My Little Pleasures Part 1: Chocolate

Baking has always been a comfort food for me, as I am sure it has been to many of you. My mother was the consummate baker, filling my childhood memories with pies, cakes, brownies, scones and muffins. Unfortunately, the skill doesn't seem to have been passed to her son but there are a few recipes I have perfected to ensure a regular dose of sugar and of course because I live far away from my parents: to cure a little home sickness.

These brownies are foolproof and can be adjusted to fit your pantry: leave out the nuts, use the nuts, add candied fruit, melt some white chocolate and drizzle over the top, add cherry pie filling, ice them, or just have them plain right out of the oven with a little ice cream.


Chocolate Nut Brownies

375g dark chocolate, broken up into chunks
250g butter
½ cup flour
½ tsp salt
1 tbs  Baking powder
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup nuts, chopped

*I would tell you to use the best chocolate and local nuts, free range eggs and real vanilla pod, scrapped of its insides but when it comes to chocolate fix like this…..just use whatever you have. With the exception of the chocolate and nuts everything should be in your cupboard. When picking up chocolate, go for baker’s chocolate or perhaps chocolate nibs.

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Melt the chocolate and butter, either using a double boiler or if you are really impatient, the dreaded microwave (always remove the chocolate and butter from the heat before fully melted and stir until the hot chocolate melts everything, this way the chocolate won’t burn!)
• In a large bowl, mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder
• In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla, then slowly add the choco-butter to incorporate it all
• Finally add the dry ingredients to the wet and toss in any extras, like nuts!
• Oil and flour the bottom of a baking pan (A good 8x12 will work, I used two rounds because I didn’t want to wash a baking dish, yes it was that type of day)
• Pour in your brownie and bake for about 35 minutes or until cooked and clean knives are pulled out of the centre!