Donna Hay’s Standby Brownies

This recipe is from the Australian Chef Donna Hay’s Fast Fresh and Simple, which airs here in India on TLC Network. I came across this recipe a few days back. These brownies are unlike other brownies recipe which have got oodles of chocolate mush inside, but they are still good to go when you don’t have chocolate at home, yet they are so fudgy and moist.

I made them first time for my colleagues at work and trust me they were a real hit. This time again, it was on request of some friends with whom I share my office cab. The results were as satisfying as they were the very first time.

They are so simple and foolproof that I could not resist having them shoot for a write-up here.  This time I thought of adding some fun element to them….top them up with chocolate glaze and pipe some melted white chocolate over it. They looked so glamorous. Additionally you may add walnuts too if you like some nutyness in your brownies.  Of course you may skip this if you don’t want to.

Ingredients

150 gm butter

3 eggs

275 gm superfine sugar

75 gm cocoa

1 tsp vanilla extract

75 gm plain flour

75 gm chopped walnuts [optional]

Toppings:

70 gm milk chocolate

2 tbsp warm milk

50 gm white chocolate

Instructions

Brownies

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Line 8″ x 8″ square tin with baking paper.
2. Place the butter, sugar and cocoa in a saucepan over low heat and stir until the butter has melted.
3. Spoon into a bowl and add the vanilla and eggs, whisking well. Sift the flour over the mixture and whisk to combine.
4. Spoon the mixture into a the tin. Bake for 30–35 minutes or until centre is just set.
5. [Optional] Top them with chocolate glaze {recipe follows} and pipe some melted chocolate over them when they are still warm.
6. Cool in the tin and cut into squares to serve.

Toppings

1. Melt the milk chocolate in microwave at medium. Mix in the milk and combine well. Add some more milk if looking dry. Frost the brownies with this glaze.
2. Melt the milk chocolate in a zip bag in microwave. Cut a small whole on the tip and drizzle the designs you want.