Recipe - Chocolate Brownies

I’m very lucky in that both of my sisters – Adele and Claire – are excellent cooks. They both happen to be feeders too so I usually come away from their houses completely stuffed and unable to eat anything for about a week. So after all the nutritious and healthy recipes we have enjoyed from our very own Kerry I’ve decided that we all deserve a little indulgence. Hence I have cajoled my talented sisters in to contributing. We have Adele’s pear crumble to look forward to in a future edition of the newsletter, but we start with Claire’s delicious chocolate brownies. Just ask Lynda how tasty they are! So…..enjoy!

Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients: (12-16 brownies)
135g plain chocolate
225g unsalted butter + extra for greasing
190g plain flour
20g cocoa powder
¾ tsp baking powder
450g soft light brown sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
100g chopped pecan nuts (optional)

Method:
1 – Preheat the oven to 180ᵒC (350ᵒF/Gas 4). Grease and line the base of a 20cm x 15cm (8"x 6") baking tin with non-stick baking parchment.
2- Break the chocolate in to a bowl and add the butter. Melt the butter and chocolate over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally.
3 – Remove the bowl from the heat and allow the chocolate to cool slightly. Sieve the flower, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in to a separate bowl.
4 – In a third bowl, beat the eggs and then add the sugar and vanilla extract. Stir the ingredients together until they are just combined.
5 – Fold the melted chocolate into the beaten egg mixture. Then fold in the flour mixture (and nuts if using). There should be no visible flour.
6 – Spoon the mixture into the tin, smooth the top with a palette knife, and bake for 25 minutes. Allow to cool in the tin before cutting into squares.

Serve and enjoy! We know that Lynda likes them warmed in the microwave and covered with double cream. Typical Lynda!