Decadent brownies

If you watched the Great British Bake Off on Tuesday you would have seen the bakers whip up some delicious dessert. My favourites were the petit fours that made up the Showstopper challenge but nothing says dessert to me like a decadent chocolate brownies, generously studded with milk and white chocolate chunks, served warm with a big dollop of vanilla ice-cream.
Making brownies hasn't always come easy to me. My first attempt was during a school cooking lesson where I added a tablespoon of baking powder instead of a teaspoon and then they exploded all over the inside of the oven. The next attempts created brownies that weren't rich and gooey, were too cake like in texture and, on one peculiar occasion, came out of the tin a reddy, brown colour.
This recipe has taken some perfecting but now it never fails to make the most gorgeous, squidgy brownies. I even took a box with me when I moved into uni halls and they really helped to break the ice.

You will need

• 200g dark chocolate
• 180g unsalted butter or Stork
• 85g plain flour
• 50g cocoa powder
• 3 eggs
• 275g caster sugar
• 100g each of white chocolate and milk chocolate 

Try to get the best quality dark chocolate and cocoa powder you can afford as these give the brownie it's rich, deep chocolate flavour. If your budget is tight you can skimp a little on the milk and white chocolate and they are just extra bits. You can remove them completely if you prefer or replace them with the same amount of chopped nut - walnuts would work well

The next steps

1. Put the cubed butter and broken up dark chocolate into a bowl over a saucepan on boiled water and make sure the bowl isn't touching the water. Leave the pan on a low setting (mark 2 for electric hobs) and leave the chocolate and butter to melt together. The trick is do it over a gentle heat so the chocolate doesn't split. Stir occasionally.
2. While the chocolate is melting I like to prepare the other ingredients, so measure out your flour and cocoa powder and seive them into a small bowl. Chop up the milk and white chocolate into bitesize chunks, taking care not to let the knife slip on the chocolate.
3. When the dark chocolate and butter have melted together to form a glossy dark brown liquid, take off the heat and leave to cool.
4. Crack 3 large eggs into a bowl, add the sugar and whisk on the highest setting until it is thick, creamy and doubled in volume.
5. When the dark chocolate mixture is cool, pour into the sugar and egg mixture and gently combine together. Then sift in the flour and cocoa and combine until you have a thick, unctuous batter. Sprinkle in the chocolate chunks and swiftly combine.
6. Pour into a greased and lined tin and spread into an even layer. Bake in the middle shelf of the oven for anywhere between 25-35 minutes. It varies from oven to oven and from batter to batter. You want a brownie that is just set and starting to come away from the edge of the tin.

Enjoy warm with double cream or ice cream of cold with a cuppa. Anyway you like.

Beth xx