SRC: Chocolate Fudge Brownie Parcels

It's Secret Recipe Club time once again.  This month I was assigned the coolest blog.  Lavender and Lime is written by Tandy, who lives in South Africa.  I have to say, I had the best time reading her blog.  For one thing, her life is so different from my own.  I loved reading her stories and tidbits about her daily life.  But best off all, I learned a ton from her!  I spent the past few weeks with 2 windows open whenever I read her blog.  One was Lavender and Lime and the other was Google.  There were so many ingredients I'd never heard of  and methods I wasn't familiar with (at least I wasn't familiar with the terms she used for  them).  So this month was a bit of a challenge for me.

I wanted to use an ingredient I hadn't worked with before, but that was available in my area.  So as I went through her mouthwatering recipes, I decided on her Chocolate fudge Brownie Parcels.  And let me say, they were delicious!  I loved learning to work with Phyllo dough.  I've always been a little intimidated by Phyllo because I've heard how hard it is to work with.  But this recipe helped me over come my fears and I won't skip over a recipe just because Phyllo is an ingredient like I have in the past.

I did have to make a change or two.  Her original recipe called for fudge.  I wasn't sure what kind she used.  The only kind of fudge I know of besides the stuff I make at Christmas (that wouldn't work in this recipe at all) is hot fudge.  I know it probably isn't remotely like what Tandy uses, but it added a great fudgy quality that my family loved.  Other than that, I kept things as close to Tandy's recipe as possible. 

As we sat around the table eating these little beauties for dessert, we all decided that they were screaming for strawberries, and wouldn't you know, I didn't have any.  They are so rich and chocolaty that a nice tart berry would have been perfect perched on top of the sweet cream. 

So thank you Tandy for a wonderful dessert and for teaching me so much about cooking in South Africa!  I can't wait to see what amazing dish you come up with next!

Chocolate Fudge Brownie Parcels
Makes about 8

4 oz. unsalted butter
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tbs. flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup hot fudge sauce (I used it straight out of the jar.  Don't warm it.)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 pkg. phyllo pastry
Melted butter for brushing

Melt the butter and chocolate over a hot water bath and mix until smooth.  Add the hot fudge and stir until smooth.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and sugar.  Add the melted chocolate mixture and stir well.

Add the eggs and mix until it is smooth and silky.  Set aside to cool.

To assemble the parcels:

Heat the oven to 350°.  Work with only one sheet of Phyllo at a time, keeping the rest covered with plastic wrap and a damp towel.  Make sure the plastic wrap is between the dough and the wet towel.  Cut each sheet of dough into 4 rectangles.  Place 1 rectangle into a well greased muffin tin.  Use a pastry brush to spread with melted butter.  Add another sheet of pastry dough to the same muffin cup and spread with butter.  Repeat until you have 4 layers of phyllo in the muffin tin.  Repeat with the remaining muffin cups, spreading butter over each layer of dough. 

Fill each cup about 1/2 full of brownie batter.  Bake for about 15 minutes.  The brownies will be slightly doughy and the phyllo will be golden brown.  Allow to cool completely.  Serve with sweetened whipped cream.  Enjoy!!