Brownies Honour

As a recent discussion with a friend revealled, this is certainly not the season for calorie counting. With that in mind now is the time to make (and devour) these fudgey chocolate brownies, for a seasonal twist this batch is chocolate orange flavoured


Shopping List:

200g Dark Chocolate. Go for something with a slightly lower cocoa content than the super posh stuff otherwise the brownies can get a bit overpowering.
200g Dark Muscovado sugar.
175g butter plus some to grease the tin
3 eggs
140g plain flour
1 tsp good vanilla extract
1 orange - of you want to make these chocolate orange flavoured but they are just as good without.
1 tsp vinegar

Make it happen:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and grease a tin, I used a 23cm rectangle one but a smaller one would make fatter brownies.

Melt together the chocolate sugar and butter in a pan gently over a low heat. Stirring occasionally be careful to not let it overheat or burn. Once melted remove from the heat and allow to cool. A good 10mins should be enough, once it's suitably cool separate the eggs and beat the yolks. Add the egg yolks, flour and vanilla essence into the chocolate mixture. At this stage if you are making Chocolate orange flavoured brownies, add 1/2 the zest of 1 unwaxed orange.



In a separate bowl run a small amount of vinegar around the inside with kitchen roll then rinse and dry thoroughly. This is to ensure it's completely clean and grease free for the next stage then whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.



In a separate mixing bowl (at this stage I'd like to apologise to the dishwasher free reader) scoop roughly 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mix and beat quickly. This should loosen up the mix a bit. Next add the remaining egg whites and stir in using a metal spoon with a cutting and folding technique. Do this gently until just combined the mix will be mottled with the egg whites.



Pour into the greased tin and place in the middle of the oven. Bake for around 25mins or until just firm to the touch. Allow the brownies to cool in the tin. At this stage the brownies can be frozen for up to 1 month, I'm sure this is a good idea but I've never allowed baked goods to get that far before.



For the topping I gently melted white chocolate over a pan of water and then drizzled over the top in a zig zag movement and allowed to set in the fridge before cutting the brownies into squares. A cream cheese topping or plain icing sugar and cocoa powder sifted over the top would also work well.