Recipe- Traditional Chikki Brownie Bites

Chikki is a traditional Indian sweet generally made from nuts and jaggery/sugar. There are several different varieties of chikki in addition to the most common groundnut (peanut) chikki. Chikkis are made using a combination of ingredients. Special chikkis are made out of cashews, almonds, pistachios, and also sesame seeds. Though jaggery is the usual sweetener material, sugar is sometimes used as the base.

There are three components of these Chikki Brownie Bites – Chikki, Brownies, and ganache. The chikki is made with some very festive flavors of jaggery and nuts. I use a mix of peanuts, pecan nuts and almonds but you can use any nuts that you have in hand. I mix the nuts with a syrup made of jaggery and water. Once it cools down and hardens, I chop it and add it to my brownie batter. I also add some jaggery separately to my brownies to give it a more festive feel!

Ingredients

For Brownies

1 cup (175gms) dark chocolate
½ cup (113gms) butter
½ cup (100gms) caster sugar
½ cup (100gms) jaggery
2 eggs / 1 cup (285 g) Greek Yoghurt
½ cup (60gms) all purpose flour
1 tsp (4gms) baking powder
3 tbsp (22gms) cocoa powder

For Gud Chikki

½ cup (75gms) mixed nuts
6 tbsp (75gms) jaggery
1 + ½ tbsp (22ml) water

For Ganache

2 cups chopped chocolate
1 cup fresh cream

Method

* In a saucepan set over medium heat, add the jaggery and water.

* Let the jaggery melt and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Add in the mixed nuts and mix to make sure all the nuts are thoroughly coated in the jaggery caramel.

* Carefully pour this mixture on to a silicone mat and allow to cool completely before chopping it up for the brownies.

* Butter a 9x13” rectangular pan and pre-heat your oven to 180C.

* In a saucepan set over low heat, melt butter and chocolate. Once melted set aside to cool.

* Combine sugar, eggs and jaggery in a large bowl, using a whisk. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and mix well.

* Add in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
* Gently mix until no flour pockets remain.

* Fold in the chopped chikki.

* Transfer the batter to the baking dish.

* Bake at 180C for 30 minutes-35 minutes. Let the brownies cool completely before cutting.

* To finish it up for a feative look, pipe chocolate ganache, sprinkle some crushed chikki and add some gold foil.