Little Box Brownie

A Baking Blog from Melbourne, Australia

Chocolate

Prune Brownies

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Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la, la la la la. It’s the season to be jolly. I hope your all getting your Christmas hats on, and starting some of that good old Christmas Baking. After all what would Christmas be without a baked good, or two, mmm, or three, or four? Well it just wouldn’t be Christmas now would it? No most certainly not. 

I kicked off my Christmas Baking with my Christmas pudding, which from what I’m told should be baked on the last Sunday in November, and thats exactly when I baked it. If I do say so myself it looks pretty dam divine. It’s sitting in the back of my pantry infusing with flavour and lugs of good old Christmas brandy. Just waiting for Christmas day. I love the traditions of Christmas.

This time, I have brought you another not so traditional Chrissy baked good, but what else would do but a sweet tempting little morsel of a brownie? Not any sort of brownie, a special prune brownie soaked in almond alcohol, is so soft and moist and just oozes Christmas tidings. I would sum it up as a Christmas cake brownie, mmm that sums it up nicely. 

This recipe is perfect for gift giving this season, if you want to make something homemade to give to friends and loved ones, this is it, or if you just need to take a plate to a party, who’s going to resist a brownie that screams Christmas.

So if this brownie is screaming to you, you better jot the recipe down quick smart and get to it.

Happy Baking xxx 

Prune Brownie soaked in Almond liqueur
 
20 prunes, stones removed
1 cup almond liqueur
375 g dark chocolate
300g butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
4 eggs
 
Place the prunes and liqueur into a saucepan and heat until the mixture starts to simmer. Remove from the heat and set aside.
 
Melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler until the chocolate has melted and the ingredients combined. Remove from the heat the stir through the sugar.
Sift the flour and cocoa powder together and then stir to combine, add the eggs one at a time beating after each addition. 
Add the prunes and combine. Pour into a 20x30cm brownie tin and bake for 45 minutes or until cooked. Cool on a wire rack then cut when cooled.

Peanut Brittle Slice

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Well… doesn’t time fly when your having fun? It seems to be flying for me even when I’m not. I can’t for the life of me believe how quickly the weeks are blurring together to form months. Its been nearly 3 weeks since my last post, I think thats a bit of a record. Its not that I haven’t had recipes to put up, in fact I have a number of them, its just that I haven’t found the time. So I hope no one has been waiting for their next sugary fix.
Wedding season is back in full gear and between that and spending every free minute sanding little Miss Daisy, which has had its fair number of dramas I might add, I have just lost track of time,

This next recipe is one I made months ago, so many months ago I can’t even recall why. but its good, supper tasty in fact, just a little on the hard side to eat.

 
Peanut Brittle Chocolate Slice
 
Base
 
200 g butter
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
 
Filling
 
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 water
50g butter
2 cups unsalted peanuts
1/4 cup cream
 
Topping
 
250g dark chocolate
50g butter
 
pre heat the oven to 170C
 
To make the base, cut the butter into cubes and rub into the flour and baking powder until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Then stir through the sugar and combine the egg until the mixture forms a dough. Press this into a 20 x 30 cm tin and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown, remove from the oven and set aside.
 
To make the filling, place the corn syrup, sugar and water into a saucepan and heat until the mixture becomes golden, swirl the pot rather than stirring the ingredients, or alternatively use a wet pastry brush to brush down the sides.  Remove from the heat and stir through the butter and cream, be very carful as the mixture with splatter and rise up. Stir through the peanuts and pour into the base immediately. 
 
To make the topping, place the chocolate and butter into a double boiler and heat until the chocolate has melted. Pour over the slice and leave to cool. Cut when cooled.

Pumpkin Reese Cookies

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Om nomm nomm, mmmmmmm cookies…. That about sums it up.
These little ones are my tribute to spooky Halloween, not that it is really celebrated in this part of the world. Why I’m not sure, who wouldn’t love to get bags full of sweet lollies and candies from people, I know I would. As a kid I dreamed of living in the US, or at least visiting during Halloween, so I could get bucketfuls of sweets. But sadly that never happened. But now I’m old and no one can tell me what to do, I can buy all the sweets and lollies I want arrrrrhaaa haaa haaa. So when I was in this candy shop the other day just breathing in the sweet aromas, I spied a huge packet full of little Reeses, which are American chocolate covered peanut butter cups. So I thought it was more than fitting to make some pumpkin reese cookies, for you all to celebrate the spookiest night of the year.
Happy Baking and eating xxx
Pumpkin Reeses Cookies
 
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
 
1/2  vegetable oil 
 
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
 
2/3 cup sugar
 
2 1/3 cup flour
 
1 teaspoon baking powder
 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
 
15 mini Reeses
 
Pre heat oven to 150C
 
Place pumpkin, oil, vanilla and sugar into a bowl and mix to combine. Sift the flour, baking powder and soda into a bowl and then add to the pumpkin mixture and stir. Chop the Reeses into half’s and sprinkle through the dough and combine. Spoon the mixture onto a lined tray and bake for 15 minutes or until cooked.
 
Makes 10

The Biggest Baddest Chocolate Cake Ever

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Ok so this past week I have been pretty quiet on the blogging front, the truth be told I have been living in denial, you see last week, last saturday to be precise I turned the big Three Zero. My plan was to let my thirtieth birthday slip away quietly, I had planed on a quite night with a bottle of wine and some take out. That however was very far from what was about to happen. You see little did I know my sister had planed a surprise birthday party for me. She must have spent days planning it, she had made and assortment of cupcakes, biscuits and cakes. She said she wasn’t letting me hideout that my thirties had to be celebrated with a bang. So thank you to all the wonderful people that came and helped me see out my twenties and celebrate the beginning of my thirties.

I had always thought that 30 year olds had there life’s together, but now that I have hit this milestone I can say its not the case, well certainly not for me. I don’t feel like I’m 30 I don’t feel like I have it altogether yet, I need more time!! My brother gave me some good advice, he said you can’t go backwards so you better enjoy what you have and embrace life, embrace your thirties and do what you want to do. So for the next decade I plan on doing just that embracing my thirties. And what better way to start than with the biggest baddest chocolate cake ever, made by my Mum who doesn’t bake, just for me, well maybe not just for me I promise to share some.
Chocolate Mud Cake
 
250g butter
250g dark chocolate
185ml hot instant coffee
550g white sugar
150g self-raising flour
150g plain flour
60g cocoa powder
1/2teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil 
125ml milk
 
Frosting
 
200g butter
300g sour cream
3 cups dark chocolate
4 cups icing sugar
3 tablespoons brandy
 
Pre heat the oven to 140C
 
Place the butter, chocolate, coffee and sugar into a saucepan and heat on a medium temperature until the chocolate and butter have melted, set aside.
 
Sift the flours, cocoa and baking soda into a bowl, and make a well in the centre. Combine the eggs oil and milk and pour into the flour mixture and stir to combine.
Pour in the chocolate mixture and stir through, then pour into three lines 23cm cake tins. Bake for 1 hour and 30minutes or until cooked, test with a skewer.
 
 
 
To make the icing, combine the butter and sour cream together with an electric mixer. 
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave and then pour into the butter mixture white still beating. Sift the icing sugar in and fold through, pour in the brandy and combine.
Ice the cake when cooled