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Almonds, Baking, Cake, Childhood, Chocolate, Dessert, Devon, Ingredients, Nonfiction, Recipes, Stories
Perhaps it’s because I have been spending a lot of time in the mud, but I’m drawn very much to muscovado sugar. Dark as earth, moist, crumbly and rich with minerals, it has sizeable heft. It is always winter with muscovado. And it reminds me of the eternal cold of Devon, before central heating, and the way our small fingers stuck to the inside of the windows and having to get dressed with our foggy breath snorting out of our mouths like buffalo.
As children we only ever had muscovado and we put it in our tea, which was like drinking turf. We sprinkled it over our porridge in the mornings and the strong malt-like aniseed depth of it was not always easy to take, though it helped if there was a moat of cold milk which the muscovado sweetened to butterscotch. If muscovado is turf then molasses is tar. It was sometimes given to us ‘for nerves’ in the same way that cod liver oil was administered ‘for bones’. And I can still remember the thick gluey strings of molasses making my jaw ache, the smell strangely reminiscent of tobacco and the colour which was like Victorian yacht varnish.
I was aware that other households didn’t have such things. My school friends had white sugar that was often mistaken for salt, and a wet dab of the finger was needed to ascertain which was which. I also remember that theirs were houses filled with neatness and pullovers and tank tops knitted in luminous artificial colours.
My friends didn’t have to be wrapped in sheets stiff with heat from the storage heater just before bedtime. They didn’t know what they were missing, because being swaddled like this so you could barely move and feeling the starchy steam rise into the room was actually very satisfying. And then we were lowered into our beds like mummies. But apart from this one thing, I really wanted to be banal and suburban and have nothing unique about me at all.
This might be why I called myself Marian, which I did for a while, thinking it was a nice, quiet name. But the black sugar was too much of a give away. It marked us out as odd and therefore vulnerable to attack. And it wasn’t used for things people understood, like chutneys, marinades and fruit cake. It spoke of the chaos underpinning everything, that we used muscovado outside of its real purpose, that we didn’t differentiate. Eventually we left, dad to Exmouth and the rest of us to Exeter and later onwards to London. It has left me with a lifelong nervousness of parochial life, of so-called ‘country living’. Those small places can be tough. But muscovado put iron in the soul and molasses helped to calm our fraying nerves.
The lowdown on muscovado
Muscovado (from the Portuguese açúcar mascavado meaning ‘separated sugar’) is also known as Barbados sugar, and is made differently to other brown sugars: instead of being white sugar to which molasses is added, it is boiled down from sugar cane juice, purified with lime juice, but then not refined any further. Muscovado is made in Barbados, in Mauritius, and in the Antique province in the Philippines, where it was one of the most prominent export commodities, from the 19th century until the late 1970s. It is nutritionally richer than other brown sugars, and retains most of the natural minerals – such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium and iron – inherent in sugarcane juice.
Muscovado brownies with almonds
Adapted from Claire Thomson, The Guardian, Cook, 13/2/2016
You can use whatever nut takes your fancy, but almonds always work with this recipe and you can keep the skins on. Walnuts are also lovely as are prunes. This is on the ‘weeping’ end of the brownie spectrum – crisp on the outside and damp within. My earlier brownie recipe is even more luxe. I’m terrified now looking back at those ingredients; you will probably need a defibrillator standing by, just in case. This recipe is a bit more demure. Make it gluten-free by using rice flour or a gluten-free mix instead of the standard plain. You can go the whole hog here and only use dark muscovado or light muscovado if you want to forgo the caster sugar.Â
125g almonds (or walnuts/softened prunes, drained and roughly chopped)
150g dark cooking chocolate (60-70% cocoa solids)
150g unsalted butter
3 eggs
100g dark muscovado sugar
100g caster sugar
100g plain flour
15g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt (plus a pinch to sprinkle over the baked brownie)
Lightly grease a non-stick baking tin 6 x 10 inch (15 x 24 cm) and line with baking parchment. Allow the paper to come 1 inch (2.5 cm) above the tin. Heat the oven to 350F/180C, then chop the almonds roughly, put them on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 5-8 minutes, keeping an eye on them as they burn easily. Use skin-on or blanched, both are fine.
While the almonds are doing their work, put chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl fitted over a pan of barely simmering water. Allow the chocolate to melt without stirring it, then remove from the heat and gently stir to smoothness.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and sugars together until the mixture is creamy and thick. Mix the melted chocolate and butter into the egg and sugar mixture.
