This is my recipe for a brownie, chocolatey, gooey, not too sweet. I made it one day when friends were visiting between the very short time of ending a bushwalk and them getting back on the road with what was going to be an empty stomach.  I have read a number of good posts about brownies, wondering when I would finally find a recipe I would really like. This blogger went on a mission of recipe testing, others (there is a good post I read a couple times, just can’t find it now) discuss the different versions: with cocoa (which I must say I have not yet tried) vs with chocolate, more cake-like, more fudge-like. As for me I tend to like a brownie with some texture and a melting centre.
The brownie must be not too sweet, this is important as many brownies recipes have enormous amounts of sugar. Note that it is not sugar free either. One of the keys of a good brownie is using brown sugar. It holds moisture better than white sugar due to the molasses. Another important ingredient is the chocolate you use. I like using 70% dark cooking chocolate. For some of you, it may be a bit strong, you can then use a bittersweet chocolate or 60% dark chocolate of good quality. If you are going to use milk chocolate for the choc chip in this recipe, decrease the white sugar by 40 g. Now if you want a brownie for the children, try this brownie recipe with dulce de leche (i.e. caramel sweet concentrated milk) , my children love it!
My gooey brownie recipe
My gooey brownie is not hard to prepare, the secret is more in the cooking. To have a crust and gooey centre you must not cook it long but high enough that the outer parts are baked. I opt for a hot oven. Some may opt for placing the uncooked brownie in the fridge, then baking it. It is probably more controlled way to get there, however it requires more time.
For the nuts, it is completely up to you if you want to use some and which you want to use: plain or toasted hazelnuts partly cut, walnuts, almond, sliced almond, pecan, brazil, sunflower seeds, …the choices are multiple. I tend to use what I feel like and also always what I have handy.
Ingredients:
- 20 x 20 cm brownie tin (or slightly less but not larger)
- 200 g of 70% chocolate (see note above on choice of chocolate)
- 150 g of butter (I used salted butter, if not using salted butter, add a good pinch of salt)
- 100 g of brown sugar
- 50 g of white sugar
- 3 eggs
- 150 g of flour
- 150 g of a mix of nuts
- 100 g of chocolate chips or chunks of chocolate (optional)
Note: I tried with and without raising powder, there is no difference here, so I opt now for none.
Method:
- Preheat the oven on 210°C. Line your brownie tin with baking paper. If the one you have is longer than 20 cm, fold upwards the baking paper at 20 cm length and make a rough wall support with the extra length of paper.
- Melt the butter and chocolate together.
- Mix in the sugars
- Then add the eggs one at the time.
- Add all at once the flour, nuts and chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.
Tip: ensure the dough is cold enough for the chocolate chip, else they will just melt. -  Now the baking: cook for 15 minutes no more. Sometimes, 15 minutes may be too much, depending on your oven. The cooking time is somewhere between 11 and 15 minutes. As soon as the brownie starts showing little cracks on the top, you know it is time to remove it from the oven and cool it down. What happens if you go too far is that the oils in the chocolate and the butter split from the rest and appear on top and the chocolate tends to burn. The brownie will be dry.
It is best to wait for the brownie to cool down, not that this is what we necessarily will do!
