Jamie Oliver's website has a wonderful rich chocolate brownie recipe that has been a big hit with my German language classmates, Austrian teacher, and my partner. I made a batch for an in-school birthday party for our Russian classmate. It was also to celebrate our Italian classmate's going-away-to-have-a-baby.
I've adapted it to make it less fattening. Here it is:
JO's Brilliant Brownies
200g butter
200g dark chocolate (make it white choc for a 'blondie' variation!)
1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts or whatever nuts you fancy
1/2 cup your fav dried fruit, chopped (dried cherries, apricot, figs, etc)
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
4 eggs, beaten
Melt butter with broken up chocolate in a big saucepan over low heat. Add nuts/fruit. Sift and mix together flour, baking powder and cocoa powder, mix the sugar into it, and add the dry mixture to the melted choc mixture. Add eggs and stir lightly until incorporated.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C or 350 degrees F. Line 12"x12" pan with baking paper and pour in mixture. Bake for 25-27 minutes. Take out of oven and let it cool in the pan. Cut into squares/rectangles. Texture is moist and slightly gooey.
(Brownies can taste loads better than they look. Mr Oliver suggests serving them with creme fraiche whipped with a bit of orange zest. I had some maple walnut ice-cream in the freezer -- it was bee's knees served with microwave-warmed brownies. Come to think of it, it was the whole hive's knees all put together -- so good it tasted. Heh.)
11 comments:
Dear Argus,
You have reduce the amount of fat for your "brilliant" brownies. I wonder if I can reduce it further by substituting it with egg white? ;)
p/s I just read the comments that you and Lydia wrote about me. You ladies are so sweet.
Mr Oliver's brilliant brownies, not mine. :-)
You can try with the egg white and let me know how it turns out. Half the recipe if you like. This one is enough for 20 servings.
You're the sweet one, MrsHBT! Or at least the sweetest. ^_^
Dear Argus,
I have never made brownies. I buy them from Starbucks.
I think your idea to half the recipe is great since brownies are very rich.
Oh great. I finish exams, pop over here to see how you're doing, marvel at the new header image, and then you go and stuff a brownie recipe in my face. What about all that dieting willpower I summoned and painstakingly hardened over the exam period, huh? What about all those PROMISES I made to myself?!
Must...resist...going...to...Sainsbury's... ah heck I deserve it. Who cares if they overcharge for their desserts.
(This is YOUR FAULT)
Dear Lee Ping, you can make 'em brownies at a fraction of their price at Starbucks; and you control what goes into 'em. ;-)
Angry Medic! How nice of you to stroll by on your blog cruise now that your exams are over. I'm sure you're as skinny as a stalk of chives by now so you're allowed to 'top up' the calories, man.
Of course, it's my fault you're fulfilling the fifth and most important food group - sweet comfort food. (The other groups are crispy and salty, crispy and sweet, liquid alcoholic, and savoury comfort food. Why am I telling u this? Ya already know it -- you've aced your Health Science.)
Argus, I tried out the brownies and they're brilliant! The kids were fighting over them and want to make their own now.
Hi there, Lydia! Happy to know you and your children enjoy them too. So simple, isn't it? What dried fruit did you use?
Instead of dried fruit you can put in chunks of milk chocolate or white choc. Heh heh, that'll make it even more heavenly!
For my partner, I made an even 'healthier' version of Blondies: even less butter, ground almond instead of cocoa, more apricot and white choc instead of dark choc (the last bit does not make it healthier; the reverse is true, I've been told! Apparently, white choc is REALLY unhealthy, but I love it). ;-P
Argus, I used dried apricot. Wah, milk choco chunks - it's sinfully rich. May try the blondie version later. Will get the kids to do it on their own. I fork out the ingredients, they do the work, everyone get to eat. Fair deal.
Wah, Lydia, you're a genius mother. For extra protein, one can add other fav nuts as well, ya?
I just saw your brownie recipe. I've been looking for one. Hmmm..think I'll keep the fat content ;-) I love rich chocolatey brownies!
Hi Wok&Spoon, can u believe the original Jamie Oliver recipe required 250g of butter?!
See here:
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/
dessert/bloomin_brilliant_brownies
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