Brownies

I made brownies for pud after the gorgeous roast pork we had on Tuesday, in my opinion brownies are best eaten hot and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream - yummy!

The recipe I use is adapted from a Jamie Oliver one and although the ratio of flour/sugar looks completely weird they do taste great and are probably best saved for a treat.

• 250g unsalted butter
• 200g dark Fairtrade chocolate (70% cocoa solids), broken up
• 80g cocoa powder, sifted
• 65g plain flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 360g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
You could also add chopped nuts, chunks of chocolate or chopped glace cherries

Preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Line a 25cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.

In a bowl or jug add the butter and chocolate, either melt them over a bowl of boiling water or do as I do and that's pop them in the microwave and blast for 10 seconds, take out and stir and then repeat until completely melted. Add the cherries and nuts, if you’re using them, and stir together.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar, then add this to the chocolate, cherry and nut mixture. Stir together well. Beat the eggs and mix in until you have a silky consistency.

Pour your brownie mix into the baking tray, and place in the oven for around 25 minutes. You don’t want to overcook them so, unlike cakes, you don’t want a skewer to come out all clean. The brownies should be slightly springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle. Allow to cool in the tray, then carefully transfer to a large chopping board and cut into chunky squares.

I've found that they solidify more once they are out of the oven so bear that in mind when checking if they are ready.