Perfectly Fudgy Chocolate Brownies Recipe

I don't know if you know this about me but I am an awful, awful chef! I cannot cook, I'm terrible with gauging timings, I can't eat much so I can't taste the food to see if it needs seasoning, and I don't have the patience required if I'm quite honest. My favourite (and most embarrassing) story about me trying to cook, involves me phoning Damian-while he was away in Newcastle- to ask how to turn our oven on! We'd lived in the flat for two months at this point *insert shameful dog eyes here*!

Photo by Calum Lewis @ Unsplash

However, all of these issues seem to disappear when it comes to baking. I LOVE to bake, I love it when there is flour all over my worktops, and when I'm covered in batter from one thing or another and don't get me started on my favourite past time of licking the beaters!

This year my baking game has stepped up a notch because Damian finally caved and bought me my much lusted after KitchenAid 😍-since then it's been a veritable carousel of baked goods flying out of our new kitchen and into the eagerly awaiting mouths of D and my work colleagues.

Amongst all the cupcakes, and lemon tarts (recipe to follow in a different post) I have been working on perfecting my brownies-brownies are one of those things that seem relatively easy, but can go very wrong very quickly, so I've "struggled" through countless batches until I found one I was perfectly happy with and here it is!!

Perfect Fudgy Brownies A La AJ:

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter

100g caster sugar

100g muscovado sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

5 tbsp cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

60g plain (all-purpose) flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 180℃

Line a 20cm tin with baking paper

Melt the butter in a large saucepan

Once melted pour into a large heatproof mixing bowl and add the sugars, eggs, and vanilla essence

Mix on low power for 6 minutes (if mixing by hand try not to mix too fast as you don't want to knock the air bubbles out of the mixture. 

Once the wet ingredients are fully blended together add in the sifted dry ingredients a third at a time

start mixing slowly and build up the speed once all the dry ingredients are added.

Mix until fully blended and you have a shiny mixture with a fudge-like consistency. 

Spoon mixture into the pre-lined tin and make sure it is spread into the corners.

Bake for 25 to 30 mins.

Remember these are fudgy brownies so don't be worried if you get some transfer on your knife or skewer. You can tell they are ready if the top is shiny and lightly crackled, and the insides feel soft but firm (haha you'll know what I mean when you do it)

Once cooked remove from tin and allow to cool fully on a wire rack. 

Optional:

Add chocolate chips, walnuts, mini marshmallows, etc to the mixture when you are almost finished mixing for a little extra bite.

Dust finished brownies with a light dusting of icing sugar for a sweet topping. 

Serve: 

On their own or with ice cream.