Saturday 1 May 2010

Sea Salt Fudge Brownies

I'm in two minds about this Waitrose recipe for Sea Salt Fudge Brownies; it gave a lovely textured brownie - rich, gooey and moist without being too heavy or sugary - but the fudge and white chocolate pieces added to the batter completely melted into it, and the salted peanuts added a note which was just a little too salty, especially if you ended a mouthful chewing on just a nut. The fudge and white chocolate sprinkled on top was still evident after baking, but that was only half the ingredients. To me it seems a waste of quite expensive ingredients if they disappear into the bulk of the batter, and it unbalanced the brownies, as the peanuts were then too dominant.



I had intended to follow the recipe faithfully, but I didn't buy enough fudge - I just assumed only one pack would be needed - so I made up the weight with white chocolate. I've never had problems with chunks of white chocolate melting during cooking, but haven't tried this brand before. Now I know to avoid Waitrose Belgian White Chocolate when I want to keep chunks!

6 comments:

Choclette said...

One day Suelle, you will make the perfect fudge brownie / blondie, but then what will you do? All of the brownies you've made look completely delicious and I'd be happy to try any of then anytime.

Suelle said...

Hi Choclette - I have a couple of brownie recipes which are near perfect, but I like to try new recipes. I also like to make an honest judgement on new recipes, so that I can refer to my notes and know whether they are worth making again, or not. I can't rely on my memory at my age! LOL!

Caroline said...

Well, nothing ventured nothing gained. I think it's important to note what you weren't happy with - I can never remember either without writing it down - and as you say, you'll know for next time.

They do look good though!

Lucie said...

At least you experiment Suelle....I tend to stick to the same old recipes. These sounded so hopeful too. They look lovely with the peanuts on them.

Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial said...

Suelle, I'm in the minority, but I'm not a big fan of the salt sugar combinations that seem so popular these days. A lot of US recipes in particular seem to focus on adding quite a lot of salt - salted caramel seems very in vogue these days. So I usually take the otherwise great recipes and use unsalted instead of salted butter, and reduce the amount of added salt. :)

Suelle said...

Nothing wrong with different tastes, Celia! Previous recipes I've tried using salted nuts or extra salt have been fine, and I don't dislike this recipe. Perhaps the nuts were a little saltier than usual, as it was only chewing on the nuts which made the brownies seem too salty.