No-Crust Fig Brownies

Who doesn't like a brownie? These brownies are moist and soft - all the way to the edges...thanks to my little trick!

I'm one of those people who always goes for the centre cut pieces of a pan of brownies - without any of the hard edges. Well these little beauties are lovely and soft, down to the last piece because I cook them...in a water bath.

What's a water bath you ask?...(and it's not nearly as complicated as it sounds!)

Well, the technical term would be a bain-marie. Basically what it means is that you partially immerse your cooking pan/pot etc in a second larger pan filled with hot water. See my photo below and notes at the end of the recipe. (You have to imagine the brownie mixture in the square grey pan - I decided to take this photo after the event!)

Have I lost you yet? I hope not because it really isn't that hard and the end result is these gorgeous No-Crust Fig Brownies - well worth it in my book.

Lee-Ann ♥

No-Crust Fig Brownies

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Moist fig brownies cooked in a water bath means no dry crusty edges - soft and tender to the very last piece

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Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings: 12 squares

Calories: 270kcal

Author: Lee-Ann Grace

Ingredients

• 100 g salted butter
• 150 dark cooking chocolate (45% cocoa solids - broken into pieces)
• ¾ cup raw/golden caster sugar (150g)
• ¾ cup plain/all purpose flour (105g - sifted)
• 2 eggs
• 250 g dried figs - finely chopped ((see notes))
• Zest of 1 orange - finely grated
• Boiling water for water bath

Instructions

• Pre heat oven to 160c.
• In a medium saucepan, gently heat butter and chocolate over low heat until melted and smooth, remove from heat.
• Add sugar and stir to combine, then allow mixture to cool while you line your baking tin.
• Grease and line a 20 x 20 cm or 8 x 8 inch baking pan with baking/parchment paper, allowing sides to overhang (see notes).
• Once your chocolate mixture has cooled, add your eggs one at a time, mixing quickly & well after each addition.
• Add figs and orange zest and stir to combine.
• Add flour and stir to combine.
• Pour chocolate mixture into prepared pan.
• Sit the chocolate filled pan inside a larger baking pan and transfer to oven.
• Once inside the oven, carefully pour enough boiling water into the larger baking pan to come about halfway up the sides of the smaller chocolate filled pan - see notes.
• Bake for 30 mins then remove from oven.
• Carefully take the smaller chocolate pan out of the water bath, dry off any excess water, cover with foil and return to oven.
• Bake for 20 mins or until a skewer comes out with crumbs clinging.

Notes

The figs I have used for this recipe are dried (not fresh) figs, but they are still very moist - they are sometimes known as "dessert figs".The moistness of the figs is important so that the finished brownie is moist as well. I notice when I purchased these figs from the supermarket there was another brand of figs next to them, but they were very dry. The dessert figs are very "damp" inside the package and you can squeeze them with your fingers.

When you line your baking pan, don't allow the baking paper to overhang the sides too much, or the baking paper might end up touching your water-bath and you might get water in your mixture - ALL BAD!!!! Learned this one myself...

The reason I put both pans in the oven first then add the boiling water through the open oven door is so that I don't have to carry a pan full of boiling water to the oven. I have yet to come up with a way to get the water bath OUT of the oven though without carrying a pan full of boiling water!

When it comes to adding the water to the water bath, you don't need to be absolutely exact when it comes to filling halfway up the sides of the smaller pan - around halfway is fine.

*Please note that the amount of calories per serve is provided as a guide only, as ingredients and cooking methods can vary greatly*