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[Image]I have never been that fussed with brownies, having rarely eaten one that I didn’t find either too soft and gooey or too cake like, even when I baked them myself. I knew they were adored by many people but I never fully understood the attraction… that was until I baked these brownies. After biting into one of these soft, moist, sticky, sweet, chocolately squares I was in heaven, not to mention amazed. So this is what a good brownie is supposed to taste like! I can’t believe what I’ve been missing! They were not oozing undercooked batter or tasting like fluffy sponge, instead, they were slightly dense with a sticky moist crumb that disintegrated and coated your entire mouth as you ate them.

These brownies were this weeks offering to works Monday Munchers. What, you may wonder, made me decide to bake brownies when I[Image] have never been that impressed with them? Well, I had originally planned to bake cookies this week but then I remembered that we had a new colleague joining our small NPD team at work and I wasn’t sure what they would like. As I was browsing my bookshelf, Leith’s Baking Bible caught my eye I decided to select a recipe from there. I came across a whole section dedicated to brownies and decided these would be perfect as not only do most people love brownies but they are also full of chocolate, something which never fails to please. I added in white chocolate chunks to make them even more chocolately and because I think it makes them look pretty. They were a huge success at work and people were fighting over the last piece. I must confess that three pieces didn’t make it into work, but in my defense they were the corner pieces.

So now thanks to Prue Leith, I am a brownie convert. Want to cheer someone up? Give someone a present? Need to ask someone for forgiveness and want to sweeten the deal? Then these brownies are the answer. I urge you, drop what you are doing and go and bake some.

Ultimate Brownies
Recipe adapted from Leith’s Baking Bible.
[Image]Ingredients
140g butter
200g dark chocolate – around 55-60%
180g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 large eggs
85g plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder
80 white chocolate

Method
Preheat the oven to 175C. Grease and line the base and sides of a deep 8inch/20cm square tin and set to one side.
Break the dark chocolate into pieces and place into a large bowl along with the butter. Melt gently over a pan of simmering water until smooth. (The water should not touch the base of the bowl)
Remove the bowl from the heat and stir in the vanilla and the sugar. The mixture will be slightly grainy at this stage.
Beat the eggs in one at a time until thick and glossy.
Sift over the flour and baking powder and beat until no flour streaks remain.
Chop the white chocolate into small chunks and fold in the brownie batter.
Pour the batter into the tin and bake in the oven for 30 – 35 minutes until slightly risen and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with crumbs, rather than wet batter, sticking to it.
Allow to cool almost completely in the tin. The brownie will loose its puffed up look and become level.
Remove from the tin and cut into 12 squares.
Store in an airtight container lined with greaseproof for up to three days.