Christmas Brownies

Brownies on a normal day are gorgeous, moist and chocolaty, are anyone's favorite. Sprinkle that with some Christmas inspired ingredients and they are transformed into little pieces of heaven. If your like me and your not a fan of Christmas cake or pudding then these are a great alternative, great warm with ice cream or custard or even better left to cool and to be eaten whenever you feel like a pick me up. 

When it comes to Christmas ingredients its down to preference really, you could add any number of dried fruits or nuts to these or even your favourite biscuits. As long as you stick to the weight of the ingredients anything works.. well within reason, Let me know if you change the ingredients up, I would love to know what you are putting in your brownies to make them Christmassy.  

Equipment

20cm (8in) Square baking tray

Saucepan 

Sharp Knife 

Electric whisk 

Grease proof paper 

Ingredients

165g Butter

100g Dark chocolate finely chopped 

3 Eggs

2 Egg yolks

2 Tsp Vanilla extract 

165g Soft light brown sugar 

2 Tbsp Plain flour 

1 Tbsp Cocoa powder

Pinch of salt 

40g Chopped hazelnuts

30g Glace cherries chopped 

30g Dried apricots chopped 

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and grease and line the baking tray with grease proof. 

2. Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat, once melted remove from the pan  and add the chocolate. Leave to stand for a few minutes until the chocolate goes soft then stir together, 

3. Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla extract together either in a mixer or in a large bowl until they begin to get light and fluffy. Add the sugar in two additions whisking between each. Pour the sugar down the side of the bowl so you don't knock the air out of the mixture. Whisk until the mixture becomes stiffer. 

4. Pour in the chocolate into the mixture, again around the side so no air is knocked out. 

5. Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt and stir gently into the mixture, do this in a figure of eight again so no air is knocked out. Add in the chopped hazelnuts, apricots and cherries and stir gently until well incorporated. 

6. Pour into your lined tray and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. The middle should be slightly gooey. 

7. Once baked, leave in the tray to cool completely. Sprinkle icing sugar over the brownies once they are cooled.. don't do what I did and slip with the sieve and icing sugar ended up in a big lump on the brownie.. Cut the brownie into whatever size pieces you desire, I did big size pieces because well I love brownies.