Fudge Brownies

A colleague celebrated her birthday (Happy Birthday Aldora!) which was a perfect excuse for me to bake a cake. I was skeptical of the recipe's name because for the most part, all 'fudge' brownies I made were inconvertibly unfudge-like. Did I overbake them? Maybe. Or my old oven was a dud. Yeah blame it on the oven again. Now that we've moved house with a newish oven I'm running out of excuses. Well funny enough it did turn out good and well fudgy in the middle. Hooray!

Lesley Allen provided the recipe I adapted from the Great American Food cookbook.


Fudge Brownies

150 g  [1 cup] plain flour
1/8 tsp fine salt
170 g  [6 oz] dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa mass)
1 tsp instant espresso coffee
1 tsp vanilla extract
125 g  [1/2 cup] unsalted butter - softened
170 g  [3/4 cup] caster sugar (superfine)
110 g  [1/2 cup] firmly packed soft brown sugar
120 g  [1/3 cup] golden syrup or light corn syrup
3 large eggs
120 g  [1 cup] roughly chopped pecan or walnuts

1. Grease and flour lightly a 9-inch (23 cm) square pan. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.
2. Mix the flour and salt well then set aside.
3. Break chocolate into pieces and melt in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
4. Add the instant espresso coffee and stir until well combined. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. Beat the butter, sugars, and vanilla until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the golden syrup and mix well.
6. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition.
7. Beat in the melted chocolate mixture.
8. Add in the flour and beat at low speed until smooth.
9. Fold in 2/3 of the nuts.
10. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the rest of the nuts on top.
11. Bake for 40-45 minutes until a thin skewer poked in the middle comes out clean but not dry - DO NOT overbake!
12. Remove from oven and cool in the pan for a few minutes then turn out to a rack to cool completely. Cut into squares and serve.