Sunday mornings are our family outdoor walk days. It’s cold in Shetland on a January morning, so I thought I’d whip up something with a bit of kick to help warm us from the inside when we’re out. These double chocolate chilli brownies worked a treat! I’ve been making a variation of this recipe for years, having adapted this recipe by adding plenty of white chocolate chunks for a bit of texture (and extra chocolate is always a good thing, no?). I was sent some naturally flavoured chilli cocoa powder to try by Sugar and Crumbs and I thought I’d experiment with this recipe. I changed the usual caster and muscovado sugars to palm sugar, which imparts a lovely rich caramel flavour to baking (as well as being a lower GI index sweetener, releasing energy more slowly – great for hill walking snacks), and sprinkled a crushed, dried chilli over the top for some extra kick.
They were fabulous! Even the 3 year old gobbled his up with glee on our last beach walk.
You’ll notice that the recipe doesn’t include any butter, instead, it uses mayonnaise. Mayonnaise in chocolate brownies? Inconceivable! It works, really! You could even use lighter-than-light mayo to significantly reduce the fat and calorie content. I’ve tried it, and it works.
- 85 grams dark chocolate (>70% cocoa solids)
- 85 grams plain flour
- 25 grams natural chilli flavoured cocoa powder or plain cocoa powder and a generous pinch of chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 150 grams palm sugar
- 1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp soured cream
- 1 egg
- 100 grams mayonnaise
- 100 grams white chocolate
- 1 dried red chilli (optional)
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: 16 brownies
I am entering this recipe into the January 2013 Alphabakes food bloggers challenge alternately hosted by The More Than Occasional Baker and Caroline Makes. This month Caroline has challenged us to bake something involving the letter ‘D’. Dark chocolate? Yup. This has it. 🙂
Mum of three, daydream adventurer, OU Life Sciences graduate, occasional crafter, ex-pat Canadian & quite possibly Britain's most northerly food blogger.
Javelin Warrior says
May 21, 2013 at 2:45 pmJust wanted to drop by and let you know again how much I loved these brownies! They have the perfect combination of sweet and spicy – and the almost caramelized white chocolate on top is so good… I’m so glad you turned me onto these and thanks for sharing!
Caroline says
January 27, 2013 at 7:08 pmMmm, great flavour combination, and I love the idea of using mayo to reduce the fat content! Thanks for entering Alphabakes!
Nutritious Deliciousness says
January 26, 2013 at 5:25 pmthey look delicious, mayonnaise?? amazing, never thought to use it! I do love chocolate(any colour!) and chilli, I think I can taste these 🙂