Recipe: Honeycomb Brownies

It may surprise you to know that for a long time brownies were my nemesis, and I can explain why…

I know where I stand with a cake. For a basic sponge, the method is always the same and most importantly, it is obvious what the end result is meant to be like. But with brownies, some are meant to be chewy, some are meant to be gooey and some are meant to be cakey! To achieve this some recipes require you to whip up the eggs and sugar into an eggy mouse and then pour in the melted chocolate/butter. Others do it the other way round and just get you to add everything in to the chocolate and butter once it has melted.

There are just too many different methods/end results for my liking!

Another one of the main issues I found was not knowing when a brownie was ‘done’. Again, with a cake you stick a skewer in the centre and if it comes out clean the cake is done, if not you put it back in the oven for a bit; simples! But it doesn’t work like this with a brownie.

I admit that in baking I often like to wing it a little bit. A lot of the time I make recipes up as I go along based on my instincts; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Therefore I think that this is why myself and the brownie have never gotten on. I have found that when making a brownie you need to throw your instincts out of the window and simply follow the recipe, taking it out of the oven at the exact time stated in order to ensure that they are cooked enough so that no one is going to get sick while at the same time making sure that they retain the fudgey gooeyness that is the defining characteristic of a brownie.

Anyway, as time as gone on myself and the brownie have started to bond and I have realised just how great they are for being able to have fun and experiment with additional flavours. I’ve seen Cream Egg brownies, Oreo brownies, Nutella brownies and now I am having my own go by making Honeycomb brownies; and when I say honeycomb I mean Crunchie bars! YEEUM!

This particular brownie recipe is adapted from Rachel Allen’s, Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie recipe taken from her Cake book. However I replaced the peanut butter with the honeycomb.

Prep Time: 1 hour including baking

Makes: 12-16 brownies, depending how big you want them- Mine turned out quite big!

Ingredients:

 450g Dark Chocolate

450g Butter

600g Caster Sugar

6 Eggs

150g Plain Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

8 Crunchie Bars

Method:

1.Preheat oven to 180°C/ 350 F/ Gas Mark 4 and line a baking tray with baking parchment.

2. Break up the chocolate and put it in a heatproof bowl with the butter. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and heat until the contents have melted.

3. In a separate bowl mix together the sugar and eggs until pale and light.

4. Pour in the melted chocolate/butter and continue mixing until thickened.

5. Sift in the flour and baking powder and then fold in with a spatula until just combined.

6. Pour the mix into your lined baking tray and then scatter with pieces of chopped up Crunchie bars.

7. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes. The brownie should still wobble slightly in the centre before you take it out.

8. Remove from the oven and then leave to cool completely before slicing up into squares or rectangles.