Salted Caramel Cocoa Brownies with Burnt Meringue Topping

A couple weeks ago, I set up stall on Columbia Road Market to take part in Bake For Syria, a massive charity bakesale raising money for UNESCO, and to say I was a little overwhelmed by the response is most definitely an understatement. Not only did we raise over £10,000.00 (I havent heard the final figure yet) but most of the bakeries had sold hours earlier than expected and hours earlier than we had planned for; those of you who came down later, sorry we couldn't sell you cake! It was the first time I had sold my baking to the public since my short lived bakery Eddibles Bakery (its a pun, get it?) on Maltby Street Market a few years back. I baked liked a maniac for a couple days before the big day, using just one oven and one mixer. I cranked as much sweet stuff as I could manage and then promptly sold out in just few hours! Maybe stupidly I made a variety of things when big batches of one or two things would have been more sensible. On the day it became clear that one thing was, by far, ridiculously popular. The cocoa brownie laced with copious amounts of salted caramel and then topped with swathes of burnt swiss meringue sold out in record time, I think it took barely 30 mins! Every day since you guys have been asking for the recipe, so here it is! I also quickly want to say that the brownie recipe is my spin on the cocoa brownies from Alice Medrich, from her brilliant book Bittersweet. I have adapted the ingredient amounts to suit my tastes and I've changed the method but the idea and base of the recipe come from Medrich.

Rather than simply popping the recipe up here, I wanted to film it so I headed over to Cupcake Jemmas kitchen and we filmed the recipe for YouTube. So once you have fallen into a sugar coma from watching my video jump over to Jemma's channel and watch the video we made together, where Jemma tries to convince me to like cupcakes.

Salted Caramel Cocoa Brownie with Burnt Swiss Meringue

Salted Caramel
150g caster
25g unsalted butter
Large pinch flaked sea salt
125ml double cream

Cocoa Brownies
300g unsalted butter, diced
225g caster sugar
225g light brown sugar
175g cocoa powder (I used Guittard)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs
140g plain flour

Swiss Meringue
3 large egg white
240g caster sugar
Pinch of salt
Pinch of cream of tartar 

For the caramel filling place the sugar into a medium saucepan and melt over medium heat until turned a dark rusty brown colour, stopping just before it starts to smoke. Remove from the heat and carefully pour in the salt and half the cream. The mixture will bubble violently so be careful and go slowly. Once the mixture has settled add the remaining cream followed by the butter. Place the pan back on the heat and cook another two minutes to thicken the caramel a little and ensure it is smooth. Pour into a jar and refrigerate until cooled and firm (this is best done at least a few hours in advance as the caramel will take a fairly long time to cool).

In a medium sized saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, cocoa, salt and vanilla together. Once smooth remove from the heat and set aside for the moment. In a large bowl use an electric mixer to whisk together the sugars and eggs until slightly thickened and pale. Pour in the cocoa mixture and mix until smooth. Sieve over the four and fold together until combined.

Pour into a parchment lined 9x13 brownie pan and level out. Top with random dollops of caramel, about a teaspoon in size, using up the whole amount. This will look like a lot of caramel and it is, no one said this was a healthy recipe!

Bake at 180C (160C fan) for 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the brownie comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. When it comes to a brownies nobody wants a dry brownie so it is best err on the side of caution, better to underbake a brownie then overbake it. Allow to cool for an hour or so before transferring to a fridge for a few hours, this helps set the brownies and makes them easier to cut. 

For the burnt meringue topping place all of the ingredients into a heatproof bowl and whisk gently over a pan of simmering water until the sugar has dissolved. Take from the heat and whisk on high speed until the meringue hold stiff glossy peaks. Spread over the brownies and brown with a blowtorch.  

Before the meringue is added the brownies can be kept in a sealed container for up to four days but once the meringue has been added these are best within a day so these are best made for a event where there will be lots of willing recipients.

