The Best Brownies Ever

The best brownies ever

I don't have a sweet tooth. I have a loathing for milk and white chocolate and I don't eat Tim Tams, Nutella or chocolate cake. But god, do I love brownies. Especially the fudge-y, dark, dense ones. Not cake-y, but chewy and moist. I've tried so, so many recipes – creaming the butter and sugar or melting the butter and chocolate, using cocoa powder or using dark cooking chocolate, three eggs, two eggs or two and eggs and a yolk, more flour or less flour, butter or shortening, caster sugar or raw sugar or brown sugar, baking longer at a lower temperature or shorter at a higher temperature,  et cetera. But these are the absolute best if you like your brownies how I do, and here's what I've discovered I like:

• Muscovado or brown sugar – the darker the colour, the more pronounced the molasses flavour.
• Dark cooking chocolate – some recipes use cocoa powder and extra sugar instead, but I've found that semisweet chocolate makes the brownies chewier and creamier. I use 60% cocoa.
• Melting the butter with the chocolate – creaming the butter and sugar aerates the mixture and gives the brownies more rise, making them more cake-like. Melting the butter and chocolate together makes the brownies denser and fudge-y.
• Not many eggs – too many makes the brownies drier and tougher.
• Unsalted, real butter. Sorry vegan friends!
• No baking powder, milk or syrup. No need, I promise.

Ingredients
Yield: 12 brownies

• 125g unsalted butter
• 200g dark chocolate
• 180g light Muscovado or regular brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 85g plain flour
• 1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
• 75g walnuts, lightly toasted, chopped (optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C and line the base of an 18cm square pan, don't grease the edges because this will fry the brownies on the sides.
2. Place the butter (chopped, for faster melting) and chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. I don't like microwaving because it can burn the chocolate.
3. When butter and chocolate have melted, remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. 
4. Beat the sugar, vanilla and a pinch of salt into the mixture. 
5. Beat the eggs and then add to the mixture, mixing well. 
6. Add the flour, beating until smooth. Fold in the walnuts. You can toast walnuts by placing them on a plate in single layer, and microwaving for two minutes in one minute bursts. Remove as much skin as you can after chopping because it leaves a bitter taste.
7. Pour mixture into pan, smoothing the top. 
8. Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a moist crumbs attached - if it comes out clean, you've overdone it. They will continue to cook after you remove them from the oven so undercooked ones are always better than overcooked dry brownies.
9. Allow to cool, before cutting into squares (I was a little impatient, hence the messy edges)
10. Stuff your face. Or serve with ice-cream (the real stuff though, low-fat ice-cream is bollocks).

The best brownies no more