Thursday 6 October 2011

White chocolate chilli brownies


We should cocoa just celebrated it's first year and there was a fantastic virtual party to celebrate - do check it out if you want to indulge in all sorts of chocolatey goodness! To kick-start the new year, the challenge for this month is chilli! I've made chocolate and chilli cupcakes previously with mixed response - I think it was not to everyone's taste so I was quite nervous about this month's challenge. As mentioned before, I've just changed jobs (yes started already in lovely new job) and I made this together with a giant red velvet cupcake for my last day.
I got this recipe from BBC food and I have to say I was honestly surprised at how well it turned out. I was really worried that nobody would like it or that it would taste horrible. In fact I actually cut a small piece to try before bringing it to work! I had to stop myself from eating more as it was really, really good :)
This is one of the best things about these challenges - discovering new recipes or techniques and/or trying something new or different. I don't generally like white chocolate but I'm ok with chillies. However the combination was fantastic. It was really light and delicious and you could really taste the chilli but it wasn't overpowering. I could honestly have eaten the whole tray myself. Someone told me it was the best thing I've baked so far!
If you are skeptical (like I was) honestly, give this a go and I promise you won't regret it.


 I found an orange chilli instead of a red one but figured that it wouldn't make much of a difference 

 I chopped the chilli quite finely (probably more than required) as I was worried it would be too spicy 

 cooking the chillies with sugar and water 

 adding to the brownie mix - I love the colours 

 fresh from the oven 

 dust with icing sugar 

 delicious!

Recipe from BBC food (from Saturday Kitchen)

200g butter
300g white chocolate, chopped
3 medium eggs
150g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
200g plain flour
pinch of salt
icing sugar for serving

For the chillies
1 large fresh red chilli, de-seeded
1 large fresh green chilli, de-seeded
100g caster sugar
150ml water

  • Preheat the oven to 180C.
  • Lightly butter a 20cm x 30cm straight sided baking tin and line with greaseproof paper. 
  • Finely slice the chillies on the diagonal. 
  • Combine the sugar, water and chillies and bring to the boil, stirring.  Simmer for 5 minutes. 
  • In a heatproof bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water, melt the butter and 150g of white chocolate, whisking well until smooth.
  • Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. 
  • In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla together until pale.
  • Beat in the melted white chocolate mixture. 
  • Fold in the sifted flour and salt, then the remaining chopped white chocolate (150g). 
  • Drain the chillies and add most of them to the batter. 
  • Pour into the baking pan, strew the remaining chillies on top and bake for 25 minutes or until the top is firm and lightly golden. 
  • Remove and cool in the pan.
  • Cut into small or large squares, dust with icing sugar and serve. 


10 comments:

  1. These look fabulous, I love the speckled chilli look. I wouldn't have thought of white chocolate and chilli as an obvious pairing, but these are going on my to bake list now. Thanks for taking part - I still have no clue as to what to make.

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  2. I'm loving all of the white chocolate brownies that are out at the moment! I Want to get in on this 'We Should Coco' lark, chocolate and chilli is lovely

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  3. Oh wow, white chocolate with chilli. Love the combination! I never would have thought to combine the two. Yum!

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  4. They look delicious! I've made dark chocolate brownies but not white chocolate ones and these do sound intriguing! :D Good to hear that the new job is going well too :)

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  5. What a different combination. I would never have thought of putting chillis and white chocolate togethers. Sounds quite interesting. Thank you for stopping by my blog.

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  6. A great way of using the chilli and chocolate combo - which had me stumped for a good long while. Lovely looking blondies.

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  7. Chocolate and chilli is something I'm yet to grow to love - BUT, I have only had pre-made chocolate bars, never anything made from scratch like this recipe.
    Looks lovely and I can see the mild creaminess of the white chocolate taking the spice well

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  8. These sound really delicioius! I've had them bookmarked for ages but wasn't too sure how they would turn out, but your description makes me think I should definitely try them!

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