It was a special day when I found this recipe on the internet. That was the day I stopped looking for any brownie recipes! Brownies can be quite a mess to make if you’re going to melt chocolates, and the recipes I had found before weren’t so much fun.

I wouldn’t have tried this recipe if she hadn’t insisted that it is better than the ones that use melted chocolate, because usually I would look specifically for the melted chocolate recipes. How else would one get the richness? But this recipe… is just awesome. You cannot tell that it is a cocoa based brownie.

I went a step ahead and substituted the plain flour with whole wheat flour, and the sugar with the jaggery. Now, your only sin is the butter!

Time taken: 1 to 1.5 hours
Makes a 8×8″ brownie

Ingredients

150 gm unsalted butter
1¼ cups (250 gm) sugar
³⁄₄ cup + 2 tbsp (65 gm) unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, cold
½ cup (65 gm) all-purpose flour
²⁄₃ cup (75 gm) walnut or pecan pieces (optional)
¼ tsp salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C or 325°F. Line the bottom of an 8×8″ pan with parchment paper, leaving some extra paper on the sides to facilitate easy removal of the brownies.

Combine butter, sugar/ jaggery, cocoa and salt in a heatproof bowl and place the bowl in a larger vessel with gently simmering water.

Stir gently until the butter has completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Dip your finger in to test. If it is hot enough that you want to remove your finger immediately, take it off the heat.

Let it cool until it is warm. It gets grainy as it cools down, and this is ok and quite expected.

Add the vanilla and stir in the eggs one by one, whisking vigorously after each addition.

The batter should be thick and shiny. Now add the flour in parts until it is completely blended into the batter.

Beat vigorously for about 20 seconds. Stir in the nuts.

Spread evenly on the lined pan.

Bake for 30-35 min until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out slightly moist with batter.

Now, oven fresh brownies are hard to resist, but if you’re keen on clean, crumble free pieces wait until it is cool before cutting. You could even refrigerate it for a while, for really clean lines.

Cut into squares and serve.

Serving suggestions

Dust with powdered sugar using a sieve, and serve as is.

I like to microwave it until it is hot, top it up with chocolate sauce (melted chocolate mixed with cream and butter) and pair this up with ice cream.

If you have a little sizzler plate, heat the plate, pour some chocolate sauce, place the brownie, add some more chocolate sauce and a scoop of ice cream, and you have a sizzling brownie!