The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

Is there anything better than a chocolate chip cookie? Maybe just a still warm from the oven chocolate chip cookie! Maybe it’s nostalgia but this simple recipe is one of those dishes that almost always makes feel like a little kid again, and we didn't even eat homemade cookies as a kid. Childish, though, these cookies are not. You might notice there is a nice amount of sea salt used in this recipe, both in the dough itself and sprinkled on the cookie after it bakes. By now we all now that sweet and salty play together very nicely, chocolate and salt especially so in my opinion. This recipe is my ultimate version of the chocolate chip cookie, so I decided it was time to film a version of the recipe for youtube so if you want get a peak of my kitchen (no complaints about any mess please) and see how to make the cookies take a look below.

Whilst the recipe is fairly straight forward there is a couple things important to this recipe. Firstly is the resting of the dough in the fridge. I first learnt about this idea in a New York Times article a few years back. It was suggested that the cookies would brown more, giving more of those toasty caramelised notes we all love in cookies. I tried it once and adopted the technique straight away. It makes a noticeable colour difference that translates beautifully into flavour. 

The second thing that of course affects the quality of the end cookie, is the chocolate used. If you've ever heard me talk about chocolate you know what im talking about. For those that haven't lets just say I’m quite evangelical when it comes to quality chocolate. I am not saying you have to spend a fortune, using Green and Blacks instead of Bourneville for example will make a huge difference. What I'm really saying is this, and maybe this is a little obvious, use a chocolate that you love, at least that way you know you will love the cookies. Secondly is all about quality. When you look at the packaging of chocolate there really should only be a small handful of ingredients. Cocoa in one of its forms (labeled variously as solids, mass, liquor, beans, butter etc) sugar, and then two optional ingredients, some sort of emulsifier, most commonly soya or sunflower lecithin, and finally vanilla (and of course some type of milk for milk chocolate). If there is anything else listed, any vegetable oils, or ingredients you just simply don't understand, then don't buy it. Chocolate like that is masquerading as the real deal and you’ll notice the difference. Also a quick note to American bakers. I have been noticing a lot of American websites listing chocolate as an ingredient and then seeing ‘candy melts’ used in the imagery. I cant say this strongly enough, that stuff bears no relation at all to chocolate and should never be used in replacement of chocolate. That isn't me being snobby its just an entirely different product that will work in a very different way. Again, enough of my lecturing, just use what you love. I could easily go into the ethics of buying chocolate, mass cocoa, beans types, single origins but I can feel you falling asleep through the screen so I am going to resist for now. 

Back to the recipe and just one more point about chocolate, its not more lecturing I promise, the format of the chocolate can also make an interesting difference to the cookies. Of course the easiest form for most people is buying a bar of chocolate and chopping it up. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, half the time I do it this way myself. My preferred method though, is to use callets, small (often oval shaped) discs of chocolate. I use these as they don’t need chopping but as a byproduct of their shape they form big layers of chocolate in the cookies, so that the finished cookie is interlacing layers of dough and chocolate, the perfect format of a cookie. Formally the reserve of professional chefs this style of chocolate is slowly becoming more popular with home bakers and some producers are catching on. Valrhona are of course the pioneers of the form but most of the professional companies produce something similar now. Guittard, a family run San Francisco based company, who recently launched in the UK have chocolate in button form called wafers and in a unique shape called ‘super cookie chips’ which are somewhere between an old fashioned chocolate chip and a callet (I believe Guittard are currently available from Ocado, Amazon and Whole Foods). The chocolate I used in these however was from the British bakery, Pump St Bakery in Orford. For such a small village their bakery sure is producing incredibly high quality chocolate. On a recent visit around the kitchens and chocolate production they very kind to let me take home some of their new callets, which will very soon be available to buy. I decided to use a mix of milk and dark chocolate (mainly because it was what I had left) and trust me these were the best chocolate chip cookies ever!

My Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 22-25

500g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp flaked sea salt
225g unsalted butter, diced and at room temperature
220g light brown sugar
220g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
500g chocolate (I used a 50/50 mix of 60% dark milk and 70% dark from Pump St Bakery)

To make the cookie dough mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together with a whisk (no need to sieve this mixture)

Add the butter and sugars into a large bowl and using an electric mixer, beat together until smooth and starting to lighten, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until fully combined, then mix in the vanilla.

