Sometimes it's handy having me as a friend. I can make birthday cakes, wedding cakes, half cater weddings. You name it. I can also help handsome young men give colleagues delicious festive Christmas gifts.
Read MoreSnickers Bar Brownies
For the good of man kind I felt like I had to write this post.
It will be short, sharp but definitely not lacking in chocolately noms. In fact the sheer obscene quantity of chocolate in this brownie will compensate for the lack of words. Who needs words when you have chocolate?
(This is basically me procrastinating reading an article on the acidity of milk)
So I took another mindless trip to New World and ended up buying fun sized snickers bars, more dark chocolate and some Gaviscon. I don't know why. I just did. It was a bit silly considering I had purchased 1.6kg of chocolate for baking the day before. I think it was because it was only $1.99 a bar. Dam you strategic pricing. My baking excess supply store is looking a bit ridiculous.
So I found myself up rather late and feeling too lazy to go to bed (taking contact lenses out, brushing teeth and showering are all very strenuous activities I would have you know!) so I decided to make some brownie to take to my friend Max the next day. Yes. Logic. Baking brownies is far less effortful than sleeping . . .
So anyway the Snickers bar brownie was born. I got a bit carried away with the chocolate. I think 700g went into this. Fliiiip. Oh and I felt like the peanuts in the Snickers bars wern't enough so I buried spoonfuls of peanut butter in there too. YOLO.
Eww. Can't believe I just said that.
So the base for this brownie is from Butter Baking. I just switched around the inclusions to suit what I had. It is a good brownie base. I recommend having fun with it! So once again you can add really whatever you like to it. Whatever your inner fat kid desires.
Snickers Bar Brownie
Adapted from Butter Baking
Makes 20x30 cm trays worth
225g butter
1 3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa
100g dark 70% chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup white chocolate chips/melts
12 funsize Snickers bars (212g worth)
1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
more chocolate chips to sprinkle over the top
Preheat the oven to 170 on bake.
In a heatproof bowl over a sauce pan with a few centimetres of boiling water in it, melt together the chocolate and butter. Once melted add in the sugar and stir to dissolve. Remove the bowl from the heat and either transfer to a larger bowl or a stand mixer and beat in the cocoa and vanilla until smooth and lump free.
Beat in the eggs and the egg yolk one at a time until the mixture becomes really thick and luxurious.
Add in the flour and stir until just combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips both dark and white.
Line a 20x30cm baking tin with baking paper. Spread the brownie mixture into the tin.
Chop the fun size bars in half and place insert them in rows into the batter. So 4 half bars by 6 half bars.
Using a teaspoons, make small holes in the batter and fill them with small blobs of peanut butter.
Using a spatula, smooth some of the brownie batter over the tops of the snickers bars and peanut butter blobs so that they don't burn and everything is nicely sealed in.
Sprinkle over some more chocolate chips if you wish.
Bake for 20-25 minutes (23 is the magic number for my oven). You want them to still be really gooey inside. Once they cool they will firm up.
Leave to cool for a decent amount of time before slicing, or else they just mush everywhere.
Sprinkle with edible glitter if you do feel so inclined.
Enjoy!!!
It will be short, sharp but definitely not lacking in chocolately noms. In fact the sheer obscene quantity of chocolate in this brownie will compensate for the lack of words. Who needs words when you have chocolate?
(This is basically me procrastinating reading an article on the acidity of milk)
So I took another mindless trip to New World and ended up buying fun sized snickers bars, more dark chocolate and some Gaviscon. I don't know why. I just did. It was a bit silly considering I had purchased 1.6kg of chocolate for baking the day before. I think it was because it was only $1.99 a bar. Dam you strategic pricing. My baking excess supply store is looking a bit ridiculous.
So I found myself up rather late and feeling too lazy to go to bed (taking contact lenses out, brushing teeth and showering are all very strenuous activities I would have you know!) so I decided to make some brownie to take to my friend Max the next day. Yes. Logic. Baking brownies is far less effortful than sleeping . . .
So anyway the Snickers bar brownie was born. I got a bit carried away with the chocolate. I think 700g went into this. Fliiiip. Oh and I felt like the peanuts in the Snickers bars wern't enough so I buried spoonfuls of peanut butter in there too. YOLO.
Eww. Can't believe I just said that.
