The Startup Cook : Really Chocolatey Brownies!

Chocolate is a girl’s best friend. It’s true that we are not always loyal to chocolate, we shamelessly cheat on it with shoes and jewellery, but nevertheless we always ALWAYS end up coming back to it.

Chocolate is our refuge from all the problems the big bad world throws at us, it has also become our therapist. So on a gloomy, tiresome and irritating day, ONLY a decadent chocolaty brownie will DO.

This particular counsellor has been extracted from Laura Vitale’s fudgy brownies. It is simply – DIVINE.

Ingredients

2/3 cup of flour
1 1/2 cup of (dark) cooking chocolate (melted)
3/4 cup of granulated sugar
2 eggs (large)
10  tbs of butter
2 tsp of vanilla essence
1 tbs cocoa powder
2 tbs of warm water
1 tsp of instant coffee powder


Directions

Preheat oven to 175 celsius.

Prepare a deep medium size square cake tin and set aside.

In a tiny cup mix together the coffee powder and water and set aside. In a separate bowl combine the flour and the chocolate powder and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add the eggs, vanilla, coffee mixture and whisk until fully combined.

Pour the melted chocolate in to the bowl and fold well.

Add the flour+ cocoa mixture in and whisk until fully combined.

Pour the batter in to the prepared tin and bake for 40 – 45 minutes.



Disasters, Warnings and Tips

Once the brownies have baked, LET IT COOL and then cut and eat.

It depends on the measurements of your tin, but I managed to extract around 12 brownies.

To melt chocolate, place it in plastic bowl and steam it over a water filled pan on a low flame.

Unlike Laura Vitale, these are extra chocolaty brownies.

Instead of the instant coffee powder mixture you can add some homemade coffee liqueur (http://life.dailymirror.lk/article/7304/the-startup-cook-coffee-liqueur).

To check if your brownies are done, insert a tooth pick inside. If the tooth pick comes out moist, it’s done. If it comes out with batter, it’s not done yet.

I don’t know how to melt chocolate in the microwave.

LOVE the smell of brownies being baked.

Despite the tired arm, do stick to a hand whisk.

The original recipe can be found on http://www.laurainthekitchen.com/recipes/fudgy-brownies/

An electric whisk can over thicken the batter.

To get granulated sugar put your regular sugar through a blender or food processor.

I lessened the sugar and increased on the chocolate.

Be vigilant about the butter, too much can make your brownies oily.

Don’t use hot melted chocolate; it may curdle your batter.

Beyonce’s ‘Partition’ is my latest favourite leg shaking number.




Text by Shazzana Hamid