Pecan fudge brownies

These are the first brownies I have ever made. I can’t explain what’s taken me so long to get round to them...I guess there are just too many lovely cake recipes out there vying for attention!


Brownies are versatile cakes – ideal cold with a mug of tea (or coffee, if you must), and equally delicious warm, served with ice cream for dessert. It’s the combination of the rich chocolate flavour with the dense texture that make them so comforting.

These are exactly how I like my brownies – dark, squidgy and almost (not quite, but almost) too rich.


Ingredients:
140g unsalted butter
4 eggs, beaten
340g light brown muscovado sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
75g cocoa powder
140g plain flour
100g combination of walnut or pecan pieces, and milk or white chocolate chips (I used 40g chopped pecans and 60g milk choc chips)

How to make:

- Preheat the oven to 170°C/fan oven 150°C/325°F/Gas mark 3.
- Line a deep 20cm square tin with foil – this makes the brownies much easier to lift out of the tin when cooked.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over a gentle heat. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
- This recipe is best made with a wooden spoon as using a more powerful mixer can overmix the batter and lead to a tough texture.
- Beat the eggs and sugar together until they are well combined and there are no lumps.
- Stir in the cooled butter and the vanilla extract.
- Sift the cocoa and flour over the butter mix and gently stir until just combined.
- Gently stir in the nuts and chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the brownies comes out cleanly. Mine took exactly 40 minutes.
- Leave to cool, still in the tin, on a wire rack.
- When cool, lift out of the tin (use the foil to help you) and cut the brownies into 16 squares.
- Dust with icing sugar if desired, I didn’t bother.
- Bask in glory at the wonderful thing you have made.
- Eat.