So the base for this brownie is from Butter Baking. I just switched around the inclusions to suit what I had. It is a good brownie base. I recommend having fun with it! So once again you can add really whatever you like to it. Whatever your inner fat kid desires.
Snickers Bar Brownie
Adapted from Butter Baking
Makes 20x30 cm trays worth
225g butter
1 3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa
100g dark 70% chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup plain flour
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup white chocolate chips/melts
12 funsize Snickers bars (212g worth)
1/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
more chocolate chips to sprinkle over the top
Preheat the oven to 170 on bake.
In a heatproof bowl over a sauce pan with a few centimetres of boiling water in it, melt together the chocolate and butter. Once melted add in the sugar and stir to dissolve. Remove the bowl from the heat and either transfer to a larger bowl or a stand mixer and beat in the cocoa and vanilla until smooth and lump free.
Beat in the eggs and the egg yolk one at a time until the mixture becomes really thick and luxurious.
Add in the flour and stir until just combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips both dark and white.
Line a 20x30cm baking tin with baking paper. Spread the brownie mixture into the tin.
Chop the fun size bars in half and place insert them in rows into the batter. So 4 half bars by 6 half bars.
Using a teaspoons, make small holes in the batter and fill them with small blobs of peanut butter.
Using a spatula, smooth some of the brownie batter over the tops of the snickers bars and peanut butter blobs so that they don't burn and everything is nicely sealed in.
Sprinkle over some more chocolate chips if you wish.
Bake for 20-25 minutes (23 is the magic number for my oven). You want them to still be really gooey inside. Once they cool they will firm up.
Leave to cool for a decent amount of time before slicing, or else they just mush everywhere.
Sprinkle with edible glitter if you do feel so inclined.
Enjoy!!!
Chocolate Bar Brownies
This is day four of that chocolate baking bender I was telling you about.
To be fair, I made these for my flavour science class the next day. We had a 50% exam/test to sit and I thought a spot of brownie would help everyone feel better after the two hours of brain drain.
These were originally called Kit Kat Brownies. As in the Kit Kat brownies from Butter Baking. But I didn't have all the chocolate required (445g) so I decided to use her other recipe for her pretzel brownies as the base as it was mighty fantastic! So I removed all the pretzels and peanut butter truffles and replaced them with oodles of chopped up chocolate bars. It was originally supposed to be only Kit Kats but Cadbury bars were only $0.79 at New World that day, so a couple of moros, moro golds, and some spare caramello may or may not fallen into the mixture. Tragedy I know.
This will be brief, after all I have technically told you all about this one before, it just has a few different inclusions that's all.
Chocolate Bar Brownies
makes 20x30cm sized tray
225g butter
1 3/4 cups soft brown star
1 cup and 2 tablespoons cocoa
100g good quality dark chocolate (60-70% cocoa solids will do)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup dark/white chocolate chips
2 Kit Kat chunky bars
3 more chocolate bars of your choice (I definitely recommend moro gold bars. Bounty would be good. So would twix. om nom nom! Actually you can flag the kit kats and put whatever you like in!)
Preheat the oven to 170C. Line a 20x30cm baking tray with baking paper.
In a double boiler (ie a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water) melt the butter. Add in the chocolate and stir until smooth. Dissolve in the brown sugar and cocoa. Stir until evenly combined. Transfer this mixture into a large bowl and beat for a minute until smooth.
Add the eggs and yolk one at a time, beating well between each addition until the mixture is thick and smooth.
Add in the flour and stir as many times as you need until the flour "whiteness" disappears.
Stir in the chocolate chips and the chocolate bars (that have all been chopped up into relatively chunky pieces).
Press the mixture into the tray and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remember it is better to undercook than over cook so definitely give it a check at 20 minutes as each oven is different.
Enjoy!!
To be fair, I made these for my flavour science class the next day. We had a 50% exam/test to sit and I thought a spot of brownie would help everyone feel better after the two hours of brain drain.
These were originally called Kit Kat Brownies. As in the Kit Kat brownies from Butter Baking. But I didn't have all the chocolate required (445g) so I decided to use her other recipe for her pretzel brownies as the base as it was mighty fantastic! So I removed all the pretzels and peanut butter truffles and replaced them with oodles of chopped up chocolate bars. It was originally supposed to be only Kit Kats but Cadbury bars were only $0.79 at New World that day, so a couple of moros, moro golds, and some spare caramello may or may not fallen into the mixture. Tragedy I know.
