So, after seeing all of the wonderful recipes going up over at Trespass Magazine for the festive season, I decided it was finally time to share one of my favourite recipes.
This one has become somewhat of a trademark dish given that they taste SO awesome, and I have a very limited culinary repertoire. They are really easy to make so it’s worth making from scratch (no packet mixes have ever tasted as good.) Also, because Christmas is about giving, I decided to try an alteration on the tried and true double choc fudge brownies and today unveil the latest variation, Bottle Blondes (named after people who are double choc fudge brownies at heart, but alter themselves to appear otherwise.)
It should be known I originally found my brownie recipe at CSR, and have altered it slightly after testing.
Makes 20 pieces (each is pretty rich though)
250g dark chocolate melts or chips
2 cups Caster Sugar (can be up to 2 1/2 if you like it sweet)
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup cocoa
extra 125g dark chocolate melts chopped or chocolate chips
Icing Sugar to decorate (optional)
Personally, I prefer the larger chocolate melts, as opposed to the smaller drops or chips, which I will explain later. Preheat the oven to 160°C (150 fan forced). Paper line a 20 x 30cm tin. Melt the first measure of chocolate. Beat the Caster Sugar, eggs and vanila in a food processor or with a hand-held mixer (the mixture isn’t too thick so a wooden spoon will do). Add the melted chocolate, flours and cocoa.
That’s your basic mixture, now you stir in the extra (unmelted) chocolate. Because this doesn’t go in the main mixture, and melts during the cooking process instead, what you end up with is little pockets of melted chocolate throughout. This is why the bigger melts are better, because once you cut up the pieces, you want each one to have a few decent sized chocolate gooey bits.
Pour entire mixture into the tin, spread out to fill and bake for 50 minutes until firm. If you cook them for 40-45 minutes they will be slightly chewier (which I prefer) but you have to keep an eye on it to make sure you get the right consistency.
Cool in the tin and cut into small bars or chunks. Store in an airtight container. Dust with Icing Sugar and serve.
As the name suggests, Bottle Blondes use white chocolate, coconut and milo to replace the dark chocolate, and cocoa. White chocolate drinking powder would probably also work instead of milo, for a lighter colour. To keep the consistency, I used slightly more flour also. Bottle Blondes are a great alternative for people who aren’t into really rich chocolate, they have a coconut base to their flavour and taste a little more like a slice than a brownie.
250g white chocolate melts
2 cups Caster Sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup milo
1/2 cup dessicated coconutextra 125g white chocolate melts
Icing Sugar to decorate (optional)
Preheat the oven to 160°C (150 fan forced). Paper line a 20 x 30cm tin. Melt the first measure of chocolate. Beat the Caster Sugar, eggs and vanila in a food processor or with a hand-held mixer (the mixture isn’t too thick so a wooden spoon will do). Add the melted chocolate, flours, milo and coconut.
That’s your basic mixture, now you stir in the extra (unmelted) chocolate. Because this doesn’t go in the main mixture, and melts during the cooking process instead, what you end up with is little pockets of melted chocolate throughout.
Pour entire mixture into the tin, spread out to fill and bake for 50 minutes until firm. If you cook them for 40-45 minutes they will be slightly chewier (which I prefer) but you have to keep an eye on it to make sure you get the right consistency.
Cool in the tin and cut into small bars or chunks. Store in an airtight container. Dust with Icing Sugar and serve.
[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sam Webster, Sam Webster. Sam Webster said: @gracedwards Here we go! http://bit.ly/5b6Qya […]
I am definitely going to try these! Those double choc fudge brownies look heavenly. By the way, did you take these photos yourself? They are gorgeous…mmm 🙂
Yep! Though the first image was taken at the beginning of 2008 when I first made them, and the bottle blondes was obviously taken today.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by wiredjazz: @gracedwards Here we go! http://bit.ly/5b6Qya…