Where do I start with these. These are my favourite thing to bake. If you ask anyone I know what their favourite thing that I bake, they’ll say these. And I agree. Again, I might be bias – but they’re bloody good brownies. And there’s a story behind them.
As a child, I loved baking – I used to bake butterfly cakes and chocolate fork biscuits from my Mum’s Mary Berry cookbook. Absolute classics. And then I got my first ‘Children’s Cookbook’ and I’m pretty sure, I only ever used it for one recipe – brownies.
It got to the point where I didn’t need the recipe and I didn’t need the scales – I could just chuck everything in and they’d turn out rich, gooey, fudgy delights.
Paul Hollywood used to live in the village where I grew up & the village church were hosting a fundraiser for a new roof – he got stuck in and helped raise some money; giving a talk about his career and the secrets of GBBO (v.interesting!) and holding a bake off in the village hall with the one and only, Mary Berry. Obviously I had to enter.
I grew up in a small village – everyone knew everyone, but nothing really ever happened. Having Paul Hollywood as a resident, was as exciting as it got. So our expectations of the bake off were low – maybe a handful of people would enter? But then they announced the prize was a Kitchen Aid. Then it stepped up a notch. My sister became my competition with her famous carrot cake (a recipe for another day) and I got going with my brownies.
It turned out being a lot more popular than we’d expected – and my little cake tin of brownies looked very out of place next to a table full of beautifully decorated tiered cakes – someone had recreated Will & Kate’s wedding cake with a picture of them drawn on the top tier….. I was way out of my league..
They’d only been able to get a 1st & 2nd place prize donated so there was no 3rd place – but I was awarded a signed certificate from Mary Berry & Paul Hollywood to say that if there had of been a 3rd place, my brownies would have had it! When 1st place went to Will & Kate’s wedding cake….I’ll take that.
I want it framed and given centre stage in our kitchen, but Mike’s not so sure….
I guess I should stop rambling and give you all the recipe, right? There’s been a few changes over the years and I’m pretty sure I’d get at least 2nd place now… Enjoy!
Ingredients:
200g Dark Choc (Ideally above 70% cocoa)
150g unsalted butter
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk
300g light brown sugar (If you have – a mix of dark & light works a dream!)
100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp of cocoa powder
Pinch salt
100g white chocolate / nuts / whatever your preference!
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 170C and line a square tin
- Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bowl and leave to cool slightly
- In a separate bowl whisk the eggs together and add the sugar & vanilla extract – whisk for a couple of minutes until fluffy and lighter in colour
- Then, fold in the chocolate mix and gently fold until well combined.
- Next, sift in the dry ingredients and add the chocolate chunks (adding the chocolate with the dry ingredients prevents them from sinking to the bottom) and fold until all the flour is incorporated
- Pour into the tin and pop in the oven for 22minutes
- When the time is up – they should still wobble in the middle, so don’t be afraid to take them out. Trust me! You don’t want to overcook them
- Now for the patience – I know, it’s hard when it comes to brownies. Leave them in the tin until they’re completely cool and then pop them in the fridge overnight – DO NOT TAKE THEM OUT THE TIN. This is the secret to the fudgy middle without them loosing their shape.
- The following day – remove from tin & slice into squares!
ps. No normal person can wait until the next day for their brownies – I’m guilty of taking a spoonful of the gooey mix straight from the oven and having it with ice cream and then if I still can’t wait I’ll pop them in the freezer!
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