DJ BBQ's Backyard Baking by Christian Stevenson, Chris Taylor and David Wright (Quadrille, £20) Photography: David Lotus
DJ BBQ's S'Mores Brownies
There are many brownie recipes out there, but giddy-goodness this is a rip-snorting, toot-hooting son of a gun
Currently out on bail after being embroiled in a scandal at Camp Bestival involving DJ BBQ and his son Noah, this recipe has never been shared before, despite winning multiple accolades and awards. The greatest prize of all, however, awaits you once you complete these steps to heaven. Let's go!
Makes
12–15
Ingredients
- 1 packet of digestive biscuits, broken into chunks
- 60g self-raising flour
- 60g plain flour
- 80g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 200g butter, plus a knob
- 100g dark chocolate (about 70%), chopped
- 4 eggs
- 450g caster sugar
- 150g marshmallows
- You’ll need
- A wood-fired oven with the coals removed sitting at about 180C (350F) is best for this.
- A roughly 25cm square cake tin.
Method
Get the wood oven up to temp then remove all the coals. If using a conventional oven, preheat to 180C.
Grease and line your cake tin with greaseproof paper, making sure it’s neat and carefully tucked in at the edges. Cover the bottom of the tin with a layer of digestive biscuits, reserving some for later.
Sift both the flours and the cocoa powder together into a large bowl. Set aside.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan (or in the microwave) then add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted and combined.
In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the eggs and sugar until inflated, light and smooth. This will take about eight to 10 minutes in a stand mixer on a high speed (or with an electric whisk) and considerably longer with a human arm and a balloon whisk. This is an important step as, if you do not get enough air into the mixture at this stage, you’ll miss out on the brownie crust (and you do NOT want to miss out on the brownie crust).
Add the butter and dark chocolate mixture to the egg mix and fold with a spatula until marbled but not totally mixed.
Add the sifted flours and cocoa powder and fold again until JUST mixed. Only just. Then, quick as a flash, spoon the mixture into the cake tin on top of the biscuit chunks , smooth it off and scatter over the reserved digestive biscuits pieces.
Slide it into the wood oven (or indoor oven) and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, check your wobble. You want the brownie to have the consistency of a firm jelly, NOT a cake. The self-raising flour inflates the mix like a soufflé and you must take it out early so it can collapse into a dense, fudgy brownie. When this stage is reached (you may need more time depending on the temperature of your cooker), take it out and allow to cool.
When completely cool, place the brownie (still in the tin) in the refrigerator overnight. This is the fudging stage and will increase the fudginess of your fudging brownie, so don’t forget to do it.
The next morning, your brownie will be very solid. Remove it from the tin and place on a large board.
Melt the marshmallows in a saucepan with a knob of butter. When it’s all melted together, spread it over the top of the brownie. Try to do it neatly and evenly but also be true to yourself – if you’re a budding Jackson Pollock then go hell-for-leather. As a final flourish, you can toast the top of the marshmallow using a blowtorch. Alternatively, transfer the brownie to a baking sheet and place under the grill/broiler until toasted – watch it like a hawk to ensure it doesn’t burn! If you want to be a live fire legend, try toasting your marshmallow using a glowing hot piece of charcoal – carefully hold it with tongs just above the surface of the marshmallow.
Let it cool (if you can wait!), slice and enjoy. Accept praise from your friends and family, or, if you’re eating it all on your own, just wallow in your indulgent magnificence.
