christmas baking: xmas pudding brownie

what you’ll need

baking paper
scales
mixing bowls
pre-heated oven to 160 / fan forced
whisk
spatulas / spoons
saucepan
makes one 35 cm x 15 cm tray

ingredients

120 g linseed meal
360g water
480g dark chocolate
350g margarine
260g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
550g brown sugar
6 TB cocoa powder
300g mixed dried organic fruit
100g gold rakia by 36S Distillery
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground all spice
1 tsp salt

how to make Planet Cocoa brownie

1 place dried fruits such as sultanas, currants, cherries, orange, into saucepan and cover with gold rakia, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and ground all spice. you can add more water and simmer gently to rehydrate dried fruits and also infuse it with the spices and liquor.

2 heat margarine in saucepan and allow to boil. once boiled, pour over chocolate to melt and mix until smooth.

3 mix linseed meal and water in a bowl and whisk to combine. this mixture is our egg substitute. this linseed mixture will become quite thick in a matter of minutes, don’t be alarmed!

4 add the melted chocolate + margarine mixture to the linseed mixture. mix until well combined.

5 add brown sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in next to the chocolate + linseed mixture. mix until well combined.

6 add the rehydrated fruits and mix until well combined.

7 pour batter into a pre-lined tray. pop into pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. once timer goes off, change the sides around so it is evenly cooked. bake for a further 20 minutes.

8 once the brownie has been in the oven for a total of 40 minutes, it should be ready. the way to check is whether the tray is a little bit wobbly but not going to spill out. the longer you bake it, the drier it will be.

9 refrigerate overnight and slice up. optional ganache recipe is as below.

10 optional ganache: 500g coconut cream / 200g dark chocolate / 50g brown sugar
bring the coconut cream and sugar to a gentle boil and pour over the chocolate. mix to combine. pour over the brownie slab or cool this ganache mixture and then spread over the top.