brownie in a cup

[missjo]

See that is a bit sacrilegious to me
I take my brownie baking seriously!!

I have just put 2kg of currants in a big container & covered them in a couple of bottles of Capt Morgans Spiced Rum!!
For my decadent Dark chocolate, Rum & raisin with coconut & orange zest Christmas Brownies!!



these babies will soak for about 4 weeks before I turn them into complete Brownie deliciousness!

[mvscal]

these babies will soak for about 4 weeks

I was just thinking about doing doing something similar with dried fruit and my first test with some (way out of date) crasins was underwhelming to say the least. I only soaked them for a couple hours, though. Does it really take 4 weeks to rehydrate them with alcohol?

[missjo]

using out of date fruit was your first mistake mvscal :doh:
I start the soak as soon as I unpack them from the supermarket
It's not just about re-hydrating them it's about them soaking up to bursting with that Rum goodness,
so that when they are baked into a brownie or cake you get a huge hit of rum
or brandy if you are doing a fruitcake when you bite into it
I have experimented with different lengths of soak time & while the fruit may look rehydrated it hasn't absorbed enough flavour
2 weeks is a minimum soaking time for me but I find 4 weeks is better.
My friends Mum who is from Norway starts soaking her mixed dried fruit for her Christmas cake 12 months in advance, she puts the fruit in a large airtight container in a cool dark cupboard with a whole bottle of brandy & keeps topping it up when she notices it has been absorbed & let me tell you hers is the most awesomely delicious brandy soaked fruitcake I have ever eaten in my life!!
& she doesn't add any extra brandy to her cake batter, it's all absorbed into the fruit!

[mvscal]

using out of date fruit was your first mistake mvscal :doh:

I figured as much. They were going in the trash anyway so I just put a couple in a shotglass with vodka for a couple hours. There was no disernible difference at that point. It sounds like it wouldn't have made much difference with fresh dried fruit on that time frame. I want to do something with dried apricots in brandy but I don't know what. I guess I can think about it for a couple months.

Never cared much for fruitcake, but that sounds like it would be pretty goddamn good.

[Truman]

Never cared much for fruitcake, but that sounds like it would be pretty goddamn good.

Homemade fruitcake's the shizzle, mvs. Pain in the ass, but worth it. Gonna start boozing up a variety of mixed fruits not named AP this weekend.

And speaking of the shizzle... Lordie, Miss Jo, 4.5 pounds of currents?

Just reading that 'bout made me want to sprint to the can. Please tell me you're feeding a small colitis ward with those - and post the damn recipe! :grin:

[missjo]

I don't do Christmas presents/cards all my friends & family get baked goods instead, I used to do gingerbread Christmas trees, but as my list grew it became too labour intensive, then I came up with a recipe for Rum & raisin Brownies, adapting the flavours from Rum & Raisin shortbread cookies I've made in the past & using my basic go to brownie recipe & tarting it up

Here is the recipe for the brownies, as I make the rum/currant mixture in bulk first this is an estimate, last year I made around 14kg of cooked brownies from a ratio of 1.8 kg of Currants to 2, 700ml bottles of Capt Morgans rum + some extra ( about 1/2 a bottle I think) added when the rum had all absorbed
each brownie pan was about 2kg of Brownies

They are Different to American style brownies & you would probably say they were a "mudcake" masquerading as a brownie :wink:

Rum & Raisin Brownies
Ingredients
300g Butter
250g good quality Dark Chocolate
(I use Whittaker’s Dark chocolate )
5 extra large free range eggs
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 ¼ tsp salt
2 cups dark brown sugar
1 ½ cups self raising flour
1 cup Cocoa
1 cup currents
1 ½ cups Capt Morgans dark spiced rum
1 cup shredded coconut
¼ cup fresh orange zest

Method
I presoak the currents in rum for at least 3-4 weeks
Preheat a fan forced convection oven to around 150 deg Celsius
( I find with things like brownies & mudcakes cooking for longer on a lower temperature gives a better result)
Line a large 35cmx25cm 8cm deep brownie pan with a little spray oil & baking paper
In a double boiler place butter , roughly chopped chocolate ,sugar, salt vanilla & cocoa
& melt together stirring regularly till smooth glossy thick liquid put aside
In a large mixing bowl beat eggs then add cooled chocolate mixture & beat thoroughly with a whisk
Add combined flour & salt whisk again till smooth then add Currents, coconut & orange zest
(I mixed the coconut orange zest & currents together first so the coconut absorbed any excess rum & it softened the coconut)
Pour into pan, place in preheated oven for about 40min depending on your oven

I refrigerate overnight so they are easy to cut into portions. vaccum seal & post off to my friends & family her & overseas
& they were a phenomenal hit with everyone

[Truman]

Thanks, Jo! Gonna jump on these for Thanksgiving. Probably slip in a 1/2 cup-or-so of pecans, but these things look like they'll eat!