A proper Chocolate Brownie should have a fudgy texture rather than the solid cakey brownies you tend to find in the supermarket and high street coffee shops. They also tend to improve with time so if you can resist the cake tin for a day or two, all the better. As these browies are fudgy it is very important that they be allowed to set in the tin before you turn them out otherwise you will end up with liquid brownie all over your work surfaces, something Simon discovered the hard way when he made brownies for his catering exam!

Link to measurement conversion chart

Ingredients

• 250g Plain chocolate, min 70% cocoa solids, broken into pieces
• 250g butter
• 350g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 150g plain flour
• Optional 150g your favourite nuts chopped roughly, Pecan or Hazel nuts work very well

You will also need

• 1 deep brownie tin or baking tray - size approx. 23 x 23 cm, lined with baking parchment
• a heat prrof bowl
• a mixing bowl
• a hand or electirc whisk

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 180c
2. Melt the chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of water, or in a microwavable bowl and microwave – take care not to overheat if doing in the microwave.
3. Add the butter to the chocolate and stir until melted
4. In a separate bowl whisk the eggs and sugar together until frothy then stir in the cooling chocolate.
5. Fold in the flour
6. Pour into a lined baking tray and bake for 40 – 45 mins
7. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin
8. Cut up into even squares
9. Eat and enjoy!

Serving suggestions and variations

• Add dried fruit, approx. 150g, instead of nuts
• For a more cakey finish use self raising flour instead of plain flour
• If you don’t have chocolate with 70% cocoa solids other plain chocolate will do and give a slightly less rich brownie
• A cooked brownie will start to melt in the middle if warmed in the microwave for 20 seconds, nice served with Ice cream or you can break your warm brownie into chunks and make it into an ice cream sundae with chocolate sauce drizzled over
• If you want to go really OTT on chocolate pour melted chocolate, mixed with either with a little butter or cream, over the top of your brownies before you remove them from the pan
• Warmed brownies served with icecream are just something else!
• Will successfully volume up to a 6 egg mix, use a lined roasting tin instead of a brownie pan.
• Be creative in how you present your brownies, try adding a topping. I spotted these beauties at the Malvern Spring Show in 2016, supplied by The Chock Shop.

Acknowledgements

This recipe was passed on to me by my colleague Alex, who makes these all the time for her children. They keep about 12 chickens and consequently get an amazing quantity of eggs to use up. Well done Alex and thanks for the taste testing boys.

If you have enjoyed this recipe and have some photo's to share we would love to hear from you, or you can post photo's on our Facebook page.

You might also like to try one of the following from our collection;

• Not just for breakfast, I was reminded recently of eggs for supper when I saw boiled eggs and soldiers on our local pub's childrens menu!
• Fancy having a go at something a little more adventurous, well try our carrot and almond chutney, can be made any time of year so don't wait till Autumn.
• For a simple and tasty salad accompaniment why not try onion and tomato salad, yummy.

Happy eating!