An update following last week's brownie baking contest! Sadly I didn't win, my brownies came in at 4th place but I did hear come good comments and we raised over £40 for the local blindness charity Sight Concern. My colleague Maggie from the training department won first place with 11 of the 24 votes and I've managed to swipe her recipe for you. Now I warn you, there is a LOT of chocolate in this - I have double checked with her and she promises it is right! Please don't eat them all at once :) She used to live in New Zealand so uses cup measurements (NZ style) here. An NZ cup is slightly larger than an American cup and Google tells me the cup is equal to 250 ml of wet ingredients, 150g of flour or 200g of sugar. I hope that's not too confusing! Anyway, here it is: Put the cooking rack in the middle of the oven (more towards bottom rather than top if you have to choose) and preheat it to about 150 degrees. Line a baking tray with a silicone baking mat, then put greaseproof paper over the top of this (it’s MUCH better than foil!) (If you don’t have a baking mat, use a double layer of greaseproof paper). Ingredients: 250g unsalted butter 400g best quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa or more) broken into pieces 1 cup soft brown or Demerara sugar 4 medium free range eggs 2.5 cups plain flour (or replace one cup of plain flour with self-raising for a ‘cakier’ brownie) 200g milk chocolate, chopped (she used Galaxy) 2 x large bags of Cadbury’s Caramel Buttons Method: Melt butter over a gentle heat in a LARGE saucepan on the hob (everything will end up in it, so a stock pot is ideal) Once melted, remove from heat and drop in the broken up pieces of dark chocolate, stirring till melted. Once chocolate has melted, stir in sugar; it may remain ‘gritty’ if it hasn’t all dissolved, but no worries, that will cook out. Leave mixture to cool for at least 10 minutes. IF YOUR BASE MIXTURE IS TOO HOT WHEN YOU ADD THE EGGS, YOU’LL HAVE SCRAMBLED EGGS IN YOUR CHOCOLATE! If in doubt, leave it another 5 minutes. Using a spatula or large flat spoon, beat in each of the eggs, one at a time, until well mixed. Tip in the flour and chopped chocolate; mix everything up together well, then pour the yummy chocolatey mess into prepared baking tin. Smooth out the surface, then have a bit of fun poking in all the Caramello buttons at strategic points all over – make sure you dig them in deeply so they get covered by the brownie mix, otherwise they dry out and could burn. (If you’re going to do one for the pot and one for the cook, you might need an extra bag of buttons!) Bake in a moderate oven (around 160 degrees) for about 30 minutes; the brownie should still look a bit wobbly through the middle as you remove it from the oven; if you test with a skewer, the skewer should be left with sticky crumbs and mix on it. If it comes out clean, it’s overcooked. Leave the brownie to cool for a good 3 hours, covered with foil or a clean tea towel. Once cool, you can wrap it in plastic and put it in the fridge for up to 5 days (but generally it doesn’t last that long!) Some serving suggestions: Affogato – small square of brownie in the bottom of a (heatproof) glass, top with a scoop of good quality vanilla ice cream and pour over a single shot of piping hot, strong espresso. Yum! Raspberry Sauce - Puree some fresh or frozen raspberries with a little icing sugar and chill it; serve brownie on a flat white plate, with a little creative painting of the raspberry sauce all around it, plus a nice blob on the top (add a mint leaf garnish if you’re feeling super creative). Gently reheat a portion in the microwave (20 seconds at medium heat is usually plenty) and serve with a great big dollop of fresh whipped or Chantilly cream. Happy baking! IMPORTANT INFORMATION This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please delete it from your system, do not use or disclose the information in any way and notify postmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Any views or opinions expressed in this e-mail are those of the sender and do not necessarily coincide with those of Dolphin Computer Access Ltd. Dolphin Computer Access Limited. Registered in England No. 2065974. Registered address - Technology House, Blackpole Estate West, Worcester, WR3 8TJ, United Kingdom.