Brownie bites

These would be my most requested dessert from people. My Mum goes crazy over them. They are very rich, fudgey and chocolatey.

As they are rich, a little goes a long way. Each bite should be approx 1 table spoon.


Note that this recipe will make A LOT of brownie bites. This is not a bad thing as they are really popular, however the other option is to save half the recipe to eat as regular brownies and use the remaining mixture for brownie bites. Both the brownie and brownie bites do freeze really well though.


To cover the brownie bites, the amount of chocolate needed will depend on various factors including how thickly you coat the bites and whether you are making the whole quantity of bites at once. If you are freezing some of the bites to use for another occasion, I freeze them uncoated.

Ingredients:
Brownies 
Chocolate ganache (1/2 recipe)


Chocolate, melted - the type you use is optional. I used a combination of milk and dark.
1 tbs oil for every cup of chocolate (optional - to make it smoother)


Decoration
Mini easter eggs - or anything you like, the possibilities are endless.

Method:

Make brownies according to the recipe and allow to cool before crumbling into a bowl and mixing in the ganache. Use your hands - it is much easier that using a spoon! Alternatively place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.


You want to achieve a texture similar to the centre of a truffle. Put mixture in fridge to cool for 15 minutes.

Roll into small balls (e.g. about a tablespoon size). At this stage, because I was making nests, I pushed my thumb into the centre of them to make a well. 

Pop them in the freezer for 30 minutes or so...this makes them easier to handle for the following steps.

Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Dip balls into chocolate. This is the hardest part. After doing a few you will get into a rhythm though. I found it easiest to use a couple of spoons. Be sure to shake of the excess melted chocolate otherwise you will really just end up with messy brownie bites with chocolate drips.
Add your decorations. Leave to set, either at room temperature or in the fridge. 


Notes:
Add your decorations fast as they will rely on the melted chocolate to adhere to the brownie bite. 
You can make them into different shapes

For decoration, you are only limited by your imagination. See here for a Christmas version.

Christmas pudding brownie bites

So... it is already February and I am doing a Christmas post? It is waaaaaay too late. But I have an excuse.... we have been very busy. We have bought sold a unit and bought a house. We have packed up 5  years worth of stuff and moved it. And that isn't even taking into account the usual things in life that keep us busy... such as our jobs.


Christmas pudding brownie bites
Ingredients:
1/2 quantity of brownies
1/4 quantity of chocolate ganache
Melted dark chocolate
Melted white chocolate
Red and green candy decorations


Method:
Make brownies according to the recipe and allow to cool before crumbling into a bowl and mixing in the ganache. Use your hands - it is much easier that using a spoon! You want to achieve a texture similar to the centre of a truffle. Put mixture in fridge to cool for an hour.
Roll into small balls (e.g. about a tablespoon size - they may look small, but they are rich). Pop them in the freezer for an hour or so...this makes them easier to handle for the following steps.
Melt dark chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Dip balls into chocolate. This is the hardest part. After doing a few you will get into a rhythm though. I found it easiest to use a couple of spoons. Be sure to shake of the excess melted chocolate otherwise you will really just end up with messy brownie bites with chocolate drips.
Leave to set, either at room temperature or in the fridge. Melt white chocolate and use approx 1/2-3/4 tbs to drizzle over each of the brownie bites. Work quickly to add the "holly" garnish, by simply sticking them on while the white chocoloate is still soft. 

Seriously good brownies....with caramello chocolate

There is something wonderfully tempting about a gooey, chocolately brownie. They are not the most attractive of baked goods, and are definitely not neat and pretty like a cupcake. But seriously.... to me at least, the gooier the brownie looks, the better. The brownies have a lovely shiny top due to heating of the sugar/butter mixture for a second time (and ultimately dissolving more of the sugar).

These are good just the way they are, but also easily adaptable. Add-ins are only limited by your imagination.

This recipe is adapted from Beantown Baker, but originally came from a US flour company.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups cocoa
Sprinkle of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 cup dark chocolate pieces

1/2 cup milk chocolate pieces

1 cup caramel chocolate pieces

Method:

Preheat the oven to 176 degrees C. Grease and line a 22cm x 33 baking pan (approx).

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Remove from the heat and mix in the sugar until combined. Return the pan to the heat just until the mixture is hot, but you don't want it to bubble. Stir continuously - it should look lovely and glossy.

Pop the butter/sugar mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add the cocoa, salt, baking powder and vanilla. Add in the eggs, mixing until smooth.

Mix in the flour and chocolate, stirring until combined. Be careful not to over mix.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for approx 25-30 minutes, until the brownie edges are set and firm but the centre is still a little gooey (not uncooked though!).

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes.  Carefully remove from pan and allow to cool further. If you can resist, leave to cool completely for easier cutting.

