Chocolate Brownies

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I am giving away the fact that I grew up in the US by my love of brownies. The brownies here in Ireland tend to be way too fluffy instead of being dense and decadent, and sadly people often use poor quality chocolate.

The fluffiness is no doubt due to the flour. It astonishes me that it is next to impossible to get flour without rising agents in Irish supermarkets. Even most "plain flour" is anything but when you peruse the ingredients. In my mind, plain flour would suggest one ingredient - flour, but that is not the case (look!). Of course commercially there is a great range of flour options but in supermarkets we have just found two flours that are simply flour - Family Favourite Plain flour from Lidl and Supervalu's Valusaver Plain Flour. So check your flour ingredients list (how strange it is to say that!) and make sure it says nothing more than flour if you want to avoid the brownies rising more than they will naturally with the eggs.

The same goes for the chocolate chip cookie recipe I gave here earlier.

Murphys Chocolate Brownies

Servings : 6 Preparation Time : 00:45:00 (including baking)

Categories : Pastries

Amount / Measure / Ingredient

250 grams Chocolate (55% cocoa content)

165 grams butter -- at room temperature

3/4 tablespoons vanilla

300 grams sugar

135 grams flour

3 each egg

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C.

2. Butter and flour an 10 inch square baking pan. Set it aside.

3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Mix until smooth.

4. Beat the sugar and eggs together.

5. Add the vanilla.

6. Slowly pour in the chocolate and butter, mixing all the time.

7. Sift the flour, then add, mixing thoroughly.

8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake just until cooked, 25 - 30 minutes (a knife should come out clean).

9. Allow the brownies to cool slightly. Then cut them into squares and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

10. Serve with ice cream and chocolate sauce for a truly decadent dessert!

Technorati tags: brownie, pastry, chocolate, ice cream, recipe