Chocolate orange townies

I assume you’ve heard of the cronut? I have yet to taste one, but I imagine that each bite is crisp, buttery, melting layers of oily sweetness, while a very quiet alarm bell that you try to ignore warns you that you’re eating a heart attack.

Cronuts are selling out, both in the New York bakery they originated, as well as the London bakeries sharing the trend, and they have given rise to other hybrids including the duffin (doughnut muffin) and the townie (brownie tart).

I have to admit, I hadn't heard of the townie until I had a request to teach one for a private class, by a client more current on baking trends than I was.

Townies were started by Bea's of Bloomsbury, and the recipe remains a closely guarded secret. Having recipe tested my own version of townies using my favourite pastry and brownie recipes combined, I declare them to be wonderful!

Brownies are one of the easiest things you can bake, and this does detract from the simple 'mix, bake, serve' process by adding more steps making pastry and blind baking, but the results are so fantastic that I think it's worth it.

I’m pretty sure you can’t go wrong with flaky pastry and gooey brownie combined.

So give these a go and you will not only wow your friends with your baking, but also your up to the minute, finger on the baking pulse trendiness.