Recipes

Brown(ie) Owls (Kids’ Brownie Recipe)

You could make these cute brownies in a selection of sizes to create a whole family of brown(ie) owls. You’ll find that each owl has a slightly different expression!

Ingredients:
1 cup shelled walnuts or pecans (optional)
6½  oz. dark/bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1½ sticks butter, diced
1 1⁄4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup plain/all-purpose flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
a pinch of salt
½ cup milk chocolate chips

To Decorate:
1 quantity Milk Chocolate Frosting (see below)
chocolate buttons and chips in various sizes and colours
chocolate-covered caramel
a 20 x 30-cm/8 x 12-inch baking pan, greased and lined with greased baking parchment
a 6–7-cm/21⁄2-inch round cookie cutter

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 170˚C (325˚F) Gas 3.
2. To make the kids’ brownies, if you’re adding nuts, tip them onto a baking sheet and lightly toast in the preheated oven for 5 minutes. Roughly chop and leave to cool. Leave the oven on for the brownies.
3. Put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir until smooth and thoroughly combined. Leave to cool slightly.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract with a balloon whisk until pale and thick. Add the melted chocolate mixture and stir until combined. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt into the bowl and fold in until well incorporated, then stir in the chocolate chips and nuts (if using). Pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan, spread level and bake on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely in the pan.
6. Meanwhile, prepare the Milk Chocolate Frosting (below). Remove the cold brownie from the pan. Using the cookie cutter, stamp out 12 rounds from the brownies and arrange on a board or tray.
7. Using a palette knife, spread the Milk Chocolate Frosting evenly over the top and sides. Slice about one-third off some smaller chocolate buttons and arrange in overlapping rows across the bottom half of each owl.
8. Arrange giant buttons as eyes, then top with white buttons and chocolate chips, sticking them together with a dab of frosting. Cut the chocolate-coated caramel into triangles for the beaks and press onto the owls just below the eyes. (Twit twoo.)

makes 12

Milk Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:
4 oz. dark/bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I prefer to use a chocolate with a lower cocoa percentage, around 54–68%, for this frosting)
4 oz. milk chocolate, finely chopped
2⁄3 cup double/heavy cream
1 tbsp maple syrup or golden syrup
1 stick (125g) soft butter, diced

Directions:
Tip the chocolates into a small, heatproof bowl. Heat the cream and syrup in a small saucepan until only just boiling. Pour it over the chopped chocolates, add the butter and leave to melt. Stir until smooth, then leave to thicken slightly before using.

 Recipes and images from Fabulous Brownies by Annie Rigg, photographs by Laura Edwards. Ryland Peters and Small, $18.95 (www.rylandpeters.com), distributed by Thomas Allen & Son in Canada. Excerpted by permission of publisher. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt or image may be reproduced or reprinted without permission from the publisher. Buy now.

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