Sweet Sunday

I feel like I've been on the move all day. Too tired to babble on, but I will say that I've hit on a recipe that fulfills my expectations of a satisfying brownie.

Thin, dark and chewy in the middle (even gooey, when straight out of the oven) and with an ever-so-thin crust of chocolatey sugar on top, that cracks in a very pleasing way when you cut them into squares, and again when you take your first bite.

Lately all kinds of exciting things have been happening in the brownie world - ingredients as diverse as beetroot and prunes insinuating their way in; blondies stealing the limelight and whatnot. Maybe now that I've found a formula I'm happy with I can start experimenting myself. In the meantime, these are the basics:

Perfect Brownies
Makes one tray about 20 x 30cm

110g butter
100g 70% dark chocolate
200g granulated sugar
2 eggs
30g cocoa powder
60g superfine (type '00') flour
1g baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt the butter in a pan over a low heat, and melt the chocolate separately in a bain-marie. Whisk the melted butter into the chocolate.

Beat the eggs and add to the butter/chocolate mixture gradually, whisking all the time.

Whisk in cocoa, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla.

Pour into a rectangular baking tin abou 20 x 30cm, pre-lined with baking parchment.
(Note: best to use one that's relatively high-sided, so there's less danger of the rising mixture spilling over the top)

Bake for 20 minutes at 180° in the centre of the oven. Allow to cool a little before cutting into squares.

Hard to improve on such a good thing, but good vanilla or praline ice-cream would be a nice addition ;)