Black, White and Orange Brownie

The traditional dark chocolate brownie is such a winner at home and with friends that I end up making it a little too often. I can see that the creative cook in me is taking a backseat when someone asks me to make dessert and all I can think of is chocolate brownie. So this time, I made my brownie alright, but with a welcome twist.

It’s got white chocolate instead of dark; but since it’s called “brownie”, I retained the brown colour by not eliminating the cocoa bit. What makes this a good deal yummier than the usual is that I’ve also added freshly squeezed orange juice and orange rind to it. The slight bitterness imparted by the orange rind is nicely balanced by the extra sweetness of white chocolate. All in all, the flavours marry well, and I’m glad I’ve found a way of making chocolate brownie more interesting. As though that’s even possible!

Serves: 6-8 people

Prep time: 15min

Cooking time: 35min (includes baking time of 20min)

Cooking tray: 25cm baking tin

Ingredients

Brownie

75g white chocolate shards

175g unsalted butter

300g caster sugar

100g cocoa powder

150g plain flour sifted with 1tsp baking powder

1tsp vanilla essence

4 eggs, whisked

50g walnuts chopped roughly

Juice of one orange, freshly squeezed

1 tsp orange rind

Icing

50g white chocolate

50ml fresh double cream, room temperature

1 orange peeled and deseeded

3-4 fresh mint sprigs

Method

Preheat oven to 190°C. Line a 25cm baking tin with butter, keep aside.

Whisk 4 eggs in a bowl, add vanilla essence, whisk some more and keep aside.

Heat a non-stick saucepan on a medium flame. Place the butter, sugar and cocoa in the saucepan and stir till the sugar and butter melt. Gently stir, bringing the mixture together till it turns smooth and gooey. Add the sifted flour slowly, folding it in evenly. Remove the saucepan from the flame. Add the whisked eggs (with vanilla essence mixed added to it already) to the cocoa-butter-sugar mix, making sure that the heat of the pan doesn’t scramble the eggs. Work fast, adding the white chocolate shards, orange juice, orange rind, and chopped walnuts to the pan, mixing all ingredients well. Quickly transfer the mixture to the greased baking tin and bake at 190°C in a preheated oven for 20min.

Allow resting time of 30 minutes.

For the icing, melt white chocolate shards on a double boiler till smooth, removing lumps and whisking gently till the chocolate has completely melted. Remove from flame and add double cream, mix well, and quickly pour over the surface of the brownie. Garnish with fresh mint sprigs and peeled orange pieces.

Chocolate Walnut Brownie

What can I say about the classic chocolate walnut brownie? It’s soft yet crumbly, with the bittersweet punch of dark chocolate and the delicate crunch of walnuts. This one is my personal favourite, and I definitely eat a huge piece every time I make it! I can’t imagine thinking of the calories when a scrumptious chunk of brownie is staring at me!

There are a million recipes for a classic chocolate brownie, but I can reassure you that this one is a full-proof one! It’s tried, tested and tasted. The ingredients are easy to find, the cooking time minimal, the taste spectacular and therefore, your admirers many!

Serves: 10
Prep time: 10min
Cooking time: 35min (includes baking time of 20min)

Ingredients
75g dark chocolate chips
175g unsalted butter
300g caster sugar
100g cocoa powder
150g plain flour sifted with 1tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla essence
4 eggs, whisked
50g walnuts chopped roughly
25cm baking tin
Fresh double cream for serving

Method
Preheat oven to 190°C. Line a 25cm baking tin with butter, keep aside.

Whisk 4 eggs in a bowl, add vanilla essence, whisk some more and keep aside.

Heat a non-stick saucepan on a medium flame. Place the butter, sugar and cocoa in the saucepan and stir till the sugar and butter melt. Gently stir, bringing the mixture together till it turns smooth and gooey. Add the sifted flour slowly, folding it in evenly. Remove the saucepan from the flame. Add the whisked eggs (with vanilla essence mixed added to it already) to the cocoa-butter-sugar mix, making sure that the heat of the pan doesn’t scramble the eggs. Work fast, adding the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts to the pan, mixing all ingredients well. Quickly transfer the mixture to the greased baking tin and bake at 190°C in a preheated oven for 20min.

