Brownies are as much about texture as they are flavour. Whenever I’m trying to dance those two attributes around each other in a recipe I inevitably think of the buzz that chiles can add to the tongue which leads me to experimentation. Where better to try than inside a chocolate sponge laced with other exotics?
I’m certainly not the first to try many of these tricks hidden inside a brownie. Caramel, chocolate chunks, cream cheese, pumpkin, peanut butter, orange zest, raspberry jam… the list of additions is endless as they seem to be a favourite playground among food writers looking to sell copy and home cooks looking to test whacky theories. Likely because if you surround most anything in chocolate and sugar it won’t taste half bad. Still, to me a brownie should be slightly more purist rather than an over-the-top incarnation more about marketing buzzwords than smart flavour enhancement.
The cake versus fudge spectrum for brownies is well documented – it’s all about the fat ratios – but the flavour side of the equation sometimes gets swept under the rug. Hints of espresso and chile can all raise the bar without whacking it off the uprights while a little orange surprise inside is welcome relief from chocolate monotony. The coffee really gives the chocolate a base from which to springboard onto your palate and if you’re not in the mood for the zing of a chile and orange party, this is perfectly acceptable chewy brownie method without any of those extras included. Half a cup of gently toasted nuts would play well in there too if you’re feeling nutty. Perhaps I’ll try that variation next.
Chile & Orange Brownies
120 ml (~1/2 cup) orange marmalade
1-3 teaspoons pure dry chile, any variety, ground
50 g pure cocoa powder (unsweetened)
70 g unsalted butter, melted
125 g (~150ml) vegetable oil
1 shot (~ 30ml or 1 ounce) freshly made espresso *
200g (~1 cup) sugar **
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs from happy chickens
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
225 g (~1 & 1/2) cup all-purpose flour
* Find yourself without an espresso machine? Quality instant espresso crystals dissolved in the boiling water will work here.
** Personally I’m not a fan of overly sweet things but if you are, or if you’re making these without the marmalade ‘filling’, you can safely increase the sugar by anywhere from 50-100 grams to quiet your inner sweet-toothed monster. More than that and you’ll need to revisit all the ratios.
Yield: Nine satisfying brownies
Preheat the oven to 175C (350F). Prepare a heavy nine-inch square baking pan with a foil sling, lightly oiled.
Mix the marmalade and most of the chile. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients except flour and baking powder and work to remove lumps and incorporate completely after each addition. Sift together baking powder and flour and mix into the batter until no lumps remain.
Pour half the batter into the prepared pan. Place nine equal spoonfuls of the marmalade mix in a grid atop the batter. Carefully cover with the remaining batter. Bake for twelve minutes then rotate the pan front to back and continue to bake anywhere from ten to fifteen minutes longer depending on your pan and oven. A wooden skewer inserted should still come out with a few crumbs rather than completely clean. The latter would mean you’ve gone too long. Don’t over bake these unless you need dry chocolate bricks to build a wall in your garden.
Removing from the pan to a rack to cool at least twenty minutes. Resist the urge to cut into these hot because they really need the extra time to finish cooking and set properly. Make an espresso while you wait and save the centre brownie (the most fudge-y) for me.
