Brownie Recipe

I cannot tell you how good the kitchen smells right now. Ahhh... cake.

I try not to bake too much nowadays since I'm trying to eat well, but brownies are my forte, even if I do say so myself. And I get requests from time to time to make them. So I thought I'd share the recipe.

I've been doing it like this for years, and they've always been delicious.

Ingredients:

220g plain flour
220g dark chocolate (prefereably around 70%)
220g butter
225g caster sugar
225g icing sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp baking powder

You can add in extra things like chocolate chips or nuts if you like, but I prefer them plain.

1) In a saucepan, put the chocolate and butter on a medium heat and make sure both melt together until they become a smooth mixture.

2) In a bowl, sieve your flour, icing sugar, caster sugar and baking powder. You don't have to sieve, but it obviously helps to keep the brownies lump-less.

3) Add the eggs.

4) If you have an electric whisk; great. If not, then you're in for a slightly sore arm. Mix the dry ingredients and eggs together, and then pour in the melted chocolate/butter, mixing everything until it's an even consistency. If you want, then this is the part to add in the extra ingredients you want, though maybe mix them in by hand.

I got to use my own new whisk for this. Yay!

The mixture should look like this, or as close as you can get to it.

5) In a baking tray, either line it with baking paper, or do what I do, which is throw in a knob of butter and wait for it to melt, then spreading it all along the inside of the tray.

6) Cook it! I know I should have temperatures and times for this part, but as it so happens we have an aga here in the kitchen, which is always hot. Basically, just use some common sense - turn up the temperature of your oven to a usual cake-baking heat, then just keep checking to make sure it doesn't burn. Stick a fork or something in the middle when you think it's done - if it comes out clean, then it's ready. If not, put it back in for another few minutes.

Then ta da!

They're so beautiful. And if you like to eat them hot, have them with ice-cream and hot chocolate sauce. It's like the dessert-version of a hot man covered in kittens. 

I mean, it's pretty damn good.

Here's a tip though: If you can, wait until they've completely cooled down. The flavours are much stronger.
Enjoy!