The PERFECT brownies (Rolo)

Behind the scenes I've been lusting after shiny topped brownies. You know, the kind that have that meringue like crust on top? Well I've sussed it! There's no change in the ingredients to my old brownie recipe, BUT there is a change in the method. Lets begin...

Ingredients:- 

85g unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for greasing baking tin 

40g cornflour 

30g unsweetened cocoa powder 

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon fine salt 

340g dark chocolate 

170g caster sugar 

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

3 medium eggs

Optional handful of Rolos

Method:- 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Lightly butter a 20cm by 30cm rectangular baking tin and line with grease-proof paper, leaving a 1 inch overhang on all sides. 

Combine the cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. On the hob, gently melt the chocolate and butter. 

When the chocolate and butter have melted, leave to one side to cool.

In a stand mixer, whisk the eggs and sugar until is resembles a frothy milkshake like consistency. Then add the cooled chocolate mix, but pour it in gently, you don't want to knock any of the air out of the egg and sugar mixture that you've just whipped into oblivion! Then gently fold the chocolate and eggy sugar mix together.

Once combined, sieve the cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon and salt mixture over the top of the brownie mix and again GENTLY fold the mix together until combined . 

Pour the batter into your pre-greased and lined brownie tin and smooth over the top with a spatula.

At this point I added a massive handful of Rolos - it was a happy day!

Pop the brownies in to bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 30-35 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through.

Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

It turns out (after some good old Google research) that it's the method of mixing the sugar with the eggs that gives the brownies their infamous shiny tops, who knew! Well I do know, and so do all of you :)

Peanut butter swirl Oreo brownies

Oreos and brownies are a match made in heaven in my humble opinion. Imagine my sheer excitement when I realised that you could get strawberry cheesecake and peanut butter flavoured Oreos!! Honestly if you could have seen my face and heard my excited squeal, it would have made your day I promise! While I'm a huge fan of my previous brownie recipe. It is super rich and chocolatey due to the dark chocolate. So this time I tried a split with milk chocolate and it turned out really well.

Ingredients:- 

85g unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for greasing baking tin 

40g cornflour 

30g unsweetened cocoa powder 

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon fine salt 

340g chocolate (broken into squares) (150g dark and 190g of milk)

170g caster sugar 

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

3 medium eggs 

For topping... 

3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter 

A handful of broken Oreos 

Method:- 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Lightly butter a 20cm by 30cm rectangular baking tin and line with grease-proof paper, leaving a 1 inch overhang on all sides. 

Combine the cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. On the hob, gently melt the chocolate and butter. 

When the chocolate and butter have melted, remove pan from the heat and stir in sugar and vanilla. 

Making sure that the mixture has cooled ever so slightly (so as not to cook the eggs) stir in eggs, one at a time, until combined. 

Add cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon and salt mixture and stir until the luscious brownie batter is smooth and begins to pull away from sides. 

Pour the batter into your pre-greased and lined brownie tin and smooth over the top with a spatula. In a small microwaveable bowl heat the peanut butter for say 10 seconds in the microwave to loosen it up and enable a better blob and swirl action. 

You might need to keep testing the consistency of the spread, you want it slightly runny but not like water. Then blob using a teaspoon onto the brownie batter, and use a knife to swirl through. Then dot on top the Oreo biscuits and bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 30-35 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through.

Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Using paper overhang, lift brownie out of pan and cut into squares and enjoy warm with some vanilla ice cream - mmmmm!

Raspberry Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

This recipe is one of many variations on my basic brownie. You can find my first post on this recipe here, but I will go over it again in this post just to make things super simple.

There are so many options with brownies, I doubt that I could find every single possible ingredient combination in my lifetime! Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad challenge, maybe I'll try!

Ingredients:-

85g unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for greasing baking tin

40g cornflour

30g unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

340g dark chocolate (broken into squares)

170g caster sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

3 medium eggs 

For raspberry cream cheese swirl:-

4 tablespoons of cream cheese

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Handful of fresh raspberries

Method:-

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. 

