Chocolate and Walnut Fudge Brownies

I don't bake or make anything sweet often enough, but sitting on the sofa on a misty, rainy Sunday afternoon watching cookery programmes I suddenly found myself rummaging around my messy cupboards to see if I had the right ingredients to produce a batch of chocolate brownies. Lorraine Pascal was just finishing off some oreo cookie ones, I had roughly the right stuff... Coupled with the fact that we forgot someone’s birthday at work last week... there really was no better option than a spot of baking. Chocolate and walnut brownies with a hint of fudge. Lovely.

I tried making a smaller amount than I will tell you to use, due to having to cobble together ingredients I had in the house, but it all got a bit complicated when I didn’t have a baking tray small enough and had to rummage round slopping chocolate mixture from one to another in a panic stricken way... Which is why it ended up a brownie in a tart tin, which I don't think is traditionally quite correct... So I'll revert back to the amounts I should have actually used...

Grease a baking tin with butter, the tin will need to be about 20cm by 25cm, and then line it with grease proof paper. Melt 250g of unsalted butter in a pan on a low heat. While it is melting grate 200g of 70% dark chocolate, turn the butter off when it is fully melted and stir in the grated chocolate to melt. This is easier than faffing about with bowls over pans of water I think...

Break 3 free range eggs into a large bowl and add 275g of caster sugar, then beat them together until creamy. Now stir in the chocolate and butter mix until everything is thoroughly mixed together. Stir in 3 heaped teaspoons of cocoa powder, then add 125g of self raising flour and a pinch of sea salt and mix that in well with a metal spoon.

Toast a handful of walnuts in a dry pan until they begin to brown, chop roughly and add to the mix, I also added a handful of chopped fudge. I would have added some chunky chopped up chocolate pieces instead of fudge, but didn’t have enough left over from the mix... and then bake for 20 minutes at 180°C. They are ready when a knife or a skewer comes out moist with a few crumbs on it. Finally leave them on a wire rack to cool and cut into squares.

Lovely warm, lovely cold, I even like the crusty bits round the edge that looked a little burnt... I'm going to bake more. It's decided.