G’day U.S.A. Chocolate Brownie Pie & a few observations about my travels in America

Look at it, stare into it’s velvety darkness. (& ignore my rudimentary crust making skills)

I wracked my brain with ideas for my American inspired recipe. I just had too many things I wanted to do…peanut butter cups, BBQ ribs, red velvet cake, rice krispie treats. I needed to simplify.

What do you think of when you think of classic “Suzie homemaker” style American baking? For me it was pie and brownies, and then lightning struck. Pie crust- brownie filling…YUM. I googled it & it turns out that brownie pie is a real thing so I can’t take all the credit but I decided to wing the whole recipe. (Generally not an advisable way to go about the science of baking) So I started with a chocolate cookie crust & filled it with a decadent brownie filling. The resulting pie is hauntingly chocolaty with a delicious crust on top.

In a lot of ways this pie is like America, it looks a bit rough around the edges but it’s filling is sweet & charming.

Chocolate Brownie Pie

Ingredients:

Filling

• 130g good quality dark chocolate (I used organic Rapunzel chocolate from Germany because I am fancy)
• 1 cup caster sugar
• seeds of half a vanilla bean
• 2 large free range eggs, lightly whisked
• 1/2 a cup of salted butter (you could use unsalted, but I like a bit of salt with my chocolate)
• 1/2 a cup of plain flour

Crust

• 1.5 cup chocolate cookie crumbs (oreos would be excellent)
• 1/3 cup melted unsalted butter
• 1 tsp cocoa

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 150c/300f
2. Place the cookie crumbs & cocoa in a bowl & add the melted butter, stirring with a fork
3. Press the wet cookies into a pie dish (try to get the crust thinner than I did…I was totally lame at it last night) It helps to press it with a water glass
4. Bake uncovered for 15 minutes & allow to cool until the filling is ready
5. Turn the oven up to 180c/355f
6. In a microwaveable bowl, melt the butter & the chocolate for around 1-2 minutes, checking & stirring intermittently
7. With a fork whisk in the vanilla & sugar
8. Allow to cool to near room temperature & whisk in the eggs then sift in the flour & stir until combined
9. Pour into the pie crust & bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes
10. Remove from the oven, allow to cool & refrigerate overnight
11. Serve sparingly with whipped cream & strawberries

To be honest I didn’t expect to like America (just read on) from all my preconceived notions I expected there to be flagpoles on every front lawn & hillbillies chasing pigs down the street in “pick up trucks” (TV has done this to my brain people)

The thing that made America great for me was really the people, I’m really sweet on you guys.  Generally I found Americans to be super polite (It would never occur to an Aussie to call someone Sir or Ma’am) really friendly & downright endearing. I met a few people from Texas & I have to say their accents turn me to mush, it’s so dang cute.

I really like the whole Suzie homemaker, wholesome, soccer mom thing America has going on. And I really like the word “Y’all”.  A stewardess said Y’all on a plane & I just about melted.

Another thing that really got me was the whole freedom of speech thing. My policy in foreign countries is don’t discuss anything controversial (politics, religion or race) Now Mr Bake & Blooms father is a man of a different generation, before political correctness. A true blue old country Aussie, he calls it how he sees it & then repeats it until he is out of breath. I gotta tell you, every time he spoke to someone (particularly in Nevada with the right to bear concealed arms) I was terrified of what he would say. I seriously thought we might end up the victims on an episode of “cops” with some of the things he blurted out to total strangers. The amazing thing was, no one was offended, they simply respected Bob’s right to say what he thought. That’s nice…if you tell an Aussie something they don’t agree with they will probably call you a d*ck-head & proceed to tell you all the reasons you are wrong & they are right (we swear a lot)

And I think that’s great (the acceptance part, not the d*ck-head part)

Now we come to the food, oh the food. Do you know I had never eaten (or in some cases even heard of) the following:

• Pulled pork
• Sliders
• Artichokes (how the heck did I ever live without artichokes)
• Tri tip beef
• Matzo ball soup
• Red velvet cake
• Orange cheese (I love your orange cheese, all our cheese is white)

Sad right? But you have opened my eyes to a new world of gluttony deliciousness.

Thanks for having me America