Absolutely Best Brownies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup self-rising flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8x8 or 9x9 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, and mix well. Combine the flour, cocoa and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Mix in the vanilla and stir in walnuts if desired. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are firm. Cool before cutting into squares.

The Best Chocolate Brownies Ever

Ingredients  (makes 12 brownies)

100g  butter

100g good quality dark chocolate (broken into small pieces)

2 large eggs

100g ground walnuts

225g caster sugar

50g plain flour

1 level teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

Method

1. Grease a 18 x 28 cm baking tin with some butter, then line the base with greaseproof paper, and grease the paper as well.

2. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C

3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a low heat.

4. Take the pan off the heat and add the chocolate pieces to the butter; stir the chocolate into the melted butter until the chocolate melts completely - if necessary return the pan to a very, very low heat or to be safer heat it over a bain marie as it is easy to overheat chocolate. 

5. Keep the melted chocolate and butter aside, and then beat the eggs lightly in a large separate bowl.

6. Add the sugar, flour, walnuts, baking powder and salt to the beaten eggs, then add the melted butter and chocolate and mix it all together thoroughly.

7. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking tin and bake for 30 minutes in the centre of the pre heated oven.

8. Remove the baking tin from the oven after 30 minutes and let the brownies cool completely before cutting them into 12 pieces.

9. Eat the brownies on their own or with some vanilla ice cream. (They taste divine while they are warm, but be careful if you remove them from the baking tin while they are still warm as they are quite crumbly before they cool down).