Recipe for success

Little did I know when I first opened the Hamlyn All-Colour cookbook as a child that I was launching a lifetime of happy baking. The recipe on this page alone (chocolate brownies from the Favourite Family Cakes chapter) was the starting point for a long but happy search for the perfect brownie. This one was only wheeled out on very special occasions at home - a luxury bake if you will. Mind you, those occasions seem to have been quite frequent, judging by the stained and much used page (the fact that flapjacks occupy the opposite page in the cookbook also accounts for much of the staining - another favourite of mine).

I'm planning to create a page in my blog devoted entirely to my favourite recipes. As I'm currently on holidays, it might be a few weeks before that gets going, so in the meantime I thought I'd share this old favourite. A fabulously more-ish chocolatey morsel, the brownie component is more cake-like in texture than squidgy brownie, but this works as a brilliant counterpoint to the icing. The gooey chocolate fudge icing is poured over the brownie once it's baked, taking it from average tray-bake cake to a spectacular special (any!) occasion treat. Given enough time, the icing will set and you can cut nice, neat squares, though I'm not always patient enough (witness this photo from my blog post in June, with the brownies featuring as a surprise birthday treat for my youngest sister). 

The original recipe (as with the other sweet recipes in the Hamlyn book) was written by the inimitable Mary Berry, so is as tasty and reliable as they come. I tweak it slightly now, adding a smidge of coffee to boost the chocolatey goodness and using butter instead of margarine (the latter being de rigueur in the 70s). If you're intending to give these a go (please do!),  use a very good quality cocoa powder if you can. Green & Black do a brilliant organic one that has a fabulously rich, dark colour and an intense chocolate flavour (it can be hard to get as Tesco have stopped stocking it, but most health shops have it, as does the wonderful Fallon & Byrne if you're in Dublin). Cadbury's Bournville cocoa just isn't the same but if that's all you can get, it will certainly do (after all, it's what I used for years before anything else became available). Finally, don't over-bake the brownie (25 minutes in my oven is plenty although the original recipe is for 35 mins, so be sure to check it after 25 mins). You'll know it's done if the top springs back when you gently press it; or use the skewer test - insert a skewer into the middle and if it comes out clean (i.e. no crumbs / batter on it), then it's done. 

So here you are, one recipe for chocolate brownies with a fudgy icing. One small caveat - the original recipe is in imperial measures rather than metric, which I still use when the recipe calls for it as my kitchen scales does both (most do actually). The next time I make these, I will convert to metric and check the measurements, but I wouldn't like to do it now and lead you astray with a dodgy recipe. If you can cope with ounces rather than grams for now, then this is a quick, easy and delicious recipe, so bake and enjoy!