Caramel Apple Pie Brownies – Recipe

This is my entry to the Hummingbird Bakery/ Emerald Street Great Brownie Bake Off Competition: a dark, dense, fudgy chocolate brownie topped with caramelised apple pie filling and topped with a lattice of shortcrust pastry. The challenge is to create an original brownie recipe, preferable with an obvious American twist. I couldn't think of anything as American as apple pie (although that's probably because the old saying influencing me).


This is a three-part recipe: the brownie layer, the apple pie layer and the pie crust layer. There are no magic tricks or complicated things about this recipe, although the lattice part is perhaps the one slightly tricky bit – but not by much. YouTube will help you with that, until I can get my flour-covered hands on a tripod and one of those button thingies that lets you take photos remotely. In any case, this was a pleasure to make. And to eat, of course.

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients for Brownie Layer:

100g unsalted butter
70g caster sugar
50g light muscavado sugar
200g dark 70% chocolate
4 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
75g plain flour

Ingredients for Caramel Apple Pie Layer:

2 apples
Juice of half a lemon
50g light muscavado sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Pinch of salt

Ingredients for Pastry Lattice:

150g plain flour
3 tbsp cold butter, cubed
2 tbsp icing sugar
Pinch of salt
2–3 tbsp cold water
A little milk to brush on top

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line the bottom of an 8" square pan.

2) To make the apple pie layer, peel, core and dice the apples into little chunks, and toss with the lemon juice in a saucepan. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine, and cook on a low to medium heat until thick and gooey. Leave it to cool.




3) To make the brownie layer, place the butter, chocolate and sugars into a saucepan and heat gently until melted and combined. Leave to cool, lightly whisk the eggs and vanilla in and whisk in the plain flour. Pour into your prepared pan, and dollop the apple pie filling on top.





4) To make the pastry, rub the cold butter between your fingers with the flour, icing sugar ad salt until it becomes breadcrumb-like in texture. Stir in the water (how much you'll need may vary) and knead with your hands until you have a dough. Roll it out on a floured surface, cut it into even strips and arrange in a lattice pattern on top of the apple mixture. Trim the excess pastry around the sides with a knife.



5) Brush your pastry lattice with milk, and bake the whole thing for 35-40 minutes, or until the pastry is golden (the less time you bake it for the gooey-er it'll be – it's up to you and how you like your brownies). Take out of the oven and leave to cool before slicing and serving (preferably while still a little warm, and with vanilla ice cream if you have any).



Mmm, gooey.

That's it, you're done. Have fun, and enjoy!

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