Tuesday, 20 December 2016

The 12 Bakes Of Christmas #1 A Midwinter Night's Brownies


Cranberries, mincemeat, pecans and chocolate, the perfect ingredients for a Midwinter Eve.

100g / 4oz Unsalted Butter diced
200g bar of Dark Chocolate, broken into squares
3 Large Eggs
250g / 9oz Golden Caster Sugar
100g / 4oz Plain Flour
3 tbsp Cocoa Powder
50g / 2oz Dried Cranberries
100g / 4oz Pecan Nuts, roughly chopped
175g / 6oz Mincemeat
Icing Sugar to dust (optional, but you'd be mad not to)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2. Line and grease a deep 20cm square baking tin.

3. Put the chocolate & butter in a heatproof dish, like a Pyrex, and warm, stirring over a pan of boiling water, till it has melted. Leave it to cool a little.

4. Beat the eggs & sugar in a bowl until thick enough to hold a trail when the whisks are taken out.

5. Gently fold in the chocolate mix.

6. Sift in the flour & Cocoa Powder then gently fold that in.-

7. Gently fold in the Cranberries, Mincemeat & Pecans.

8. Pour the mix into your cake tin.

9. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. The brownies should be crisp on the outside but sof in the middle.

10. Cool & dust with icing powder, like a sprinkling of midwinter snow.

11. Sit down with a copy of Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising, which opens on Midwinter's eve, a warm drink and tuck in!


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