Thursday, 19 July 2012

"Fete-l" Chocolate

A work colleague came to me this afternoon as he was walking out the door with a few questions. The first, "Are you still scary?". To put this into context, I'd just gotten off the phone with someone from Vodafone in India who I spent more time talking to than I have to my mum in the past month. But that's another story... His second question, "Would it be at all possible for you to bake something for the school fundraising fete? It's OK if you can't, but we're really short on homemade treats to sell. Oh, but I need it to be done by tomorrow." Wow, way to put the pressure on. So, never one to neglect a school duty, I made a quick stop at the 7 eleven on the way home for some eggs and brown sugar, donned my apron, and got into making some chocolate brownies.

These aren't the most sophisticated of chocolate brownies, but they definitely serve as a springboard for many a variation - and they're so easy! You'll need a lamington tray or two slice tins, or any variation on this - obviously, the smaller the tin, the thicker the brownie. I didn't have sour cream - and couldn't be bothered going to get any either - so substituted it with natural yoghurt. You could also use butter milk, just use a tiny bit less and add a little extra melted butter to it.

Chocolate Brownies (about 24 pieces in a lamington tin)
150g butter, chopped
300g dark chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup macadamia nuts
Simple ingredients for a tasty treat!
1. Preheat fan-forced oven to 160C. Grease your pan and line with baking paper.
2. Stir butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl.
3. Stir in sugar and eggs, then flour, sour cream and nuts. Spread mixture into prepared pan. (Warning: The mixture is incredibly addictive. Licking the spoon will result in a tongue-in-bowl reflex).
4. Bake, uncovered, for about 30 minutes. Cool completely in the pan then cut into pieces.
Yummy, gooey brownie batter
A cooling brownie
A few notes for great brownies:
- Don't over cook them. The top hardens slightly on cooling so this is not needed when checking if the brownies are cooked - you want a firm but moist brownie.
- Always cool your brownies in the pan. This will ensure a slightly chewy texture, rather than a crumbly one.

This is a really easy recipe to modify and there are so many variations you could use: substitute the dark chocolate for white to make 'blondies', use different nuts (hazelnuts, pistachios or walnuts all work well), add chocolate chips (white, milk, dark) for an extra hit of chocolate, add fresh or frozen raspberries for a hint of tartness, the list goes on.

After making the brownies, I was feeling a bit excited and wanted to see what else I could come up with. I had the ingredients for a slice I've been wanting to try for ages now (which also happens to be super simple!), so I got on to making a caramel ginger slice.

Caramel Ginger Slice
250g gingernut biscuits, crushed
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup chopped crystallised ginger
3/4 cup caramel Top'n'Fill
1 cup dark chocolate melts (I used chips)
1. Line a 20cm slice tin with baking paper.
2. Combine biscuits, coconut and ginger in a bowl.
3. Place Top'n'Fill and melts into a saucepan and cook over a low heat until melted.
4. Pour caramel mixture into dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Press into prepared pan and refrigerate until set. Drizzle with additional white or dark chocolate, if desired, then cut into slices.
If this mixture is a little too dry, add a little melted butter to help it along.
Ready for refrigeration
So, I've ended the night with two uber-chocolatey treats to take to school tomorrow. Let's hope they impress and sell like, uh, chocolate hotcakes?

Enjoy!

1 comment:

  1. Love it Laura, I'm telling people all about your blog, it's good ��

    ReplyDelete