Antidote to a Wet, Miserable Afternoon: Chilli Chocolate Brownies

If you have missed the previous posts, I recently decided to make some Chilli and Lime flavoured gin (see the beginnings or the final product [edit: the recipe for Chilli and Lime Gin has now moved to The Usual Saucepans – sorry for any inconvenience]for further details). Doing something like this always leaves me with a slight dilemma: what do you do with the leftover fruit? Obviously just chucking it out is a massive waste, but what exactly would go with gin-soaked chillies and lime? My first response was muffins (I don’t know what this says about me), but after a quick consultation with the ever-helpful Mr Google I came across a recipe for White Chocolate Chilli Brownies from BBC Food, this I decided was a bit odd – I’m not a huge fan of white chocolate, I find it a bit sickly – but easily altered to become chocolate and chilli brownies with lime. Dilemma solved.I’ll apologise here for the slightly dodgy photos in this post, they were taken on my phone (I was feeling too lazy to take the 20 or so second walk to go find a camera).

As with most brownies they were very easy to make, but I’m slightly sad that the taste of the lime isn’t particularly obvious (I didn’t have the lime zest, which certainly didn’t help). The fact that the gin didn’t come through is possibly a good thing (I’m not entirely sure gin and chocolate would be a great combination…).I would also be tempted to add a spoonful of cocoa powder in next time as well, to make the final outcome that little bit darker and more brownie-like. However, for something I tried on a whim, I don’t think they were at all bad. Chilli and Lime Chocolate Brownies (Adapted from the original BBC Food recipe)

• 160g butter
• 225g good quality dark chocolate (roughly chopped)
• 1 tbs good cocoa powder
• 2 medium eggs
• 100g caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g plain flour (sifted)
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 Zest and (all the) juice of a lime

For the chillies, 2 de-seeded red chillies, 100g caster sugar, 150 ml water.

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180’C and line a 15×25 cm baking tin (or something roughly around that size).
2. Slice the chillies on the diagonal and combine with sugar and water in a pot; bring to the boil gently and simmer for a few minutes (I would do it for less time if the chillies were in gin for a fortnight).
3. Over a pot of simmering water, in a heatproof bowl, melt the butter and just over half the chocolate, whisking until smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
4. In a separate bowl beat the eggs, sugar, lime (zest and juice) and vanilla together until pale. Beat in the chocolate mixture.
5. Fold in the flower, cocoa and salt until a batter is formed, then add the remaining chocolate chunks. Drain the chillies (keeping about a tablespoon of the water) and add them to the batter (keeping a few to scatter on top), then mix in the chilli-water.
6. Pour into the tray and scatter the remaining chillies on top.
7. Bake in the oven for approx. 25 mins, or until the top is firm and the brownies are coming away from the edge a bit.
8. Cut into whatever size you want and dust with icing sugar, if desired.
9. Eat.

If, when you’re eating them, you find the chilli taste is not quite as powerful as you would like, warm them slightly.

They also go well as a dessert, with a little whipped cream and a couple of raspberries or with a cake shaped like a killer whale (it was a slightly bizarre weekend).

Cr