It's been a while...lots has happened!

Well, it's certainly been a while since my last blog post - for which I apologise, but I have a very good excuse...I became a Mummy for the first time last June, to baby Oliver Bay Williams :)

Oliver Bay, just a few days old

We then moved house when Oliver was just 3 days old (!) and since then have been learning how to care for a baby and simultaneously building furniture, painting walls, getting carpets and tiles laid, gardening...you get the picture?

Simply Brownies has been shut down for a few months because we just haven't had the time to fulfil orders as quickly as I'd like.  That doesn't mean that we're not thinking about chocolate brownies though!

We've been working on a new website and have changed our logo and I'm always thinking up new and tasty recipes.  So we hope to come back in a few months with a new range of chocolate brownies and a brand new website!

Watch this space for more information, and do feel free to contact us if you have a special request, we'd love to hear from you.

In the meantime, keep warm and enjoy the snow!

Love Abi and Oliver x

Pot Luck Brownies

Every now and then we have some brownie “left-overs” and rather than keeping them all to ourselves, we thought it would be nice to share them with our fans! We will advertise these "Pot Luck Brownies" on our Facebook and Twitter pages each time we have some left over. They will be available on a first come first served basis at discounted prices.  

They could be a mixture of any flavour, either all the same, or a variety of different flavours - the combination of flavours you will receive is completely "pot luck"!

“Like” our Facebook page or “Follow” us on Twitter and be the first to email us as soon as we put up a post advertising a batch of pot-luck brownies.  We’ll send you an invoice if you’re the first and once we’ve received your payment we’ll pop them in the post!

Please note:
The brownies won’t be boxed or gift-wrapped and we can’t guarantee that they won't be a little squished by the time they get to you, but what we can guarantee, 100%, is that they’ll be deliciously tasty!

A pack of 4 pot-luck brownies costs just £3.95 (incl. P&P), that’s a saving of up to 35% per brownie!


We can't tell you when these Pot Luck Brownies will be available so keep an eye out on our Twitter and Facebook pages so that you can be the first to grab this delicious bargain!


Alternatively, if you can't wait indefinitely, have a browse through our website and order a box of 12 brownies today!

Chocolate Brownie Wedding Favours

The wedding season is well and truly underway and if you're looking for the perfect wedding favours guaranteed to be loved by all your guests then look no further - Simply Brownies has the solution!

An individual chocolate brownie for each of your guests, deliciously fudgy and decadent, beautifully wrapped in cellophane and tied with a ribbon...as an added bonus, they can even double up as your place cards.

We can deliver by hand, your brownies individually wrapped and labled for you, anywhere within a 40 mile radius of Swindon.  If you're further afield, don't worry, we can send the "flat packed" brownies to you with all you'll need to package and label them yourselves.

We know that your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life, and we'd love to be a part of it,  Contact us now to discuss your requirements - we're very flexible and can cater for most tastes and can discuss alternative flavours to those currently available in our shop if you prefer.  

Email us at sales@simplybrownies.co.uk or contact us via the contact page on our website.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Easter Brownies

We can't believe it's April already - 2011 is well underway and the support we've received since launching Simply Brownies in January has been over-whelming - thank you all so much!

With Easter coming up we've thought up something rather special - Mini Crème Egg Brownies!  12 of our delicious classic dark chocolate brownies each with a mini crème egg at it's centre. They're a unique and very tasty alternative to Easter eggs!

A box of 12 mini crème egg brownies retails at just £15.95 including P&P and comes beautifully gift-wrapped with a personal greeting.  Order by Tuesday 19th April for delivery anywhere in the UK in time for Easter.

They'll only be available until the end of April, so order now to avoid disappointment.

Watch this space for information on our flavour of the month for May!

The History of the Chocolate Brownie

Have you ever found yourself wondering where chocolate brownies came from?  Well, here at Simply Brownies we have and we've done a little bit of research and thought we'd share our findings!

There is much mystery surrounding the beginnings of the chocolate brownies we know and love today, including the following suggestions:

- A chef mistakenly added melted chocolate to a batch of cookies

- A cook baking a chocolate cake didn't have enough flour, resulting in a dense cake.

- A housewife in Bangor, Maine forgot to add baking powder to her chocolate cake, but rather than throw the cake out, she cut and served it in flat pieces and found it delicious!

However there appears to be no doubt that they are an American creation and most likely originated in New England around the turn of the 20th Century.

Most of our research points us to 1893 and the Columbian Exhibition which that year was held at the Palmer House Hotel.  It seems that Bertha Palmer (the owner of the hotel - her husband gifted her with the hotel as a wedding present!) requested of her chef a dessert for the ladies attending the fair which was to be smaller than a slice of cake and easily eaten from lunch boxes.  The creation she was presented with was very similar to the brownies we know and love today, but featured an apricot glaze and contained walnuts.  This version of the brownie is still being served to this day in the hotel's Lockwood Restaurant to the same recipe, click here for a link to food.com which details the recipe.

