Thursday 20 May 2010

St Nigel's Brownies

Yesterday I wrote a long post on the woes of my week. Today I give you a short one praising St Nigel for his comfort food. Where yesterday’s post was vegan and healthy, tonight’s is indulgently decadent. I have resisted chocolate too long and I needed some last night.

I am constantly in search of brownie recipes to try and consulted my cookbooks in search of inspiration. I wanted a recipe with lots of chocolate and not too many eggs. This recipe from Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries convinced me I should try more of his recipes. It is superb. Fudgy, dense, moist and rich.

I simplified his method somewhat. Electric beaters, multiple bowls, extra egg yolks and sifting weren’t for me. Sometimes I strayed too far, misreading golden castor sugar as raw sugar and stirring in white chocolate chips when the mixture was too hot. When will I learn! Yet the brownies were wonderful. I like to think they would have St Nigel's blessing.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe:

This time last year: Pear and walnut muffins
This time two years ago:
Entertaining with Fritters and Smoothies
This time three years ago:
Spicy slices and bean cuisine

Nigel’s Brownies
adapted from the Kitchen Diaries
  • 250g butter
  • 200g dark chocolate (70% solids), broken up
  • 300g castor sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 60g plain white flour
  • 60g cocoa
  • 50g dark chocolate chopped
  • 40g chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease and line a 23cm square cake tin.

Melt butter and 200g dark chocolate together in microwave. Add sugar, then eggs, then flour and cocoa, then chopped chocolate and walnuts, stirring after each addition. The mixture should be thick and glossy.

Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for 30-45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the middle of the brownie comes out with sticky mixture on it but not gooey uncooked cake mix. Leave another few minutes. Remove from oven and cool in tin. Cut into small squares as it is very rich.

On the Stereo:
Son of Evil Reindeer: the Reindeer Selection

8 comments:

  1. I'm collecting brownie recipes for a brownie pan and this will be perfect.

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  2. If I go without chocolate for too long I get the same and just must have some! I had a friend who used to have 2 squares of chocolate a day so she wouldn't go crazy on chocolate-such discipline! :P

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  3. Oh, glorious gooeyness! These look like one heckuva brownie recipe, and just what the doctor would order at the end of a woeful week. Keep taking care of yourself. :)

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  4. Mmmm those look like my idea of a perfect brownie!!!!

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  5. Thanks Tanna - I am sure this will be a great addition to your brownie recipe collection - even E loves them

    Thanks Lorraine - your friend sounds very wise

    Thanks Hannah - definitely a brownie for a bit of comfort

    Thanks Vegetation - nice to hear from you - I'd love to think you could try such a brownie but sometimes a virtual brownie is just as good and doesn't blow the diet!

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  6. I've got behind with reading blogs - but came to this entry because I was google searching for Nigel's brownies!! One of my friends says they're the best ones she's ever made, but I like your adaptations if it means no extra egg yolks. They look amazing anyway :)

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  7. Thanks Lysy - can't abide extra egg yolks (or whites) around the kitchen so was glad this recipe was ok when I adapted it - it was so rich I didn't feel they were missed - and agree with your friend that they are one of the best brownies I've made

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  8. These look so fudgey and delicious! Definitely would be hard to control myself around these.

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