Chocolate Fudge and Cornish Sea Salt Brownies

In November, I started to work my way through Great British Chef's Chocolate Collection,  a series of chefs recipes entirely dedicated to chocolate. The first attempt was an alternative Chocolate and Orange Mousse.

Then came a lovely invitation from Vanessa Kimbell at Goddess on a Budget. For the second year running Vanessa had organised a home-made Christmas gifts swap, the food blogosphere gets really busy and "buzzy" when the invitation drops. It is genuinely a great idea, to spend some time making your own gifts rather than running around buying them. We all love the event which this year was taking place at the infamous Rococo chocolate factory, though it felt a little odd to bring chocolate to a chocolate factory.

So putting two and two together I came up with:

His

and Mine



So very often with chefs recipes, you have to up your skills a little. On Great British Chefs recipes are never out of reach, there are no ingredients one can't find but there is often that little thing which will stretch you, that little plus which will make you go the extra mile and that is why I chose to bring these brownies to the gift swap.

Afterall if a creation will be judged by the like of Chantal Coady from Rococo, Xanthe Clay from the Telegraph, Lucas Hollweg from the Sunday Times and Sophie Conrad, then you have to think carefully and this cold Sabayon base brownies sounded perfect.

Judges were impressed by the creativity behind the presents, they all had a big grin on their face after working their way through the amazing array of gifts; and No, Chocolate Fudge and Cornish Sea Salt Brownies didn't get a prize but I surely enjoyed making them and I learnt that, "Melting, rather than beating, the chocolate, butter and sugar together to make brownies gives them a thick, fudge-like texture."

Chocolate Fudge and Cornish Sea Salt Brownies a recipe by Nathan Outlaw

Ingredients

225g of unsalted butter

275g of 70% bitter chocolate

400g of caster sugar

5 eggs

200g of plain flour

100g of fudge, chopped

10g of Cornish sea salt

Method
1. Begin the brownies by preheating the oven to 150°C/gas mark 2

2. In a bain marie, melt the butter, chocolate and sugar over simmering water

Tip : Making a Bain Marie for chocolate

If you don't have a bain marie, you can make one. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4 and fill a roasting tin halfway with water. Place the chocolate in a ramekin in the water and put the roasting tin in the oven

3. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until they form stiff peaks. You will need an electric mixer with a whisk attachment for this

Tip :  Whisking the whole eggs to stiff peaks

It will take a little time, but eventually you will reach stiff peaks or a cold sabayon if you will      

4. When the chocolate mixture is melted, carefully fold it into the eggs

5. Sieve the flour and fold it into the chocolate mix. Add in the chopped fudge and the sea salt

Tip : How to add the salt

The salt goes in straight from the packet, but you may like to give it a light crush between your fingertips

6. Pour the batter into a greaseproof paper-lined baking tray and bake for 20 minutes, or until the brownies are cooked so that they are set but still slightly soft in the middle

7. Remove from the oven and cool. Once cool, cut into desired shapes and serve.

The brownies should last up to 4 days

This post has been sponsored by Great British Chefs, the top picture is from GBC website.