Chestnut Brownies

There seems to have been a recent spate of Dan Lepard's chestnut brownies appearing on food blogs and I didn't want to be left behind! We were visiting friends for dinner and I thought these would make a rather nice after dinner treat - or at least I hoped they would.

I had very kindly been sent another bag of Chocolate by Trish that I wanted to try out - 74% cocoa solids this time, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity.  For those that didn't catch the last batch I had from her, take a look at this ganache recipe.

When I went to the cupboard to get out my jar of organic chestnuts that had been lurking there for quite some time, I was surprised to find it was a jar of chestnut puree.  Oh well, never mind, I would adapt the original recipe to take the puree into account and do without a contrast in textures. As I was somewhat stretched for time, I used my all in one pan method to make these rather than whisking the egg whites separately etc etc. This is what I did:

• Melted 175g unsalted butter with 200g 74% dark Chocolate by Trish in a large bowl over hot water.
• Stirred in 150g dark brown sugar until all the lumps had been incorporated.
• Beat in 240g jar of sweetened chestnut puree (could have eaten spoonfuls of this on it's own it was so delicious, but managed to resist).
• Beat in 2 duck eggs.
• Stirred in 100g wholemeal spelt and a pinch of salt.
• Poured into a 9" square cake thingie and baked at 175C for 20 minutes.
• Left to cool, then cut into 36 small squares.

Nearly every new brownie recipe I make I think it's the best one I've ever done and this was no exception.  The smell of the mixture baking was wonderful and each dense choclatey square smelt wonderfully of both chocolate and chestnuts. A crisp top followed by a deep dark smoothness, that isn't fudgy or gooey but is moist and uncakelike - it melts on the tongue and lingers in the mouth. This is rich for a brownie, all that lovely 74% chocolate and it's not too sweet either.  I think I got lucky with this puree, it was thick and almost creamy and tasted of marron glace - a flavour which was very much there in the finished brownie, playing its own role alongside the good strong taste of chocolate.

Most of these disappeared during a prolonged post dinner fireside chat, but I had thoughtfully kept a couple back for home consumption.  We had these cold from the kitchen the next day and they were still delicious.  They were differently delicious with a new fudgy consistency which was very moreish - unfortunately that was our lot.

The dark Chocolate by Trish didn't disappoint.  I couldn't help but try a few of these buttons. They had a fragrant fruity aroma which was the first note to hit the tongue followed by varied spicy notes. I had to restrain myself from eating more as they were so good. Like the milk chocolate buttons these melted beautifully and being such a dark chocolate gave a really rich quality to the brownies. Luckily, there were some buttons left over and I'm planning to use these to make some chocolates for Christmas.