celebration brownies

good evening bakers,

how are your january's going? it's one of those weird months that seems to be flying by and dragging at the same time - last week in particular seemed to go on forever but then how is it already a weekend?! one thing i have been particularly proud of this month is my commitment to my new healthy living food/exercise routine which i started at the end of last year; but, have no fear, the baked goods are here to stay! so here is an indulgent chocolate number for you...

this arose as we emerged from the post christmas and new year haze to find a large supply of chocolate selection boxes dotted around our house. as we were making slow progress on consuming them, i decided to take action and mix things up. i remembered reading a recipe in the green & black's chocolate recipes book a while back titled 'celebration brownies'. the premise is extremely simple but also completely ingenious, as is often the way!

to take your brownies to the next level you bake a layer of mini chocolates into them.

so whip up your favourite brownie mixture (i used a simpler version to my normal one, which usually involves a lot of whisking which would probably be undone by adding chocolates).

 i used dark chocolate to counter the sweetness of the celebrations

 

 pure calories - so good! 

 adding the sugar to the chocolate mix

 eggs are whisked and added

somewhat odd looking, but go with it

when your mixture is ready to go, it's on to the fun part - the chocolates!

pour half of the mixture into the baking tray:

then arrange the chocolates on top - do try and be methodical so that each brownie will have a chocolate in it:

 i left certain chocolates out, mainly bounty's because i am not a fan, but also twix's because i wasn't sure i'd want the biscuit part in my brownie

all of the chocolate

then pour the remaining mixture over the top, try to make sure all of the chocolates are submerged, otherwise they will catch in the oven:

then it's in to the oven to bake. i do struggle a bit with brownies and knowing how gooey to go, you want that beautiful texture but not raw cake! my mixture was very wobbly in the middle but the edges cooked very quickly so these slices were more cakey but the middle was SO good. 

 

 

they certainly added a novel dimension to a standard brownie and anything that increases chocolate intake is definitely a good thing!

this weekend i'm planning on whipping up a banana and rolo cake and perhaps something new too. until then, have a good week bakers.

love,

nen

x