Kelly, Charlotte, Tom & Hayley pinnies on and ready to bake
Last week, a few of us from HQ participated in the Rangemaster Training Academy. On Thursday, we started the journey to Leomington Spa to visit the factory – amazingly range cookers have been produced on this site since 1830!
In fact, as we entered the reception we were greeted to a fantastic museum piece – the first range cooker ever made! The Kitchener was a real ground breaking invention for its time as all the different cooking methods were put into one piece of equipment. The Kitchener looks a little different today!
Our lovely trainer Lindsey showed us around all of the Rangemaster models and functions (who knew that you could fit a massive 25lb turkey in the main oven of a Rangemaster!) after treating us to a breakfast of bacon sandwiches made using the fantastically practical multizone on a Professional+ FXP.
Charlotte & Tom thoroughly inspecting the cookers
Now it was time for the practical section – chocolate brownies! Using the induction hob our chocolate and butter were melted in no time! We then got to work mixing the rest of the ingredients together before pouring them into tins ready to go into the oven.
Tom, Charlotte and Kelly mixing together the brownie ingredients
Lindsey really showed off the Professional+ FXP’s fan oven as we all batch baked our brownies together. Despite them all being on different shelves within the oven, they all came out perfectly with exactly the same colour and crispness.
Served warm with ice cream they tasted delicious!
We rounded up the day with a fantastic tour around the Rangemaster factory. It’s amazing how many processes are still done by hand, and walking around the factory it’s not hard to believe that it takes 100 people to make just one range cooker!
A brilliant day was had by all of us at HQ and we all agreed that we had learnt a great deal. What I learnt most of all was just the sheer amount of hard work that goes into each Rangemaster to make them a top quality product (as well as an amazing recipe for chocolate brownies!).
LINDSEY’S THICK CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
INGREDIENTS
- 6oz dark chocolate
- 6oz of butter
- 3 eggs
- 8oz castor sugar
- ½ teapsoon of vanilla essence
- 4oz plain flour
- ½ teaspoon of salt
METHOD
- Place the butter and chocolate in a pan and over a low heat melt the chocolate and the butter; stirring occasionally (on induction this would be number 4 or 5)
- In a jug mix together all the sugar, 3 eggs, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence and beat until combined
- When the chocolate and butter have melted take it off the heat and allow to cool slightly
- Pour the contents of the jug into the pan of melted chocolate and butter and mix thoroughly
- Next add the flour and half a teaspoon of salt to the pan and mix well to form a smooth paste
- Finally pour the brownie mixture into a lined tin, scraping every last bit from the saucepan
- Bake for 20 minutes at 180°C (fan)
- When the brownies are cooked, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.
- If serving warm with ice cream, let them cool for about 5-10 minutes, and if serving cold allow them to cool completely.