dillymug 
Well here we are post Christmas in Lockdown 3. January has felt like 474 days rather than 31 days and the weather seems to be doing its best to add to the dull and dreary mood. So this week I decided a little motivational baking was needed to cheer up both me and my colleagues at school this week (as contrary to popular belief schools are not closed and teaching at the moment is pretty exhausting.) Shockingly we still had some mince pies in the cupboard (I’m putting this down to a lack of clotted cream to accompany them) so I decided to make Holly Bell’s mince pie brownies. I have made these for the last 3 years for various Christmas gatherings and for our neighbours but have never actually got round to writing them up as a blog post so I decided now was the time to put that right.
These were very well received at work. They have just the right amount of gooeyness and the mince pies help to add a festive twist – I’m not sure what’s not to love about them. I made 16 medium-sized brownies. You could of course cut them bigger if you were giving as an indulgent festive gift. You’ll need a 20cm x 20cm brownie tin. They will keep for 3 days in an air tight tin or freeze for up to 1 month.
Ingredients:
325g dark chocolate (Not more than 40% cocoa solids – I always use Aldi’s dark chocolate in a red packet for brownies and find this works well)
125g salted butter (I used unsalted and added a pinch of salt)
150g caster sugar
90g soft brown sugar
3 large eggs
100g plain flour
2 leftover mince pies (crumbled up)
Method:
1) Grease and line a 20cm x 20cm brownie tin and preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/gas mark 4.
2) Break the chocolate into squares and melt together with the butter in a large saucepan over a very low heat, stirring regularly to ensure the chocolate doesn’t burn.
3) Remove from the heat when smooth and add the sugars, eggs and flour.
4) Stir well, add the crumbled mince pies and pour into the prepared tin. Be careful to ensure no pastry is showing – poke it back into the brownie batter so it doesn’t burn.
5) Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until the brownie has stopped wobbling and is starting to look a little cracked at the edges.
6) Cool on a wire rack and refrigerate for an hour before cutting with a knife dipped in warm water. You can clean the knife after each cut to get perfect little squares.
