BMF'S FOOD COLUMN

 by Chef BigMarianFan

Fudgy Brazil nut brownies

There is nothing better in life than chocolate. Mind you I am only 22 years old, so maybe there are better things in life than chocolate. I am yet to discover them. The fact that it is the only food to grace our lips that melts at exactly human body temperature, could explain its addictiveness.
So I woke up this morning /afternoon, looked out the window and surprise surprise, the sky was grey and it was raining. For those of you who don’t know me, I live in England and this kind of weather is standard. So I hopped into my car dressed in only my pijamas and drove to Waitrose to pick up some unsalted butter and some dark, bitter chocolate. (The rest of the ingredients, I had at home).
Now the recipe I am about to give you is a recipe I have used religiously for years and it never lets me down. I have tweaked a few things according to my taste and by all means, you can do the same. The great thing about brownies is you can serve them warmed up as a dessert with some vanilla marscapone or ice-cream OR you can have them as a snack with a nice cup of tea.

Ingredients

375 g soft unsalted butter
375 g dark chocolate (66% cocoa solids or above)
6 large eggs (free range obviously! An unhappy chicken= an unhappy egg= horrible brownies)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
500 g caster sugar
225 g
plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
300 g chopped brazil nuts

Firstly, line a baking tin (33 x 23 x 5 1/2cm) with non-stick parchment or foil and butter the sides of the tin well.
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bain marie or heavy based saucepan until they form a glossy brown liquid. Please refrain from eating the mixture, I know it is tempting but you can lick the saucepan clean later.

Leave this mixture to cool slightly while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. (If you put the eggs and sugar in to the chocolate when it is too hot, you will end up with chocolate scrambled eggs.)

Beat the eggs and caster sugar together for a couple of minutes with a whisk (if you are feeling energetic) or an electric mixer (if you already have muscles like Pepa's and don’t need to tone them any more). This basically adds a bit of air in to the mixture resulting in a lighter tasting brownie.

Once the chocolate mixture has cooled slightly, add it to sugary egg mixture, followed by the flour, salt, vanilla extract and the chopped nuts. Stir this mixture together until the flour has been incorporated and pour in to the baking tin. Pop it in the oven for 25 mins and hey presto!

The top should look well crusted and cracked but the centre should be slightly wobbly, giving it a fudgey texture. I took the liberty of photographing the only brownie I had left over because someone (little brother), ate them all !!

Tips/suggestions:
If you don’t like nuts or are allergic, replace them with white, milk or dark chocolate chunks.

This recipe makes A LOT of brownies so if you are catering for a smaller crowd or just yourself (no shame in that!) then halve the quantities and bake for 18 minutes instead.

Swap the Brazil nuts for pecan nuts, walnuts, hazlenuts, almonds…I could go on but I think you get the picture!

DO NOT EAT ALL THE BROWNIES IN ONE GO! (Remember how poor Marianno felt when he ate all those doughnuts!)