Wednesday 19 March 2014

Perfect Chocolate Brownies



Hello Everyone!! How’s your week going? Mine’s going pretty well, get things done and planning for the weeks ahead, with Easter, Mothers Day and my mum’s Birthday coming up it going to take some serious organisation to get everything sorted. I feel particularly motivated at the moment and I think it may have something to do with Spring being just around the corner.

Last weekend was the first time this year I have been able to relax, with helping Patch move house various trips to the country and to Brighton – see here - and sorting out my own life it was a welcome change to plan to relax and enjoy the sunshine. You’ve got to make the most of it as we all know that it won’t stick around very long.

Anyway, on Saturday morning I decided that an indulgent its-ok-because-I-deserve-it weekend was nothing without an equally indulgent treat to go with it. I got out my recipe book and finally decided on these chocolate brownies. Now I know that the title claims ‘Perfect Chocolate Brownies’ but don’t be put off, I don’t blame you for being hesitant -a brief scroll through Pinterest and you will find hundreds of recipes claiming to be ‘Perfect’ or ‘The best’ but believe me these really are.

I can say this with 100% certainty due to the fact that no matter how many tweaks and changes that I try to make, I always prefer the original. I am not ashamed to say that this is not my recipe, all glory should be directed towards Hummingbird Bakery for these beauties.

The perfect mixture of a chewy, slightly crisp crust that cracks slightly when bitten into and a dense, gooey, fudgy chocolate centre that is the epitome of any brownie. Best served with ice cream (I chose raspberry sorbet as that what I had, but a high quality vanilla would go great here as well) and slightly warm from the oven.

What you’ll need:

  • 200g dark chocolate
  • 175g unsalted butter
  • 325g caster sugar
  • 130g plain flour
  • 3 eggs
  • Icing sugar or ice cream to serve


What to do:

Preheat your oven to 170 celcius (325F)

Weigh out your chocolate and butter and melt them together over a saucepan of water. A gentle simmer is enough here as you don’t want to burn the chocolate, just melt it.


Give it a quick stir and your butter and chocolate should turn beautifully glossy and smooth like this:



Mmmm just look at that chocolate, silky and enchanting...

Once you’ve torn yourself away from scooping up the melted chocolate and letting it drizzle off the spoon in a come-hither fashion, you’re going to need to add the rest of the ingredients.


Add your sugar, 3 eggs and the flour into your chocolatey goodness. The end batter is quite thick so it is best to incorporate the ingredients into small stages – I stirred in the sugar, then the eggs and then the flour in three separate stages in order to ensure it was mixed well and there were no pockets of flour lurking within.



Spoon into a buttered baking tray (mine was 33 x 23 x 5cm) and let it bake in the oven for 30-35mins. You want to bring it out when the bottom third of a toothpick comes out clean, mine took 30mins. This will ensure that your brownies are beautifully gooey when cooled. Once you take it out of the oven, let the brownies rest in the baking tray for 5-10minutes and they should release easily.


Cut into thick slabs and serve to hungry friends. Believe me the smell of freshly cooked brownies brings them from far and wide.



This recipe made 8 very large brownies, which I later then cut into 4 to make cute little bitesize pieces for a BBQ we had that afternoon.They went down a treat!

xx


P.S. I’d love to see if any of you try these
– post your pictures on twitter and don’t
forget to tag @bakeitblonde so that I can see!

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