Ingredients:
- 700g Valrhona 70% cocoa content chocolate.
- 170g butter (slightly salted) plus a little for greasing tin
- 150g granulated sugar
- 4 free range eggs
- 1 x teaspoon of real vanilla
- 1 x pinch of salt
- 50g plain white flour
- 1 x level teaspoon baking powder
Yield: 20 pieces
(70% cocoa content chocolate can be replaced by 66% or 64%, but no less – this would make the brownies a little lighter.)
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C / gas mark 5.
Butter at 12” x 9” baking tray (a roasting tin is fine.) Use pure butter, as this will give a lovely finish to the brownie.
Weigh out 500g chocolate & finely chop the chocolate.
Melt the remaining 200g of chocolate with the butter, stirring constantly to get a smooth emulsion (85C Do not get water in the chocolate.)
Mix in all the other ingredients.
Tip in the molten butter and chocolate and mix for another minute.
Bake in the tray for 20 minutes. Check if it is cooking evenly on its edges. If not just spin it around and leave for another 5 minutes. The edges must be firm whilst the middle should be soft (i.e. with a thin skin.) This level of cooking will result in a soft, sticky brownie, which will be fudgey when cold. If you prefer a firmer brownie, cook for about another 5 minutes.
