Chocolate brownie recipes date back centuries; however, many historical brownies are far from the ones we know and love today. Some were basically a standard chocolate cake cut into squares, some more like square biscuits. The first printed recipe named a “brownie” appeared in the 1890s and was actually a recipe for molasses candy. Now brownies can be found in nearly any café or restaurant. Gooey, delicious and rich, these little squares are perfect for nearly any occasion and will, quite literally, get you brownie points with your friends. This version contains a salted caramel sauce to balance out the sweetness and provide something extra!
Top tip: Make sure you whip the eggs and sugar together until they are the consistency of a milkshake. This adds air to the batter, making the brownies a little lighter. This is better than adding baking powder which would prevent the gooey, fudgy end result we want.
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 35 mins
Makes: 12 slices
Ingredients
190g butter
190g dark chocolate
90g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
3 eggs
270g golden caster sugar
100ml of my homemade salted caramel sauce
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line a baking tin (medium size).
- In a heatproof bowl, combine 150g of the chocolate and all the butter; either melt in the microwave or over a bain-marie.
- Meanwhile, add the eggs and sugar to a separate bowl and, using an electric or a manual whisk (although this will take some determination), whip the mixture until around the consistency of a thick milkshake and very pale yellow in colour.
- Gently fold the chocolate and butter into the egg mixture. I recommend doing this as slowly as you can, to avoid knocking all the air out.
- Sift in the cocoa powder and flour and fold in very gently.
- Roughly chop the rest of the chocolate and add this, then transfer to the preprepared tin.
- Take a teaspoon and dot the caramel sauce evenly over the top of the brownies. Taking a cocktail stick, swirl gently until there is an elegant pattern. Over mixing will reduce the effect.
- Place in the oven for 35 minutes or until firm. A cocktail stick should come out slightly sticky with a few crumbs, but not wet. Leave to cool.
#Accessibility (image description: the shot is taken from over head and the brownies fill the screen, as if freshly sliced there are nine brownies pushed closely together, the brownies have a slightly cracked and textured top giving them a rustic appearance, they are dark rich brown in colour and have light salted caramel swirled into the batter glistening and reflecting the light slightly.)