This will be brief, after all I have technically told you all about this one before, it just has a few different inclusions that's all.
Chocolate Bar Brownies
makes 20x30cm sized tray
225g butter
1 3/4 cups soft brown star
1 cup and 2 tablespoons cocoa
100g good quality dark chocolate (60-70% cocoa solids will do)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup dark/white chocolate chips
2 Kit Kat chunky bars
3 more chocolate bars of your choice (I definitely recommend moro gold bars. Bounty would be good. So would twix. om nom nom! Actually you can flag the kit kats and put whatever you like in!)
Preheat the oven to 170C. Line a 20x30cm baking tray with baking paper.
In a double boiler (ie a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water) melt the butter. Add in the chocolate and stir until smooth. Dissolve in the brown sugar and cocoa. Stir until evenly combined. Transfer this mixture into a large bowl and beat for a minute until smooth.
Add the eggs and yolk one at a time, beating well between each addition until the mixture is thick and smooth.
Add in the flour and stir as many times as you need until the flour "whiteness" disappears.
Stir in the chocolate chips and the chocolate bars (that have all been chopped up into relatively chunky pieces).
Press the mixture into the tray and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remember it is better to undercook than over cook so definitely give it a check at 20 minutes as each oven is different.
Enjoy!!
Peanut Butter Truffle, Triple Chocolate, Pretzel Brownie
Some people cover their feelings with food. Some people try and drown out their sorrows by drinking.
Sorry about the weird lighting in the photos. I was too preoccupied with the wonders before me to really care haha. Until now.
I bake out my stresses and woes.
Im currently on day three of my chocolate baking bender.
So in the last week I am pretty sure I have been to New World like every day to buy more ingredients.
The peak of this tragic behaviour was when I went to New World twice within twelve hours and purchased six blocks of chocolate, a kilo of butter, more chocolate chips, a nice big jar of peanut butter and a bottle of cream.
You know magic is about to happen when those items fill up your basket.
Four days ago I somehow ended up following Butter Baking on instagram. I seriously do not know how. Anyway she posted these delicious looking cookies so I went to go check out her blog.
Oh. My. God.
I died and went to blogging heaven.
So. Much. Great.
Almost everything contains chocolate or nutella or peanut butter or a combination of all three! So I jumped up off my seat in the commerce building (where I was just chilling at the time even though I don't do anything commercy at all) and went with my dear friend Matt to New World. So this is how all that chocolate and cream came to be in my shopping basket.
www.butterbaking.com
Go there. Like now!
So anyway I recreated her pretzel, chocolate chip, peanut butter brownies.
Sorry about the weird lighting in the photos. I was too preoccupied with the wonders before me to really care haha. Until now.
Anyway, pretty sure all the crack dealers are about to go out of business.
Ok I know the idea of pretzels sounds strange especially in a chocolate brownie but how many of you love putting jam and peanut butter together? or maple syrup on your bacon? The combination of salty and sweet, creamy and crunchy, moist and fudgy, it is just amazing. Trust me.
I did make a few adjustments to her recipe, mainly out of lack of the appropriately coloured chocolate chips! But also I decided to use brown sugar instead of white. I had enough of the white. I think it is because I wanted a really dark colour. I dunno. I always feel cookies are better with brown sugar so why not brownies. Brown sugar contains molasses which gives whatever you use it in a more intense colour and flavour. Yum. I actually just used muscovado sugar in my chocolate cupcakes today. They turned out so great! the flavour was really intensified!
So yes. Make this brownie. It will change your life.
Tripe Chocolate, Peanut Butter Truffle and Pretzel Brownie
adapted from the recipe by Butter Baking
Makes a 20x30cm brownie
For the peanut butter truffles:
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter (I used extra crunchy!)
30g butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup icing sugar
For the most amazing brownies of your life:
225g butter
1 3/4 cups soft brown sugar
1 cup and 2 tablespoons cocoa
100g good quality dark chocolate (60-70% cocoa solids is enough)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or melts
1/2 cup white chocolate melts
1 cup pretzels plus a few extra to dot over the top
All of the peanut butter truffle balls made above
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
To make the truffles, melt the butter and peanut butter in a small saucepan. Once they have melted together, add in the brown sugar. Stir until it dissovles. Then gradually add in the icing sugar and stir until it is all nicely combined. Remove from the heat. Take half teaspoon amounts and roll into balls. Place in a plastic container and pop that in the freezer while you go and make your brownie.
