Fudge Chocolate Brownies

This is likely to be the easiest recipe for brownies you will come across. I'm not just talking about skill-wise, but ingredients and method-wise too. All you need for this recipe is a big non-stick pan, a whisk and a spatula to scrape up all the chocolatey goodness at the end. As for the ingredients, there are just 6 of them (5 if you cut out the coconut). It doesn't require you to melt blocks of chocolate in the microwave. Just good quality cocoa powder so you can get that rich, in-depth flavour. I assure you, using cocoa powder in this recipe will still give you a crunchy top with a gooey centre.

When I make them for my friends I skip out on the coconut as I know some people don't like getting coconut in their teeth (I personally love it). However, when made for my family, or at special request, I add the coconut. I tell you, I praised the Lord when I came across this recipe for 'Fudgy Coconut Brownies' on the BBC Good Food website. But a warning: do not follow their method unless you're confident to chuck cocoa powder, sugar and butter altogether in a pot at the same time and melt them without it catching fire. Not that this happened to me the first time I made them, but I kinda burnt the cocoa powder... Anywho, I feel more comfortable adding solids to liquids in order for them to melt. So I take it nice and slow, adding the butter first to melt, then the sugar so it can melt into the liquid butter and finally the cocoa powder to transform it into a mini version of the lake in Wonka's factory, and here it is.

As I mentioned before, I placed a 250g block of butter into a large non-stick pan and let that melt completely on a low heat on the hob. When just liquid butter remained, I added in 500g of caster sugar, and using a whisk to push it along, let that melt into the butter. Then I placed in 100g of cocoa powder and using the whisk again, combined that all together. 

When a flowing puddle of beautiful chocolate appeared before me, I turned off the heat and let it cool for about 10 minutes. I didn't want it hot otherwise with the addition of the eggs, I'd get chocolate scrambled eggs. May sound delicious now - but who's actually gonna eat it?!

It may stiffen slightly after the 10 minute cool - mine did, but don't worry, whisking in the eggs loosens it up again. So I whisked in 4 eggs one at a time until I was reacquainted with the beautiful chocolate lake, except that this time it looked much more silkier and luscious. 

With that, I whisked in 100g of self raising flour until it was incorporated and then 100g of coconut until it was also dispersed within the gooey chocolate pool. 

Gooey is the perfect word to describe this mixture, and with a slick slide, I moved it into my silicone brownie tin. If you do not have a silicone tin, please line your metal tin with parchment paper, or your brownies will stick to it. 

I sat the tin on top of a baking tray and put this into a 180 degree oven for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, I had a date with a certain brownie mix covered whisk...

After 30 minutes, I checked on the brownies to see if they were getting too dark on top. They weren't but to be on the safe side, I still covered them loosely with parchment paper (or you can use foil) and put them back in the oven for 15 minutes more. By the end of the 15 minutes, the smell of the chocolate became much more intense and I could see that the brownies had developed a lovely crusty top and when I poked them with a toothpick (or you can use a knife of skewer) they were molten inside. Perfect. 

When ready to serve, we of course ate them warm with ice cream. Or if you are not having yours that way, leave to cool in the tin, sprinkle the top with icing sugar and daintily eat a square - I know I did the next day! Oh and another warning: do not tell the people you are making these for the amounts of the few ingredients in these brownies. They'll be running to the gym. As for me, I hate the gym and don't care about that weight stuff, so I'll happily eat half a batch. These brownies are so heavenly anyway, you wouldn't want to sweat this experience off. Enjoy. 

 Makes 16 brownies.

- Pre-heat oven to 180 

Ingredients:

• 250g Salted Butter 
• 500g Caster Sugar 
• 100g Cocoa Powder
• 4 Eggs 
• 100g Self Raising Flour 
• 100g Desiccated Coconut (optional)