Alphabetic Recipe N — Nectarine Brownies Recipe

Today we have a classic British recipe for a traditional classic dark and moist chocolate brownie that includes grated under-ripe nectarines in the batter.

Today's is the sixteenth entry of my new series of Alphabetic recipes. Each day for the next month and more, I will be adding a new recipe linked to a different letter of the alphabet. As I collect recipes from all over the globe, and have lots of Welsh recipes, I am going to use a blend of the Welsh and English alphabets:

A | B | C | D | E | F | Ff | G | H | I | J | K | L | Ll | M | N | O | P | Q | R | Rh | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

so there will be 30 entries in total. As today is the sixteenth day in this series I am providing a recipe starting with the letter 'N'. This is a modern recipe from Britain for a twist on the classic chocolate brownie.

Nectarine Brownies Recipe

Nectarine Chocolate Brownies

This is a modern British recipe for a classic chocolate brownie that incorporates grated nectarines in the mix to make the cake moister.


The tradition of putting fruit and vegetables in cakes is an old one and helps in keeping the cakes nice and moist. This is a classic example of this cooking technique and the use of nectarines makes this a rather intriguing variant.

Any firm fruit can be used in this recipe. Nectarines make a great summer variant, but you could use apples, quinces, under-ripe plums. Any fruit that's firm enough to be grated will work. It even works well with sweet vegetables like beetroot or parsnips.

For a Halloween variant, why not try raw, grated, pumpkin flesh instead of the fruit?



Ingredients:


240g dark chocolate, chopped
100g unsalted butter, cubed
110g plain flour
120g powdered sugar
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
150g finely-grated nectarines (choose firm, unripe, ones)
110g chopped pecan nuts or walnuts
freshly-grated zest of 1 orange
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g raisins (optional)





Method:


Add the diced butter and chopped chocolate to a heat-proof bowl. Sit this over a pan of just-simmering water (ensure the base of the bowl does not touch the water) and stir the mixture until completely melted and thoroughly combined. Take the bowl out of the pan and set aside to cool.

In the meantime, sift together the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl. Take the cooled chocolate and butter mix and beat in the eggs, one at a time. Ensure that after the addition of each egg you beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until the egg is completely combined into the mixture.

Pour the liquid mix into a well formed in the flour mix. Beat the mixture until well combined then work in the grated nectarines, nuts, orange zest, vanilla extract and the raisins. Stir until the fruit are well mixed into the brownie batter.

Line a baking pan (about 20 x 20 x 5cm) with baking parchment or greaseproof (waxed) paper. Butter lightly then pour in the cake batter. Smooth the top with a spatula then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 180ºC and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake mixture emerges cleanly.

Remove from the oven when done and allow the brownies to cool completely in the tin before cutting into squares and serving.

The recipe presented here is based, with permission, on the Celtnet Nectarine Brownies recipe.

This recipe is brought to you in conjunction with the Celtnet Guide to Recipes Beginning with 'N'.

Find more British recipes on the Recipes from the British Isles page of this blog.