As I mentioned last year, my office has a BYO birthday cake policy. I decided this year to do something crowd-pleasing, and in this crowd that means chocolate. I decided to make something for both the sweet and the bitter chocolate fans. A batch of white chocolate and blueberry blondies and a batch of dark chocolate and sour cherry brownies.
I used this Mark Hix recipe (scroll right down) as my base for both, leaving out the orange zest.
They were very, very successful. I used 70% dark chocolate for the dark one, which was very bitter and sophisticated. A lot of the chunks melted into it, but it still left some nicely textured pieces. I used good quality (i.e cocoa butter not veg fat) white chocolate for the white one, and I think I would reduce the amount of butter in the recipe just slightly next time; maybe 50g less, because the white chocolate did go a bit oily as it melted. The flavour of the white ones wasn't as cloyingly sweet as you'd expect, because the blueberries had a nice bit of tartness to them. You really do need to have a piece of each to compare!
I may have to have a second birthday this year to keep everyone happy.
They both look great. My personal taste would have directed my hand towards the dark one. I am sure your colleagues would approve of your idea of having a second birthday. I hope your first one was a happy day.
ReplyDeleteIt seems unfair that you should age for them, what if the next birthday is an anti-birthday and takes one year off.
ReplyDeleteThese both look very good, although the dark chocolate would be my choice! It's good to find a recipe which works well with both plain and white chocolate - very versatile.
ReplyDeleteSimona - I thought the dark would be my preference too, but the white were lovely!
ReplyDeleteMM - that's a good plan. I will adopt that!
Sue - it really is a great recipe. I've never tried any of Mark Hix's sweets before.
I like the "bring your own" policy and both desserts look and sound delicious. Happy Birthday!
ReplyDelete;-)
Happy birthday, Alicia! I love blondies. Oh, I love brownies, too - I'm not made of stone - but blondies are special.
ReplyDeleteThey both look delicious! What a great treat for your co-workers! Happy Birhtday!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, hope you had a great day!
ReplyDeleteThey both look really good, but I think I'd pick brown over blonde given the choice. Lucky coworkers!
Happy birthday, Foodycat!
ReplyDeleteBoth blondies and brownies look sensational, and I'd have found an equally torn workmate to share half of each kind.
Deb - BYO certainly saves hurt feelings when someone gets forgotten!
ReplyDeleteHeather - the white chocolate and blueberry combination is particularly good.
Pam - thank you!
C - I did have a nice day, thank you!
Cranky - over the course of 2 days, I think everyone sampled both.
Wow those all look amazing!
ReplyDeleteThey both look delicious, I don't think I could choose between them, I'd have to have both! As it happens I've got a tray of chocolate cherry brownies cooling in the kitchen right now...
ReplyDeleteSImply life - thank you!
ReplyDeleteSam- yeah, a bit of both was the conclusion most people came to!