Double Chocolate Chilli Brownies

Sunday mornings are our family outdoor walk days. It's cold in Shetland on a January morning, so I thought I'd whip up something with a bit of kick to help warm us from the inside when we're out. These double chocolate chilli brownies worked a treat! I've been making a variation of this recipe for years, having adapted this recipe by adding plenty of white chocolate chunks for a bit of texture (and extra chocolate is always a good thing, no?). I was sent some naturally flavoured chilli cocoa powder to try by Sugar and Crumbs and I thought I'd experiment with this recipe. I changed the usual caster and muscovado sugars to palm sugar, which imparts a lovely rich caramel flavour to baking (as well as being a lower GI index sweetener, releasing energy more slowly - great for hill walking snacks), and sprinkled a crushed, dried chilli over the top for some extra kick.

They were fabulous! Even the 3 year old gobbled his up with glee on our last beach walk.

You'll notice that the recipe doesn't include any butter, instead, it uses mayonnaise. Mayonnaise in chocolate brownies? Inconceivable! It works, really! You could even use lighter-than-light mayo to significantly reduce the fat and calorie content. I've tried it, and it works.

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Double Chocolate Chilli Brownies

by Elizabeth 

Rich, fiery warming chocolate treats. Perfect for a cold, winter's day.

Ingredients

• 85 grams dark chocolate (>70% cocoa solids)
• 85 grams plain flour
• 25 grams natural chilli flavoured cocoa powder or plain cocoa powder and a generous pinch of chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 150 grams palm sugar
• 1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp soured cream
• 1 egg
• 100 grams mayonnaise
• 100 grams white chocolate
• 1 dried red chilli (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 C. Butter and line an 8 inch square cake tin.2. Melt the dark chocolate in a heatproof bowl suspended over a pan of barely simmering water. Leave to cool slightly.3. Sieve flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.4. Stir palm sugar, coffee granules, vanilla and soured cream into the melted dark chocolate. 5. Add 1 tbsp warm water and stir well with a wooden spoon.6. Add the egg, beaten and the mayonnaise to the dark chocolate mixture; stir until combined.7. Gently fold in the flour mixture.8. Pour half of the brownie batter into the prepared tin.9. Coarsely chop the white chocolate; sprinkle 2/3 of it over the brownie batter.10. Spoon remaining batter over the top of the white chocolate, smoothing with a rubber spatula.11. Sprinkle remaining white chocolate over the top.12. Crumble the dried red chilli over the top, for some extra kick.13. Bake for 30 minutes. 14. Allow to cool in the tin before removing. Cut into 16 squares.

Details

Prep time: 25 mins Cook time: 30 mins Total time: 55 mins Yield: 16 brownies

I am entering this recipe into the January 2013 Alphabakes food bloggers challenge alternately hosted by The More Than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes. This month Caroline has challenged us to bake something involving the letter 'D'. Dark chocolate? Yup. This has it. :)