Allow resting time of 10-20min. Serve warm with fresh double cream.

Bench notes
The actual cooking time for the brownie (on the flame) is just about 5min. You need to work fast once the mixture is off the flame, as the butter will begin to cool down and thicken the mixture. This will make it hard for you to mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts evenly. The key is to keep everything ready before you start.

While adding the eggs to the pan, make sure that you create a layer of the cocoa mix at the bottom of the saucepan and pour the eggs onto this layer. Do not pour the eggs directly onto the hot bottom surface of the pan; this might scramble the eggs!

If you want to brown/crisp the upper surface of the brownie a tad more, adjust your oven so that the brownie is grilled just from the coil above for an extra 3-4min. Be careful (keep an eagle eye!), as the top surface turns black very easily, making it brittle, but retaining a soft interior. This might create a mess (crumbling brownie!) when you try to cut the brownie up for serving.

It keeps for 3-4days on the bench and for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. If you decide to refrigerate, be sure to warm it up in the oven/microwave before you eat it!

Coffee and walnut mousse

I have to begin with admitting that this recipe is borrowed from a very dear friend and full credit goes to her for its taste and simplicity. This is a very versatile recipe, and you can replace the coffee in the mousse with any other flavouring. Use fresh mangoes, strawberries or even melted dark chocolate instead of the coffee.

I used Columbian coffee for the flavouring but you can use any instant coffee with a strong and aromatic flavour. My version of the mousse leaves a mild bitter aftertaste in your mouth (which gives it its charm!), so add sugar as per your preferred degree of sweetness.



Serves: 12 (shot glasses)
Prep time: 15 min
Cooking time: 40 min

Ingredients
Mousse base
100g Chocolate cream biscuits
1tbsp unsalted butter

Filling
4 tbsp Custard powder (vanilla flavour)
500ml Full cream milk
150ml Double cream
1 tsp Coffee essence/coffee powder dissolved in 2tbsp milk
1 tbsp unsalted butter
125g caster sugar
2tbsp walnuts roughly chopped
12 choco sticks for garnish

Method
Pulse the chocolate cream biscuits in a blender with 1 tbsp unsalted butter to form a fine rubble. Spoon this soft rubble into the shot glasses, pressing down with an inverted thin-necked bottle to get a smooth top surface. Refrigerate the shot glasses till you make your filling.

In a bowl, add custard powder and 25% of the milk. Whisk till you get a smooth mixture without any lumps. Place the remainder of the milk in a thick-bottomed non-stick saucepan and bring to a boil. On a reduced flame, add the custard mix slowly to the boiling milk, stirring continuously for 3-4 min. Set aside and allow the custard to cool.

To the cooled custard, add the double cream, coffee powder, 1 tbsp unsalted butted, and caster sugar. Transfer this final mixture into a blender and pulse till the mixture attains a smooth consistency.

Pull out the chilled shot glasses from the refrigerator and spoon the final mousse into these glasses. Garnish with chopped walnuts and choco sticks. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours allowing the mousse to set completely. Serve cold.

Bench notes before you begin

• Your final mousse mix should be thick, with a spooning and not a pouring consistency.
• If your final mousse mix is too runny, feel free to make some more thick custard and add to the mixture.
• DO NOT chill the mousse in a deep freeze. This spoils the consistency of the mousse.
• If you plan to use dark chocolate in the recipe instead of the coffee, place the dark chocolate into a heat-proof bowl. Create a double boiler by placing the bowl of chocolate over a saucepan of simmering water (approximately 3-4cms deep). Slowly melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally until the chocolate is silky smooth. Set aside to cool. If the chocolate is too thick and burning on the sides add 2-3tbsp of water to the chocolate while melting.