Caramel-filled chocolate brownies

April 25, 2015April 25, 2015 | Caroline

These are based on the salted caramel brownies that Alexa Chung made on the recent Comic Relief Great British Bake Off. I made them for my boyfriend’s birthday as I wanted him to have something nice in his lunchbox at work; they also made for a quick dessert that evening at home (we had his family over for dinner). And they tasted amazing!

I followed the recipe which is here, though as I was short of time I used a tin of Carnation Caramel as the filling, which worked perfectly. I also added a little condensed milk to the brownie mixture as I had a tin open from another recipe and thought it might be nice!

Brownie mixture coming together – After preheating the oven, I spread half the brownie mixture into a greased pan and spread the caramel on top.

Then cover with the rest of the brownie mixture so there are no gaps.

When it has cooled, drizzle with melted white chocolate. You can see the caramel in the middle – these tasted amazing!

Mini Egg Chocolate Brownies

April 3, 2015April 3, 2015 | Caroline

Cadbury’s Mini Eggs are very popular in my house and the fact that they are only available around Easter makes them extra special! I bought a couple of packets and wanted to use them in baking – then my boyfriend ate them, so I bought some more – then he ate those, so I bought some more! Eventually I got around to choosing a recipe and for me there was one clear winner – Mini Egg chocolate brownies. You can add Mini Eggs to any chocolate brownie recipe; I used Nigella’s everyday brownies recipe which you can find here. In retrospect what I should have done is saved some of the mini eggs and added them on top of the part-baked brownie five minutes before the end; this would have ensured there were some to decorate the top as they all sank in! You can see the mini eggs inside the brownies though: and they did taste very good. Have you tried adding mini eggs to chocolate brownies?

Searching for the world’s best brownie

February 23, 2015 | Caroline

Fudgy, gooey, squidgy, nutty, however they come, chocolate brownies are delicious. They are so easy to make that they have become a staple of many bakers’ repertoire; whether you are making them on a rainy day at home with the kids or serving them as a dessert in an upmarket restaurant, chocolate brownies are a winner.

You can be as creative as you like with them – if you google ‘chocolate brownies’ you get well over 6 million results. But what the internet seemed to be lacking was a website pulling together the best chocolate brownie recipes, testing them out, giving you ideas for how to customise or get creative, and reviewing chocolate brownies in shops, cafes and restaurants all over.

I already run a successful blog, Caroline Makes, which is a mixture of food, drink and crafts – basically, anything I make – along with restaurant and product reviews. I wanted to make my blog more niche, but didn’t want to lose the freedom I have on Caroline Makes to post anything I make, whether it’s a cake, a dessert or a birthday card. So I decided to create this spin-off blog and dedicate it entirely to the wonder that is the chocolate brownie.

As well as recipes, look out for regular features and chances to get involved. I’d love to hear your comments – let me know what is your tried-and-tested chocolate brownie recipe, or where you’ve eaten the best brownie you’ve ever tasted. And does it make any difference to the taste if you use cheap rather than expensive chocolate in your recipe – or do you use cocoa powder rather than chocolate?

Did you know…

– Chocolate brownies originated in the United States at the end of the 19^th century?

– They apparently originated in Chicago where a leading socialite asked a chef to create a dessert similar to cake that ladies could eat from lunchboxes – and the bite-sized treat was born.

– The first-ever brownies contained walnuts and had an apricot glaze

– If you google ‘world’s best chocolate brownie’ you get 7.5 million results – so there is obviously some debate!

So welcome to The Brownie Blog – I hope you’ll enjoy it!