Sift the flour and cocoa powder and salt into the chocolate mixture. Beat together until smooth. Fold in the almonds.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake on the centre shelf for 20 -25 minutes. Don’t overcook the brownie – you want it to be just firm to the touch (not scorched at all) and still gooey inside. Leave to cool for ten minutes, and then put on a sheet of parchment on a wire rack. Cut squint, so you can eat the stray bits while no one’s looking.
thesinglegourmetandtraveller said:
Muscovado is a wonderful thing – but not with everything.I’m glad your childhood experiences didn’t put you off for life 🙂
Sophie James said:
Hello there. Yes, it took me a while to come round. Sophie
thedessertcourse said:
I had one of those weird moments reading this where you realise you’re not the only one like this…
I come from one of those households like yours. And I really really really like muscovado sugar.
Sophie James said:
Hello there, welcome to the muscovado club…And glad you had a ‘weird moment’ reading me. That feels gratifying. Sophie
Rachel said:
I’ve always had a sweet tooth, but after working in a candy store for a few summers, I think I broke it. Now I can only handle the really bittersweet stuff, the dark, dark chocolate, the faintly fruity red wines, and yes, the molasses. I love it on toast and in my oatmeal, and in gingerbread loaded up with wintry spices. I can almost taste it…
Sophie James said:
Molasses is not for the faint-hearted but addictive once you start. Thanks for dropping by. Sophie
Rebecca Hollweg said:
Amazing stuff again Sophie – so funny and also a bit dark this time, like the sugar. And I wanted to lift the brownie off the page.
Sophie James said:
Thank you so much Becky. So lovely to have your encouraging words. xxx
joe90lucas said:
Love you and your writing…
Sophie James said:
Thank you to you 🙂
Jody and Ken said:
These almost read like what you’d get some time after a close encounter between a a delicate petit-four and a rough piece of plum pudding… a rich changeling, which seems to be part of the whole point. Very very distant from the all- American brownie. Way, way, way more interesting. My grandmother used to iron her linen sheets and one of the great sensual treats of a visit to her house was sleeping in a bed whose sheets crackled as you turned. Delicious, as always. Ken
Sophie James said:
Thank you Ken. As always a delight to read your comments. ‘A rough piece of plum pudding…a rich changeling.’ yes please. And surely A Rich Changeling is the title of a novella? Edgar Allen Poe, I’m thinking. Or Donna Tartt. Sophie
Georgina said:
These glimpses of your childhood, and life in Devon are so incredibly tantalizing. I wish that I could read more, and suggest – hopefully – that you write a book!
Sophie James said:
Georgina – thank you for such lovely feedback. I’m very chuffed you think it’s book-worthy. Who knows…one day? xx
tableofcolors said:
What a lovely post! You may surprised that quite a few people have experienced those exact feelings at some time and maybe in just a little different way…but it really gives a depth to life and understanding of others, which is a wonderful gift. The brownies with muscovado sugar look wonderful.
Sophie James said:
Thank you Laila. I’m glad I’ve struck a chord. Lovely to hear from you. Sophie
Early retired and happy person said:
Fabulous brownie recipe. Thank you. I added some cayenne chilli powder and a few tiny dice of Scotch Bonnet. My beekeeper friends loved it. The molasses add a gorgeous toffee flavour too.
Sophie James said:
Gosh, what an interesting idea. Glad it was a winner. Thanks for lovely feedback. Sophie
Matt Gajdoš said:
great wintry palette – i LOVE your photos as always
Sophie James said:
Thanks Matt. I always think my photos are a bit crap. Glad you think they’re not. xx
Matt Gajdoš said:
They range from twee to breathtaking
Sophie James said:
Don’t like twee – will take breathtaking 🙂 Thank you kindly xxx
Matt Gajdoš said:
I just wanted to use that word because it sounds funny and Americans don’t use it lol. Your pictures are not twee
Sophie James said:
Have a happy new year Matt – I thought twee was so American, how funny. xx
wendy@chezchloe said:
Growing up in Florida, we had only white sugar till the divorce at which time my mother joined a coop housed in a tiny footprint of a store that smelled like wet earth. Not in a bad way but different than steak and potatoes. We used a lot of honey. I don’t think I came across the rich dark stuff till I was about 30 and married a Brit (#2 of 3).
The company India Tree packages a nice muscovado and you’ve reminded me that it would be a nice thing to have at my shop.
I’m not familiar with twee in America or across the pond.
Happy New Year:)