Following the Columbian Exhibition, several brownie recipes cropped up around the beginning of the 20th Century, the first in the 1986 version of the Boston Cooking School Cook Book though these were made with molasses (a dark sugar syrup similar to black treacle) and nothing like the brownies we enjoy today.  

Following this there was a recipe printed in the Boston Globe on 2nd April 1905 for "Bangor Brownies", these had no baking powder and were probably similar to those made by the housewife who almost threw out her chocolate cake.

Then Fannie Merritt Farmer (one of America's most famour cookery authors) published a copy of the Boston Cooking School Cook Book in 1906, those these were a rather mild, more cake-like version of the brownie and it wasn't until her protégé Maria Willett Howard published a recipe for Lowney's Brownies in Lowney's Cook Book in 1907 with an extra egg and more chocolate that something which more resembled the brownies of today was born.

Chocolate brownies became increasingly popular in the 1920s when chocolate was more readily available and eventually made their way around the world.

Today, there are still several different recipes for chocolate brownies (our own remains a closely guarded secret and only available from our website!) but it's the melted chocolate and butter which give a brownie it's fudgy texture and the high sugar content which gives them that delicious crispy topping....mmm....

We're so proud of how we pack our brownies!

Ever wondered how we pack our chocolate brownies?  Most of the chocolate brownies we deliver are sent as gifts and so we need to make sure they're beautifully packaged.  Even if you're ordering some brownies for yourself, they're a gift, so we make sure that they're wrapped as one!

We start by baking our brownies.  All our chocolate brownies are baked from scratch and to order in my own kitchen at home in Wiltshire.  We use Belgian chocolate with a minimum of 72% cocoa solids (which our sources tell us is now a superfood - beating blueberries and cranberries for the it's health-boosting antioxidants), fair trade golden caster sugar, real butter and eggs from the Happy Egg Company - happy eggs mean happy brownies!

We offer 4 regular flavours and often a monthly special, which in February is cherry chocolate - they're delicious, we promise!

Once they've cooled completely we wrap 12 squares (each around 5cm square) in food grade cellophane wrap to keep them fresh.  Each batch is identified by the label we attach directly to the cellophane so if you're sending some brownies to a friend they'll know exactly what they're getting.

These are then wrapped in pink tissue paper and snuggled into one of our sturdy, yet still pretty cardboard boxes, ready for posting.

We also send one of our greetings cards with the order, so you can add a personal message to your friend or loved one, wishing them a Happy Birthday, or Get Well Soon, Congratulations or I love you...or even "Just because"...sometimes you don't need a reason to tell someone you love them, and a batch of chocolate brownies will certainly perk up someone's day!

Delivery Information

Our chocolate browies our posted via First Class Royal Mail.  All orders received before 12noon Monday-Thursday will be baked that evening and posted the following working day.  Where an order is received on a Friday or over the weekend, the brownies will be baked on a Monday and posted on a Tuesday.  Once your order has been posted the delivery date is out of our hands, however Royal Mail aim to deliver first class parcels within 1-2 days.

Once your brownies arrive at their destination, it's up to you how you eat them - but we think they're delicious just as they are!

For more information on the brownies we have to offer visit our website www.simplybrownies.co.uk or if you have any questions, email us sales@simplybrownies.co.uk

Chocolate Brownies with Strawberries, Mascarpone and Champagne

What better way to end a perfect Valentine's Day dinner than with some of our delicious home made Chocolate Brownies - don't forget, as well as being delicious, chocolate is an aphrodisiac too!

Recipe

Heat some chocolate brownies (as many as you think you can eat!) gently in a warm oven, about 140°C (fan 130°C) for 10-15 minutes, just enough to heat them through.

To prepare your topping wash and slice some fresh strawberries and place them in a bowl.  Dust with 1-2 tablespoons of icing sugar, a litte chopped fresh mint and a drizzle of champagne (if you have any left over!)

In a separate bowl mix a small tub of mascarpone with 1-2 tablespoons of sieved icing sugar and half a teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Now you're ready to plate up - place a brownie in the centre of your plate and top with a generous dollop of mascarpone, tumble over some of your strawberries.

Finally dust with a little icing sugar and top with a sprig of fresh mint....Enjoy with your Valentine!

Monthly Special

Our limited offer for February is cherry chocolate brownies - perfect for your Valentine.  For an added hit of chocolate we use Belgian chocolate with a minimum of 85% cocoa solids and pack these brownies full of natural glace cherries.  Finally, for a little added luxury, they're topped with a generous drizzle of Green & Black's Milk Chocolate.

A box of 12 cost just £15.95 for delivery within 1-3 working days from receipt of order.

February Delivery

As usual all our prices include postage and packaging costs for delivery in 1-3 working days from receipt of order.  However, if you'd like your order delivered to that special someone on Valentine's day, choose delivery on 14th February as you add your selection to your basket.  We'll then hold your order until Friday 11th February when we'll send it via Royal Mail's Special Next Day delivery service to arrive at your chosen address on Valentine's Day.

For more details of the scrumptious flavours we have on offer go to www.simplybrownies.co.uk or email sales@simplybrownies.co.uk

Still not sure?...See what our customers had to say about their chocolate brownies in our comments book...