I have news!
I worked my first day in a commercial kitchen last week.
It was pretty crazy exciting.
I started at 4am.
Yes. 4am.
Reading that back actually makes me a little queasy. I actually had to wake up at 3am. Yuck. But you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do!
It was dark. The city was quiet. The kitchen was quiet too, as only the pastry chef and I started that early, and all the chefs came in a little later.
I was shown around the kitchen, handed a recipe, and set off to make muffins. Strawberry, peach and coconut muffins. Yum. And then I made brownies. And cheesecake. And carrot cake. And frosting. And the list of tasks went on.
The job is at one of Melbourne’s top new cafes, so the kitchen was crazy, full of adrenaline as the chefs pumped out amazingly delicious brunch dishes as I baked away in the pastry section.
I wore a chef’s uniform. And got called chef. And spent the whole day in a kitchen. And got paid to bake. Does this all make me an actual pastry chef now? Because it seems kinda surreal.
It was absolutely awesome, and I loved it.
So much so, that I came home and baked some more.
I baked these amazingly gooey brownies. It’s a new favourite recipe of mine.
They have hints of coffee flavour.
And big chunks of Kit Kat inside.
Yep. Kit Kat.
Do it.
KIT KAT CHUNK BROWNIES
Brownie recipe adapted from Tartine.
3/4 cup unsalted butter (170g, 6 oz)
455g dark chocolate, roughly chopped (1 pound)
5 large eggs
2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed (395g, 14 oz)
1/2 tsp salt
1 – 2 tsp finely ground instant coffee, to taste
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp plain flour (130g, 4.5 oz)
2 king size Chunky Kit Kat bars
Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F) and butter and line a 9 x 13 inch tray with baking paper.
Roughly chop the Kit Kats into 1/2 inch chunks and set aside.
Cube the butter and put it in a small saucepan. Melt over a low heat. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, stirring well to melt it. If the chocolate doesn’t melt completely, return to the heat for another 10 seconds or so. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, whisk the eggs, sugar, salt, coffee and vanilla on a high speed until it reaches the ribbon stage – until it is thick, pale, and falls from the beaters in a ribbon that folds onto itself and slowly dissolves on the surface.
Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture until incorporated. Quickly but gently fold in the flour, until just combined.
Pour half the batter into the prepared pan and spread out with a spatula. Scatter the chopped Kit Kat bars over the top. Pour the remaining batter over the chocolate chunks. Smooth out the top with a spatula.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until the top is lightly cracked and soft to the touch.
Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares. Makes 20 brownies.
Happy Baking!