After a recent 'pistacio-nut chocolate brownie' disaster, i have been slightly wary of making brownies, but these have restored my faith. Absolutely so simple to make, they taste delicious, are airy and light, and SO beautifully moist.
I adapted this from a recipe on www.smittenkitchen.com, for cocoa brownies (i.e. they are made with cocoa powder and not cooking chocolate).
You may think that it is skimping on quality to use cocoa, but really they are delicious, and if you have good quality cocoa, they are probably far better quality than when you use those horrible composite chocolate bits or bars anyway.
And when it comes down to it, I almost always have a supply of cocoa powder but rarely can be bothered to buy cooking chocolate.
So, here it goes:
125g butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder (use more, up to 3/4 cup if you want it richer)
1 1/4 cup brown sugar (any sugar is fine, i just love using brown as it's so caramelly)
1/4 cup port
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup self-raising flour
2 eggs
1/3 cup macadamias or pecans (or a mix of both, as i did)
Melt butter, cocoa and sugar in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Stir until melted; add port and vanilla essence. Heat until hot (when you dip your finger in). Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Mix in flour, then combine eggs quickly. Add nuts and mix vigorously.
Pour mix into a shallow baking pan. Cook in a 160'c oven for about 20-25 minutes.
Cool in fridge or freezer before slicing!
They turn out so irresistible you have to be careful not to eat them all in one go.
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Most delicious!!! what will I do when you are in the States and I have to resume responsibility for the cooking again?!
ReplyDeleteMy first comment! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteAhh well... I can't say! Maybe I will have to freeze items for you to thaw out weekly :)