Everyone has their own favourite style of brownie. Fudgy brownies are ours the only drawback being you have to have some patience waiting for them to cool before you gobble them up! However if you can wait until the brownies have set, they are deliciously chocolatey, chewy treats. If you can't wait until they have cooled, they are fantastic (if a little messy) served hot over vanilla ice-cream, the gooey hot chocolate melting the ice-cream and the walnuts providing a yummy crunch, too good to not try!
Walnuts are fantastically healthy they contain both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids which are great for kid's brain power and concentration, among other things. Dark chocolate is the best form of chocolate with all sorts of health benefits including improving your mood. So while brownies these are quite high in sugars and calories they are a good snack if you can resist eating the whole pan in one sitting!
Ingredients
- 8oz of unsalted butter (about 2 sticks)
- 8oz of bitter-sweet dark chocolate chips
- 1 cup of white sugar
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 ½ tsp of vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups of walnuts roughly chopped
Method
- pre-heat the oven to 350oF (180oC)
- grease and flour a 9 by 9 inch square brownie pan
- melt the butter over a double boiler, sprinkle in your chocolate chips and leave over a low heat without stirring until you can see the chocolate chips are shiny and melted (about 4-5 minutes)
- take the top pan of the double boiler off the heat and whisk the chocolate and butter until they are smooth and well combined. Set aside to cool a little.
- in a large mixing bowl beat your sugar and eggs together until light and fluffy. I use and electric beater.
- add the vanilla extract and beat again
- beat in the chocolate mixture which will have cooled a little but will be still slightly runny
- fold in the sifted flour in two batches mix lightly until the mix is an even colourings
- stir in 1 cup of the nuts
- pour the mix evenly into the prepared brownie pan and sprinkle the remaining nuts on top
- bake for 30-35 minutes
- the brownies are done when the top is cracked slightly, you can use a stick to test the done-ness, but remember, they are fudgy, so the stick won't come out clean if put in the middle of the pan
- cool the brownies on a wire rack and for the best effect transfer to the fridge before cutting
Tips
- if you don't have a double boiler, use any heat proof bowl that sits on top of a cooking pot, you want to make sure the bowl doesn't touch the water
- you can use a microwave for melting the butter and chocolate but make sure it is on a low heat. I only recommend doing this if you are very used to your microwave and have melted chocolate in it before as it is very easy to over cook it and have your chocolate go grainy
- if your children are quite young you can do the chocolate and butter before involving your kids this means the chocolate will be cooler before using it and there will be no risk of burning
- if your kids are not old enough to use and electric mixer beat it with a wooden spoon. We take it in turns with me doing the bulk of the actual beating.
