Sunday recipe: The ultimate chocolate brownie

Packed with dark chocolate and nuts, this is the easiest brownie you'll ever make

SLOUGH, ENGLAND:

Do you ache for a sinfully good brownie full of epic dark chocolate fudgy heavenliness, but have been stabbed in the back by restaurants and assorted online recipes? Because I had. Note the past tense: HAD. After years of experimenting, I have – by accident – stumbled upon the golden ratio of every ingredient that goes into this beautiful nutty, fudgy dark chocolate brownie.

 The best part? It takes 15 minutes to put together, and another 15 minutes to bake. Once you’ve made it enough times, you can do it with your eyes closed. And the other joint best part? There is no mixer involved! When it comes to equipment, all you need is a saucepan, a kitchen scale, a large bowl, a spatula (or a wooden spoon), and a baking pan. Once your brownies are in the oven, you will be finished cleaning up long before they’ve finished baking.

As always, preheat your oven to 180C and line a 9X13-inch pan with baking paper. Leave a little overhang so it is easy to pull out of the pan. In a saucepan, melt together 200g dark chocolate (I always go for 70 per cent cocoa) and 200g unsalted butter. Once melted, turn off the flame.

Whilst your chocolate/butter mixture is cooling, beat 3 eggs with 100g sugar and 1tsp vanilla essence. There is no need to get out a mixer for this – either a balloon whisk or a rotary whisk will do. (Or, if you are really pressed for utensils, a fork.) Once your egg mixture looks pale and frothy, add to your chocolate/butter mixture and combine with a spatula until it looks well mixed.

In a large bowl, measure out 100g flour, and add to the chocolate mixture in your pan. Combine with a spatula. Once there are no visible white flecks of flour, add 300g coarsely chopped nuts - either walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, or a mixture of all three. If you want to achieve an A-plus in baking, you could toast the nuts on a ‘tawa’ beforehand – it unlocks the aroma of nuts in a way nothing else does. You don’t have to, of course – if you are seized with the urge to eat brownies as urgently as possible, you may not have the time to. Toasted nuts, however, will elevate your brownies to the next level.

Once your mixture has combined, scrape your batter out into your prepared tin. Bake for 15 minutes. After your timer goes off, your brownies may still look a bit wet – this is normal. DO NOT put your pan back in the oven, or you will end up with dry, boring brownies, and then you will cry (or come at me with a pitchfork). Leave them cool on the counter, where they will finish ‘baking’ in their own residual heat. Once cool, cut into equal squares as big or small as you like. Enjoy them while they last, because they’ll be gone before you know it.

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