Those brownies I talked about

When I was a kid growing up in New Hampshire, our barbeques, beach trips, and lazy days at the lake were always accompanied by big tupperware containers of homemade brownies. The go-to recipe then was the One-Bowl Brownie recipe on the back of the box of Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate. And while those brownies were and still are undeniably delicious, I think I've found an even better recipe! It comes from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook - a fantastic book based on the recipes used in the eponymous London-based bakery. While Hummingbird is most famous for its cupcakes, I've mostly gravitated to the other sweet treats featured in the book, including an amazingly rich chocolate cheesecake, gorgeous white chocolate and pecan nut cookies, and the incomparable 'traditional brownies'. Given my history with easy-peasy brownie recipes though, I've adapted this recipe a bit, getting rid of the double boiler called for to melt the chocolate and thus making my own version of One-Bowl Brownies. Enjoy!!


The Best Brownies Ever
Adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
200 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
175 g butter
325 g caster sugar
130 g plain flour
3 eggs
100-200 g add-ins (chocolate chips, chopped nuts, etc.)


Line a 33 x 23 x 5 cm baking tray with greaseproof paper. (The best way to do this is to cut a sheet of paper slightly larger all around than your tray. Then snip the overhang at each corner diagonally from the very tip of the paper to the very corner of the pan. This allows you to make a neat folded corner when you place your paper in the pan.) Preheat the oven to 170°C. 

Place the chocolate and butter in a large microwave-safe bowl and pop in the microwave on medium heat for 45 seconds. Stir and return to the microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir and return again for a further 30 seconds to a minute. (Play it by ear here a bit; the key is not to burn the chocolate, so heat cautiously.)


When the chocolate and butter are melted, add the sugar and flour separately, stirring well between additions. Add the eggs, stirring well. Finally, add in any of the additions you'd like. Chocolate chips are particularly nice, but so are chopped walnuts and/or white chocolate chunks (I added the latter to the batch pictured here).

Spoon into the prepared baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. Be careful not to overcook - the brownies are done when they're flaky on the top but still mainly soft elsewhere. Cool completely before turning out on a cutting board and cutting into squares. Makes about 24. (These are super rich, so small squares are actually better than large ones!)