Brownies are my ultimate sweet treat.
They are chocolatey, gooey whilst holding thier shape. I’ve been making them for about five years now, and they are the perfect treat for a birthday gift or dinner party.
The bake time is really important with brownies. Overcook them and they turn to dry biscuits, undercook them and they won’t hold thier shape.
If you have self control, they also freeze well. I’ll often freeze half the batch either for later or a specific occasion.
I’ve spent the last week baking, and am on my third tray of these, and I wanted to share my recipe;
Ingredients
185g unsalted butter
185g dark chocolate (broken into chunks)
250g golden caster sugar
3 large eggs
65g plain flour
60g cocoa powder
50g white chocolate (chopped small)
50g milk chocolate (chopped small)
50g Fudge (chopped small)
Preheat the oven to 160°c, and line your tin.
Before starting cooking weigh everything out, and read the recipe twice.
Start by melting the chocolate . I do this in a microwave in15-20 second intervals, but you could also use the Baine Marie method. Be careful the chocolate doesn’t burn, by stirring and checking. Once the chocolate has melted start incorporating the butter, add it gradually and keep stirring. Heat it gently with the same method as the chocolate if needs be. Once melted together leave to cool.
Next the most time consuming step, creaming the eggs and sugar. Use an electric mixer, on the highest setting for 7-10 minutes, or until the mixture has got fluffy and light.
Once the egg mixture is ready, fold in the cooled chocolate butter.
Next sift in the cocoa/flour, and fold until combined. Add in half the chopped chocolate and fudge.
Pour the batter into a tin, and add the final fudge and chocolate chunks. Prod them into the batter.
Put the brownie mix into the oven for 30-35 minutes. If you want to take the bake out earlier to tell if it’s done, give the bake a light shake bake and forth. There will be some movement but it should still hold together.
Once done, put in the side to cool in the tin. Its best to leave it 3+ hours (or overnight) as the brownie is very dense and takes a while to cool fully.
Peanut butter and Nutella; as 50 g of melted Peanut Butter to the butter/sugar mix. Substitute 50g of Nutella with dark chocolate to the chocolate butter. At the end, melt together another 50g of peanut butter and Nutella and mix this through the tip of the bake.
Caramel; add small measures of caramel evenly across the lined tin before adding the batter. Add the batter ontop of the caramel in the tin and ad 100g of melted caramel across the top of the bake.
Creme Egg; follow the recipe above and 15 minutes from the end of the bake remove the brownie batter from the oven and add mini creme eggs into the par cooked batter. Add to the oven for the last 15 minutes.
Emily 