Here's how I made my brownies. If you ask me they couldn't have turned out better!
1. Collect your ingredients together so they are to hand. You will need:
185g unsalted butter (I used Stork both times I cooked the brownies and that's perfectly fine and honestly easier to work with).
185g dark chocolate (85% or 90% is the best to use. Don't need to look for a 'name' you can use supermarkets own brand and it's just as good).
275g golden caster sugar
85g plain flour
3 large eggs
40g cocoa powder
milk and white chocolate (or anything else you want to throw in your brownies e.g. m&m's).
2. Cut your 185g dark chocolate into small pieces and then put them into a medium glass bowl. Then get your 185g unsalted butter and cut into cubes and then transfer into the glass bowl with the chocolate. Place the glass bowl over a saucepan which you will need to fill with some boiling water (a small amount so it isn't touching the bottom of the glass bowl). Leave on a low heat and stir occasionally until the butter and chocolate have melted completely. Once they have melted remove from the heat and leave on the side to cool.
3. Whilst waiting for the chocolate mixture to cool turn your oven on. I am using a fan oven so I set mine to 180C. Next step is to get 85g plain flour and 40g cocoa powder and pour them into a sieve to get rid of any lumps. You can leave this in a bowl as you'll need it later on.
4. You'll need a large mixing bowl and a whisk as well as 275g golden caster sugar and 3 large eggs. The recipe I was working from suggested using an electric mixer which you can do if you want to, however doing this manually works just as fine it just takes a little longer (as well as having an achy arm)! You'll need to keep whisking until the mixture becomes pale and thick (like a milkshake). A way to test if the mixture is ready is if you trail the mixture over the top and if the trail stays on the top for 1 or 2 seconds then it's ready. Don't over work the mixture as you'll let the air out. Trust your instincts. Below are my pictures of my mixture. The final picture is how pale mine was when I had finished whisking.
5. Next you'll need to add the cooled chocolate mixture you melted earlier and pour it into the egg and sugar mixture. I find this next step is better to use a spatula as you'll be folding. The last thing you want to do is to undo what you did in step 4! After this mixture turns dark brown in colour you need to get the flour and cocoa powder mixture and pour/sift that into the mixture and again fold in. To start with it will look really powdery but keep folding the mixture and eventually it will start to become thick and gooey (mmm perfect).
6. Next is the fun bit. You grab everything you want to put in your brownies! First time I made these I used M&M's, milk chocolate and white chocolate. Second time I just used milk and white chocolate as I didn't have any M&M's left. The M&M's work brilliantly and would recommend you experiment with these. I've seen people using creme eggs in them as well by placing the mixture in the tin and then putting half creme eggs on top (google for pictures). So chuck all the chocolate in to the mixture and fold it in so they are spread throughout the mix evenly.
7. Grab your square tin (recommend 20cm but in all honesty if you find a good tin that would work then use that just make sure the brownie is going to be thick enough) and cut some greaseproof paper so it lines the tin. You then pour your mixture into the tin spreading it evenly. When its all tipped in use the spatula to even the top so it is smooth.
9. What I like to do is remove the brownie from the tin whilst it is slightly warm and place it on a chopping board. I then cut into 16 squares and serve warm (as said at the beginning of the blog) with cream or ice cream. However, you can serve whichever way you want!
If you tried this recipe please let me know and send me pictures of any creations you made yourself and I might feature them in future blog posts. But also email me any recipes you may have because I'd love to try some!
Happy Baking!
Megan
