Chocolate & Mangelwurzel Brownies

Rich, chocolatey, fudgy brownies with a rather unexpected ingredient hiding inside ...

Mangelwurzel might not be the first thing you'd think of when reaching for your baking tin, but its natural moisture makes it surprisingly at home in a batch of homemade Chocolate & Mangelwurzel Brownies. Think squidgy centres, slightly crisp edges and plenty of chocolate. You wouldn't necessarily guess what's in them, but that's rather the fun of it.

Why Mangelwurzel?

Mangelwurzel is often associated with livestock feed and traditional farming, but there's so much more to this wonderfully versatile root. Finely grated and folded into a brownie mixture, it adds moisture and helps create a lovely soft texture.

Much like courgette in a chocolate cake, it quietly gets on with the job without demanding centre stage.

Chocolate & Mangelwurzel Brownies - The Recipe

Ingredients

• 200g unsalted butter

• 200g dark chocolate (70%)

• 250g caster sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 100g plain flour

• 30g cocoa powder

• ¼ tsp fine sea salt

• 150g finely grated mangelwurzel, squeezed of excess moisture (weight after squeezing)

  
  

Method

1. Prepare the mangelwurzel

Peel and finely grate the mangelwurzel. Place in a clean tea towel and squeeze out the excess liquid. Weigh out 150g once squeezed. It should still be moist, just not dripping wet.

Preheat the oven to 170°C fan (190°C conventional). Line a 20cm square baking tin with baking parchment.

2. Melt the chocolate

Gently melt the butter and dark chocolate together, either in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water or in short bursts in the microwave. Stir until smooth and leave to cool slightly.

3. Whisk the eggs and sugar

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and caster sugar together for 2–3 minutes until pale and slightly thickened. Stir in the vanilla extract.

4. Bring it together

Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar, stirring gently until combined.

Sift in the flour and cocoa powder, add the salt and fold together until just combined.

Finally, fold through the grated mangelwurzel.

5. Bake

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Bake for 25–30 minutes. The edges should be set, while the middle retains a slight wobble. A skewer inserted into the centre should come out with moist crumbs rather than clean.

6. The hardest part

Leave to cool completely in the tin before cutting into squares. For particularly neat slices, pop the cooled brownies into the fridge for an hour before cutting.

Jo's Kitchen Notes

• Don't boil the mangelwurzel first. Raw, finely grated mangelwurzel is what we're after.

• Squeezing out the excess moisture is important. Too much liquid can leave you with a brownie that's more cake than fudgy. I like to use a straining bag for this, but a clean tea towel will so the trick.

• Don't overbake. A brownie should be a little squidgy in the middle.

• These are lovely just as they are, but a little drizzle of melted dark chocolate or a scattering of freeze-dried raspberries makes them rather special.

  
  

A little something different

Mangelwurzel has had a rather long association with the British countryside, but perhaps it's time we started looking at it a little differently. From savoury bakes and jellies to something as familiar as a chocolate brownie, there's plenty of room for this humble root in the modern kitchen.

And if you can persuade someone to enjoy a vegetable without even realising they're eating it, well, that's a little kitchen magic.