Valentines ? Black Magic Brownie Love

 Simple delicious dark fudgie chocolate heaven.  They are a huge hit here and very rich, so you won’t be able to overindulge too much (or maybe you will)!  This is an adaptation of a recipe by one of my baking and dessert heroes David Lebovitz and may I say only an adaptation because I couldn’t remember which one of his many recipes I used, and substituted or adjusted ingredients to suit what I had in the pantry!  The result anyway is absolutely and only gorgeous, so if you want to impress, make these ahead and serve with ice-cream for that rose – mantic evening.

The chocolate I use is usually at least over 70% cacao content, as I prefer dark almost bitter flavour and I can control the sugar quantity.  I’m not a cacao expert, but stay away from those Scotch chocolate bars in the baking aisles, they’re low quality and once you start using the good stuff, you will really notice the difference in taste.  The good stuff can be priced competitively so have a look in the chocolate aisle next time you’re in the supermarket, you may be pleasantly surprised and it pays to shop around.  I also tried some of the obscure looking dark chocolate from Lidl and Aldi before and they are just as good in these brownies.

185g margarine 

285g dark chocolate (100g of 80% cacao or the darkest you can find)

85g plain flour (or ground hazelnuts/almonds for Gluten Free)

40g good cocoa powder

3 eggs

275g  castor sugar

Melt the chocolate and margarine togethor in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water until melted.

Preheat the oven to 180C

With an electric mixer beat the eggs and sugar together for five minutes until frothy and double in size.  This is important as it helps give a higher rise to the brownies.

Using a shallow 20cm square tin, cut out a square of non-stick baking parchment to line the base

Sieve the flour and cocoa in a separate bowl

When the chocolate and margarine mixture is melted take the bowl from the saucepan and let cool for a few minutes

Pour this mixture into the beaten eggs and sugar, mixing well again for a minute.

Fold in the sieved cocoa and flour (or ground hazelnuts or almonds if using) making sure it’s well mixed.

Bake on a middle shelf for 25 minutes.

When the buzzer goes, open the oven, pull the shelf out a bit and gently shake the tin. If the brownie wobbles in the middle, it’s not quite done, so slide it back in and bake for another 5 minutes until the top has a shiny, papery crust and the sides are just beginning to come away from the tin.

 Take out of the oven. Leave the whole thing in the tin until completely cold

These keep in an airtight container for two weeks and freeze well.  Although they don’t last two hours/days here!