I have seen many 'turtle' recipes on the internet, all involving caramel, pecans and chocolate. I now know that there is a certain sweet called turtles, but I've never seen them in Australia.
All that aside, these brownies are gorgeously dense and chocolatey, and the caramel-pecan layer adds some extra sweet crunchiness. My favourite way to eat these is either fresh out of the oven or, for a similar effect, briefly heated for about 10 seconds in the microwave so that the caramel oozes out of the middle and the brownie goes soft and warm.
Recipe adapted from: Averie Cooks
Ingredients - 21 x 31 cm (8 x 12 inch) brownie tin
115g butter
170g dark chocolate
2 eggs
185g white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp instant coffee granules (optional)
115g flour
1 cup pecans
About 1 cup (250mL) salted caramel (recipe and method here, just add salt!)
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175 C (350 F). Line a brownie tin with baking paper.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate, mix them until combined.
3. Let the chocolate mixture cool for a bit, then whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla and coffee in.
4. Stir the flour into the mixture.
5. Chop the pecans into chunks (not too fine).
6. Pour half the brownie batter into the prepared tin. Bake it for about 15 minutes until the top has just crusted over - don't overbake it!
7. Take the brownie out of the oven and sprinkle the pecans evenly over the top, then pour the caramel on.
8. Carefully spread the rest of the brownie batter evenly on top.
9. Bake the whole brownie for another 25 minutes.
10. Let the brownie cool for a while before cutting it, as it will be difficult when the caramel's all warm and liquid. You can even put it in the fridge for a while to make sure that everything's set.
These brownies can be enjoyed cold...
Or they can be warmed up in the microwave so that the caramel's melted. So delicious!
This cake is a favourite in our household. It's sweet, syrupy, and moist, but not too heavy. The pumpkin gives the cake a great texture.
Recipe adapted from: Women's Weekly Cakes & Slices Cookbook
Ingredients - 23 cm (9 inch) square cake or equivalent
250g butter
2 tbsp orange zest
2 tbsp lemon zest
195g caster sugar
3 eggs
310g flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 cup mashed pumpkin (about 350g)
Ingredients - syrup
6 tbsp orange juice
6 tbsp lemon juice
500g white sugar
Method
1. Preheat your oven to 180C (355F) and line a 23cm square pan or equivalent with baking paper. I also prepare my pumpkin at this point by chopping it up and microwaving it with a splash of water until it's cooked, then mashing it with a fork and setting it aside to cool.
2. Cream the butter, sugar and zest until light and fluffy.
3. Separate the eggs. Beat the egg yolks into the butter mixture. Put the egg whites in another bowl for use later.
4. Mix half the pumpkin into the batter, then half the flour. Once that's combined, mix in the rest of the pumpkin and the flour along with the baking powder.
5. Whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Mix a spoonful into the pumpkin batter to lighten it, then gently fold the rest of the egg whites into the batter.
6. Spread the batter into your prepared cake tin, and bake for about an hour. An inserted toothpick in the middle of the cake should come out clean.
7. Make your syrup! Combine all the syrup ingredients in a saucepan. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes, without stirring. Make sure you keep a sharp eye on this as it can tend to boil over!
8. Once the cake has been baked, pour the syrup over the cake in the tin. You can also poke some holes in the top to let the syrup really get in there.
9. Invert the cake onto a serving plate once the syrup has soaked in. Then, pour the remainder of the syrup onto the cake.
This cake is glorious when served warm!
Hello all! I hope you're well, and have some time on your hands, because you definitely want to try this recipe out. I'd actually come across it twice, via Joy The Baker and Chocolatesuze. Obviously this was a sign that I had to make it for myself.
The most compelling thing about this bread is how the top gently curls like the pages of a book - the bottom of the bread is syrupy and sticky, the middle is fluffy and the top is gloriously crisp and crunchy. There's something for everyone and it all tastes amazing!
Recipe adapted from: Joy The Baker
Ingredients - bread (11 x 21 cm (4 x 8 inch) loaf)
430g flour (divided into 310g and 120g portions)
63g white sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (one sachet)
1/2 tsp salt
57g butter
80mL milk
60mL water
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
Ingredients - topping
250g white sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
45g butter
Method
1. I was using active dry yeast, so I didn't proof the yeast beforehand - however, if you want to make sure that the bread rises and you're not sure if it will without proofing, place your yeast in 3 tbsp of warm water (not too hot!) with a pinch of white sugar. Let the mixture sit until it's frothy, about 5 minutes.
2. Mix the 310g flour, white sugar, yeast (**if you have proofed the yeast as in step 1, wait until a later step to add it!) and salt in a large bowl - if you're using an electric mixter, use the bowl that comes with it.
3. Place the butter and milk in a microwave safe receptacle and heat in the microwave until the butter has melted. Mix the water and vanilla in.
4. Pour the milk and butter mixture into the dry ingredients and mix. I just let my mixer do the work with the dough hook attachment. **If you are using proofed yeast, add it to the dry ingredients along with the milk and butter mixture.
5. Add both eggs, beating them with a fork to break them up a bit, then mix them into the flour mixture. It may take a while for everything to come together, but keep mixing! The dough will end up being very sticky.
6. Grease a large bowl with butter (I just used the same bowl as I was mixing in) and put your dough in. Let it rest for about 1 hour - you want the dough to double in size. Leave it in a warm place covered with a clean tea towel or with cling wrap.
7. Once the dough has risen, punch it down and knead a few tablespoons of flour in so that the dough becomes soft rather than sticky.
8. Mix the white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg for the topping. Melt the butter in a separate bowl.
9. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle - as large as you can get it! Brush the dough with the melted butter and sprinkle the cinnamon mixture evenly on top.
10. Cut the dough into six strips along the length.
11. Stack the strips up one on top of the other, then cut the stack into six sections - you'll have six individual stacks of six squares.
12. Line your loaf tin with baking paper and stack the squares into the tin. I've seen this done on other blogs with the squares stacked all in one direction in the tin, but that configuration didn't work out with my tin at all!
I think that there's definitely room for experimentation; try cutting the dough into whatever size will fit your particular loaf tin best.
13. Cover the dough with a clean tea towel and let it rise for another 45 minutes, until doubled in size. While this is going on, preheat your oven to 175 C (350 F).
14. Bake the risen loaf for about 35 minutes, until the top is very golden brown.
15. Allow the bread to cool - then tip it out of the loaf tin, peel it apart, and enjoy! I recommend eating this within 1-3 days while it's still fresh.
