Chocolate brownies are one of my favourite bakes. They were the first thing I learnt since I started taking this more seriously (if feeding yourself copious amounts of chocolate can be called serious).
The recipe I use is super-simple, but crucially uses way more butter than flour. The result is a dense, gooey brownie which almost becomes smooth as you bite through it. They are infinitely more pleasurable than those brownies you get that are essentially small, ovetpriced slices of chocolate cake.
If I had to hyperanalyse it, I’d say you want a fundamentally different thing out of a brownie, versus what you want out of a chocolate cake. A brownie is for depth and richness and texture. It melts in your mouth and fills your arteries with delicious buttery chocolate.
This, though, is clearly insufficiently indulgent for me. I had some dulche de leche left from my profiteroles – don’t worry, it was in the freezer, not going mouldy! – so I melted it down, added some water for viscosity, and poured strips of it over the raw brownie batter.
Each bite is now topped with a burst of caramel-y, milky goodness.
I always add shards of dark chocolate to the top before baking. They melt then harden on cooling, so each brownie is topped with a satisfying chocolate snap. The chocolate shards left on the chopping board also happen to be delicious if they inadvertently melt on your hands while baking. Or so I’ve heard.
Nathan in the kitchen 