Gems from the Interwebs

After a small break, Saturday Sweets resumes itself…

Hard Top, Gooey Middle Brownies

I didn’t rave about these as much as other brownies, but people seemed to like them a lot.

100g dark chocolate

100g milk chocolate

140g butter, cubed

3 large eggs

225g caster sugar

100g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1. Melt 160g of the chocolate and the butter, then leave to cool  
2. Chop the remaining chocolate into chunks  
3. Whisk eggs and sugar together with a hand mixer in a large bowl until thick, fluffy, and almost doubled in volume. Gently fold in the cooled melted chocolate. Fold in the remaining ingredients, not over-mixing.  
4. Pour mix in a well-greased rectangular (27x17.5x3.5cm) tin and bake at a preheated gas 4 /180oC oven for 25-30mins until the middle is just set and the top is slightly crusty. Remove from oven and allow to cool entirely before cutting and removing from tin.

12pm

Salted Fudge Brownies

An alternative to the very first Saturday Sweet, these are gooey and yummy and generally delicious, as well as being good if you don’t have muscovado sugar, or as much chocolate as some brownie recipes require. I don’t normally include salt in recipes, but given this was in the name I thought I’d put in the crystals, and it tasted nice :)

(Makes 20ish)

170g butter

56g chopped dark chocolate

6 tbsp cocoa powder

400g white sugar

3 large eggs

1.5 tsp vanilla

130g plain flour

1/2 tsp sea salt

(Optional: 50g milk chocolate chips)

1. Melt butter and chocolate.
2. Whisk in, one at a time, cocoa, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and flour.
3. Stir in chocolate chips if using.
4. Line a 9” square baking pan with aluminium foil, and lightly butter it. Let excess foil hang over the edges.
5. Pour batter into the pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle salt over the top, and swirl it into the batter with a butter knife.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes at gas mark 4 / 180oC, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with just a little batter coating it.
7. Cool at room temperature for an hour, then refrigerate for an hour or until firm. Cut and remove from pan.

(recipe via)

11am

Olive Oil Brownies

After last week, here’s another option if you feel like baking and don’t have butter. It’s funny how different “brownies” can taste - there are gooey ones, cake-like ones, and then the hard shop-bought ones. The recipe here makes quite cake-like brownies; if you prefer gooey-er, have a click here for my preferred recipe.

113g dark chocolate

1/3 cup (80ml) [extra virgin] olive oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

70g plain flour

Optional: 70g chopped almonds / chocolate chips / raspberries

1. Melt the chocolate, then whisk in the olive oil and set aside to cool slightly.
2. Beat the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl, using high speed of an electric mixer, for about 3 minutes depending on the speed of your mixer.
3. Beat in the vanilla, then fold in the chocolate mixture.
4. Fold in the flour, and then any other ingredients you want to add in.
5. Bake in a well-greased 20cm square baking pan at gas mark 4 for about 20 minutes.
6. Let cool completely before cutting into squares and removing.

10am