Autumn Brownies
Rich, fudgy chocolate brownies topped with colourful buttery cookies in little autumn shapes. Pumpkins, leaves, acorns, squirrels… use whatever cutters you have and make your own little autumn scene on top!
Makes: 16 brownies
Tin: 20 cm / 8-inch square tin
Oven: 175°C / 350°F
Ingredients
150 g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
90 g granulated sugar
38 g whole egg, lightly whisked
1 tsp vanilla paste
285 g cake flour
Pinch of salt
Gel food colours of your choice
Method
Add the softened butter to a mixing bowl and beat until smooth and creamy.
Add the sugar and mix until well combined. You don't need to whip lots of air into the mixture.
Gradually add the whisked egg, a little at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add the vanilla paste and mix again.
Sift in the cake flour and add the salt. Mix until the dough just comes together. Avoid overmixing.
Divide the dough into 4–6 portions, depending on how many colours you would like to use. Colour each portion with a small amount of gel food colouring. I like warm autumn shades such as orange, mustard yellow, red, brown and green.
Roll out each colour of dough and cut out your autumn shapes. Pumpkins, leaves, acorns and woodland animals all work beautifully.
Arrange the cookies on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Bake at 175°C / 350°F for approximately 6–8 minutes, depending on the size and thickness of your cookies. You want them just baked but still quite pale so the colours stay vibrant.
Leave on the tray for a few minutes before carefully transferring to a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely while you prepare the brownie batter.
Fudgy Chocolate Brownies
Ingredients
120 g unsalted butter, melted and still warm
20 ml vegetable oil
225 g caster sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla paste
75 g plain/all-purpose flour
50 g unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
50 g dark chocolate chips
Method
Preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F. Lightly grease a 20 cm / 8-inch square baking tin and line with parchment paper, leaving a little overhang to make the brownies easier to lift out.
Add the warm melted butter, vegetable oil and caster sugar to a large bowl. Whisk together for about 1 minute until glossy and well combined.
Add the eggs and vanilla paste. Whisk for another minute until the mixture looks slightly lighter, thicker and glossy.
Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and salt.
Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined. Fold through the dark chocolate chips. Don't overmix the brownie batter once the flour has been added, this helps keep the brownies soft and fudgy.
Pour the brownie batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top into an even layer.
Arrange your baked autumn butter cookies over the top. Have fun with the placement. I like to mix the different colours and shapes so it looks like a little autumn scene.
Bake for approximately 20–25 minutes. The edges should be set and the centre should no longer jiggle, but don't wait for a skewer to come out completely clean. A few moist, fudgy crumbs are exactly what you want.
Allow the brownies to cool completely in the tin before lifting them out and slicing into 16 squares.
Winnie's Tip
The cookies are baked first because this helps them keep their lovely shapes and autumn colours once they're placed on top of the brownie. When baking the finished brownie, keep an eye on the centre rather than relying on a completely clean skewer, slightly underbaked is much better than overbaked when you want a really fudgy brownie!
One thing I’d definitely keep is pre-baking the decorative cookies for only 6–8 minutes. They’ll bake a little more while sitting on the brownie, so you don’t want them browned or fully crisp before they go on top.