PRETTIEST CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

[SunKat]

These chocolate brownies are somewhat more on the fudgy side of the brownie scale. Once cut, their edges go slightly crispy outside & have a chewy centre with the hidden contrasting crunch of chocolate chips throughout. These are the perfect kind of texture that I associate with a brownie, the sort that I remember from my childhood. Cut into neat, bite-sized squares & where less than two is never eaten. These are really simple to make & do disappear quite quickly, a real crowd pleaser so gift wisely or maybe make two batches! Even in world where there’s always something new to try or capture our tastebuds, a world of cronuts & deconstructed desserts, I think our love for the humble chocolate brownie will never fade, or at least it shouldn’t (then we know we’ve got issues).

CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
(makes 16)

Ingredients:

• 250g granulated sugar
• 70g butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 80ml rapeseed oil
• 75g cocoa powder
• 65g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 130g chocolate chips

Optional decoration:

• Handful of edible flowers (I use a mix of pansies, nasturtiums, calendula & rose petals)

Method:

• Grease & line an 8″x 8″ square cake tin with baking parchment
• In a saucepan, gently melt the butter & mix in the sugar (it will look lumpy but don’t worry)
• Remove the pan from the heat & mix in in the eggs, oil & vanilla
• Sift over the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate, cornflour
• Use a spatula to fold through the dry ingredient before adding in the chocolate chips & mixing through
• Pour the mixture into the cake tin
• Bake the brownies at 170C for 25-30 minutes until set & a skewer inserted into the centre of the brownies still comes out with a few crumbs
• Leave the chocolate brownies to cool completely in their tin before slicing into squares

If decorating with edible flowers:

• Begin by pressing the flowers, lay them flat between two pieces of baking parchment & then simply weigh down with something heavy for a few hours (a baking tray with some heavy cook books on top works well)
• Once the brownies have cooled, place them in the fridge for a couple of hours, after which time their top should’ve gotten nice & sticky as the sugar reacts with the moisture in there
• Alternatively, you can cheat if in a hurry & mix up a quick sugar syrup to act as a sort of glue for the flowers (mix 30g sugar with 30g water, stir to dissolve the sugar before bringing to a quick boil for 3 minutes & leaving to cool)
• Carefully peel the pressed flowers from the parchment & press them onto the chocolate brownies slab before chilling for another hour & slicing for nice clean edges

 

https://www.themarmaladeteapot.com/2021/07/13/chocolate-brownies/