Add the flour mixture mixing until just combined. Add in the chocolate and mix for a few seconds until evenly distributed. Chill the dough anywhere from 24-48 hours to help the dough to caramelise more as it bakes. 

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC fan oven) and line two baking trays with baking parchment. Use your hand or a mechanical ice cream scoop to form balls of dough, about 60/70g per cookie.

Bake six per tray for about 16-18 minutes or until golden around the edges but still a tad pale in the middle. Allow to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Kept in a sealed container these cookies will keep for up to four days. The balls of dough can also be frozen for a few months. Simply place the dough balls onto a parchment lined tray and pop in the freezer for an hour or so, until hardened. Once frozen you can throw the balls into a tupperware box or ziplock bag. Freezing on the tray first just means the dough balls wont stick to each other. When you fancy baking a cookie or two simply bake as above adding a minute or so onto the baking time. 

Chocolate Sables

It is National Chocolate Week here in the UK and that means it is also Chocolate Week here on The Boy Who Bakes. Over the weekI will posting a whole host of utterly delicious and decadent chocolate recipes. Im starting the week with a doozy, Chocolate Sables, from my book Patisserie Made Simple. 

Im not just baking these just because they’re delicious, and boy are they delicious, I’m baking them because im joining in with the wonderful #cookiesandkindness project launched by Dorie Greenspan. It is such a simple idea, bake a batch of cookies and share them with someone, posting about it online to show the world that there is still a lot of love out there. Every month Dorie will post a recipe on her website as a suggestion but you can bake whatever you fancy, just share the love, and the cookies of course. I bake these cookies on a regular basis, with or without the chocolate coating, and it makes a lot, a natural to share. When making the dough it’s formed into two logs and sliced into cookies. I bake off one half of the cookies for now and the second batch are refrigerated or frozen for a later date. So when making these to share why not do the same thing, it extends the happiness. giving a batch of cookies and a batch of cookie dough, the perfect gift.

To find out more about the #cookiesandkindness project and to get the story on how Dorie got into food I popped across the channel to Paris so we could record an episode of Stir The Pot together. I have met Dorie before but after spending an evening together I can honestly say that Dorie is one of the kindest, most encouraging and passionate people I have met. This episode of the podcast is a gem and if you love food and baking (if you don't how on earth did you get here) I would thoroughly recommend you to give it a listen. If I could also ask a big favour, if you are liking the podcast could you also help spread the love and tweet about it, leave a review on iTunes, or simply subscribe, it would mean the world!

Chocolate Sables

The Chocolate Sablé is the little black dress of biscuits: reliable, grown-up and with just a little hint of naughtiness! They take no time at all to make, but the rewards are bountiful. I use 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt in these biscuits, which might seem like a lot to some people, but salt and chocolate were meant to be together – it highlights the chocolate flavour and enhances the overall taste. Just don’t use table salt; you need a good flaked sea salt, such as fleur de sel. To dress up these cookies even more, I have dipped them in tempered chocolate and sprinkled them with cacao nibs, but this is optional – they are still a wonderful treat without it.

Makes 40

For the sablé dough
275g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon flaked sea salt
200g unsalted butter at room temperature, diced
50g caster sugar
200g light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
175g dark chocolate (60–70% cocoa solids), finely chopped

For the coating
250g dark chocolate (60–70% cocoa solids), tempered
cacao nibs, to sprinkle (optional)

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a medium bowl and add the sea salt, then stir together. Set aside.

Put the butter in large mixing bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat until smooth and light. Add the sugars and vanilla extract, and beat together for 2 minutes until smooth. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix together until you have a mixture that looks sandy (which is what sablé means in English), add the chocolate and mix to combine. The final dough should look almost like soil; it should not have formed into one large ball of dough. This is the key to getting the correct texture; mixed for too long the biscuits will be tough.

Tip out the mixture onto a work surface and gently press together to form a uniform dough. Divide in half and roll into two logs, 4cm thick.

