Brownies - an Adendum

So a little experimentation (this time last week) following a bit of Pintrest browsing allowed me to put aside one of my snobbery's.  You see I abhor recipes that include the likes of

'add one pack of cake mix to...'

So here I am to admit I may have been just a little too hasty.  The two experiments that I tried were based on American confections (it coming up to thanksgiving and all).

The first was putting Reeses peanut butter cups in brownies and the result was pretty meh - nothing unpleasant but nothing special.

The second was the delightfully decadent Oreo stuffed brownie.  The Oreo remained soft due to the moisture in the brownie - amazing!

Try this with one of the Brownie Recipes below;

Katherine Hepburn Brownies

Brownies

DO THIS NOW your taste buds will thank you for it.

Katharine Hepburn's Brownies

I am open to be corrected on this but so the story goes that Katharine Hepburn was asked to submit a recipe for a charity thingy and she submitted a recipe for brownies.  It quickly became the 'go-to' recipe for brownies at the time.  But due to my brownie 'curse' I haven't ever been able to make them work.  Below is the original (I believe).

Mincemeat Gingerbread

Somethings you just know are going to work together but when I went to find a recipe I wasn't having much joy with this.  This is a Frankenstein of a recipe being that it has a little bit of this and a little bit of that but I've had to add a little cop on to it. This is a very wet batter but don't worry it cooks up just fine. It's traditional to use Molasses in Gingerbread but I'm not really a fan so I've used Golden Syrup instead and a little Muscavado Sugar as a nod to the missing Molasses.  When it was still warm I glazed with a little maple syrup.  I think though that I may increase the spices to double next time that I make it because that flavour didn't really come through.  When I do I will update this post.

50g Soft Brown Sugar
50g Muscavado Sugar
1 Egg
250ml Golden Syrup
250ml Hot water
200g Butter
375g Flour

1 1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Jar of Mincemeat

Method

1. Preheat Oven to 175C
2. Cream Butter and Sugars.  Mix in a beaten egg
3. In a bowl mix together Golden Syrup and Warm water and allow to cool.
4. Sieve Flour, spices and baking soda together in another bowl.
5. Add a third of the flour mix to the butter, sugar and egg bowl and mix thoroughly.  Add half of the golden syrup mix and combine thoroughly and repeat until all ingredients except mincemeat are incorporated.
6. Fold in a jar of Mincemeat. 
7. Pour into a greased brownie tin and bake for 1 hour but be sure to cover with foil when it reaches a nice golden brown colour.  Use a cocktail stick or skewer to make sure it's cooked properly.  
8. Leave in the tin overnight to cool or serve warm with custard.

Malteser and Mars Bar Chocolate Brownie Sundae

1 Small Bag Maltesers
Brownies
Vanilla Ice Cream
Mars Bar Ice Cream Sauce
whipped Cream

1. Break up some brownies and place a layer down the bottom of a Sundae Glass
2. Add a scoop of Vanilla Ice 
3. A layer of sauce and a sprinkle of crushed Maltesers for texture
4. Repeat 1-3 until you top it with cream and sprinkle crushed Maltesers on top.

Ice Cream Sundae

The perfect low effort end to any meal where you have a good few guests. This is a dessert that allows people to express themselves. I've suggested ingredients but it is really limited by your imagination.  A bowl (or even a highball glass) and spoon is all that's needed but if you can lay your hands on them an Ice Cream Spoon and Sundae Glasses look so pretty.

Sweets - Smarties, M&Ms, Revels, Maltesers, Mini Marshmallows, Jellies, Space Dust

Chocolate - Milk Dark White, Crushed Crunchie, Daim Bars, 

Sprinkles - Chocolate Vermicelli, Sugar Strands, Hundreds and Thousands

Biscuits - Bourbon Creams, Cookies, Oreos, Chocolate Digestives, shortbread, pinwheels

Cake - Brownies, Meringues

Nuts - Whole or Praline

Fruit - Soft fruit, maraschino cherries, bananas, Coconut

Cream - Whipped by hand or out of a can 

Ice Cream - just vanilla will do but the more the merrier

Sauce - Chocolate, Fudge, Caramel

Alcohol - For those old and bold enough to drink it how about some liqueurs?

Method

1. Layer Ice Cream and other ingredients until you reach the top 
2. Top with Cream
3. Add Sprinkles 
4. And for the cherry on top - a cherry!

Rocky Road

So you can mix all manner of sweets, nuts and dried fruits or glace fruits you like. You can use mini marshmallows or quarter them using a knife powdered with icing sugar

300g Chocolate
300g Butter
2 Tbsp Golden Syrup
Marshmallows
Pecan Nuts
Sultanas
1 large pkt loosely broken Digestives
Maltesers gently crushed
White chocolate buttons
Additional white and chocolate

1. Melt Butter Golden Syrup, and Chocolate over a pot of simmering water
2. Mix in digesitives pecans, sultanas and maltesers.
3. Allow to cool and sprinkle white chocolate buttons, marshmallows
4. Melt and drizzle milk chocolate and then white chocolate
5. Chill and indulge

Brownies

The story that I heard about brownies was that they started life as cake that someone forgot to add raising agent to. True or not I found it quite hard to get the ratio right between fudgy and cakey until eventually I got it right.

300g Flour
2 Tbsp Cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
200g butter
200g dark chocolate
1 tsp instant coffee
250g brown sugar
4 large eggs

1. Turn on the oven and preheat to 270c. Grease and line a baking tray (I use a square christmas cake tin).

2. Melt the chocolate, butter and coffee together in a bowl over a pot of gently simmering water. Add the sugar and remove from the heat, allowing to cool for 10 mins.

3. Sift together the flour, the cocoa powder and the salt.

4. Mix the eggs, one at a time, in to the chocolate and butter mixture.

5. Fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture. Don't over mix this or it will become too cakey.

6. Bake 20 mins until only the centre remains fudgy. Remove from the oven but leave it in the baking tin until it cools.

Variations
Nuts - Chopped walnuts, hazelnuts or pecans are good additions
Marshmallows - Either mini marshmallows in the brownie mix or after the brownies have cooked add a layer of marshmallows and pop them in the oven on the top shelf on a high heat, don't worry you won't over cook the brownies because they'll be insulated but keep a eye on them so that the top doesn't burn.
Chocolate chips - Dark, milk, white, whatever takes your fancy