Yummy Chocolate Brownies

Hi, this recipe is off one of my good friends blog and for privacy reasons I won't be putting a link as their blog is private anyway. The brownies were so delicious and fudgy but not too cakey. It was amazing. My sister loves brownies and she even gave them a fabulous report of flavour, which is you have read some of my other blogs, you will know is quite hard to get as she can be very picky about certain foods. Luckily, these were perfect. They keep well in the fridge but I am sure a cake tin in the cupboard would be fine too and I would recommend eating them within the week, if they last that long! Enjoy!!!

Dietary Info:

-Contains Dairy

{Feel free to use a dairy-free butter or margarine and a dairy-free chocolate bar}

-Contains Gluten 

{Switch up the flour to suit your needs if necessary}

-No Nuts 

{Mine had some in the chocolate but obviously if you had an allergy, you wouldn't use that type of chocolate}

-Suitable for Vegetarians

-Unsuitable for Vegans 

{To make this Vegan check out my dairy ideas and for the eggs , I've heard you can make a Vegan one with chia seeds and water. Quantities: 1tbsp seeds to 4tbsp water per egg}

Ingredients:

-225g (8oz) good-quality semi-sweet chocolate 

{Semi-sweet means dark chocolate where no-more than 50% of the mass is sugar. I used a mix of leftover Easter egg. But to me more specific, the outer shell of the Tesco Pearl Egg and some Hazelnut Praline Ladybirds as well just to get the right quantities. So, really whatever chocolate you have in would work just be careful with things like Maltesers and mars bars that aren't just firm chocolate}

-12tbsp melted butter or margarine {This is more than you would expect. Also, I forgot to weigh amounts, sorry.}

-250g (1+1/4 cups) sugar {I used golden caster sugar.}

-2 eggs

-2tsp vanilla extract {We had run out of this, so I did 1tsp of almond extract and 1tsp maple syrup.}

-95g (3/4cup) all-purpose flour {In England, this is plain flour.}

-30g (1/4cup) cocoa powder {This ran out on me so I had to go half and half with hot chocolate powder, roughly 15g of each.}

-1tsp salt {I used table salt}

Method:

1: Preheat the oven to 180℃/160℃ fan/350℉/ gas 4. Line a 20cm (8inch) square baking dish with parchment paper. {Make sure to go slightly up the sides if you want it to be easier to remove later. Mine stuck to the sides a bit as I only did the base and so I had to go around the edge with a knife to get it off}
2: Chop the chocolate into chunks. Melt half of it in the microwave in 20-second intervals, saving the other half for later. {I did this over a pan of hot water with a bowl on top}
3: In a large bowl, mix the butter and sugar with an electric hand mixer, then beat in the eggs and vanilla for 1-2mins, until the mixture becomes fluffy and light in colour. {I didn't use an electric hand mixer but if you have one, go ahead. Mine didn't go too much lighter but I reckon even a small change is good}
4: Whisk in the melted chocolate, make sure it's not too hot, or else the eggs will cook, then, sift in the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Fold to incorporate the dry ingredients, being careful not to over-mix as this will cause the brownies to be more cake-like in texture.

5: Fold in the chocolate chunks, then transfer the batter to the prepared baking dish.

6: Bake for 20-25mins, depending on how fudgy you like you're brownies, then cool completely. {I have a fan oven and mine were in for around 25-35mins}
7: Slice into 9 servings and enjoy with a nice, cold glass of milk. {Or use them for a sweet scotch egg, obviously!}