Thursday 8 March 2012

Chocolate Brownies.




Ah, biting through that light crust into the moist, chocolaty heaven inside, maybe stumbling across a little chocolate nugget angel along the way....Mmmmmmm

Anyway, My new brownie tin arrived this morning, so BAM! On with the brownies. Now I did have a recipe that a friend gave me ages ago, but can I find it? No. So trawling through a few recipes I found this relatively low-fat interesting one by Angela Nilsen on the BBC Good Food site and basically replicated but added some chopped up dark chocolate chunks. I bought some mayo the other day, then forgot what I was going to use it in, so now it ended up in some Chocolate Brownies! Yay!

I'm going to try out a few more recipes over the next few weeks and will add them here. Please feel free to add any ones that you love in the comments, and also any extras you throw in/or on. Any of you lovely bloggers please feel free to link to your own brownie posts in comments. Lets have a brownie orgy!

I'm entering some in the Oxford Bake Off in a few weeks. I'm hoping to keep them fairly simple, but make them so perfect that they hold their own. @dawnadays reminded me of the option of sticking a Rolo in them (I remember doing that with some cupcakes years ago!) and I might add some piped ganache on top. I'll stay away from nuts and marshmallows, but might add other chocolate types, and if I go completely mad, a cheesecake layer on top!

Ingredients:

  • 200g Dark Chocolate
  • 85g Plain flour
  • 25g Cocoa powder
  • 1/4 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
  • 100g Golden caster sugar
  • 50g Light Muscovado sugar
  • 1/2 Tsp coffee granules
  • 1 Tsp Vanilla extract
  • 2 TBSP Buttermilk (Or Milk with a squeeze of Lemon Juice.)
  • 1 Egg
  • 100g Mayonnaise.

Preparation: 

  1. Preheat the oven to 180c/Gas4
  2. In a medium to large bowl (You'll add other ingredients shortly) Melt 100g of the chocolate in the microwave, in 30sec bursts, or over a simmering pan of water.
  3. Allow to cool a minute.
  4. Sieve the flour, bicarb and cocoa powder in to another bowl, then chop up the otther 100g of choc into small chunks and add to the flour mix..
  5. Add both sugars to the melted chocolate and stir.
  6. Add the Coffee granules, vanila extract and buttermilk, and stir.
  7. Add the Egg, and stir well.
  8. Then add the Mayonnaise and mix well.
  9. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold together thoroughly.
  10. Prep a (approx) 20cm x 20cm tin, or individual brownie tin like I used.
  11. Pour the batter into the tin, and give it a good wobbly to get it settled in the edges.
  12. Bake for approx 30mins for a tray bake, lower the time for the individual brownie tin - about 22-25mins.
  13. Allow to cool for 1 second. 
  14. Eat them all :)












....and here's a version I made for The Oxford Bake Off: The 'Out of this World' Brownie! :)




Yeah, I know, WTF? lol 

A lovely full-on choc brownie with dark orange choc chunks, a Chilli Chocolate pool covered with a white chocolate moon! So, straight forwards then.

Ingredients: For a 9" x 12" tray bake and in brackets for the square brownies tin.
  • 225g (150g) Unsalted Butter
  • 275g (180g) Dark Chocolate
  • 4 (3) Free range eggs
  • 275g (180g) Dark Muscovado Sugar
  • 200g (133g) Plain Flour
  • 1/2 tsp (1/3tsp) Baking Powder.
  • 100g Dark orange chocolate chopped into chunks
Preparation:
  • Preheat the oven to 180c
  • Grease and line a 9" x 12" tin (Cake release spray brownie tin) 
  • Melt the butter in a saucepan
  • Add dark chocolate and melt.
  • Cool for a few mins.
  • In a large bowl, or mixer bowl beat the eggs and then add the sugar and mix together.
  • Add the choc mix to the eggs mix and continue mixing
  • Sift the flour and baking powder and add to the wet mix.
  • Add the chopped up dark orange chocolate.
  • Fold in with a spatula until flour is fully incorporated.
  • Pour the mix into the tin, or split evenly into the 12 brownie tin. 
  • Bake for about 25 mins.
  • If using the brownie tin bake for about 17 mins.
Now I didn't write down the quantities I used next for the individuals, but it was something like....
  • During the next 3 stages, cut out holes in the brownies with a 5cm straight edge cookie cutter, removing about 3/4 of a centimetre of brownie with a teaspoon while the cutter is still in the brownie.



  • While the brownies are cooling, heat 100ml of double cream in a saucepan until bubbles form around the edge.
  • Turn the heat off and add 150g of  chilli chocolate.
  • Allow it to melt a bit then stir gently until mixed together.
  • I then used a tablespoon measure to add the choc mix to the holes in the brownies leaving a few millimetres for the white chocolate 'moons' to sit on top.
  • Allow to cool and harden for a bit.
  • Melt 150g White chocolate, and add on top of the dark choc pool so that the edges are flush with the brownie.
  • Allow to cool a bit.
  • While the white chocolate is still a bit warm but not liquid, use a modeling tool, or the end of a teaspoon to pull up little peaks on the moons.
  • Allow to cool a bit more.
  • When the choc is still malleable but not sticky, use a large and small ball modelling tool and a cocktail stick to make lots of little craters in the moons.
  • Cool and Eat! :) Or if you want to be a complete loon, make a planet out of a too-small ball of Oasis with blue and green food dye and a sprinkling of icing sugar for the north pole, make brownie holders out of bits of wire and tinfoil, half fill an old baking powder tub with 20p's and push into the oasis planet, travel to Oxford Town Hall, put it all together finding out that the entire structure is nowhere near stable enough so that if anyone even looks at it it will fall to pieces! Keep checking it every 10 minutes! Oh to have been able to get a 20cm oasis ball locally at the last minute instead of a 9cm :D






Choooooons!!! Sorry, Chooooooon! Just the one for now, I've spent so many hours getting sucked into youtube for each post that by the time I've finished, I can't type for my beard getting in the way! I'll add some more as I come across them :)

But, for now, for my little square delights.... Ladyhawke - Delirium! (I've given up trying to embed vids for now as the big music groups are knobs. Thank you. (UPDATE: *nerd alert* OK, so if I can add an official video from the blogger YouTube search, I can then get an embed code from it, in-post, which works! Sweeeeeeet!)






...and the one and only Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine - The Only Living Boy in New Cross. (Can't have proper vid due to knobs) Lucky enough to see Jim Bob and Fruitbat at Beautiful Days Festival last year :D First time since Earls Court '91. 20 years!!! (Updated: Right, Stickin to the Man! Click play, slide to a couple of secs from the end, let it end, THEN you can play the official 'emimusic' vid from the selection! Muwahahahaha! When that's finished you MUST then play 'Bloodsport for All' Sweeeeeet!)








Mayonnaise! In Brownies!?! 'stwisted man! Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians - Stwisted.









3 comments:

  1. Love ladyhawke! Love your tin very jealous, have heard about putting mayo in bakes before but never tried it.

    Nom! X

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have tin envy!!! They look fab. Have also heard of putting mayo in but never tried it, might give these a go :o)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ah, Tin Envy! I've had that before. A crippling affliction only cured by buying the tin.

    Eating these brownies the next day, I find they have the lovely property of seemingly being quite light and dry, but when you bite into them they transform into a gooey, chocolaty, brownie gorgeousness in your mouth! Very nice. If I have 100g of Mayo lying about I know what to do with it now :)

    ReplyDelete