Wrap in clingfilm and put them in the fridge to chill for 3 hours or until firm. (At this point you can freeze the dough for baking at a later date, or do as I do and bake one half of the dough and freeze the second.)

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan oven)/gas 4 and line three baking trays with baking parchment. Remove the dough from the fridge and, using a thin, sharp knife, cut into rounds about 1cm thick. Put the biscuits onto the baking trays, leaving 2cm between each one. Bake for 10–12 minutes until set around the outside but still soft in the centre.

Leave the biscuits to cool on the trays for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Line a baking tray with baking parchment. Once the biscuits are cool, dip each one halfway into the tempered chocolate, allowing the excess to drip off. Put onto the prepared tray and sprinkle with a few cacao nibs before allowing the chocolate to set fully at room temperature. The biscuits will keep for up to one week stored in an airtight container.

Tip
Although I have given a suggestion for the cocoa percentages of the chocolate used in this recipe it is purely a guide; you can use whichever chocolate you prefer. The key is to use one that you love.

(recipe is taken from my book Patisserie Made Simple by Kyle Books and the recipe photograph is by Laura Edwards)

Melting Moments

This recipe is special to me for one big reason. It isn't a complicated or fancy recipe, in fact it's as simple as it gets. It's not from my childhood and it wasn't passed down through my family. It's simply a biscuit that helped me launch my baking business. A couple years ago I had the idea of taking my career in baking to a different level and opening up shop. This is how I found myself down at London's Maltby Street Market come rain or shine, every weekend selling my wares. To my surprise the melting moments became one of the favourites (along with the salted peanut and chocolate cookie sandwich, filled with homemade marshmallow fluff). I think they remind us of being kids, they're a bit like shortbread and are simple and humble, almost British in style, when in fact this recipe hails from Australia. I may not run that business anymore, because I became too busy with other work (hello Patisserie Made Simple) but I still regularly whip up a batch of these biscuits. To add a little bit of sunshine to this disappointingly grey summer I have filled the biscuits with both vanilla buttercream and a bright passion fruit curd and let me tell you, one wont be enough!

Melting Moments
250g unsalted butter, room temperature
½ tsp vanilla bean paste
85g icing sugar
250g plain flour
40g custard powder (or cornflour if you cant find it)
¼ tsp salt

Filling
75g unsalted butter, room temperature
150g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
pinch of salt

Passion Fruit Curd
80ml passion fruit puree (from about 5-6 passion fruit)
5 large egg yolks
150g caster sugar
100g unsalted butter

To make the curd place the puree, yolks and sugar into a heatproof bowl and whisk together until combined. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and cook, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Take the bowl from the heat and add the butter, mixing together until melted and combined. Pour the curd into a sterilised jar and seal, refrigerating until needed. 

Preheat the oven to 160C (140C fan) and line two baking trays with parchment paper. Place the butter, vanilla and icing sugar into a large bowl and beat together until smooth and creamy. Sift the remaining ingredients into the bowl and gently mix together until you form a uniform dough, this can easily be done either by hand with a wooden spoon or with a mixer.

Using your hands roll the dough into small balls (I weigh these, 20g each) and place onto the prepared trays leaving a couple of inches between each biscuit. Using a fork dipped in flour press the fork onto the centre of each biscuit leaving an indent.

Bake the biscuits in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until uniformly coloured. These shouldn't brown around the edges (due to the slightly lower temperature) so if you want to confirm they are fully baked flip one over, there should be a uniform golden colour across the base. If there is a darker, almost damp looking patch in the middle pop them back in the oven for a few minutes.

Allow to cool on the baking trays for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Whilst cooling make the buttercream. Place the butter into a large bowl and beat together until smooth and creamy, then slowly add in the icing sugar a little at a time, beating until fully combined. Once you have added all the sugar add the vanilla and salt and beat together until light and fluffy.

To assemble the biscuits place the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a small plain piping tip a pipe a circle of buttercream around the edges of half the biscuits. Fill the hole left behind with some passion fruit curd and top with a second biscuit (if youre not making the curd you can also use the jam of your choice or even some salted caramel. These will keep well for around four days in a sealed container.