Madhouse recipe : Pistachio Caramel Brownies

I had a good stock-take in my baking cupboard yesterday and decided to see what I could use up. I found a half bag of pistachios and a jar of confiture de lait, which is the French version of the better known Dulce de Leche. The result was these brownies which remind me a bit of Snickers. Maybe I should use peanuts and cover them in chocolate next time !

Pistachio Caramel Brownies

200g chocolate

85g butter

90g liquid crème fraîche

100g self-raising flour

100g sugar

4 eggs

60g pistachios

1/4 jar of confiture de lait (see below if you want to make your own)

I had a bar of rather special Peruvian chocolate from my Peruvian-themed Kitchen Trotter box in the cupboard. (You may have seen two Peruvian recipes that we've tried so far- Carapulcra and  Aji de Gallina (Peruvian Spicy Creamed Chicken).) I find dark chocolate a bit too bitter to really enjoy it so I decided to incorporate it into these brownies, along with a bar of milk chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Melt the butter, chocolate and crème fraîche. (I use the microwave but you could use a bain marie.)

Stir until smooth and glossy.

Beat one whole egg and 3 egg yolks (save the egg whites for the next step) in with the sugar .

Add the eggs/sugar to the chocolate and mix, along with 2/3 of the pistachios. In a separate bowl, whisk up the egg whites until they're light and frothy.

Mix the egg whites into the brownie mix.

Pour into a greased tin and cook in the oven for 25 minutes.

It should be soft and springy. Mine didn't rise properly because I forgot the raising agent - doh ! (French flour is plain - they don't have self-raising - so you have to remember to add "levure chimique", which translates as chemical yeast - nice !).

This is where the confiture de lait comes in. If you want to make your own, put 200g brown sugar and 30ml water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Leave to boil for a few minutes then add 50g salted butter, chopped into pieces. (Careful - it may spit.) Mix then add 10ml crème fraîche. This can be used immediately or put into a sterilised jar, left to cool then stored in the fridge.

Spread a layer of confiture de lait on the cooled brownie and scatter over the remaining pistachios.

The brownies are lovely and dense and squidgy and the topping just makes them even more decadent. I don't think these ones will hang about for long !

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