Recipe: "Haggis Spice Brownies"
Sep. 28th, 2023 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithI made these tonight. There is no haggis in them, although they do have oatmeal; the recipe was inspired by a haggis spice dark chocolate bar that uses some of the spices commonly used in making haggis sausage.
"Haggis Spice Brownies"
Ingredients:
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9x9" baking pan.
In a wide mixing bowl, put the dry ingredients: 1/2 cup white flour, 1/2 cup quick oats, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon allspice, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground clove. Whisk together.
In a deep mixing bowl, put 1/2 cup melted butter, 3/4 cup white sugar, and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Stir together until smooth.
In a small bowl, whisk 2 eggs until frothy. Mix vigorously into the batter. Add 1 tablespoon sunflower oil and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, then mix again.
Gradually add the dry ingredient blend to the batter. Stir carefully until just mixed in, so you don't overdevelop the gluten.
Pour the batter into a greased 9x9" baking pan. Bake for 25 minutes, then test for doneness. The edges should be set, the top shiny, and a toothpick in the center should come out with fudgy crumbs rather than wet batter. Do not overbake! Fudgy brownies should remain moist.
Remove pan from oven. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then cut into squares -- 9 will give you bigger brownies, 16 will give you smaller ones.
Notes:
These brownies were inspired by the Coco Scotland Haggis Spice Dark Chocolate bar with black pepper, allspice, nutmeg, and clove. Other haggis recipes mention cayenne, coriander, garlic, ginger, mace, red chile flakes, rosemary, sage, thyme, Vietnamese cinnamon, and white pepper if you wish to experiment with different flavors in your spice blend.
Sunflower oil is a healthy vegetable oil. If you don't have it, you can use a different vegetable oil.
Use real vanilla extract (where the ingredient list is "alcohol, vanilla") for its superior flavor and benefits. You need the bottom notes in vanilla to hook into these spices.
Quick oats are cut down a little from whole rolled oats, so they cook faster. Unlike many instant oat products, however, quick oats are just the grain with no added ingredients. This makes them good for cooking.
I used plain old Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder. If you can find a "dark chocolate" type cocoa powder, this is a good time to use it.
Sea salt has more nutrients than refined table salt, but if you don't have any, table salt will work.
Black pepper is a hot warming spice with good digestive effects.
Allspice gets its name from tasting like a blend of many spices.
Nutmeg is a ground seed with many health benefits.
Cloves are tiny, dried flower buds with a sharp spicy flavor. For this recipe you want ground clove powder, not whole cloves.
The flavor of these brownies is fantastic -- exactly like the candy bar. The texture leaves things to be desired, though. The surface has a hard crust, and the brownies really fall apart. I will certainly keep the spice blend, but I think that I'll look for a different base recipe for better brownie texture.
"Haggis Spice Brownies"
Ingredients:
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9x9" baking pan.
In a wide mixing bowl, put the dry ingredients: 1/2 cup white flour, 1/2 cup quick oats, 1/2 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon allspice, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground clove. Whisk together.
In a deep mixing bowl, put 1/2 cup melted butter, 3/4 cup white sugar, and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Stir together until smooth.
In a small bowl, whisk 2 eggs until frothy. Mix vigorously into the batter. Add 1 tablespoon sunflower oil and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, then mix again.
Gradually add the dry ingredient blend to the batter. Stir carefully until just mixed in, so you don't overdevelop the gluten.
Pour the batter into a greased 9x9" baking pan. Bake for 25 minutes, then test for doneness. The edges should be set, the top shiny, and a toothpick in the center should come out with fudgy crumbs rather than wet batter. Do not overbake! Fudgy brownies should remain moist.
Remove pan from oven. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then cut into squares -- 9 will give you bigger brownies, 16 will give you smaller ones.
Notes:
These brownies were inspired by the Coco Scotland Haggis Spice Dark Chocolate bar with black pepper, allspice, nutmeg, and clove. Other haggis recipes mention cayenne, coriander, garlic, ginger, mace, red chile flakes, rosemary, sage, thyme, Vietnamese cinnamon, and white pepper if you wish to experiment with different flavors in your spice blend.
