Thursday 22 October 2020

I make - Ground Almond Brownies II

So my quest for ground almond brownies continues. This is the recipe by Nigella Lawson. Different from the first recipe I tried, Nigella uses melted chocolate. The amount of fat has also increased. The taste is fabulous, rich, fudgy and chocolaty, not almondy at all. I will use this as a base to tinker.

Although good as it is, Nigella serves hers with ice cream and the hot chocolate sauce. Then she reflected: "But there is no need. Need is not really what we're talking about here, though, is it?" I chuckled. Nigella is the woman of my heart.


Ground Almond Brownies II, adapted from Nigella Lawson

100 grams dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids)
100 grams butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100 grams caster sugar
a scant 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp instant coffee granules
1 large egg and 1 yolk (beaten)
75 grams ground almonds
50 grams chopped walnuts
Sea salt flakes (optional)

Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C Fan/gas mark 3/325ºF. Grease and line half of a 20cm square tin. I made cake tin dividers with carboards wrapped in foil. If you double the recipe, use three whole eggs and line the whole 20cm square tin.

Melt the chocolate and butter gently over a low heat in a heavy-based saucepan.

Take the pan off the heat, mix in the vanilla, sugar, salt and coffee granules, and let it cool a little.

Beat the egg and egg yolk into the pan along with the ground almonds. Pour the batter into the prepared tin. Scatter the walnuts on top and lightly scatter some sea salt flakes if using.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes (25-30 minutes if you double this recipe), by which time the top will have set but the mixture will still be gooey. Mine was done at 23 minutes. Cool completely before slicing. I find it easier to get a clean cut after 6 hours. I get 12 squidgy squares like in the photo. If you can wait, the brownies taste much better the day after.

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