Chocolate Brownie Roll-Out Cookies two ways

We are in the process of putting our home up for sale. It is a small, two bedroom unit (i.e. a "shoebox") and we have basically out-grown it. Because weekends are filled with open for inspections (and the house will have to look spotless at all times), I decided to impose a baking ban on myself. So I (sadly) pack up the majority of my baking stuff - cupcake and cake pans, the electric mixer, food processor, rolling pin - basically everything except a set of measuring cups and one mixing bowl. All of it is now stored in boxes at my parents house (including, it seems, half the contents of our house - thanks heaps Mum and Dad!) This baking ban lasted one week - I felt like I was going crazy! So I panicked - and decided that I had just enough equipment at home to make these cookies...if I used a wine bottle to roll them out.I was confident I would have all the ingredients, so I got to work. I realised I didn't have sugar, and I was about 2 tablespoons short of cocoa! Luckily the wonderful Mr X came to the rescue and picked them up from the supermarket on his way home.


The original recipe leaves them plain and un-iced but I decided to top half with chocolate ganache and the remaining half with caramel.

Cookie recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
Cookies
3 cups plain flour
pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup salted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste 
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

Chocolate ganache
100g dark chocolate, chopped
100g milk chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup thickened cream


Cheats caramel
1 can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbs golden syrup
2 tbs brown sugar


Method:
Cookies
Preheat oven to 176 degrees C. Line baking trays with baking paper. 
Mix flour, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside. Pop the softened butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa in a large bowl and beat to combine (or mix with a spoon, it works fine). Gradually add in the flour, and mix until just combined. The dough should be nice and smooth. Wrap in cling wrap and pop in the fridge for one hour, or roll out dough and cut into shapes and then pop in the fridge. I rolled out the dough immediately and cut into shapes, and this worked well. The dough was really easy to work with - I spread out some baking paper, sprinkled out a little cocoa and shaped the dough into a roll. I placed another piece of baking paper on top, then used a rolling pin wine bottle. I rolled the dough out to a thickness of about 7cm.

I chose three cookie cutters all roughly the same size (small, 3-4 cm wide). Cut out the cookies and transfer to the baking tray. They don't spread during baking so they can be placed relatively close together.

Bake 6 to 10 minutes (baking time will depend on thickness of cookies and size of your cookie cutters. Watch them closely during last stages of baking - you want the edges firm and the centres still a bit soft and puffy (this puffiness settles on cooling.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Chocolate ganache
To make the ganache, put cream in a microwave safe jug and put it in the microwave on medium for one minute. Stir, then return to microwave for another 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and add chocolate, stirring regularly until chocolate is melted and incorporated. Put aside to cool.


Cheats caramel filling
To make the cheats caramel, put sweetened condensed milk in the microwave on medium for four minutes on medium, stirring every few minutes. Return to microwave and reduce heat to medium/low for a further 6 to 8 minutes, stirring regularly. It will start to thicken and the colour will become deeper. Remove from microwave, add golden syrup and mix well. Add brown sugar and mix well. Return to microwave on med/low for a minute. Stir again and set aside to cool and thicken.


Assembling the cookies
Dip a cookie in the ganache, coating it evenly. Lightly tap off excess. Repeat with half the remaining cookies. Leave to dry.

Put some of the cheats caramel into a piping bag and pipe a dollop onto a cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies.

Triple chocolate brownies

I found this recipe on the Exclusively Food website - it is a great site with many delicious recipes that I want to try. If only I had more time to bake! Featuring dark, milk and white chocolate, it is lovely and dense and oh so chocolatey.


Straight out of the oven it is moist and a little bit gooey in the centre. The chocolate chunks are melted and soft. Yum. Other ways that it can be eaten are at room temperature, or from the fridge, when the brownie is still fudgey and the chocolate is firm. To make it even more rich, you could serve it warm with chocolate sauce drizzled over it.


Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C, and grease and line a 20 x 20 cm square cake tin (I used a silicon one).
Serves approx 12 people


Ingredients:
For the brownie batter
125g butter, room temperature
150g milk chocolate, chopped up or broken into pieces
50g dark chocolate, chopped up or broken into pieces
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
3/4 + 1 tbs plain flour
1/4 cup self-raising flour


For the chocolate chunks (to add to the brownie batter)
125g dairy milk chocolate, chopped into chunks
125 white chocolate (I used Milky bar), chopped into chunks
Note - you could use top deck or other chocolate (Caramello, perhaps?)


Place the milk chocolate and dark chocolate (from batter ingredients) into a microwave safe bowl, and microwave in bursts on medium until just melted (check and stir frequently - you don't want the chocolate to burn, what a waste of chocolate that would be!). Place in mixing bowl. Melt butter, then add it to the melted chocolate and stir. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Once the chocolate/butter mixture has cooled, add in the sugar and eggs, stirring to combine. Add the two flours and mix.
Add the chocolate chunks to the batter, stir to combine.
Poor into prepared baking pan, and place in the oven for 25-35 minutes, depending on your oven. You really need to be careful not to over bake - bake until still soft in centre, but cooked through. Once cooled, it will firm up. I know that sounds a little vague, but just watch it carefully in final minutes of baking and you will know what I mean!

Dust with icing sugar if desired.


Shoeboxgirl