The Only Brownie Recipe you will ever need! (Raspberry & Toffee Brownies)

I have been blogging for a long time and at one point it was almost an obsession. But blogging was easy because I loved everything to do with what I was blogging about - baking.

I still enjoy baking and I still love reading cookbooks - it's why you still see quite a few book reviews on here - I even enjoy writing and taking photos, but my life now has limited extra time for those things, I have different priorities, hence why my frequency of posts has dropped so dramatically.

The one thing I don't enjoy is the stress and anxiety of social media. So, I have found a platform I enjoy (instagram) and use it as and when I get an opportunity I go on twitter and facebook and update things, but I no longer stress about how many likes or retweets I get.

I was asked once why I blogged and I answered mostly for me. And for my love for baking, reading, writing, photography etc.... blogging was and is my creative outlet and if I get a few loyal readers or lots of people dropping by great! But it's not why I blog.

The internet is a hard place to live in and understand.

These brownies are a recipe that I have tried and tested over and over again and thankfully aren't that hard to understand. I originally got this recipe from a BBC Good Food Magazine and the other day I opened up one of their issues and it was in there again, because it is literally that easy and good.

It has been adjusted over and over and to be honest this batch of brownies I couldn't even tell you what I put in them exactly. I just sort of threw it all together. But if you want to throw a batch together this is how you could do it.

Brownies: raspberry & toffee

200g dark chocolate chips
100g milk chocolate chips
250g salted butter
250g light brown sugar
150g dark brown sugar
4 large eggs
140g plain flour
45g cocoa powder
10g espesso powder
100g fresh raspberries
100g toffee, chopped

Preheat oven to 180C/gas4 and line a brownie pan or 8in square pan with parchment paper.
Very gently melt both chocolates with the butter and sugar in a medium saucepan. Just before the chocolate is completely melted, take off the heat and gently stir until it’s completely melted.
Then add the eggs one at a time to the melted chocolate mixture. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and espresso powder into the pan and stir until just combined.
Gently fold about half of the raspberries and toffee into the mixture, pour into the prepared pan and sprinkle the remaining raspberries and toffee over the top.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for a minimum of 35 minutes. If you are using the 8 inch square pan you may want to give them an extra 5 minutes, if you are using a brownie pan or a 9 inch pan then I would still closer to the 35 minutes.
Cool completely before cutting into squares and eating!

As mentioned the original recipe was not mine own, however this recipe only resembles the original, as was modified to fit what was in my cupboards! 

If try these out let me know how you adjust them in the comments below, I am always looking for ways to make the different! 

Here are a few of the adjustments I have made over the years: (Each one is linked to the relevant post if you want to see pictures!)

Oreo Brownies

Snickers Brownies

Bribe Worthy Brownies

Peanut Butter Brownies

Nutella Brownies

Chocolate Chip Brownies

Chocolate Cake Donuts

Hearts are one of the earliest things I remember drawing as a kid - it probably is for most people. It's a familiar image or shape that we associate with many things surrounding the emotion of love. The origins of this shape is not known for sure maybe the shape of a leaf of some obscure plant associated with valentine or could be the shape of human sex organs who knows really?

Even if it is pretty likely that the shape has some crude beginnings it's a shape I have always liked; to draw and to eat! I mean everything tastes better when it is in a fun shape right? Kids know that for a fact. That is why I thought  it appropriate to shape these decadent donuts in the shape of hearts. Also I only have a heart shaped donut pan or a mini donut pan and the mini ones take ages.....

Chocolate Cake Donuts

170g plain flour
25g cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp espresso powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
60g sugar
60g brown sugar
170ml whole milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil (extra for greasing)
2 tbsp sour cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 180C and grease the donut pan with a little bit of the veggie oil and don't forget the middle part so the donuts don't stick.
Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, espresso powder and salt into a bowl. In another bowl whisk the egg, both sugars, milk, oil, sour cream, and vanilla until combined and then sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold in until completely combined and there are no lumps.
Fill the donut indents 3/4 full - *I found that using a tablespoon to fill the donut indents was easiest and I used two tablespoons and it was the perfect amount.
Bake for 10 minutes and leave to cool for 5 before turning out. They should just drop out, but using a butter knife around the edges should loosen them up. Leave to cool while you make the gauche.
I had 3 batches to make a dozen donuts - I wiped the donut indents clean and re-greased them each time.

ganache
85ml whipping cream
2 tbsp sugar
15g unsalted butter
85g chocolate chips

Heat the cream, sugar, and butter on a medium heat. While it's heating place the chocolate in a heat proof bowl, once the cream mixture is just boiling pour it over the chocolate and gently whisk. We don't want air in the ganache, but we do want it to be smooth and shiny.

to finish: 
sprinkles

I dipped the donuts into the chocolate ganache and then covered with chocolate sprinkles. In between batches you need to keep the ganache slightly warm otherwise it goes hard and lumpy.
Donuts are best eaten fresh, but will last for about 3 days.

These donuts are a great treat and if you love someone you should make these for them because they exude love. They are love even if they aren't made in a heart shaped donut pan.