Ultimate Very Chocolaty Brownies
Chocolaty, gooey, deliciously rich is the only way to describe Catherine’s ultimate very chocolaty brownies. A few months ago the whole support team at work took part in a cooking competition. The menus were elaborate and exciting from frog’s legs to risottos. But the winner was a humble dish, brownies, a la Catherine.
Well I had to try them for myself and yes they are the ultimate and very chocolaty indeed. My lips are still sticking together and I have gooey chocolate stuck between my teeth and I feel sick! But boy they are GOOD!
There are hundreds of brownie recipes but its rare that you find one like this. I found that the brownies last well and almost get better as they mature. I did manage to freeze some to test if they lose their gooeyness. Freezing them works well, let them defrost at room temperature and they retain their crispy top. Yum, Yum….
- 300g unsalted butter
- 300g good quality dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa solids
- 5 large free range eggs
- 450g unrefined caster sugar
- 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped
- 150g plain flour
- 50g cocoa powder
- 1 tsp salt
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line a 34 x 25cm x 6cm deep baking tray or roasting tin with baking parchment and lightly grease with oil.
Chop the chocolate into small even size pieces. Melt the butter and chocolate together in a bowl over simmering water creating a double boiler or if you have a Thermomix melt the butter and chocolate for 5 minutes at 50°C on speed 3.
Beat the eggs, sugar, and vanilla seeds until the mixture become thick, creamy and pale in colour.
Slowly add the melted chocolate mixture to the egg mixture , while whisking.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt over the chocolaty mixture, use long folding motions to fold the flour in to the chocolate mixture.
Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared tin ensuring the mixture is evenly distributed. Place the baking tray on the middle shelf of the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. This giant brownie should not wobble, but should remain gooey on the inside. I prefer to set the timer first for 20 minutes, test by giving the tray a small pat if the brownie wobbles it needs a further 5 minutes. If it’s solid, it means that the brownie is cooked. Remember that it will continue cooking as it cools down.
Leave to cool for about 30 minutes before cutting into desired shapes, dust with extra cocoa powder for that final cocoa kick.
Makes approximately 30 chocolate brownies, but then it depends on how big you cut them, it's easier to say you will get approximately 1.4kg of cooked brownies.
Catherine’s Tips and the Food Fanatic agrees!
Make sure you use the correct size tray and DO NOT OVERCOOK THEM. As a rule, when you start to smell them they are usually close to being done: you are better off removing them too soon and putting them back, which does no harm at all! For a bit of variation add nuts or dried fruits. Fold these into the mix last.
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I made these as a test for a cake event coming up.
Taking them to work for my guinnea pigs to try. Everyone has been asking for the reciepe and they flew out of the cake tin.
My first time making brownies – very very please with the results and will be making another batch later today.
Thank you!
These brownies are amazing!! I usually stick to my tried and tested brownie recipe as it’s pretty fail proof and gives amazing results. This recipe is probably one of the few I haven’t tried on here though so I thought I would give it a go as they look so appealing from the picture.
I used Valrhona Ashanti chocolate which has a bit of spicyness to it and added some tahini to the mix and sesame seeds to the top before baking as I was taking them to a friend’s house for Iftar as it is Ramadan in Dubai at the moment and they turned out perfectly!
Usually I tend to mix in quite a bit of chopped chocolate to my brownie mix so that there are lots of gooey bits when you bite in so I was wondering if I would miss that but they were delicious, really dense and chocolatey and went really well with some sesame salted caramel that I made aswell. I took about 16 brownies with me and they all disappeared. Will definately be trying this again.
Thank you
Chantelle
Hi Maddie & Ross,
Greetings from Oz! I was thinking of you guys while I made this recipe for our housewarming BBQ . . . pimped it by adding orange zest and then sandwiching marmalade between two layers of brownie mix pre baking! It gives a wicked orangey gooey centre! We bought a pudding steamer yesterday so your Xmas Pud recipe is next. We won’t have snow this year but we will have Christmas Pud!
Hi from New Zealand.
Thanks for this brillant recipe!! I made it for a Spring BBQ recently and everyone raved it and was wanting the recipe.
This recipe is certainly a keeper. The kids and the big kid (Hubby) couldn’t get there hands off it.
Thanks Madeline, I always enjoy your recipe ideas. With Aroha….
Other than the cocoa powder, this is very similar to the Green and Black’s recipe, and it is truly awesome! I’ve made this for cafes, and had American tourists tell me it’s better than they get back at home! and it’s sooo easy to make. Always goes down well – I have to hide some at home to make sure there’s always a little bit for me!
Oooh looks so yum! If you were to add nutella to these brownies, (baking for a nutella-obsessed birthday girl!) how would you go about altering the recipe?