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

Ginormous Jaffa Cake Cake

Until I moved to the UK I had never heard of Jaffa Cakes.

I can’t recall the exact moment I tried a jaffa cake for the first time, but I do remember thinking they were a bit odd.

The thing was I couldn't quiet decide what it was.

We, us humans, like things to be defined. We feel safer when things make sense or fit into a category. That way we can say we understand it because it fits into something we already know.

Jaffa cakes didn't really make sense to me and I wasn't sure I liked them or not. Even though I have a love of orange and chocolate. 

Then there was a new tax on chocolate covered biscuits. Which then began the whole debate on if a jaffa cake was in fact a cake or was it a biscuit.

Finally we would know where the jaffa cake stood and by knowing that we could sleep better at night.

It was decided they were more cake like and therefore wouldn't be taxed. They proved their point by making a large jaffa cake and I would like to think it was a bit like this one.

Ginormous Jaffa Cake Cake

orange jelly

juice of 4 large oranges

100g golden caster sugar

6 gelatine leaves

Line a 8in/20cm round cake tin with clingfilm. Before juicing the oranges, zest them and save it for cake below. Once zested juice the oranges and place in a saucepan with the sugar. Gently stir to dissolve. While that’s doing that, place the gelatine leaves into cold water to soften. Once soft, squeeze any excess water out before placing in the warm orange juice/sugar mixture. Gently stir until the gelatine is completely melted, then pour into prepared pan and set for 4 hours or more in the fridge.

cake cake:

250g unsalted butter, room temperature, cubed

300g golden caster sugar

4 large eggs

100g full fat natural yogurt

300g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

zest of 4 large oranges

Line a 10in/23cm round cake tin with greaseproof paper and grease with a little butter. Place all the ingredients into a large bowl or the bowl of a freestanding mixture and beat until everything is combined. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 55 minutes or until springy to the touch and a skewer test comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin until the tin is cool enough to handle. Finish cooling completely before placing the jelly circle in the middle of the cake.

chocolate ganache

284ml double cream

150g milk chocolate, broken up

150g dark chocolate, broken up

Place all the ingredients above in a heat proof bowl and set on top of a simmering pan of water. Once the chocolate starts to melt gently whisk in the middle of the bowl in tiny circles. It just slowly mixes the chocolate and the cream and it always gives a smooth silky ganche. Cool slightly before pouring on top of the jelly topped cake.

notes: For further information the jaffa cake tax decision look here and/or here. Recipe is adapted from BBC Bakes & Cakes Magazine Spring 2014 edition