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These pear and hazelnut brownies are rich, chocolatey and wonderfully fudgy, with juicy pieces of pear and crunchy toasted hazelnuts. They’re really easy to make, too \u2013 no mixer needed! I use two types of dark chocolate, with 50% and 70% cocoa solids, for a lovely deep chocolate flavour. Pears and hazelnuts go beautifully with chocolate, making these brownies a perfect autumn treat :).<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ingredients for the pear and hazelnut brownies:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
• 180 g butter<\/li>\n
• 100 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped<\/li>\n
• 150 g dark chocolate (50% cocoa solids), chopped<\/li>\n
• 3 large eggs<\/li>\n
• 1 tsp vanilla extract<\/li>\n
• 250 g caster sugar<\/li>\n
• 100 g plain flour<\/li>\n
• \u00bd tsp baking powder<\/li>\n
• pinch of salt<\/li>\n
• 350 g pears in syrup or from a tin of pears in juice*<\/li>\n
• 60 g blanched hazelnuts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  All the ingredients should be at room temperature. Toast the hazelnuts in a dry frying pan or in the oven (at 180\u00b0C), stirring occasionally.<\/p>\n

  Melt the butter in a small saucepan, then remove from the heat. Add the chopped dark chocolate to the hot butter and leave for 2 minutes. Stir until you have a smooth chocolate sauce. Leave to cool (or until just slightly warm, but NOT HOT). The mixture should remain runny.<\/p>\n

  Lightly whisk the eggs in a bowl with a hand whisk (do not beat until fluffy). Add the vanilla extract and sugar, and whisk for a little while until thoroughly combined. Pour in the cooled chocolate mixture and stir with a whisk. Sift the flour and baking powder directly into the chocolate mixture, add the salt and fold together just until combined.<\/p>\n

  Pour the brownie mixture into a 28 x 18 cm tin (or a 23 cm square tin), greased with butter and lined with baking paper. Arrange the sliced pears over the top and sprinkle with the hazelnuts.<\/p>\n

  Bake at 160\u00b0C (fan) or 180\u00b0C (conventional) for about 33\u201335 minutes. The brownie will rise slightly and may crack around the edges or develop a wrinkled surface. A skewer inserted into the centre may come out wet, but there should be no traces of raw batter. However, we don’t usually test brownies with a skewer, as it isn’t a particularly reliable way to check whether they’re done.<\/p>\n

  Remove from the oven and leave to cool before cutting into squares. Decorate with chocolate ganache.<\/p>\n

  Ingredients for the chocolate ganache:<\/span><\/p>\n

  \n
  • 40 ml double cream<\/li>\n
  • 40 g dark chocolate, chopped<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Heat the double cream in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat, add the chopped chocolate and leave for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth and glossy.<\/p>\n

    *You can also use fresh, ripe (soft) pears.<\/p>\n

    Enjoy!<\/p>\n

    <\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    These pear and hazelnut brownies are rich, chocolatey and wonderfully fudgy, with juicy pieces of pear and crunchy toasted hazelnuts. They’re really easy to make, too \u2013 no mixer needed! I use two types of dark chocolate, with 50% and 70% cocoa <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,21],"tags":[96,104,332,114],"duration":[],"tag_group":[],"class_list":["post-20378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-brownies","category-fruit-cakes","tag-chocolate","tag-double-cream","tag-hazelnuts","tag-pear"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n