To make the brownie, preheat your oven to 170 degrees C and line your baking tray with baking paper.
In a double boiler (ie a heat proof bowl balanced over a saucepan with a few centimetres of simmering water beneath it) melt together the chocolate and butter, being careful not to burn the chocolate. I find melting the butter a bit first before adding the chocolate helps. Then add the brown sugar, cocoa and vanilla and stir until it is all combined.
Transfer this mixture into a larger mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand cake mixer. Beat the mixture just to make sure it is nice and smooth.
Add your eggs one at a time, beating well in between each addition. The mixture should now be nice and thick and glossy.
Add the flour and stir only as many times as it takes for any visible flour to disappear.
Mix in the pretzels, chocolate melts and peanut butter truffle balls.
Press the mixture into the lined baking tin. Dot a few whole pretzels over the top and sprinkle over the sea salt flakes.
Bake for 20-25 minutes (I baked mine for 24 and I think it could have done with only 23). You do still want a skewer to come out slightly gooey.
Leave to cool before slicing or else it will just goo out everywhere. Which I guess isn't a bad thing.
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| This is why you are going to want to beat it properly |
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| To easily separate eggs, break them into your hands and use your fingers to sieve out the white. |
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| This is how lovely and glossy it should look after all the eggs |
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| Post flour addition |
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| Could this get any better? |
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| The answer is yes. yes it can. |
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| Try cutting the corners of your paper to get a more fitted lining |
Go for a run in preparation for eating the whole lot because there is no way you can run after eating these things!
The neighbours the other day helped me break into my flat. Lucy was away in Christchurch and Alex just left me on the doorstep with all our shopping (we both forgot our keys). Thank God for neighbours!
So I sent them a thank you :)
Enjoy!
xx
Hey Blondie!
I don't think blondes have more fun.
I don't know where that myth came from. I would kill for lovely dark hair as well as the dark eye lashes and brows that accompany it.
You see being a fair lass myself, I am cursed with equally fair brows and lashes, making it look like I have neither unless they are coloured in and lacquered with mascara. On the rare occasion I go to the gym without either painted onto my face I find that no one recognises me. Awkward!
Anyway that is all somewhat irrelevant since I joined the strawberry sisters.
I have been on a real baking drive lately. I want to make as many things as possible these holidays. I have a nice long list if things I want to make.
I had a flick through my Hummingbird baker cookbook and found this blondie recipe. It looked simple and didn't require copious amounts of chocolate which all their other brownies need.
The process is kind of strange. You melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler then add the sugar. This causes the mixture to split and look crazy wrong but trust me and persevere! Once the eggs are added the lecithin in the yolks emulsifies the butter and the water in the mixture. Win! I love science!
This is a nice sickly sweet alternative to its brown cuzzie. The addition of pecans is delicious but walnuts or even macadamias would be equally amazing. I added extra chopped white chocolate because what is a brownie or a blondie without extra chocolate!
So shall we then?
White Chocolate Blondie
Adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
150g white cooking chocolate
125g butter
150g castor sugar
2 eggs
200g plain flour
120g pecans, chopped
100g white chocolate chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees bake and line a small slice tin (20x30cm) with baking paper.
In a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water (make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl - I used a cookie cutter to prop it up) melt together the butter and white chocolate. Remove from the heat.
Once melted, whisk in the sugar and vanilla and stir until dissolved. It is here where the mixture looks like it has split but don't worry about it. Quickly mix in the two eggs making sure they don't scramble.
Sift in the flour, mix until just combined. Do not over mix. Add in the pecans and extra chocolate and very quickly mix to spread them out.
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes. It should be nice and gooey.
Leave to cool completely before slicing.
Enjoy!! :)
I don't know where that myth came from. I would kill for lovely dark hair as well as the dark eye lashes and brows that accompany it.
You see being a fair lass myself, I am cursed with equally fair brows and lashes, making it look like I have neither unless they are coloured in and lacquered with mascara. On the rare occasion I go to the gym without either painted onto my face I find that no one recognises me. Awkward!
