Monday, December 19, 2011

Chocolate Walnut Brownie



What can I say about the classic chocolate walnut brownie? It’s soft yet crumbly, with the bittersweet punch of dark chocolate and the delicate crunch of walnuts. This one is my personal favourite, and I definitely eat a huge piece every time I make it! I can’t imagine thinking of the calories when a scrumptious chunk of brownie is staring at me!

There are a million recipes for a classic chocolate brownie, but I can reassure you that this one is a full-proof one! It’s tried, tested and tasted. The ingredients are easy to find, the cooking time minimal, the taste spectacular and therefore, your admirers many!



Serves: 10
Prep time: 10min
Cooking time: 35min (includes baking time of 20min)


Ingredients
75g dark chocolate chips
175g unsalted butter
300g caster sugar
100g cocoa powder
150g plain flour sifted with 1tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla essence
4 eggs, whisked
50g walnuts chopped roughly
25cm baking tin
Fresh double cream for serving

Method
Preheat oven to 190°C. Line a 25cm baking tin with butter, keep aside.

Whisk 4 eggs in a bowl, add vanilla essence, whisk some more and keep aside.

Heat a non-stick saucepan on a medium flame. Place the butter, sugar and cocoa in the saucepan and stir till the sugar and butter melt. Gently stir, bringing the mixture together till it turns smooth and gooey. Add the sifted flour slowly, folding it in evenly. Remove the saucepan from the flame. Add the whisked eggs (with vanilla essence mixed added to it already) to the cocoa-butter-sugar mix, making sure that the heat of the pan doesn’t scramble the eggs. Work fast, adding the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts to the pan, mixing all ingredients well. Quickly transfer the mixture to the greased baking tin and bake at 190°C in a preheated oven for 20min.


Allow resting time of 10-20min. Serve warm with fresh double cream.




Bench notes
The actual cooking time for the brownie (on the flame) is just about 5min. You need to work fast once the mixture is off the flame, as the butter will begin to cool down and thicken the mixture. This will make it hard for you to mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts evenly. The key is to keep everything ready before you start.

While adding the eggs to the pan, make sure that you create a layer of the cocoa mix at the bottom of the saucepan and pour the eggs onto this layer. Do not pour the eggs directly onto the hot bottom surface of the pan; this might scramble the eggs!

If you want to brown/crisp the upper surface of the brownie a tad more, adjust your oven so that the brownie is grilled just from the coil above for an extra 3-4min. Be careful (keep an eagle eye!), as the top surface turns black very easily, making it brittle, but retaining a soft interior. This might create a mess (crumbling brownie!) when you try to cut the brownie up for serving.

It keeps for 3-4days on the bench and for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. If you decide to refrigerate, be sure to warm it up in the oven/microwave before you eat it!

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