Page 22 - TheWord#16

22 February 2017. RECIPES www.thewordmedia.org.uk

Brownies

Yesterday, because I’m a bit like that, I thought ‘I wonder
what would happen if I just blitzed all the ingredients for brown-
ies in a blender, poured it into the tin and baked it’. What hap-
pened was they came out exactly the same as when I’ve done it
the proper way and I had brownies in under 30 minutes flat. The
Aztec element – those discoverers of the cocoa bean who used
it to make a bitter, spicy drink – was a good pinch of chilli and a
quarter of a teaspoon each of cinnamon, ground star anise and
ground caraway seeds added to the mixture. You can use any
spices you fancy – cardamom would be nice -although I’d proba-
bly steer clear of cumin. No-one wants a curry brownie.

To glaze the top I added water to my own home-made chilli
jam (but you can buy it in most supermarkets), strained out the
chilli bits and brushed it on while the brownie was still hot. The
brownie recipe I used is below, but I reckon any recipe will work
by just putting it all in the blender until it’s smooth, pouring it
into the tin (I use those silicon sheets – you don’t even have to
grease them) and baking at 170 or gas mark 3 for 20 minutes.
That may not seem like long but it’s enough, as long as the egg
is cooked it’s fine to eat and the less time it has in the oven, the
higher the squidge factor.

Ingredients
• 200g dark chocolate (I used Tesco’s 85%)
• 200g sugar
• 100g butter
• 4 eggs
• 60g plain flour
• 60g cocoa powder
• Pinch of sea salt
• Spices of your choice
• 2 tablespoons chilli jam/jelly

Method – as above.