Brownies are one of those things equally liked by people of all ages. I often make brownies and cut them up in small pieces to serve as petit fours at the end of a meal when I do private dining. They are delicious, decadent and go a long way! These are two of my favourite ones.
Chocolate brownies
Ingredients (This size makes 12 brownies 5 x 10cm)
- 225g butter, unsalted
- 300g caster sugar
- 200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
- 5 medium free-range eggs
- 100g plain flour
- 50g cocoa powder
- 75g shelled pistachios
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- a pinch of salt
Method
Heat the oven to 170C/150C Fan.
Line a 20x30cm/8x12in baking tin with baking paper.
Take a tbsp of flour and dust the pistachios with it.
Gently melt the butter and the sugar together in a large pan. Once melted, take off the heat and add the chocolate. Stir until melted. Beat in the eggs, then stir in the flour, cocoa, vanilla extract, a pinch of salt and the pistachios.
Pour the brownie batter into the prepared tin and bake for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin. Cut the brownies into 5cm squares when only just warm, or completely cool.
You can dust the brownies with more cocoa powder or top them with a chocolate ganache for a more decadent dessert.
For a simple chocolate ganache warm up 100ml of double cream with a tbsp honey. Add 100g dark chocolate, chopped in small pieces and stir well for the chocolate to melt. Pour over the brownie. Leave to cool before cutting.
For the white chocolate, lemon and rose ganache topping
- 100g double cream
- 50g caster sugar
- 125g white chocolate
- 1 tbsp rose water
- 1tsp lemon zest
- Pink food colour
- 2 rose loukoumi (Turkish delight) finely chopped or dried rose buds, optional
Place the cream and sugar in a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 1 minute, remove from the heat and set aside for 2 minutes to rest. Add the rose water and leave for a few minutes to infuse.
Add the chocolate to a large, heat-proof bowl and pour the cream over it. Whisk the mixture until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is silky-smooth and glossy. Add some food pink colour to achieve the desired shade and fresh rose petals, dried rose buds, or loukoumi if you are using