Double-Choc Digestive Brownies

Brownies are such a treat. So indulgent and naughty, they really are something to be eaten in moderation (as all treats should be) and these ones are no exception but offer something a bit different. Yes that's right, they have biscuits on them too! A double whammy of naughtiness and if you are ever in that predicament as to whether to have a cake or biscuit (I know I am on a regular basis), now you can have both to satisfy greedy needs with my Double-Choc Digestive Brownies. 

They are a wonderful concoction if I don't say so myself, I know I'm not the first to come up with the idea of putting biscuits on traybakes, I've been meaning to try custard cream blondies for awhile now when I first saw them in Olive magazine last year (f.y.i potential future blog post). I think it's the combination of textures which adds some much needed crunch and bite to what would otherwise be quite a monotone level of softness in a standard brownie. 

There's quite an ongoing debate in the big brownie world, it's a separation into two camps with beliefs as to how they should be. Either dense, goey and fudgy OR cakey and crumbly. I proudly stand in the camp for dense and fudgy. If it is more cakey, then you could argue it sounds far more like a regular sponge and you may as well make a chocolate cake if that is what you pine after.

So...if you also, like me, prefer your brownie to be fudgy then you are looking at the right recipe. See below in my baking instructions that I have given quite a detailed guide as to when your brownies are ready to come out. You will doubt me and think that they are under baked and this is certainly not the time to be inserting a skewer to see if it comes clean, I can tell you now, it won't and you don't want it to be clean. 

If digestives are not your go to biscuit of choice, feel free to crumble over whatever biscuit you fancy because I can safely say that I think anything on the biscuit aisle would work here! Go crazy and if you do try others, let me know by commenting below, I'd love to hear from you.  

Double-Choc Digestive Brownies

Makes 12

Ingredients:

200g (1/2 + 5/8 cup - chips) dark chocolate 200g (7/8 cup) butter, plus extra for greasing 250g (1 + 1/4 cup) caster sugar 3 eggs 125g (1 cup) plain flour 85g (1/2 cup) white chocolate chips 6 dark chocolate coated digestive biscuits

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas 4. Line the base and sides of a 12 x 9 inch baking tin with grease proof paper and grease well with butter. 
Melt the dark chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl in the microwave on a high setting, in 20 second intervals, stirring in between until it is smooth and liquid. 
Place the sugar and eggs into a bowl of a stand mixer or you can use a free standing bowl and electric hand mixer, whisk until you reach ribbon stage, this means it should be thick, creamy coloured and  when you lift the whisk out of the bowl, the mixture just leave a ribbon like trial before sinking back after 1-2 seconds. Whisking should take 4-5 minutes to get to this stage. 
Pour the melted chocolate and butter into the bowl with the whisked egg batter along with the flour and white chocolate chips. Carefully fold everything together using a spatula, stop mixing once you can see no more flour air pockets and it is dark and smooth.
Pour the brownie batter into the prepared baking tin and use the spatula to level out. Using your hands, crush up the digestive biscuits and sprinkle into small and larger pieces along with the crumbs over the brownie batter. It doesn't really matter how you break them up, as long as the pieces are evenly distributed so each sliced brownie square will have some biscuit. 
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Once baked, the top will have some cracks and if pressed lightly it should feel firm yet the middle will be soft, have a slight fudgyness and may appear under baked but this is what you want.
Remove from the oven, leave to cool in the tin for 1-2 hours before transferring to the fridge to firm up and cool completely. Leave in the fridge as long as you can manage, at least 2 hours is preferable although I like to leave it overnight. When ready to slice, use the paper to assist you in lifting the brownies out of the tin. Place them onto a chopping board and slice into 12 squares. Store the brownies in an air tight container for up to 6 days.