Brownie crunch

For Granddads birthday party, I decided to make some brownies.

I love brownies. I love them a lot.

I can not eat nuts, so I like it when I find a good brownie recipe that doesn't require nuts in it (most of them end up really good because they always have good amount of chocolate in them).

For the birthday party, I decided to experiment and combine two of my favourite foods - brownies and choc chip cookies.

I made two types. I tried brownie on bottom, cookie on top and the opposite (cookie bottom, brownie top).

Almost everyone at the party tried both, and the general opinion was that the brownie on the bottom, cookie top worked best (although all where happy to eat it the other way around!). It was just that with the cookie on top, it baked a bit better and had a better 'crunch' to it.

Cookie on bottom, brownie top

Brownie bottom, cookie top

So, here is my recipe for a Brownie Crunch (brownie bottom, cookie top):

Ingredients

Brownie Part:

- 90g Butter

- 80g Dark Chocolate

- 1cup caster sugar

- 2 eggs lightly beaten

- 1/2teaspoon Vanilla Essence

- 1/3 cup Plain flour

- 1 tablespoon Self Raising Flour

- 2 tablespoons Cocca Powder

- 30g Dark Chocolate, chopped, extra

Cookie Part:

- 70g Butter

- 1/4cup Caster Sugar

- 1 Egg (an extra egg may be needed if they are small)

- 1cup sifted Self Raising Flour

- Choc Bits (up to you how much you use & what type)

What to do:

- Turn Oven on slow (about 160deg C).

- Line a slice tin (approx 20x30cm) (I just use baking paper).

- Make Brownies part - Melt butter & chocolate in saucepan until smooth (don't boil!). Cool 'til just warm. Stir in sugar, Eggs, Vanilla, Flours, Cocoa. Add extra chocolate.

- Spread Brownie mix into tin.

- Make Cookie part- Cream Butter & Sugar together. Add egg & flour, mix. Add Choc bits.

- Either spread Cookie mix over top of Brownie mix, or roll into balls and place them over brownie mix (this allows the brownie mix to break to the top in areas).

- Put into oven for around 50min, or until firm on top.

- Cool in pan, then cut.

I love my brownies to go in the fridge after I've made them (or even the freezer) as I just like the way it makes them taste - makes them a bit firmer. I'd like to say it helps them last longer, but we wouldn't know that, because they get eaten so quickly (even with 50% of people in the household being diabetic - strange that!).

Most people have a 'fave' choc chip cookie recipe - this is just one of the few that I have in my recipe book and I choose it because I felt it would make just the right amount of cookie.

The Brownie recipe is just half the amount that I would use normally to make a normal brownie mix.

All this is making me hungry.....




(note: all measurements are in Australian Cups/spoons)