orders like 700 brownies, two days’ notice is required. These brownies can be bought in a standard box or in a gift box.   The minimum order is a box of 12 brownies which is the only problem with Treats n Stuff. As she still doesn’t have an outlet, everything should be ordered with the minimum being 12. However, she did mention that she is hoping to expand in a few months’ time.

Anfaz uses high quality ingredients, importing at least 70% of the ingredients: “I want to give quality products to my customers. I look for quality and the freshness.” She also uses five types of nuts for the brownies – walnuts, hazel nuts, almonds, pecans and cashew nuts. She revealed that she adds around 50 grams of nuts for one batch of 48 brownies.  However, it all depends on the customer’s requirements. “Sometimes customers ask me to put less nuts or no nuts,” said Anfaz. When it comes to corporate orders, she stated that she has the capability to customise the brownies with company initials, logos, etc., according to the company’s needs. Currently, Treats n Stuff goodies are available for purchase on https://www.wowmall.lk/ and can be ordered via their Facebook fan page.

Pix by Lasantha Kumara