BRIOCHE BROWNIE BURGERS, FRIES & SMILES :)

Makes 2/3

For the brownies

50g salted butter
1 tbsp marmalade
100g golden caster sugar
100g dark chocolate
1 orange, zested
1 egg
50g plain flour

For the condiments

300ml extra thick double cream
1 jar of lemon curd
red food gel

For the burger cheese

100g natural marzipan
100g golden marzipan

Extras

Packet of brioche buns
6 choc chip cookies
3 kiwi fruit

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.

Put the butter, marmalade and sugar in a saucepan. Set it over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Take the saucepan off the heat and add the chocolate, broken up into pieces, together with the zested orange. Leave the chocolate for a few minutes to melt in the pan and leave to cool down.

Stir the chocolatey mixture in the pan until smooth and combined then beat the egg into the mixture until thick and velvety.

Fold in the flour until just combined and spoon the mixture into a 6 holed muffin tin lined with cupcake cases and bake for 15 minutes or until the brownies have risen and are firm to the touch, but a skewer inserted into the centre comes out a little sticky. Place the brownies on a cooling rack.

While the brownies are baking, prepare your brioche fries. Set aside 2/3 of the brioche buns to make your burgers with later. With the remaining buns, cut the top and bottom of the buns surface and base crusts off and place on to a baking tray. These are going to be crumbled up once baked to resemble fried onion! If using sesame seed topped brioche buns, place the sesame seed tops into a bowl to create breadcrumbs for the burgers with later. Next with one of the buns bases, cut out 3 ‘smiles’ rounds using a 5cm round cookie cutter. With the end of a drinking staw, cut out two eyes from each round and create the smiley mouth using a small sharp pair of scissors. Place the off cuts aside to create breadcrumbs with. Cut the remaining buns up into chips, leaving some of the brioche crust boarder on to resemble skin on fries! Bake the brioche crusts, smiles and chips in the oven for approx 5 minutes until lightly golden brown. Set aside till later.

To create your condiments, start by mixing up your ‘mayonnaise’. Place your cream in a small bowl and beat in a few tablespoons of lemon curd until you create a colour and consistency like that of mayonnaise. Place half of it another bowl to create your burger sauce in. Before you create this you need to make your ‘ketchup’. Place your jar of lemon curd into a small bowl and mix in a little bit of your red food gel, until you get an intense red ketchup like colour. Mix a little bit of this into one of your ‘mayonnaise’ bowls to create a ‘burger sauce’ colour and appearance. Leave all of these 3 separate condiments in their bowls or transfer into food sauce bottles, with the help of a funnel or piping bag.

To create your burger patty’s, break the brioche off cuts into breadcrumbs in a small bowl with your finger tips. Next break your choc chip cookies into crumbs, using a rolling pin and breaking up the cookies in either a small food bag or your empty brioche burger packet. You will be using 2 cookies/crumbs per patty. In a bowl, measure and place 20g of cookie crumbs, 20g of breadcrumbs, 2 of your still warm brownies and finally 20g of ‘ketchup’. With your hands, mix and knead everything thoroughly together to create a fully blended mixture. Round and flatten into a burger patty shape with your palms and place on your cooling rack to create the iconic griddle marks you find on a traditional burger patty. Repeat the brownie patty process with your remaining brownies to create 3 complete brownie patties. Placing each one on the cooling rack. If you have another cooling rack, use this to lightly press on top to create both top and bottom griddle marks. If you just have the one cooling rack, simply turn the burger over a few times pressing down gently with your palm to create the marks.

Next up creating the marzipan cheese! Mix both your natural and golden marzipan together with your hands, until fully blended together. Without any signs of marbling. Once blended roll out pieces on to a sheet of non stick parchment to a few mm thickness and cut out ‘burger cheese’ squares using a square cutter or sharp knife. Place a square of this marzipan cheese on top of each of your brownie burger patty’s, before creating your kiwi ‘pickles’ and brioche ‘fried onions’.

To create your fried onions, break up the brioche crust slithers into fried onion sized pieces and set aside. Next cut the skins off your kiwis and then slice vertical slithers of the fruit to create your pickle’s.

To assemble your burgers, take one of the bases of your set aside brioche buns and cover it with some of your burger sauce. Next place your brownie burger patty with your marzipan cheese on it on top. Place some of your kiwi pickle slices on top and then some more burger sauce and ketchup. Scatter over some of your brioche ‘fried onion’ pieces. Put some mayo or burger sauce on the lid of your brioche bun before placing on top. Insert a wooden skewer into your burger stack to keep everything steady! Finally place some of your remaining brioche ‘fried onions’ into and around the layers of your burger, before serving up alongside your brioche fries, smiles and extra condiments to dip!

*To create a double cheese burger, simply use two cheese topped brownie patty’s when layering up your bun :)