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Mayonnaise Secret Ingredient Brownies

Hellmann's recently had a bloggers event in London. I wasn't able to make it but they were kind enough to send me a brownie kit! I couldn't decide what to title this post without it sounding gross!Mayonnaise Brownies, Secret Ingredient Brownies, Peanut Butter Mayonnaise Brownies?

I saw the pink bowl and made the brownies the very next day! It had everything needed to make the brownies (except the eggs).

I was a bit skeptical at first of how they would taste, but as I thought about it mayo doesn't have an overly powerful smell, so I figured it wouldn't affect the taste of the brownies and I was right.

The mayo only contains eggs, vinegar and rapeseed oil which makes it creamy. The purpose of the event and the kits are to show Hellmann's as a versatile ingredient for both sweet and savory dishes. I've seen the brownies in quite a few magazine adverts this month.
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I do love a taste test! This fared 100% more tasty than the last secret ingredient I tasted. The brownies tasted really chocolaty as it uses melted chocolate and cocoa powder. I added half a bag of my precious peanut butter chips from the US instead of nuts for fun. I think these would also make fantastic brownie cupcakes! I think I'll have to add those to make list of things to bake.

Hellmann's Posh Brownies

Ingredients

40g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

140g plain chocolate, broken into small pieces

3 eggs

225g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla

8 tbs Hellman's mayonnaise

55g walnuts (or chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 160 C. Grease a 9x9 inch brownie pan and line with parchment paper (I have an excellent non stick dish and simply greased it). Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder into a small bowl and set aside.

2. Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals stirring in between until melted and set aside.

3. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, caster sugar and vanilla until thickened. Whisk in the melted chocolate.

4. Fold in the flour mixture, mayonnaise and nuts (or chips). Pour batter into the greased baking pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Thanks to Hellman's for my Brownie Kit

· brownies, chocolate, peanut butter, secret ingredient

Brownie Crisps

I was really excited when I got my Green & Blacks Ultimate Chocolate Recipes. I started bookmarking all the things I wanted to make and had to stop because I was putting a sticky note on every other page!

I wanted to make something quickly on a weeknight and I think these are one of the easiest things I've ever made! They took less than 10 minutes to mix up using just a wooden spoon and one saucepan.

They have the chocolate taste of a brownie but the crunch of a good cookie! They're seriously addictive and can I even had them for breakfast one day.

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Maida Heatter's Brownie Crisps

Ingredients

110g unsalted butter

50g 85% dark chocolate, chopped

1 tsp instant coffee granules

100g granulated sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

30g plain flour

75g chopped walnuts

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 C and grease 9 x 9 brownie pan.

2. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir until butter is melted and sizzling (don't let it burn). Remove from heat and stir in chocolate.

3. Stir in the coffee granules. Stir in the sugar, followed by egg and vanilla and then salt and flour.

4. Pour the batter into the greased pan and then top with the chopped walnuts (I mixed mine in with the batter).

5. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cut into squares right away. Leave to cool completely and then lift from pan.

· brownies, chocolate, nuts

Outsider Tart Review

I travelled an hour across London on three different tube lines and various engineering works (Jubilee, Piccadilly and District line in case you were wondering) to get to Outsider Tart. I feel that I pretty much spend an hour on the tube anyway no matter where I'm trying to get to in London but at the end of this long journey I was greeted with warm smiles and most importantly brownies, lots of brownies!

I'm so disappointed in myself. I can not believe that I have waited this long to visit this place! When I was a student I used to live in Richmond and in Hammersmith. I so wish this place had been open back then, it's nearly in the middle of both places.

It's very narrow inside and most of the shop is taken up with a giant counter running down the middle (and shelves with American goodies to buy). Stools on one side for people to sit and employees on the other side making coffee etc. I loved this place because it was basically a brownie bar. There were about 10 giant trays of brownies running down the middle.

We were lucky that when we went in there were some free seats AND David was there! Not sure if it was David or OD (Other David)...It was the David that has hair. He is such a funny guy. He was laughing and talking to everyone, showing which brownie was which and if the one you wanted wasn't on the counter he someone managed to magically make one appear from somewhere else. I can only imagine how fun the classes they offer would be.

