METHOD
Soft Oozing Triple Chocolate Brownies
Philip Lowery, founder of the Real Food Festival
“There are lots of arguments about brownies, particularly around what should be the proper consistency and whether in fact the brownie is a cake or not. My view is clear from the title of this recipe – a firm outer coating hiding a soft oozing centre is an absolute prerequisite for a good chocolate brownie and this recipe works for me every time. I’ve experimented with the sugar content and have reduced it down to the point where it seems to make no difference to the taste, so you still get a beautifully sweet brownie with a lot less sugar than you might expect. Don’t be fooled however, this is not a low-calorie treat!"
Ingredients
Makes 12
275g/10oz plain chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, the best quality you can find
100g/3½oz milk chocolate
275g/10oz unsalted butter, cut into cubes
175g/6oz/2/3 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
4 large organic eggs
100g/3½oz white chocolate
2 tsp vanilla extract
250g/9oz/1 cup caster sugar
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/Gas 3. Lightly grease some greaseproof paper with butter and use it to line a baking tin
measuring about 30cm/12in x 20cm/8in. It helps the paper sit in the tin better if you make a diagonal cut into the paper at each corner.
2 Break the plain and milk chocolate into chunks. In a heatproof glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the plain chocolate with the milk chocolate and butter.
3 Meanwhile sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Whisk the eggs in a glass jug. Chop up the white chocolate into small chunks.
4 When the chocolate and butter have melted, stir in the eggs, vanilla extract and sugar. Add to the bowl of flour and baking powder and fold into the mixture. Drop in the white chocolate chunks and mix them in, then scrape the mixture into your baking tin. Smooth the surface, and bake in the warm oven for 20–30 minutes, depending upon how soft and gooey you prefer your brownies to be.
5 The surface of the brownies should be crisp and the inside soft, so check before taking them out of the oven. Once out, leave to cool in the baking tin – the mixture will continue cooking for a while, so don’t leave it in the oven until the inside is too dry as it will turn into a chocolate cake!
6 Once cooled, turn out and cut into squares. For a real indulgence these brownies are gorgeous with a dollop of clotted cream.