Munchie Brownies

I may have just run across my living room and thrown change all over the room whilst grabbing at my purse because after waiting almost 3 months, my student loan is finally due to be paid to me today!

I needed my purse to log into my bank account obviously… I’m not usually a crazy person who throws money around! Just so happens my purse was open and is now emptied in the bottom of my bag and all over the floor… Oh well, I’ll clean up in a bit, but this means I can pay my parents back so I’m incredibly happy! 🙂

OK, I’ve calmed down now, maybe I will have a merry Christmas after all.

Somehow, I still haven’t given in to my urge to bake mince pies! It’s been a month now and I think I’m actually going to have to make some on Friday, it’s getting too much for me to walk past the jar of mincemeat on my shelf everyday. It’s calling to me. It needs to be sandwiched in crisp pastry and the leftovers eaten off of a spoon… Oops, is it just me that eats mincemeat by the spoonful?

I’ve used the same recipe for ages, but this is the first year that I’ve had my blog so I’ll definitely be posting my recipe 🙂 I’m currently editing all of the pictures from recipes I’ve made in the last week or so, but there’s going to be A LOT more holiday recipes!! Haha, I wrote a list of everything I want to make over Christmas and it was about 2 pages long! Doubt I’ll get round to making all of it, but I’m going to give it a damn good go.

I’m going down to my home town on the 15th December and I’ll be playing Santa as I’m seeing lots of friends and it’ll be the last time I see my parents before Boxing Day. Friday 14th is going to be busy in my kitchen… I have chocolates, fudge, truffles and gingerbread to make for everyone. Then I have to jar everything up and print labels, which thinking about it I should probably design, and cover the tops in pretty fabric. It’s going to be one of those days where I sit down in agony at about 10pm saying I’ve done too much and I’ll never bake for that long again as my back is killing me, but everyone knows I love baking so much that, if required, of course I’ll stand through the pain and bake for that long again.

Whilst not strictly festive, I would eat these brownies everyday of the year so it’s fine to make them at Christmas time. The recipe is just my Favourite Brownies with munchies placed in the middle to give a little crunch. At the moment I am writing numerous variations of my Chocolate Chunk Cookies (some of which, I’ve already posted) but one day I will start playing around with my brownies and adding lots of different things. There is something so satisfying about writing a recipe yourself and having it turn out great, to me it feels better than if you’ve just followed a recipe. Nowadays I hardly ever follow a recipe entirely, I’m always adapting and changing things because as I bake more, my knowledge grows and I know when things will work and if I think a recipe could be made better. One day I want to write all of my own recipes, but for the moment I’m happy writing a few 🙂

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Makes 9-12 depending on how large you want them

Recipe from my Favourite Brownies

Ingredients:

> 90g plain chocolate, broken into rough pieces (the best you can afford)
> 150g unsalted butter
> 125g plain flour
> 15g cocoa (the best you can afford, believe me it makes a difference if you use the good stuff!)
> 1/2tsp baking powder
> 300g light brown sugar
> 2 eggs
> 1tsp vanilla extract
> 200g munchies

Method:

> Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and line and grease an 8×8 inch tin.
> Place the chocolate and butter into a heatproof bowl.
> Place in the microwave for 30 seconds, then stir and put in for a further 20 seconds. Stir the mixture and then only place it back in the microwave for increments of 10 seconds, stirring in between every time so it doesn’t burn. Alternatively you can place the bowl over a simmering saucepan of water and stir until melted.
> Leave to one side to cool slightly. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder together in a medium sized bowl.
> Leave to one side and place the sugar, eggs and vanilla into a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer.
> Beat until light and smooth about 2 minutes.
> Pour in the chocolate mixture and mix until combined.
> Add in the flour mix.
> Starting on a slow speed, mix the flour into the chocolate mix, increase the speed once the threat of a dust cloud has gone, but stop mixing as soon as the mixture is combined.
> Place half of the mixture into your cake tin and smooth out.
> Sprinkle the munchies all over the brownie mixture.

> Spoon the remaining mix over the munchies and then smooth over with a spatula.

> Place in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the top is slightly cracked looking and puffy and an inserted skewer comes out with a few crumbs on it.
> Leave to cool completely in the tin. Once cooled transfer to a board to slice. I always use a pizza cutter to cut my brownies as I find it easier.
> Will keep in an airtight container for up to 4 days.