Ingredients

400g dark chocolate, broken into chunks

25g cocoa powder

250g golden caster sugar

250g butter, plus extra for greasing the tin

1 tbsp ground ginger

140g ground almonds

6 large eggs, separated

For the icing

100g butter, chopped

50g dark chocolate, broken into chunks

200g icing sugar, sifted

2 tbsp ground ginger

A few chunks of crystallised ginger, cut into small chunks

Method

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease a 20 x 30cm cake tin, and line the base and sides with baking parchment. Melt the chocolate, cocoa, sugar and butter together in a saucepan over a very low heat. Once the chocolate and butter have melted and sugar dissolved, remove from the heat and stir in the ginger and almonds, followed by the egg yolks, one at a time

2. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Using a metal spoon, stir a couple of spoonfuls of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to loosen before very gently folding in the rest.

3. Gently scrape into the tin. Bake for 30-35 mins until the top looks set and the centre doesn’t wobble too much. Sit the cake tin on a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

4. Once cool, make the icing. Put the butter, chocolate, cocoa, icing sugar, ground ginger and 4 tbsp water in a pan. Gently heat, stirring, until you have a smooth icing. Pour over the cake (still in its tin), leave for 1-2 mins to cool slightly, then scatter over the ginger. Cool completely (you can also store in the fridge if you bring out to room temperature about 20 mins before serving) before cutting into bars.

The photos don’t do these chocolate gingerbread brownies with fudgy icing much justice! Needless to say, they weren’t around for long.

This post is part of my photos for #ColourMyEveryDay – an Instagram photo challenge with @adventuresandteaparties. Find out more about it in my previous post, where I also shared some lovely autumnal recipes. What new recipes have you been making recently?

Post updated 12th February 2020.

The post Chocolate gingerbread brownies with fudgy icing appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Hello friends! Sorry for being a bit quiet here lately – the weeks are just going by so fast! Not long until I go back to the day job so I’m enjoying every moment with Little One. Have you made any Christmassy plans? I’ve been working on a few handmade bits that I can’t share with you yet…and also doing a bit of baking. I love trying out new recipes for Christmas each year, and this one is so good. These Christmas brownies are the perfect treat – the fruit, nuts, hint of spice and brandy all work so well with the chocolate. They really are a taste of Christmas! Even Tom enjoyed them and he’s not usually a fan of fruit and nuts, so that’s saying something!

This recipe is originally from the BBC Food website.

Ingredients

30ml/1fl oz/2 tbsp brandy

100g/3½oz dried cranberries

300g/10½oz dark chocolate, broken into chunks

200g/7oz butter

4 free-range eggs

300g/10½oz light muscovado sugar

200g/7oz plain flour

1 tsp mixed spice

100g/3½oz pecans, roughly chopped icing sugar, to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and line a 30x20cm/12x8in tin with baking parchment.

2. Gently heat the brandy then add the cranberries and leave to soak while you prepare the brownie mix.

3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, or in the microwave. Stir gently until smooth then set aside to cool slightly.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until pale and fluffy.

5. Whisk the chocolate and butter mix into the eggs then gently fold in the flour, mixed spice, pecans, cranberries and brandy until fully incorporated.

6. Pour into the prepared tin, smooth the surface then bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the brownie is firm to the touch.

7. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then place on a wire rack until cooled completely. Once cool, cut into squares and dust the tops with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

The post Christmas brownies appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Ingredients

200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
175g unsalted butter
325g caster sugar
130g plain flour
3 eggs
Icing sugar for dusting

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Boil the kettle and line the tin.

2. Put the chocolate and butter into a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (use the boiling water from the kettle to make this quicker). Don’t let the base of the bowl touch the water, and leave until melted and smooth.

3. Remove from the heat. Add the sugar and stir really well until incorporated. Add the flour and then stir really well.

4. Add the eggs (all in one go – not like a cake!) and mix until thick and smooth. (It might seem like it will never mix, but keep going!)

5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tray and bake in the oven for about 30-35 minutes, or until flaky on the top but still soft in the centre. Be careful not to overcook otherwise the edges will become hard and crunchy.

6. Leave to cool completely before slicing and dusting with icing sugar. As you can see, this isn’t my strong point – I end up with loads or hardly any! The book says this make about 12, but if you use good quality chocolate they will be really rich, so I cut them into 18 pieces.

7. Enjoy your brownies with a cuppa

The post The Hummingbird Bakery Traditional Brownie appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.