Double-chocolate brownies

While CURA were at Bisley for the Imperial Meeting this year, I made the team some of these brownies. They were very much enjoyed by all!

This recipe is designed to make quite firm brownies that travel easily (e.g. on the back of my bike). If you like your brownies nice and squidgy, put less flour in (175 g instead of 225 g).

• 275 g plain chocolate (50% cocoa solids)
• 220 g unsalted butter
• 85 g walnut pieces
• 170 g milk chocolate (cut into chunks)
• 225 g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 325 g caster sugar

Pre-heat oven to 170°C (155°C if you've got a fan oven). Line a 30x20x3.5 cm cake tin with lightly buttered greaseproof paper. I find that it makes the brownie easier to extract from the tin if you butter the base of the tin as well.

Melt the plain chocolate and butter in a large (preferably metal) mixing bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar, followed by the eggs and vanilla essence.

Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture, and fold in. Fold in the nuts and chocolate chunks.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin, place in the oven and cook for 20-25 mins. The corners will cook fastest; do not allow them to burn! When cooked, a skewer inserted into the centre of the brownie should come out mostly clean, but it's no big deal if you get a squidgy middle.

Allow to cool in the tin. When cool, remove the brownie from the tin and cut into squares (you should be able to get 24 good-sized pieces from this recipe).

Update: Avoid oil-based chocolate and/or HFCS-based chocolate for this recipe. It won't work.