It’s getting colder by the day and there are two things that I need to make me happy: big warm jumpers and lots of chocolate.
So seeing as I have the two above essentials and I’m not entirely miserably pregnant (yet) I decided to share my easiest and most favourite baking recipe. Which, let me add, I did not want to share. Like, ever! Why? Because it’s so good, the absolute ultimate …and it’s all about chocolate! And I wanted to keep it all to myself!
But I obviously changed my mind somewhere along the road and decided I was being silly and far too selfish keeping this recipe from you guys. So here it is: the ultimate life-changing brownie recipe – those who have tried them, know this is no exaggeration.
You’ll need:
- 225 gr unsalted butter, diced
- 100 gr dark chocolate, broken up -use the best you can afford, trust me!
- 200 gr caster sugar
- 4 large free-range eggs, at room temperature
- Half a teaspoon vanilla extract
- 50 gr plain flour
- 50 gr cocoa powder, again use the best you can afford.
And here’s what you need to do:
Heat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F and prepare a 20.5 cm square tin, greased with butter. I don’t bother with parchment paper. If you grease it enough they won’t stick to the pan.
Put the butter and chocolate into a small, heavy-based pan. Set over the lowest possible heat and let it melt gently, stirring frequently until smooth. Don’t let it boil or get too hot. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to one side to cool down.
Put the sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract into a mixing bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients. Mix thoroughly with a wire whisk.
Whisk in the melted chocolate. Whisk, whisk, whisk!
Sift the flour, cocoa powder into the bowl and mix thoroughly. Your mixture should be shiny velvety and creamy.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and spread it evenly. You shouldn’t require a spoon or spatula to do this. Just move your tin pan around.
TIP: Bang the tin on a work surface to expel any air bubbles. A few bangs should do the job.
Bake in the heated oven for 20 minutes. Check with a skewer inserted into the centre. You want moist crumbs. It is absolutely vital that you don’t overcook it. And this is usually where most people go wrong when baking brownies. Take the mixture out on time because it will continue cooking long after. It will also puff in the oven but sink on cooling so don’t worry.
And there you have the perfect brownies. I like to cut them up into little squares and I absolutely love the corner pieces.
If you’re a chocaholic like me then you must check out this post on the secret ingredient to the perfect cup of hot chocolate.
