Mint chocolate brownies

Brownies are something that I dont actually make that often, I'm not really sure why in all honesty as they are actually so easy and you can make up all sorts of flavours from the classic sticky chocolate to out of the box rocky road brownies.

I decided to go with mint chocolate brownies this time around as we are in December which for fellow foodies and bakers means Christmas preps, and I think mint is a classic flavour for this time of year.


For my mint chocolate brownies you will need :

250g unsalted butter
250g dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
4 large free range eggs
250g caster sugar
2 heaped tablespoons self raising flour
2 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder
1 bag aero mint bubbles
1 box mint matchmakers

• Start by preheating your oven to 160c (fan), grease and line a 20cm tin.
• Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a simmering pan of water. Once melted, set aside to slightly cool.
• Whilst the melted chocolate is cooling, whisk together the eggs and caster sugar in a freestanding mixer or an electric whisk. The eggs should be pale and fluffy and almost double their volume.
• Stir in the cooled melted chocolate, and stir through gently to combine. Sieve over the cocoa powder and self raising flour and carefully stir together until all the flour is mixed in and their are no lumps.
• Pour the mixture into the lined tin and spread out evenly. Take the mint aero bubbles and gently press them into the batter - I used about half the packet. Then take the matchmakers, roughly snap them up and scatter all over the top of the brownie batter- I used almost the whole box
• Bake the brownies in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until crisp on the top and just slightly soft.
• Leave to cool slightly before cutting. Serve warm with Ice cream or cooled completely on their own.

Deluxe chocolate orange brownies

I genuinely LOVE brownies .. Not just because they're a perfect combination of  having a crispy outside and and scrumptious chewy and gooey inside as well as tasting divine straight out the oven or actually even better the next day, but that the flavour combinations are pretty much endless. 

After experimenting around with a few flavours, so far this recipe is one of my favourites - made that little bit extra special with fresh orange zest and Terrys chocolate orange 

For 9 brownies you will need 

85g butter

140g caster sugar

100g soft brown sugar

125g orange chocolate*

2 eggs

zest of 1 whole orange

100g plain flour 

1/2 tsp baking powder 

2 tsp cocoa powder

6-8 Terrys Chocolate orange slices

icing sugar to dust (optional)

• Preheat your oven 180c/ 350f/ Gas mark 4, grease a 20cm / 8 inch square tin, and line the base with greaseproof paper.
• In a bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt together the sugars, chocolate and butter until smooth and completely combined. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool 
• In another bowl, whisk the eggs together with an electric whisk till light and fluffy and almost doubled in volume.
• Sieve the flour and baking powder into the whisked egg, add in the zest, pour in the cooled meted chocolate and fold in quickly but gently with a metal spoon** 
• Pour the mixture into the tin, place the slices of terrys chocolate orange over the top and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the top is crisp and the edges of the brownie shrink away from the tin. 
• Leave to cool slightly and finish off with a light dusting of icing sugar and serve 

*I used Terrys Chocolate orange, you can use whatever you personally prefer- for extra indulgence  I'd do a swap for Green and Blacks chocolate orange 

** Using a metal spoon helps fold in quicker than a wooden spoon would as well as keeping is as much air as possible to keep the fluffiness in your brownies