Saturday 7 July 2012

Blackcurrant Caramel Brownies with Hazelnut Semifreddo

There is nothing special going on in my mind today … at least not that I know of. But, when I don’t know, who else should?!?
However, while shopping I got some chocolate and some blackcurrant jam. I thought I would need those things at some point of the month for the “We Should Cocoa” blog challenge from Chocolate Teapot and Chocolate Log Blog. And indeed I did use those things as you well see in a moment.


Already the day before the desire to produce some semifreddo bore fruit. I learned how to make it when I read The Naked Chef from Jamie Oliver. Since then it comes over me from time to time and I don’t feel sorry in any kind of way.
Depending on how you flavour it, it goes really simple. Separate four eggs. Beat the egg yolks with 50 g sugar and vanilla extract. Beat 400 ml of whipping cream. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt. Yes, you are absolutely right, there is a lot of beating involved, but that is not the reason why I love it so much.


Well then, mix together the creamed egg yolks with the cream. I added 100 g of hazelnut brittle. Finally, fold in the beaten egg whites and then freeze! No, sorry, I didn’t mean, you should stop moving, but you should transfer the bowl of not yet semifreddo to the freezer in order to let it become semifreddo (you might have guessed already, this is Italian and it means “half-cold”, but I have no problem with making it totally cold). This will take  a few hours. So relax!


Let us come back now to “We Should Cocoa”!
In order to make things work we are going to use the nice blackcurrant jam and the chocolate I bought. As you have read, this hasn’t happened so far. Apart from being keen on preparing semifreddo, even before I got to that point, I fancied making some chocolate brownies.
The weeks before these things kept coming up while reading foodie things. All these amassed thoughts now go into these Blackcurrant Caramel Brownies.

Ingredients:
150 g butter
200 g chocolate
150 g soft caramel toffees
150 g blackcurrant jam
80 g cocoa powder
80 g flour
One teaspoon baking powder
300 g sugar
4 eggs

Preparation:
Line a 30 x 20 cm baking tray with baking parchment.
Now you need a bowl that will hold the butter, the toffees, the chocolate, and the jam and that you can place over simmering water (somehow you will manage to solve that problem). So then, place the just mentioned ingredients to the just mentioned bowl and let it melt all together. I first of all melted the butter, toffees, and chocolate and added the jam later.


Sift the cocoa powder, the flour, and the baking powder to another bowl and add the sugar as well.


When everything has melted in the bowl above the simmering water, unite the content of both bowls in whichever of the two bowls you like or can, only making sure that everything will be mixed together thoroughly (not that you have to discover later, that some of the flour is still sticking to the base of the bowl).
Take the four eggs and beat (Yes, again! And stop that thoughts of yours) them or whisk (if you prefer that expression) them together. After that, they are ready to join the chocolaty mix. Do your best to have a nice shiny and smooth mass to make your brownies.


Did I mention, that you should have your oven ready at 180°C at this point? No, well I keep forgetting. In some recipe books they do so right at the beginning, but then the oven usually is ready before I am ready to put things into it. Now it would be better for the environment, when the oven is ready just when you need it and that it doesn’t have to wait for you unnecessarily. Good! Is it ready now. Then put your brownie mass to your baking tray and bake it for about 25 minutes, depending on your oven. We want to achieve a soft and gooey texture of the brownies on the inside. Go for it!


After cooling down, that is when the brownies are ready and have cooled down and the semifreddo has cooled down sufficiently you can serve it and eat it.


But beware! It could be quite sweet and chocolaty and it could affect your waistline. Remember, Hips don't lie!. Still I hope, you will be able to enjoy these Blackcurrant Caramel Brownies. Let us know, if you have a try!

12 comments:

  1. That looks fantastic, all that beating was worthwhile. I've never made a semifreddo but will put it on my list now.

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    1. It is really worthwhile. Some time ago I did semifreddo as soon as the previous batch was gone, just to keep some in the storage.

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  2. The nut brittle semifreddo sounds wonderful, and seems very easy to do particularly if you have an electric whisk! I do love brownies and your blackcurrant caramel look delicious.

    Angela

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    1. Thank you! And if you don't have an electric whisk, you get some extra exercise. Also not bad. Above this there are many other lovely ways you can flavour your semifreddo.

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  3. These sound amazing! With the semifreddo too it looks like a great combination.

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    1. Thanks! It was one of these accident thing again. I did the semifreddo already before, wanting to make it for a long time. Then when I finished the brownies, I thought about what to put on them. The alternative would have been some Greek yoghurt.

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  4. That semifreddo is calling my name... in a MAJOR way!

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  5. Another cracker of a WSC entry from you Chris - thank you. I so want one of your blackcurrent caramel brownies and strangely enough I think it would go very well with your semifreddo too - hips be damned! I have been meaning to try out semifreddo for absolutely ages as you don't need an ice-cream maker but I'm really determined to do it this month.

    Was the texture what you'd expect from a good brownie? I've not tried adding jam before.

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    1. Thank you! I liked it very much, but it was really very gooey. However, eating it in that way was absolutely good.
      I also don't have an ice-cream maker. Otherwise I would have tried making my own ice-cream as well. I might try it, though, without an ice-cream maker ... one day.

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  6. Hi! Your semifreddo recipe was nominated as one of the "Best 300 Semifreddo Recipes on the Net". To vote for it, please visit http://easyitalianrecipes.org/dessert-recipes/best-300-italian-semifreddo-recipes-on-the-net-vote-for-your-favorite/ - your recipe is positioned at #296 (random order).

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