Honey-roasted Nut Butter Brownies

Looking through the Waitrose Kitchen magazine whilst Sous Chef J was at a Minecraft club the other day, I spotted that the 'Star Bake' recipe for Honey-roasted  Nut Butter Brownies.  It caught my eye not only because it looked appetising but also because I thought it may 'convert' to gluten free relatively easily.  So, we gave it a go - although we only made half the quantity the original recipe was for...

So, the ingredients we used were -

125g mixed nuts
1 tsp honey
½ tsp salt
70g unsalted butter
125g dark chocolate chips
100g caster sugar
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
100g Self Raising flour (we used Doves's Farm gluten free)

The nuts were roughly chopped then put on a baking sheet and into a 200ºC oven for four minutes to brown (use a timer... they'll burn if left too long)  Then the honey and seasalt were mixed through before returning the sheet to the oven (temp lowered to 180ºC) for a further two minutes.  Once removed, the nuts were left to cool.

Putting 100g of the chocolate and the butter in a pan, they were heated until fully combined.  Then the sugar, salt and vanilla essence were whisked in before adding the eggs and mixing through.  Finally, the flour was added and mixed until smooth.  At this point 37.5g of the nut mix was stirred through and the mix was poured into a greased and lined baking tray (we made a tray out of parchment, about 7" square or 17cm x 17cm).

The brownies were cooked for about 20 minutes and checked... they were removed from the oven when still slightly soft in the middle as we like a softer brownie texture.  Once taken out of the oven, they were cooled in the tin for 5 minutes before being removed and allowed to cool fully on a cooling rack.

Whilst the brownies were cooling, the remainder of the honey-roasted nuts were placed in our small food processor bowl and blended (takes quite a while) until they became a butter.  

Once the brownie was cool, the nut butter was spread on top and smoothed out.





 









To make the chocolate drizzle topping, the remaining chocolate drops were placed in a small freezer bag which was covered in hot water and left to melt for a few minutes.

Having melted the chocolate in the bag, a small snip across the corner of the bag was made and the chocolate was drizzled across the brownies.

Finally the brownies were cut into small squares ready for eating.