Chocolate Brownies

The houseboy spent the week working away in Aberdeen so it was pretty quiet on the cooking front apart from my lunch box. I always take my lunch to work with me-the only decent places near the office are ridiculously over priced. So this week’s choice was a quick Moroccan style casserole with sausages & chickpeas, which i had with couscous or vegetables. Once you start making our own lunches you realise firstly how much money you can save (yes, im definitely Scottish with that attitude) & secondly you never have to end up eating dry pre packed sandwiches or dodgy pasta salads. I’ve fallen at those hurdles more than once. With the houseboy's return we had a nice social weekend catching up with friends. Friday was a fun evening of pizza & board games, i cooked a Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall recipe for Bread & Butter Pudding which seemed to get the thumbs up from everyone. By using brioche instead of white bread and adding some fruit (nectarines in this case) you could almost pretend it was healthy… Sunday morning was spent at the British Museum, which is a truly amazing place. Egyptian mummies, Inuit waterproofs made from seal intestines & full samurai outfits to name but a few exhibits, makes for a fascinating walk round. The Rosetta Stone was definitely the most mobbed attraction & i think that of all the tourists, the Italians are the best at taking twenty photos a second while talking on a mobile & shouting at their friends at a thousand miles an hour.

Another sweet treat this week, a chocolate ladened choice in honour of Valentine’s Day (stop groaning-there is no escaping it) As my sister Mrs Robinson likes to say ‘woman have a second stomach for dessert’ and i think i might have a third for brownies…on their own, or even better served with whipped cream and ice cream. I have so many recipes for brownies, but this one is a nice all rounder.

Ingredients:
• 110g dark chocolate
• 55g unsalted butter
• 170g dark brown sugar
• 1tsp vanilla essence
• 2eggs
• 85g plain flour with a good pinch of baking powder mixed in
• pinch of salt
• 55g pecan nuts of walnuts-roughly chopped

Melt the chocolate au bain marie (this means melting the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, this ensures the chocolate doesn’t burn) Then beat into the butter, allow to cool then add the sugar and cream together till light and fluffy. Add the vanilla essence and then beat the eggs and flour alternatively. Gently mix in the nuts. Pour mixture into a well-greased tin and bake at 180c for 20-30mins. You can serve these in their own as they are lovely & rich or use them as part of a nice decedent desert with whipped cream, a splash of baileys Irish cream & an extra sprinkling of nuts…