Ooey Gooey Fudgey Brownies

Oh lord. It has been waaaaaay too long since my last post. Maybe, probably over a year actually.

But I have come back with a foolproof, downright perfect recipe which everyone should try out at least once in their lifetime. And to be honest, it's one of those staples which you'll need at sometime or another and boy, will every chocolate lover appreciate it when you make these.

So the way I develop recipes is by researching (a whole damn load of researching to be honest), before pulling together elements, and measurements and methods to come up with my own recipe. Yes okay fine, I don't develop recipes very often but when I do - and I am in no way shape or form beating my own drum here - I make sure they are worth posting. So basically I haven't developed anything worthy of posting in the past year.

LOL. JK.

This brownie recipe is pretty simple, and comes together relatively quickly. However you do need a bain-marie (a heatproof bowl on a pan of boiling water).

Lets get to it.

FYI. To ensure baking perfection, I always recommend measuring exactly.

The Recipe

150g DARK chocolate (at least 75% cocoa)

35g milk chocolate (about 35% cocoa)

185g unsalted butter

265g caster sugar

3 eggs

85g plain flour

40g cocoa powder

Toppings of choice

I used 100g toasted whole hazelnuts

- your preferred choice of nuts; walnuts and hazelnuts are perfect for brownies but almonds and peanuts would also work well

- milk chocolate and white chocolate chunks would contrast nicely too

- raspberries would add a superb zing to these brownies!

The Instructions

1. Prep the bain-marie at medium heat.

2. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celcius. Line and grease an oven proof dish or baking tray. I like greasing the bottom of the dish as well as the baking paper to make extraction of the goods easier.

3. Melt the butter and both chocolates in the bain-marie, together.

4. Whisk the sugar and the eggs until light and fluffy.

5. Wait for the chocolate and butter mix to cool slightly before pouring into the eggs and sugar. This is to make sure the eggs dont scramble from the heat of the choc/butter mix.

6. Sift in the cocoa powder and flour and fold through.

7. Add toppings of choice; reserve some to top the batter

8. Pour batter into tin and spread evenly.

9. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the outside is cracked.

10. Cool and then slide out of tin and cut into pieces.

11. Serve with vanilla ice cream and fresh raspberries. Yum.

These keep really well for a couple of days as they still remain fudgey and don't dry out when stored in an airtight container... If you can manage not to eat them for that long!

M x