Chocolate brownies

It’s a great recipe, but the real trick is to make sure you don’t overcook them - otherwise they will go hard all the way through. As all ovens are different, you’ll need to keep your eye on them - and remember that chocolate always firms up at room temperature, so if you take them out of the oven when they’re a little bit gooey, they’ll be perfect.

Makes 8 - 10

Ingredients
250g - unsalted butter
200g - best-quality dark chocolate (70 per cent cocoa solids), broken up
80g - cocoa powder, sifted
65g - plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
350g - caster sugar
4 large - eggs
100ml – double cream
150g - dried cherries/raisins
150g - chopping nuts (walnuts or pecans)
100g - chunk chocolate

Preheat your oven to 180ºC / 350ºF / gas 4. Line a 30cm / 12 inch rectangular baking tin with greaseproof paper.

In a large bowl over some simmering water, melt the butter and the chocolate and mix until smooth.

Add the cherries, chunk chocolate and nuts, if you’re using them, and stir together.

In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and sugar, then add this to the chocolate, cherry and nut mixture. Stir together well. Beat the eggs and mix until you have a silky consistency lastly add the cream.

Pour your brownie mix into the baking tray, and place in the oven for around 25 minutes.

You don’t want to overcook them so, unlike cakes; you don’t want a skewer to come out all clean. The brownies should be slightly springy on the outside but still gooey in the middle. Allow to cool in the tray, then carefully transfer to a large chopping board and cut into chunky squares.