I am passionate brownies as thry are not hard to make but delicious. A brownie is not a square piece of chocolate cake. Nor is it a piece of fudge. And it is definitely NOT biscuits crushed up and mixed into a chocolate base. No! Stop calling all of those things brownies. A brownie is a fudgy, squidgy, divinely decadent piece of chocolate heaven. Ok, rant over. Now I can get to telling you why these brownies are the only brownies you ever need to make. (Bold claim, I know.)
A few years ago, C and I ran a market stall at a popular food market here in Pretoria and our best seller was without-a-doubt our brownies. Every Saturday we would pile them high and within a few hours they would be gone. An American couple bought 6-8 every week, without fail, and the wife once told me she would be serving them to a few diplomats visiting their home that evening. I was a little nervous because she had told them all about these brownies. I knew they were good but I really don’t like people hyping my stuff up too much because disappointment, and all. She came back the following Saturday with one of the diplomats who wanted to meet the person who baked the brownies. He told me that in his 40-something years of life, he had made it his mission to find incredible brownies and mine were by far the best he had ever tasted. He went into every detail of the brownie and explained why he loved it so much. And I’m sorry, I know I’m tooting my own horn here but when people say stuff like that, my day is completely made. Because whether you’re cooking for yourself, or your family or for your job, you always want to feel like you’ve done well and that the people you are cooking for actually love your food. Now, we don’t do the market anymore and in fact, I haven’t made brownies since (something about making 10 trays of brownies a week for months puts you off a little), but this week the kids begged me to make a batch and I fell back in love. They are everything I remembered them to be and I can say without-a-doubt, they are the scrummiest brownies I have ever tasted. Deep, dark and dangerously delicious and just the thing for you to bake this weekend.
- 250g salted butter
- 350g granulated sugar
- 100g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4 large eggs
- 125g flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 50g desiccated coconut
- 100g walnuts, chopped
- 50g dark chocolate chips
- melted milk chocolate
- melted white chocolate
- Pre-heat the oven to 180°c and line a 30cm x 20cm baking dish with parchment paper.
- In a pot, melt the butter, sugar and cocoa together over medium heat. Allow to melt, while stirring for approximately 5 minutes.
- Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Stir in the flour, baking powder and coconut, mixing well.
- Stir in the walnuts and dark chocolate chips then transfer the batter to the prepared dish.
- Place in the oven and allow to bake for 25-30 minutes or until the edges are set and the center is still squidgy and a little soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool then drizzle over the melted chocolate.
- Slice and serve.
