Basic chocolate brownies

This is my recipe for basic chocolate brownies. This is the recipe I pull out when I want to take a treat to someone or make cakes for work. Everyone loves chocolate brownies, I am fairly sure of that. These store for about 72 hours in an airtight tin, and are great warm with ice cream but also are good for when you want something rich and chocolatey. I call it basic because it’s really simple and easy. There are complicated and fussier recipes out there, but this one cuts faff but works.

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This cuts into 16 pieces. You can use coconut oil, which gives it a lovely rich flavour, or butter, or a dairy-free spread if you prefer. This is the coconut oil I use, or we use Pure spread.

You will need:

170 good dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
200 g unsalted butter ( I actually used coconut oil, in this weeks batch, ‘cos we had run out of butter, no-one noticed)
125g of light brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 whole eggs
200g plain flour
2tbsp of coffee (use from whatever coffee you prefer, I just save a little from our morning brew of coffee, but instant works fine too)
An 8 x 8 inches (20 x 20 cm) baking tray or tin, lined with baking paper, or spring form if you have one.

How to:

Melt the chocolate, and add the coconut oil, and mix well, add the vanilla, coffee and sugar to the mix, then beat in the eggs. I do this by hand, but you can use a mixer, for speed, then sift the flour in and mix thoroughly. *sifting the flour stops lumps and clumps, please don’t skip this.
Pour into a lined baking tray or tin you have prepared before starting. I recently began using reusable baking lining, which works really well, but sheet baking paper works fine. Do not use tinfoil**
Bake at 180 for 30 or so minutes until the brownies begin to crack around the edges. They will not be “baked through” and a test with a cake skewer won’t work, they are meant to be “gooey” in the middle. Leave to cool, and then cut them from the tin.
You can add a tbsp or two of cocoa powder instead of coffee, but I find that the coffee brings out the flavour of the chocolate and works better. I use a 70% chocolate for all my chocolate based recipes. You can also add chopped nuts of your choice, to the batter. Make sure they are chopped and to stop them sinking, you can lightly coat them in a dusting of flour before you add them to the batter. Chopped hazelnuts or walnuts work well.