Chocolate brownies to celebrate the spring!:) Made for my friends that were primary initiators to do morning yoga over this weekend together, and we did!:D
The base of the recipe I took from a very ancient “The Usborne First Cookbook”. I still like this book a lot as it was one of the initial simple guides to my favorite desserts, also because of the illustrations:)
The resulting orange-flavored brownies are somewhat similar to this chocolate cake. They came out not gooey as supposed to be, but still very delicious. Chili powder is optional and very subtle here, and only those who know will recognize it. You can add nuts or any other tasty bits of your choice, and use plain or rye flour instead of whole grain.
Mixing the dry ingredients together first is optional, as light and fluffy end product is not the point in this recipe. I did it for less mixing later, also for better distributing cocoa into the batter. Happy baking!:)
Serves 10-12
Takes 1 hr (prep – 20 mins, baking 25 – mins) + cooling 15 mins
Ingredients
Batter
110 g butter
110 g dark chocolate
2 eggs
200 g sugar
zest from 2 oranges
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
1 cup whole grain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
Chocolate glaze
50 g butter
100 g chocolate (the darker the better)
a handful of hazelnuts and almond flakes for topping
Directions
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Either generously dust with cocoa powder or line with parchment paper a shallow baking pan (I used a 18 cm square baking dish).
Break the chocolate up into a medium bowl. Add butter. Fit the bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. When the butter and chocolate have melted, take the bowl off the heat to cool.
Lightly beat the eggs. Combine the chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs and orange zest.
In a mixing bowl, sift in cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and chili. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until evenly distributed. Alternatively: simply add all the other ingredients to the chocolate mixture until just combined.
Spread the mixture into the baking pan and put in the oven to bake for 25 mins. Let cool in the pan for 10 mins. Then transfer to a wire rack.
For the chocolate glaze: melt the butter and chocolate over a hot-water bath, just as you did before (alternatively, in a microwave). Stir until smooth. Let cool about 5 minutes and spread over the cake. Decorate with walnuts and almond flakes. Cut the brownies into squares, triangles or any other shapes. Enjoy!:)
MAYA'S BEE HIVE 