Sunflower oil is a healthy vegetable oil. If you don't have it, you can use a different vegetable oil.
Use real vanilla extract (where the ingredient list is "alcohol, vanilla") for its superior flavor and benefits. You need the bottom notes in vanilla to hook into these spices.
Quick oats are cut down a little from whole rolled oats, so they cook faster. Unlike many instant oat products, however, quick oats are just the grain with no added ingredients. This makes them good for cooking.
I used plain old Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder. If you can find a "dark chocolate" type cocoa powder, this is a good time to use it.
Sea salt has more nutrients than refined table salt, but if you don't have any, table salt will work.
Black pepper is a hot warming spice with good digestive effects.
Allspice gets its name from tasting like a blend of many spices.
Nutmeg is a ground seed with many health benefits.
Cloves are tiny, dried flower buds with a sharp spicy flavor. For this recipe you want ground clove powder, not whole cloves.
The flavor of these brownies is fantastic -- exactly like the candy bar. The texture leaves things to be desired, though. The surface has a hard crust, and the brownies really fall apart. I will certainly keep the spice blend, but I think that I'll look for a different base recipe for better brownie texture.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-29 09:10 am (UTC)Some modern recipes use coriander (I think you call it cilantro)
Um......no!
Thoughts
Date: 2023-09-29 10:49 am (UTC)I based this on the candy bar.
>> Some modern recipes use coriander (I think you call it cilantro)
Um......no! <<
Coriander is the seed, cilantro is the leaf; lovely warming spice but not quite what I'd want here.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-09-30 04:25 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-09-30 04:48 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-09-30 04:58 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-09-30 05:16 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-29 10:21 pm (UTC)More eggs make a more cake-like brownie; more oil/butter/etc makes it moist and fudgy. Look for any recipe with "cake-type brownies" in the title.
Thoughts
Date: 2023-09-29 10:37 pm (UTC)Actually, when I looked closely at this combination, I noticed something: all four of them are spices used in small quantities. There's no cinnamon or ginger, which are typically the "base" or "carrier" ingredients that you throw in by the teaspoon. And I think it's the combination of several very punchy spices in small individual amounts that gives it this dark, zippy, slightly savory character.
My partner Doug said that it's a bit odd with how sweet the brownies are, though. I'm open to making them slightly less sweet. I may also look for dark chocolate cocoa powder. I was planning to try cacao nibs, but I forgot; I think we still have some.
>>When I think of haggis, the flavors that spring to mind are oatmeal, offal, and onions. But don't put onions in my brownies - that would be awful!<<
I have no idea why people dislike it, haggis just tastes like great sausage to me. Minds me a bit of fresh kielbasa. But that is why I put quick oats in the mix. Their texture wasn't great, though. Oat flour might work better, but I don't have that and I don't want to make a big production of grinding it fresh. I may try presoaking or quick-cooking the oats though.
>> More eggs make a more cake-like brownie; more oil/butter/etc makes it moist and fudgy. Look for any recipe with "cake-type brownies" in the title. <<
I don't want cake-type. I want fudge-type that hold together. I did consider looking for a recipe that uses oil instead of butter. Maybe one egg instead of two. But these definitely are not cake-type brownies.
I love the flavor enough to put effort into finding a version that I really like so I can keep making haggis spice brownies. And it'd be nice to have a good base recipe for scratch brownies anyhow.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2023-09-30 04:04 am (UTC)Black cocoa doesn't have a stronger flavor than regular cocoa, but apparently it's chocolate enough for most purposes. I need to buy some black cocoa, but I can't find it locally retail.
You're right - the spice blends are usually based on cinnamon and ginger (and allspice and nutmeg and mace and cloves). The black pepper may be doing some of the heavy lifting here.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-09-30 04:24 am (UTC)Well ...
Date: 2023-09-30 04:49 am (UTC)