Tuesday 10 May 2011

Heartbreak Brownies




Heartbreak Bownies are why I started BooCakey.

A good brownie is the ultimate chocolate combination of rich gooey fudge hiding below a crispy crust.  You bake a batch and have to have a little nibble at the top, which leads to having a little piece and the next thing you are covered in chocolatey marshmallow nomminess, looking guilty when someone asks you where all the brownies have gone.

There are a million recipes for brownies and those folks in America are insane for them - I mean check this out for a brownie website.

This recipe is my own but takes its inspiration from the beautiful Baking Magic by Kate Shirazi, which is my favourite baking cookbook for basic but always successful cake and biscuit recipes.

At some point I will give it a review on here but for today just trust me that it is a wonderful book with lovely pictures, really accessible recipes and very much worth the money it is going for on the internet.

The heartbreak in my brownies could come from a couple of places. It could be something to do with the diabetes inducing ingredients or the tragedy associated with eating them all on your own in a wine and cruddy rom-com combination. It isn't any of these reasons though. It is about love and needing comfort and in the search for these engaging in the more socially acceptable act of self love - concocting a sweet baked treat.

The *heartbreak* ingredients in this recipe give a rich amaretti flavoured brownie with a praline crunch from roughly bashed hazelnuts and sticky goo from melted mini marshmallows but future brownie adventures will feature different *heartbreak* ingredients. I have been thinking about an exclusively hazelnut brownie with crushed Maryland hazelnut and choc chip cookies and big chunky nuts; I have also considered a peanut theme.  The pictures of the brownie featured here actually have italian sponge fingers broken into little pieces and soaked in amaretti liqueur and almond extract as I didn't have any amaretti biscuits in the cupboard. Your *heartbreak* ingredients can be dependant on your personal tastes, tales of woe and contents of your cupboards.

Heartbreak Brownies (recipe by BooCakey)
Makes about 16

The boring bits:
Preheat the oven to 180oC

Use a silicone square tin or equivalent in metal about 9 inch
If you are using metal then line the tin with greaseproof paper

The yummy bits:
165g salted butter
150g good quality 70% cocoa chocolate
3 eggs, lightly beaten
330g golden caster sugar
75g sifted self raising flour
1tsp baking powder

The heartbreak:
10ish amaretti biscuits, roughly crushed
2 big handfuls of mini marshmallows
2 handfuls of hazelnuts, roughly crushed

Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Don't let the water boil or the chocolate will go bonkers. When it is all smooth and melted take off the heat and stir in all the "yummy bits" ingredients (don't put the eggs in first in case the chocolate is a bit warm, you don't want brownie scrambled eggs).  
Before
After










Now add the *heartbreak* ingredients and fold until they are combined.  Pour the mixture into your prepared tin and slide into the oven.  Set a timer for 40 mins but try and check at 30 mins just in case your oven is a bit perkier than mine.
Don't leave them in there for more than 40 minutes though or you will have chocolate cake not goo-some delicious brownie. They will set as they cool. Honest. Serve with a big hug.



7 comments:

  1. When I heard you'd left these on someone's doorstep it made me want to live near you!

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  2. I posted some once! Cost a fortune.

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  3. Put my burnt/haven't-got-any-good-chocolate-cadburys-will-do efforts to shame. I am feeeeeeeelin' the ammaretti biscuits too.

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  4. Good advice on not allowing chocolate to go bonkers. May I ask if your temperature is normal or fan oven?

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  5. Hello there Moo. The temperature is for a fan oven. If it is a normal oven keep an eye on the brownie so it doesn't burn on the top.

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  6. ***APOLOGIES*** I am such an idiot. I forgot to write the sugar into the recipe originally. It has now been changed. SO sorry xxx

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  7. i LOVE almonds and biscuits. in brownies?! even better! these look majaaahly decadant! YUM! x

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