Terry's chocolate orange brownies..

Needless to say I have a sweet tooth. It's inevitable I would go sweet food over savoury food all day every day. Well...maybe not when it comes to pizza...A sweet pizza now there's a thought. Getting side tracked again; essentially there are some things in life that are meant to go together. Fish & Chips, Sausage and Mash, Cake and Custard, Jam and Bread...okay I think you get the idea, and one of those all time classic combinations for me is Chocolate and Orange. The tangy orange and the dark bitter sweet flavour of these brownies really makes you question whether there is such thing as eating too many brownies.

 

Ingredients: Makes 9 squares

300g of Dark Chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

250g Butter

3 Eggs

250g of Dark Brown Sugar

100g Plain Flour

1/2tsp Baking Powder

1/2tsp Vanilla Paste/Extract

3-4 Terries Chocolate Orange Bars

 

Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 170 degrees, put your oven shelf on the middle rack and grease and line a 22cm square cake tin with baking paper or greaseproof paper.



 

2.  Roughly chop your chocolate and butter into chunks and set aside.

 



3. Place a pan of water on a medium head and put a heat proof bowl on the top, put your butter, chocolate and 1 bar of your terry's chocolate orange into the bowl. Make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water as this will burn the chocolate.

 

4.  Melt all the ingredients together till you have a smooth bowl of liquid chocolate. Resist temptation to sit with two spoons and some marshmallows and eat the full lot, it's worth waiting! Take the bowl off the hot water and leave to cool.

 

5. Now in another bowl, add your 3 eggs and half a tea spoon of vanilla paste, vanilla extract works just as well but this stuff seriously is so good and a little goes a long way.

 

 



6. Then add your brown sugar and whisk together for around 2-3 minutes till the mixture is pale and fluffy.

 

7. Once your bowl of chocolate has cooled down, it is important to leave it to cool completely because if you add it while its hot it will scramble the eggs. As nice as the thought of chocolate scrambled eggs sounds...I think I like the sound of chocolate brownies better. Add your chocolate to the edge of the bowl because that way, you wont knock the air out of your whisked eggs.

 

8. Whisk the chocolate and egg mixture together, if it is not combining as well as it should, add a table spoonful of flower and that should do the trick. Now sift in the flour and baking powder to the mix.

 

9. Fold the flour through the batter, being careful not to knock out the air you whisked into the egg mix.

 

10. Now add your broken pieces of terry's chocolate orange into the batter, I like to keep the chunks quite large so there are pieces of melted chocolate in each brownie.

 

11. Once the chocolate chunks are folded through the batter, pour the batter into your prepared tin, making sure that all the edges are filled and the top is level.

12. Now add the remaining chocolate bars or bars depending if you used 4 (I did because there is no such thing as too much chocolate).

 








13. Place it in the pre-heated oven for 35 minutes, ovens vary so you may need a little longer or a little less time. Here are a few tips for perfect brownies:

• Never bake till fully cooked in the middle as this results in a dry brownie.
• Resist temptation to open the oven, this will only slow down the cooking time.
• Don't turn your oven up because you think it isn't baking, it is be patient.
• Take it out when the sides are firm but the middle is just a little soft.

14. Take the brownies out of the oven and leave them to cool completely in the tin, this will continue cooking the middle but still keep it fudgy and chewy. Cut them into 9 squares or which ever you prefer, you could just eat the full thing but I really...probably not the best idea.

15. To finish, serve them on a plate with a dusting of icing sugar and enjoy.

 

You seriously can go wild and customise this recipe to your taste, you could do some of these options

• Salted Caramel and Popcorn
• Mint Chocolate and Aero
• Rocky Road (marshmallows, nuts and chocolate chips)
• Nutella with chunks of Kinder Bueno or Ferrero Rocher 

The possibilities are endless really. Be sure to give these brownies a go, they are the ultimate comfort food and can be enjoyed both hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or cold with a cup of coffee.

 

Enjoy and Happy Baking,

 

Luke.