This is a fabulous recipe, rich chocolate heavenly scented with Mandarin. Instead of butter, this brownie is made with olive oil, which makes them rich but delicate. It has a smallish yield, which is just about right, not too much of an expense when it comes to the ingredients list, but really hits the spot when you're after a rich chocolate treat.
If you have firm (harder to peel) mandarins, like Honey Murcots, then you can grate the zest using a fine grater. If the mandarins are the easy peel variety, and are harder to zest in this way, you can peel them, scrape most of the white pith from the inside of the skins, and then very finely chop the skin, crushing the oily bits as you go. Whichever way you get the zest, you need around 1 Tablespoon. Add this to the olive oil.
Preheat the oven to 175 °C, and line an 8" square cake tin with paper. (brown paper bag works fine). Melt the chocolate over a very low heat, stirring carefully. Take off heat and whisk in the vanilla, olive oil and mandarin zest. Set aside to cool. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until thick and pale. With a wooden spoon, fold in the chocolate mixture, then the flour and salt and lastly the chopped cashews. Stir to combine, then pour into the tin.
Bake for 22-28 minutes, the top will be pale and cracked, and a toothpick should come out wet.
Cool and then cut into squares.
Emma
Macadamias or almonds may be substituted for the cashews.