Gluten Free Chilli Brownies for Halloween

 

 

Story has it that red chilli peppers are associated with the devil, thanks to the hellish heat they leave in one's mouth and the shape of the little peppers curving like devil's horns. These brownies can be as fiery or as subtle as you like, it just depends on the heat of the chilli pepper you use. Even with the hot peppers the crumb of the brownie still tastes sweet, soft and so chocolatey. Devilishly good. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recipe

Adapted from the one by Cook Vegetarian, for their recipe click here

Serves 7-8

 

 

150g plain chocolate

100g chilli dark chocolate

150g unsalted butter, room temperature

175g caster sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

75g gluten free plain flour

1 small bag dark chocolate chips

half a red chilli pepper, finely chopped and deseeded

 

for decoration:

gluten free coloured icing pens, (I used Dr Oetker)

a little cherry or raspberry jam, optional

gluten free ready rolled white icing, (I used offcuts of Silver Spoon icing), optional

 

 

1. Turn the oven to 170C (150 fan ovens) and grease and line a suitable square or rectangular baking tray.

 

 

2. Break the chocolate bars into small pieces, placing the chilli chocolate chunks in a separate bowl to the plain so that you can tell the two apart.

 

 

3. Heat 100g of the plain chocolate chunks, and all the chilli chocolate, in a heatproof bowl over a pan of just simmering water. Stir carefully until the chocolate has melted, then remove the bowl from the heat and put to one side to cool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the sugar into the chocolate, then add the eggs one at a time until well combined.

 

 

5. Next sift over the flour, and stir until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips, the leftover plain chocolate and the finely chopped red chilli. Gently fold these ingredients into the batter.

 

 

6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for approximately half an hour. A skewer should come out pretty clean. Leave brownies to cool in the baking tray, before cutting with a knife into even slices.

 

 

7. Give the brownies spooky style by using coloured icing pens to decorate them with images of witches, bats and spiders' webs. 

 

 

8. If you want to create ghost brownies as above, simply brush a little cherry or raspberry jam over the sides of the brownie and wrap them in cut pieces of ready rolled white icing. Then decorate with coloured icing pens, drawing ghostly eyes and mouths.

 

Serve on Halloween!

 

 

 

 

 

 

These brownies were idly baked while listening to Abbatoir Blues by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds