Double chocolate brownies

brownie-cu

I’m amazed we’ve not done any brownie entries before. I’ve probably made them during the Cake-off era, but never got any good photos. Not that this is a “good” photo… I’m going for the extreme close-up blurred abstract aesthetic okay?

Brownies are one of my all-time favourite treats. When I was a kid I used to make them from the recipe on the packaging for the Sainsbury’s brand chopped mixed nuts, circa mid-1980s. That recipe’s probably long gone (will have to check my mum’s recipe file). There are dozens of wonderful brownie recipes, and lots of variations you can do with nuts, types of chocolate etc, but currently I’m using one my friend Sara in New Zealand – another chocolate fiend – introduced me to. It’s called Double Chocolate Brownies and it’s from The Cook’s Companion by “Cook, restaurateur, food writer and champion of the quality & diversity of Australian food” (according to her site) Stephanie Alexander.

It’s called double chocolate because many recipes use only cocoa but this uses cocoa and chocolate. Brownies have to be ultra chocolatey so that makes sense. Sometimes I bung in extra choc, white choc, Brazil nuts, pecans or whatever. I used some cheapo milk choc here, but they’re much better with quality dark choc – as are most chocolate recipes. Main thing to remember about cooking brownies, in my humble opinion, is not to overcook them – you don’t want a skewer to come out clean like with a sponge cake, you want them moist and squidgy.

Yum. Served warm with a blob of vanilla ice cream double yum.

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Published:
16.03.09 / 1pm
Category:
Daniel's Cakes