Brownies

Welcome back to the world of baking-misadventures! This week, we're making brownies.




I like brownies. They're crispy on top and gooey in the middle and seem perfectly foolproof. Which is a good thing, because this is the first time I'm making them.

... Caution is something that happens to other people.



To make these delicious bits of chocolatey goodness, this is what you need:

125 grams of dark chocolate
175 grams of butter
5 dl sugar
3 eggs
3 1/2 dl flour
1 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
125 grams of pecans

Now, the basic Brownie Princicple is pretty simple - just chuck everything into a bowl and mix it, and then put it in the oven - but there are a few twists. First of all, you need to melt your chocolate and your butter together on low heat - otherwise, your brownies are going to turn into a chunky, uncookable mess. Stir as it's melting, or it runs the risk of burning - and I don't know about you, but burnt chocolate smells horrible to me.



After that, though, it's pretty much "chuck it into the bowl and mix". According to my recipe, you're supposed to mix it all in the pan you melted the chocolate in - to keep things warm, I guess - but I am silly and didn't use a large enough pan. Thankfully, transferring the whole mess to a plastic bowl didn't ruin anything.

But for the love of chocolate, don't lose track of how many deciliters of sugar you've put in (like I almost did), or the little demons of baking will merrily screw up the whole thing.



So yes. Count your deciliters of sugar, chop your pecans, don't forget the eggs. Now stir everything until your arm feels like it's going to fall off - remember, you want every piece of brownie to have pecans in it or someone's going to feel left out - and pour it in a tin lined with parchment paper. The original recipe suggests a buttered pan, but I laugh in the face of such inconveniences and resort to my trusty paper - that way, I've got a really nifty way of lifting it out of the pan once it's done baking.

Put it in the oven (at 175 C) for 20-25 minutes. It's done when it goes short of shiny on top - like so:



Take it out, let it cool on a rack before cutting it up, and then enjoy your very own slice of chocolatey, nutty goodness. They keep very well in tupperware and stay delicious for at least a couple of days after baking.