Anyway that is all somewhat irrelevant since I joined the strawberry sisters.
I have been on a real baking drive lately. I want to make as many things as possible these holidays. I have a nice long list if things I want to make.
I had a flick through my Hummingbird baker cookbook and found this blondie recipe. It looked simple and didn't require copious amounts of chocolate which all their other brownies need.
The process is kind of strange. You melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler then add the sugar. This causes the mixture to split and look crazy wrong but trust me and persevere! Once the eggs are added the lecithin in the yolks emulsifies the butter and the water in the mixture. Win! I love science!
This is a nice sickly sweet alternative to its brown cuzzie. The addition of pecans is delicious but walnuts or even macadamias would be equally amazing. I added extra chopped white chocolate because what is a brownie or a blondie without extra chocolate!
So shall we then?
White Chocolate Blondie
Adapted from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
150g white cooking chocolate
125g butter
150g castor sugar
2 eggs
200g plain flour
120g pecans, chopped
100g white chocolate chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Preheat the oven to 170 degrees bake and line a small slice tin (20x30cm) with baking paper.
In a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water (make sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl - I used a cookie cutter to prop it up) melt together the butter and white chocolate. Remove from the heat.
Once melted, whisk in the sugar and vanilla and stir until dissolved. It is here where the mixture looks like it has split but don't worry about it. Quickly mix in the two eggs making sure they don't scramble.
Sift in the flour, mix until just combined. Do not over mix. Add in the pecans and extra chocolate and very quickly mix to spread them out.
Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes. It should be nice and gooey.
Leave to cool completely before slicing.
Enjoy!! :)
Cara's Wicked Chocolate Brownies
Good Monday Afternoon!
Remember that baking ban I was on? Yeah well that sorta went down the loo this weekend. On Friday After making custard squares and a vanilla three layer birthday cake my dear brother asked me to make him a chocolate brownie to take to his mates house for their boys (pronounced boyce by the boys) night . Since I obviously hadn't spend enough time strapped to the hand beater already I agreed and whipped up the trusty, delicious and positively wicked Cara's wicked chocolate brownie.
I got this recipe off one of my best friends, Cara, quite a few years ago now. This is the best brownie recipe I have ever found and I have stayed true to it all this time and have never made a different recipe. I made it so frequently that it was permanently engrained into my brain and so whenever someone asked me for a good brownie recipe I could recite this one off to them instantly.
The trick with brownie is to undercook them. That way they are guaranteed to be gooey in the centre. Originally this recipe said an hour at 150, then I shortened that to 50 minutes and then this time I shortened it again to 45 minutes to achieve optimum gooeyness. To make these even more decadent I decided for the first time to try out icing the brownie once it had completely cooled. I used a simple chocolate buttercream that had plenty of cocoa to balance out the sweetness. The best type of brownie is one that you only need to have a single piece of before being totally chocolated out!
Considering the box that I sent it away came out completely empty I am assuming the brownie went down rather well.
This recipe is really easy to make, just make sure you cream the butter and sugar really well as well as beating the eggs enough so that the volume about doubles.
Cara's Wicked Chocolate Brownie
Fills a 17x28cm tin rather nicely
200g butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 cup cocoa
1/2 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
150g chocolate chunks (Dark chocolate works the best - you can put more chocolate in if you like - I recommend it).
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees on bake.
Cream the butter and sugar until light in colour.
Beat in the vanilla and eggs one at a time. After the last egg has been added keep beating for another few minutes to make sure that the maximum volume has been achieved.
Mix in the cocoa and beat until evenly mixed.
Add in the flour, beat until evenly mixed.
Stir in the chocolate melts or chunks.
Line a baking tray with baking paper and spoon in the mixture. Spread the mixture out so that all four corners are filled.
Bake for 45 minutes, a skewer should come out still gooey.
Leave to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar or icing with chocolate.
To make the chocolate icing, cream together 50g softened butter with around 2 cups of icing sugar and 1/2 cup of cocoa, a splash of vanilla and a few drops of milk (if it is too thick). I didn't actually weigh anything out when I made the icing, so this is just an estimate of what I put in. I like my chocolate icings to be really rich and chocolatey which is why so much cocoa was put in.
Using a nice big knife, slice the brownie into pieces and brace yourself for all the friends you are about to make :)
Have a great day!
I know I am!
Sophie