Squidgy spelt brownies.
There’s something about doing something different than most people that I just love, it’s just who I am, and I can’t help myself. Of course, I experiemented with a brownie. Over covid so many people asked me for brownie recipes, and although I have cookie dough brownies + blondies I don’t have a bog standard brownie recipe, I thought this was going to be the one, but it does have a little twist. Let me explain.
Like most things that are more wholegrain, their more flavoursome, you get that nutty, yummy flavour that in this, works so bloody well.
the dark chocolate, it needs to be tasty before you start, I’ve issues with people using cooking chocolate, I’m not even going to go there. If the chocolate tastes not so great to start, it’s hardly going to have some magical transformation in the oven. 70% is what I’ve used here. No need to be too anal about how you chop this up for melting, just make sure the bits you hold back for the top aren’t too small, or the mix will swallow them up. Smaller ones are lighter and will float on the surface.
These really don’t need anything with them, but to guild the lily, a little salted butterscotch, from the fridge, on a warm brownie is something I won’t argue with. I love serving warm brownies to the table with a little (or large) pot of chilled butterscotch, for everyone to scoop and smear onto their brownies. There’s something about a cold butterscotch that’s far more appealing than it’s warm bubbly sister.
Makes 20 squares
150g butter
300g dark chocolate, chopped
4eggs
150g light brown sugar
150g caster sugar
100g spelt flour
150g self raising flour
pinch fine sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt flakes
You could pop your oven on first to give it a bit of time to heat at 180C, fan. Grease and line a 30 x 20cm deep sided tray with parchment paper.
Get the butter and 250g of the chocolate into a medium sized bowl to melt. This can be in 30 second blasts in the microwave (stir after every thirty seconds or you’ll be left but knobbly hard burnt bits) or, over a pot of gently simmering water. Set aside to cool a little.
whisk the eggs and sugars together until pretty light and fluffy, don’t go too far through, too many air bubbles will mean we’re setting ourselves up for a potential flopping brownie post getting baked. We all know how that ends, badly.
Stir through the flours, pinch fine sea salt and baking powder along with the melted chocolate mix. Don’t over-mix.
Pour into your prepared tin, all recipes say in step one to grease and line the tin but chances are, right now you’re frantically scrambling for a bitta’ kitchen paper, soft butter + parchment to get something into that tin. Once you get there, pour in the mix, smoothen out that surface and sprinkle with the remaining chocolate + sea salt flakes.
Bake for 25 minutes on the middle shelf. remove and allow to cool almost completely in the tin, don’t try moving it when it’s still hot, you’ll end up with cake crumble all over the counter. Cut into 20 squares, or take the tray to bed with a spoon and watch normal people on repeat.
