2008

17 Jan

What’s a brownie between friends?

*Rude sound of a telephone ringing*

“Gnnfraffrgh”

“GOOD morning! How are we?”

“Gnnergafffrgaghg…”

“I didn’t wake you up now, did I?”

I sighed. “No…it’s cool…I should get up anyway, the sun’s coming through my window. What time is it?”

“Oh, about midday?”

(o_O) <- surprised face

The night before, I had gone to see American Gangster with a few girlfriends (yes, girls can enjoy seeing violent movies too), and during the movie, K and I had a brief chat about how lovely and warm it would be the next day, and whether we should go on an excursion. Yes, I know this is TERRIBLY bad form, but we were sitting next to each other so we were just muttering into each other’s ears, the movie had hit a rather slow spot, and women are wonderful multitaskers.

Well, that’s what they tell me, and I like to believe it, even if its not necessarily the case with me.

ANYWAY, the decision was unanimously yes, but unfortunately we didn’t have a chance to discuss the finer details as I had to quickly dart out of the cinema before it ended in order to pick up my brother from a rather dark and dingy train station. *sigh* Brothers, what can ya do with ‘em, ey?

Once I’d gotten back home with my brother safe and sound, he made himself dinner and we stayed up for a few hours chatting and watching the more than usually idiotic idiot box (as happens once the clock ticks past midnight). We parted ways at some ridiculous hour of the morning, and hence I’d slept in till midday the following day, making a beach or picnic excursion just a tad late…

“Well,” I mused down the phone, “if you want to make your way over to my amply stocked kitchen, we could bake some cookies, make dinner and watch a few movies…how’s that for a plan?” K agreed that it sounded good, and after some further discussion she headed on her way over. I met her at the bus stop and we went grocery shopping, at which point K asked me if I had baking chocolate at home. I answered in the affirmative, and once we got back to mine, I pulled out my “baking box” and showed her the stocktake:

1 bag of walnuts
1 bag of macadamias
1 bag of sultanas
1 bag of dried cranberries
Flaked and slivered almonds
4 different types of flour
5 different types of sugar
Blocks of dark, white and milk chocolate
Chocolate chips in dark, white and milk
1 bag couverture dark chocolate

Of course, that didn’t include the kilo bags of farm-frozen raspberries, blueberries and blackberries in just one of our 3 freezers.

After K’s eyes popped back into her head, she very slowly replied “So…when you said you had chocolate for baking…you meant it, ey?”

I grinned and popped a few cookbooks in front of her, which she started flipping through before she announced “This! This is what we’re making!” I wandered over to have a look, and admittedly I had to refrain from wrinkling my nose as I’m just not much of a brownie fan, but I have to admit that these little suckers did quicken my heartbeat, and with a dollop of freshly whipped cream, went down real, real well

Raspberry-Studded Brownie Bars
(Adapted from Donna Hay - Chocolate)

Ingredients (makes 12 mini loaves)
200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
250g unsalted butter, roughly chopped
200g brown sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
200g all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
50g cocoa powder
Approx 1 1/2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Butter and flour a mini loaf tin (or a 23cm/9″ square cake tin) and set aside.

2. Place the chocolate and butter in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and melt together over a low heat, while constantly stirring. Set aside to cool till lukewarm.

3. Meanwhile, sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa into a separate bowl and stir in the walnuts. Once the chocolate mix has cooled, stir in the eggs and sugar till combined, then mix together with the sifted flour.

4. Carefully fill each of the mini loaf tins till about 3/4 full (or your square cake tin), then carefully press raspberries into the surface of each mould. Bake for approx 30-45 minutes, or till they have set and a wooden skewer inserted into the middle comes out with moist crumbs.

5. Serve these with freshly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream to cut through the rich chocolatey-ness, or if you’re a bit of a chocolate hound, enjoy as is!

Technorati Tags: brownies, Donna Hay, recipes, raspberries, mini loaves, chocolate, dessert, baking

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Comments

Comment by Kat on January 17, 2008 @ 11:02 pm

looks delish!

Comment by ilingc on January 18, 2008 @ 12:03 am

This looks fab Ellie. I miss the days when I had a big supply of baking goods like yours.
Brownies are a big thing over here so I’m sure my friends will love this recipe too.

Comment by Hillary on January 18, 2008 @ 1:40 am

Mmmm….I swear raspberry and chocolate were made for eachother! I love the combination so I’m sure I’d love this brownie. Unfortunately I made a mousse last night out of chocolate, raspberry and bananas that totally didn’t work out but I’m convinced the bananas are to blame!

Comment by peabody on January 18, 2008 @ 1:57 am

The studded raspberries in them are beautiful!

Comment by brilynn on January 18, 2008 @ 7:09 am

As soon as I saw the first pic I wondered if that was the recipe you used, I’ve made these too and they’re fantastic!

Comment by MyKitchenInHalfCups on January 18, 2008 @ 5:51 pm

I do like the red raspberries on top, such a great contrast visually and taste with the chocolate.

Comment by Johanna on January 18, 2008 @ 10:05 pm

if it was a decision between day at the beach and making brownies it would be a hard decision - chocolate and raspberries are possibly the best flavour combination in the world - in fact at one point in your recipe I thought I read ‘press your face into the brownies and inhale the wonderful aromas’ but then I realised my eyes were just tired and playing tricks!