Sunday 17th March 2019
We are back with what is hopefully going to be a new series. I am looking at doing something different on here, whilst still being mainly food based, and whilst I also have a few other types of post in the works, we are going to start with some recipe book reviews.
I do want this to be a kind of regular thing, but it does depend on a) if I have the time as I am getting closer to exams and b) if you guys actually enjoy these kinds of blog posts. So, feedback is 100% welcome as I really want to know what you guys think and also if you have any recipes or book that you like or think I should know about then please let me know!
To the book.
Paul Young is a favourite of mine as his chocolates are stunning. Not only are they tasty, they are absolutely stunning and they also have some crazy flavours like beef dripping salted caramel chocolate (which is divine), marmite and more normal flavours like rum and raisin.
He is an amazing chocolatier and is also such a friendly person. I met him probably about 18 months ago at a chocolate show at Olympia and he is such a lovely person, and I 100% fangirled when I met him (no, I’m not ashamed to admit it either).
When we met him I also bought this book as it was made to support Children’s Air Ambulance. It is such a good book with some amazing recipes in them and some amazing photography. The photos are honestly goals. To be honest, any recipe book that uses chocolate as the main ingredient is always going to be a winner for me.
This book is an absolute gold mine for chocolate recipes, ranging from desserts to drinks and from gifts to savoury dishes (which do still involve chocolate). I haven’t tried a huge number of the recipes but the ones I have are so good that it actually hurts, and they’re all really easy to follow so it’s great for beginners.
The recipe I chose for this is, of course, a brownie recipe. Since brownies are probably one of my favourite things, I mean what doesn’t beat a brownie. Anyway, it was a pretty damn good recipe as the brownie is still fudgy and molten in the middle and the caramelised nuts were actually addictive. No joke, they were amazing and crunchy and just beautiful.
The caramel in this recipe is like a caramel you would get with a sticky toffee pudding and it tastes like heaven. The brown sugar really adds to the caramel and it might be my favourite caramel recipe.
This is the point where I admit that I may have messed up, mainly because I didn’t actually read the instructions properly, however the end result was just as good. I ended up pouring the caramel into the base of the baking dish and then pouring the brownie batter on top of it.
Turns out when you read the recipe you actually just put the brownie batter in the baking dish, bake it and then pour the caramel on top. However, the brownie edges cracked and tasted like caramel and you got a hint of caramel through the entire brownie when I did it my way. Although a lot of the caramel did go up the sides rather than stay in the bottom of the dish.
So, for this recipe I have decided to rate it in 3 areas: how clear the recipe is to follow, how hard to recipe is (think easy, medium or hard) and then how tasty it was.
Clear recipe: 4/5
Level of recipe: medium
Tastiness: 5/5
Overall this recipe is actually quite easy to understand and follow. I did however add in some of my own modifications in bold, which weren’t many, but they were just some extra things to be aware of and what I found whilst I was baking.
Chocolate Brownie Pudding with Salted Caramel and Toffee Pecans
Serves 4
Ingredients
Brownie Pudding
100g Unsalted Butter
250g Caster Sugar
75g Golden Syrup (can substitute Light Corn Syrup)
275g 70% Dark Chocolate Chips
4 Eggs
70g Plain Flour
Salted Caramel Sauce
100g Butter
100g Light Brown Sugar
100g Double Cream
1tsp Sea Salt
Honey Toffee Pecans
1tbsp Honey
1tbsp Caster Sugar
½ tsp Sea Salt
100g Pecan Nuts
Method:
- To make the brownies, melt together the butter, sugar and syrup until it bubbles.
- Remove from the heat and add the chocolate and mix well. I would allow this mixture to cool slightly before adding the eggs otherwise the eggs will cook when you add them
- Add the eggs and beat all until smooth, then add the flour, mixing well.
- Pour into a pudding basin, or deep baking dish and bake at 175°C/350°F/Gas Mark 3.5 for 25-30 minutes. It should still have a wobble when it leaves the oven. Don’t leave it in the oven for any longer than the listed time so that the brownie middle is still soft and molten. I found that even after 30 minutes it was far too undercooked so I cooked it for 40 minutes and it was still very dense and molten in the middle
- To make the caramel- bring the butter and sugar to a simmer with the salt and cook for 3 minutes
- Take off the heat, add the cream and mix well
- While this is warm, pour it over the brownie pudding and leave to stand
- To make the honey toffee pecans- on a flat baking tray, cook the pecans in the oven at 170°C/330°F/Gas Mark 3 for 5 minutes or until golden brown
- In a saucepan bring the honey, sugar and sea salt to a simmer until golden.
- Throw in the pecans and stir to coat in the caramel
- Once cold, chop and break into even pieces
- Sprinkle over the pudding and serve
