Fortunately, what I had included chocolate and a pack of macadamia nuts, bought for another purpose which never materialised (as is often the way with me). I was rootling round for some rum, mindful of previous succesful brownie pairings, but I couldn't find any so Cointreau seemed like a good alternative. In truth, the capful I added didn't seem to make a huge amount of difference, but I might add a bit more next time, just to see. For what it's worth, I might also chop up the nuts a bit if I use them again in this way.
As usual with brownie, I had the agony of when to take it out of the oven. After 20 minutes the top was looking dry, there were a couple of cracks, and a gentle press revealed plenty of squodge underneath, but in the interests of them not being too squodgy, I gave them a couple more minutes, and they came out pretty perfect. Always a risk though.
Macadamia & Cointreau Brownie
180g unsalted butter
180g dark chocolate
1 capful of cointreau
3 large eggs
250g soft brown sugar
115g plain flour
small pack of macadamia nuts (around 150g)
Baking tin, lined with greaseproof paper. My tin is about 20 by 24 cm
Break up the chocolate and cube up the butter and put into a biggish pan over a gentle heat to melt.
Once melted, add in the cointreau, stir briefly and set aside for a few moments.
Beat together the eggs and sugar, then beat into the slightly cooled chocolate, then stir in the nuts and flour.
Scrape into the tin and bake for between 20-25 minutes - bearing in mind that over cooking leads to lack of squodge.
Allow to cool and cut into squares.
In the end, we had both - the meringues, gooseberries and cream, AND the brownie. Like I said. Decadent.
good lord yes!
ReplyDeleteMmmm! A little bit of decadence is just fine... Yum!!
ReplyDeleteThey were very yum. Only 'problem' is that only 5 of us were there for dinner last night and I have rest of them sitting in a tin in the kitchen whispering 'eat me'
DeleteAll of the above looks/sounds perfect. You should set a challenge for readers to come up with a recipe out of what needs using up in your cupboards/freezer! Mind you it's not long now! Elinor x
ReplyDeleteI can't get through January without a little bit of decadence. I seem to have spent the last few weeks not getting through floods, so decadence is even more essential this year. Cointreau and macadamias sounds like a heavenly combination. I know what you mean about the brownie doneness fear - there's always much agitated kitchen pacing on brownie cooking days.
ReplyDeletePhil, that doesn;t sound good - hope you haven;t been too badly affected by the weather? The pacing is worth it though, if you get the squodge right, don't you think?
DeleteOh yes please... Got any left? I love cointreau anyway, and I love brownies, so the combination together sounds amazing! :)
ReplyDeleteActually I do have some left, although I'm trying hard to forget about them!
DeleteUhhh, do you do deliveries? ;D
ReplyDelete:-) 'fraid not - but they are very easy (bar the agony of when to take them out of the oven)
Deletenodding away at the brownie timing dilemma, definitely a bit hit and miss with me! These look glorious - macadamia and cointreau are fabulous DP additions - seem to have developed a bit of a taste for cointreau after raiding the drinks cupboard at Christmas :)
ReplyDeleteThese look wonderful Sally! With you on the brownie cooking timing agony!
ReplyDeleteThnaks Sarah, they were good - all gone now though!
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