flourless chocolate brownies: based on nigella lawson's recipe.

ahh well i'm the birthday girl today, 21+3 to be exact! whilst reluctantly avoiding changing my bio, and amongst two brilliant birthday meals so far, i've decided to make some trusty brownies to take into work. 

as you may know, i recently had a go at vegan soup as my housemate is vegan. inspired by this and the fact my friend at work doesn't eat gluten, i thought i'd have a go at these! 

based on nigella's recipe for flourless chocolate brownies, these gluten free goodies taste just as good as floury ones, with the ground almonds giving them a tasty, nutty flavour. i have tweaked her recipe to include white chocolate chunks as i love the chewy surprise every so often as you eat them. enjoy!

shopping list

♥ 200g dark chocolate (80% cocoa solids)
♥ 150g ground almonds
♥ 3 eggs
♥ 200g caster sugar
♥ 225 butter 
♥ 75g white chocolate
♥ a pinch of salt



preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3. melt the chocolate and butter gently over a low heat over a saucepan. 








take the pan off the heat and add the sugar and salt, stirring as you go.




beat the eggs in one by one, and then stir in the ground almonds.

next, pour into a buttered up baking tray and drop in chunks of broken up white chocolate. push a few to the bottom of the pan so they're all randomly in the mix!

nigella's recipes says 25-30 minutes but mine are already in 40 minutes and not ready. it's hard to tell really. though my oven at the moment is from about 1978 so is probably taking ages. 

i'd say when the top starts to look harder and sort of cracked, yet when you put a fork/skewer in it comes out clean... they're done! in the end mine took 50 minutes!

leave to set before taking them out. if you want to eat them warm, i personally wait for them to set first time round and then re-warm them up with a bit of cream. yummmmmmmmmmmm!

super duper brownies with white chocolate chunks

I made these for a Bake Off we had at work :) And here's how...

♥ 375 g soft unsalted butter
♥ 375 g best quality dark chocolate
♥ 6 large eggs
♥ 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
♥ 500g caster sugar
♥ 225g plain flour
♥ 1 teaspoon salt
♥ 300 g white chocolate, broken into pieces

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Line your brownie pan with foil or baking paper.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a large heavy based saucepan.

In a bowl beat the eggs with the sugar and vanilla.

Measure the flour into another bowl and add the salt.

When the chocolate mixture has melted, let it cool a bit before beating in the eggs and sugar mixture, and then the nuts and flour.

Beat to combine and then scrape out of the saucepan into the lined brownie pan.

Bake for about 25 minutes.

When its's ready, the top should be dried to a paler brown speckle, but the middle still dark and dense and gooey.

Keep checking the brownies as they cook; remember that they will continue to cook as they cool.


If you like these - you might like the Peyton and Byrne recipe for raspberry and coconut cupakes. Very lovely!