Basics Brownies

I had to get rid of a few items this week, specifically the stick of butter I used to make scones earlier on, and some Basics self-raising flour from long ago. In addition to that, some of my colleagues have been following this blog with interest, and have taken the opportunity to suggest that I do something for them to try, proposing that I do brownies within the next two days.

Through my years at university, I've seen a few of my guy friends try their hand at baking to win over the hearts of various individuals, with varying degrees of success. This post will hence be a tribute to them and their valiant efforts, as I try my hand at making something commonly used as gift food.

The recipe I followed comes courtesy of the BBC GoodFood, and in summary, involves making a chocolate-butter ganache and a sugar-egg mousse-like foam, combining the two, folding in flour, and baking. This time round, there are no new Basics items to introduce, but if you wish to know more about the items involved in today's post (or at least what I think of them), you're free to peruse the tags found at the bottom.

Start by preparing a water bath by placing a Pyrex bowl over a pot of boiling water.

Add two bars of Basics dark chocolate and about 200g of Basics butter to the bath, and let everything liquify, stirring everything together.

While waiting, whisk four eggs with about 250g of sugar. You're aiming to get a frothy foam, so it might take ten minutes by hand. Good luck.


Meanwhile, your chocolate-butter ganache should look something like this:

Combine egg foam and chocolate, and sift about 75-85g of flour into the mix. Fold the flour in.


Now, preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease a baking sheet with oil, and pour as much of the mixture in. You might find that the mixture comes off very easily from the bowl and sticks more to itself than to other surfaces, use this to your advantage.


Bake for 25 minutes, until you get a paper-like crust and a knife comes out clean when dipping into the brownie. Cut up and store/serve.

Now, find yourself some office workers or significant others to feed.