These are delicious but have nothing to do with allotment produce!! From plot holder Wendy Hearn; we enjoyed them at 2011 open day. “The secret to make them really yummy is to use high quality cocoa powder – eg Green and Blacks, definitely add the – again high quality – dark chocolate and some walnuts too.”
Makes 16
Ingredients
170g butter
200g caster sugar
100g light muscovado sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g cocoa powder
50g self-raising flour
1/4 tsp salt
100g dark chocolate, chopped (optional)
Method
- Heat the oven to 170c. Grease and line a 22cm square tin, or proportions thereabouts.
- Melt the butter over a medium heat until it browns lightly and smells nutty. Set aside to cool while you beat together the sugars and eggs until thick and glossy. You’ll need a food mixer or electric hand mixer for this – it takes a long time, so don’t give up until the mixture is discernibly thickened. You should reach the figure of 8 stage (when you can draw a figure of 8 with a ribbon of batter before it disappears).
- Beat the vanilla extract and browned butter into the egg/sugar mixture. Stir together the cocoa, flour and salt and gently fold in. Fold in the chocolate chunks, if using, and scrape the brownie into the tin. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the mixture is no longer wobbly but still moist in the middle.
Originally from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s ‘Brownie Pointers’, The Guardian Weekend, 4 June 2011