A seasonal twist on one of our favorite brownie recipes at the Seasoned Cookery School. Spiced Fig Brownies are ideal for the festive holidays. These craveable little bites are filled with figs, spices and orange with the addition of a biscuit layer on the bottom. A great bake for cold days and can even be served as a dessert over the festive holiday season with a spoon of cream.
To make your best brownies, here are some tips from the experts at Seasoned Cookery School.
Baking Tins. Choose the right sized tin for your bake. Our favorite brownie tin is square sided and loose bottomed. Its straight sides mean your brownies will have a professional edge. Grease the tin with a small amount of oil or softened butter and then line with baking parchment. Line the tin neatly, making sure the paper goes right up to the sides, but without creasing in the corners. Any creases will be reflected in your end bake.
Ingredients and Preparation. Check your ingredients before you start. When you have creamed the butter and sugar, you add the remainder of the brownie ingredients relatively quickly, before the mixture loses air and volume. Before you start baking, preheating your oven makes sure that once your brownies are ready, they can go into a hot oven, which is essential for good results. Be sure to set a timer!
Baking Ingredients. Photo by Monika Grabkowska on Unsplash.
The wobble test. Brownies should come out of the oven with a good wobble and they will continue cooking whilst they cool. Every recipe and brownie is slightly different and no recipe writer knows the depth of your tin or the hotness of your oven, so be prepared to test a few different timings for your brownie and check them at regular intervals.
Cooling rack. Once your brownies are baked, leave to cool in the tin for 10-14 minutes until cool enough to handle. Then transfer to a cooling rack before slicing.
Ingredients
Biscuit Base
- 200 grams (14-16) digestive biscuits (sometimes described as a sweet-meal biscuit, a semi-sweet biscuit that originated in Scotland, and is popular worldwide; available at major retailers and online)
- 100 grams (7 tablespoons) butter
- 50 grams (0.85 cup) chopped mixed nuts
Brownie
- 200 grams (1.5 cups) dark chocolate chopped
- 150 grams (2/3 cup) butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 50 grams (1/4 cup) caster sugar (confectioner's sugar)
- 2 teaspoons mixed spice
- 200 grams (1-1/3 cups) soft ready to eat figs, finely chopped
- 100 grams (3.5 ounces) white chocolate to decorate
- As desired Cream to serve, optional
Preparation
- 1 First make the biscuit base. Put the digestive biscuits in a resealable plastic food bag and crush with a rolling pin until you have fine crumbs.
- 2 Melt the butter in a medium-sized pan then take off the heat and stir in the crushed biscuits and chopped nuts. Press firmly into an 8 inch square tin and allow to chill in the fridge while you make the brownie topping.
- 3 Put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl and either in the microwave or carefully on the stove, gently heat until both the butter and chocolate have melted. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- 4 In a second bowl whisk together the eggs and egg yolk with an electric whisk until pale then gently fold in the chocolate mix followed by the mixed spice and figs.
- 5 Spread the brownie mixture over the chilled biscuit base and bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20 minutes. The brownie will have a slight wobble in the center without being totally set.
- 6 Remove from the oven, allow to cool in the tin before chilling in the fridge until firm. When ready to serve drizzle with white chocolate and slice into squares.
- 7 Note: Serving with cream can transform this brownie from a sweet snack to a decadent dessert.
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