Bake of the Week: KJ’s Brownies

HERE at Bake of the week, the one thing we always return to is brownies – we’re on a constant quest to find the ultimate recipe.

This one might just have ended our search. It’s from The Mountain Cafe Cookbook by Kirsten Gilmour.

She has a great tip for checking if they’re baked – if they’re firm and soft like boobs they’re ready, if they’re wobbly and soft like a belly, not ready!

You’ll need

340g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

250g butter

675g caster sugar

4 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

450g plain flour

Method

Preheat the oven to 170C/150C fan/gas mark 3/325F. Grease and line a 25x20cm brownie tin with greaseproof paper.

Put the chocolate and butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, large enough to take all the ingredients.

Place on a low heat until fully melted with no lumps, stirring as they melt.

Remove from the heat and leave to cool till you can hold your finger in the mix.

Add the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract and beat really well with a wooden spoon until smooth and shiny.

Sieve the flour and fold it in to get a very thick batter.

Scrape mixture into lined tin and smooth out with a spatula.

Bake for 25 minutes until the brownie is firm around the edges and still a little soft in the middle.

Leave to cool in the tin at room temperature before cutting – we leave ours overnight to make sure we get a nice, clean-cut slice.