Alex Rushmer makes use of leftover coffee with delicious, chocolatey results
I was sceptical on first reading a variant of this recipe in The Guardian recently, but the use of something that usually goes on the compost heap piqued my interest. A fine grind of coffee works best for this so as to avoid lending the final product a gritty texture.
Will it stand up to a gooey-centred, butter laden brownie? Possibly not, but it does show what it’s possible to achieve with a waste product and a little ingenuity!
Ingredients
80g used coffee grounds
Two apples, peeled and diced
50ml water
250g milk chocolate
80g caster sugar
100ml rapeseed oil
120g cracked rye or rye flour
Pinch Maldon salt
Step-by-Step
Heat the oven to 170˚C. Put the coffee grounds, apples and water into a saucepan and cook on the hob over a moderate heat with the lid on for 8-10 minutes, until the apple begins to break down.
Transfer to a blender and blitz until smooth. Add the chocolate 50g at a time and stir until melted.
Add the sugar and then gradually stir in the rapeseed oil, 25ml at a time so that the mixture doesn’t split.
Finally, mix in the cracked rye or rye flour and sea salt then pour into a lined brownie tin (24cm square).
Bake in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes until a crust forms on the top, then leave to cool. Turn out, cut into squares and serve. Probably with another cup of coffee.
