Chocolate brownies
When it is cold outside, there is nothing better than a chocolate brownie that is gorgeously chewy.
Ingredients
I have found that the ideal combination for a brownie is chocolate AND cocoa powder. I also use strong white (bread) flour because this swap helps give the brownie a gorgeous chewy texture. I make mine with pecans to cut through the sweetness but if you don’t want to use nuts please see my notes for alternatives.
100g salted butter
80g soft light brown sugar
130g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
1 tablespoon Lyle’s golden syrup
150g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
110g strong white flour
2 tablespoons Cadbury’s bournville cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
50g pecan nuts chopped
Method
1. Line a 20cm shallow, square baking tin with parchment paper.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius ( gas mark 4 ).
3. Melt the butter, brown sugar, dark chocolate and golden syrup in a bowl. Microwave on a medium heat (800w) at intervals of 1 minute until the mixture is smooth and well blended. Stir at each interval.
4. Allow to cool.
5. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, vanilla extract and caster sugar in a separate bowl until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
6. Pour in the cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until it is well combined.
7. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and fold into the mixture with a metal spoon or spatula.
8. Add the chopped pecan nuts and fold until they are well dispersed.( see notes for options when not including pecan nuts)
9. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes. Once cooked the top will be crisp and the edges of the brownie will be set while the centre still has a slight wobble.
10. Leave the brownie to cool completely in the tin before cutting into squares.
Notes
Pecan nuts do add something to these brownies however for those who can’t or don’t eat nuts, you can swap them for 50g of good quality dark chocolate chopped into chunks. (Milk chocolate is an alternative but does make the brownie very sweet and dark chocolate is my preference.) You can also swap the nuts for 50g of Oreo cookies, broken into pieces.
You can melt the butter and chocolate etc over a double boiler if you don’t want to use the microwave method.