Welcome back to my Blogmas! I hope you are enjoying the Christmas content. I’m starting to feel really festive now, especially after all the Christmas baking I’ve been up to! I wanted to incorporate some Christmas treats into my blogs and you can’t get more indulgent than Terry’s Chocolate Brownies! I’ve also whipped up an orange and cranberry shortbread recipe which will keep any visitors happy whilst popping in for last minute cups of tea. What do you like to bake at Christmas?
Recipe Terrys Chocolate Orange Brownies (makes 16)
(based on Lorraine Pascale’s Cookies & Cream Fudge Brownie Recipe)
165g unsalted butter
200g dark chocolate
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla extract
165g soft brown sugar
2 tbsp. plain flour
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
pink of salt
one Terry’s chocolate orange, broken up into segments
Equipment
20cm square baking tin
Method
- Preheat your oven to 1800C and line your baking tin with parchment paper.
- Heat the butter and chocolate in a microwave for 30 second intervals until melted. Stir in between intervals. Set aside to cool slightly.
- With an electric whisk, whisk the eggs, yolks and vanilla essence until light and fluffy. Then gradually add the sugar, whilst whisking, until the mixture has thickened. Pour the chocolate around the sides whilst whisking until combined. Be careful not to knock the air out of all your hard work!
- Sieve and fold in the flour and cocoa powder gently until combined.
- Pour the mixture into the lined baking tin. Place the Terry’s segments over the batter in a nice pattern and press down slightly.
- Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. The middle should be soft and gooey still but the top will start to crack.
- Leave the brownies to cool in the tin completely and then cut them into 16 portions. Leave to cook on a wired rack for good measure.
Recipe Cranberry and Orange Shortbread (makes about 10-12 rounds)
(based on the trusty shortbread recipe from Cooking Explained)
100g plain flour
50g cornflour
100g butter
50g caster sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cap full of vanilla essence
a splash of milk – ¼ tsp (to help combine)
orange zest of ½ an orange
35g of cranberries
Method
- Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl and knead the contents with your hands until a dough forms.
- Roll out the dough until about ½ inch thick on a floured surface. A trick is not to completely coat the worktop in flour but just a light dusting is fine. You only want enough flour to stop the mixture sticking and you want to avoid changing the proportions of the dough.
- Use a 6.5 cm diameter circular or similar shape cutter to cut 10-12 biscuits. I used a snowflake cutter!
- Place them on 1-2 baking trays, which have parchment paper on. Honestly parchment paper is the dream! No greasing needed and it doesn’t stick like greaseproof does!
- Bake in a preheated oven at 170oc for about 12-14 minutes until just slightly golden. Remember biscuits always firm up once baked so do not overcook them!
- Leave to cool and dust with icing sugar.
