HOW TO MAKE BROWNIES

You will need:

- 200g dark chocolate

- 170g salted butter (or add a pinch of salt if using unsalted)

- 3 free range eggs

- 200g soft brown sugar (caster is fine if you don’t have any)

- 110g plain flour

- So firstly, assemble all your ingredients together.

- Preheat the oven to gas 4/180 degrees.

The Method:

Step one: melt the butter and chocolate in a bain-marie (basically, a heatproof bowl (so not a plastic one) over a saucepan of just-simmering water – don’t let the bottom of the bowl come into contact with water).  Turn the water off when it’s just bubbling and stir the mixture gently until it’s combined.  Take it off the heat and allow to cool to room temperature (if you pour very hot chocolate into the eggy mixture, you risk getting blobs of scrambled egg in your brownies).

Step two: meanwhile, whisk the eggs and sugar together until pale, light and frothy.  There is no raising agent in brownies, so the air whisked in at this stage will stop them being a big chocolate brick.

Step three: pour in the cooled chocolate/butter mixture and stir well.

Step four: lastly, add in the flour and any extras you’re adding (nuts… raisins… smarties… whatever, see below).  Stir briefly until the flour disappears.

Step five:  bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is cracked and shiny.  The centre should still be slightly soft and squidgy.