Celebration Brownies


When one thinks of Christmas leftovers turkey and ham naturally springs to mind, but I have found that the ever popular tins of chocolates can often still be found in our press well into the new year. As a child the first sight of these in a shop was a sure indication that Christmas was approaching and the unveiling of this tin of goodies on Christmas Eve always guaranteed excitement in the house. Somehow I'm actually a little disappointed that these boxes of chocolates and tins of biscuits are now available to buy year round. What use to be a seasonal luxury has now become a very affordable treat, that can can be bought any time of the year. During the festive season there are always a few open tins of chocs lurking around everyones' house. I know most will enjoy a few with a cuppa but I find them very handy to use in my baking. I often chop them up and use them as a topping for a chocolate cake or sometimes add them into a chocolate biscuit mix to create a rocky road, of sorts. In this recipe I am using my basic brownie mixture and adding the chunks of sweets just before baking. I used a combination of Mars Celebrations sweets, which worked out really nicely as each little square of brownie had it's own unique flavour.



Celebration Brownies

Ingredients
125g (4.5oz)dark chocolate,70% cocoa, in chunks
150g (5oz)butter
3 large eggs
300g (11oz)caster sugar
100g (4oz)self raising flour
125g (5oz)celebration sweets, chopped

Method:
1.Preheat the oven to 180°C(fan)/390f/gas mark 6.
2.Grease a 20x20 baking tin with butter and cut a piece of baking parchment to fit the bottom.
3.Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a saucepan of hot water.
4.While melting mix the eggs and sugar in a mixer.
5. Fold in the flour. Add the butter/chocolate mix.
5.Fold together, be careful not to overmix. Stir in the chopped chocolates.
6.Pour into the cake tin and cook for  about 30 minutes They should have a crust on but still be a bit wobbly.
7.Cool and cut into squares, dust with some icing sugar.

This recipe was featured in Nov/Dec 2011 issue of Easy Parenting.


7 Comments:

Kristin said...

This is a great idea - but leftover chocolate would not be a problem in my house! I'd have to stash some away specifically for baking. :)

Linda said...

What a smart idea, and these look delicious. I love your use of self- rising flour; I don't know why I don't use it more often!

Nicola/Simply Homemade said...

Great idea Nessa. I'm going to make these today - the kids are delighted :-)Thank you!

Nessa Robins said...

Thanks For your comments. Kristin, if you didn't have the tinned chocs a couple of big bars would do the trick. :)
Linda, I tend to use Self- Raising quite a bit when cooking with the kids.(one less thing for them to do)
Thanks Nicola. I hope they turn out nice for you.

Sheila Kiely said...

Good thinking Nessa to chop up the left-over sweets and use in the baking. Some of my kids 'nuke' them to create a sauce for ice-cream which goes to prove your point that they are way too available and not as savoured as they would have been in our childhoods.

Ocean Breezes and Country Sneezes said...

Great idea, not to mention they look delicious!

Nessa Robins said...

Thank you for your comments.
Sheila, the boys would love that idea of nuking for a sauce. They love their ice-cream desserts!