Lightly butter a 20cm by 30cm rectangular baking tin and line with grease-proof paper, leaving a 1 inch overhang on all sides. 

Combine the cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. 

On the hob, gently melt the chocolate and butter*. You can use a double boiler for this if you'd prefer but I like to live life on the edge, rebel, and just bung (technical term there!) it in and go for it. Just be careful not to overheat the chocolate, gentle is the key word here. Otherwise the chocolate could go grainy and that's not what we're going for.

*note - I use a medium sized pan for this. The reason being, that I then use the same pan to mix in all of the remaining ingredients. One pot = minimal washing up - yay! 

When the chocolate and butter have melted, remove pan from the heat and stir in sugar and vanilla. 

Making sure that the mixture has cooled ever so slightly (so as not to cook the eggs) stir in eggs, one at a time, until combined. 

Add cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon and salt mixture and stir until the luscious brownie batter is smooth and begins to pull away from sides, about 2 minutes, but if your arm can't take it, don't worry. 

Pour the batter into your pre-greased and lined brownie tin and smooth over the top with a spatula. 

Combine in a small bowl the cream cheese and vanilla extract and stir to loosen up the mixture so it's a blobby consistency. Then using a teaspoon, blob into the brownie mixture and then swirl with a sharp knife. Dot the raspberries over the top, either haphazardly or neatly - whichever floats your boat!

Then  bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 30-35 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through. 

Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Using paper overhang, lift brownie out of pan and cut into 16 squares and enjoy!

Will report back with further brownie combos - don't worry! ;)

Biscoff Swirl Brownies

These brownies are the best. They're rich and super chocolatey, a little crispy on the outside, but deliciously fudgey on the inside. The possibilities with these are endless. I've made variations with Oreos, Creme Eggs and even fresh raspberries and cream cheese. They're also (unintentionally) gluten-free. Super easy to make, don't require any fancy equipment, as long as you have a saucepan and spatula you're good to go!

Ingredients:-
85g unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for greasing baking tin
40g cornflour
30g unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
340g dark chocolate (broken into squares)
170g caster sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
3 medium eggs 
For topping...
3 tablespoons Biscoff spread
125g Biscoff biscuits (doesn't need to be precise)

Method:-

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. 

Lightly butter a 20cm by 30cm rectangular baking tin and line with grease-proof paper, leaving a 1 inch overhang on all sides. 

Combine the cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. 

On the hob, gently melt the chocolate and butter*. You can use a double boiler for this if you'd prefer but I like to live life on the edge, rebel, and just bung (technical term there!) it in and go for it. Just be careful not to overheat the chocolate, gentle is the key word here. Otherwise the chocolate could go grainy and that's not what we're going for.

*note - I use a medium sized pan for this. The reason being, that I then use the same pan to mix in all of the remaining ingredients. One pot = minimal washing up - yay! 

When the chocolate and butter have melted, remove pan from the heat and stir in sugar and vanilla. 

Making sure that the mixture has cooled ever so slightly (so as not to cook the eggs) stir in eggs, one at a time, until combined. 

Add cornflour, cocoa, cinnamon and salt mixture and stir until the luscious brownie batter is smooth and begins to pull away from sides, about 2 minutes, but if your arm can't take it, don't worry. 

Pour the batter into your pre-greased and lined brownie tin and smooth over the top with a spatula. 

In a small microwaveable bowl heat the Biscoff spread for say 10 seconds in the microwave to loosen it up and enable a better blob and swirl action. You might need to keep testing the consistency of the spread, you want it slightly runny but not like water. Then blob using a teaspoon onto the brownie batter, and use a knife to swirl through.

Then crumble on top the Biscoff biscuits and bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 30-35 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through. 

Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Using paper overhang, lift brownie out of pan and cut into 16 squares and enjoy!