A while back I bought a copy of Mary Berry’s 100 Sweet Treats and Puds
Mary Berry is a UK baking icon and co-hosts the original Great British Bake Off. I hope she’s not offended by me saying she’s a very grandmotherly type. Both my grandmas were pretty good cooks and I certainly didn’t go short of sweet and savoury treats. But if you didn’t have a grandma who baked then one episode of Bake Off and you’d probably be interested in adopting Mary Berry.
I spent quite a bit of time reading through the book deciding what to cook first. A reasonably impromptu Father’s Day lunch saw me volunteer desserts and, realising I was short of time, I decided on the brownies because they looked really easy.
It turned out that time was even more of the essence than I’d realised because, on the morning of lunch, with brownies yet to make and the other dessert to assemble, one of our neighbours popped his head over the fence and the already tight schedule was thrown out of whack!
These brownies taste great with a deep chocolate flavour, are slightly squishy and fudgy and are really easy. If you’re not confident melting chocolate, you want a store cupboard alternative or you want a quick recipe (you still need 40 minutes baking time though!) then this is the recipe for you.
A couple of notes: don’t be freaked out by what feel like unconventional quantities of ingredients. Hold your nerve! Mary Berry’s original recipe uses 375g caster sugar but I had only 300g left and topped up with dark brown sugar. This is always a result in brownies and adds extra richness.
Ingredients
- 275g unsalted butter (slightly softened if you working by hand or using a stand mixer)
- 300g caster sugar
- 75g dark brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 75g cocoa powder
- 100g self raising flour
- 100g dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160°C fan and line a roasting tin (30cm x 23 cm) with baking paper.
- Combine the butter and sugars then add the eggs. Mix in the cocoa powder and self raising flour and finish by stirring in the chocolate chips.
- The mixture will be very thick. Spoon it into the baking dish, smooth it out and bake for 40-45 minutes. The cake should be set and a skewer should come out clean but you also don't want to over bake because otherwise the brownies won't be squidgy.
- Leave to cool in the tin (if appropriately squidgy it will collapse a little) before cutting into 24 squares and serving.
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