I just had to try this recipe at home, chilli, chocolate, and pesto brownies?!
I have to admit that when this brownie recipe came in, I was immediately intrigued. What could this taste like? Chilli and chocolate have been quite the thing ever since, in my mind, Anthony Worrell-Thomson put chocolate in his chili-con-carne recipe. If a top chef okays it, then it must be okay.
Okay? Okay!
I bought the ingredients from my local supermarket and couldn’t resist holding the jar of Fiery Chilli Pesto aloft and asking the cashier to guess what I was making with it. When I declared “Brownies!” with a huge you-would-never-have-guessed-it-smile, she called out to a nearby colleague and repeated it to her. “Have you ever heard of pesto in Brownies?”, the other woman gave us both a quizzical look, “Pesto?”, we nodded eagerly, clearly enjoying this. “I don’t fancy that much” she said and made a face. I laughed, paid and said i’d let them know how I got on.
I’ve always been endeared to brownies, not for their ease of cooking, but because they were sold to me so lovingly by Nigella Lawson. In “How to be a Domestic Goddess” (when I was trying so hard to be said Domestic Goddess) she writes about brownies so affectionately. It is love, you can tell.
An effortless comfort food
The fudgy, squidgy, chocolatey deliciousness immediately looks like you have made a big effort, when in all honesty you’ve simply melted chocolate and mixed things into it. What is not to love? Chocolate? Yes! Effort? No!
I often mix in ground almonds, but Pesto was a new addition and I was keen to try it out. My daughter, however, asked why I would do this to her? She was studying for exams, I was making her favourite cake and ruining it with pesto. “How could I?”. Well, I said, I would follow this recipe we had shared earlier in the week, and serve them up. Cue dramatic slam of the door, and reappearance when the enticing chocolate smells wafted from the kitchen.
Make your own brownies
They were it turns out, delicious! Just the right amount of spice ratio to chocolate. Although I would possibly make them with added chocolate chunks, as you can taste the pesto abit. The aftertaste however, is just one of chilli, and lovely. I’d have brought some to The People’s Friend offices but sadly, they didn’t last long!
Let us know if you try this, or any of our other recipes, we’d be delighted to see photos!
Take me back to the home page please!
The part no-one likes – the washing up!
Karlie Simmonds Karlie has worked in Digital Media for over 10 years, she is passionate about health and wellbeing and lives in Edinburgh with her partner, children, and Pug, Poppy.
