SUGAR & SPICE (AND ALL THINGS NICE...)


I had my first cup of hot mulled wine at a nighttime Christmas carnival at South Bank along the River Thames. Mulled wine in London at Christmastime, outdoors, is as much a necessary heating device as it is a nice social drink. And a very nice social drink it is.

For those not familier, mulled wine is hot spiced wine.

It's not Christmas here, but it's winter here and it's mighty chilly.

Last week I found myself outdoors at Darling Harbour watching the World Cup until 6.30am, like a crazy person. They served mulled wine until 2am, but when the temperature dipped right before sunrise and all semblance of sanity had vanished, a nice hot cup would not have gone to the wayside.

I found a recipe for mulled wine and am going to save it for the next rainy weekend. This is not just any old version; it belongs to English royalty (Jamie Oliver). Jamie says it tastes like "Christmas in a glass". You can't argue with that.

Here's the recipe.

(FYI, with reference to the recipe, a clementine is a variety of mandarin.)


And now for the perfect accompaniment to your drink. Last week my sister in law served the most amazing brownies I have ever tasted. She was lovely enough to give me the recipe, and I must be completely nuts, because this is not the type of recipe you usually pass along, it's the kind you keep close to your chest so that everyone admires you and thinks you're Miss Masterchef World.

Thing is though, not sharing this would be like withholding the secret to happiness. I can't do that. So here it is...

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE BROWNIES


125g butter
150g milk chocolate (we use Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate)
50g dark chocolate
1/2 cup caster sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

125g plain flour
1/4 cup self-raising flour
125g white chocolate, chopped (we use Cadbury Dream white chocolate)
125g extra milk chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 170C (150C fan-forced). Grease and line a 20cm (8 inch) square cake pan.

Melt butter, 150g milk chocolate and 50g dark chocolate in a large saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes. ©

Combine plain and self-raising flours in a small bowl. Stir sugar and eggs into chocolate and butter mixture. Add flours and chopped chocolate and stir until combined. Spread into cake pan.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes (according to the recipe, but 20 was enough!). Allow brownie to cool in pan on wire rack. When cooled, cut into pieces. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.


RECIPE SOURCE


IMAGE ONE: From an issue of Girlfriend magazine circa 1999... yes
IMAGE TWO

2 comments:

  1. We had a tiny bit left and I made it last all week. All gone now though so now I am sad :(

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  2. I don't know howwwwww on earth you made that thing last all week, I would have scoffed it all in one second.

    When I get back from Bali I'm going to give it a try (probly not the best idea before I go) and I will bring it over to share.

    Interested to know how long you cooked yours for?

    And did you measure your eggs to make sure they weighed exactly 56 grams?? Hahaha, I removed that detail.

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