Outsider Tart also sell homemade dog biscuits. Someone bought some while we were there and David handed them out for us all to taste a piece! I've never had a dog biscuit before but it wasn't too bad at all.

He was also helping one guy sitting at the end of the bar with his homework, well trying to help!

My friend went with David's suggestion of chocolate cherry cheesecake brownie. It was so incredibly rich and had a lovely hint of cherry. My friend couldn't eat it all in one sitting and was offered a doggie bag to take the rest home.

I on the other hand had no problem finishing. I managed to eat two (I couldn't go all that way and just try one)! The smores brownie was one of the best things I've ever put in my mouth (get your head out of the gutter now). Graham cracker crumbs mixed in the brownie batter and chocolate chips topped with melted marshmallow goo. There are no words to describe how delicious it was. He almost forgot to add it to my bill I ate it so fast.

I also had an Oatmeal Whoopie Pie. This was an enormous whoopie pie. Two soft cakey oatmeal cookies filled with frosting. Not sure if it was cream cheese or not.

I loved Outsider Tart and my only complaint is that it's not closer to where I live! Each dessert item was around the £3 mark and the coffee was excellent (I had a double shot latte).

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· brownies, cupcakes, yummy places

Oreo Crunch Brownies

I had these leftover Oreos from the US and they were starting to get a little stale so they were screaming to be baked into something!

Blizzard Oreos!

I thought Oreo Brownies would be a nice change. I've seen a lot of Oreo Cupcakes on the net so I tried to do something mildly different but not too out there. I do look forward to making Oreo Cupcakes at some point.

This recipe is from Ina Garten and it makes a giant pan so I halved it to fit into a standard 9 x 9 inch brownie pan and adapted the ingredients to be more UK friendly.

Oreo Crunch Brownies

adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients

230g unsalted butter at room temperature (cut into cubes)

225g dark chocolate

85g coffee flavored chocolate (Green and Blacks is nice)

3 eggs

1 tbs vanilla

1 1/8 cup sugar

1/2 + 1/8 cup plain flour

1/2 tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups Oreos (cut into quarters)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C. Grease a 9 x 9 inch brownie pan. In a double boiler melt the butter, dark chocolate and coffee chocolate until nice and smooth. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.

Double boiler is a heat proof bowl over a pan with a small amount of boiling water. This little bowl with a handle I got at Ikea

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar eggs and vanilla.

3. Mix in the melted chocolate. In a small bowl sift together the 1/2 cup of flour, salt and baking powder and add to chocolate mixture.

4. In the now empty flour bowl bowl mix the Oreos and remaining 1/8 cup of flour then stir into the chocolate batter.

5. Pour batter into greased pan and smooth with a spatula. A small amount of batter can remain behind to make a brownie cupcake or two. Bake for 30-35 minutes (check with a tooth pick at 30 minutes). Cool completely before cutting into squares.

· brownies, cookies

Candy Cane Pop Rocks Cupcakes

I've been sick for nearly two weeks and didn't feel well enough to bake so I was way behind on my Christmas preparations. I felt well enough to squeeze in one batch of Christmas cupcakes on Christmas eve.

I bought Candy Cane Pop Rocks at Cyber Candy.

I made some vanilla frosting and then split it evenly between two bowls and made one half red and added some peppermint extract. I added vanilla extract to the other half.

Brownie Cupcakes

adapted from Martha Stewart makes 15

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups plain flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature

6 ounces dark chocolate

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1/2 tbs vanilla

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F/180 C. Line muffin tin with paper liners. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

2. Heat butter and chocolate in a double boiler, stirring occasionally, until melted. Remove from heat, add sugar and whisk until smooth.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Add the vanilla, and beat for 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add the two thirds of the flour and mix until incorporated. Fold in the last third by hand.

4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups filling each three quarters full. Bake 17-20 minutes until tops is set but still soft.

