Now that my baking is getting more regular, the rumours have spread around the offices that I bring cakes to work. So the other week I offered to make something for one of the teams over the road. I gave them my ‘want to bake at some point’ list and they chose Ferrero Rocher Brownies.
I love Ferrero Rocher, but I never buy them for myself. They are always something I hope to get a box of at Christmas or for my birthday and I’m not often let down. So I was pretty excited when they said this was what they wanted. It also scared me…my husband is a brownie connoisseur so I knew they had to be good to impress him!
So yeah, I made these last weekend, not today. Today I am having a Sunday off as I may have offered to make a rather large batch of cupcakes tomorrow! Although it’s raining and miserable so I may get the apron out at some point…not sure if I’ll be able to resist it on a day like this! Or maybe I’ll just have a cup of cake tea instead!
This recipe is adapted from Cannella Vita. Mine may have had a little orangey taste to them because I didn’t read the ingredients list properly before I sent my husband to the shop. I just read 1 pound of chocolate and didn’t do the maths correctly. So when he came back with a 100g bar I then had to search the house for another 350g dark chocolate! I just about managed to scrape it together but my only option was to use a bar of Green and Blacks Maya Gold which is infused with orange and spices….but it still worked and tasted good. Proof that it’s possible to improvise when baking!
[callout title=Ingredients]
- 170g butter
- 450g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 100g plain flour
- 4 large eggs
- 400g brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Ferrero Rocher chocolates – I used 1 box of 12 but you could use as many or as little as you want!
[/callout]
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170°C and butter a 9×13 inch baking dish
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.
- Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. If the heat from the butter does not fully melt the chocolate, put the pan back over the heat for 10 seconds and stir until melted
- Set aside to cool
- Sift the flour into a small mixing bowl. Set aside
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla
- Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until the mixture thickens and becomes pale in colour – 4 to 5 minutes
- Using a rubber spatula, fold the cooled chocolate into the egg mixture
- Add the flour and fold it in quickly but gently with the rubber spatula so that you don’t deflate the air that’s been incorporated into the eggs
- Pour the batter into the prepared dish and smooth the top with a spatula
- Drop the Ferraro Rocher evenly throughout the brownie batter (I chopped mine in half first but it depends what you want!)
- Make sure you cover each Ferraro Rocher with a bit of brownie batter so their tops don’t get burned while baking
- Bake until the top looks slightly cracked and feels soft to the touch, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
- Using a sharp knife, cut into 12 squares, or size desired. The brownies will keep in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 1 week
These brownies actually got better with age. I kept a few slices for us and we had them with our lunch. We ate the last pieces on the Wednesday (I made them on Sunday) and we both said how they had improved – they got denser and just tasted great. So my advice would be to wait. Bake them a day or two before you want everyone to eat them. Although it may not be that easy – these are tasty brownies.
Oh and what did the connoisseur say I hear you ask?….”Bloody Lovely!”
Oh dear, going to have to try this! Bangor goes te diet. AGAIN, lol. X
Bangor! Where did that cone from?