First of all, I would like to announce that I have now in my possession a fancy new Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini which has a lovely crisp camera. Seeing as said phone can connect to the internet, it makes attaching photos to my blog posts so much easier than the way I had been doing it up until this point, which was using my point-and-click camera and uploading the photos from the SD card, which could be fiddly at times.
But back to the recipe.
I love mint. I absolutely love mint. I love mint so much I wish everything in the world could taste of mint. Mint, mint, mint!
And in saying that, I think mint chocolate is one of the World's best things (apart from orange chocolate), which means a mint chocolate brownie is probably infinitely better than than a regular brownie. So, I thought it would be appropriate to mark my return to baking after six weeks of a hiatus with something awesome: I baked a whole tray of mint brownies for a birthday party I had been invited to and they went down very well!
When I was decorating the surface with dark chocolate glaze and white chocolate glaze (half white, half green) I noticed that it had a very camouflage look about it, and thought that it would be cool for an airsofting party or anything army themed.
Also, I have come to appreciate the convenience of recyclable foil tins. This was a large tin so I increased the recipe by half to fit.
FREE FROM
☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Wheat
CONTAINS
☒ Gluten
☒ Dairy (use ingredients in italics for a dairy-free version)
☒ Eggs
☒ Refined sugar products
☒ Cocoa products
INGREDIMENTS
For the brownies:
- 5 ounces (115 grammes) spelt flour
- 2 ounces (55 grammes) cornflour
- Pinch of salt
- 4 ounces (115 grammes) brown sugar
- 2 ounces (55 grammes) caster sugar
- 2 medium eggs, at room temperature
- 4 ounces (115 grammes) butter, melted
- 2 ounces (55 grammes) sunflower oil
- 3½ ounces (100 grammes) chocolate (at least 55% cocoa), melted and slightly cooled
- 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
- ½ teaspoon (3 millilitres) peppermint essence
- NO RAISING AGENT, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND GRACIOUS
For the glaze:
- 4 ounces (115 grammes) white chocolate
- 2 ounces (55 grammes) milk or dark chocolate
- 1½ fluid ounces (45 millilitres) sunflower oil
- Peppermint essence
- Green food colouring
HOW-TO
For the brownies:
- Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F, Gas Mark 3). Grease and thoroughly flour a 9x7 inch (23x18 centimetre) tin, or line with non-stick baking paper.
- Sieve together the cornflour, spelt flour and salt into a bowl and set aside for later.
- Put the eggs and sugar in a heatproof mixing bowl (preferably glass) and set over a pan of simmering water and stir until sugar has melted.
- Remove from the heat and beat the mixture with an electric hand mixer or balloon whisk until pale, thick and doubled in size. You could do with without the water bath, but it’s take too long to beat out the lumps in the brown sugar; the heat speeds this process up a little.
- Like with my sponge cake recipe, melt the butter and oil together and pour into the eggs and sugar mixture gradually, beating all the time.
- Add the vanilla essence and then, in a thin stream, beat in the cooled, melted chocolate.
- Using a rubber spatula or metal spoon, fold in the the flour mixture, bit by bit.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, and firmly tap it a few times off the kitchen top to release any trapped bubbles.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until spongy to touch and a cocktail stick stuck in the middle comes out with two or three sticky crumbs are clinging to it.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin.
For the glaze:
- Melt the white chocolate with 1 fluid ounce of the oil and a few drops of peppermint essence either in a bowl over hot water or in short bursts in the microwave.
- Melt the milk or dark chocolate with the remaining oil and another few drops of peppermint essence in the same way.
- Drizzle half the white chocolate over the top of the brownies, then colour the remaining white chocolate a pale minty green. Use the remaining chocolate glazes to decorate the brownies.
- Allow to set completely before cutting into squares.
THIS TIME LAST YEAR: How to Use and Abuse Royal Icing
No comments:
Post a Comment