Taking a sneaky sample taste

Vanilla Peppermint Twist Frosting

adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

1 pound icing sugar sifted

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 cup crisco

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1/2 tsp red food coloring

1 pack Candy Cane Pop Rocks for decorating

1. Cream the butter and criso together until smooth and fluffy. Add the icing sugar 1/2 cup at a time beating on medium high speed.

2. Place half the frosting in another bowl and mix in the red food coloring and the peppermint extract. Mix the vanilla extract into the other bowl.

3. In your piping bag scoop the vanilla part in once side and the red part on the other side and when piped should create a nice two toned swirl. Sprinkle pop rocks on for decoration.

· brownies, chocolate, Christmas, cupcakes, holidays

Peppermint Brownies

I'm making a lot of cupcakes next week for theRemedi sample sale so I decided to make brownies this weekend instead. I love the Fat Witch Brownie cookbook. You don't need any fancy equipment for brownies. I made these with a bowl and a wooden spoon. The little candy cane sprinkles I used taste like peppermint too!

I got these in US and they melted into a lump on my way back so I melted the whole bag and mixed them in instead of using separate dark and mint chips.

Peppermint Brownies

adapted from Fat Witch Brownies

Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks (175g) unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon peppermint extract

3 large eggs

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup mint chips

green sugar (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C. Grease a 9 x 9 inch pan and dust with flour.

2. Melt the butter and dark chocolate chips (or 1 bag of Andes chips) in a small saucepan over low heat (I was lazy and did it in the microwave). Remove from heat and cool before adding the peppermint extract (I only added a 1 tsp since the chips were already minty).

3. Cream the eggs, sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl until smooth. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and mix until well blended.

4. Sift the flour and salt directly into the batter mix until well combined. If using add the mint chips stir them in.

5. Pour the batter in the prepared pan and top with the sugar sprinkles, if using. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

6. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least an hour.

These are incredibly fudgey and gooey if eaten soon after taking out from the oven. They would taste so good with a scoop of mint chocolate chip or vanilla ice cream. A really nice easy dessert to make for Christmas.

· brownies, chocolate, Christmas

Shortbread Brownies

I bought the Fat Witch Brownies cookbook which consists of 160 pages of recipes for only brownies! I wasn't expecting too much as I didn't think there were that many ways to make a brownie, but I was really surprised. All the recipes look really great!

These shortbread brownies came out so perfect! This book would make a really nice Christmas gift for someone. The book fits perfectly in a 9 x 9 inch pan.

Shortbread Brownies

adapted from Fat Witch Brownies

Ingredients

Crust

7 tbs (100g) unsalted butter at room temperature

2 tbs granulated sugar

1 tbs packed light brown sugar

1 large egg yolk

1 cup plain flour

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans (I couldn't find any and used hazelnuts)

Brownie Batter

12 tbs (168g) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup bittersweet (70%) chocolate

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large egg yolks

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup finely chopped pecans (optional)

1. Grease a 9 inch x 9 inch baking pan with butter. Dust with flour and tap out the excess. Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C.

2. To make the crust, beat the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar together until combined but still crumbly. Add the egg yolk and beat until smooth.

3. Measure the flour and then sift it directly into the batter. Mix gently until well combined and no trace of the dry ingredients remains. Add the nuts and mix by hand. Press the dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Bake the crust for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside on a rack to cool.

4. To make the brownie batter, place the butter in a small bowl and melt in the microwave (heat for 30 seconds at a time until gently melted). Do the same for the chocolate but don't overheat and burn. Pour the butter into the melted chocolate, stir to combine, and set aside to cool.

If you're not confident using the microwave, melt the butter and the chocolate on the stove using a double boiler (I'm lazy and like to use the microwave).

5. In another bowl beat the egg yolks, brown sugar and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Measure the flour, baking powder and salt and then sift directly into the batter. Mix gently until well combined. Stir the nuts in.

6. Using a spatula, spread the batter evenly on the top of the cooled crust. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 1 hour (very important to let it cool for the full hour).

· brownies, nuts

Archive HOT

Mayonnaise Secret Ingredient Brownies

Brownie Crisps

Outsider Tart Review

Oreo Crunch Brownies

Candy Cane Pop Rocks Cupcakes

Peppermint Brownies

Shortbread Brownies

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