When you fancy something really decadent and chocolatey you can’t beat a brownie. This week I’ve been asked to try out some chocolate baking buttons from Hadleigh Maid so I’ve had the perfect excuse to turn the chocolate content of my normal go to brownie recipe up to 11 and put together a tray of these bad boys: Extra Chocolatey Google Eyed Brownies.
Ingredients for the Brownies
- 150g Butter
- 150g Dark chocolate
- 3 Eggs
- 250g Caster sugar
- 75g Plain flour
- 50g Cocoa powder
- 50g White chocolate
- Preheat the oven to 180ºc and line a square tin (ideally 20cm).
- Melt together the butter and dark chocolate (using a double boiler is safest but I do it in the microwave) and set aside to cool a little.
- In another bowl whisk together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Fold the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture.
- Add the flour and cocoa along with the white chocolate, either from a chopped up block or as buttons or chips which is much easier.
- Tip what should be quite a stiff mixture into the tin and level off before baking for about 35-40 min.
Making Google Eyes for the Brownies
For a bit of fun, and as an excuse to add even more chocolate, I made some google eyes to go on top of the brownies while they were baking. I laid out some of the Hadleigh Maid white chocolate buttons and melted some milk and dark chocolate buttons in two separate baking paper cones in the microwave. I snipped a tiny bit off the end of the cone and squeezed a small brown iris of milk chocolate onto each white button and then an even smaller dark chocolate pupil into the middle. When the brownies were finished I left them to cool a little and then popped the eyes on top in pairs where the remaining heat melted the back of the button just enough to stick them down. Hardly a work of art but cute nonetheless, especially as we’re approaching Halloween.
How did Hadleigh Maid measure up?
I have to admit I’d usually use normal brand name chocolate for baking as I’ve been disappointed by the quality of baking chocolate I’ve tried in the past so I was intrigued to see whether Hadleigh Maid would measure up.
They describe themselves thus:
Honestly made. Hadleigh Maid. Crafted with integrity.
Down here in Suffolk we have always had a good honest passion for chocolate.
Sounds good and I have to say they lived up to it. From a baking perspective the chocolate worked wonderfully. It comes in bags of 350g in ‘button’ form so it is easy to measure out the right amount without having to chop up big bars. They melted easily and smoothly even though I used the microwave rather than a double boiler and the white buttons I added to the mixture whole stayed together during baking to give pleasing creamy spots in the brownies.
The brownies tasted great, really rich and smooth and you certainly didn’t feel you were missing out by not using a brand name bar. In fact the buttons were very nice eaten just on their own (but of course you’d never catch me with my fingers in the bag, honest!)
You certainly feel that Hadleigh Maid Butttons are a quality product and it’s good to see they have no unnatural additives and are gluten free. I also really liked the brown lined paper bags they came in that roll up to reseal. It gave them a nice traditional feel.
You can buy the 350g bags via Hadleigh Maid website for £3.99 and can also leave your details to be entered into a draw to win this lovely baking set.
You can also share your chocolatey creations on the Hadleigh Maid Facebook page for the chance to win more prizes.
If you’d like to see what some other bloggers thought of Hadleigh Maid and what they cooked up check out:
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Oooh delicious!
The perfect treat for trick or treaters, if they last that long 😉
these look great, especially with the addition of the eyes!
oh Cat these are fab and i love how you made them into google eyed brownies perfect for halloween! x